Battle Royale Essay

Battle Royale and the Adolescent Struggle

Could you ever kill your best friend? Could you survive in a lifestyle whose motto is "kill or be killed"? Imagine a situation where 42 15-year-olds are put on a deserted island, given weapons, and told to kill each other or die in twenty-four hours. It's hard, if not grotesque, to think about. This is the basic premise of Battle Royale, a novel by Koshun Takami and adapted film by Kinji Fukusaku. In the world of Battle Royale, a social commentary is creatively made by mocking the differences between adulthood and youth, the old and new, and the struggle for success.

Now, by hearing the words "island" and "children", Golding's novel Lord of the Flies might immediately pop into mind. The back cover of the novel states that Battle Royale could be Lord of the Flies of the 21st Century. Unlike Lord of the Flies, however, Battle Royale portrays a microcosm of a Fascist Government, rather than two concepts of Democracy and Savagery. Also, in Lord of the Flies, it is the adults who eventually end the violence, upon finding the children on the island. In Battle Royale, on the other hand, it is the adults who initiate and promote the violence. However, the comparison of Battle Royale to Lord of the Flies isn't entirely accurate, and only by reading the novel could one draw their own personal conclusions about how much Battle Royale is truly similar to Lord of the Flies. A more accurate comparison to Battle Royale would be George Orwell's works on fascism, and the successful dystopia. In the preface for the novel, Takami himself quotes a passage from Homage to Catalonia which can basically sum up the overall theme of the book. Under extreme stress and fear, the worst could, and does, happen.

So what is Battle Royale? On the outside, it looks as if it should have never been made, a sick pulp creation filled with violence and death. However, that's not the case. According to Kou Shibasaki, who played Mitsuko Souma in the film, described the movie as not about killing, but rather, about staying alive (Demomode). The stage is set in the movie with a television broadcast of the latest winner of the Battle Royale Program. The shock comes when the reporter screams "She's smiling!" and you finally get a glimpse of the winner. Not only is she smiling, she's holding a blood-stained doll.

The scene then changes to explain why the Battle Royale Program exists. In order for the older generations to gain control over the rebelling younger generation, Program Combat Experiment Number 68 was passed by the government, also known as "The Battle Royale Act". This act called for one class of High School students each year to be placed into a survival of the fittest. The class was chosen at random, and once chosen, there was no getting out of what you had to do. You were placed on an isolated location, given a random weapon, and food and water to last three days. In order to survive, you had to kill your peers. Collars were placed around your necks like dogs so that if nobody was killed in 24 hours, everyone would die. These collars also served as tracking devices and health monitors.

The story ensues with Shuya, member of class 3-B, on a bus during the class field trip. Or so they think. The class suddenly all falls asleep, and when they come to they're in another classroom, which has a plastic tarp covering the floor and bars on the windows. A man walks in, and introduces himself as Kimpatsu Sakamochi. A student then reacts with how that name has to be a joke referring to the long-running Japanese drama called Class 3-B, Kimpachi-sensei (translated: Class 3-B, Teacher Kimpachi) (Jdorama). The names of the teachers are quite similar, with only one syllable differences, but unlike Battle Royale's Kimpatsu, the character Kimpachi-sensi is about encouraging students to succeed and do well, rather than succeed by eliminating all obstacles. The irony here is that Kimpatsu is the total opposite of Kimpachi. Kimpatsu then explains the game. Before the game even begins, two students are killed by the teacher for talking and protesting. One was by Kimpatsu's knife, and the other, Shuya's best friend Nobu, by the collar, proving that death by exploding collar was no joke. The students are released onto the island one by one. And by the time the tenth student is let out of the school onto the island, the killing has already begun.

"You may all find these rules harsh, but running into things you hadn't expected is life. Got it? The way to cope with accidents is to be strong. Think of this as practice. Please do. Also, because we believe in gender equality, there is no gender handicap. But, there's some good news for the ladies. Forty-nine percent of the Program's victors have been girls. All men are created equal. There is nothing for you to worry about." (Takami, Ch 5)

Moving back to the beginning of the movie, the first device comes with the smiling girl, the last winner of the previous Battle Royale. The image of the girl raises many questions. First, why is she stained with blood? Why is she smiling in such a psychotic way? And, more importantly, what has caused this? The director of the film, Kinji Fukasaku, uses this scene as not only a shock tactic, but also to bring questions to the viewer's mind. By having the girl holding the doll and wearing braces, we are reminded that she is still a young 15-year-old girl (iluffmyself). However, in the dystopian world of Battle Royale, this is simply a fact of life. Everyone seemed to know someone affected by the Program, but you didn't think about it, because it wasn't going to happen to you. This is shown in Chapter Three when Shuya's caretaker turns off the news broadcast of the newest Program winner, tells Shuya "It's nothing", and turns off the television.  Compared to today's society, one could consider this mindset the same as the Pre 9/11 attitude of "It happens, but not to us." Americans would see terrorism happen all over the world, even in our own backyards in the case of the Oklahoma City Bombing and Columbine, but we paid no mind. The same goes for the characters. Despite the fact that they're aware it goes on, they do nothing to try and stop it. The students of class 3-B are shocked when they find out they're in the Program, despite the fact that, according to the Government-controlled news, it happens twice a year. In actuality, the novel explains that the Program happens not twice a year, but over fifty times a year, not only serving as a way to control the masses, but also as an effective genocide and population control. The logic behind it being, if you could survive a dog-eat-dog Program, you can survive in a dog-eat-dog World. By using such an extreme approach, Takami is able show how ill-logic and pulling the wool over one's eyes can lead to a loss of humanity. The Program's ideology puts neither value on human life nor the value of individuality. In a sense, the only life you're allowed to value is your own, and you must do whatever it takes to save it. Battle Royale takes irony in this fact, because all 42 students' deaths are detailed and explained, which implies that each individual life is important, and has meaning, contrary to what the book tells you up front, about the lack of value in human life. One must be able to cope with knowing the reason behind every person's death, while realizing that life is hardly valued in the end. It's a harsh reality, but that's life. There's nothing to worry about. All you have to do is survive, right?

