Battle Royale (novel)
Right from the first time I saw the controversial feature film, I was utterly gripped by the concept and story of Battle Royale, the portrayal of a cruel government programme that pits an entire class of high-school students against each other in a fight to the death. Koushun Takami’s original novel is probably less well-known than its movie or manga incarnation, but for me at least exhibits the most affecting mixture of visceral violence and meticulous characterisation I’ve ever seen set to print.
The story takes place in an alternative historical timeline in which Japan is part of a Greater East Asia police state, which has devised the notorious ‘Program’, resulting in the students of Shiroiwa Junior High being sent to a remote island on the pretext of a study trip. The premise is a bizarre mixture of Lord of the Flies and A Clockwork Orange; the sick product of a remorseless and twisted system that creates an extreme ‘kill or be killed’ environment for its unfortunate subjects. While some politics is thrown in as background, the thoughts and actions of the teenage participants make up the core of the narrative; particularly Shuya Nanahara, the male lead who loses his best friend Yoshitoki and Noriko Nakagawa, the girl who Shuya decides to protect on Yoshitoki’s behalf.
We are introduced to fewer than forty individuals in total who are each given some degree of explanation as to their background and personality; some are afraid, some are fearless, some relish the chance to commit violent acts on their fellow classmates while others seek their own way out of the sick ‘game’. Takami deserves credit for creating such a wide range of contrasting personalities who decide the twisting course of the events that unfold - it gets quite tricky to keep track of them all at times. All readers will be able to relate to some and love to hate others: I became quite attached to the two leads, not to mention the mysterious Shogo Kawada and the stoic Shinji Mimura. Unfortunately, the rules of the game dictate that all but one of the participants are doomed to die before the game is over so there are plenty of untimely ends fuelled by teenage emotions, friendships, rivalries and the overwhelming instinct to survive.
Every character reacts differently, throwing up fundamental questions regarding trust between individuals (most notably the question that formed the film’s tagline: “Could you kill your best friend?”) - the likes of Mitsuko Souma and Kazuo Kiriyama are damaged and violent individuals whose psychopathic natures can be explained by their early lives; in the midst of the death and destruction some friendships and allegiances from the participants’ normal lives remain. The relationship between Shuya and Noriko is handled with surprising restraint and tenderness; such glimmers of hope and kindness are rare but provide a crucial dose of humanity to the proceedings.
Takami’s writing style is clear and vibrant, having a short and simple sentence structure on one hand and a meticulous attention to detail on the other. There are some segments that feel forced and don’t flow too well however, which led me to question the credentials of the English language translator at some points. Not surprisingly there are plenty of violent scenes of death and injury described in graphic detail, and despite the relatively long duration of the piece the pace never lets up: it’s a real page-turner that somehow finds the time to highlight every move and thought of the characters.
Takami takes quite an undecided moral stance: it can be argued that the book glorifies the violence that takes place but at the same time pulls no punches in highlighting the waste of young life, not to mention the tragic circumstances surrounding some of them. The the straightforward prose, ages of the characters and levels of fast-paced action means that the novel is clearly aimed at a teenage/young adult audience; there’s not a great deal of social commentary or profound philosophy but sometimes the events surrounding an ordinary cross-section of a nation’s youth can provide the most compelling drama of all.
In Summary
Although it suffers from a somewhat clumsy translation the taught plotting, originality and raw emotion of the piece make for a shocking and gripping read. The narrative has a conscience in the form of the believable and varied cast of characters and the action scenes make it unfailingly fast-paced and unpredictable; this is action-thriller pulp fiction at its most extreme and compelling.
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