If you’re looking for one of those experiences where you’re appalled and enthralled at the same time than look no futher than “Battle Royale.”It sounds like an innocent manga title, one where there might be giant robots or little monsters with all kinds of secret moves–but it’s not. It has to be one of the most vicious comic book series ever drawn. The reason being? The villains are not ghosts, monsters or other-worldly beings–the villains are all of us. How far would you go to save your own ass?

Battle Royale takes place in a future where Japan has become a police state. In order to control insurgencies and political insurrection, the “The Republic of Greater East Asia” starts “The Program.”

What happens is an unsuspecting class of teenage kids is taken on a class trip, a trip where all but one will return alive. They are gassed into a deep sleep before arriving at their destination: The Okishima Island School. There is no escape unless someone could swim into the open sea without drowning.

When they awake they are told that they have been chosen to play a game. The rules are rather simple because there simply aren’t any rules. The objective is to be the last classmate standing–which means you kill all of your other classmates. If you don’t and no one participates, then everyone dies. Each child is given a backpack with a random weapon and told to leave. Once out the door, no one is their friend any longer, all are enemies for the sake of survival.

The children are controlled by collars that will detonate either by remote or if a child tries to pry it off. When it explodes so does your entire throat.

I’m sure the reader is thinking that this is just another perverted Japanese horror story, and it is. But if you read the manga series you will get to know each character in-depth before they meet their gruesome end. This makes the series both touching and horrific.

Be forewarned, this comic book series is for adults. There is sex and violence and often in the same scene.  Genitals are not off limits for mutilation.

Now I just finally got to see the movie version of Battle Royale and just to note, both the comic book series and the movie are based off of the original 1999 book by author Koushun Takami. I still need to read it to do a full comparison to the other interpretations.

The movie version, while interesting, does not live up to the impact of the comic book. The manga has so much horror, characterization and drawn detail that it is disappointing to try to see a movie render the same scenes.

And the casting of the main character Shuya seemed wrong, as well as the casting for what I would call the main villainess Mitsuko also did not seem to fit. To be fair, the only problem with the actress playing Mitsuko is that she has, well, no breasts in comparison to the sex pinup that is the manga character.

The reason this is important and not just pointless T&A is that Mitsuko uses her body to lure her male classmates to their death.There is even one scene in the manga where she is riding a boy and kills him while she climaxes. In the movie they sort of indicate the same scene from a distance, but it’s not that effective. Mitsuko is incredibly disturbing because while you are turned on by her you also find out about her past–child abuse–which explains why she is the person she is now. In the requiems played at the end of the movie they do show one brilliant scene where everyone is cheering and congratulating each other on winning the school basketball game…only Mitsuko is left out walking way because she realizes she doesn’t fit in with all of the jubilation.

The Battle Royale movie version as a whole feels low budget which I find surprising due to the popularity of the book. Even with Japanese standards of decency in entertainment critics thought the movie controversial which could explain a lack of interested investors. This is one movie that needs to be made by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez using the new style that has been developed to give backdrops and characters a comic book feel.

So I’m pressing for an American movie version of Battle Royale to be made. I think the casting would be better because of our diversity–where else could you find a tall Asian woman with large breasts? Tera Patrick would be perfect if she were younger to play Mitsuko.

And where else would you get the attention to detail and characterization needed to pull off a complicated perverted horror fest of a movie like Battle Royale? Ultimately, it would have to be unrated, but they could put out an edited version for the theaters.

The most recent news is that there are plans for an American remake, but that word was leaked in 2006 and we haven’t seen a whole lot of progress. Apparently fans of the original film discussed here did not want to see it remade. Honestly, it’s good, but not worthy of a “hands off” classic. Multiple interpretations are required because the themes cross borders. Highschool is a war zone, Battle Royale is a vivid metaphor showing that and maybe even life outside of school. Why do we think some kids finally crack, as do adults, and go out with a bang killing as many people as they can? They fought to be number one and lost. Spilling blood is their final “loser’s cry.”

I’m not saying that Battle Royale as a movie isn’t good by itself. It’s worth watching. It’s just not good enough and the story and characters are too engaging to abandon them to this one version. If anything, Japanese animators should attempt their own version. Maybe that would do justice to the blood, guts, tears and sex. Disney could distribute it–to hell with their family friendly reputation.

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