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Book VS Movie: Background
Whenever a book is converted into a movie one must understand that the book will always involve more detail and perspective on characters than is possible to portray through a film. But when it comes to Kiriyama's character an air of mystery doesn't hurt him, infact it almost seems to improve certain aspects of his personality in ways the book never could.
Kazuo's background is shown to us through the thoughts of characters and clever narration. He is rich, he is gorgeous, he is talented in every single thing he does and yet he has a sense of peculiarity about him that Nanahara couldn't seem to shake off. He never smiles. We also discover that he is a deadly fighter who leads a gang. Numai affectionately refers to him as 'King' or 'Boss' since he acknowledges Kiriyama's pure superiority.
Numai in particular is a source of information related to Kazuo. We find out how he instills respect and numerous escapades that he took part in, every time coming out on top of the situation. He was slick and Numai trusted him completely thinking the Kiriyama Family would be the one group that would never fall.
The most important bit of information the book provides us is why Kiriyama is the way he is. This is so incredibly necessary because it helps the viewer understand Kazuo never made the choice to not care, it was thanks to the fact he was injured in the womb. The injury thus causing a lack of feeling. As stated in the book 'ever since the day he had dropped into this world the way he was, he had never once felt a single emotion.'
We discover Kazuo is infact a tragic character not just because of the fact he was unable to feel anything in his entire life but because he had such potential. Kiriyama could have done anything he wanted in his life, he could have brought the system down and saved himself, his friends and his classmates but simply chose not to. What if he had used his talents to bring the system down and the coin had come up heads?
Within the movie Kiriyama is a mystery since none of the above is brought to light. We don't know why he is homicidal, we don't know why he chose to be in the game, we don't know about his friends or family. Though Numai does say he finds Kazuo to be a mystery in the book it is not to such a great extent as a movie viewer suffers. But the mystery as stated earlier does not hurt the character. Numai eluding to Kazuo's mysterious nature in the book shows a link that the writers kept between novel and movie. The oddness and talent (and good looks :p) remains but is simply not explained.
Keeping the backstory out of the picture meant that we could properly focus on the pure mystery and intriguing personality that lies within Kiriyama. But it isn't completely impossible to see this side of him in the book as well. By making the change the writer ensured Kazuo's essence remained the same when transfered from one medium to another.
Conclusion
Detailed is better. It should have been a nobrainer that knowing about Kiriyama's past would be intriguing, wonderful and amazing but I felt the need to prattle anyway.