Battle Royale
by Koushun Takami
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Book Reviews of Battle Royale
Book Review: thin plot thick blood
Summary: 4 Stars
i watched the movie version of battle royale not knowing it was based on a book. now i have read the book my opinion is that the book is definitely better. the movie BR plays like a teenage slasher flick, no room for character developments or for the viewer to empathise with their delimma - i watched aghast.the movie version had a number of significant plot changes. some as minor as where noriko was shot even before 'the game' began, to a big change in the relation between sakamochi, the game's 'instructor' and noriko and shuya, the two main female and male student. the movie made sakamochi 'likeable' if there is such a thing who cheerfully announce the murder of 15 year old school kids while the book sakamochi is cold, matter of fact, one-dimension amoral professional who perhaps likes doing his job a bit too much.
anyway, before i appear to take the book to seriously which i am not shall i make one more comparison. compare battle royale,BR, to the rather well known 'reality TV' series "Survivor" and the likes. while BR played for keeps Survivor does not, but essentially the dynamics within groups and individuals are similar in a situation of "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!" one winner.
a bunch, 42 students, is put on an recently vacated island, give them some food and each a weapon then tell them to kill each other until one is the remainder. takami is certainly no stranger to game theory.
thankfull it is not all bang-bang, chop-chop or it be just be about 42 pages instead of over 600. we get a little insights into each student. they are just like any of us. young. smart. stupid. scared. simple. complex. mixed up. dangerous. but mostly this skims along like a skater on thin ice.
abruptly, each student, which author takami with god-like overview just introduced to us, is bumped off in a horrific manner.
i dont know what the comparison with lord of the flies is about other than giving (western) readers a handle for categorisation of the novel. set in a fictious country described as having a successful fascist government, the government run 'the program' on a class of randomly selected 15-year-olds each year to repress them and to 'create' a submissive society.
as the game plays out and the number of students approaches one i, much like, shuya the main protagonist neither register the countdown nor the emotions associated with raw violence.
BR asks are questions which we pretty much asked ourselves at some time in life no matter where we lived. must we kill each other to survive? couldn't we all just get along? BR provides some answers and rapidly literally shoots them down.
in the end the questions remains open. there is no happy ending. but takami put a very clever twist in the very end which, to me, is that hope and life, their lives, our lives, any body's, rests with us the readers.
Book Review: The big picture is now complete.
Summary: 5 Stars
I had originally seen the movie "Battle Royale," and heard that it was an adaptation of a novel. After a quick internet search, I came across "Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami. The movie was very interesting, so I felt that reading the novel might help me get more out of the overall experience. So after buying the book and finishing it, I'd say its definitely a buy.
My reasons for getting the book are not the same as other people's reasons, though. Many people often feel that movie adaptations are often not as good as the book, but in this case the movie "Battle Royale" was almost exactly true to the story and really brought these interesting characters to life on the big screen. Saying this, I feel that the plot can be picked up just as easily from the movie than the book.
But the novel can explain a lot more than the movie can. One of the reasons why I'd recommend the novel is because it allows you to get into the character's heads and see what they're thinking. The movie only had so much time to tell the story, so many characters who actually had significant roles were often glanced over to keep the movie going. The book allows you to see these extra things. My other reason for buying the novel is because it does a better job of explaining events than the movie. Things such as how certain students came to find eachother, how they aquired certain weapons, and how they learned the skills they knew.
Now, I cannot think of any novel that doesn't have its flaws, and "Battle Royale" is no exception. The worst thing about this novel is both a compliment and a complaint. And this flaw is the attention to detail. As much as I enjoyed the storylines of supporting characters getting fleshed out, there were many instances where a character would get multiple pages of back story that had no relevance to the plot, only to be killed after a few lines of dialogue between him and the killer. Where these unneccessary exchanges occur could be used to give MORE detail to the overall storyline of Japan as an isolationist nation along with China forming "Greater East Asia," and their feelings towards the "American Imperialists" of the West. I feel that this concept itself deserves its own novel, yet we never see this plot take off from the ground, aside from remarks from the characters showing animosity towards the government.
All in all, "Battle Royale" is a must own for anyone's book collection. It answers any questions one may have for those who have seen the movie, and creates its own new experience for those who haven't. The book explains almost too much at some points, and not enough at others, but this doesn't take away from the concept.
For its innovation; 5/5
Book Review: That's right. This book sucks.
Summary: 2 Stars
I had heard of the movie Battle Royale a long time ago, but never had the opportunity to watch it. On a recent trip to a large Japanese book shop I noticed this novel and decided to give it a go.
Ultimately, this was a very disappointing book.
The premise is interesting, but hard to swallow. In an alternative reality where (presumably) the outcome of WWII was different, Japan is a facist dictatorship known as the Greater East Asia Democratic Nation (or similar). The 'Program' is a government initiative where a junior high class is selected at random to participate in a kill or be killed Battle Royale. It is later explained that the Program was created to instill paranoia in the population. After all, if a class of school kids can turn on their best friends in such a violent way at the behest of the government, then how can anyone be trusted?
This premise may have sustained a good read in the hands of a more capable author. Unfortunately Takami creates an unwieldly mess.
