Kazuo Kiriyama

nihongo|Kazuo Kiriyama|桐山 和雄|"Kiriyama Kazuo" is a fictional character in the best-selling "Battle Royale" novel and manga by Koushun Takami. He can be viewed as the main antagonist in both versions.He is also a character in the film of the same name, played by Masanobu Ando.

The characters in Kazuo's given name mean "peace" and "male," respectively. The characters in his family name mean "tree" and "mountain."

In the novel and manga, it's implied that he is an illegitimately born child due to maternal infidelity. After killing his gang in the novel, he touches his left temple due to some elusive feeling he infrequently has. Kazuo states that since the doctor who operated on him died and, as he puts it, "his real father" dying of complication, he has no one to question about this.

Major differences in the novel, film, and manga

Personality

Novel

In the novel, having suffered from a brain injury during a car accident while in utero, which, in essence, partially lobotomised him; he lost the ability to process basic human emotions (notably remorse and empathy), which made him indifferent to the suffering of others. This also made him an efficient killer, with no morals to keep him from callously murdering his classmates, even the members of his own street gang. Mitsuru, near his final moments, recalls that he has never seen Kazuo smile. Kazuo also has a genius level IQ, and a talent of quickly adapting to any situation. In many flashbacks in the novel, Kazuo is shown to have easily learned how to do otherwise difficult tasks, (eg. painting a beautiful picture, playing the violin) and then losing interest after mastering them (as he tossed both his violin and painting in the trash only moments after completion.) He also has specifically slicked back hair, which he adopted at Mitsuru Numai's suggestion, leading a false perception by Mitsuru of this being a bonding factor between the two. Though the novel states he's around the same height as Shuya at about 171 cm (5'8), the manga lists his height as 181 cm (5'11). Before the game, his only question in to the situations was "When does the game begin?". Throughout the novel, he only really talks once, and that is before he shoots Mitsuru. He does not see the difference between drawing art, playing a violin, or killing his classmates.

Manga

In the manga, Kazuo is much like what the novel depicted, mercilessly killing his classmates with neither hesitation nor regret. One of the more notable differences from the novel version is that Kazuo's brain damage is caused by a car crash in his childhood rather than in utero, an event made clear in volume 14 in a sequence where a wounded Kazuo (shot from an angle by Noriko Nakagawa that eventually hit the damaged part of his brain) flashes back to his earlier (and happier) years. Here it may be assumed by some that he was colour blind when he wishes it to all go back to grey, however since earlier he comments that the students bleed red it is more likely that he is speaking in terms of emotional colours, wishing to go back to the gray area of his mind where there are no emotions, and therefore no colours. The manga depicts Kazuo as a near perfect genius, from his incredible talents when he was a child to his wide range of knowledge as a junior high student. He appears reading books about human anatomy and martial arts, and has the ability to quickly grasp anything not yet familiar to him. An example of which being when Kazuo appears to learn Judo in the course of a martial arts lesson, in order to fight his teacher who he then defeats by pulling out his eye. Kazuo is more expressive of his feelings and curiosity in the manga, as he pulls out his teacher's eye just to see the colour of the liquid inside it, he then turns to his class mates and expresses his surprise at the clear liquid. Kazuo talks more in the manga, exchanging a long conversation with Mitsuru in volume 2, and Hiroki in volume 12 after his body is put under too much stress and he vomits, Kazuo tells him about how his father's chauffeur killed a person in a car accident and even though it was covered up, the driver displayed the same symptoms as Hiroki from an ulcer, from here on however he barely speaks again (except in flashbacks) until he is shot by Noriko Nakagawa and whispers "Shuuya" as he dies. This death also hints at a return to normalcy for Kazuo as he whispers "Shu" beforehand, Shuuya's nickname.

Film

In the film, Kazuo is an enigmatic sadistic sociopath transfer student, who signed up as a volunteer for the Battle Royale Program. In the film, his only apparent motive is given by Shogo Kawada, who says he signed up "for fun". He begins the game with a paper fan as his designated weapon and goes along with a group of students (even though he was supposed to have the Franchi SPAS-12 when Kawada switched bags with him in the beginning). When they begin to suspect him as Kitano's agent, he takes the Uzi submachine gun and kills them all. He then grabs all the useful weapons (Uzi, Colt .357 revolver, hand grenades) and goes by himself. He finds Yukiko Kitano and Yumiko Kusaka trying to end the game with a peace statement, and murders them both, grabbing a sword.

Kazuo then chases Toshinori Oda to Kawada's hideout and shoots Oda. Oda survives due to his bulletproof vest, but Kiriyama proceeds to behead him with the sword. He then chases Shuya Nanahara and corners him near a small cliff. While he reloads his weapon Shuya shoots him but Kazuo just smiles, revealing he has taken the bulletproof vest for himself. Just before he can kill Shuya he is ambushed by Hiroki Sugimura and Shuya uses that chance to escape over the edge of the cliff into the sea, shortly followed by Hiroki as well.

