Battle Royale: Remastered by Koushun Takami

Battle Royale: Remastered (Battle Royale)

by Koushun Takami

In a dystopian future Japan, forty-two junior high school students are outfitted with weapons and bid to kill one another until there is only one left standing.

Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller envisions a nightmare scenario: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan—where it became a runaway best seller—Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world.

Reviewed by violetpeanut on

4 of 5 stars

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This was a great book. I can't say that I really "enjoyed" it because of the subject matter but it was very engaging. The premise is disturbing - a class of middle grade (15 year old) students is brought to an island and told they must kill each other until only one student remains.

Yes - it sounds just like [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1326003698s/2767052.jpg|2792775]. But keep in mind, this book was published first. This book is the original. Although there are many many similarities, [b:Battle Royale|57891|Battle Royale|Koushun Takami|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331235272s/57891.jpg|2786327] is different in one very important way - it's characters. These characters are all known to each other since they are in the same class. This adds a new dimension to the conflict that is not present in The Hunger Games. Takami also goes into the backstory of his characters revealing much more about the motivations for their decisions and the basis for their personalities.

The only reason I did not rate this 5 stars is because I found this a little slow going. I think much of that is because of a combination of translation (it is very true that things get lost in translation) and cultural differences. I am not all that familiar with Japanese culture beyond what is on tv. In particular the dialogue was frustrating. I'm pretty sure this is a cultural difference because of the formality of the Japanese culture in contrast to our very laid-back American culture. The way most of them spoke to each other seemed somewhat alien to me. This really is not the fault of the author. Rather, it is, I think, a result of my unfamiliarity with the culture.

All in all, this was a fantastic book and I would recommend it as long as you do not have a weak stomach. This is an extremely violent and gory book.

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  • Started reading
  • 28 April, 2012: Finished reading
  • 28 April, 2012: Reviewed