EXPLICIT CONTENT! The final volume to Battle Royale! We finished recording this run in October 2018. Listen as we recount the tropes used, the differences between the source material and the goal of the authors. Skip the synopsis @ minute 12:00
022: Battle Royale vol. 15
Art: Masayuki Taguchi
Story: Koushun Takami
Translation by Keith Giffen
Topics:
· Kiriyama's death
· Kawada's betrayal
· The authors
…and their intentions with the book and handling violence
Differences between the Japanese and English translation:
(Note: the English Vol 1 was released in 2003,
same year the Japanese vol 9 came out, both the English and Japanese runs ended in 2006)
'"It's a good story that Takami is telling", Giffen said. "What I do is go in and make bad scenes that much worse. I loved the movie of Battle Royale, and also love the manga. I just wanted to do it right. I wanted to do justice to it, and I knew I couldn't get away with doing a straight translation, because it would be horrifyingly bad."' – Keith Giffen
§ There isn't a reality TV show aspect
§ Sakura doesn't make any bets prior to the program
§ Izumi was at the reef before Kiriyama and the rest arrived. This means Kiriyama would have flipped the coin on meeting Kazumi and way before the others arrived. It also means there was no allusion to rape what-so-ever.
§ Originally Niida makes up excuses for his actions and isn't as psychotic as he is in the English version.
Basically, Keith Geifen makes it a lot darker than the comic needs to be.
Differences between other adaptations:
· Yonemi Kamon is an original character that replaces, Kinpatsu Sakamochi in the novel and Kitano in the movie.
· In the movie, Kazuo Kiriyama is one of two transfer students, the other is Shogo Kawada. They are specially selected to take part in the Battle Royale program and have no prior relationship to the other students.
· In the novel Soma is setting the campfires to cause confusion, until Kiriyama tracks her down and kills her. Then Kiriyama continues setting the smoke signals.
· Kiriyama decides to take part in the Battle Royale before his gang arrives, having killed Izumi kanai before they arrive.
Pop culture references:
· "A star is born kiddies" Mirroring Soma's line, a reference to the film 'A Star is Born'.
· "News flash, Oz is a slum, the white knight's a retard and the seven dwarfs gang rape pixies" – Shojo Kawada
1.) Frank L Baum's The Wizard of Oz (Judy Garland movie, is Keith a fan?)
2.) White Knight:
Medieval trope that is derived from myths of courtship and valour. It's a very respectable title but common usage can be derogatory as of 2010.
First records of anyone having the white knight title is the Fitzgibbon and Fitzgerald family of Ireland. Fitz-suffix meaning they were either raised by or were illegitimate sons (bastards).
Modern culture shows we've given such titles to sports heroes. 3 lions are worn by the English soccer team, not soldiers! And Russian hockey player Evgeni 'Geno' Malkin is nicknamed 'white knight' according to Wikipedia.
3.) Snow White and the Seven dwarfs (Brothers Grimm story, famously Disney's first feature length movie)
· Kawada calls Nanahara "Pollyanna" once again. 3x now!!! Based on the titular character of Eleanor H. Porter's novel.
Product placement:
· 7-Up (Soda-pop drink owned by Pepsi outside the U.S.)
· Coca Cola (world famous caffeinated Soda-pop drink, originally marketed as an elixir)
· SuperTrapp (motorcycles and gear retailer)
Notable Tropes:
· Tsundere (Takako Chigusa)
· Playing Possum (Frogboy with the Kevlar vest)
· Chi energy powers (Sugimura)
· Femme Fatale (Mistuko Soma)
· The determinator/implacable man
(Kazuo Kiriyama)
· The stoic (Kiriyama and Kawada)
· Mind vs Heart paradigm a.k.a. the tin woodsman and scarecrow thesis
(Nanahara and Kawada)
For a more comprehensive list visit the TV Tropes website.
Synopsis:
Mere days ago, 42 school students were marooned on an island, given random weapons and ordered to kill each other in a brutal game of death. Now only 4 remain… but that's still 3 too many.
Nanahara, Noriko and Kawada team up to defeat Kazuo Kiriyama, the most dangerous competitor of the students. Nanahara makes the killing shot, as he watches Kiriyama die, Nanahara expresses regret and wishes that he could have saved him. Kiriyama's final words being "I can feel again".
Kawada takes Noriko and Nanahara to the end of the island by the edge of the cliff. He pulls his gun on both of them and wins the game.
He is escorted off the island by boat, he is not given any aid or chance to clean himself before Mr. Kamon enters the cabin to question him. Kamon suspects Kawada for faking the death of Noriko and Nanahara, his evidence to support this suspicion is that documents about the explosive collars and the chosen class were hacked into before the game began. he tells Kawada that helicopters are flooding the island with poison as they speak and pulls a gun on Kawada.
Mr. Kamon is distracted due to Nanahara's ambush on the boat. Kawada kills Kamon with a pencil to the neck. He goes onto the upper deck where he finds Nanahara and Noriko have kept the guards subdued and tied down. When one guard breaks loose he attacks Kawada but Nanahara takes the bullet as Kawada shoots the guard's hand off. Nanahara is protected by the Kevlar vest he took from Kiriyama. The 3 send the guards into a dingy and cut them loose.
As Kawada teaches Nanahara how to control the ship he succumbs to the sustained gunshot wound from Kiriyama. Kawada dies on the ship.
Both Noriko and Nanahara become wanted criminals during the Christmas holidays. They discover Kawada's plan was to die in that game but rescue Shinji Mimura, in doing so they would declare war on the program. Mimura's aunt is kind enough to secure a boat to the U.S. for Nanahara and Noriko but before they leave Nanahara spies on Miss Ryoko to see if she is safe and Noriko calls her mother. The two make their peace with the students they fought and start a new life in the U.S.
The End.
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