Many moons ago, back in 1996, a novel was written: a sort of Japanese Hunger Games, by Koushun Takami. (But, although both the novel and the ensuing manga predate said series, Suzanne Collins has sworn up and down that she hadn’t heard of either one. Still didn’t stop the Internet for ripping her a new one about it, though…)
Anyway, less than five years later, in the year 2000, a manga version, written by Takami himself and illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi, was released in manga magazine Young Champion, where it ran for five years. And, right in the middle of that run, volumes began releasing overseas via Tokyopop.
I cannot stress that last point enough: The manga. Didn’t. Even. Finish before they started translating it. And that is darn cool.
I can remember picking up these volumes to read whenever I went to the library. Just sitting there in the air conditioning or the heat, watching teens violently murder each other and do sexy stuff and cry when their friends died.
Let it never be said that I wasn’t a mature young man.
Anyway, I recently had a free evening to go down to my local bookstore and try to find something new to review for this blog. And, lo and behold, in no small part due to the bookstore’s alphabetizing its shelves, do I spot this new entry from a series/author who’d been gone so long I’d almost forgotten about him: Koushun Takami’s “Battle Royale: Enforcers”.
Set 20 years after the apparent ban on the Battle Royale games (despite all of Asia still being under the control of the East Asian Dictatorship), Takami returns to his richly-developed world alongside new artist Yukai Asada.
Now, as technology has grown and risen a lot, even since a mere 20 years ago, the game itself has also grown and changed. With the fall of reality TV (and, no doubt, the decline of the Hunger Games and its ilk since then), the affair is no longer televised this time around (if it even was before). The bomb collars have been replaced with poison-release implant chips, for punishing people who try to break the rules.
And, while he made for a perfectly hateable villain (at least in the manga version), the director of the game has been replaced with a sinister AI named Sister, who takes the form of a creepy traditional Japanese doll and seems to be the only “teacher” at the academy that our heroes attend.
The students are also given tablets (Gasp! How modern!) with special apps (Double gasp!) that allow them to more easily navigate through the game. Most notable are not only the Map app, but also the special one-time use app that enables them to hide from the radar for a brief period of time.
You can bet that’s going to wind up being a game-changer.
But one thing that hasn’t changed is the theme of rock ‘n’ roll as a form of rebellion. As did previous protag Shuya Nanahara, so does our current protag, the peppy Rion (and yes, despite how names like that are usually used in Japanese, he’s a boy). Our opening chapter starts off with him and a friend breaking into an abandoned music room for a jam session while they sneak off from their class’ mandatory litter patrol.
This is Daitoa Academy, a creepy fascist school for a creepy fascist future. The cruel student council members seem right at home in this world, where it is revealed that they are actually working with the dictatorial government.
When an earthquake (or what appears to be an earthquake; it could be anything, given the sneakiness of dystopian governments) forces the students into a high-tech underground bunker, Sister reveals that they have been chosen to essentially be the next class to go through the Battle Royale program, despite it apparently being outlawed 20 years before.
Another new wrinkle in the current system is that, rather than only one person winning, an entire five-person squad of people can theoretically make it out of the game this time around…provided they kill off every member of all the other squads. This literary device enables for the use of more nuanced writing techniques, such as The Chains of Commanding and the ever-classic Fighting A Friend trope. And what if two lovers are put on separate squads? Can you say “Star-Crossed Lovers”?
There is also a mention of the winning squad having been “rehabilitated” and a few lines of throwaway dialogue about (at least) their class being looked down upon, but whether or not the school is a penal colony for delinquents or free-thinkers still has yet to be discussed.
Koushun Takami’s deep and interesting character writing has continued to shine through thus far in Volume One, but so far there has been much less bloody gore and fanservice than there was back in the original manga.
If you’re into that kind of thing.
But what does remain is the mind games and strategy aspect, all “Person X was on Floor Y and it will take him Z minutes to get back here” and stuff.
Personally, though, I am just here for the interesting characters, interesting designs and action (and, okay: a little bit of fanservice), so I think I am just going to strap myself in and hopefully enjoy the ride.
Until next time, then! Only two more reviews for the year!
(I would have done more, and sooner, but the trials of being an adult and living in the real world have been getting in the way. Frowny face.)
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