High school students battle each other to the death in the original survival game! Twenty years ago, the fascist government of the Republic of Greater East Asia seized control of Japan. In order to terrorize the citizens and crush any possibility of rebellion, the government set up Program 68, a savage military program where Japanese high school students were sent to a remote island and forced to kill each other—the Battle Royale. After being banned for two decades, Program 68 is back, now under the direction of a sinister government artificial intelligence. The troubled and misbehaving kids of Daitoa Academy's Class F have been chosen, armed, and divided into squads, and now must fight each other to the death. Friendships and loyalties will be tested, and only the strongest will survive.
Author
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. Takami was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture near Osaka and grew up in the Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku. After graduating from Osaka University with a degree in literature, he dropped out of Nihon University's liberal arts correspondence course program. From 1991 to 1996, he worked for the news company Shikoku Shimbun, reporting on various fields including politics, police reports, and economics. The novel Battle Royale was completed after Takami left the news company. It was rejected in the final round of the literary competition for which it was intended, owing to its controversial content. 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. He is currently working on a second novel.
