Battle Royale (manga)
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| Battle Royale | |
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| バトル・ロワイアル (Batoru rowaiaru) |
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| Genre | Seinen, Action, Romance, Thriller, Science Fiction, Horror, Splatter |
| Manga | |
| Authored by | Koushun Takami |
| Publisher |  Akita Publishing   TOKYOPOP Play Press Publishing Soleil Productions
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| Serialized in | Young Champion Magazine |
| Original run | November 2000 – January 2006 |
| No. of volumes | 15[1] |
Battle Royale has been adapted into a serialized manga, written by Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi, was published in Japan by Akita Publishing. There is a manga sequel called Battle Royale II: Blitz Royale.
The manga follows the plot of the novel fairly closely, but also expands on the backstory of each of the students. It is also far more sexually graphic than the novel and film versions, and is also noted for its intense, gory violence. The name of the main character is transliterated as Shuuya Nanahara in this version (rather than 'Shuya' as it is spelled in the novel). Also, the manga changes the time that the story is set in by almost 10 years, using the term 'in the near future', but on Shogo Kawada's profile, it references the program 2005 season; he says his last program was a year ago, leading to the assumption that the manga sets the story in 2006. But in volume one of the English language version, Shinji Mimura and the news channel reporter mentions the 2007 record of three days, seven hours and twenty-two minutes. Further confusing things, in volume 14 Kamon refers to the '09 season, which is presumably the 2009 one. It may be best assumed that the series takes place in the present or very near future.
The manga revolves around seven main characters, including the righteous Shuuya Nanahara, the gentle and caring Noriko Nakagawa, the hardened veteran Shogo Kawada, the genius Shinji Mimura, the kind-hearted kung-fu master Hiroki Sugimura, the troubled Mitsuko Souma, and the cold, merciless Kazuo Kiriyama. As of January 2006, all 15 volumes have been released in Japan. In the US and UK all 15 of the volumes have been released as of April 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
List of characters in Battle Royale
[edit] TOKYOPOP Version
An English-language adaptation of the publication, published in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom in a multi-volume format by TOKYOPOP, was extensively rewritten by Keith Giffen, whose script does not completely follow the original comic.[2]
The major difference between the Japanese and TOKYOPOP version is that Giffen rewrote the BR program as a Reality TV show program, rather than keeping it in tune with the BR Act, which leaves plotholes through the panels of the manga, especially in Volume #15. This can be partially attributted to the fact that when TOKYOPOP had released Volume #1, the Japanese Battle Royale was up to Volume #9 at that point, thereby not giving TOKYOPOP or Giffen ample material to prove that their rewrite would backfire.
According to TOKYOPOP editor Mark Paniccia, in the Newsarama article:
'For adapting the work, Giffen was given a tight Japanese-to-English translation of the story, but his assignment was by no means just to tweak a translation. "I told him to do what he felt he had to do", Paniccia said. "I told him to Giffenize it."'
To which Giffen responds:
'"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."'
In April 2006, Tim Beedle, a former associate editor of Battle Royale, stated on the TOKYOPOP Messageboard the reasoning behind the decision to have a fairly loose adaptation:
'Prior to starting work on the first volume of Battle Royale, its editor (Mark Paniccia, who has since left TOKYOPOP) made a decision to hire Keith Giffen, a well-known American comic book writer, to provide a much looser adaptation than usual. He made this decision for a variety of reasons, but two seemed to be more prominent than the rest. First, due to BR's extreme content and M rating, it was going to be a tough sell. (Some of the large chains refuse to carry M-rated books.) Hiring a known writer could help compensate for this by driving sales. Second, more than any other book we were publishing at the time, BR had the potential to find a crossover audience in the direct market among American comic book readers, who often are adverse to trying manga.'[3]
[edit] Brazilian Portuguese edition
Conrad Editora from Brazil began publishing a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Manga at the tail end of 2006. From the contents of the first two volumes (it follows the original 15-volume format) it does not seem to adapt the Giffen "Reality Show" version, but instead apparently follows the original premise of the Novel and Manga. But, the small preview on the cover that appears in all Battle Royale editions mentions BR being filmed and airing live on TV, which would only make sense in the US translation.
[edit] References
- ^ Battle Royale (manga) (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-02-21.
- ^ Mile High Comics Presents Newsarama @ view Askew.
- ^ http://messageboard.tokyopop.com/forums/showpost.php?p=69332&postcount=22 Tokyopop Messageboard post on subject of edits made to manga.]
