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Battle Royale
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Alternative Titles

Japanese: バトル・ロワイアル

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 15

Chapters: 119

Status: Finished

Published: 2000 to 2005

Genres: Action, Suspense

Themes: Gore, Psychological, Survival

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Young Champion

Authors: Taguchi, Masayuki (Art), Takami, Koushun (Story)

Statistics

Score: 7.87¹ (scored by 31,691 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1074²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #212

Members: 71,920

Favorites: 2,933

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 37 / 39

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Apr 2, 2014

Otaku365

Mixed Feelings

I started because i heard it was like Dangan Ronpa and i LOVE that game/anime. Plus I like the name. I was severely disappointed, the drawings, they are old so you cant expect much. But I dislike the manga because it was not like Dangan Ronpa. If I have to compare it, it was more like The Hunger Games (second quarter meets third quarter annual hunger games) mixed with hentai. Hentai, why the heck is there hentai in the freaking manga, it is useless and just subtracts from the battle, yes there was a seductive lady but the hentai is not necessary. Also not a ...

Feb 16, 2016

midnightblade

Recommended

Battle Royale is an intense death game manga that was thrilling from start to finish. This genre has by my time of finishing the manga in 2015 , become very popular due to works like the Hunger Games, Gantz, BTOOM! , Deadman Wonderland , Danganronpa, and many others. Except I think Battle Royale is the most well executed of any of those works I've approached.

In Battle Royale we follow an entire class of high school students who live in a kind of alternate world Japan where Japan is ruled by an overbearing dystopian communist regime who chooses one class of middle schoolers each ... year to participate in a death game in their setting of choice. The manga does a very good job in introducing these characters well in the first few chapters and you are just along for the ride like they are in what seems like a run of the mill middle school graduation trip. Then suddenly they find themselves in a schoolroom after getting gassed on the bus, and the journey starts in such an absolutely jarring fashion that I thought really sets the tone for the rest of the manga. The characters are issued a good variety of weapons to start the game, although I personally thought the fact that there were a few too many guns made it a little more predictable. There is all sorts of violence, blood, and sexual material which I thought was great and really does well to add to the realism to the manga, but at the same time prevents it from having a shot at getting adapted into an anime sadly. The manga mainly follows a trio of main protagonists but it also spends a lot of time on other characters.

The best aspect of this manga in my opinion is how fleshed out almost all the students in the middle school class are. You get very detailed backgrounds on a lot of characters so you actually care about what happens to them during the manga. The author never lets you forget that this isn't just some cobbled together group of people who don't know each other like many other death game works; in Battle Royale we follow a close knit group of kids many of whom care about the other students in one way or another. And their past relations with each other are often times a factor in life or death situations. You have characters that range from a seedy girl who uses feminine wiles to trick her opponents to death, karate masters, mob boss, idealists, realists, crazy psychopaths, amazing intellectuals, idiots, conniving narcissists, weak willed gullible people, they are all here I promise you. There is such a wide variety of different character personalities in this manga that you will more than likely find some one to start rooting for. What I found most striking is that a number of the characters are so very intelligent and its really fun to see how they navigate through different situations where one tiny oversight can get them killed. Even characters you think are simple to begin with show different sides to their personalities in different situations which was cool.

This manga goes to show you that this death game affects all the characters in very different ways. You get to see most of the kids who would be normally well functioning people in society , when they get thrown to the wolves they can become totally different people. The manga shows really well how huge of a factor fear and paranoia are, they can cause absolutely disastrous situations. It even shows you how the smallest misinterpretation in a pressure cooker of a situation can lead to death in a matter of seconds.

I thought that the main protagonist Shuuya Nanahara got on my nerves when I first started the manga. He's pretty much what you would call the ultimate idealist/ most optimistic guy in the whole manga which I found irritating as many of the other students actually adapted to the situation, Shuuya would continually make very boneheaded moves and could have died on many occasions thanks to his horribly stupid actions. He shows progress later in the manga but was still overall irritating to me.

I think what makes Shuuya much better is the second member of his three man team , the shotgun toting bad-ass Kawada Shougo. Shougo is a character that is probably the most well fleshed out and rational in the entire manga and almost any scene with him in it is a breath of fresh air , its great. And you are constantly guessing what his true motivations are for the whole damn manga which is another masterstroke by the author. He has great chemistry with Shuuya and the other member of their trio, Noriko. I think Shougo is one of the key characters that make this manga exceptional , some others being Mimura and Sugimura that you can't help but to root for once their backgrounds are fleshed out.

