Shougo Kawada

Boy #5 Shougo Kawada, portrayed as a loner within the class ranks, is a transfer student. He is put in Class B about two months before the program takes place. He is the winner of a previous program, 2 years prior.


Shougo is a transfer student in all three versions. In the novel and manga Shougo, who was from Kobe Second District Junior High School in Kobe in Hyougo Prefecture, was put in Shirowa Junior High School's Class 3-B in Shiroiwa, Kagawa Prefecture a few months before the Program. In the film he is a transfer from Kobe Number 5 Junior High School who does not appear on the scene until after the rest of the class has woken up on the Island; in the film the rest of the class is from the Kanagawa Prefecture instead.

In the novel, he is described as having a "body built like a middleweight boxer's." His hair is described as having "hair cropped so short he looked like a monk" and had a "long scar from what appeared to be a knife wound [which] ran over his left brow, and...two round scars next to each other on his left shoulder [that] looked like gunshot wounds."

He has fought on the Program, which held his class, 3-C, two years before (three years in the film) and won it. He was the son of a doctor, but in the film he also says his father was a fisherman and a chef. In the manga, the reader sees a scene in which he treats a baby suffering from burns and is very harsh to the already distressed mother.

Shougo also sometimes mentions a girl called Keiko Onuki who was in the last program with him. In the manga, she was the one who presented him the bird caller as a gift.

In the film, Shougo is given a Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun at the start of the Program, whereas in the novel and manga he gets a Remington 870.

Due to his past experiences, he knows what the best action at certain times and is very organized. In the novel, on the first night before meeting Shuya and Noriko he raids the town's supply store and walks around verifying locations that are marked on the map; he also sees Shinji Mimura in the town on the first night, but he ignores Mimura.

He meets Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa early in the first morning after Kyoichi Motobuchi attacks Shuya with a revolver and saves them by shooting Kyoichi. In the novel and manga, Shougo joins up with the two of them immediately after Kyoichi's attack; in the film, they work together later. Shougo shoots Kaori Minami dead in the manga. He treats Noriko for a fever and helps her and Shuya get off the Island.

He looks after Noriko while Shuya is away at the Lighthouse, the hideout of several of the female students after he (Shuya) was shot by Kazuo Kiriyama.

Shougo is hardened to the game and knows when things are likely to turn from bad to worse, and he also knows what to do at times and where to go.

At the end, he kills Kiriyama, but is grievously wounded during the fight, and dies of his wounds on the boat on the way back to the mainland the next day. In the novel and manga he manages to kill the program instructor (Kinpatsu Sakamochi in the novel, Yonemi Kamon in the manga). In both versions, the instructor dies when Shougo impales the instructor in the neck with a pencil.

In the novel, Shougo dies of a neck wound, while in the manga he dies of a stomach injury. Although the movie does not specify a critical point of his injuries, he might have died either due to loss of blood or sepsis, as he was shot multiple times.

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Prior to the events of the film, manga, and novel, Shougo Kawada was not the combat-hardened survivalist that he is in the present game. His personality differs in the three versions. In the novel and manga, he is quite proficient in first aid, as his father is a doctor, appears to be quite intelligent although slightly unsympathetic. In the film, not much is known of his life before he went through the Program, only that he learned several skills from his father such as cooking and how to drive a motorboat.

His relationship with Keiko also differs. In the flashback sequences in the novel and manga, he is in a relationship with her, and while they seem to be a happy couple most of the time, he upsets her frequently with his unsympathetic nature. One most notable incident was when he felt no ounce of pity when a couple had their child taken from them as they were guilty of stealing money. This happened the day before he was taken to the Program. In the film, it is not known if Keiko and Shougo were really a couple; they care for each other in a similar way Shuya cares for Noriko in a deliberate parallel by the filmmakers.

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In the novel and manga, Shougo did not win by luck. He racked up the highest body count in the whole game, which took place in a sectioned off section of a city projects, whilst searching for Keiko (believing that he was killing to protect her) first by stabbing a boy with a katana, and then killing a girl by shooting her when she had fired at him and missed. Over the rest of the game, he killed a total of 15 students (throwing one out a window) and was cut above his eyebrow, which left a scar that is visible even in his second game.

In the novel, it is stated that she died before meeting Shougo and that he stayed at the location of her death for quite some time (he claims it was because "she died a horrible death"). After he kills Kazuo, Shougo lies to Shuya and Noriko by stating that he never had a relationship with Keiko; in the novel and manga, he states that the girl in the photograph is a lady named Kyoka Shimazaki, who he says lives in Kobe. Shougo lies about "Shimazaki" to fool Kinpatsu Sakamochi since he knows Sakamochi listens in on conversations.

In the manga, later on, Shougo kills another boy by shooting him in his stomach. This, however, was witnessed by his girlfriend Keiko, who is held at gunpoint by one of the remaining male players. He believes that Keiko should be with someone who cares about her, as he believes Shougo does not, and seems to have lost his mind. Shougo just smiles and pretends he does not care and says that he has already killed 13 people, and is playing to win. Shougo then points out to him that he has not taken the gun off safety, and then shoots him in the head and kills him. When Keiko asks him if what he says was true, he says that while he did kill 13 people, he is planning on shooting himself, letting Keiko win and beating the game (as he says, "Loopholes, eh?"). However, Keiko points the gun at him and threatens to kill him. It causes Shougo to react, and shoot Keiko in the head and kill her.

As he mourns her, Shougo finds out she was not aiming at him, but at the other last remaining contestant behind him. She tries to kill him, but he dodges the shot and kills her. Shougo (now the winner) is taken from the projects, recovers in a hospital, and goes back to his home, where he finds out his father died when he tried to fight back against the soldiers who told him Shougo was in the Program.
(Source: Battle Royale Wikia)