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Book VS Movie: Appearence
One of the most perplexing things for a Kiriyama fan is attempting to understand why such a drastic change was made to his appearence. While all other essence of his persona remained the same his hairstyle in particular was altered to such an extent it would seem like another character. What's more his age is changed so that he is no longer a student in the class but appears at least a couple of years older.
So why do this? And which one better suits Kiriyama as a character?
Within the novel we find out Kiriyama is from a rich family even though it is not his real father that takes care of him. He is refined, well taught and intelligent. In this way the slicked back black hair he sports is very suitable. It screams good upbringing. However Kiriyama's essence is anything but refined. The hair acts as a mask for something sinister that lies beneath. Fans know very well it was hardly Kazuo's choice to be the way he is but that does not excuse the fact there is something wrong with him. He isn't perfect.
Within the film Kazuo is a complete mystery. Since it would be impossible to convincingly portray his past to the viewer the director must have decided tweeking the character would be a better approach than making him seem unreal in the bad sense. Though the character we end up seeing is exactly alike to the book version in his inner persona the exterior and position in the game had to be altered. We are now presented with someone who is stated as in the competition for 'fun'. Put bluntly we can not deny the Kiriyama portrayed must be viewed as slightly insane. Instantly his new appearence makes sense. Refined, black hair would not suit the character in the least nor would being a student.
Another important fact to analyse is that Kiriyama's hairstyle was ultimately thanks to his friend Numai. In the book it is stated that Kazuo inquired as to what his 'friend' thought of the hairstyle. Numai replied saying he should keep the hair the way it was and from then on viewed it as a sort of contract between friends. A connection the two held.
Since Kiriyama is removed from the class in the movie it is impossible for him to have ever had this conversation with Numai. All things considered it is completely possible that if his friend had told him to change his hair it would have turned out red and messy like it was in the movie. Thus with no interaction with Numai at all Kiriyama had no reason not to change his hair to wild and red.
One must also realise that the clothing of Kiriyama was not entirely altered even though the rest of his appearence changed and he was removed from the class and thus didn't wear a school uniform. The uniform was infact changed so that Kiriyama could remain in his black clothing almost isolating him as the 'black sheep' immediately.
Conclusion
Red and Wild is best. The change made to Kiriyama between book and movie was a good choice. Though it seems trivial the idea of wild untamed hair better suits Kiriyama's crazy and well.. wild personality. In both the book and movie Kazuo proves to be quite unpredictable and a simple hairstyle would not suit his nature.I will admit that seeing Kazuo as part of the class would have been prefered to being a random person who signed up for the game. However both storylines were written so well that I can't truly fault either one. Therefore I will not complain. The immediate isolation of Kiriyama as a character in the movie helped the viewer to understand and follow the storyline better. Explaining why Kiriyama turns on his own classmates would have been difficult to transfer into a movie.
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