By: Koushun Takami Publisher: VIZ Media LLC Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: VIZ Media LLC Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 624 Publication Date: February 26, 2003
Product Description: Battle Royale, a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence in a dystopian world, it is one of Japan's best-selling - and most controversial - novels. As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television. A Japanese pulp classic available in English for the first time, Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world. The first novel by small-town journalist Koushun Takami, it went on to become an even more notorious film by 70-year-old director Kinji Fukusaku.
GREA YET SCARY If a boy about the age of 10 read the original novel, he would have soiled himself, had nightmares until he was 20, and then some!!!!
Battle Royale is set in Tokyo (In the novel it is referred as the Republic of Greater East Asia) where ninth grade students are randomly chosen to fight each other to the death on a deserted island. The students are provided weapons (guns, knives etc.) to quote from the movie, "Eliminate natural advantages." It is not for the faint of heart. There is graphic murder and violence and sexual talk and near-relations.
BE CAREFUL!!! But, it is an excellent and revolutionary book READ if not FAINT of HEART!!!!
Excellent Character Study for Strong Stomachs (Please read Full review for clarity of what I am about to say)
This is a Horrible book!
By horrible I mean that it is an Excellent book, well paced, extrememly well written and includes characters (Not JUST the leads) that you actually Care about...
...which is where the true Horror comes in.
Some out there might have seen the movie, detailing what happens when an oppressive government (think of life under Pol Pot, Kim Jong III or Hillary Clinton) forces jr, high school students to kill each other in a fight to the death. Now, the movie version was slightly edited down - it would have to be, to fit into the time frame of a film - and really only examined the motivations of the Main characters for the most part. Not so with this book.
Most of the characters are given their own (sometimes small) moments in the sun - the author really gets into their heads and hearts for the most part and makes the reader care - sometimes deeply - about them.
Which is a shame as most die horribly.
There are one or two subplots, one character in particular devises an elaborate plot to retaliate - but ... well, i don't want to ruin things, but the author shows that intellect, friendship, young love, kindness, innocence - even madness - mean nothing in this bleak horrible game.
It is very effective and thought provoking, but heart wrenching. There is also a different ending than what is seen in the movie, and one or two places that are hard to follow due to "loss in translation from Japanese to English" but these are minor concerns.
An excellent read and a strong book, but it is very very explicit and sad.
Five stars plus!
Good story, questionable presentation 42 students in a dystopic, totalitarian Japan are taken to an evacuated island after being gassed on a bus, believing that they were on a field trip, and wake up in a classroom of the island's local school. To their horror, their sadistic, childish "Instructor" Kinpatsu Sakamochi announces that they are to be part of the year's Program, better known as Battle Royale.
So begins Koushun Takami's bloody thriller as the junior-high students are released onto the island and, according to the rules of the Battle Royale, are to kill each other to the last 15-year old standing. Each student wears an explosive collar that will detonate should one of them break a rule or enter a "forbidden zone," areas on the island that are called off-limits by the instructor to make the playing field smaller. Distrust, past grudges, and in some cases vengeance all begin to manifest as the players are each given a weapon (ranging from a shotgun to a fork) and in a daze scatter across the island. It doesn't take long for the game to begin, despite what our protagonist, Shuya Nanahara hopes. Shuya pledges to protect Noriko Nakagawa, the crush of his friend, and soon they are joined by a tough survivalist, Shogo Kawada, whose past and trustworthiness are of course obscured through most of the story. Their opponents? Practically everyone as they devolve into paranoid wrecks. In particular though, there's Kazuo Kiriyama, a sociopathic, efficient killer, and Mitsuko Souma, a ruthless girl venting her frustrations and fury at her past abuses on her fellow classmates. Some kids form alliances, only to see them crumble, others try to form plans to escape, like athletic and intelligent Shinji Mimura and his friend, the class clown.
This book is altogether not too bad, although there are numerous concerns. For one, it seems a bit lengthy for a novel of this type, and it seems like the author could have spaced out the killings and fights a little more. It can be rather boring at times, despite its subject matter, and there are some continuity issues, like the fact that Kazuo's machine gun appears to have infinite ammo, or a junior high student could have computer hacking skills that potentially disrupt the government's own system. The most pressing issue may be the grammar and-as other reviewers have pointed out- this could be the translation. As the book progresses, the grammatical errors only seem to get worse, until a page can be wracked with, among other less noticeable problems, missing words and unnecessary detail described in robotic fashion. The phrase, "That's right" must literally be used at least a hundred times throughout the novel, whether in dialogue or in the narrative itself (the author tends to practically switch to 1st person in some instances). Twice he even parenthesis's a scream.
The story is good, the author's true skill at writing sporadically comes through the mélange of grammar flaws, and the characters are interesting; the point of view of each student is described at least once, even if said character may be killed at its finish. While the exact motivation for the Battle Royale program on the part of the "Republic of Greater East Asia" is never clearly explained, the despotic regime is actually believable. Finally, it can be fun and disturbing to imagine a given group of people you know, a class, workplace, or just a group of friends, in such a situation and figuring out who would do what.
A pretty good book if you know what you're getting into... If I could, I'd give the book 3 and a half stars. The only real knock I have against this book is the rough translation. It's about as rough as translations get. I know it must be hard translating Japanese into English but man...I really feel it took away from the book. Other than that, like I said, if you know what to expect it's an enjoyable read.
Im already on my third copy of this book Yes you heard me right, Ive read this book so many times that im on my third new copy, thr other two having fallen apart to peiced from being read too many times.
This book is a Gory, violent, bloody, paranois, vicious, nail-biting, revenge seeking, MASTERPEICE. I wont give away ANY details in this review, because this is one of those books that if you jump into it completely unprepared, you will be blown off the edge of your seat. I have rarely been so taken away into a book like this one did. You feel the absoloute terror of all of the characters and you wonder; will anyone survive? When will which friends turn on each other? If anyone lives, will they be able to get revenge? If your squeamish, do NOT, i repeat, do not read this book. But if your an action, horror, and mystery fan, you MUST read this book.
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