Battle Royale: The Novel

[RoyTheSwordGuy]

Anyone read this book by Koushun Takami? Before you read it, know that it contains what I like to call "realistic high school language" (it's not overdone, thankfully), as well as some detailed descriptions of various deaths. Also, this is the novel; the manga and movie are MUCH different on various levels.

Basically, it's set in an alternate history, one where most of East Asia is ruled by a totalitarian government ruled by "The Dictator." Every year, 50 junior high school classes (under the Japanese system; that would be 8th-10th grade under the American system, I believe) are chosen from the country at random to participate in "The Program," a vicious legislation designed to instill in the populace a constant sense of fear and unease. In short, The Program takes a class and forces the students to kill each other until one remains. 'Tis a very suspenseful book; it's over 600 pages long and I read it in 3 days. It had an incredible ending. I could not stop reading; I already want to read it again.

[Lynx]

hey, i actually wanted to read that. I wanted to know how close it was to the movie, if it was worth reading if you've seen it. so would you recommend it if you've seen the movie?

[Arnobius]

It was much better than the movie. The movie is more of a highlights reel of the book, with a different theme, and seemed to miss the point (The director removed the theme of "How far can you trust" and replaced it with "Older Generation vs Younger"

RoyThe SwordGuy gave a good description. I've read it twice and will probably read it again.

Much better than the movie or the butchered manga translation.

[And if anyof you are thinking of seeing Battle Royale II, take my advice and don't. It's terrible.]

[RoyTheSwordGuy]

Oh man, I HATED the movie. No Hiroki vs. Kazuo, the order of events was all screwed up, the "evil" teacher (It's SAKAMOCHI, not KITANO! Argh) is too nice (what was with his obsession with Noriko?), they took out the part where Kazuo tricks Sho (I loved that part, it was funny), the book has more dark humor, there was a lot less tension between the students, the students got wrong weapons (Shuya should have a knife! Chigusa should have an ice pick! There was no wakizashi in the book... and while I'm on that subject, WHERE DID KAZUO GET THAT WAKIZASHI??), and the movie's ending was just terrible, especially when compared to the excellent, EXCELLENT book ending. Oh, and the movie TOTALLY ruined Kazuo, he didn't "sign up," and... argh, they ruined so much about him. I could go on for so long. I was very, very annoyed by the movie, and like I said, I don't even want to touch the manga (I hear they turned The Program into some sort of a game show... eww).

In short, please read the novel. It is incredible.

[Arnobius]

Well, my main issue with the manga was that it's an "adaption" not a translation. Keith Giffen (who also ruined Ikkitousen) rewrote dialogue to make it more edgy, but also destroyed the original intent.

Of course the Japanese manga artist helped ruin it with all the sexually explicit material that was not in the book. These things made me drop the manga after volume 2

If you hated movie 1, you got to see movie 2 (actually you shouldn't) which is appalling in it's message.

The book is the only thing worth getting out of this

[RoyTheSwordGuy]

More edgy?! Seriously, how can you get edgier than Battle Royale (novel)? Crazy Keith guy.... *grumble*

I haven't seen the second movie, but I have read a summary of it, and it seems far worse than the first. It's rather ironic; the novel was pro-America, what with all the references to rock and Shuya's comment on how he wishes America would liberate East Asia from its oppressive government, and yet the second movie takes off on a completely unrelated tangent. Koushun Takami should watch his intellectual property more closely...

[Arnobius]

[quote="RoyTheSwordGuy"]More edgy?! Seriously, how can you get edgier than Battle Royale (novel)? Crazy Keith guy.... *grumble*

I haven't seen the second movie, but I have read a summary of it, and it seems far worse than the first. It's rather ironic]
Yeah... it actually is a movie where I'd like to force the director to go to ground Zero or Afghanistan and explain his ideas on "liberation" to the people who lost loved ones.

And the book was careful to make sure it was an alternate reality, while the movies try to shoehorn it into the real world.

[RoyTheSwordGuy]

Yeah... it actually is a movie where I'd like to force the director to go to ground Zero or Afghanistan and explain his ideas on "liberation" to the people who lost loved ones.

And the book was careful to make sure it was an alternate reality, while the movies try to shoehorn it into the real world.

I totally agree.


Indeed, I was impressed by the amount of background on the Republic of Greater East Asia and the other nations. Almost every character had a well-established background, as well. That's another reason why I didn't like the movie; there was almost no background for anyone.