But survival is a competition. This leads us to Takami's second theme: survival of the fittest. It is well known that in Japanese society there is a huge emphasis on education and making it into the best schools and the best jobs. Stress put upon such young people has led to Japan having the world's highest suicide rates, especially among the school-aged population, where there were 225 recorded suicides among High School Students alone in 2003 (Curtin). Of the forty students released into Battle Royale, five commit suicide. Four occur right as the game begins, seeing it as the only way to beat the system. The one remaining, Girl #9 Yuko Sakaki, commits suicide after losing hope and the security of her friends. Others decide to play the game, trying their luck and their talent in order to survive. Only this time, they've switched the pen with the pistol. Comparatively, this can be a parallel to college-ready students being pitted against each other in school and in tests such as the SAT and ASVAB. You're in competition with everyone around you. In order for you to do well, they must do poorly. While in America this process isn't so severe, the threat is growing. In New York, drop out rates are at 20% of the total population, and due to raising standards, the numbers are rising. These kids are not just "dropping out", but are rather, being "pushed out" in order for the school to raise test scores and look better on paper (Lewin). Similar test competition is already prevalent throughout Japan. In a society where a test score difference of a few points can mean pass or fail, students will do anything to survive and pass their classes. This image is clearly portrayed in the character Kyouichi Motobuchi. In his encounter with Shuya and Noriko, his reason for playing the game was "Everybody's serious, huh? Fine then, I'll survive; go to a good school…" (Fukasaku). The Program and the Japanese Education system are very similar in this respect, and it is often mentioned that Battle Royale is an extremist portrayal of this System. Those who do below perfect do not survive the Junior High School years and drop out of school, opting instead to go to Vocational Schools. Others, unable to take neither the stress nor the shame of being unsuccessful, will commit suicide, which is the widely accepted and honorable way out (Curtin). Those who do survive are in constant competition, and they must always be watching their backs for anyone starting to outsmart them. The competition is fierce, among both students and schools, to be the best. There is no such thing as individuality in the school system. A string of numbers determines your worth. This can serve as a warning to the American audience. With the Bush Administration's push on High Stakes Testing, the pressure will fall upon students to "do well or die." This definite pass or fail mentality could lead the US to have higher dropout rates in High School, or worse, lead to a class division with a "Rich School, Poor School" mentality (Symonds).

In Barcelona, during all those last weeks I spent there, there was a peculiar evil feeling in the air-an atmosphere of suspicion, fear, uncertainty, and veiled hatred. … Nothing was happening as yet, I myself had not even any mental picture of what was going to happen; and yet there was a perpetual vague sense of danger, a consciousness of some evil thing that was impending. However little you were actually conspiring, the atmosphere forced you to feel like a conspirator. You seemed to spend all your time holding whispered conversations in corners of cafés and wondering whether that person at the next table was a police spy.

I do not know if I can bring home to you how deeply that action touched me. It sounds like a small thing, but it was not. You have got to realize what was the feeling of the time-the horrible atmosphere of suspicion and hatred, the lies and rumours circulating everywhere, the posters screaming from the hoardings that I and everyone like me was a Fascist spy.
--George Orwell Homage to Catalonia


A society driven by fear and competition can only lead to extreme actions which compromise basic human rights. It was the fear of children which lead to the creation of the Program, and it distrust which drove these students to kill each other. As the world becomes more competitive, and Standardized Tests become used more to determine each individual's worth rather than competency, especially in relation to the school systems, it should become the adult's job to make sure that individuality is not compromised in the struggle for success. Do not turn a blind eye or treat the younger generation as though they are pieces in a chess game. By taking individuality out of the school curriculum, you are decreasing the value of each student's life, because it is a way of indicating that people are replaceable. Battle Royale may take this concept into an extreme portrayal, but perhaps the extremes are what get us to pay attention. Like the wake-up calls of Upton Sinclair in The Jungle to the treatment of immigrant workers, Battle Royale is a wake-up call to the problem of rising expectations of children.
Works Cited

Battle Royale Screenplay by Kenta Fukasaku. Dir. Kenji Fukusaku. DVD. Tartan 2004

Curtin, Sean. "Suicide in Japan: Part Ten - Youth and Rural Suicides on the Rise" 13 Aug. 2004: 15 Dec. 2004 <www.glocom.org/special_topics/…>

Curtin, Sean. "Suicide in Japan: Part Twelve - Factors Influencing the Rising Suicide Rate" 20 Aug. 2004: 15 Dec. 2004 <www.glocom.org/special_topics/…>

Demomode. No subject. Online Posting. 11 Nov. 2004. Battle_Royale 15 Dec. 2004 <www.livejournal.com/community/…>
Iluffmyself. No subject. Online Posting. 11 Nov. 2004. Battle_Royale 15 Dec. 2004 <www.livejournal.com/community/…>

JDorama. Home Page. 15 Dec. 2004 <www.jdorama.com/drama.8.htm>

Lewin, Tamar and Medina, Jessica "To Cut Failure Rate, Schools Shed Students" 31 Jul. 2003 <www.nytimes.com/2003/07/31/nyr…>

Symonds, William. "Rich College Poor College" 20 Dec. 2004 <www.businessweek.com/magazine/…>

Takami, Koshun Battle Royale Trans. Yuji Oniki. Viz Communications 2003