GUIDE TO REMEMBERING THE CHARACTERS

[Ruby]

When I read this, I had a little trouble remembering which character was which. There are 42 children, and my brain isn't yet wired for Japanese names. So I made a list of memory joggers in the front of the book as an easy reference. There are no spoilers here, just clues to help you remember each of the characters. feel free to use it or share it. :)

Males:

1. Yoshio Akamatsu - The fattest, clumsiest boy
2. Keita Ijima - Innocent, trusting, not very brave
3. Tatsumichi Oki - The hatchet boy
4. Toshinori Oda - The vain little prince
5. Shogo Kawada - Tough guy loner
6. Kazuo Kiriyama - Head of the bad boy's gang
7. Yoshitoki Kuninobu - A good guy, Shuya's best friend
8. Yoji Kuramoto - Had an affair with one of the bad girls, Yoshimi
9. Hiroshi Kuronaga - One of Kazuo's gang
10. Ryuhei Sasagawa - One of Kazuo's gang
11. Hiroki Sugimura - Good guy with a tracking device
12. Yutaka Seto - The class clown, Shinji's best friend
13. Yuichiro Takiguchi - The Otaku boy
14. Sho Tsukioka - The gay boy with a quiff
15. Shuya Nanahara - A nice guy, Yoshitoki's best friend
16. Kazushi Niida - A real dick, with no respect for girls
17. Mitsuru Numai - One of Kazuo's gang
18. Tadakatsu Hatagami - Justifiably cautious
19. Shinji Mimura - Smart guy, computer hacker
20. Kyoichi Motobuchi - This class rep has a pistol
21. Kazuhiko Yamamoto - One half of the class couple

Females:

1. Mizuho Inada - A friend of Kaori's, and a little bit loopy
2. Yukie Utsumi - The female class rep - One of the "Good Girl 6"
3. Megumi Uto - Frightened and desperate to trust someone
4. Sakura Ogawa - One half of the class couple
5. Izumi Kanai - She headed towards the southern reef at the start
6. Yukiko Kitano - Best Friends Forever
7. Yumiko Kusaka - Best Friends Forever
8. Kayoko Kotohiki - The mystery girl who practices tea ceremony
9. Yuko Sakaki - Abused as a child - One of the "Good Girl 6"
10. Hirono Shimizu - One of the bad girls, involved in a shoot-out
11. Mitsuko Souma - Queen of the bad girls, the Fallen Angel
12. Haruka Tanizawa - Athletic volleyballer - One of the "Good Girl 6"
13. Takako Chigusa - The posh tottie, lots of jewellery
14. Mayumi Tendo - Braided hair, left the school just before Shuya
15. Noriko Nakagawa - Went off with Shuya
16. Yuka Nakagawa - Cheerful, chubby & tanned - One of the "Good Girl 6"
17. Satomi Noda - The model student with glasses- One of the "Good Girl 6"
18. Fumiyo Fujiyoshi - She whispered in class
19. Chisato Matsui - Petite feminine volleyballer - One of the "Good Girl 6"
20. Kaori Minami - Pop idol fanatic
21. Yoshimi Yahagi - A bad girl who had an affair with Yoji

[Kelly]

Great idea! Wish Id had something like this when I read the book.

[Avital]

I had the same problem! That's why I didn't continue...

[Ruby]

It's worth persevering with. Promise!

[Gertie]

Love this, thanks!!

[Kevin]

great way to remember the characters. I just tried and picture actors in my head to fit each one, sadly, they all looked like Mr Chow, Jackie Chan or Jet Li

[Aimee]

this is so great! Thank you!

[Ruby]

No worries. Hope you're enjoying the book as much as I did :)

[Aimee]

Man i am breezing through it! This post was my intitial worry also, but there was no way that was stopping me. Page turner!!

[Adam]

this was such a page turner that I didn't have enough down time with it to forget characters

[[deleted user]]

I just remember and read the first 4 letters of each name. Seemed to work for me.

[Tyrinn]

My brain adjusted pretty fast to them, but after all three guys with T names were dead I couldn't keep them straight.

[Victor]

This is a very good idea! I will definitly be using this when I read the book.

[Avril]

Thank you! i'll read the book again!

[Deidre]

Thank you!! I just started reading this but had heard that the names could be difficult to distinguish so I was going to make my own list but you've saved me the time :D

[Luz]

Great, thank you!

[Angie]

Thank you! The same like you. When I read a name, I had to go to chapter 0 in order to remember (Unfortunately, not all of them are mentioned in chapter 0).

[Kandice]

Awesome list! My brain is not quite wired for Japanese names either so I made my own list as I read, but it wasn't as complete as yours. I didn't think of it until I was a few chapters in so didn't bother with anyone already dead.

If I re-read, I will definitely use YOUR list instead of mine.

Thanks. :)

[Ruby]

No worries! I tried to keep spoilers out of it too, but I needed some kind of memory prompt. :)

[Francesca]

I was actually surprised at how well I remembered a lot of their names! I remembered all the names of the most prominent characters and my favourite characters but I did have trouble with a some of the other characters that were barely mentioned or were killed after, like, one page and had to remind myself of who they were when their names were mentioned!

To be fair though, I don't think me struggling to remember all the names was necessarily just down to them being Japanese names, I think it was just the sheer number of them! I'm sure I'd have still forgotten half their names/who they were even if their names had all been like Sarah or John!

[arman]

This is pretty helpful especially if you're listening to the audiobook.

[Susan]

Where was this when I was reading the "good girl 6" scene?

[Shane]

One tip I found useful was writing the page numbers (corresponding to when they were first introduced and/or when their traits or back stories were described) next to their names in the character list.

[Julia]

Just what I was looking for! Thanks!

[Berta]

I just found this looking for a list of characters for the book (my daughter told me se was totally lost with all the Japanese names).

Thank you very much!!

[Sokobedy]

Thank youuuuuu! 😄