Battle Royale - Worth It?

[soren7550]

So, as a late Christmas present, I got a gift card for Barns & Nobel. I naturally want to pick up something good, but I'm not entirely sure of what. Also, I need something that I can sink my teeth into. So I was thinking of getting Battle Royale, but before I pick it up, I want to know what you guys think of it.

EDIT: I though it would have been obvious when I said Barns & Nobel, but I mean the book version of Battle Royale.

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

'Tis good. Simple, but effective, entertaining, and different (if not as much anymore). Not much subtext, but a little if you look for it, and the rest, the more overt, is still good.

Oh, and if you're getting the book (sounds like that is what you're getting), its helpful if you know how "Born To Run" goes.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

I thought it was a lousy film, to be honest. It's pretty simple, and had a couple of fun moments, but beyond that, just boring.

Edit: Unless you're talking about the book. What that is like, I wouldn't know.

 

[Lionsfan]

Battle Royale? Isn't that the stuff that ripped off of Hunger Games? I couldn't tell you much about it, besides it wasn't very original

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

It's a good book. Don't let people who have compared it to The Hunger Games without reading both books tell you it's not worth reading one if you've read the other. Without spoiling anything, they start with a similar premise, but are polar opposites in the conclusions drawn from it.

<spoiler=with (very mild) spoilers> Battle Royale is a very Japanese story that ultimately decides people are too conformist for one person to do anything to change society as a whole. The Hunger Games is a very American story about how one person at the right place and time can make all the difference.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

Isn't that the stuff that ripped off of Hunger Games? I couldn't tell you much about it, besides it wasn't very original

I really hope this is some masterful parody of the fools who actually think this and I've just fallen on the wrong side of Poe's Law.

Just in case said fools are reading this post, Battle Royale was released nine years earlier.

Calling it unoriginal for being the Trope Codifier is sheer lunacy.

Anyway, to the OP. Decent book, decent film, the book has a lot of political guff that sort of bogs it down in my opinion, the film did well to cut most of that out.

It's satisfying, if rather simplistic fun. Give it a shot.

 

[Silvanus]

I've read the Manga series, but not the novel.


Loved the Manga. It is pretty sexually visual in a few places, but I kinda expected that and just ignored it (one scene pretty intimately showing a rape gave me a sour feeling).

Still overall some really engaging characters, good plot.

Couldn't comment on the novel, though.

 

[hazabaza1]

The book, the manga or the movie?
I've read a bit of the manga (maybe half) and it seemed alright. Kind of ruined the whole "gwaaah everyone can die" thing when the main character is an anime pretty boy and therefor is invulnerable in story terms.

Haven't read the book but I hear there's a big event about half way through which is a massive "WHAT THE FUCK WHOA THAT'S SO COOOOOL"

Haven't seen the movie but someone I know likes it.

 

[cjspyres]

Battle Royale? Isn't that the stuff that ripped off of Hunger Games? I couldn't tell you much about it, besides it wasn't very original

Please....please...pleeeeeeeease. Be. Sarcasm. It has to be.

OT: Yes, you should pick it up. It's quite a good book. Nobody feels...invulnerable? I think that a good word. You feel like anyone could die at any second. Just my opinion though.

 

[Keoul]

I watched the film.
It was pretty good considering how old it is but damn is the acting dramatic. Ridiculously so, it's also more graphic than hunger games.

 

[Nouw]

I can't say much about the novel but the film was excellent; it was the first film to actually make me want to stop watching half-way through. Granted I'm around the same age as the teens in the film but there you go.

 

[keiji_Maeda]

I've read the Manga series, but not the novel.


Loved the Manga. It is pretty sexually visual in a few places, but I kinda expected that and just ignored it (one scene pretty intimately showing a rape gave me a sour feeling).

Still overall some really engaging characters, good plot.

Couldn't comment on the novel, though.

Yeah, the manga is a whole lot more "sexxier and edgierz!" possibly followed with a pinch of extra exclamation marks, to add a sepia tone of seriousness.

Seriously, a lot more graphic, the most obvious example being when they take the graphic options with showing Mitsuko souma trying to comprehend men with sex being the one thing that she can filter them through.

The Manga also adds a few extra spices and shades, what with it showing up a few years after the book.

everynow and then i look at my posts and realize i'm a horrible know it all (-_o)

 

[keiji_Maeda]

So, as a late Christmas present, I got a gift card for Barns & Nobel. I naturally want to pick up something good, but I'm not entirely sure of what. Also, I need something that I can sink my teeth into. So I was thinking of getting Battle Royale, but before I pick it up, I want to know what you guys think of it.

