| “ | AK-47, Avtomat Kalashnikov. Favorite weapon of Freedom fighters everywhere.
— Shuya Nanahara on the AK-47
|
” |
Shuya Nanahara was a normal middle school student in a alternate Japan where a totalitarian government persisted to the modern era. Nanahara was unfortunate enough to be a member of a 9th grade class chose to be part of "Battle Royale" program, in which students are forced to kill each other until only one remains. The game was presumably implemented by the government as a means of inspiring fear and retaliating against youth opposition. Nanahara survived the event by banding together with two other students, Shogo Kawada and Noriko Nakagawa. After surviving for three days, surviving attempts on their lives by Kazuo Kiriyama and other opponents, Nanahara took advantage of another group of students hacking the main computer system of the event, disabling the explosive collars used to control the participants, and entered the headquarters of event after military forces on the island had departed, thinking the battle was over. In the headquarters, an abandoned school on the island, Nanahara, Kawada, and Nakagawa confronted Kitano, the organizer of the event, and killed him.
Kawada then stole a fishing boat and the three used it to escape the island, however, Kawada succumbed to bullet wounds he sustained in his fight with Kiriyama on the boat. In the manga version, things happen differently, with Shuya, Nakagawa, and Kawada killing off the crew of military vessel and hijacking the ship. In the manga, Shuya and Noriko escape to the United States.
In the film version, however, Shuya and Noriko, escape to an unspecified Middle Eastern country, possibly Afghanistan, where Shuya presumably learned guerilla warfare and combat techniques. Two years later, Nanahara returns and starts off an anti-government terrorist organization known as the Wild Seven (though there a lot more than seven members). Nanahara make a base on an abandoned island modeled after the real-life Hashima or Battleship Island near Nagasaki, and during his time in Japan, is responsible for a number of terrorist attacks, one of them destroying a number of high-rises in Tokyo. Nanahara is later cornered on the island, and the government deploys child soldiers in a revised Battle Royale program, with orders to kill Nanahara. Many of the child soldiers are slaughtered in the initial approach to the island, but he dozen or so who get in make their way into Nanahara's compound are captured by the "Wild Seven" and eventually defect.
Nanahara and the others are soon attacked by the special forces. Many of the Wild Seven are killed, either in the attack or the missile bombardment that followed, however, about 20-30, mostly women and children, escape via a tunnel to the mainland. In the fight to buy the survivors, the Wild Seven inflicted heavy casualties on the special forces, forcing them to retreat and resort to artillery bombardment of the island. Nanahara and one of other of the fighters also manages to escape and rejoin the other escapees in the Middle Eastern country Nanahara lived in previously.
Battle vs. Gai Tsutsugami (by SPARTAN 119)[]
Shuya Nanahara: 
Gai Tsutsugami: 
Gai Tsutsugami and five "Undertakers" walked off a boat, onto the abandoned island of Hashima. Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, and a muzzle flash appeared in the window of an abandoned building. One of the "Undertakers" fell down dead.
An "Undertaker" soldier next to Gai took aim with a SMAW rocket launcher and fired it into the window of the building where the sniper shot came from. The rocket exploded in the room, killing the "Wild Seven" sniper in the blast.
Gai and the other four "Undertakers" advanced from cover-to-cover, towards the entrance of the apartment building. Suddenly, an RPG-2 round impacted, vaporizing one of the "Undertakers". An "Undertaker" sniper spotted the RPG gunner and fired his Dragunov, picking off the "Wild Seven" member.
Shuya Nanahara raised his AK47 and took aim at an "Undertaker" armed with a similar weapon. Shuya fired fired, a three round burst with two rounds going into the torso and one in head . An "Undertaker" retaliated, firing his AK, taking down a "Wild Seven" member to Nanahara's right.
Gai and the last other "Undertaker" stacked up on the door to the apartment building. The two burst in, Gai personally shooting a "Wild Seven" soldier with his MP7. . The other Undertaker entered the stairwell first, only to be cut down by a burst of fire from Shuya's Micro Uzi. Shuya kept firing as Gai entered, but only one shot hit, knocking the MP7 out of his hand.
Shuya took cover as his Uzi ran out of ammuntion, drawing his Smith and Wesson and breaking cover to fire a shot, which grazed the side of Gai's head, placing a gash across his cheek. Gai returned fire with three shots from his Luger, all three hitting Shuya in the chest. Shuya's body fell forward and rolled down the stairs, falling at Gai's feet.
WINNER: Gai Tsutsugami
Expert's Opinion[]
While both Shuya and Gai were extremely skilled marksmen, having fought highly trained special forces units before and come out on top, Gai took the edge for his more modern weapons and his greater combat experience.