wrigglynn

2.5 starsBattle Royale has an interesting concept and the plot is extremely fast-paced. From the very beginning, it keeps the action pumping and doesn't let out until the very end.The events the students had to go through were horrifying and I honestly can't imagine what I would do if thrown into a similar situation. Borrowing Souma Mitsuko's words, would I take before being taken?While I do feel bad for the characters, it was hard to feel attached to them. This is partially due to the huge cast and the writing style. Other than the main character Shuya and a few more, we barely get to know their backgrounds. We only get snatches of info about them and often it's just before they were killed off. On the other hand, it was easy to loathe a character. I hated Sakamochi (the pseudo 'teacher' who was employed by the government) though it was mostly due to the way he was portrayed in the manga rather than the novel itself.The writing in Battle Royale was one of the biggest problems I had with it. I'm not sure how much of it is due to the original writing style and how much of it due to the 'sparse' translation. It may also be due to the fact that I'm generally not too fond of Japanese -> English novels because to me, it just doesn't flow as well. Maybe only day I will be able to read the novel in it's original form and compare.