Welcome to Lyfeblerd, a podcast all about manga, manhwa, light novels and other types of comic books. I’m your host, Cryptte, and today we’re diving into the intense and thought-provoking seinen manga series, Battle Royale.

Originally written by Koushun Takami in 1996, it went unpublished until 1999 after being rejected in 1997 by the Japan Horror Fiction Awards. This was because it was too reminiscent of a recent murder in Kobe involving high school students. For the show, I’ll be covering the manga adaptation which was released from 2000 to 2005 and illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi. Tokyopop released the series in English in the following years and a special edition hit store shelves in late 2007.

Now if I haven’t scared you away, strap in for a rollercoaster ride of survival, betrayal, and moral dilemmas.

Story

Battle Royale is set in a dystopian version of Japan and follows a class of junior high students who are forced into a brutal game of survival. Every year, the government selects one class from across the country to participate in the Battle Royale program and this time it is the turn of Shiro Iwa Junior High School.  

The class of 42 is transported to a remote island, where they are given a limited amount of time to kill each other until only one of them remains. They wake up to their new surroundings with explosive collars around their necks, with failure to comply resulting in instant death. Each student is also given a survival bag each with a random weapon before being sent off on their way. Furthermore, certain areas on the island are marked for bombing, shrinking the area and forcing the students into faster encounters.

The story revolves around five characters, giving readers multiple protagonists and antagonists to follow. However, time is still spent developing all the other students as they all react differently to their predicament. 

Plus & Minus

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Many of you listening would have noticed the similarities between Battle Royale and several media projects out there. The original novel’s success led to not only the release of multiple manga and movies but the birth of popular genres that have permeated modern-day pop culture. 

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) creator Brendan Greene has been vocal about the influence Battle Royale had on the video game that created the sensational genre. There’s also Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk who also cited Battle Royale as one of his inspirations. Many, myself included, have also pointed out the similarities Battle Royale shares with Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games, but the author insists she was unaware of the title at the time she wrote her series.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that Battle Royale has had a huge influence on pop culture and for that alone, it should garner respect.

The manga also stuck to its gripping and controversial origins by maintaining a tense and suspenseful atmosphere. The unpredictable nature of the character’s actions and the constant threat of violence will keep you on the edge of your seat. 

The character development is also quite good. We witness the growth and transformation of the students as they struggle with the ethical implications of killing their classmates. The manga takes us into their psyches, revealing their motivations and fears. Battle Royale poses the scary question of how far you would go to survive if you were in their situation. It is a thought-provoking social commentary that forces us to question the status quo.

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On the flip side, Battle Royale is not for the faint of heart. Filled with scenes of intense gore and brutality, it can be downright disturbing for one to read. Gratuitous and excessive at times, it can detract from the overall experience. 

The large cast of characters also makes it a bit of a challenge to keep track of all the names and individual storylines, which can easily lead to confusion, particularly in the early chapters. However, as the story progresses and the death count rises, all the key characters are better fleshed out through their unique story arcs.

I’ve heard talk of poor pacing but I think the manga did a much better job of it than the first movie. For me, the last gripe would be the changes made in the English version that lacked consistency around the end of the manga. Mainly Tokyopop turning The Program into a reality show, but it doesn’t do much harm to the overall experience.

Conclusion

Battle Royale is a manga that pushed boundaries and challenged readers’ perspectives at the time it came out. If you aren’t familiar with the plethora of battle royale-styled survival manga and anime out there, then it could hit you just as hard even today.  

The combination of violence, moral dilemmas, and social commentary creates a compelling narrative that will probably have you angry at the mangaka whenever one of your favourite characters dies, but not enough to stop reading. Battle Royale with its dark and gritty themes will haunt you long after you put its pages down, like some sort of Ghost of Tragedy Past.

So next time you come across someone that tells you comic books are just for kids, give them Battle Royale to read and watch their ignorance flee in fear. 

Reading List

For fans of Battle Royale and those that want something similar once they’re done reading, pick up Gantz by Hiroya Oku. It’s a sci-fi story about a secret war that shares themes of survival and moral ambiguity, delving into the psychological effects of life-and-death situations. Another manga with similar dystopian themes is Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama. In a post-apocalyptic world filled with man-killing giants, we are treated to lots of action and politics.

• Gantz Omnibus Volume 1 by Hiroya Oku – https://amzn.to/3DvY8Zd
• Attack on Titan Volume 1 by Hajime Isayama – https://amzn.to/3rV2rdG

If you’re looking for something lighter in the survival game space, then try BTOOOM! by Junya Inoue. It plays things simple and safe, with no psychoanalysing, moral dilemmas or complex characters. Aoharu X Machinegun by Naoe is another one but this time lives and sanity aren’t at stake. The story takes us into the world of competitive airsoft.

• BTOOOM! Volume One by Junya Inoue – https://amzn.to/3OfAy7V
• Aoharu X Machinegun Volume One by Naoe – https://amzn.to/4767msz

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So Long

That brings us to the end of another episode. I hope I’ve been able to get a new book or two onto your reading list. If I have, please subscribe and review on iTunes or anywhere else you get your podcasts. 

Join me next time on Lyfeblerd for more manga, manhua, light novels and other types of comic books. Until then, keep reading the books you love and support your local comic book scene. 

See you in the next act. 

The theme song is Dreams by Rewayde, provided by Argofox.