At times I felt something was lost in translation. So in the beginning it can be hard to follow all characters, but you get used to them eventually.Īnother concern of mine is the quality of translation. First, the book has a lot of Japanese names that sound (and look) very similar. I have to warn however about a couple of things. It is much more brutal, violent, and bloody than “Hunger Games.” The book explores what makes regular kids turn on each other, what in their pasts allows them to commit the ultimate crime or what stops them from participating in the killing game altogether. If “Hunger Games” is more of a personal story of survival from the POV of just one 'player,' “Battle Royale” is a complex story which follows all participants of the game. I believe you can enjoy and appreciate them both equally.

However at the same time these books are completely different. They both are based on the same idea of teenagers forced to participate in a deadly game where only one person wins and lives. I have to admit, similarities between these two books are undeniable. I came across this book after reading “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins which was claimed to be a “Battle Royale” rip-off. He is currently working on a second novel. It went on to become a bestseller when finally released in 1999 and, a year later, was made into a manga and a feature film. It was rejected in the final round of the literary competition for which it was intended, owing to its controversial content.

The novel Battle Royale was completed after Takami left the news company.

From 1991 to 1996, he worked for the news company Shikoku Shimbun, reporting on various fields including politics, police reports, and economics. After graduating from Osaka University with a degree in literature, he dropped out of Nihon University's liberal arts correspondence course program. Takami was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture near Osaka and grew up in the Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku. Koushun Takami (高見広春 Takami Kōshun) is the author of the novel Battle Royale, originally published in Japanese, and later translated into English by Yuji Oniki and published by Viz Media and, later, in an expanded edition by Haika Soru, a division of Viz Media.

Battle royale volume 2 koushun takami