I thought the art was pretty good through the manga. The set pieces that are drawn are very enticing and suck you in to the moment. We get everything from some crazy ass gun fights, to martial arts matches, high speed car chases, bomb situations, battles of wits, wrestling, knife fights, I was surprised at how well these sequences were done.

I won't talk about the details of the plot considering much of the enjoyment you get from the manga will probably come from the unexpected events that occur.

The manga is not without its faults even though it does so many things well. Strangely enough my main grievance, besides my gripes with the mc Shuuya, with this manga only concerns one particular character. I won't elaborate that much in fear of spoilers, but damn did he practically almost single handedly ruin the ultra realistic elements of this manga , he has so many asspull moments that he infuriated me on multiple occasions. This is one great misstep by the author that if he handled this character better I think I raise my score of this manga a total 1 point. Don't let him discourage you from completing the manga, as I think the positives outway his negative element.

The good thing about this manga is it's only 119 chapters , so you can read in only a few days , well I'm a slow reader so it took me a couple weeks. I recommend this manga to anyone who is a fan of the death game genre .

Jun 13, 2012

tazillo

Recommended

The Program. It's an event or "game" where a chosen class of 42 students is kidnapped, thrown into an isolated location, given a random weapon and told to kill each other until only one person remains.

What would you do if you found yourself in such a scenario, and how far would you be willing to go? Would you lie down and refuse to play? Would you accept everything you're told and kill your classmates before they do the same? Or would you choose to trust in your friends and hope to find a way to escape together? Well, the first option definitely gets you killed ...

Apr 26, 2012

rokkugoh

Recommended

So, I saw the (fantastic) movie first, then read the (entertaining) book, and now I've read the manga.

Everyone knows the story so no need for me to waste your time lol.

Now, I really like the story and concept of Battle Royale, but the manga was ... actually pretty gross lol. Mitsuko was such a bamf in the movie and the book, but somehow in the manga, she was just really gross and blergh. Too sensationalist and exhibitionist. I knew she had issues, but... I don't know, she was too much in the manga. On the other ...

May 12, 2022

Roronoia

Mixed Feelings

Bad, so bad. In the beggining you feel that a good atmosphere is about to grow, for it's a good manga that you are reading. But, in meantime, you get a lot of cliches and characters so dumb that make you angry with them.

It's tremendously wrong how the characters have a justice sensor that always they have to do the right thing, even if this will kill them. So many times the main character struggles to decide wheter he kill someone or not, and because of this struggle so many things happen in a bad way.

Other thing, the pure cliche that is to put the ...

Feb 7, 2023

kysayshii

Recommended

Battle Royale is a manga I recommend to anyone looking for something to read in the thriller/horror genre. It's not for everyone, and is extremely explicit (both sexually and violently) throughout, but it perfectly achieves what it sets out to do: invest you in, and horrify you with, its story.

ART (9/10)
Masayuki has one of the most harrowing art styles I've ever seen when it comes to gore. He goes so far with his illustrations that it actually makes human innards and bodily functions look like pieces of expressionist art. The death sequences are brutal but beautiful, in a way. The characters themselves are drawn ...

Mar 6, 2013

SaoriHayami

Recommended

I found a manga median. Lots of violence, lots of sex, and a cliched theme. I recommend reading if you want something to pass the time.

Nov 11, 2018

Kqver

Recommended

This manga was recommended to me as a "master piece" so I was excited to read it, when I first got into it it seemed promising but just not what I expecting.

The story was not anything special but it did got my attention, the story got so formulaic and bland after a while. It was really cliche and I just start to got bored after a while then they did the same thing twice during the ending which made me put it at a 6/10

The art was good and all but the over the top gore made it (for lack of a better word) boring ... to see and stale later on. I do like my gore and eerie moments and atmosphere but this was so over the top that it was bland (yh i am gonna use bland alot) and kinda laughable even (just in my opinion)

The characters was the most disappointing thing about this manga, just saying I read/watch manga/anime for its characters and if its characters are bad then most likely i wont like the manga and this fall within that category . With so many characters I initially thought I would at leas get attached to one, i mean I did at first but just like the entire manga it was really disappointing. Showing a sad backstory and making them happy then killing them wont make someone sympathize with them imo. the main villain was interesting at first then just disappeared for the majority of the manga only showing up in about 30+ panels in and manga with 119 chapters... then the other two villains the girl and the boy was just uggghghghghg. The boy was like a inhuman robot with nothing interesting to im at all and because I dont wanna spoil anything I am not gonna go any further, and the girl was just lame nothing to add to her. Most of the characters has no personality and the author kills them trying to make you sympathize with character which is really flat. Not to mention the main character ugh, he was one the worst, annoying and the type of protagonist that I hate the most, he started to change in the middle of the manga but just reverts to the beginning self coming to the end which was so frustrating. I have much more to say but that would add a whole two paragraphs so imma just end here. last note the protagonist is shit.

