Hirono Shimizu
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Hirono Shimizu (清水比呂乃 Shimizu Hirono?) is a character in the novel Battle Royale, and the film and manga of the same name. In the film she was played by Anna Nagata. Ai Iwamura "stands-in" for Nagata as Hirono in one of the scenes [1].
Hirono has a blood type of O.
[edit] Pre-Program
Hirono Shimizu 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). She is a member of the gang headed by Mitsuko Souma. Hirono, an attractive girl who looks like a high school or university student, has a terrible fear of frogs.
She had been involved with both recreational drugs and prostitution, and she also shoplifted and bullied other classmates (including Megumi Eto). As a result of these things, she did not get on well with her parents. In the film, Mitsuko Souma stole Hirono's boyfriend. This leads to animosity between the two girls.
[edit] During the Program
In the novel and manga, Hirono fights with Kaori Minami early on in the program, and Kaori shoots Hirono in the arm. Shuya Nanahara distracts Kaori while trying to break up the fight, and Hirono takes the opportunity to shoot Kaori and run away. In the novel, Hirono shoots Kaori in the head and kills her. In the manga, Shuya stops the fight and Hirono steps over and tells him he is totally crazy for stepping out into the middle of a gun fight, but says he is "good crazy" and that she can relate to that. She shows interest in joining up with him, but while Hirono and Shuya are talking Kaori shoots her in the upper arm and she runs off, Hirono does not kill Kaori; Kaori attempts to kill Shuya but is killed by Shogo Kawada instead.
Later on (in the novel and manga), Hirono suffers from septicaemia, and was severely dehydrated after using her water supply to clean her wound. She discovers a well outside a house, and rushes over to get a drink. As she pulls up the bucket, she notices a small frog was in the water, and she shrieks (possibly a foreshadowing as her killer was nicknamed Froggy). This attracts the attention of Toshinori Oda, who is hiding nearby. He creeps up on Hirono and tries to strangle her with his belt. Hirono pulls out her gun and shoots Toshinori in the stomach. She believes he is dead, and rushes to take the water from his daypack, but she is unaware that he is wearing a bulletproof vest, and had survived the shot. Toshinori gets up and attacks her again, this time managing to strangle her.
In the manga version, Toshinori kills Hirono by pushing her down the well, although she does not die immediately. She tries to climb out, but she cannot grip the smooth surface and her nails come off. She then has a final dream; in the dream, rainwater collects in the well, allowing her to get out of the well; when she gets out she realizes her arm has healed and that her burning dehydration is gone. She then sees her gun untouched and picks it up when she notices Shuya, Noriko and Shogo standing a few feet away. She points the gun at them but Shuya ignores the gun and tells her that there is a way out. Shuya pulls off his collar while stating that Kawada found a bypass cuircuit. Hirono drowns during her dream. Later in the manga, her body is found (still with her mouth open in what could either be a deranged grin, or an angry one) by Hiroki Sugimura, who had been following the tracking device he was given, but after checking the nearby buildings, he discovers the readings coming from the well. After shining a light on her, and seeing her face, he laments her death before moving on. Though at first very nervous that it is the girl he is looking for after seeing her uniform, he is sad that Hirono died, but he reveals he is grateful it is not the one he is searching for all this time.
In the manga, the unfeeling Yonemi Kamon, after revealing Hirono has died, makes a cruel joke stating that the survivors should boil any well water they use in the future.
In the film version, Hirono does not meet with Kaori, Toshinori, Hiroki, or Shuya at all. Instead, she confronts Mitsuko about killing Megumi Eto, stealing Hirono's boyfriend, and pimping Yoshimi Yahagi. They fight, and Mitsuko manages to steal Hirono's gun. Hirono tries to run away, but Mitsuko shoots her in the back and kills her.
[edit] Images
 Goof: she's holding a Browning Hi-Power instead of a Colt M1911. |
 Now holding the correct gun. |
 Mitsuko steals the gun after zapping Hirono with a Stun gun. |
