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Feb 16, 2009 4:18 AM
#1

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Oct 2008
312
THIS IS AN MANGA ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING BEYOND THIS CHAPTER.
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Greeeeaaat manga!! Best deaths I ever seen in paper and Kiriyama is simply an amazing killer. I enjoying to much this story.

8/10
Feb 17, 2009 2:16 PM
#2
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Dec 2007
6
5/5, because not everyone gets a happy ending.
Mar 22, 2010 3:36 AM
#3

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Apr 2009
381
Great manga. 9/10. Nice ending, except too bad everyone else had to die. ;(
Apr 19, 2010 1:05 AM
#4

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Feb 2009
895
Awesome manga!Has most of the things i like to see in manga.
10/10 from me

"Only the dead have seen the end of war".
~Plato~
Jul 3, 2010 2:09 AM
#5

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Mar 2010
59
Best manga ever!!! 10/10. And God at last somebody who also liked Kiriyama.
Aug 25, 2010 6:38 PM
#6

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Aug 2010
804
Amazing manga all round. Characters were awesome, art was awesome and the story was damn near perfect.

10/10 for me.
Aug 28, 2010 7:39 AM
#7

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Mar 2009
65239
An extremely engrossing read, memorable and definitely worth the read.
I didn't like the ending though. A more depressing ending would have been a more fitting ending, in my opinion.
Aug 30, 2010 3:56 AM
#8

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Oct 2008
4666
AlexSadist-sama said:
An extremely engrossing read, memorable and definitely worth the read.
I didn't like the ending though. A more depressing ending would have been a more fitting ending, in my opinion.
no way man, considering the amount of pain this manga put it's readers through, a depressing ending would have been a bad idea.
Feb 16, 2011 7:26 PM
#9

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Sep 2010
9801
This was a good read, though I would've liked a different ending.
Aug 20, 2011 9:34 AM

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Jan 2011
144
Great ending! Brought some light into this dark series. Some parts were slow-pace, but i'm glad i read this manga.
Sep 24, 2011 5:34 AM

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Jun 2009
5393
Pretty good ending for an overall pretty crappy manga. I'm glad I finally got through with this. I swear I was on the verge of dropping it more than once. At the end it got a bit better, but still...

6/10 (because I'm feeling generous)
Sep 25, 2011 11:05 PM

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Nov 2010
76
*facepalm* God... never expected this series to be this high rated... (guess y'all like watching Saw, donyou?) though I'm disappoint how the major plotline went downhills since they introduced this idea of a last standing man wins game from the very beginning. That's pretty much or too predictable and psycological if you ask me and MINDFUCK for sure. Overall, you only see a bunch highschool sociopaths losing there humanity in order to survive in a very ugly way (and yes, it really damages your mind ugh..) Anyways, I don't intend to critize the series here, but in all honesty this genres aren't my type XD.
Jan 12, 2012 11:25 PM

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Jun 2011
83
i didnt expect such a happy ending lol! good read, lots of action and gore. and agreed with misslesoup, too much preaching from shuuya haha
Jan 16, 2012 9:56 PM

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Jan 2010
381
This manga was great. It would have to be the 1st to make me feel each different emotion at some point. I have to give it a 8 because it took too long for Kiriyama to die. He lived through too much in my opinion plus he killed oof the 2 charaters I wanted to live everyone else could have died except for those 2. O well good read overall even though I hate getting MINDFUCKED like this manga loves to do.
A man who knows nothing and says something IS the dumbest person alive. A man who knows something and says nothing could possibly be the smartest person in the world -Unknown

Feb 5, 2012 1:28 PM

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Mar 2008
169
6/10 only because of Shogo, he was the best and most realistic character in the entire series. He made this series worthwhile.

