Battle Royale

[Rockzilla]

I read the manga first, so the movie felt underwhelming. It was ok in its own way, I just wish it had more time to flesh out the characters, some of the graphic sex from the manga should have been in it. I was utterly disappointed by the lack of slutty Mitsuko.

[CatfaceFourtoes]

Yeah, the movie made some interesting changes, like making the head master a sympathetic character. The manga version of the character was like Killian from The Running Man, putting on a twisted show. As for slutty Mitzuko, I think the closest thing a movie could come to that would have been a characterization like Juliet Lewis's character in Natural Born killers. Even then I don't think they could push the envelope with the sexual content like the manga did. It even pays homage to NBK by entertaining allusions to Kiryama and Mitzuko hooking up.

[TechnoForce]

I loved the book and I loved the movie. The book however was on a different level. It is one of my all time favorite books actually. I did enjoy what I read of the manga but I have to say I do tire of the graphic perversion and sex that so much japanese media seems to have.

[CatfaceFourtoes]

The character development was so good in the manga that I shudder to think how engrossing the novel is, being the original wellspring from what the manga was derived from. I hope Kiryama is the same kind of beast that he was in the Manga. The perversion and gore takes a back seat to the character development. You are made to like and hate the characters, and as the pages near the end, toward the crossing off of the portraits in the year book, the suspense is incredible.