Battle Royale, Vol. 01 by Koushun Takami

Kōshun Takami is a Japanese author and journalist. Battle Royale is a contemporary Japanese pulp classic now available for the first time in English. Koushun Takami's brutal, high-octane thriller is told in breathless. A group of high school students are taken to small isolated island and forced to fight each other until only one remains alive! If they break the rules a special collar blows their heads off. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan-where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller-Battle Royale is a Lord of the Fliesfor the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. In an alternative future Japan, junior high students are forced to fight to the death! L to R (Western Style). (In an alternative future Japan, junior high students are. Since Battle Royale, Takami has not released any work. The first manga also began being released in English in 2003, by Tokyo People’s, with the last volume published in 2006.Īs well as being critically acclaimed, the Battle Royale series has become infamous not only in Japan, but around the world and has earned cult status. An expanded English edition was later published by Haika Soru, a division of Viz Media, in 2009.

The novel was translated into English by Yuji Oniki and published by Viz Media in 2003. When finally published in April 1999, it went on to become a bestseller, and only a year later was made into both a manga and a feature film. Lieutenant was rejected in the final round of the 1997 literary competition Japan Grand Prix Horror Novel, due to its controversial content depicting Junior High School children forced to kill one another. After graduating from Osaka University with a degree in literature, he dropped out of Nihon University's liberal arts correspondence course program From 1991 to 1996, he worked for the news company Shikoku Shimbun, reporting on various fields including politics, police reports, and economics.īattle Royale was completed after Takami left the news company. Best known for his 1999 novel Battle Royale, which was later adapted into two live-action films, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and three manga series.

Battle Royale, Vol. 01 by Koushun Takami