Shuuya and Norkio lived due to Shojo saving their asses every time Shuuya decided to act all high and mighty. I felt bad for Mimura and Yutaka dying, they should have lived instead of Shuuya and Norkio. Shuuya annoyed the hell out of me, with his self-righteous attitude and all did was cry throughout the series. Oh yeah, Kiriyama was such a fail character, slicing fingers with bare-hands, surviving explosions without a scratch, getting up and shooting after getting shot in the head, teleporting, beating a professional judo trainer after reading a book about judo, and other stupid shit.
"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star." -Friedrich Nietzsche | Last.fm

May 9, 2012 9:00 PM

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Apr 2011
601
Not the ending I expected, but still an awesome manga. I thought Shuuya was a little bitch for always crying. My favorite was Mimura and Sugimura

9/10
May 10, 2012 2:39 AM
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Jan 2012
1067
I was expecting a more tragic ending.
At least Shogo died and hell, he was my favorite.

8/10

It would be 10/10, but Kiriyama playing Deus Ex and Shuiya being a moron all the time really bugged me.
Jun 9, 2012 10:13 PM

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May 2009
1193
And so it finally ends... I dont get why everyone is saying the ending was happy. To me it felt depressing and a little predictable.
Still, addictive series, though unrealistic.
9/10
"The weak get washed away by the tides of fate...The strong drink it up."-Godot
Sep 7, 2012 7:16 AM
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Jan 2010
12
pacuuuuu3 said:
And so it finally ends... I dont get why everyone is saying the ending was happy. To me it felt depressing and a little predictable.
Still, addictive series, though unrealistic.
9/10



Right? The ending was not a happy ending at all...in fact it leaves a lot of loose ends. Other than the ending it was a really great read. and the unrealistic gore was part of its charm, not to sound crazy, it made it shocking and the kept it interesting
Sep 8, 2012 10:01 PM

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Jul 2010
254
Reading this was like watching paint dry for the most part. I too was really close to dropping it, but I wanted to read the manga before watching the live action film. Really disappointed with the ending, it's not quite a 'happily ever after', but it's pretty close. I would have been more satisfied with Shogo offing the two of them for real, but that would have been too predictable. And the fact that they were talking about escaping for the entire manga made the entire thing more than redundant.

I gave it a 7/10. I liked the art, the overall story was decent, but the story just dragged on.
Jan 29, 2013 8:12 AM
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Mar 2008
155
kittykatt87 said:
pacuuuuu3 said:
And so it finally ends... I dont get why everyone is saying the ending was happy. To me it felt depressing and a little predictable.
Still, addictive series, though unrealistic.
9/10



Right? The ending was not a happy ending at all...in fact it leaves a lot of loose ends. Other than the ending it was a really great read. and the unrealistic gore was part of its charm, not to sound crazy, it made it shocking and the kept it interesting


Right, I didn't think this was a happy ending at all. Shuuya mentions that it was good for longer than they deserved, which makes me think after they got to the US things were fine... and then they weren't. Idk - did the government finally catch up to them? Did Noriko have a breakdown? Did they end up homeless and wandering around?
Apr 16, 2013 5:08 PM
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Jun 2010
162
WTF was this shit ending? And I am BEYOND pissed that Noriko was alive at the end. WHY couldn't she just get killed off, damn it!
Shogo's death was great. You did good, Shogo, but why couldn't you have taken Noriko with you?!

Still, better than the Hunger Games. By a LOT.
Dec 15, 2013 12:29 AM

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Oct 2013
2984
good shit 9/10
"Urushibara Ruka. The mannerisms and voice of a woman... No... More feminine than any woman. But he's a guy. Taller than Mayuri, but so very thin... But he's a guy. Looks great in a miko outfit... But he's a guy. It's already twilight And yet, it's so hot. The cicadas are crying. But... He's a guy."
Apr 8, 2014 11:01 AM

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Oct 2012
668
Waiting4Infinity said:
WTF was this shit ending? And I am BEYOND pissed that Noriko was alive at the end. WHY couldn't she just get killed off, damn it!
Shogo's death was great. You did good, Shogo, but why couldn't you have taken Noriko with you?!

Still, better than the Hunger Games. By a LOT.


Why would you even want Noriko to be dead? She's an innocent, kind and pretty girl. She doesn't deserve to die... In fact, nobody of them deserved to play this "game" to begin with...

