As I sat watching the 2003 Survivor Finale and couldn't help thinking how much this show would kick ass if it was really based on the survival of the fittest. Imagine people on an island and at tribal councils contestants were forced to fight to the death? Come on-don’t act like you haven’t though the same thing. We live in a word where the more realistic things are, the higher the ratings will be. So imagine if they made Survivor just a little more realistic-include maybe weapons? Well, if you can’t imagine such a world, Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi have teamed together to create just such a world, for a surreal, horrific look at reality television, called Battle Royale.
Battle Royale is about the most famous TV show in an economically bereft and morally corrupt futuristic Japan. The Program is a television game show that through a national lottery picks random ninth grade classes and puts them on an abandoned island for a televised fight to the death. Prepare for one of the most suspenseful, action packed, psychological tales you will ever have the opportunity to read in this lifetime.
The tale begins innocently enough with two orphans, Shuuya Nanahara and Yoshitoki Kuninobu, looking forward to their favorite television show, but instead are upset by the fact that a reality show called The Program has interrupted their program, providing only graphic images of a winner who has seemingly lost her mind after coming close to breaking the record set in a past episode. The two children, upset by the images, are reassured by Ms. Ryoko, the woman looking out for the two children, that they will not be placed on such a television show. From this eerily strange scene, the reader is then introduced to six other characters destined to be the stars of the book through one page tales that showcase each of their diverse personalities. Flash forward and the eight stars have grown up and are now part of a class of 42 children kidnapped during their school trip and entered by the government as contestants on The Program.
Further reading reveals how sadistic The Program is when those in charge of watching over the kids inform them that they have killed or raped those who have protested the kids’ involvement in such a show. When the students rebel so do the producers of the program by any means necessary, including murder to force the students to compete. The students, once subdued, are armed with various weapons and sent out to fend for themselves. The idea of forming alliances is hard if not impossible as contestants try to discover who really wants to play, and those seeking escape. In one scene as a student hides in terror and tears, another finds her, and the two embrace in hug of solidarity, only the second girl pulls out a knife and kills the latter with great enthusiasm.
Even battling their kidnappers is quelled when they realize that a collar around the neck will blow them all up if there is not a kill within a 24-hours. Any hopes of hiding out are also dashed when the students are told that certain areas will become danger zones allowing the students five minutes to leave or face the consequences. With no escape, even the most innocent of children turn to violence to stay alive.
This is one of the most shocking tales I have ever read. The writing was so well done. The character interactions were flawless. The art is phenomenal. The storyline is shocking, graphic, disheartening and downright scary. This has to be one of the most suspenseful and freaky tales I have ever read. I loved it! I plan to get every issue in the series. The scary thing is; in a world where we have almost exhausted every form of reality television imaginable, how long before this piece of fiction becomes a reality?
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