Movies - Shogo Kawada

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	Movies - Shogo Kawada

Shogo Kawada a.k.a. Boys #5 is one of the main heroes of Battle Royale and is fairly much the same in all versions.

Story

He is a transfer student in all the versions. In the novel and manga he was put in class B a few months before the program but in the film he is a transfer who does not appear on the scene until after the rest of the class has woken up on the Island.

He has fought on the program the year before and won it. He was the son of a doctor but in the film he also says his dad was a fisherman and a chef. In the Manga we see a scene in which he treats a baby suffering from burns and is very harsh to the already distressed mother. He also sometimes mentions a girl called Keiko who was in the last program with him.

In the movie, he is given a Franchi SPAS-12 Shotgun at the start of the program, whereas in the novel and manga, he gets a Remington 870. He meets Shuya and Noriko after Kyochi Motobuchi attacks Shuya with a revolver and saves them by shooting Kyochi. In the Novel and Manga, Shogo joins up with the two of them them immediately after, in the film they work together later. After Noriko gets ill he treats her and tells the others he knows a way off the island.

He looks after Noriko while Shuya is away at the lighthouse after he was shot by Kiriyama. He is hardened to the game and knows when things are likely to turn from bad to worse and he also knows what to do at times and where to go.

He finally kills Kazuo Kiriyama but is grievously wounded during the fight, and dies of his wounds on the boat on the way back to the mainland the next day.

Personality

Prior to the events of the film, manga and novel Kawada wasn't the combat hardened survivalist that he is in the present game. His personality differs from the three versions. In the novel and manga he is quite profficient in first aid, as his father is a doctor, appears to be quite intelligent although slightly unsympathetic. In the film, not much is known of his life before he went through the program, only that he learned several skills off his father such as cooking and how to drive a motor boat.

His relationship with Keiko also differs. In the flashback sequences in the novel and manga, he is in a relationship with her, and while they seem to be a happy couple most of the time, he upsets her frequently with his unsympathetic nature. One most notable incident was when he felt no ounce of pity when a couple had their child taken from them as they were guilty of stealing money. This happened the day before he was taken to the program. In the film, it is not known if Keiko and Kawada were really a couple, but they did care for each other in a similar way Shuya cares for Noriko.

Kawada's Battle Royale

As with his personality and relationship with Keiko, what happened when Kawada was originally put in the program differs from the three versions:

Novel and manga

In the novel and manga, Kawada didn't win by luck. He racked up the highest body count in the whole game, whilst searching for Keiko (believing that he was killing to protect her) first by stabbing a boy with a samurai sword, and then killing a girl by shooting her when she had fired at him and missed. Over the rest of the game he killed 10 more people, and was shot across his face, which left a scar that is visible even in his second game. Later on, he killed another boy by shooting him in his stomach. This however, was witnessed by his girlfriend Keiko, who was been held at gunpoint by one of the remaining players. He believes that Keiko should be with someone who cares about her, as he beleives Shogo doesn't, and seems to have lost his mind. Shogo just smiles and pretends he doesn't care, and says that he has already killed 13 people, and is playing to win. He then points out to him that hasn't taken the gun off safety, and then shoots him in the head and kills him. When Keiko asks him if what he says was true, he says that while he did kill 13 people, he is planning on shooting himself, letting Keiko win and beating the game (as he says "Loopholes, eh?"). However Keiko points the gun at him and threatens to kill him. It causes Kawada to react, and shoot Keiko in the head and kill her. As he mourns her, he finds out she was not aiming at him, but at the other last surviving contestant behind him. She trys to kill Kawada, but he dodges the shot and kills her. Kawada (now the winner) is taken from the island, recovers in a hospital, and goes back to his home, where he finds out his father died when he tried to fight back against the soldiers who told him Kawada was in the program.

The movie

Kawada's battle royale differs to the novel and manga greatly. First of all, while it is not known how many people Kawada killed, it can be gathered that it was far less than his body count in the novel and manga (which was 16). What is known from what he said is that he and Keiko were forced to kill one of their best friends who tried to kill them. In the final hour of the game, Kawada and Keiko, who both appear to be injured, walk to where a massive battle occured, with dead bodies lying around them everywhere. As the final minutes approach, the collars start flashing red and start beeping. Knowing that their death approaches, the two embrace and prepare themselves, but before the collars detonate, Keiko shoots Kawada. The two roll around, and Kawada shoots Keiko and mortally wounds her. She says "Thank you." and dies. The collars stop beeping, and Kawada wins. This serves as his motivation for the film - he wants to know why she gave up her life for him, something he eventually discovers when he does the same thing in the second game (giving up his own life to kill Kazuo, thereby letting Shuya and Noriko survive)

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