The film was visually striking and as those of you who have seen it will know it sticks with you for a long time afterwards. Alongside this, interesting information about their backgrounds unfolds through conversations and flashbacks adding in details here and there and helping the reader get to know the students.īack when I first watched the film adaptation I found the whole idea fascinating even though the thought that something like this could really happen is truly terrifying. Of course there are varying approaches with some students teaming up, some hiding out and others even turning on their so-called friends. From then on its all about the action as we follow the students on each of their journeys to survive either emerging as the winner or possibly the lucky ones who beat the system and find a way to escape. The students are released one by one out onto the island with a basic map and a mystery weapon. With the first four students killed within the next 30 pages, this definitely isn’t the book for anyone who can’t stand reading gore or violence! They awake in a classroom of an unfamiliar school located on a deserted island with metal collars fixed around their necks and are greeted by Sakamochi who proves that this really is no joke by revealing the dead body of former Class B teacher Mr Hayashida. The class are unaware that they have been selected to take part in the program and are gassed whilst on route to a school trip. Of course the difference is in this case is that it was The Hunger Games that was labelled a ‘rip-off’ of the Japanese novel published nine years earlier, now deemed ‘the original survival game’.īattle Royale tells the story of the 42 students of Third Year Class B from Shiroiwa Junior High who are forced to participate in ‘the Program’, an experiment put in place by the Japanese government where the teens must fight until there is only one survivor.

This week I’m discussing another book with a concept often compared to that of The Hunger Games centred around the controversial theme of kids killing kids. To wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they mustįight each other for three days until only one 'winner' remains.' Source To a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken High-octane thriller about senseless youth violence, is one of Japan'sīest-selling and most controversial novels.

Battle royale by koushun takami