Battle Royale.

[Thing]

Has anybody read the book? I can't to see the anime/read the manga.

Later...

[Arxane]

I've read the book, and it's fantastic. Definitely disturbing and oftentimes gruesome, but a great read all the way through. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to see the (live-action) movie and/or manga, since this is where it all started.

And Viz gave it a very faithful translation, too, unlike Tokyopop is doing with the manga. I counted a couple of misprints, but then again I've counted more misprints in my copy of "The Last Unicorn". Any fan of "Battle Royale" would be crazy to pass this up.

[Poser Wannabe]

I actually just finished Battle Royale two days ago. :) My final thoughts of the book were that it was very gruesome, depressing, and disturbing. But in-between those moments the book can also came off as inspiring and very emotional. But I think it really depends on the reader on how they take everything in the book. Some things I saw as sad, I could see other people taking another way. IMO the author Koushun Takami does an excellent job of illustrating human behavior, survival, and emotions.

Like Arxane said Viz did a great job on the translation and I was happy with it. Overall I really enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down once I got into it. If you like action movies, or lord of the flies type books then you will love Battle Royale. If you have the time, I highly recommend it. :D

[Senbei Norimaki]

I just finished reading the novel today. I found the novel to be better than the movie. More detail into the characters back stories. It was cool also to read about some of the kids that didn't get much screen time in the movie. Girl #1 Mizuho Inada(the scifi nut) & Boy #14 Sho Tsukioka(the gay kid) were hilarious. Boy #13 Yuichiro Takiguchi is the perfect pure hearted otaku stereotype. Viz really didn't Americanize the story. They even left the names of the Japanese wrestlers in the introduction instead of using WWF names.

Anybody checkout Tokyopop & Peter Giffen's adaption of the manga?

[Poser Wannabe]

Anybody checkout Tokyopop & Peter Giffen's adaption of the manga?Hehe, I would love to read the Peter Griffen version. ;) But so far from what I have read it sounds like Keith Giffen put a lot of slang into the manga, and also shortened characters names a lot (such as Shu, Nori, Yoshi as opposed to Shuuya, Noriko, and Yoshitoki). It sounds like he changed it into a corny action movie. I've been thinking about picking up the first volume, but I don't really want to support Tokyopop’s version. :/

[Thing]

Since I read the novel already, any poorly translated manga won't ruin it for me.

Later...

[Zero Angel]

i had watched the movie before i read the manga so the manga was not so much of a surprise on the gruesome nature, however. the deathes are definatly much more distrubing and the extra bit they add onto the characters is incredibly dark (raping the serogate mother til she agreed to allow the two boys to join). also the headmaster is definatly alot more psychotic and deranged then in the movie. he is downright evil in the manga instead of coming off as one of the disenfanchised adults he was in the movie.

i did have the problem of reading the tokyopop translation and while for the most part it didnt have very many issues the slang definatly takes away from the moments that are supposed to carry a heavy impact.

[Senbei Norimaki]

i had watched the movie before i read the manga so the manga was not so much of a surprise on the gruesome nature, however. the deathes are definatly much more distrubing and the extra bit they add onto the characters is incredibly dark (raping the serogate mother til she agreed to allow the two boys to join). also the headmaster is definatly alot more psychotic and deranged then in the movie. he is downright evil in the manga instead of coming off as one of the disenfanchised adults he was in the movie.

i did have the problem of reading the tokyopop translation and while for the most part it didnt have very many issues the slang definatly takes away from the moments that are supposed to carry a heavy impact.

I agree the Teacher in the novel is a total scumbag. He seems like something out of the novel 1984. The Teacher in the movie isn't as evil. In the second movie his daughter volunteers to enter the next Battle Royale as a transfer student to avenge her father.

I do want to get the manga but I don't want to support what Tokyopop did to it. So I might get an import version of it.

[Senbei Norimaki]

I finally got a chance to check out the manga at my local Borders. The art is really ugly. Was the manga made before the film? The kids look a lot different in the manga!

[Zero Angel]

you thought the art was ugly? i thought it was different...but definatly fitting. the characters look like kids...well some of them do. there is definatly a much more sexual tone for some of them.

as for what came first. the manga did.

[Senbei Norimaki]

you thought the art was ugly? i thought it was different...but definatly fitting. the characters look like kids...well some of them do. there is definatly a much more sexual tone for some of them.

as for what came first. the manga did.

The only cute girls in the class in the manga were Chigusa, Mitsuko and Noriko. Lots of the guys looked more like Yakuza than Jr. High students. In the movie all the girls were jail bait! I prefer the way they look in the movie. Have you seen the students in Battle Royale 2? There are a lot of dogs in that class. :moon:

[Thing]

Battle Royale 2? Was it just an anime? Or was a book/manga written for it?

Later...

[Senbei Norimaki]

Battle Royale 2? Was it just an anime? Or was a book/manga written for it?

Later...

Battle Royale 2 is a live action movie.

There is one big difference from the BR novel & movie and that is the teacher. I don't consider the teacher Kitano to be the same person as the teacher Sakamochi from the novel. Mimura's uncle will be appearing in BR2. He is dead in the novel.

In BR2 Shuya has become a leader of a terrorist group called Wild 7. Noriko only makes a cameo appearance BR2. Wild 7 blows up the twin towers of the Tokyo Metropolitin Government Building. Killing 8,000 people. So the anti-terrorist task force called "September 11" organize a different BR game. The goal is to kill Shuya. So they send a new class to Whild 7's island base. Kitano's daughter Shiori volunteers to hunt down Shuya to avenge her father. Shiori is played by Ai Maeda the older sister of Aki Maeda the girl who played Noriko.

A BR website. (http://www.battleroyaleonline.com/)

A BR2 website. (http://br2.battleroyalefilm.com/)

[Zero Angel]

wow...you have got to be kidding me. that sounds pretty racey, even for the standards for which the first movie left at.