|
|
The quality of this article or section may be compromised by "peacock terms".
You can help Wikipedia by removing peacock terms. |
Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル, Batoru
Rowaiaru?) is a
novel written by Japanese author Koushun Takami.
Battle Royale (ISBN 4-89392-958-5) was first published in Japan in April 1999, and it is one of Japan's best-selling and most controversial novels.[citation needed] It later formed the basis for a
popular movie (which spawned a
sequel), and has been adapted as a manga series (released in 15 volumes,
which were later adapted into English by Keith Giffen and published by TOKYOPOP), which itself now has a sequel.
An English translation of the novel (ISBN 1-56931-778-X) was published in the
United States by Viz in February 2003. The English language version is also available in the United
Kingdom, published by Gollancz. A German translation exists, published by Heyne.
Plot
Okishima Island map seen inside the cover of the novel.
Battle Royale takes place in an alternate timeline - Japan is a police state, known as the Republic of Greater East Asia (大東亜共和国 Dai Tōa Kyōwakoku). Every year
fifty 3rd year junior high (grade 9) classes are chosen to forcibly fight against one another until only one student remains
alive. The "Program", as it is known, was supposedly created to aid military research and population control, but it is more
likely that it is simply a betting opportunity for high ranking Japanese army officers, or as Sakamochi puts it, to rid the
country of trust for one another. The outcome of each battle is later revealed on local television. In the novel, one person
discovers that the program is not an experiment at all, but a means of terrorizing the population. In theory, after seeing such
atrocities, the people will become paranoid and divided, preventing an organized rebellion. In the film, the "Program" was
created to discipline teenagers, who had become out of control delinquents, angry at the adult world.
Okishima Island map seen in the first volume of
the manga.
Under the guise of a 'study trip', a group of students from Shiroiwa Junior High
School (城岩中学校 Shiroiwa Chūgakkō), a Junior High School in the fictional town of Shiroiwa (in Kagawa Prefecture), are gassed on a bus, only to awaken in a school on an isolated, evacuated island
(southwest of Shodoshima, also in the Kagawa Prefecture), wearing metal collars around
their necks. After being briefed about the program, the students are issued survival packs (along with a random weapon or a tool)
and sent out the island one by one. While some of the students receive guns and knives, many students acquire useless items like boomerangs, some common
dartboard darts, and forks. In some cases, instead of a weapon, the student receives a tool;
Hiroki Sugimura finds a radar that tracks nearby students, and Toshinori Oda receives a bulletproof vest.
To make sure the students obey the rules and kill each other, the metal collars around their necks track their positions, will
explode if they linger in a 'Danger Zone' or attempt to remove the collars, and listen in on their conversations. The Danger
Zones are randomly chosen areas of the map that increase in number as time goes on, re-sculpting and shrinking the battlefield
and forcing the students to move around, eventually meeting in one small area.
Okishima Island map seen throughout
the film (the special edition film DVD case
also contains a small card size map); the lists in Japanese are the students' names
The students are also given a time limit. If twenty-four hours pass without someone being killed, then all of the collars will
be detonated simultaneously and there will be no winner. It is mentioned that only 0.5% of Programs end in this fashion. (In the
film version, this occurs after a total of 3 days have passed since the start of the Battle Royale, regardless of the timing with
which people die.)
In the end, four students remain: Shuya Nanahara, Noriko Nakagawa, Shogo Kawada, and antagonist Kazuo Kiriyama. There is a car chase and shoot-out between
the three main characters and Kazuo. Kazuo is killed after the chase ends. Shogo then takes his two partners to a hill where
there are a lot of trees. 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. When Shogo is on the winner's ship, Shuya and
Noriko board it and kill the soldiers on board. Shogo tells Shuya how to escape, succumbs to his wounds and dies. The two
remaining students go to the mainland, where they become fugitives.
Student list
Other characters
All versions
- Masao Hayashida (林田 昌朗 Hayashida Masao): The teacher of Class 3-B at Shiroiwa Junior High School. He is
executed when he pleads for the lives of the 3-B students. He is nicknamed "Dragonfly" because
of his glasses.
- Keiko Onuki (大貫 慶子 Ōnuki Keiko) (Keiko Inoue in the
English-language manga): Shogo Kawada's girlfriend from his previous school in Kobe; Keiko was in
Shogo's class when the two were in a Battle Royale. His relationship with Keiko and the outcome of the previous Battle Royale
hardens Shogo Kawada.
Novel and manga
- Ryoko Anno (安野 良子 Anno Ryōko): The superintendent of the Charity House, a Roman Catholic orphanage. In the novel and manga, she is raped when she protests the conscription
of Shuya and Yoshitoki into the program. Anno never makes an actual appearance in the film.
Novel
- Kinpatsu Sakamochi: The teacher in the novel version. He enjoys watching
the students die and bets on Kazuo winning. His name is a takeoff on Kinpachi Sakamoto, the
protagonist of Kinpachi Sensei. He dies when Shogo impales him with a
pencil.
- Private Toshihiko Tahara (田原 俊彦 Tahara Toshihiko), Nomura (野村), and Kondo (近藤 Kondō): The
soldiers in the novel version. Tahara, described as "the frivolous one," shoots Noriko in the leg. The soldiers are killed by
Shuya and Shogo in the end. They are named after characters in Kinpachi
Sensei.
Manga
- Yonemi Kamon: The teacher in the manga version. He is very similar to Sakamochi
and dies the same way.
- Nakata: A student in Shogo's first class. He has a crush on Keiko and stalks her. He witnesses her argument with Shogo
the day before the class is captured, and is enraged. During the Program he makes it to the final four students and, when Shogo
approaches him, grabs Keiko and holds her hostage. He complains that Keiko always comes back to Shogo even though he treats her
badly, and insists that he will take care of Keiko, saying that if need be he will shoot her since he thinks that she is better
off dead than being with Shogo. Shogo calls him out on being a stalker, says that he is a rapist in training, and then recommends
that he take the safety off of his gun. Nakata glances down to do this and Shogo shoots him, revealing afterwards that Nakata's
revolver had no safety.
Film
- Takeshi Kitano: The teacher in the film version. Unlike Sakamochi and
Yonemi, Kitano is not overly sadistic. He has an unhealthy obsession with Noriko.
- Lieutenant Anjo: A soldier in the film version.
- "Big Sister": The announcer in the orientation video to Battle Royale students. Her cheery manner feels out of place
with the situation. The lady announces the departures of students after the orientation is finished.
Game
B-R-U.net developed a free Internet game Battle Royale Ultimate with PHP and
Perl in Japanese. This site distributed a game and it has been translated into both Simplified and
Traditional Chinese by the community.
The English-language official Battle Royale site stated that it had a Flash mini-game in development.
Adaptations
There have been a number of adaptations into other media which themselves have spun off sequels. These include:
References
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
