Last time when I went to Hana's place, she lent me a thick book titled Battle Royale which I finished reading last last week.
I love the book! Very much!
The plot is almost the same as Hunger Games. I haven't watched that movie yet but that is what they, my friends said. It is about a class of 42 students who were brought to a classroom in a school of an unknown island under the guise of a 'study trip'. There, they were given a briefing saying that their class was chosen for an event called THE PROGRAM, an official military project which is held annually. And they were forced to kill each other until only one remaining survivor which would be declared as the winner!
Now, try to imagine it guys. You have been classmates with everyone for the whole two years and have been going through a lot together. And suddenly, you are told to kill each other. Your friends, your classmates for two years! What would you do? That is what the story is all about. The 42 students were issued survival packs that includes a map, compass, foods and water, random weapon or other items which may be anything from a gun to a paper fan. Then, they were told to leave the school building one by one.
The main character is Shuya Nanahara. Well, according to the description, he was one of the famous students in their school. Good at sports at stuffs. After they were briefed about the Program and what they were supposed to do once they were out of the school building, Shuya tried his best to gather everyone and thought that they could discuss about what to do and how to survive. He thought that everyone in his class were all having the same thought as him and no way they would kill each other. But he was wrong because as soon as he left the school building, he saw a corpse. A corpse of his classmate that left the building before him. He was stunned that there were actually someone who wanted to participate in the Program and actually killed a classmate.
Shuya teamed up with Noriko Nakagawa who came out from the school building just right after him and hid together. Shuya wanted to protect Noriko as his best friend (killed by the Program instructor when he disrupted the briefing earlier) had a crush on her. While they were together, they met other classmates who were also decided to participate in the game, Tatsumichi Oki and Kyouchi Motobuchi. Tatsumichi tried to kill Shuya but Shuya was able to save himself as he accidentally killed Tatsumichi. Kyouchi saw what happened and attacked Shuya. However, Shuya was then saved by Shogo Kawada, a classmate who was a year older than everyone else. Shuya and Noriko then teamed up with Shogo who claimed that he knew a way to escape the island.
As time went by, the remaining students were getting lesser and lesser. Shuya tried his best to gather everyone but they just couldn't simply trust anyone because they didn't know who were friends and who were enemies. The antagonists here would be Kazuo Kiriyama and Mitsuko Souma. Kazuo was a leader of a gang in the school. He was the quiet and cool type. He had Mitsuru Numai as his loyal friend (well, more like a follower) who called him as Boss. Before leaving the school building, Kazuo passed a note to all his follower including Mitsuru, to meet up at a place. Mitsuru who put all his trust on Kazuo quickly went to the meet up place as soon as he left the school building. In his mind, he thought that, if he stays with Kazuo, he would survive the game because he believed Kazuo would think a way on how to survive.
However, what he saw when he arrived at the meet up place betrayed him. He saw the corpses of his other friends lying on the ground. The smell of blood filled his nostrils. Standing near the corpses was Kazuo. And it didn't take him much time to figure out what was happening. Kazuo killed them. His friends. And then...yeah, Mitsuru also ended up killed by his own trusted leader, Kazuo Kiriyama. As soon as the game started, Kazuo had killed 5 of his classmates. That was enough to show that he was participating in the game. Mercilessly, Kazuo continued killing his other classmates, including Yumiko and Yukiko who were trying to call out for anyone to team up with them and discuss a way to escape.
Just like Kazuo, Mitsuko was also as merciless as him. She used her angelic appearance to trick the others and then when they totally unaware, she killed them.
On the few first pages of the book, there is a name list of all the 42 students. Before I started reading the chapters, I chose one name from the list (At that time, I didn't know their personality and who is the main character yet). And guess what, the name I chose was Kazuo Kiriyama. I found 'Kazuo' sounds pretty cool :) But then...haha, Kazuo turned to be the most merciless =='
Among the 42 students, I like Shinji Mimura and Hiroki Sugimura the most. Both of them were friends of Shuya. Shinji was also good at sport and a player who had slept with more than one girl. He never fell in love and never knew how it feels to fall in love. Also, he was an intelligent student and very...macho! I like him so much especially when he bumped into Yutaka Seto, and teamed up with him. Together, they thought of a plan how to escape. They almost made it until...until...I don't wanna talk about it or I will cry again.
And Hiroki, he is awesome. I mean, from when the game started, he moved all by himself in search for Takako Chigusa and Kayoko Kotohiki. He found Takako when she was about to die after being shot by Mitsuko. Holding Takako in his arms, he managed to tell him that he was actually waiting for her outside the school building but he lost her. I cried reading this part! Really! And it was really clear that Takako had feeling toward Hiroki. She loved him. Hiroki kept her in his arms until she gasped her last breath. Hiroki, although he was sad, he still moved on and continued searching for Kotohiki. He needed to see Kotohiki no matter what and make sure that she was alright because he loved her. He loved Kotohiki and he must tell her that before it was too late.
I really love the book. It taught me so many things, about friendship, love, trust and lots more. Thanks, Hana for lending me the book. It is my favourite book after Artemis Fowl now.
Although the story plot is similar to Hunger Games, please keep reminded that Battle Royale book came out first! And the Battle Royale MOVIES were released in the year 2000! So please always remember that, especially Hunger Games's fans ;P
- Miki Ariake
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