[Knives]

How bad is the sexual or occultic content in Battle Royale?

[RoyTheSwordGuy]

In the movie and novel, there was hardly anything other than vague references and innuendo; the novel had a few references to rape. I hear the manga is much, much worse, though. In every bookstore I've been to, there are always a few volumes of the manga that are shrink-wrapped o_O;

[Arnobius]

The manga has it's 18+ rating for the sexual content. The movies were not a problem in that respect... it was rated for ages 15+.

[Rocketshipper]

I've read the book, seen both movies, and read through 14 volumes of the manga (only one more to go, darn it Tokyopop, hurry up!!) Out of all that my favorite version is the manga. The artwork, despite the strong content, is extremely detailed and I liked a lot of the character designs (even if they all like like they're 25 lol ^^) When it's graphic, it's very graphic, but when it's beautiful it's VERY beautiful (LOVE the two-page spreads of Mitsuko in volume 8. Almost took my breath away.) I also like the plot in the manga more than the book or movie, the characters get a lot more character development than even the book gave them. for example

[spoiler] In the book and movie Shuya and Noriko are attacked by Akamatus when they leave the school and run away. But in the manga Shuya actully stops and tries to talk Akamatsu into joining him, and they show some extra flashbacks that give Akamatsu some more background [/spoiler]

And [spoiler] in the book/movie Sugimura is shot and killed by Kotohiki, but in the manga he actully talks her out of shooting him and she joins him for a while. Tons more character development and flashbacks for both of them [/spoiler]

There are a tons of other examples too. I loved the book, but I was really sucked into the manga and couldn't get enough. It's now either my 1st or 2nd favorite manga series of all time (Can't wait for volume 15 *glares at Tokyopop*) I also really liked the action sequences. The shoot out between Shuya-tachi and Kazuo in the field is awesome in the manga, and has some surprise twists not in the book. The grand finale shoot out at the end is cool and longer than the book, and Kazuo vs Sugimura is insane in the manga ^^ (if you thought Kazuo was invincible in the book, you aint seen nothing. Be prepared for Matrix Kazuo! ^^)

But yeah, it is extremely graphic. The violence is stronger than Ninja Scroll, and scenes in volumes 3, 8, 12, and 13 cross the line into hentai (especially 8 o_O. poor Yuichiro!). Giffen's "translation" also features swearing in almost every other line -_- (trying to make the dialogue more "hip no dobut *eye roll*), and he added this whole bogus "reality TV" thing to the story.

I really like both movies too. Movie 1 of course wasn;t as good as the book, but I think they did a god job for having such a large cast of students, and there were some scenes that I thought were really cool or moving. Movie 2's main plot was kind of dissapointing, but I liked seeing Shuya and Noriko again, and Shiori was awesome (played by Noriko/Aki Maede's sister, Ai Maede ^^) I liked some of the other students, the teacher, and the scenes of the students infiltrating the island were exciting (I liked the linked collar concept).

*listens to "Climb the Stairs of Quit Days"*

There is a manga series based on the second movie, also written by Koushun Takami, although the manga artist is different (the artwork looks like Alien Nine O_O) It's called Battle Royale 2, Blitz Royale. I thik only one graphic novel is out so far.

[Knives]

[quote="RoyTheSwordGuy"]In the movie and novel, there was hardly anything other than vague references and innuendo]
Ok, thanks for the info...I might be picking this book up!

[truthgone12]

I read this book a few days ago LOVED IT. "Like tramps baby we were born to run" - Bruce Springsteen

[Bianca]

Ermm..I only read the translation..It sucked. You could tell VIZ did not take a lot of time lushing the language, because its was very simplistic (It was like...4th grade reading level stuff)

Regardless, I liked Battle Royale in every form it was produced, including the book.

[Arnobius]

Ermm..I only read the translation..It sucked. You could tell VIZ did not take a lot of time lushing the language, because its was very simplistic (It was like...4th grade reading level stuff)

Regardless, I liked Battle Royale in every form it was produced, including the book.

You'd be suprised how sparse Japanese can be when translated to English

[Bianca]

Oh, I know, I read lots of raws, but I usually see better language used when translated. Compared to even other translations I have seen, I was simply unimpressed.

[AnubisWerewolf]

I'll skip it me thinks.......hate rape in manga....whoever thought that adds to the story needs to be shot.