010: Battle Royale Vol. 4
We apologise in advance for the foul language! Sound issues, so please give yourself a moment to adjust to the audio.
The topics:
· Are there women like Chigusa? The character is an example of the sexist "resting bitch face" trope.
· The clever use of Flashbacks throughout 'Battle Royale' and how they are used to quickly build sympathy, especially with characters who we only spend a short time with.
· Kaori's mental illness.
· Sugimura.
· Kawada's empathy skills.
· Pop culture references - Bruce Lee -Sugimura's nose tap and toy.
The following is a synopsis of the plot:
As part of the Battle Royale, a young woman, Chigusa, is caught in a fight with the misogynistic Nida. His plan being to batter her into submission before he can rape and kill her. Chigusa, remembering something that her friend once said, gains the spirit to fight back and kill Nida. Not long after this she is shot by Mitsuko Soma.
She lives long enough to see her friend, Sugimura and warn him about Soma. The two confess their love for each other.
Meanwhile Noriko gets a fever from a bullet wound, this prompts Nanahara to take the risky option of carrying her to an infirmary, much to the chagrin of Kawada who prefers to wait it out.
Nanahara hides Noriko as he tries to break up a gun fight between Kaori and Shimizu. Kaori is an avid fan of a pop idol known as Junya Kanzaki. Under complete stress, Kaori's idol and ill-equipped totem no longer act as a coping mechanism, instead they fuel her paranoid schizophrenia. She shoots at Shimizu, scaring her off. Nanahara is saved by Kawada, who arrives in time to shoot and Kill Kaori.
During this time Mimura finds out that the explosive collars that the students wear are bugged with microphones. He once again proceeds to hack into their oppressor's system, this time with a USB device given to him at his uncle's funeral.
Kawada treats Noriko at the infirmary yet once given time to rest she starts to eavesdrop on Nanahara and Kawada. Both the young men count their amenities, Nanahara more so since he watched his best friend, Nobu, die. Noriko mourns the loss of Nobu when she hears that he had feelings for her. She watches the sunset and hopes her romantic feelings towards Nanahara are not in vain now that her life depends on it.
