Yoji Kuramoto
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Yoji Kuramoto (倉元洋二 Kuramoto Yōji?) is a character in the novel Battle Royale, and the film and manga of the same name. In the film he was played by Osamu Ohnishi.
Kuramoto has B-type blood.
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[edit] Development
Masayuki Taguchi, author of the manga version, modeled his version of Yoji after his "pure, virginal part of myself that I don't want people to see." Koushun Takami, author of the original Battle Royale novel, liked how Taguchi expanded Yoshimi's backstory. Takami described the manga version of the meeting between Yoshimi and Yoji as "standing strongly on its own." [1]
[edit] Pre-Program
Yoji Kuramoto is one of the class of third-year students at the fictional Shiroiwa Junior High School. Yoji, in the novel, is described as having thick eyelashes and a "Latin" look (Battle Royale, Page 212).
Yoji began dating his classmate Yoshimi Yahagi after they bumped into each other in town one day, and decided to see a movie. He claimed to have started dating her because he heard she was promiscuous, but this could have been said because of the pressure he endured in the program. Regardless, he soon grew to care for her, even, in the novel, giving her his fortune at the New Year festival because it was more positive than hers. He first slept with Yoshimi on Saturday 18th January.
In the novel, Yoji always kissed Yoshimi by first kissing her lips, then her eyelids, and finally the tip of her nose.
In the manga, the two met after Mitsuko had allowed Yoshimi to be raped by two men. The men were charged extra because Yoshimi was a virgin. With the money she gained from the incident, she was walking through town when she saw that a theater play called "Alley Cats" was turned into a film. Yoshimi liked "Alley Cats," so she went in the theater while feeling upset. During the middle of a tragic scene, she noticed Yoji was sitting next to her. Yoji, who was crying due to the tragic scene, also noticed Yoshimi. After the two recognise each other, Yoshimi jokes about it. Yoji tells her that he is a big fan of the actress who plays the main character. After the movie, the two are standing talking outside when he admits the reason he likes the actress so much is because she looks like Yoshimi. The two start dating after that point.
[edit] During the Program
In the novel and manga Yoji's designated weapon was a rusted antique dagger (a box cutter in the manga). He had wandered aimlessly, before happening to meet up with Yoshimi, the two then talk for a minute and Yoshimi, thinking Yoji will protect her, hands over her Colt M1911 to him. In the manga and novel, Yoji then threatens her with the gun, claiming that he never really liked her. Yoshimi pleads with him and tries to prove her love to him.
Just as Yoji began to realise that Yoshimi is right and that he is in love with her, in the novel Mitsuko Souma hits him in the back of the head with her sickle, killing him. In the manga the couple's reconciliation is longer; Yoji throws the gun away and realizes he loves her. She then tells him she loves him and he gets half way through saying he loves her when Mitsuko shoots him in the head and picks up Yoji's gun.
In both versions, Mitsuko claims to have done this in the novel because Yoji had attacked her friend Yoshimi. In reality she wants to take Yoshimi hostage, so she could use her as a human shield, and Yoji prevented this plan from taking place. In the manga she claims she did it because "guys like him are just after what you got" and just simply because she wanted to (although it might be partly because of her past and the fact that Mitsuko could not understand what it means to be in love).
In the film, after the students wake up in the classroom, Yoji whispers to Yoshimi when Kitano hits Yoji with a piece of chalk. Yoshimi angrily confronts Kitano, Kitano pushes her forehead away with his finger, and Yoshimi sits down.
Yoshimi and Yoji commit suicide with Yoji's rope.
[edit] References
- ^ "Final Chapter Memorial Discussion: Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi." Battle Royale. Volume 15. Tokyopop
