With all the recent hubbaloo about the Hunger Games and it's similarities to Battle Royale, I felt my need to re-read the manga growing. It's been an interesting experience going back and re-discovering the series and I'm surprised about my feelings towards it now.

Battle Royale takes place in a totalitarian Japan, where the government's #1 tv show is the Program. The Program consists of kidnapping a random class of high school students, dropping them in a secure location, arming them, and then encouraging them to kill one another. Last man standing is the winner!
This year, we've got a varied and diverse class, but our main man and eyes into the series is Shuuya Nanahara, a rock-and-roll rebel without a clue. The series then follows Shu on his quest to not only protect his crush Noriko, but to also NOT kill his classmates, as well as survive the game. Tall order.

In terms of story, BR is impressive just in the sheer size of it's cast. Each and every character - both the good and the bad - get some kind of moment to shine and some kind of focus. Sometimes this is to evoke sympathy, sometimes this is to explain their behavior, and sometimes it's to set us up for the fall. The author of the manga, Takaguchi, makes sure to take his time with each student and I love that. It's INCREDIBLY hard to create an interesting character (and to be fair, a large portion of credit must go to the original author, Koushun Takami), much less a whole CLASS of them. Props there.

However, on that note, I have to admit how much I didn't like Shu or Nori the second time around. Both of the characters are so extremely one-note that any scene with them ends up being the same conversation OVER and OVER. I ended up hoping that maybe this time, someone would pop out of a bush and shoot them both just to save me the speeches. When you've got such well-built characters like Hardcore Souma, or Shogo, or Mimura, or Sugimura - all of whom have diverse, interesting backgrounds and intriguing ongoing plotlines - characters like Shu and Nori end up being just boring. I get that they're a stand-in for the audience, but they just lack everything.

Takaguchi's artwork is incredible, but also not without flaws.

Amazingly to me, Takaguchi is capable of drawing EVERYTHING. Urban landscapes, natural landscapes, soldiers, various types of guns, elaborate karate scenes, body gore, car chases, and character moments. There is no one note that Takaguchi excels at, EVERYTHING looks good. His page layouts are generally simple, but they explode when they need to. As an artist who's still growing himself, I find myself amazed by the time and skill that Takaguchi puts into each page. Simply amazing.
However, as I said, it's not all good. Takaguchi's male characters are all so well built it's stupid. I get that this is a comic, and hell, I read American comics, where everyone is built, but there's a difference between a teen with super-powers and a teen without. There's also a difference in the type of story being told. We're supposed to believer that the Program could exist - and that WE could be a part of it. It's hard to imagine that when every male character's chest and arms are ripped like Jesus. Shogo looks like a body-builder for Heaven's sake! I can understand Sugimura (a martial artist) or Mimura (an athlete) to some degree, but Shuuya has no physical talent. He's a good looking guy, no doubt, but he has no reason to be THAT ripped. I'm not saying we needed more fat characters (there were fat characters), just that I think a bit of a control wouldn't have hurt.
My other artistic gripe is head sizes. There are several shots in the comic were someone's head is a large as their chest - which just isn't the way the body is built. This isn't terribly overwhelming, but it does happen. It's just odd enough to notice, but not enough to mar my enjoyment of the book.

Overall, Battle Royale is something amazing and it MUST be read. The characters are diverse and interesting, the book looks great to the eye, and it reads so well. Even having read it before, I still found myself wondering what was going to happen or how the series would play out. THAT is a good sign. This series isn't perfect by any means - and good luck finding Tokyopop's out-of-print editions - but Battle Royale is a must read book.