EDIT: I though it would have been obvious when I said Barns & Nobel, but I mean the book version of Battle Royale.

Bought it back i aught eight. It's a pretty decent yarn, better than the hunger games? FOr me? sure, but that's not an answer.

Yes, it's good, i've gone through and read it twice. It's pretty graphic, and it's pretty enticing, and will inevitably lead to young 'uns having a "i wonder who of us would win a battle royale" amongst themselves. Dark humour and interesting characters.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

So, as a late Christmas present, I got a gift card for Barns & Nobel. I naturally want to pick up something good, but I'm not entirely sure of what. Also, I need something that I can sink my teeth into. So I was thinking of getting Battle Royale, but before I pick it up, I want to know what you guys think of it.

EDIT: I though it would have been obvious when I said Barns & Nobel, but I mean the book version of Battle Royale.

I read the manga series first and then the novelization.

Personally, I would go with the manga, it does a far better job humanizing and making one fall in love with the characters.

If money is an issue, the novelization will do.

 

[Queen Michael]

So, as a late Christmas present, I got a gift card for Barns & Nobel. I naturally want to pick up something good, but I'm not entirely sure of what. Also, I need something that I can sink my teeth into. So I was thinking of getting Battle Royale, but before I pick it up, I want to know what you guys think of it.

EDIT: I though it would have been obvious when I said Barns & Nobel, but I mean the book version of Battle Royale.

I read the manga series first and then the novelization.

Personally, I would go with the manga, it does a far better job humanizing and making one fall in love with the characters.

If money is an issue, the novelization will do.

There is no novelization. However, there is a novel, but the novel came first. Both the manga and the movie are based on the novel.

Also, the manga is horribly translated. They rewrote the entire thing to be cooler. As a result, there are places where it's painfully obvious that what the characters are saying isn't what they were saying in the original at all.

I've read the Manga series, but not the novel.


Loved the Manga. It is pretty sexually visual in a few places, but I kinda expected that and just ignored it (one scene pretty intimately showing a rape gave me a sour feeling).

Still overall some really engaging characters, good plot.

Couldn't comment on the novel, though.

Yeah, the manga is a whole lot more "sexxier and edgierz!" possibly followed with a pinch of extra exclamation marks, to add a sepia tone of seriousness.

Seriously, a lot more graphic, the most obvious example being when they take the graphic options with showing Mitsuko souma trying to comprehend men with sex being the one thing that she can filter them through.

The Manga also adds a few extra spices and shades, what with it showing up a few years after the book.

everynow and then i look at my posts and realize i'm a horrible know it all (-_o)

Part of the manga's edginess is due to the horrible translation.

The book is great. Higly recommended. I liked it so much when I borrowed it from the library that I had to buy a copy.

 

[knight steel]

Read the manga version free online first and if you like it and want more buy the novel [just type in battle royal manga and click on the first website] as for me I like the manga more than the book mainly because the visuals stop you from getting mixed up [there are lot of characters with hard to remember names] and is more visceral.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

So, as a late Christmas present, I got a gift card for Barns & Nobel. I naturally want to pick up something good, but I'm not entirely sure of what. Also, I need something that I can sink my teeth into. So I was thinking of getting Battle Royale, but before I pick it up, I want to know what you guys think of it.

EDIT: I though it would have been obvious when I said Barns & Nobel, but I mean the book version of Battle Royale.

I read the manga series first and then the novelization.

Personally, I would go with the manga, it does a far better job humanizing and making one fall in love with the characters.

If money is an issue, the novelization will do.

There is no novelization. However, there is a novel, but the novel came first. Both the manga and the movie are based on the novel.

Also, the manga is horribly translated. They rewrote the entire thing to be cooler. As a result, there are places where it's painfully obvious that what the characters are saying isn't what they were saying in the original at all.

I've read the Manga series, but not the novel.


Loved the Manga. It is pretty sexually visual in a few places, but I kinda expected that and just ignored it (one scene pretty intimately showing a rape gave me a sour feeling).

Still overall some really engaging characters, good plot.

Couldn't comment on the novel, though.

Yeah, the manga is a whole lot more "sexxier and edgierz!" possibly followed with a pinch of extra exclamation marks, to add a sepia tone of seriousness.

Seriously, a lot more graphic, the most obvious example being when they take the graphic options with showing Mitsuko souma trying to comprehend men with sex being the one thing that she can filter them through.