Great read, the ending didn't amaze me, but it didn't disappoint me either. 9/10 overall.
Apr 26, 2014 11:23 PM

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Mar 2012
893
I seriously thought Kiriyama was some kind of android to be able to pull off the shit he's being pulling off. Good suspense but the storyline was pretty predictable.
SmoochedApr 26, 2014 11:31 PM
Aug 2, 2014 10:18 AM

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May 2013
29
If Mimura stayed a little longer, it would be a pure 10/10.
Though, great manga.
Oct 15, 2014 2:22 PM

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Oct 2012
190
Well, I enjoyed it, giving it 8/10 without regrets.

The concept was interesting even if not used ideally.
We saw some character growth and most characters actually acted their age, which is not something that often happens in manga...

If we go on onto negative sides... Kiriyama being too way above human level to be taken seriously..
Too much Shuuya 'no killing' even when faced to death of the loved one.. realy.. took him so long to shoot the guy, all chances were there on noriko dying unless we count plot armor, lol..

I must agree with most above, who mention that out of all character stories, Mimura's was certainly one of the most engaging, and it went downhill after that pretty much.
Both Sugimura and Mitsuko vs Kiriyama was simply full of crap.. Ok, I can take Mitsuko being defeated so easily, although I expected it to still be more interesting..
But seriously - Sugimura losing it in close fight.. I wouldn't mind, if he was at least forced to sacrifice himself as shield for his girl.. but nothing like that, she never was a big issue in a fight, they fought pretty fairly 1vs1 big time and Kiriyama kind never even recieved serious physical wounds, while sugimura easily lost his eye and fingers.. The reasons mentioning it, even though stupid, fine, even if he is stronger, a defeat is fine, but seriously - after flying up the air after strike and acting like nothing happened.. well, there should have been some real consequences on such fight.
But then again let's not forget he survived the bomb from mim... lots of issues with manga, so I will stop it at that and simply tell that despite all the bad sides, it's enjoyable enough to close my eyes on most of them.
Feb 9, 2015 3:51 PM

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Nov 2011
127879
Lovely ending with a great story overall. I just like the premise and how it was enforced. Graphic violence and gore aside, I thought the action was neat too. I agree about some parts may be predictable though.
Mar 14, 2015 3:06 PM

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Apr 2013
2282
"Fuck Hunger games!!!" that's all i have to say.
May 23, 2015 12:42 PM

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Sep 2010
887
OMG that was the read but I hated the ending.

Those two survived... really I mean really. Best characters died one by one and the pair of lucky idiots that survived only because Kawada was a badass... why! WHY!?

Really when there was only four of them left, or maybe even slightly earlier I was rooting for Kiriyama all the way. I did believe he can lose though because Kawada was still there and it did happened okay, I get it we can't have a psycho win.

Still, I would prefer much better if psycho won rather than that useless pair. Okay maybe I am not fair, Noriko did that headshot there despite having the role of damsel in disaster, that counts but Shu... why! Why!

After Kiriyama was already down, even though it was obvious that Kawada didn't kill them, given his development, things he kept on saying and mostly !there was no panel of those two dying! . Even despite that I hoped, hoped for it to be the truth and the ending to be Kawada blowing up that ship while jumping off it like a boss. Unfortunately though that wasn't the case and that hope was pretty much hopeless but I hoped for it.

But anyway apart from that ending, it was a great read, I wouldn't say it was the best though like some here do but definitely great. (yep despite my hate on ending I really liked it).

As for my favourite character here, I was thinking about one of the three. Mimura, Kawada and Kiriyama. In the end though, I think I liked Kiriyama, the most. Why? It's because he got rid of so many damn annoying characters that I wanted to see dead. Starting with that homo stalker, many crazy girls and lastly mr. Knight in shining armour Sugimura who was just as annyoing or maybe even more then the main protag.

