Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, Yuji Oniki (2003, Paperback)

This was the most fantastic novel I have ever read. Full of excitement, adventure, adrenaline, tragedy and revenge, I can clearly understand why Battle Royale has such a loyal cult following.
Not for the faint of heart or squeamish of stomach, this book is brutal and unrelenting, and many twists and turns along the way.

Highly recommended!!!!

I bought this book because I have seen the Japanese movie of the same name. I really enjoyed the movie and I highly recommend it to everyone. I thought the book the movie was based upon was really good, too. Although, I like the movie better. I think you get more of a feel for the characters in the movie than in the book. The book keeps you moving through the story at a quick pace. I don't remember there ever being a slow part. The only beef I have with the book is the main villian, Kazuo. They make him out to be more like the Terminator than a 15 year old boy. It seems like nothing can kill him, I don't even think he even get injured through out the whole story. Other than that, I highly recommend this book...and after you are done reading it, you HAVE to see the movie!

I found out about BR when it was referenced to in a comic, I just had to look it up. A couple of years have passed since then. I've seen the movies and read the manga countless times (All fantastic!) and I realized that I had never read the book.

I remedied that quickly thanks to half.ebay and I got into it. 3 days later and with eyes full of tears, I finished the book.

With no disrespect in the least to the Fukasaku family of directors, the manga kept it closest to the book. From Kawada trying to bust the window to the silent stalking of Kiriyama by Sho.

The manga was one of my favorite versions and I was happy to see that it did justice to the original work.

Without throwing out any spoilers, if you loved the manga and are a die-hard BR fan, get this book already!

Alright, so some seven or so months ago, I watched the film Battle Royale on the ever-cool Youtube. The sole reason for bringing me to watch it; Chiaki Kuriyama who played Chigusa--I love the chick and so checked out this movie she was in. Well, it's safe to say that Chiaki was one of the last things on my mind watching the film. When it was over, I vowed to get the book.
About...five and a half months later, I did. Purchased it off here on eBay in all its glorious, glossy red-covered...uh, glory. Right from the start of Koushun's hit novel, you are taken into the mind of one of the unfortunate students of Class B [Zentsuji Middle School] as his eyes wander the expanse of the bus that would take him and his fellow classmates on the study trip of doom.
There are 42 students. Almost immediately, two are killed off by the instructor of this cruel game even before it had started. In bold lettering, the author emphasizes this: 40 students remaining. After every ohso pleasant message, the narrative picks right back up again. Truly chilling.
And not just another horror-slasher novel. You, the reader, are taken inside the mind of every one of these ninth graders as they fight to kill one another. Their thoughts are hardly battle-strategy; they are classmates, and lovesick teens, children of rock in a country that bans it, and Space Warrior-wannabes. Battle Royale--what they are doing--how could they do it? Some couldn't.
But only one is allowed to live at the end. Only one.
Koushun feeds his readers more than even that, however. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a reason why this book caused so many controversial issues in Japan where it is set. Though in a dramatically exaggerated and twisted way, "Battle Royale" reflects upon the country's own problems of youth and government; and--perhaps above all--morality.
Said to be Japan's own "Lord of the Flies", this one is a must-read for all. Far exceeding the movie by ridiculous lengths, and surely the manga as well, "Battle Royale" will be forever something to be etched in your memory.

Could you kill your best friend?

I was told that Hunger Games was a rip-off of this Japanese book, so I decided to read it. I admit, I had trouble keeping the 40+ Japanese character names straight. It was very long, but I really enjoyed the ending. I would, though, recommend Hunger Games more than this.