Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル, Batoru Rowaiaru?) is a novel written by Japanese author Koushun Takami. The book (ISBN 4-89392-958-5) was first published in Japan in April 1999, and later formed the basis for a feature film and its sequel. It has also 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 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). 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 gassed on a bus. They awaken in a school on an isolated, evacuated island southwest of Shodoshima, in also Kagawa Prefecture. They learn that they have been placed in an event called The Program, also known as Battle Royale. Officially a military research project, The Program is a means of terrorising the population, of creating such paranoia as to make organised insurgency impossible. According to the rules, every year since 1947, fifty 3rd year junior high school (14-15 years old) classes are isolated, and the students required to fight to the death until one remains. Their movements are restricted by metal collars 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. The Program also has a 3 day time limit if more than 1 student survives after the set time limit all the collars will be detonated, this stipulation presumably exists to aviod the players "ganging up" and attempting to escape or fight back.
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.
After being briefed about The Program, the students are issued survival packs which include a map, compass, flashlight, any type of entertainment, (i.e. a GameBoy Color, which was seen in Keita Iijima's survival pack) food and water, and a random weapon or item, which may be anything from a gun to a paper fan. During the briefing, two students anger the supervisor, Kinpatsu Sakamochi, who kills both. As the students are released onto the island, they each react differently to their predicament; delinquent Mitsuko Souma murders her more popular peers, Hiroki Sugimura attempts to find his best friend and his secret love, and Shinji Mimura makes a failed 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 kills Kazuo by shooting him with a revolver. Shogo 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. When Shogo is on the winner's ship, having killed Sakamochi, 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 facing an uncertain future.
Development
Takami describes the characters in the novel version 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]
Characters
Students
Others
- 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.
- Ryoko Anno (安野 良子 Anno Ryōko): The superintendent of the Charity House, a Roman Catholic orphanage. She is raped when she protests the conscription of Shuya and Yoshitoki into the program.
- Kinpatsu Sakamochi: The teacher in charge of the current Battle Royale program. He enjoys watching the students die and bets on Kazuo winning. He dies when Shogo impales him with a pencil. His name is a takeoff on Kinpachi Sakamoto, the protagonist of Kinpachi Sensei.
- Keiko Onuki (大貫 慶子 Ōnuki Keiko): Shogo Kawada's girlfriend from his previous school in Kobe. Keiko was in Shogo's class, and died in a Battle Royale. His relationship with Keiko and the outcome of the previous Battle Royale harden Shogo.
- Privates Toshihiko Tahara (田原 俊彦 Tahara Toshihiko), Nomura (野村), and Kondo (近藤 Kondō): Soldiers enforcing The Program. 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.
Games
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.[2]
Adaptations
There have been a number of adaptations into other media which themselves have spun off sequels. These include:
References
External links
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