Thank you Kiryama, you will be remembered. Best regards to Mimura and Kawada as well!
Jul 24, 2015 12:42 AM

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Feb 2010
487
Wow! One of the most addicting things I've ever read. I stayed up because I couldn't stop reading. Which means it's really good because bedtime is my favorite part of the day XD
I cried a ton lol but it was so entertaining. I can say I barely ever got bored and wanted more. The only time I got a little bored it was just because of like 5 pages haha and every other page was great. I was so excited the whole time.
Never considered reading this because I'm more ini cutesey anime but I heard it was gorey and I also like it. But the gorey parts were so sad haha.
I don't LOVE the ending. I would have liked to see then living together in a new home or something like that. But it was such a great manga.
I'm so glad I gave it a try.
9/10
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Oct 2, 2015 11:28 AM

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Apr 2011
1011
Was a great manga. Hope author stop shoveling people's eyes.
~♥~ Otaku + Otaku - Otaku = Otaku ~♥~
Nov 23, 2015 2:58 AM
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May 2012
7011
Well, it was a pretty nice read. I guess, I was expecting something I shouldn't have.
I am glad that at least the 2 of them survived. I will watch the live-action movie again.
Nov 26, 2016 8:37 PM

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Jan 2013
199
This is the first thing with the "Battle Royale" branding that I've seen or read, and I have to say, without any word from anybody about this series, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was about time to give it a try being a fan of the "survival game" genre (i.e. Hunger games, Gantz, Btooom!, Mirai Nikki.. There are better examples of this genre that I can't think of right now ._.) and I just wanted to say that I am very pleased with the way they depicted their "battle to the death" game.
Albeit, it was very simple, especially compared to present-day standards. But honestly, that gripe is easily forgiven given the fact that BR was literally the story that started this genre. I think people forget that when judging this story so harshly. Back in the day, it was the first of its kind and the fact that it wasn't just piggy backing off of the idea and actually had really well written, three-dimensional characters, along with some great developments, was very unexpected. Not to mention how much the art improved by the end (Sugimura Vs. Kiriyama was drawn insanely well done). There is a lot more I could praise this manga for, but I'll just say that anything less than 9/10 would be a disservice imo.
Yes, it can be a little heavy handed at points, but the psychological angle they take isn't too cheesy and is actually well executed, written, and unique enough to warrant a recommendation for this series. I actually thought the writing was somewhat insightful (and had depth), regardless of subtly and whether it was all written out there for one to read without interpreting themselves.

Some side notes: I agree with everyone on the fact that Kiriyama was RIDICULOUSLY OP. SERIOUSLY?? SHOT TO THE HEAD AND STILL KICKING?? REALLY NOW. ALSO, HOW DID HE NOT EXPECT THE KEVLAR!?!? I expected Sugi to be a bit more aware when his mind is constantly thinking about crap and in this pre-meditating state, jeezzzz. I think Mimura was probably my favorite character that being said, maybe not. Last thing: I have no idea what the ending means, but it was sort of happy I guess??
Jan 9, 2017 1:01 AM

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Mar 2014
623
The worst part about this manga was definitely Kiriyama. I can't suspend my disbelief by that much.
Feb 27, 2017 7:59 PM

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May 2012
739
This manga was just BAD.

The mangaka tried too hard to make things dramatic so a lot of times things were so over dramatic that i couldn't stand it. The part where Shuuya was about to shoot Kiriyama...it took two entire chapters for him to actually shoot and those chapters were filled with images of his dead friends just to make it more dramatic.

Kiriyama seemed to be using a god mode cheat. The guy could do anything without any problem and killing him was impossible basically. Too much plot armor for him made the story feel like a joke a lot of the time. That fight against Sugimura was super retarded as well. Worst villain ever.

Shuuya was also a very annoying MC. He didn't do shit and only survived because he was helped a lot. He couldn't do anything by himself but still kept talking like he was something. Yuuichirou was naive and he tried to believe in everyone too (like accepting Souma after she tried to kill his friend), but at least he was smart enough to know that he would probably be killed at some point. He knew that his way of doing things wouldn't get him very far.

Finally, the art of this manga while not being worst ever made, certainly was faaaaaar from being good. Some characters looked decent, but others looked really REALLY strange with big heads and stuff. The worst offenders were Sugimura and Takako as children...they looked so bizarre and instead of looking like children they looked like midgets. Adult face on a small body...very ugly indeed.