On the final night, Kazuo finds Ijiima, Shinji Mimura and Seto trying to blow up the school and end the game. He kills all of them except Shinji, who blows up the bomb, killing himself and blinding Kazuo. Kawada, Shuya and Noriko then arrive on the scene. Even while blinded, Kazuo puts up a good fight, but he ran out of bullets and was finally killed by a shotgun blast to his collar. Kawada later dies from his injuries in the final battle with Kazuo.

The street gang

In the novel, Kazuo's designated weapon was a knife, and he most likely killed the other members of his street gang by deception rather than by stealth or physical force, before acquiring his signature weapon, a Ingram M10 fully automatic machine gun. He was also nick-named "Boss" by his fellow gang members and joined the game by a flip of a coin (heads he rebels, tails he plays). In the manga it is some what of the same thing only a little different, because he starts out with the Ingram Mac-10.In the movie he signed up for fun, his initial weapon is a paper fan, and he is not the leader or member of the street gang and kills them all for fun after they surround him and accuse him of being a spy for Kitano. After spitting gum in the face of Ryuhei Sasagawa, he is able to grab the MAC-10 and mow down the other members without hesitation or mercy. He then picks up their remaining weapons, and tosses aside a pair of nunchaku.

Weapons

In the novel he receives a knife (nerve gas) as his original weapon and he takes his MAC-10 and Walther PPK from his gang, the grenades from Yumiko Kusaka, a Beretta 92FS from Shinji Mimura, a Smith & Wesson M&P .38 revolver and Class III Kevlar vest from Toshinori Oda, a Colt M1911 from Hiroki Sugimura, a Smith & Wesson M59 Automatic pistol from Kayoko Kotohiki and a Smith & Wesson M19 .357 Magnum from Mitsuko Souma.

In the film, there are noticeable differences. He receives a paper fan, then takes the submachine gun(which is an Uzi, not a MAC-10 as in the novel) from Ryuhei Sasagawa. He then takes the revolver and grenades from the rest of the street gang, a sword from Yumiko Kusaka, a Kevlar vest from Toshinori Oda, a Colt M1911 and stungun from Mitsuko.

In the manga, things go in much the same way as in the novel, except that he starts off with only the MAC-10 . He acquires a Walther P99 from Mitsuru Numai, grenades from Yumiko Kusaka, a Colt Python and a Kevlar vest from Toshinori Oda, a .44 Auto Mag from Mizuho Inada and a Colt M1911 from Hiroki Sugimura. He also doesn't take the Beretta 92FS from Shinji Mimura after killing him.

Fate

All outcomes end with Kazuo's death. However, a different protagonist kills Kazuo in the three versions.

In the novel, Noriko Nakagawa and Shogo Kawada both shoot Kazuo in the face (in that order). After Kazuo is killed, Shogo tells Noriko, "I was the one who killed him, NOT YOU," in order to protect her from feeling guilty over Kazuo's death.

In the manga adaptation, Kazuo is killed by protagonist Shuya Nanahara, in the last volume. At volume 14 he is shot in the stomach with a shotgun by Shogo Kawada but he experiences a non-fatal wound as he was wearing the kevlar vest. He shoots Shogo in the abdomen rendering him incapable of doing much and then points his gun at Shuya. Shuya is too spellbound to do anything but then Noriko shoots him in the face with a revolver. It is then that Kazuo regains his emotions and has flashbacks of his youth to his eventual brain damage in a car accident. All the emotions that were unwillingly and willingly suppressed by him come back overwhelming him intensely. He starts losing his composure and also a bit of his sanity as now the laws of logic alone that bounded him have been broken. He even ponders on why Noriko isn't finishing him off, referring to her in an obscene manner in his thoughts. Shuya finally gains his valour and stabs him in the eye with a spearhead making Kazuo partially blind. Kazuo shows immense symptoms of hesitation and fear as he looks with despair at Shuya. Noriko comes and blocks Shuya's form, saying how she will not let him kill Shuya. Though deeply troubled Kazuo in an almost trembling fashion tries to shoot her. Shuya realizes it is time to act and finally shoots him through the neck . Shuya prolongs the final shot through the neck in order to make sure Kazuo feels it emotionally. Shuya attempts to resuscitate him (not wanting to be responsible for his death). Kazuo briefly regains consciousness and calls out Shuya's name before his death (In the English adaptation, he says "Shu. I can feel again"). In the end of volume 15 when Shuya and Noriko are finally heading for America and they are thinking of all those who died in the program, a scene is shown where all forty students, including Shuya's parents, Shinji's uncle and Hiroki's sensei, are all present around them and are smiling as if they are their guardian angels. Kazuo is seen with his gang and for the first time, (and shown for the final time in the manga), in the series he is shown to be truly smiling (sans sadism) as he looks at the couple.

In the film adaptation, Shogo Kawada kills Kazuo, first by shooting him in his leg after he is blinded by Shinji Mimura's bomb. Shogo then shoots a second round into Kazuo's collar, which subsequently explodes.

Official Class Designation

Kazuo Kiriyama, Shiroiwa Junior High School, 9th Grade, Class B, Boy #6.

External links

* [http://www.ameerose.net/fl/kazuo/ Kazuo Kiriyama Fanlisting]