Enjoyment, I really wanted to enjoy this but I really don't. I just feel bad that this is praised so much but i did not like it really. People said that this was a better hunger games, which i never watched, but if hunger games is anything like this then ... all in all I had very little enjoyment. the fights we good at least (besides the last two which was absolute bullshit) and the force shitty romance which got under my skin and a weak ass ending that was predictable for the most part.

Overall... 7/10 just because so many people praise this show, I guess this manga was just not for me . I wont recommend anyone read this because in my opinion it was almost shit. Other than the over the top gore this manga really isn't anything special, and the genres is listed as Action, Drama, Horror, Psychological, Seinen but I fail to see any or little at all Drama, Horror, Psychological or Seinen aspects... well that is all

Sep 29, 2021

snappytomdory

Not Recommended

If you're aware of the premise of this manga and you're hoping that it's at least a semi-realistic, it isn't. You will find martial arts so powerful in this manga that they can tear down tree trunks. This scene was ridiculous. Out of no where, some characters have KI now and literally reference DBZ when preparing some charged KI attack. Later on you will encounter a guy that literally got shot in the face but is still able to do backflips everywhere. It's just dumb. There is an endless amount of examples of how ludicrous this manga gets. It is plot holes and discrepancies' galore. ... Be prepared to turn plenty of blind eyes to the author just lazily letting people do very convenient things in fights. Hidden weapons coming out of nowhere, last minute recuses, an insane level of endurance. I lost count of how many times someone got shot in the leg and casually kept running for hours on end. Ammo. We need to talk about ammo. It is RARELY addressed, RARELY an issue. The people with Uzis come across as if they have unlimited ammo which just gives them an insane advantage over everyone else. Which leads me into how they set the game up. Every person gets a bag with essential items and a random weapon. These can range from forks to machine guns. While comical at first, it's just blatantly one sided very fast.

This manga is filled to the brim with flash backs. 9 times out of 10 they are boring as shit and go on for way too long. On top of this the author has the audacity to reuse old panels to 'remind' the reader about things that happened previously, even if it was only 5 chapters ago. Blatant filler. The characters are absolute ass and I loathed the MC. All he ever did was preach really lame shounen "believe it" nonsense. What makes him worse than a generic shounen character is that his words are hollow. He hardly does anything of significance in the entire story. It's bizarre, so many of the characters in this manga talk so highly about the MC but there's absolutely no reason why they should. He's a weird Elvis larper who just repeats his utterly dumb arguments again, and again, and again. Then There's Noriko. Noriko was so boring, we hardly know her. There was nothing even remotely interesting about her at all, we were just expected to care about her because the MC did. I swear, a quarter to half of the story is just the MC with two other people in the forest having the same dumb arguments time after time while other events around the island unfold. So many side plots just lead to nothing and just feel like an utter waste of time.

There's so many series I love that are clearly influenced by Battle Royale (Gantz, I am a Hero, Hunger Games, Danganronpa) but the execution here is absolute ass. The morbid premise is fun in itself, it doesn't need over the top martial arts and matrix bullet dodging to improve it. As it doesn't, in my opinion it weakens it. If you want to read something similar involving kids being stuck in a dog eat dog scenario then I would recommend The Drifting Classroom over this. It's not perfect and has some really bizarre sci-fi elements to it. But the way the kids conduct themselves in that scenario seems a lot more believable than what was displayed in Battle Royale. I would argue that Battle Royale draws some inspiration from The Drifting Classroom. Even if you think my suggestion is a crappy one, that's fine, I would still not recommend wasting your time with this series. It can't be taken serious and your time would be better spent elsewhere.

Mar 4, 2019

minachan24

Mixed Feelings

Ever since this manga first came out, I struggled to get through it. It's only now that I was finally able to complete it. I couldn't get past the artwork, which is both sickening and cringe-inducing. It's a bizarre mixture of different styles that don't click. Some characters are drawn in a very gritty, hyper-realistic style. Some look Disney-esque (Kawada's girlfriend=Belle from Beauty and the Beast). Some characters look like something out of the Sunday comics (Yutaka Sato). Some look straight up bishoujo. And some characters look very "Mad Magazine" (look up: Basil Wolverton, Mort Drucker and Sam Viviano).