The Manga also adds a few extra spices and shades, what with it showing up a few years after the book.

everynow and then i look at my posts and realize i'm a horrible know it all (-_o)

Part of the manga's edginess is due to the horrible translation.

The book is great. Higly recommended. I liked it so much when I borrowed it from the library that I had to buy a copy.

Pardon me. No sleep and I mis-spoke.

Yes I heard a great deal about the blah blah blah they changed shit, but really what they changed was really superficial to the plot. Like fine, it wasn't really a reality show. That didn't matter. Probably the only thing I feel are really missing is the Springsteen song and the final line of the novel.

I don't even think it's better because it's more edgey, it's just the fact you can see these characters interact and get so much a better feel for them as characters so that when some of them die it really hits you. It makes Kiriyama look that much more menacing seeing him walk like an emotionless robot. Mitsuko because so much more deeper when you see those jarring memories with her visualizing herself like a destroyed doll. It captures visually the tension and frustration Mimura goes through with his failed plan. Christ, the fight between Hiroki and Kiriyama is all kinds of awesome. I read the damn thing and walked away from it wishing they would make an Anime based off it because the artwork does a good job making these characters seem real.

 

[Queen Michael]

So, as a late Christmas present, I got a gift card for Barns & Nobel. I naturally want to pick up something good, but I'm not entirely sure of what. Also, I need something that I can sink my teeth into. So I was thinking of getting Battle Royale, but before I pick it up, I want to know what you guys think of it.

EDIT: I though it would have been obvious when I said Barns & Nobel, but I mean the book version of Battle Royale.

I read the manga series first and then the novelization.

Personally, I would go with the manga, it does a far better job humanizing and making one fall in love with the characters.

If money is an issue, the novelization will do.

There is no novelization. However, there is a novel, but the novel came first. Both the manga and the movie are based on the novel.

Also, the manga is horribly translated. They rewrote the entire thing to be cooler. As a result, there are places where it's painfully obvious that what the characters are saying isn't what they were saying in the original at all.

I've read the Manga series, but not the novel.


Loved the Manga. It is pretty sexually visual in a few places, but I kinda expected that and just ignored it (one scene pretty intimately showing a rape gave me a sour feeling).

Still overall some really engaging characters, good plot.

Couldn't comment on the novel, though.

Yeah, the manga is a whole lot more "sexxier and edgierz!" possibly followed with a pinch of extra exclamation marks, to add a sepia tone of seriousness.

Seriously, a lot more graphic, the most obvious example being when they take the graphic options with showing Mitsuko souma trying to comprehend men with sex being the one thing that she can filter them through.

The Manga also adds a few extra spices and shades, what with it showing up a few years after the book.

everynow and then i look at my posts and realize i'm a horrible know it all (-_o)

Part of the manga's edginess is due to the horrible translation.

The book is great. Higly recommended. I liked it so much when I borrowed it from the library that I had to buy a copy.

Pardon me. No sleep and I mis-spoke.

Yes I heard a great deal about the blah blah blah they changed shit, but really what they changed was really superficial to the plot. Like fine, it wasn't really a reality show. That didn't matter. Probably the only thing I feel are really missing is the Springsteen song and the final line of the novel.

I don't even think it's better because it's more edgey, it's just the fact you can see these characters interact and get so much a better feel for them as characters so that when some of them die it really hits you. It makes Kiriyama look that much more menacing seeing him walk like an emotionless robot. Mitsuko because so much more deeper when you see those jarring memories with her visualizing herself like a destroyed doll. It captures visually the tension and frustration Mimura goes through with his failed plan. Christ, the fight between Hiroki and Kiriyama is all kinds of awesome. I read the damn thing and walked away from it wishing they would make an Anime based off it because the artwork does a good job making these characters seem real.

With you 100% on the Kiriyama thing. His manga version is insanely awesome. Problem with the reality show thin was, when characters are communicating with writing the cameras that a reality show would use should be able to see what they're writing. But yeah, it's definitely not a bad series.

 

[JoJo]

Battle Royale? Isn't that the stuff that ripped off of Hunger Games? I couldn't tell you much about it, besides it wasn't very original

Please....please...pleeeeeeeease. Be. Sarcasm. It has to be.

To put you out of your misery, yeah he's being sarcastic, the pink text is sometimes used on this site to indicate sarcasm (though usually in R&P so I can understand why you might not have seen it before.)