2/10 after considering how annoyed i get every time the name Battle Royale comes to my mind. I would rather not have read this at all.
KaeUBWJan 5, 2020 8:36 PM
I despise woke people.
Jul 25, 2017 10:26 PM

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Aug 2016
3572
simply perfect 11/10
:v
Sep 2, 2017 1:34 AM

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Oct 2015
4124
Nice read 7/10... Fucking Game nice last line. I was hoping they beat the system though and not just fleeing away from the government
Sep 5, 2017 11:08 PM

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Jun 2016
3391
What a bittersweet ending. I really, really, really wanted to give this manga a 9. However at times the action was too cheesy, the gore was too edgy, and the plot was too contrived, the flaws are too much, and the lack of quality in the last five volumes really makes me even question an 8.

So I'll start with the negatives, Kiriyama was one of the worst villains I've ever read. He went against everything the manga was about in execution. The ideas fit, he was a monster created, not born, he had brain damage and was in a constant fight over filling his brain with form and function, negating all emotion. So yes, thematically he fits, but in execution he is a boring, near invincible cyborg zombie from the future, with no emotions, a shoved in backstory to make him feel falsely sympathetic, teleportation skills and the ability to master anything in a millisecond including Judo, and whatever Sugimura's fighting style was, and hotwiring a car, and jesus, he was so lazy! Kiriyama is literally just a killing robot, he might as well not be human, he is there to be perfect at everything and beat everyone at everything imaginable well never having a drip of what defines this manga, characterization. This is a manga about analyzing not the what in human nature, but the how, how someone is driven to act in a way. And it does this by respecting nearly every character, giving them complex emotions, sympathetic reasons and backstories that all make sense for what they accomplish. A monster is not born, none of these people are evil, they are just scared and reacting and damaged. It is masterful in how it accomplishes this in theme exploration. But then Kiriyama defies this, he's a boring baby who's hardly explored, and not even characterized in the slightest, apart from him getting brain damage and becoming a cyborg zombie killing machine. He would fit in Hokuto no Ken as a mini boss, a 1D boring assassin that takes some people hostage and Ken ends up blowing up within the episode. It's just absurd that such a meticulously crafted manga would have such an awful villain. That is my biggest complaint, and with the last 5 volumes featuring so much of him in them, including a horribly out of place dragon ball z fight, it really declined the quality of the manga overall.
To be fair, Kamon and Niida are both 1D villains who defy what this manga poses itself to be about, but they play such a small role it's negligible. Kamon was there purely to be a symbol to hate, as the head of the Program, a big force in this oppressive government. Niida was there to, I suppose, show the mind of someone sent on the path of gleeful murder and rape in a state of nature. Yeah, and they don't respect him as much as the majority of the cast, but again he was hardly in it so it ends up being forgivable.

Now, let's take a look at Mitsuko, her volume literally left me shaking, no meme. It was so emotionally crushing, something this manga excels at, to show us the horrible childhood abuse she had to make her into who she is today. The mangaka made her out to be, again, a 1D villain, but this time with mass sex appeal. But it pulls a 180 and truly makes her a victim, someone you can't help but hate, but also immensely feel for. She was an amazing villain, and a perfect example on how to do crazy right. Kiriyama is the opposite of this.
Now, let's look at a smaller character, one of the first kills Akamatsu. What was impressive about him to me was the fact that they made the first killer of the game, someone who was bullied and doing it out of fear. If boys and girls alike pick on him all day everyday, of course he would be one of the first picked off. So he reacts by pulling the metaphorical first push in what he sees is the beam of life, if he doesn't push, he will get pushed off. And Shuuya gets to him, but it's too late, who would forgive or trust a murderer, so in a last ditch effort well crying he tries to take out Shuuya. The first murderer is someone who is going off of their life experiences, and trying to save themselves however preemptive it is.
Now, let's look at Toshinori, aka Froggie. He was a child raised by rich snobs, who taught him how the world is. The rich decide it all is what he believes, which is clearly the case with the game they've been forced into, people killing each other for entertainment. But it doesn't matter, he was lulled into the game regardless, so what does he believe, alike the class president he believes that he's someone special. If this is dog eat dog, then he's gotta come out on top. He's been trained, taught his whole life by the authorities in his life, to look down on the peasants so to speak. So of course he would try to save himself, valuing his life more than others. That is because his life is one of deciding, their lives are one of obeying, which is more important? Well to him it's clear, and it's because of how he was raised to believe this.
And the message is, told by Shuuya at risk of sounding like a broken record, a monster isn't born, a monster is made. Battle Royale is an analysis on WHY people act the way they do in nearly everything it does. With that it has one of the greatest casts I've read or seen in anything thematically, and it doesn't hurt that they're characterized with such care.

