Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Battle Royale

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

45 reviews

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Yall what a wild ass ride. The book is insane. Sardonic. Brutal. Gore porn. Chaotic brilliance. The satirical tone with the biting Japanese society social commentary/critique and sarcastic remarks throughout might be weird and seem inappropriate or out of place but that added to the dehumanization of the Program and the regime's “successful fascism”.

I was spooked, heartbroken, amused, disgusted and absolutely glued to this book once I got really into it. Yes, the pacing and the translation were a little clunky and repetitive (how many times can the phrase “That's right.” be written in a book? Read this book to find out lmao) but it also made the experience of reading this like a past citizen of the Republic of Greater East Asia was the one telling the story, you know. Also, even if the end result of the translation is a little wonky, I don't know how much I can fault the translator bc Japanese is a very intricate language and English can be so limiting to expressing the same tone or context. Especially a book heavy in satire and sarcasm as this one, the humor really would be hard to translate.

I think all the little backgrounds were effectively employed and gave the kids varied and dynamic personalities. And the junior high school crushes throughout the book were believable enough. I mean they're exploring their sexualities and hormones are going crazy. As for the inability of some of them to get over the fact they had to kill their classmates they'd known for years, like what do you expect? Even I as an adult would freak tf out if I were in the same situation and would take me a long time to reconcile with the fact I had to kill other people. I don't know I probably even wouldn't man, it's not worth it. So I don't think the kids's reactions were corny or unreasonable and I think the book really conveyed a realistic spirit of mistrust and fear in the mind of 15 years old, imo. Which in turn, reveals the extensiveness and effiency of that distrust in the general population. Contrary to other dystopias where the regimes are established through questionable ways and the existence of such seems unlikely and unachievable, the efficacy of the Program, the murders of the kids parents, and like Shogo says, the given propensity of their culture and society to respect hierarchies, be submissive, and not revolt, makes it chillingly real.

Characters wise, Kazuo Kiriyama is pretty iconic and terrifying af (in both versions). Shogo Kawada and Shinji "The Third Man" Mimura were amazing and sympathetic. I cried buckets reading Shogo's ending even though I knew it was coming and like I had seen the movie. It was definitely more emotional here, though. I think I would have wanted a more conclusive, hopeful ending for Shuya and Noriko (but then it wouldn't be a dystopia, huh). (I watched the movie so long ago I don't remember the ending exactly but I think it was a lot more optimistic??) But also the idea of them always on the run but together is captivating enough. Still the ending brought it down one star.

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nandakandabooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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amortentiareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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thefoxyreader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A group of children are selected annually by a totalitarian government system to participate in a deadly game where the victor is the last child alive.

Sound familiar? Yes, this is the Japanese version of The Hunger Games, but what might surprise you is that Battle Royale was published in Japan in 1999 and translated and sold in America in 2003.

So, did Suzanne Collins know of its existence? She says she didn’t, but it is beyond obvious that there are many similarities between the novels.

I read Battle Royale back in 2004/2005, so this was a reread for me. At 16/17, I was blown away by the shocking content and loved the characters and their rebellious natures and utter hopelessness in a cruel situation.

At 33, I mostly feel the same way, which I think speaks to the quality of this story. I have some gripes and criticisms that I certainly didn’t care about as a teenager, but overall, the story still feels shocking, the tension is palpable, and I was surprised at how vividly I still remembered several key scenes in the novel.

Honestly, this could also be called Trigger Warning: The Novel. It is violent and disturbing. It does not hold anything back at all and is not for the faint of heart.

The most interesting aspect of Battle Royale is that several classes of students are selected to participate in the Battle Royale program throughout the year, so the students in this book all know each other. I feel like that adds a layer of emotional depth to the novel as a lot of the students struggle with having to kill their friends in order to survive.

There’s not a ton of depth to the characters, but somehow this works for a lot of them. There are a lot of characters that I liked in this book. Shogo Kawada is a teenage John McClane, and Takako Chigusa has a badass female empowerment moment. I also love Shinji Mimura, and

I was still so gutted when he died. He had such a good plan to escape, and it all just fell apart in the most surprising and heartbreaking way possible.

While the Japanese government and the program director are the main antagonists, I love the secondary antagonists in this book. There was enough reason given to their actions that you can understand their motives without having to dismiss their horrific actions.

The main negative of this book is that the translation that I have is not very good. There were many instances where you could tell it was a direct translation because the simile kind of made sense but it is a comparison that no English speaker would make. Here are some examples:

“Her body temperature, which he sensed from her hands and through the shoulder area of the sailor suit, felt abnormally high, as if she were nursing a chick underneath her clothes.”

“Shuya had a dim image of the faces of Megumi Eto and Yukiko Kitano. Just a little, though. Like, two teaspoons each.”

“Mitsuko’s face was twisted with dismay and horror--at the very least it looked contorted. She was priceless.”

“...he was most likely beaten to death. With the gear of his sport--a baseball bat.”

My book is the very first translation. I know they have a much newer translation so hopefully it’s better than my copy.

Because the translation isn’t great, I will not judge this book on the writing quality. The pacing is great, though, and the 600 pages flow by quickly. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still felt the tension and anguish just as if I was reading it for the first time.

I can see how this book would be polarizing. The intent is to shock the reader, and Takani does just that.

With its shocking plot and horrific imagery, the most disturbing thing about Battle Royale is that its themes about violence towards children and loss of innocence still feel so relevant today.

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bex_knighthunterbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I found this very enjoyable, and incredibly well paced, with almost continuous action. The world does feel a little like an afterthought, but the psychology of the kids and their observations still feel very real and true. The ending was also really satisfying with a good set of twists I didn't see coming. (Unusually for me) I really appreciated this books length and getting to understand and care about characters before they died. Unfortunately, despite the extra airtime I wasn't a fan of the main character (a little too perfect 'hero') and his love interest didn't seem as fleshed out as some of the other characters that had only a short point of view. The transfer student was also a incredibly overpowered but his dialogue was some of my favourite! There were a few parts that made me nervous that the author would be insensitive (mentions of rape, the only queer character being referred to with slurs), but the author walked the line closely enough that this personally didn't put me off too much. It was gruesome with quite stylised unrealistic violence but overall it worked for me!

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