On top of the mixture of ... cartooning styles is the bizarre mixture of cuteness and gore. Goofy characters in their death scenes will be drawn in extreme close-up and in gory detail. Imagine a "gory" closeup of a dead Donald Duck with pieces of his face missing, an eyeball popping out and exposed teeth and skull and you'll get a picture of how ridiculous some of the artwork looks at times.

Another problem with the artwork is that some of the character designs are so grotesque or ridiculous that I couldn't click with them. I was just too put off. The girl with bad acne, "Frog Boy" and the gay character were so ugly, almost troll-like. Other characters were so cartoony, I couldn't take them seriously. (The very first girl who is killed looks very "Family Guy").

One last problem with the artwork is that it seemed as if the artist forgot that the characters are supposed to be young teens. That is the whole point behind why Battle Royale is horrifying, that young, sweet innocent children are being forced to kill each other. If most of the kids look like hardened 25 year old Yakuza, juvenile delinquents or sleazy porn star veterans, where is the horror? It's the same as watching adults kill each other, so the horror is gone.

As for the story, it was better than the movie adaptation. On the other hand, there was too much gratuitous sex and violence. The gore did absolutely nothing for the story; it just cheapened whatever emotion there was to be had or made you so sick that you were more horrified by what you were seeing than sad for the character. For example, there is one sweet little girl who falls to her death, and the artist drew her with all her innards splattered all over her and her body torn apart. How can you feel sad over her death when all you feel is shock or nausea?

As for the sex scenes, there are pornographic scenes in here straight out of a hentai, one which includes rape (sigh). Ironically, the sexual abuse victim is the one who keeps being put in these scenes. It's almost as if the writer/artists were turned on by her back story of being raped as a child that they sexualized her as a teenager, even in death. Going into the manga, you will think she is the most interesting character and villain, but no--she is reduced to nothing more than cheap sexual eye candy for perverted male readers into rape fantasies and lolicon. The artist and writers didn't even try to pretend what she was; as she's dying, they made sure that the perverts got one last look at her naked body and erect nipples before she is killed off for good.

People complain about the main protagonist, but it's the main villain for me who is the worst character. He's like something out of those Freddy/Jason/Friday the 13th movies. No matter how many times he's shot, he gets right back up again as if nothing happened. There's an explanation for why he survives, but still it's too unrealistic how he keeps surviving round after round without so much as a scratch. He's drawn in a bland style, too. He's actually the least interesting looking character out of anyone in the manga--so uninteresting, in fact, that you would not know he was the main bad guy just by looking at him. I think the artist was bored with him or had run out of character designs. In any event, you'll see exactly what I mean when you see him.

All in all, Battle Royale is so-so. If you can get past the gnarly artwork, you might get something out of it. However, I don't think it's the "masterpiece" everyone has made it out to be. As for the artwork, sorry to harp so much on that but it played a large part in why I didn't enjoy the manga as much as I could have.

Jul 14, 2020

Zaleww

Mixed Feelings

I will try not to spoil anything but if you really want to read this manga blindly please skip my rewiev

First of all first 60 chapters or so was just so great. Mimura, Kawada, Sugimura are all real mans. They were stars of this manga for me. Than Kiriyama happened. He was just stupidly annoying written character. He is literally Japanese Terminator thet does not dies lmao. That really ruined manga for me. After some time MC started to became annoying and did not get any character development after 60 chapters. He was just yelling kawada about what should he do and became a lame ...

May 18, 2023

Kinglink

Recommended

I heavily enjoyed the majority of Battle Royale. When entering the series, I wanted a violent story about kids pitted against each other in a game to the death with no easy answers and a desire for an unhappy ending.

Battle Royale mostly lived up to that bar.

First off this is a VERY violent manga, Battle Royale whether it be novel/movie/manga or anything is about kids killing kids, and the manga may be the most graphic. This isn't necessarily a horror manga but a number of images will stick with readers long after they finish.

This also isn't a "happy ... time", this is intended to be a warzone, and while some characters have moments that are a little too normalized, sitting around cooking a meal, or hiding out in a location for entirely too long, this is a game of life and death, and almost any encounter between players will be either violent, or a tentative level of trust.

Finally, there's no easy answers. With out spoiling it, while the game they're playing is resolved, there's no "And the evil people stopped being evil and everyone woke up." This is very much focused on the game, or as it's called int he world "The Program" where there is only one winner. While the brutal government puts them into the program, this isn't a hero's story or a battle against the great evil empire. It's a question of survival in a horrible situation, and the question of both who will win and that's where it's strongest.

But not everything is good here.

