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Title: Battle Royale
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents beware: This series is NOT for kids! With extreme graphic violence, language, and a down right frightening concept, you will want your kids to stay as far away from this title as possible. Action fans are bound to love this series. It has everything you want from an action title: Lots of weapons, people trying to kill each other, and a surprisingly deep story. There's a very good chance that women will not like this series because of the horrifying deaths in this title. Regardless of who you are though, you should keep in mind that this series is VERY graphic! |
Have you ever noticed that some of the craziest ideas ever hatched by man turn out to be some of the most brilliant ideas in the long run? First we have movies such as “Monty Python and The Search For The Holy Grail,” a movie that doesn't make much sense in story or anything else, but is considered to be one of the best comedies ever. And who came up with “Dance Dance Revolution,” a game where people dance on a medal pad to arrows and music? One of the silliest ideas ever at the time, but that game saved the arcade business and is now considered one of the greatest games of all time. And "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"...well that movie/show speaks for itself. It's always the craziest ideas that turn out to be the biggest of successes, and with “Battle Royale” the authors came up with one of the craziest and most insane ideas for a story ever, one that will even make fans of blood bath horror films wide eyed with horror and disbelief. Before we begin this review I must ask that you all bear with me as I try to explain the story behind this strange series.
This story is about a government sponsored lottery where a class of 9th grade students get selected to participate in a reality show called “The Program.” Turnds out that “The Program” is a ratings smash reality TV show where the randomly picked 9th graders are taken to a deserted island, each given bags of random weapons, food, and other supplies, and they are told that they have three days to kill every single classmate on the island before time runs out! Kill or be killed. If not everyone is killed within three days then everyone will be killed and there will be no winners (The TV network has put some sort of collar around everyone's neck so that if there is more then one person still alive by the end of the show the collars explode, killing everyone in the process). Also the fact that this is a government sponsored event means there is no one who is going to even SUGGEST stopping this cruelty, and to some credit there's really no way to fight "The Program!"
I'll give you all a minute to get your jaws off the floor before I finish this review. To say that the very idea of the Japanese government letting something like this happen is outrageous would be the understatement of the year, this is downright manslaughter, there's nothing glorious about it, and if something like this was REALLY happening in Japan I can guarantee you that George W. Bush would have the Army all over Japan like a pack of wild dogs! In Japan this series started out as a book (Also available translated in local book stores), was made into a live action movie (One that Media Blasters failed to get the rights to), and was considered to be one of the ultimate controversies in Japan as many people believed that it glorified violence too much. Although I don't think this glorifies violence at all. In fact I believe that this is actually a very anti-violence series.
The reason I say that is because right from the start of the book, this series does everything it can to make sure the reader feels sorry for the characters, and for the reader to wish that this wasn't happening at all. While there is no particular main star of this series, the first book tends to suggest that Shuuya Nanahara, a guy who is considered one of the nicest guys in school, to be the protagonist who gets the most attention. Right off the bat the story starts with him and his best friend, and when his class is chosen to be the class to participate in “The Program” Shuuya vows that he will do everything to fight the system and get everyone to work together without killing anyone. So right off the bat it would SEEM that the whole series is going to focus on Shuuya, making everyone else's role in the series small in comparison! But that's not the case.
One of the great things about this series is that it takes time to develop ALL the characters in this series, making is all the more painful when someone you learn to like dies! Had the series only focused on Shuuya then everyone else would be props for the main story, and no one would care if they died or not (Which is that case probably WOULD make this story feel like it was glorifying violence). However since the authors show you all of the characters real lives (The good and the bad), we end up getting attached to some of the characters, and when they die you can't help but be angry at the Japanese government for allowing something like this to even go on. By the time this series is over, you may find yourself thinking far less kindly towards killing of any kind in any form of entertainment.
And this is where “Battle Royale's” greatest strength lies: It's ability to tell a great story! Like I said before, this series can be categorized as one of the most insane concepts EVER created! The story is totally out there, there is no possible way this would EVER happen in real life, and it's bloody to the core...yet the whole thing works on so many different levels at the same time! This series may be soaking with blood and violence, but because we feel sorry for the kids who have to go through this situation we end up wishing this whole thing wasn't happening at all. The characters may never be the deepest of characters, but they are defiantly believable in how each of the react differently towards this whole thing. Some of them play along feeling they have no choice but to kill, some of them want to fight the system, while some can't deal with the pressure of killing anyone and end up committing suicide. Whether you want to believe it or not, this is actually a very heartbreaking series.
And the art is so totally graphic you may find yourself less of a fan of violence then when you first opened this book. With believable characters, great art, and an insane idea that works on many levels, “Battle Royale” is a great read for those who are mature enough to handle it! It's not for everyone, and finding someone who will appreciate this may be a tough battle, but for those who are daring enough to brave this series will find a totally whacked out premise that just screams “It's so crazy it's brilliant!” Highly recomended...for mature audiences obviously.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -