For the novel, please go to Yoji Kuramoto (Novel). For the film, please go to Yoji Kuramoto (Film).
Yoji Kuramoto (倉元 洋二, Kuramoto Yōji) is a minor character in Battle Royale.
Backstory[]
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. 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 to 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 recognize 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.
In the Program
Yoji's designated weapon was a box cutter. 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. 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 begins to realize that Yoshimi is right and that he is in love with her, and throws the gun away. She then tells him she loves him and he gets half way through saying he loves her when Mitsuko picks up Yoji's gun and shoots him in the cheek, literally blowing his brains out. Yoshimi, in shock, tries to scoop Yoji's brain back into his skull while scolding him for making a mess before snapping back to reality and demanding to know why Mitsuko killed him, to which she claims to have done this because "guys like him are just after what you got" and just simply because she wanted to before shooting Yoshimi as well.
Etymology[]
- The name Yoji means "ocean" (洋) (yō), and "two" (二) (ji)
- Yoji's surname Kuramoto means "warehouse, storehouse" (倉) (kura), and "base, origin" (元) (moto)
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 described the manga version of the meeting between Yoshimi and Yoji as "standing strongly on its own."