Batoru rowaiaru (2000)

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Koushun Takami (novel), Kenta Fukasaku (screenplay)

Stars:

Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto

7 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tatsuya Fujiwara	...	Shuya Nanahara - otoko 15-ban
Aki Maeda	...	Noriko Nakagawa - onna 15-ban
Tarô Yamamoto	...	Shôgo Kawada - otoko 5-ban
Takeshi Kitano	...	Kitano-sensei (as Bito Takeshi)
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Takako Chigusa - onna 13-ban
Sôsuke Takaoka	...	Hiroki Sugimura - otoko 11-ban
Takashi Tsukamoto	...	Shinji Mimura - otoko 19-ban
Yukihiro Kotani	...	Yôshitoki Kuninobu - otoko 7-ban
Eri Ishikawa	...	Yukie Utsumi - onna 2-ban
Sayaka Kamiya	...	Satomi Noda - onna 17-ban
Takayo Mimura	...	Kayoko Kotôhiki - onna 8-ban
Yutaka Shimada	...	Yûtaka Seto - otoko 12-ban
Aki Unone	...	Fumiyo Fujiyôshi - onna 18-ban (as Aki Inoue)
Ren Matsuzawa	...	Keita Îjima - otoko 2-ban
Hirohito Honda	...	Kazushi Nîda - otoko 16-ban

Storyline

Forty-two students, three days, one deserted Island: welcome to Battle Royale. A group of ninth-grade students from a Japanese high school have been forced by legislation to compete in a Battle Royale. The students are sent off to kill each other in a no-holds-barred game to the death, until one survives -- or they all die. Some decide to play the game like the psychotic Kiriyama or the sexual Mitsuko, while others are trying to find a way to get off the Island without violence. However, as the numbers dwindle is there any way for Shuya and his classmates to survive?

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Plot Keywords:

japanese schoolgirl | miniskirt | jgirl | social commentary | cult film | 

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Taglines:

Have you ever killed your best friend?

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The news helicopter was an Aerospatiale AS355 Ecureuil 2/TwinStar (JA9957).

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Goofs

(at around 1h 16 mins) Utsumi is breathing when Shuya finds her body in the lighthouse.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Reporter: This year Zentsuji Middle School number 4's Class E was chosen from among 43,000 Ninth grade classes. This year's game, said to be more blistering than the last - - Oh look there! There she is! The winner's a girl! Surviving a fierce battle that raged two days, seven hours, and 43 minutes - the winner is a girl! Look, she's smiling! Smiling! The girl definitely just smiled!

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Crazy Credits

As the credits roll, a class picture is displayed, showing all of the students that have been killed in the Battle Royale, including the two transfer students.

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Alternate Versions

The German version was supposed to be released uncut with a SPIO/JK approval (that basically states that the film doesn't violate the law (§131, glorification of violence)), a FSK rating was out of the question due to the excessive violence. But due to various circumstances at the time (political climate, the 2002 shooting at a school in Erfurt), the approval was denied. To release the film at all, German distributor Kinowelt had to cut the film. This cut version still only had the SPIO/JK approval and no FSK rating. Among the cut scenes were the following:

• Kitano killing Fujiyoshi with his knife
• Kitano killing Nobu by activating the collar
• All notes telling the viewer who was killed and how many survivors were left were deleted
• Mitsuko killing Megumi with a sickle
• Much of Kitanos comments, such as "It's tough when friends die on you, but hang in there!"
• Kiriyama killing the two girls with the MP was shortened
• View of Kitano's picture was shortened
• Nanahara saying "She took the knife that Nobu use to stab Kitano from the desk." In 2004 the film was re-released by Marketing Film, this time it was uncut.

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Connections

Referenced in Wilderness (2006)

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Soundtracks

Air
from Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068
by Johann Sebastian Bach

User Reviews

You'll get it if you know modern Japan

Most of the reviewers here speak from their own viewpoints, i.e. non-Japanese westerners, and they praise/knock the movie based on its violence, plot, etc. That's fine. But through their ignorance of the culture this film springs from, they are missing its subtleties.

I've been teaching in a Japanese high school for three years now. Once I saw this movie, I could instantly appreciate its skill and surprising frankness at commenting on some of the sad and strange realities of Japan's modern youth.

Japan is a culture obsessed with youth. Almost everything here is tailored to the under-30 (and much younger, actually) crowd. For example, most westerners watching Japanese TV will be surprised at how childish it seems. The things that seem childish to your average American junior-high student are very appealing for a Japanese high-school student. Girls in their 30s desperately try to be "cute" to attract guys. Adults and children alike read comics by the droves, and sometimes pops up a strange, not-too-well-hidden undercurrent of pedophilia.

This movie takes the heavily cliquish, often childish, and often incomprehensible (to me) social system of young Japanese boys and girls and gives them guns. This is the natural result. Take it from me, the characters and situations are very realistic.

This gets mixed with the growing anxiety among the older generation at the rising rudeness and rebellion of the new generation in a culture that values politeness above all else. From a frustrated and humiliated teacher; to students killing each other over seemingly unimportant squabbles; to the overly-cutesy, peppy training video that perfectly mimics nearly any show on NHK these days -- this film subtly and brilliantly comments on half-a-dozen issues that weigh heavily on the minds of Japanese people today. That's why it was such a big hit in Japan.

Maybe you just have to live here to get it. I give it 5 stars.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

16 December 2000 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Batoru rowaiaru

Filming Locations:

Hachijo Island, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$958,989

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, AM Associates, Fukasaku-gumi

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min 122 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1