Megumi Eto
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Megumi Eto (江藤 惠 Etō Megumi?) is a character in the novel Battle Royale, and the film and manga of the same name. The manga romanizes her name as Megumi Etou [1]. In the film she was played by Sayaka Ikeda.
[edit] Before the program
Megumi Eto is one of the class of third-year students at the fictional Shiroiwa Junior High School in the fictional town of Shiroiwa (in the novel and manga, the town is in the Kagawa Prefecture, while in the film the novel is in the Kanagawa Prefecture).
In the novel, Megumi is a friend of Kaori Minami and Mizuho Inada; in the film Megumi is Noriko Nakagawa's best friend.
In the novel and manga, Megumi was often bullied by Hirono Shimizu; Hirono first entered Megumi's class in their second year of junior high school. When Megumi and Hirono were in the same hall, Hirono typically tripped Megumi and/or slashed Megumi's skirt with a razor. Before the program, Hirono lost interest in Megumi, who was disappointed about the fact that Hirono stayed in her class for the third year. In the film, Megumi mentions that she did not get along with Mitsuko Souma's clique in general.
Megumi has a crush on Shuya Nanahara but in the film version has a crush on Shinji Mimura instead.
In the novel and manga, Megumi's parents gave her a cellular phone in case "something" happened on the trip. In the film, Megumi's hobby is taking photographs with her Polaroid camera; Megumi took several photographs of Shinji and herself. In addition, she takes a photograph of Shuya, Noriko, and Yoshitoki Kuninobu on the bus right before the program begins.
Megumi has O-type blood.
[edit] During the program
After leaving the school, the terrified Megumi hides inside one of the houses. She is seen cowering in the kitchen.
In the novel and manga, she realised that she has her mobile phone with her. Kinpatsu Sakamochi told the students that the phone lines were down, but Megumi believes that she might be able to get through this way. She dials her home phone number, and when a male voice answers, she assumes it was her father, and begins to cry for help. Sakamochi revealed himself as the voice on the phone - the organizers were controlling all the mobile phone signals too.
Soon afterwards, Megumi hears someone else enter the house, so she hides underneath a table in the kitchen. She was terrified when she realised that the person who appears is Mitsuko Souma, because she knows Mitsuko has a bad reputation and is friends with Hirono, who bullied Megumi. Megumi starts to think that maybe she can kill Mitsuko when her phone rings and gives away her position. Sakamochi calls her again, warning her to turn her phone off in case it attracts unwanted attention. Of course, Sakamochi can see all the locations of the Battle Royale students, so he knows this would put her in danger.
In the manga, Megumi crushes the phone as soon as she realizes who she is talking to (Yonemi Kamon in the manga) with her hand, causing it to bleed. Megumi retreats back under the table when she hears the window smash. She gets out her weapon (a small knife) and hopes that whoever has just broken in does not look under the table; she then realizes that Mitsuko is in the house. Mitsuko sees the crushed phone on the floor and does look under the table and sees her.
In the novel and manga, Mitsuko approaches Megumi, and tells Megumi that she is scared too, and wants to team up with her. Megumi is relieved, and hugs Mitsuko, telling her how sorry she was for thinking about killing her. As they embrace, Mitsuko slit Megumi's throat with her sickle; Mitsuko had been acting the whole time, and had always intended to kill Megumi.
In the film Megumi sits at the table with her supplied flashlight suspended from a string looking at photos of Shinji Mimura when the light attracts Mitsuko Souma. Megumi instantly turns off the light and pulls out her weapon (in the film, a stungun). Megumi then turns to face Mitsuko and demands to know who is there. Mitsuko responds "Oh, it's you, Megumi". Megumi then shouts "Who are you?" Mitsuko then points her flashlight at her own face. When Megumi sees that Mitsuko is there, Megumi tells her she can come in.
Mitsuko then sits down next to her and the two converse briefly. Mitsuko then lunges at Megumi and there is a short chase around the room. Megumi ends up with Mitsuko's kama at her throat. Mitsuko then tells her that she found Yoji Kuramoto and Yoshimi Yahagi dead next door (they both committed suicide by hanging themselves). Mitsuko shouts "I'll never die like that," and finally slashes Megumi's throat, killing her.
Megumi is the first of Mitsuko's victims.
