Kinpatsu Sakamochi (坂持 金八, Sakamochi Kinpatsu) is the overarching antagonist of Battle Royale. He is a government employee with no prior history to the class, and is the administrator of the Battle Royale Program.
Appearance[]
Kinpatsu is described as having long shoulder-length hair and wearing worn out clothes. He is also described as being fairly short.
In the Program[]
Kinpatsu is a vile and sadistic man who administers the Program. When the students awaken in the classroom, he is the one that informs them of why they are there, and notes that several of the students' parents were killed or otherwise punished for protesting upon being notified that Class B had been taken for the Program. Though he doesn't specify whose parents were killed, he does state that he personally informed Ms. Ryoko Anno, the orphanage caretaker of Shuya Nanahara and Yoshitoki Kuninobu, and then raped her when she protested. Kinpatsu subsequently has Yoshitoki executed when he threatens to kill the administrator, and then personally kills Fumiyo Fujiyoshi with a thrown knife for whispering to a classmate.
Kinpatsu takes pleasure in watching the class die and makes mocking statements of sentiment during his regular announcements regarding student deaths and forbidden zone updates. (ex: "I'm proud of you all!") He participates in gambling on which student will be the victor, and placed a large bet on Kazuo Kiriyama.
After the Program[]
After the Program concludes and Shogo Kawada is declared the victor, Kinpatsu accompanies Kawada on the boat back to the mainland and confronts the boy. He explains that he knows Kawada had tricked the system and that Shuya and Noriko Nakagawa are still alive.
During the conversation, Shogo asks him if he has children, to which he responds that he has two already, with a third on the way. Kinpatsu's reasoning is, as the text states, "I like to have a good time". It is not known if Kinpatsu is married or if his three children share the same mother. He also admits he used his connections to get his eldest child, a daughter in the second grade, into a prestigious school. He claims to have taught his children to be willing to die in the Battle Royale Program.
When Shuya and Noriko attack the ship's relaxed guards and crew, Kinpatsu is killed when Kawada uses the distraction to attack and stabs him in the neck with a pencil.
Etymology[]
- The name Kinpatsu means "gold" (金) (kin) and "eight" (八) (patsu)
- Kinpatsu's surname Sakamochi means "slope, incline" (坂) (saka) and "hold, have" (持) (mochi)
Trivia[]
- Kinpatsu mentions that he knows a soldier named Kato (加藤, Katō) whom he shares some history with, though this point is not elaborated on.
- Kinpatsu is not present in the manga or film adaptations of the novel. In the film, the teacher is called Kitano, played by Takeshi Kitano (credited as "Beat Takeshi"). The manga uses a character more similar to Kinpatsu named Yonemi Kamon.
- Kinpatsu makes brief appearances in the spin-off manga Battle Royale: Angels' Border.
- Kinpatsu Sakamochi's name is a pun on Kinpachi Sakamoto, the name of the dedicated teacher in the drama series Kinpachi-sensei.