To refute my own point, I would like to criticize two of the main characters, Shuuya and Noriko. I was disappointed, not incredibly so, but I was at these characters growth. Noriko seemed to me to act almost sole as the light in Shuuya's world, the thing to pull him through. She was a nice, innocent damsel in distress the entire manga. But, with this I was assuming, especially after the Lighthouse incident, Shuuya coming across Mimura's body and later Sugimura's death being announced, that she would be used as a tool to die, sending Shuuya into utter collapse. Mimura and the lighthouse were two of Shuuya's ideals, faith and trust amongst friends, as well as doing the right thing, both of which crash down in a nihilistic fashion in his face. In a way Sugimura and Noriko were his last lights, Sugimura dies and now what? Well due to Noriko being one of the less important and characterized characters in the story I had assumed it was time for her to go, sending our boy into a Shinji Ikari type state. Instead, she reverses his negative development to a degree, he still holds his bases for trusting and seeing the good in everyone, but he learns to leave behind characters like Mizuho which he wouldn't of in the beginning for being a lost cause, or to shoot a mad dog like Kiriyama. She being this shining light stops him from utter collapse, she stops him from giving up everything and cursing his fate just by being there. And she is never used in the story on a deeper level, her character is one of the most basic in the story: nice, innocent, trusting love interest, and she's just used as a plot device to save the day via her proxy- Shuuya. I both disagree with her reversing his emotional collapse by being there, and by Shuuya reading Mimura's last words, and her role in the story period. Shuuya had good development but I would've really preferred it to go in another direction.

Another good thing to say is the art and page composition were some of the best action I've ever seen. It felt like a movie, the way the artist laser focused every single intense moment, stretching them out in such detail only to place them in such an appealing way, because of it the action in this series beats any other manga or even anime I've ever seen/read. Even if the action led to some contrivances and over the top cheese, such as the car chase out of nowhere due to a government stash being out in the open, with the keys with it, that no one found before this, and again the dragon ball z ki fight. Not to forget the biggest contrivance of all, the existence of cyborg zombie Kiriyama from the future. But I already spoke enough on this mysterious bomb surviving entity.

Not to get side tracked though, as I said I really truly wanted to give this a 9 when I was more than halfway through. My opinion on the quality of this manga goes like this.
The start up until Mimura's volume are a good introduction, aka 1-5. This introduces us to our cast, the setting and premise, and it introduces us to the themes and brutal nihilistic nature of the manga and gets us started.
Volume 6 starting with Mimura's volume was fantastic and Mimura has ended up being one of my favorite character ever due to how they built him up as a main character, characterized and idolized him, only to have him die as a symbol of what the manga is all about(more about it here). This leading to Mitsuko's crushing and subversive exploration I've already gotten so into, all the way to the Toshinori debacle and the horrifying light house scene paired with Shuuya's horrifying revelations about what he's idealized the entire manga up until now. These stretch is my favorite part of the manga, and one of my favorite stretches of any story, it was so powerful and well made. I've went into detail about these in past threads.
Sadly the manga takes a dip from volume 11-15, we get a somewhat boring and slowly paced volume, one where not much happens, of the quiet Sugimura finding Kayoko. Then we get one where he fights Kiriyama DBZ style and Kiriyama downloads him like a robot anticlimactically, killing him and Kayoko in one of my favorite scenes. However, one amazing, depressing scene does not make up for two volumes that were fairly sub par. Volume 13 was alright with an anticlimactic death of the best antagonist Mitsuko, and Kawada's backstory giving us an understanding of his vindictive self. Then we get two volumes of contrived, but good visually actions segments with the most offensive stuff yet in terms of what Kiriyama accomplishes. I would like to add that the scene where Shuuya is trying to revive Kiriyama after he's shot him is crushing, and that the ending was fairly satisfying, but nearly everything before that was superfluous and contrived in these two volumes.
In essence to make it simple, it starts good, the middle is exceptional, and then the ending hovers from alright but disappointing to sub par until the very end.

