Battle Royale

Battle Royale
Battle Royale English translation cover
Author	Koushun Takami
Translator	Yuji Oniki
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Genre(s)	Dystopian novel
Publisher	Ohta Publishing
Publication date	April 1999
Published in English	February 2003
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	616
ISBN	4872334523
OCLC Number	42776171

Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル, Batoru Rowaiaru^?) is a 1999 Japanese novel written by Koushun Takami.

The novel has been adapted into a film and a manga series (both of which have received sequels), and translated into English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Hungarian.

Plot

Okishima Island map seen inside the cover of the novel.

Battle Royale takes place in an alternate timeline—Japan is a national socialist state, known as the Republic of Greater East Asia (大東亜共和国 Dai Tōa Kyōwakoku). Under the guise of a "study trip," a group of students from Shiroiwa Junior High School (城岩中学校 Shiroiwa Chūgakkō) in the fictional town of Shiroiwa (Kagawa Prefecture) are sleep-gassed on a bus. They awaken in the Okishima Island School on Okishima, an isolated, evacuated island southwest of Shodoshima, also in Kagawa Prefecture. They learn that they have been placed in an event called The Program. Officially a military research project, The Program is a means of terrorizing the population, of creating such paranoia as to make organized insurgency impossible. In the manga, the economy had collapsed and the government created The Program to revitalize the economy. According to the rules, every year since 1947, fifty 3rd year junior high school (14-15 years old) classes are isolated, and each class is required to fight to the death until one student remains. Their movements are restricted by metal collars, later identified as Model Guadalcanal No. 22, around their necks which contain tracking and listening devices; if any student should attempt to escape The Program, or enter declared "danger zones", a bomb will be detonated in the collar, killing the wearer. If no student dies in any 24 hour period, all collars will be detonated simultaneously.

After being briefed about The Program, the students are issued survival packs which include a map, compass, flashlight, food and water, and a random weapon or other item, which may be anything from a gun to a paper fan. During the briefing, two students (Fumiyo Fujiyoshi and Yoshitoki Kuninobu) anger the supervisor, Kinpatsu Sakamochi, who kills both. As the students are released onto the island, they each react differently to their predicament; beautiful delinquent Mitsuko Souma murders those who stand in her way using deceiving tactics, Hiroki Sugimura attempts to find his best friend and his secret love, and Shinji Mimura makes an attempt to escape the Program.

In the end, four students remain: protagonist Shuya Nanahara, Noriko Nakagawa, Shogo Kawada—a survivor of a previous instance of the Program—and antagonist Kazuo Kiriyama. Following a car chase and shoot-out between Kazuo and the main characters, Noriko paralyzes Kazuo by shooting him with a revolver. Shogo then finishes off Kiriyama and then takes his two partners to a hill. After telling Shuya and Noriko that he will kill them, Shogo shoots in the air twice, faking their deaths for the microphones planted on the collars. He then dismantles the collars. While Shogo is on the winner's ship, Shuya and Noriko have also boarded. On the ship, Shogo kills Sakamochi and a soldier, while Shuya kills the other soldiers on board. Shogo tells Shuya how to escape, succumbs to his wound from the battle with Kiriyama and dies. The two remaining students return to the mainland and find a clinic belonging to a friend of Shogo's father. From there, they make plans to escape to the U.S., facing an uncertain future as they run from the authorities.

Characters

The main cast of the film version of Battle Royale.

Background

Takami describes the characters as possibly being "kind of all alike", being "all the same" despite differing appearances and hobbies, and being static characters. Takami used the descriptions in contrast to the manga version, co-written by himself and Masayuki Taguchi, which he believes has a more diverse and developing cast.^[1]

Publication

Battle Royale was first published in April 1999 (Ohta Publishing: ISBN 4872334523). On August 2002, it was released in a revised, two-part pocket edition (Gentosha: ISBN 4344402707 and ISBN 4344402715).

Themes

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Upon its release, Battle Royale was criticized as violent exploitation. It was also rejected in the final round for the Kadokawa Mystery Novel Prize, owing to its controversial content. The book contains themes including a criticism of social competition seen especially in Japanese culture. Although the plot is set in an alternate timeline, it could be interpreted as a metaphor or cautionary tale for the competitive environment of Japan's youth as they transition into higher secondary education and finally enter the working world.

Supporting materials

Kōji Ōnuma (大沼 孝次, Ōnuma Kōji^?) wrote Battle Royale: Kyokugenshinri Kaisekisho (バトル・ロワイヤル 極限心理解析書, Batoru Rowaiyaru Kyokugenshinri Kaisekisho^?, roughly Battle Royale: Analysis of Extreme Psychology), a dissertation which explores the themes of the book.^[2]

Adaptations

Feature films

Battle Royale was adapted into a 2000 feature film of the same name, written by Kenta Fukasaku and directed by Kinji Fukasaku. It was followed in 2003 by Battle Royale II: Requiem

Manga

A manga adaptation, written by Takami and illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi, was serialized in Akita Shoten's Young Champion Magazine from November 2002 to January 2006.

A second manga, Battle Royale II: Blitz Royale, first appeared on Young Champion Magazine on July 2003. Written and illustrated by Hiroshi Tomizawa, the new series ties-in with Fukasaku's second Battle Royale film.

References