79
World class artwork drives this iconic story towards every gory and emotional extreme it
can find.
The cult classic story at it's most brutal
SPOILERS
Battle Royale began its life as a novel written by Koushun Takami, publishing in 1999. Then, through a successful movie and manga adaptation the following year, went on to become a global influence that reached through generations via books, movies and games right up till today, notably The Hunger Games, Squid Game, Red Rising, Call of Duty, and Fortnite.
Out of all the portrayals and adaptations we've had from this concept, the 2000 manga is by far the most brutal, which is quite the achievement. Within the first few chapters you’ll find scenes of rape and child murder drawn in full detail, with a main villain at the center of it all who is so despicable you can hardly stand to look upon his grotesque face.
I’ve not read anything like this actually, and for a few reasons have hesitations about recommending others to read it, despite it being one of the most visceral and entertaining experiences I've seen in the medium.
Whilst every dimension of this story hurtles towards its extremes, the mangaka, Koushun Takami, commits that same energy towards the art, delivering this immense level of quality and stylistic flair across all 13 volumes and 5-year run time, creating something I'd consider putting a greatest of all time list.
It’s flawless art honestly, and so clean, detailed and dramatic, with this deep shading that lifts the black and white panels into something very rich and realistic. There’s still a cartoonish side to it that's explored, wonderfully exaggerating all the character designs and expressions to build out personalities, but overall, everything from the landscapes to the gore is drawn with this immaculate intent, with hardly a single panel across the volumes not asking for your pause and attention.
And when its most impressive artwork arrives — those big single- and double-page panels — it is something special. At its most violent it’s unflinching and completely unhinged, with graphic portrayals of characters getting dispatched in a number of savage ways. Heads split and eyes burst, guts spill and bullets perforate in slow motion. No detail spared. This is why you read Battle Royale, and those characters that find themselves unfortunate enough to witness or be involved in such spectacles have their madness drawn and depicted with the same intensity — blood, spittle and all.
When it goes the other way, embracing the tender and emotional, it’s also quite good too, with plenty of shiny-eyed protagonists offering up their melodrama against sparkling backdrops and striking compositions. Affirmations of love and friendship are found in endless supply, and, like the violence, is also completely over the top, especially when the flashbacks, inner monologues and motivational dialogues begin to stack up. But this is manga after all, so it comes with the territory, and when it's drawn with this much heart and care, you let yourself roll with it.
The flashbacks actually offer some of the best content in the book, as the present-day dialogue during the game left a lot to be desired. The forest scenes with Shuya, Noriko and Shogo were too long winded and grew tiring, and characters with plenty of potential, such as class member Kiriyama and Teacher Kitano, served well as formidable villains but lacked meaningful dialogue and development, ultimately feeling one-dimensional. Thankfully, the jumps back in time to school life offered some more insight into the minds and personalities of each cast member and helped build some reason to care.
Mitsuko’s background and development were actually very good, but why did they feel the need to draw so much hentai for her? It’s just not needed and detracted from the story. Sure, throw in a bit of fan service here and there, but this was ridiculous in how sexually graphic it was. I'm not sure how these undeniably talented manga artists can take themselves seriously when they are drawing some of this stuff. It’s not coming from a place of artistic integrity, as a means to elevate the story, that’s for sure.
It’s hard to recommend this book in good faith to others because of it.
It’s a real page-turner regardless. You’ll blast through the volumes, even with all those stops you make to take it all in. Fans of the movie will know what you’re in for, and classic moments like those in the lighthouse still hit so well, even if the climax is relatively weak. There's still plenty of other surprises along the way, and the grip of fascism that underpins the world-building is, I believe, what helped take this story beyond its interesting Battle Royale mechanics to the more horrifying and influential creative work that it later became.
VERDICT
Despite all it's influenced, there's really nothing else quite like this manga, and for that I appreciate the unique value it contributes to medium. The artistic force at it's centre is immense, so when the story looses steam or starts becoming one dimensional, the art steps in to amplify the experience with its visceral and unrestrained depiction of gore, emotion, sex, horror, friendship and insanity, pushing the limits of the craft and often what's considered acceptable.
RATING BREAKDOWN
Story
77
Artwork
95
Dialogue
72
BONUS
FINAL
79
