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They sought to transform the country, illuminating personal freedoms and individualism in the process. “Your sacrifice honors our country.” Government officials say this to young men during the orientation to their mandatory military enlistment, and they repeat the same façade to grieving parents and quiet, paranoid civilians. The shift in the government and legislation beginning in 2005, and the country formally known as Japan is currently in a police state. Citizens are monitored through telephone tapping and surveillance cameras, they’re forced into professions by the government depending on their history and test scores, and every year a popular television show known as The Project airs for several seasons.
Disguised as a method of gathering data for military research The Project is conducted using fifty different groups of students each year, the research subjected chosen at random from a list of middle school and high school classes. Hosted on a remote island the students are faced with one ultimatum: kill, or be killed. With metal collars wound around their necks, wired to explode in response to rebellion, the students are given a random weapon and a bag of simple supplies, and then they fall into Hell while the nation watches over the massacre. There is no hiding once you take part of The Project, and after a handful of insubordinate classes delayed their research the government was sure to make sure their players keep running with the island divided into various zones, and throughout the game those that linger in ‘forbidden zones’ for too long will soon find their collar lighting up, and themselves without a head.
The viewers witness to the student’s loss of humanity as they murder their friends in the name of survival and for those that do survive as campions – given pensions as companion – there’s always a chance that they will be forced to play again, this time as transfer students.
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How many people could recognize Janaìcek's Sinfonietta after hearing just the first few bars? Probably somewhere between "very few" and "almost none." But for some reason, Aomame was one of the few who could.
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XXXXXXXXXXFallen Sekuban
XXXXXX.XXXXXSeventeen
XA person's last moments are an important thing.
XXXXXYou can't choose how you're born
XXX.XXbut you can choose how you die.
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Aomame thought hard, arranging everything in order of priority. She needed hardly any time to reach a conclusion. As if to coincide with this, the final movement of the Janaìcek was just beginning.