Takami's first mistake is having such a large cast of characters. The class size is initially 42 or so and Takami attempts to write a backstory for each student. The end result is that you do not connect with any of the students.
Takami then goes on to create such unbelievable characters that any attempt to suspend disbelief is impossible. These kids are meant to be 15 or 16 years old yet they have the capability to build bombs using amonium nitrate and sophisticated detonators. They can program mobile phones, hack into government websites, hotwire cars and much more. These are pretty smart kids.
Finally the villian (nemesis, or whatever) is a 15 year old t-1000 Terminator, more or less. As a child, Kazuo Kiriyama was involved in a car accident which killed both parents. He sustained injuries including a splinter lodged in his brain. The doctor removing the splinter also removed a cluster of nerves which left him totally devoid of any emotion. Kazuo decides to participate in the game and quickly goes about killing most of his classmates. The thing is, this kid is just about indestructable. He survives torrents of gunfire without sustaining any injuries, can withstand a bomb explosion which doesn't even mess his hair, can dodge bullets like Neo (he can even dodge bullets while driving). The result is simply a disconnection between reader and book.
Also, the writing is poor. I am not sure whether this is due to the author or the translator, but too often sentences begin with 'That's right...' which becomes annoying. And conversation limited to "?" or "..." which is just being lazy.
In all, this book has more style than substance.
Book Review: Battle Royale's Inner Battle
Summary: 5 Stars
Your fifteen years old and your life status at this point seems pretty ok, in fact, things seem just as good as ever. Your government runs this program- The Program, that is- third year junior high grades [9th grade in america], are selected by lottery, on an annual basis to participate in this program. If selected, you and your class get to go to some island or isolated area and play a game of survival... to the extreme. Last one standing, most literally. Given one weapon, a liter of water and some lousy bread, you are sent off one by one into the area; Your instructions? Kill your friends and don't be killed. If you want to ever go home again, you must be the last one alive.
If you are looking for something different then the traditional run-of-the-mill writing, then this book may just suit you well. As the book says- its almost like a 21st century version of Lord of the Flies. Its a gripping tale of fourty two students who are selected to participate in The Program, much to their horror. The book travels along with Shuya and Noriko- how they meet an unexpected ally, Shogo, and they try to beat the odds and get out of the game. Things arent as easy as they seem though, because everyone else has this same idea in mind.
Before their eyes they see their classmates killed off as some participate in this 'game' and some try not to. It's a tale that reckons with a human's inner battle; the want and will to do right, to do good, and how easily it can be manipulated if an instance of fear for life is brought in. It shows how no loyalty, regardless of how deep, can last; no friendship, regardless of how strong, can truly stand; and how love, being the strongest, is the only factor that can perhaps overtake the surging need to live.
If you can deal with idea of students fighting for their lives, and if you can deal with the death scenes, you may find this book fall among your favorites. I highly recommend this book. Yes, there are some rather graphic scenes of death [yet, not overdone as to be disgusting or disorderly], but the themes portrayed through the writing are so well written in and held up that its completely worth reading. Not only this, but the writing style is unique. Passages are well written to a point where the effect on the reader is quite strong.
Well written: 9/10
Sex: 0/10 [none]
Violence: 20/10
Unexpected Twists: 10/10
When something as great in value as your life is on the line- good intentions sometimes take an unexpected turn.
Hope this helped. Happy reading!
Book Review: AWES0ME B000K !!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I LOVE THIS B00K.
Okay, so I watched the movie before reading the book so it was a little awkward since I already knew what was going to happen. But yes, the book is 20,000 times better than the movie!! The background stories to each character actually make you start to care for them.
Althought its like 600 pages, its worth it!!! I read it all in 3 days :D When you first start it, you just cant stop.
Battle Royale is basically about sometime in the future where in Japan, students are rebellious and stuff because the economy is failing. Forty students are kidnapped and placed on an island where they must participate in the Program known as BR. They must where these collars that have a bomb in them and they have 3 days to kill each other. If its the 3rd day and there's more than one survivor, then they will all die.
Now that you know what it's about, I have to tell you, this book is just so awesome!!! It's a real page turner for sure!!
Then some parts made me laugh like some dialogue but then some parts really make you cry! And feel depressed. Especially when the character in the novel is thinking back on how their life was prior the present. It's so thought provoking. Then when they think about what's happening to them, It makes you feel hopeless like you were in their situation. Thats how good this book is.
I think this book really makes you think about your life and how you should always be living life to the fullest because you never know when everything can just be taken away from you!!! I learned that from this book.
See usually I never read books. I was like bleh reading um ya. But BATTLE ROYALE really captured my attention!! So just read it.
Um, The ending is pretty sad too. Well sort of happy. Actually, everything is sad! When a book can make you feel emotions, that means its really good. That's why i love this book!!
Yeah i remember this one part where one of my favorite characters died. It made me so depressed and I even started crying during the part when he dies!!! My mom was like wtf. But yea, see how strong this book is!!
I've said it before, & i'll say it again [cuz i can] this book is awesome, a page turner, and really makes you feel emotions like you're in the Program.
I definitely recommend you to buy this book & watch the movie!!! Tell your friends too!! Watch it kae.!! Be like nike, just do it!!! Heheheh um ya.