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Mar 1, 2016
**This review contains spoilers for the original novel/manga of Battle Royale**
Possibly the most memorable scene of the cult novel Battle Royale is the infamous lighthouse massacre, in which a close-knit group of female friends are pushed to the edge by the horror of finding themselves placed in the Program, a brutal military experiment that pits junior high school students against each other in a fight to the death. Taking refuge together in a lighthouse on the abandoned island that they have been sent to die on, the girls cling desperately to the hope that they will somehow be saved from the cruel game, only to
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end up doubting and eventually betraying each other, resulting in the violent death of all of them.
Battle Royale: Angel's Border is a collection of two spinoff stories from this scene, written by the novel's original author Koushun Takami. The stories get deep inside the minds of two of the girls who were minor characters in the original novel, and shares with us their perception of their world and the horrific situation they have found themselves in. Angel's Border is clearly set within the novel's universe (the 'teacher' is Sakamochi, not Kamon as it is in the manga) but those who have only read the manga adaptation will easily be able to understand what is going on.
The central character in Angel's Border's first story is Haruka Tanizawa, the tall, athletic best friend of the dependable class representative Yukie Utsumi, who is responsible for gathering the girls in the lighthouse in the first place. Haruka's narration reveals that she has recently come to realise that she is 'not normal', i.e. gay, and that she holds romantic feelings for Yukie. After the girls stumble upon a severely injured Shuya Nanahara, protagonist of the novel and object of Yukie's affections, we are given an insight into Haruka's feelings and anguish at the very real possibility of not only her own impending death, but the death of her love too. Although primarily focused on Haruka and her feelings, the story also does an excellent job of further developing Yukie, who had the largest role of her friends in the original novel, through the conversations she has with Haruka. The artwork drawn by Mioko Ohnishi is remarkably soft and shoujo-like, perhaps to compliment the romantic themes of the story, and unlike the main manga adaptation the characters actually look like fifteen year olds, which makes the violent scenes all the more disturbing.
Unlike the first story, which takes place entirely during the duration of the Program with only brief flashbacks to the normal lives of the characters, the second story in Angel's Border is mostly set prior to the program, and focuses on the relationship between Chisato Matsui and class bad-boy Shinji Mimura. Chisato was the most underdeveloped of the lighthouse girls in the novel, with only her crush on Shinji being the only real thing we knew about her, so it is incredibly interesting to see her take centre stage here. In this story, we learn about Chisato's life and why Chisato likes Shinji, and that the two of them shared a secret, rather odd friendship before entering the program. The artwork here is done by Youhei Oguma, and is less fluffy and more realistic than the first story's, with great attention to detail shown on the guns and other weapons used in the Program.
One of the shortcomings of the novel of Battle Royale was that outside of a select few main characters, almost nobody got any significant characterisation. Angel's Border offers a new perspective and some much-welcome development for originally minor characters, and makes you wonder what kinds of lives the other students in the story were living before the story began. A treat for fans of the novel and/or manga, Angel's Border is a touching, poignant addition to the Battle Royale universe and a cruel reminder of what could have been for the young students who lose their lives in the Program.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 1, 2014
Emi Ishikawa's Zekkyou Gakkyuu (Screaming Lessons) is a shoujo horror anthology wherein most of the stories revolve around a young girl who comes across some kind of cursed item or creepy happening that ends up killing her at best or giving her an even worse fate than that. The happy endings in these one-shots are few and far between, and the protagonist usually has to go through hell to get it.
The only consistent character between chapters is Yomi, a ghost girl and the teacher of the titular 'screaming lessons'. She narrates the opening and ending of each story and usually provides a moral to the
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reader relating to each story. Many of these lessons seem to be metaphors, albeit rather strange and twisted ones, for things that may affect the young girls these stories are aimed at, such as struggling with school (Supplements for the Brain), cyberbullying (Black Forum) or eating disorders/weight loss (The Requirements of a Belle). Some of the morals are tacked on and directly contradict the ending of the story it is attached to (The Bonds of a Curse) and many of them are extremely pessimistic and questionable life advice to give to an adolescent girl (The Do-Gooder Club). Despite this, Yomi's narration does an excellent job of establishing the theme of each piece and giving the reader something to think about before reading the next chapter.
The girls who appear in these stories exist mainly to suffer -Madoka Magica has nothing on some of the misery these characters go through. Most of the heroines are more or less the same -a grade or middle school girl (though some protagonists are older) who has some kind of flaw or insecurity that is exploited so she can have her life ruined by supernatural curses, serial killers, or something else similarly horrible. A few chapters have a twist in which it is revealed that the protagonist is really the villian, hiding their insanity or their true cruel personality behind a facade of niceness, which is fun to shake things up a bit. For the most part though, the leads are generic nice-girls who really don't deserve the awful fates they meet.
Yomi stays calm and collected yet still creepy throughout the manga. The two-part story 'The Truth About Yomi' that explains her backstory gives her some more characterisation beyond her role of the story's narrator, and is definitely a high point of the series.
The artwork of Zekkyou Gakkyuu is rather typical for shoujo manga, with the standard cute art style. Yomi's uniquely cat eyed appearance is rather appealing, and definitely helps establish her creepiness while also being appealing. The rest of the character designs are quite generic, with giant eyes and soft lines, but don't let this fool you -this is a horror manga, after all. Scenes of gore, horrifying monsters and deranged, twisted facial expressions will stare at you from the page out of nowhere, and the artist spared no effort in making these scenes as unsettling as they could get away with in a children's manga. The contrast between cute and scary works brilliantly.
My personal favourite stories from the series are 'The Bus to the Underworld', 'The Ocean is Calling', and 'The Day I Became a Demon'. All of these stories are similar thematically, and also in that they are supposed to be sad rather than scary. These occasional doses or heartfelt sweetness are very much welcome in a series that absolutely destroys its heroines in the way Zekkyou Gakkyuu does, and to me are the strongest chapters in the series.
In all, Zekkyou Gakkyuu is a treat for younger horror fans, though I imagine that older readers would find it immature and silly. The closest thing that I know of to compare it to is the 'Tales from the Crypt' series of comics. If you enjoy shoujo but are tired of cutesy romance you are likely to enjoy this manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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