
Takako Chigusa- pretty, track, Hiroki's best friend 14. Haruka Tanizawa- tall, plays volley ball, mainstream girls/neutrals 13.

Mitsuko Souma- leader of girl delinquents, pretty 12. Yumiko Kusaka- Yukiko's childhood friend, tomboy 8. Yukiko Kitano- Yumiko's childhood friend, likes to bake 7. Izumi Kanai- preppy, mainstream girls/neutrals 6. Yukie Utsumi- class representative, mainstream girls/neutrals 3. Kazuhiko Yamamoto- girlfriend is Sakura Girls 1. Kyoichi Motobuchi- hard studier, class representative, father in government 21. Shinji Mimura- short hair, wears earring, very athletic, mature views on world knowledge 20. Tadakatsu Hatagami- jock plays baseball, Shuya former friend 19. Shuya Nanahara- main character, orphan, plays electric guitar, used to play baseball 16. Yutaka Seto- class clown, orphan, Shinji childhood friend 13. Hiroki Sugimura- tall, lanky, reserved, into marshal arts, Takako's best friend 12. Yoshitoki Kuninobu- orphan, crush on Norika, Shuya's childhood friend 8. Kazuo Kiriyama- leader of delinquents, father rich, top student, good at sports, different kind of person 7. Shogo Kawada- older kid, scarred, held back a year due to injury, scares other delinquents 6. Toshinori Oda- short, thin, violinist, snob 5. Yoshio Akamatsu- big kid, timid, picked on 2. Like the game "clue" each opponent has a different type of weapon that is supplied.

The premises is the same where "there can only be one" but the story is much more gruesome. I picked this book up because I heard it was like Hunger games. Even if the other kids are dying, most people/kids think they will be the exception. Probably has to do with all the hormones running through their bodies. Yes there is the teenage crushes going on but the kids are 15, they usually don't have much else on their mind. This is a very dark book in that the scenes are bloody and I think it makes it worse that they were all friends and schoolmates. The narrator was good, I thought he had a clear voice with a slight Asian accent.

Of course it didn't hurt that the kids all had numbers next to their names. I know some of the descriptions are cliché, but that is how the author wrote them. I finally found a print out and wrote notes next to the name with a brief character description, this helped me keep all the characters straight. This book was good, but I will admit I had a hard time with the names.