So with all of that said, my extensive opinion on the goods and bads, sadly I have to give this manga an 8. During the middle section, apart from Kiriyama surviving the explosion in a ridiculous moment, I really wanted to give this a 9, or even potentially a 10 if it kept up the quality. But it didn't, in fact it actually declined so much that I had to question if a 9 was even a good decision, which in the end I think it's too much.
Battle Royale is an amazing manga despite its downfalls, it will remain in my mind for a long time, and I will not forget Mimura and Mitsuko when it comes to anime/manga characters, nor will I ever forget the page composition and art of the action scenes.
I give Battle Royale an reluctant 8/10.
Feb 24, 2018 5:23 PM

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Nov 2013
2526
Oh my god, I almost can't believe that it had a relatively happy end.
I still feel bad for Kiriyama, though, since he was my favorite character during the whole story. I didn't like how it turned out that he was like that because of a problem in his brain caused by an accident, but it did make sense.
“Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”
― Saint Augustine
Apr 12, 2018 8:37 AM

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Jul 2015
1558
I am happy that they got a happy ending.But feeling sad for all other children.

Also they settled in America,i wonder if a rebellion will come in Japan against the autocratic government in future aided by our Hero & Heroine.

Overall, i give this manga 9/10.






May 4, 2018 10:33 PM

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Mar 2015
7953
I like some parts of this manga, but the second half was so ridiculous with the whole Mitsuko and Kiriyama stuff. I'll give it 7/10.

Nov 30, 2018 2:38 PM

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Jan 2018
1102
The peak of the battle royale genre, I'll never forget Mimura, Kiriyama and Kawada, solid characters.

10/10
Jun 7, 2019 2:54 PM

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Dec 2016
3523
What an insane story full of some of the most psychotic characters I've ever seen in manga
“I love heroes, but I don't want to be one. Do you even know what a hero is!? For example, you have some meat. Pirates will feast on the meat, but the hero will distribute it among the people! I want to eat the meat!” - Monkey D. Luffy
Feb 13, 2020 1:01 PM
The Shrike

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Nov 2009
11297
Entertaining and with great art, but I found a character like Kiriyama to be a distraction and ultimately a comedic element. Still must say I enjoyed the ride.
"Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii

There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

Oct 8, 2020 10:32 AM

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Mar 2020
693
that message at the end tho, made me feel bad for liking 'evil' characters
“Life is a constant process of dying.”
Feb 18, 2021 9:46 AM

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Nov 2019
939
I’m glad we get a happy ending here, after hope was getting crushed over and over.
This manga was overall pretty good, but lost some appeal here and there with some situation and characters I struggled to deal with. As far as my opinion goes, it’s 7/10 for me.
Apr 24, 2021 4:01 PM

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Nov 2016
31350
Phew, that was a quick read. I'm fine with the ending. Would've liked it anyway, even if it was super dark. I came for the survival game.

Overall a huge mixed bag. Great art and action, even if it required a bit suspension of disbelief to enjoy it fully. I could stomach 14/15 year old students looking like in their 20's or 30's, Mitsuko in high heels running and jumping around, even the ki blast stuff, but Kiriyama was too much, for too long, to the point where it became hilarious. Some of the other characters were funny as well in a twisted way. However, it was always in line with the portrayal and within reason(minus the facial expressions at times xD) I liked almost all of the backstories btw. Same goes for the different ways of how the students were coping with the extreme situation. There was cheesiness, often more than necessary, but most of the time I vibed with it.


Most importantly, it was never dull with all the crazy stuff happening. That made up for the lack of emotional connection.

One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron


May 16, 2021 6:41 PM

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Jan 2020
66666
Meh. I didn't enjoy the last few chapters much and I think it went from around a 7/10-8/10 to a 6. The snow panels were nice to look at though



Feb 24, 2023 4:19 PM
Shalltear

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Apr 2018
33555
Kawada is the true goat of this story, died like a chad and fucked this game twice
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