| Imagine Japan in an alternate present or near future.� It's ruled by a dictator and is part of an isolationist alliance with other Asian countries.� To speak out against the government is treason, and treason is punishable by death.� As part of the government's iron-clad rule, they've instituted "The Program," known casually as "Battle Royale." |
| Every year, fifty classes of students in their last year of junior high are selected at random to participate in the Program.� Nanahara Shuya never gave it too much thought--the odds were better that he'd die in a traffic accident then get chosen for Battle Royale--until his class is chosen.� During what they believed to be a harmless study trip, the students are drugged; they wake up on an evacuated island, fitted with metal collars.� They're in a strange classroom with an unfamiliar teacher. It is only then that it becomes clear that they have to participate in Battle Royale.� In this game, there can be only one winner.� Each student is given a weapon (anything from a machine gun to a fork) and a single goal: be the last one alive.� It's useless to resist; if twenty-four hours pass without a death, the tamper-proof collars they are all wearing will explode, so even if a student decides not to play the game, they can be sure someone else will. |
| And so Shuya and his class stumble headlong into a game of guerrilla warfare, of death, survival, and brutal loss of innocence.� Alliances form, then crumble as the ever-present tally of living students decreases--from 42 to just 1. At first, Shuya's plan is to somehow find his friends, so that together, they might find a way to beat the system and survive. He can't believe that any of his classmates would willingly kill anyone. Soon enough, however, it becomes obvious that someone has decided to play the game--with gusto. Realizing that his faith in his friends might be unjustified and even downright lethal, Shuya focuses his energy into protecting Nakagawa Noriko, the girl his best friend is in love with. |
| Surprisingly, Battle Royale isn't just a horrific bloodbath, or an excuse to fill the pages with sensational violence.� Takami carefully builds a powerful story about loyalty and choices, about rage and revenge and love.� He takes the reader into the minds of many of the students, proving that it's fear, rather than evil, that creates killers.� The characters are vivid and believable, seeming so alive at times that sometimes even the reader's fate seems to be wrapped up in their fight for survival. �This is social fiction at its best, one of the most compelling, emotional books I've ever read. Oniki Yuji translates the original Japanese in a concise, flowing style that pulls the reader into and through the story effortlessly. |
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| Battle Royale by Takami Koushun |
| Angela's Rating: five P-chans |
| Battle Royale was published in Japan in 1999, in spite of major controversy. It then went on to be made into a manga series and a movie, both in 2000 It was published in the United States in 2003 by Viz . ISBN: 156931778X |
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