Battle Royale by Koushun Takami – So You Haven’t Read
So you haven’t read Battle Royale by Koushun Takami?! The book that inspired the Battle Royal Genre and media like Squid Game, Fortnite, and The Hunger Games? Then pull up a chair and don’t get too cozy as we discuss how in this dystopian world the government is forcing children to fight to the death on an island and how one student’s plan is to take the system down!
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♪ Intro music: “Coffee Beans” by Mike Wuerth
♪ Outro music: “So You Haven’t Read Theme” by Tiffany Roman
#SoYouHaventRead #BattleRoyale #KoushunTakami
Fun fact: the unemployment rate in the book that is so shocking to a japanese person… is LOWER than the unemployment rate in Argentina s 2001 economic crisis. I had a lot of laughs over that bit of info. My country is so weird…
If anybody on the island understood game theory, that makes the best move an INSTANT up rising to take out as many of the people who captured you before they can set off the boom necklaces. Only one person surviving at a cost of everybody, with none of them taken out, vs possibly taking out enough of them to punish them and no survivors.
Collins is a fuckin liar.
dang! i didn't know this movie came from a novel. and next week we have one of the Boss battle in Kamen Rider Geats. May the best rider wins
The book and film end up being very different experiences because of the medium. Books excel at character insight because they allow you to literally depict a character's thoughts, but are weaker at tension because the reader has full control of the pacing; films can usually only imply character thoughts but use tension and dread much more effectively. It ends up splitting the genre, almost; the book is much more clearly dystopian because you watch the ways of thinking this warfare creates in these children, whereas that is up to the audience to see in the film and it becomes much more of a straight horror film.
idk about the book but the film is just watching random people die. Squid Game and Hunger Games build up characters before people start dying.
This reminds me particularly of the Roman Empire's attempt to scrub away the Greek Republic of the past. The idea of Rome needing distrust amongst the citizens to unite them under a singular emperor is represented in the government and the unity of the Greek people in opposition to the government is represented by the trio. Maybe a history of authoritarianism as a follow up?
Japanese Hunger Games or Lord of the Flies? I assume no sequel?
Ah yes, Battle Royale wondering when you would do this
Though it didn't directly contribute to his conception of the story, the title Battle Royale comes from the style of boxing matches in which many combatants would fight all at once in the ring. While boxing has never been the highest class sport, these bloodbaths in particular exploited the lower classes disproportionately.
Read the manga and watched the movie, but I think I might look to check out the novel one day – hadn't bothered since I heard everything was pretty faithful but maybe there will be something new there for me to experience after all. Glad it got covered here!!
It's just a rehashed idea that was used many times before a few examples were Steven King's ( under Richard bachman) the long walk, over even the movie They shoot horses don't the are a silar premise
Damn I gotta watch the whole video before commenting
One of the few times a book is mentioned that I actually read. 🙂 Even though it's a surprise I read it, since to this day it has never been translated in Dutch (my native language). But I randomly stumbled upon it when visiting a bookstore in London and realized "I needed this".
This because I had already consumed the manga and movie at that point and wanted to read the book at some point. And it didn't disappoint. In fact, I liked it way more than the manga (which is such an "bruh" moment when you start realizing how edgy/horny/over-the-top it is compared to its book counterpart).
I can see how you would think that , but people don't just "get along."
They disagree from their perspectives , and have weaknesses that can be exploited.
And some are opportunists that want to twist history , or erase it.
The average one can barely govern one life , much less the lives of many others.
Libertarian book
I think this book payed Extra Credits to post this about them so they get more sales.
Huh, I didn't know it was a book! I think I might read it sometime then.
Have you read the cheap American knock-off "The Hunger Games"?
Hunger game is a rip-off from a typical American hypocrite!
Funny coincidence that at about 3:00 you show the exact type of lootbox that was made obsolete just a few days earlier. RIP Overwatch 1.
Oh man I haven't heard Dino Riders since I was a kid 🙂.
The film adaptation of this book is absolutely amazing. You're really missing out if you haven't seen it
There were definitely already books about dystopian dictatorships that use violence against their people before 1999. For example 1984
The film, my only experience of the 'original' story, is excellent and extremely well performed.
The power of friendship prevails against fascism
I really liked this book and have read it multiple times. It is nice to think of it being shown to more people
I don't read Manga often but I did with this one. It's crazy good
The biggest problem I had with it was keeping the characters straight since it kept switching between first name, last name and nicknames. Also it had two characters with the same first name which I kept getting mixed up which one was which.
So what's the twist at the end of it? I've watched the film but can't remember it, a wiki read didn't really seem to reveal a major twist. Anyone able to clarify it for a dunce like me? Thanks!
Even Marvel had their own take on Battle Royale genre with the Avengers Arena series
Never thought I'd see a Rifts reference in a random YouTube video…
Cough cough the most dangerous game cough cough
No! I’m not willing to experience it first hand. That’s why I’m listening to this.
I'm not sure that the themes of this book were all that influential or original. As I remember in the 80s the short stories with similar themes and even the original star trek had an episode piting the crew against each other.
Extra Breakfast Nice touch 🙂
I honestly thought the book wasn't very good, but given the English translations are infamously dodgy, it's entirely possible it's better in Japanese
I hate every time you guys do the "you have to read the book to know the twist". If I wanted to read more books I would not watch you channel!
I've seen both random cuteness and betrayals from strangers in fortnight, where they risk ban hammer. Very curious if that carries over.
Next episode Ivan the terrible
The beauty of this novel was how every character was introduced to you. You learn a level of detail about each that makes you understand who they are so they don't feel like plot NPC's but main characters of their own story. It makes each death have more of an impact and keeps you hooked on the story.
The film, personally I didn't enjoy as much as it twisted a few very important aspects, such as Shogo being present and Kiriyama deciding to play, which add twists to your perceived motivations for them. I would recommend the Belko Project as a great movie version of this genre, if a little more light hearted (for a Battle Royale murder story!) as it keeps the whole "are they playing or not" and "Is there a way out" aspects that provide a lot of the back bone to Battle Royale.
Ausitm
I would really like to hear Koushun Takami's opinion on the Battle Royale boom in the gaming world.
Pretty sure the point of the book was to talk about the cutthroat dog-eat-dog Japanese school system of ranking students and how only one student can be number one and be successful.
I find the Belko Experiment from 2016 to be one of the better underrated versions of this concept. "Ya'll work together in 1 office building, now do our tasks or kill enough of each other via each time limit and we won't randomly kill enough."
Albeit annoyingly, the office setting had so many good possibilities of what normal objects can be used as weapons, they just implement a "oh well this office building has a gun storage locker" (Albeit the elevator and projector room kills are my favourites)
Sad tale if the book is… (Spoiler ahead)
If you survive. You will need to take your 3rd year again and the class you drop in to will be the next one kidnapped.
I read the mang.
Thanks
Anyone else feel like America does exactly this, just in a more subtle way?
Collins' claim about not knowing about Battle Royale before writing the Hunger Games is absolutely ludicrous.
Like he said: Read both books.
hunger games but with cat girls