Battle Royale: The Novel

Product Information

On the Author's Note part of the Chinese version of Battle Royale, the author expressed his regret of making America look like some sort of Promise Land when he first penned this novel, it's made clear that his view on this country had later been changed.

Takami was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture near Osaka and grew up in the Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku. After graduating from Osaka University with a degree in literature, he dropped out of Nihon University's liberal arts correspondence course program. From 1991 to 1996, he worked for the news company Shikoku Shimbun, reporting on various fields including politics, police reports, and economics. Ziemlich traurig ist die Suizidszene zu Beginn eines Liebespaares. Sie wollen da nicht mitmachen, weshalb sie sich gemeinsam von einer Klippe stürzen.

The amount of violence clearly exceeded the normal level. I liked that. I wanted the blood bath and I got it. The Hunger Games in comparison was a lot more mellow and teenager friendly, but this one was gut wrenching awesome. If you cannot stomach even a little amount of violence, then stay away from this novel. Kazuo Kiriyama lures Sho Tsukioka into an area shortly before it becomes a Danger Zone. Through deception, Kiriyama is able to escape unseen and exit the Danger Zone, while Tsukioka waits. Tsukioka notices the deception too late, and is killed when his collar explodes. A busload of Japanese teenagers is kidnapped and dumped off on an island, where they are forced to fight to the death until one student remains, all in the name of The Program. Which of the 42 students will survive?

Kinji Fukasaku trailer reel, a collection of original trailers for Fukasaku’s classic yakuza films from the 70s Tokyo International Film Festival Presentation, with footage from the gala screening at the Tokyo International Film Festival I came across this book after reading “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins which was claimed to be a “Battle Royale” rip-off. Needless to say, I was curious…Just some 20 days ago, I was there when tear gas bombs were fired against peaceful protesters, and the fight still goes on. While I was expecting somewhat stereotypical characters, these just seemed soooo tired. So predictable. The dialogue at times had me wincing from the melodrama. Yes, teenagers can be melodramatic. Yes, ninth grade is filled with "roles" that students fill: the loner, the spoiled rich kid, the class clown, etc. But this book did nothing to elevate those truths. It's been a long while since I read Lord of the Flies. Maybe it was equally simplistic. But my gut says, no.

I have to admit, similarities between these two books are undeniable. They both are based on the same idea of teenagers forced to participate in a deadly game where only one person wins and lives. However at the same time these books are completely different. I believe you can enjoy and appreciate them both equally. If “Hunger Games” is more of a personal story of survival from the POV of just one "player," “Battle Royale” is a complex story which follows all participants of the game. It is much more brutal, violent, and bloody than “Hunger Games.” The book explores what makes regular kids turn on each other, what in their pasts allows them to commit the ultimate crime or what stops them from participating in the killing game altogether. gives kazou a run for his money on the batshit scale. fantastic actress, knows how to use her feminine wiles, kind of iconic but i was plotting on her downfall after she killed my fav character: 👑 TAKAKO 👑 Fue un viaje de ida y vuelta, la verdad. Me produjo muchas emociones; me daba ternura, me reía, después me horrorrizaba y al final lloré. Era tan inmersivo que no había manera de que lo pudiera soltar! Es muy díficil conseguir eso conmigo, siempre me distraigo fácilmente, así que creo que tanto el ritmo y el desarollo de la historia fueron muy constantes. Son 600 páginas muy bien aprovechadas. Just when I was reading Battle Royale at 12:00 in the morning, I learnt from Facebook that police had been rounding up protesters and ready to arrest them at the other part of the city I live in. Despite all the great things mentioned, I still had some problems with the novel. The main thing would be that there were too many characters to begin with. At first I thought it wouldn't be a problem, but along the way some characters weren't even that interesting. I'm aware of them being minor characters, but I still wanted at least an in depth explanation of who they were. Some characters were forced to be explained and they ended up pretentious and annoying. The good side though was that the good characters had more attention and were developed perfectly.McNary, Dave (June 7, 2006). "New Line set to do 'Battle' ". Variety. Reed Business Information . Retrieved September 24, 2012. While all that bloodbath was scary to read and imagine as killers and victims all were teenagers, but it also gave the readers an insight into the mind of people when they were pushed to brink for survival. Whom to trust when every other person was someone who could kill you. Always looking over your shoulder, scared out of wits, and yet not sure if one would be able to survive next hour or breath.

Alderman, David N. (October 7, 2010). "Battle Royale – (Book Review)". Red Room. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013 . Retrieved March 28, 2012. Also, Suzanne Collins totally plagiarized! There were parts of the story that were absolutely exactly from this book. For instance, there were announcements in the morning and evening of who was killed, they were constantly narrowing down the playing field to herd the kids closer together, and there was a part where they instructed one boy to set two fires with young wood so that it would smoke as a signal and then they would use a bird call to find each other. Copy much? Someone once said, if you could see for yourself then there's no need to lend an ear to what others said." (S.31)Then there are the semi-apologies-in-advance. "I didn't tell you, but, here's an explanation of something that I had no reason to ever think to tell you previously because it's seriously irrelevant to anything but this exact situation right now, and you didn't need to know it anyway. But sorry I didn't tell you." Or "It might be disrespectful to say this, but, I am going to finish this sentence by saying something completely banal." (This one is probably a culture thing, to be fair.) Or "I don't know what to say, but, right now the words coming out of my mouth are going to be something appropriate to say in this situation, which is the very thing I said I didn't know how to say when I started this sentence."