Kaori Minami

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mai Sekiguchi as Kaori Minami in the film Battle Royale.
Mai Sekiguchi as Kaori Minami in the film Battle Royale.
Manga Kaori Minami
Manga Kaori Minami

Kaori Minami (南佳織 Minami Kaori?) is a character in the novel Battle Royale, and the film and manga of the same name. In the film she was played by Mai Sekiguchi.

Kaori has a blood type of B.

[edit] Pre-Program

Kaori Minami 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 located in the Kagawa Prefecture, while it is located in Kanagawa Prefecture in the film). Kaori was a big fan of Junya Kenzaki (剣崎順矢 Kenzaki Jun'ya), a member of the pop group Flip Side. She always wore a locket with his picture in underneath her uniform. Kaori was the only student in the school to have this locket, as it was only available to members of the Flip Side fan club. Her favourite song is Galaxy Magnum by Flip Side.

Kaori has a sister. Kaori has pimples, which she worries about frequently, but she tries her hardest to look her best and clearing up her spots. She occasionally hung out with Mizuho Inada, though Mizuho's fantasy games, and insistence on calling her Lorela Lausasse Kaori, often bored her. In the novel and manga, Megumi Eto is described as one of Kaori's friends.

In some of the flashbacks in the manga, she is constantly bullied by Mitsuko's gang; gang members usually steal her money. Other students label her "pizza face" to insult her; during the program she goes insane because of this and often uses the sentence, "No more pizza face!".

[edit] During The Program

After leaving the school, Kaori was the last girl Yukie Utsumi attempted to recruit into her group - however, seeing that Yukie was with 5 other girls, Kaori was too paranoid to trust her, and chose to run away rather than join them.

Just before noon in the novel, Kaori, sitting alone in the foliage thinking about Junya Kenzaki, is encountered by Hiroki Sugimura. Startled, she shoots at Hiroki, who disappears, and quickly flees, her train of thought spiraling downwards.

In the novel and manga, Kaori accidentally runs into Hirono Shimizu, and the two of them get into a gun fight. Kaori shoots Hirono in the arm. Shuya Nanahara sees the fight and tries to stop it.

In the novel, while Kaori is distracted by him, Hirono shoots her in the shoulder, then in the head; the headshot caused a portion of her head from the top to the left temple to explode. Kaori dies as a result of the head shot.

In the manga, Kaori becomes mentally unstable after accidentally killing a cat while on her own (in the novel her mental breakdown was caused by a brief run in with Hiroki Sugimura, who she assumed was trying to attack her while in fact he was checking to see if she was Kayoko Kotohiki), and later ends up in a gun fight with Hirono. Shuya steps in the gunfight promising help and safety, creating a small cease-fire. Shuya manages to persuade Hirono to join him. However, Kaori is taken over by a psychotic rage when the locket (thinking this) tells her to kill Hirono and Shuya, she shoots Hirono in the arm (she escapes) and holds Shuya up to a wall with her gun near his face. Babbling mad, she attempts to shoot him, but is shot in the side of the head with a shotgun by Shogo Kawada multiple times.

In the film when all the pupils are leaving the school, she tells Mizuho that she is her friend. Later on, she is stabbed by Mizuho Inada while fighting over a life preserver.

Languages