Battle Royale

The 42 students in Class B of the first year of high school at Shiroiwa School are drawn into "THE PROGRAM" - a deadly battle between students, funded and broadcast by the Republic of Greater East Asia's dictatorship.

Isolated on an island, armed, and restrained by explosive necklaces, classmates suddenly become enemies where only one must survive. Even if it means abandoning friendships, humanity, and hope.

In this grim scenario, BATTLE ROYALE's narrative delves into traumas, enmities, bullying, and unrequited love from the characters' pasts, justifying their actions in the present.

The overweight boy mocked by his peers for his sensitivity now wields a loaded weapon. The girl with acne on her face has a revolver. The virgin has a pistol, and so on. What these young people become in the face of the horror they endure is BR's main triumph.

In the 119 chapters, the book meticulously tells even briefly the past of all its students, whether corrupted by the game or not, creating empathy or apathy, giving weight to their deaths.

Deaths that insist on brutalizing and shocking; an arrow through the pupil, machine gun bullets penetrating the neck unexpectedly, give the BR pages their tone.

Silly students are drawn with more humorous strokes, the stronger ones resemble superheroes, the more "dramatic" ones have realistic strokes. When they inhabit the same scene, this mixture causes visual confusion.

There are intense clashes at all times, with sickening bouts when Shuuya (the protagonist) needs to affirm how unfair the game is.

But the presence of Kazuo Kiryama - akin to Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 as a teenager -, Shougou Kawada - a mysterious 16-year-old with the face of a 30-year-old soldier -, Hiroki Sugimura - Bruce Lee -, Shinji Mimura - excelling at everything he does - and Mitsuko Souma - daddy's doll - enhances the narrative.

Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warfare, and The Hunger Games are mere kindergartners compared to Takami Goushun's fierce BATTLE ROYALE.