Battle Royale, Koushun Takami & Masayuki Taguchi

[direstraits]

I learned about Battle Royale many years ago, but was in a sense put off by the premise of having schoolchildren kidnapped and isolated on an island somewhere, and forced to kill each other to survive. Sounded interesting, but didn't really like the idea of bloodbaths with children.

A quick exchange elsewhere in this forum made me turn my eye on the work again, and decided I will take the plunge after all, although I cheated in a sense. Instead of turning to the novel, I turned to the manga adaptation. I was intrigued, and it was literally a quick series of taps away on my iPad.

The story is set in an alternative timeline where a totalitarian regime gripped Japan. As a means to control the population, and as an outlet of entertainment, the military conceived what is known as the Program, where every season a group of 42 kids are kidnapped at random, placed in an island, and whatever, I said it already at the top. And it's broadcasted nationally on a state-sponsored TV channel. It's kinda reminds me of the gladiator battles in ancient Rome - violent spectator sport.

The story follows the current season's group of kids, and we watch as the dynamic of the different individuals play out in a violent fashion. The violence you'd expect are present, but what surprised me is the detailed backgrounds for some of the kids, and you get a sense of their motivation when faced with such odds and situation. There's a kid though whose idealism started to grate after the first 20 pages, The word tinderbox was playing on my mind as the story developed, especially in scenes where groups of students who've taken to an alliance, and that was well done.The diverse cast and the genuinely different outlooks that each of the characters brought to the table showed the many facets of the human condition, not just in the immediacy of the situation but a reflection of the totalitarian society as a whole. Fight the system and face the potential consequences in the face of overwhelming odds, or fly high and reap the rewards of conforming and playing to the rules of the game? Not a completely mindless bloodbath, this.

Overall it was enjoyable.

There's this series of books by Suzanne Collins called the Hunger Games which is apparently quite popular nowadays. I don't know much about it, but the plot involves young children being isolated and they have to fight each other to survive. And apparently Collins denies ever knowing about the Battle Royale until after she submitted her manuscript. Uh,

 

[Peder]

That's a big topic, which goes back at least to my youth and the dispute even then over violence in the comic books of the time (pre-pre-manga). There's nothing wrong, in my opinion, with disliking blood baths among children, or violence, or child molestation . . . the list goes on. And there has been opposition from some segments of the population for many years now. But we see what the passage of time has brought. There have also been studies; perhaps someone here knows of some and can provide references.

 

[pontalba]

It's been an eon at least since I read Lord of the Flies, but your post's description sounds suspiciously like it. Drat, now I have to go back and reread that. /sigh/

 

[beer good]

Yeah, Lord Of The Flies, The Long Walk, etc... it's not as if Takami invented the concept from scratch and anyone who does anything remotely similar is inevitably ripping him off. Like I said in the other thread, the similarities between Battle Royale and The Hunger Games really are pretty superficial, apart from the central idea of "teenagers being forced to kill each other" (which makes up a rather small part of The Hunger Games anyway).

Having both read the novel and the manga (though it's been a few years) and seen the movie, I really think the movie is by far the best version of the story, but the manga is definitely more interesting than the (rather hamfisted) novel. It's outright porn at some points, and extreme gore in others, far more so than the novel and certainly much more than the movie. And I'm not too fond of the way it turns the main villain into more or less an unkillable superbeing. But it does find the time to get into more of the aspects that got lost in the movie - the idea of Japan as a modern Orwellian dictatorship, more character history, etc. As such, it's not bad.

 

[direstraits]

Outright porn? Looks like I've got to reread it again! Seriously though, there was only one part where it was sexually explicit, but it was heavily dosed with mental instability and scenes of childhood abuse. Very unsexy, and pretty tragic.

I don't remember much of lord of the flies beyond human meat, yum!. Great, now you guys put in another book on my tbr.

Btw, I visited briefly the house William Golding stayed in Marlborough. Not that I was looking for it, but it was along the route we drove to portsmouth, and there was a commemorative plaque and everything.

Edit: just saw bg's review of battle royale here. Thought I'd point you guys there as well. http://www.bookandreader.com/forums/f5/koushun-takami-battle-royale-2530.html

 

[pontalba]

I don't remember much of lord of the flies beyond human meat, yum!. Great, now you guys put in another book on my tbr.

Btw, I visited briefly the house William Golding stayed in Marlborough. Not that I was looking for it, but it was along the route we drove to portsmouth, and there was a commemorative plaque and everything.

Don't have my old copy of Lord of the Flies, so found a hb copy on Amazon Marketplace on the cheap, and, interestingly enough a bio of Golding by John Carey. Neat seeing the house in Marlborough.

 

[direstraits]

Hardbacks? Hmm... I'm learning further and further away from hardbacks now. Even if it's a great book, I tend to wait till it's out in paperback (except for authors in my exception list). I just cannot bear lugging around hardbacks. I'm becoming more delicate in my old age.

 

[beer good]

Outright porn? Looks like I've got to reread it again! Seriously though, there was only one part where it was sexually explicit, but it was heavily dosed with mental instability and scenes of childhood abuse. Very unsexy, and pretty tragic.

I didn't say it was fun porn. Speaking of that character, if you're going to watch the movie, make sure you get the director's cut - it has a little bit more of that backstory, which makes a big difference, though it's nowhere nearly as explicit as the manga.

 

[direstraits]

I didn't say it was fun porn.

LOL! Hey, when did you become so funny?

 

[pontalba]

Hardbacks? Hmm... I'm learning further and further away from hardbacks now. Even if it's a great book, I tend to wait till it's out in paperback (except for authors in my exception list). I just cannot bear lugging around hardbacks. I'm becoming more delicate in my old age.

Old...yeah U rite!

I do favor hardbacks (mostly second hand) when possible, they just look lovely on the shelf. That's where Kindle comes in handy. If a book is just too much, ie Reamde et als, I can download the Kindle copy as well.