3:44pm Monday 30th November 2009
Battle Royale.
Battle Royale is a novel by Japanese author Koushun Takami; the novel was originally written in 1999 but was only translated and released in the UK in 2003.
Battle Royale is set in an alternate time line, where Japan is a nationalist social state, known as the ‘Republic of the Greater East Asia’.
The story starts with a group of middle-school students from Shiroiwa Junior High School; set in the fictional town of Shiroiwa, going on what they think is an ordinary study trip – unbeknown to them they have been entered in a military project simply named ‘The Program’.
The Program is a form of terror – a way for the Japanese government to control the population. The rules of the Program are that 42 students (aged 14-15) from a class selected in a ‘lottery’ are transported to a hidden island to fight and kill one and other until one is left standing – he or she will be crowned the winner. The contestants’ movements are restricted by the metal collars they had put round their necks, the collars contain a small bomb which is activated if the students try to escape or try to remove the collars. Resisting the game is inevitable – if no kills are made in 24 hours all of the bombs in the collars will be activated, there is also a time limit of only three days.
The story focuses on 15 year old Shuya Nanahara, who was orphaned after his parents died in a car crash, and grew up in a children’s home.
After his childhood friend, Yoshitoki Kuninobu is killed after protesting against The Program, Shuya vows to take care of classmate, Noriko Nakagawa, Yoshitoki’s crush.
The game starts and soon Shuya begins to realise that some of his classmates are more than willing to participate… Shuya is quick to try and come up with a plan to escape from the island along with Noriko, and a former Battle Royale contestant, Shogo Kawada, but he is unsure about who he can trust – especially when the number of classmates starts drastically decreasing.
Fast-paced, exciting, sad and sometimes funny, Battle Royale is an amazing novel and well worth reading. The description of each character is so vivid that you’ll grow to either love or hate them, and eventually end up feeling like a classmate.
The book has also been made into a film of the same name, starring Death Note’s Tatsuya Fujiwara, and a sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem.
By Paige Robinson
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