History Literature / BattleRoyale

** He's less obviously retarded in the book and manga, but still pretty stupid--in the manga, he fakes a death rattle so Kazuo will come close to him and check if he's dead, allowing Oda to stab him with his hidden kitchen knife. Spoiler: Kazuo doesn't fall for this moronic ruse.

''Definitely'' not to be confused with BattleRoyaleWithCheese.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: In the manga, at least. Cyanide poisoning can cause a comatose state, seizures, and delirium, but not vomiting blood, and certainly not instant death.
** Keith Giffen's English adaptation of the manga[[hottip:*:It is not an actual translation of the Japanese script.]] made the game into a reality series, which makes it for those who read it question how [[spoiler:Kawada was able to save Shuuya and Noriko without trying to let the "viewers" or even Kamon know.]]

* CoveredUp: Unofficial alternate title in the West: "[[TheOneWith That]] {{Manga}} that's sort of like ''TheHungerGames'' but came before it."

* DevelopmentHell: The American remake, for obvious reasons. Then: nobody in a post-{{Columbine}} Hollywood could seriously contemplate making a film about high school students killing each other. Now: it would be considered too much like TheHungerGames.

Now has a character sheet. It is currently in need of editors. [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Like, a LOT of editors]].

Could you kill your best friend?

** Keith Giffen's english adaptation of the manga made the game into a reality series, which makes it for those who read it question how [[spoiler:Kawada was able to save Shuuya and Noriko without trying to let Kamon know.]]

** In the manga, [[spoiler: Hirono's death]] is a clear ShoutOut to AnOccurenceAtOwlCreekBridge.

* ShoutOut: Shiroiwa, the small town the class are from, is Japanese for Castle Rock (a homage to both StephenKing and LordOfTheFlies).

* AffectionateParody: The name "Takako Chigusa", which is a shout out to women's ProfessionalWrestling. The classroom scene in all versions, and the evil instructor Kinpatsu Sakamochi's name is a parody of the heroic teacher KinpachiSensei. Naturally this will be lost on Western viewers, hence the occasional misinterpretation of the classroom scene in the film as {{Narm}}.

* TheCameo: SonnyChiba turns up for a scene as Mimura's uncle in the second film (although the character is already dead before BattleRoyale, according to the original novel).

* CoversAlwaysSpoil: On some of the (many, not all legitimate) DVD covers they give away who is the first person to get killed. The novel's cover may also qualify in that the silhouettes on the front are clearly Noriko and Shuya - the heroes - even though the book goes out of its way to paint Shinji as the hero for its first half.

** Although, considering her characterization in the manga, the major sexualization fits. THough the former could definitely be considered AuthorAppeal anyway.

One of the main themes of this book/manga/movie is the fear and hatred of the young. Hilariously, some Japanese government officials [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely missed this]] and blamed ''BattleRoyale'' for the sharp rise in teenage delinquency in Japan.

** As of March 2012, the movie STILL hasn't been released theatrically outside of Japan.

* DueToTheDead: In the novel, whenever Shuya finds someone who died [[DiesWideShut with their eyes open]], he closes their eyes. Well, except for one character who's been so mutilated his head resembles a peanut--only one of his eyes will close properly, and as the narration observes, a winking mutilated corpse is just too much.

* MisaimedFandom: While the story is about the terror of the violent, hopeless situation, a lot of young viewers see it as a cool action flick.

* IAmNotShazam: The words "Battle Royale" are never uttered once in the original book; the "AlternateUniverse" prologue makes it clear that the title is a reference to the ''kind'' of conflict the Program involves. In the manga, there's only one easy-to-miss AllInTheManual reference to the "Greater Eastasia Combat Experiment 68, also known as the Battle Royale Act".
** Note that this does not apply to the other film version - there, the colloquial name for the Millenial Education Reform Act is "The Battle Royale Act". The logo also appears to be officially used by the government.

* HoYay: Shinji and Yutaka, Shuya and Shinji, Shuya and Shogo. YourMileageMayVary, of course.
** Let's not forget Mitsuru Numai and his hero-worship of [[spoiler:CompleteMonster]] Kazuo.
** LesYay: Yumiko and Yukiko, even though [[spoiler:they both admit a crush on Shuya]]. Mitsuko and Takako, when [[spoiler:Mitsuko admits she's "maybe a bit of a dyke".]] Mitsuko then [[spoiler:blasts Takako away]].

One of the main themes of this book/manga/movie is the fear and hatred of the young. Hilariously, some Japanese government officials [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely missed this]] and blamed ''BattleRoyale'' for the sharp rise in teenage delinquency in Japan.

** Well, [[spoiler:Kiriyama does get shot in his explosivve collar at the climax, which is what finally kills him.]

* OuterLimitsTwist: [[spoiler:Hirono Shimizu's]] manga death. Crosses over with NightmareFuelUnleaded for more than a few