Let's start with the small points. I'll call out that this has a number of HEAVILY sexual scenes, like there's points where I almost think this manga could just be hentai for a couple of chapters. It's well told, and while a bit graphic, it also really develops a couple characters, and that does a great job really helping people understand why those characters are the way they are. Probably farther than it needs to be, but if this makes people stop reading, ask yourself why watching kids forced to murder each other in graphic ways for 100 chapters bothers you more than a couple characters having sex for 10 chapters? That's a weird line we draw as a society.

That's not necessarily a negative, but something I felt needed to be said.

So There are two major negatives.

Almost every character is... somewhat boring. Characters are either "playing the game" or "not playing the game". AKA "Killers" or "To be killed". There's a question of which is which when each character is introduced, but after that point it's a binary choice.

There's very few in the later camp who ever kill, and almost no one in the former camp that lets anyone get away. The problem is it makes so many characters boring because with out seeing them break the line especially in this situation, we're not seeing characters really evolve or change. We're just saying almost a morality play on display, and while Killers do die, I get bored of the "pacifist" characters as the main characters or heroes of these stories especially when put in the absolute worst environment possible.

It's just forms of black and white sadly, and very few ever even take on any shade of grey, and when it is done, it's always the lightest (or darkest) variants.

The bigger issue, and probably what ruins what could have been a near perfect story is the main villain. In the final 20 or so chapters, there's a final showdown that begins, but for a manga that has spent 100 chapters in almost all ultra realistic environments, rules and characters, characters you feel like you could meet in a school, one character just has almost super human abilities to continue to be a thorn. I don't want to spoil it, it's something ever reader needs to experience on it's own, but while this is a manga, I still call him an "anime villain" as a negative, because the majority of this manga isn't that type of over powered or ludicrous idea.

Trust me, when you read, it you'll understand why I think it detracts from the series.

With that being said... man the rest of the chapters, books and experience here is worth it. There's a definite question of what will happen, and who will survive in a world and game where... that's a very real problem, and like I said, this is a satisfying ending as long as you aren't hoping for a fairy tale or unrealistic ending for the world that is set up.

I'd definitely recommend this, strongly recommend if I'm honest.

Sep 1, 2019

Crushervice

Recommended

In general, the manga is good, it reads in a sigh and entertains you until the end. I like the two unexpected turns that happen and how they are resolved and the ending seemed quite adequate. However, it was not what I expected. I thought they would leave me with their mouths open in the "I have read all volumes for nothing" plan, like many other manga, but no!

The drawing is quite ugly although it improves with the passage of the volumes. However, it is quite realistic and expressive.
There is too much blood and some scenes are very beasts. But I think in this manga, ...

Dec 30, 2019

Jman440

Recommended

This was a good manga the art was good it had really good characters with almost all 42 of them getting some sort of development the story was good to but there are some things I think should of gone differently like this one character I feel should have survived but didn’t i mean it was ridiculous there was so many ways they could have been saved but they still end up dying. One thing I really enjoyed in this was the characters with almost every one getting a least some development unlike the hunger games which this is often compared to were half of ...

Feb 22, 2021

Mangai_

Recommended

This is the greatest B-Movie in manga. It's cliche and tries too hard to pull at your strings, it's story is nonsensical and inconsistent, and yet I couldn't stop reading. It's pretty gory and violent, has memorable characters and moments, and is just a lot of fun to read. If you're one of those people who needs to twirl their wine and raise their pinkies while they make a "detailed analysis" about themes or symbolism, or any of that sort of literary garnish, you shouldn't read this, you won't enjoy it.

Story: 6/10
The story itself is more or less just standard death game fare.
Art: 8/10
Characters: 5/10
Enjoyment: ...

Feb 24, 2021

Azeuka

Recommended

A lengthy brutal thriller. This manga was very enjoyable but not for people sensitive to gore, the plot and characters make for a very interesting story with great twists and fights. Everyone has their own "thing" going on which makes it quite exciting. I'd recommend this manga to people looking for a good violent story. Though a few decisions made by the characters were stupid in my opinion and didn't make sense, then the main "villain" is just nearly immortal and survives things most characters don't. Nearing the end I found myself wanting to finish it and I felt there were definitely chapters that got ...

Apr 4, 2021

Jazzull

Recommended

A work that in addition to adapting the story of the book very well, still manages to add more to the history, without losing its essence.

until recently, I was unaware of the existence of the manga, I had read the book, and I had seen the film, (which due to the low budget had to remove several scenes from the book), and I was impressed to see how detailed the manga was , but let's go by parts:

Story:

the manga takes advantage of its story to include some characters that have a certain direct connection with it, such as the character shinji, who seeks to fight ...