The first time I watched this movie was, I think, 2000-2001. It was aired in a Japanese Cable Channel called Wowow. Since the channel came from Japan there was no translations whatsoever and at that time the only Japanese words I know was Arigato and Bakayaro. I don’t why we watched it in the first place but I guess it’s has to with the gore. Yup! so much gore going on. Though I didn’t understand anything from the movie I somehow knew what was going on. As everybody says, action speaks louder than words. And from that time I vowed to have a copy that has English translation. So couple of days ago I visited this pirated DVD stall in a mall and to all my delighted (thank goodness I didn’t shriek cause that would be embarrassing) I saw a copy of both Battle Royale and Battle Royale 2. I bought it immediately and now that I understood everything, I’m going to write about it. [long introduction, ne?]
The story is about 3rd year class B of Shiroiwa Junior High School. Their sensei Kitano(Takeshi Kitano?) was one of the teachers that was disrespected from that class. After being stabbed by one of his precious student, he left the school. 2 years later the whole class went to a class field trip. On the way they were drugged and brought to a deserted island. Kitano was there that posed as the master mind of the BR Act and choose them to go through the brutal game.
BR Act stands for Battle Royale Act where a group of students are forced to kill each other. They are given 3 bottles of water, bread, a compass, a map and a ‘weapon’. This weapon is different from each other some got guns, swords, poison and other got junks like what Shuya got a pot lid. They also have a necklace around them that they won’t be able to remove no matter what. The game will last for three days. When the third day comes and there is more than one survivor, all the necklaces would explode. As a twist, a couple of student from outside the school is mixed within them to make the game more “fun”. These two students are survivors from the previous BR Act. Kitano announced that these to students signed up voluntarily, immediately these two are feared. Then they were sent out one by one and as soon as one is out the game starts.
Since they are still high school students they have other pressing issue that they have to handle. And this game makes them go against their friends their lovers and their most hated enemies.
The lead character Nanahara Shuya played by Tetsuya Fujiwara (the same cutie ^_^ that played Light Yagami in Death Note) never trusted any adults in his life. In the movie his father committed suicide and is forced to live in an orphanage, where he met his best friend Yoshitoki “Nobu” Kuninobu (Yukihiro Kotani). He is quite popular among his classmates and is trusted by everyone.
Before the game even started Nobu was killed in front of them, demonstrating what the necklace can do, if they ever go against the rules. Shuya swore to protect Nakagawa Noriko (Aki Maeda), Nobu’s inspiration (or crush), he said to her that Nobu liked her. He swore to protect her because he wasn’t able to protect his best friend. Along the way they learned that there is a way out through Shogo Kawada (Taro Yamamoto), one of the students who previously won.
The story is all about trust. The characters are tested on how well they trust each other and how far they would go to protect those that they treasure. This also shows how coercion plays in any situation and how would one act in the face of danger.
originally posted: July 1, 2007
