A review by rosieryel
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

dark tense fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No
i got really stuck on the alternate history setting/world and how poorly thought-out it seemed especially politically but once i decided to ignore those parts since they’re just a catalyst for the more important battle royale game it was engaging enough. i have issues with some of the characterization especially for the girls (noriko barely having a character and not getting her own pov chapter and just mitsuko’s whole deal) and some of the other side characters (sho’s character was pretty bad in terms of stereotypes and kazuo just being born with no emotion feels lazy) and shuya kinda felt like a self-insert perfect chivalrous boy who’s into rock music and unaware he’s popular with girls. but i can see why it’s a cult classic and kinda spawned a genre the action was well-written if gratuitously brutal and i was genuinely invested in a lot of characters - the pov shifting was impressively done considering such a huge cast to juggle. overall at least it was far from boring and i can appreciate it for what it is but personally have a lot of gripes
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