Forum - View topicReview of Battle Royale Manga
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Coral Skipper
Posts: 223 |
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Am I the only one that has a few problems with Jonathan Mays's review of the Battle Royale manga. I have yet to read the manga or see the movie, but I have read the novel, which is something it seems that Mr. Mays has yet to do. Throughout the review he compares the manga more to the movie then the novel, a problem since it was cowritten by the author of the novel and is more likely to be more similar to the novel. I am almost positive that Mr. Kitano was the villain in the novel, not positive since I don't have it on me right now. Even if he wasn't the character in the book was just doing his job, and had no personal hatred for the kids. I don't think it was fair to review the manga without having seen the movie and read the novel.
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Mr Mania
 Posts: 581 Location: UK |
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I thought the review was fine,I cant actually see what your problem with it was.Although he compares the manga to the movie he also mentions that the manga is more similar to the novel.Also he says Mr.Kitano has a personal hatred for the kids in the movie which is true,he doesnt mention the villian in the novel.
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Slim Shinji
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 263 |
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Well, actually Jonathan didn't review Battle Royale...I did. I'm in the middle of reading the novel right now. I suppose Kitano may show up before it's over with but the dude in charge as of page 150 isn't Kitano OR Kamon, he's got some other name which escapes me at the moment. Anyways, I tried to weigh the pros and cons of the manga sticking closer to the book. The added depth to the characters and the more expansive world-building are pluses, and I tried to drive that point home in my review.
But there were many other aspects of the story that I feel the movie did better than the manga (or the book). Since the movie is so well-known, to not point that out would be odd, IMO. |
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radicaledward
 Posts: 776 |
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Do you know somewhere where I can get a copy of the novel?
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John Jakala
 Posts: 60 |
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radicaledward
Posts: 776 |
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Thanks for the info
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JETBLACK87
 Posts: 1073 |
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well I've been reading the book, so far I'm at page 179 chapter 27.
the bad guys name is Sakamochi. I figured they changed the characters name cause of Takeshi Kitano, but I could be wrong. the thing that the book has and the movie doesn't is more of the past of the classmates. |
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John Jakala
Posts: 60 |
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Just read the review. While I think it's a very good review, it does seem to be written with the assumption that you've seen the movie and are wondering how the manga differs from the film. Having not seen the movie (or read the novel), I was only reacting to the manga when I read it. I know several of the characters are basically reduced to stock manga stereotypes (the sweet, sensitive guy; the decent, good-hearted friend; the slow, picked-on man-child; etc.), but Takami mixes the ingredients so well I felt I was enjoying a fresh, new creation. I would definitely describe this as a literal "page turner" and by the end of the book, I noticed my heart was racing from the story's tension. No small feat to accomplish in sequential art, IMO.
As for the violence, I actually thought that it fit with the tone and plot of the manga. Generally, I would agree that "less is more": Readers will probably be able to "fill in" much more disturbing images than any artist could actually render. But here, I actually think the creators were right to depict the extreme violence. Like the students, we're forced to confront this extremely disturbing violence that's thrust in our face. I think it actually helps the readers to identify with the characters in the story. Anyway, good review, but I'm definitely looking forward to the remaining volumes of this series. I have the novel, but now I'm going to hold off on reading it so I don't spoil the surprise of the manga. |
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ZELL
Posts: 8 Location: Hayward Ca. |
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You do relies it will be years before the manga is finished. volume 1-8 are out in Japan right now and to my knowledge there's still half the class left. I have one problem with the manga. in the book the program isn't on TV they only show the "winner" after the program is finished. . spoiler space for the novel . . . . . . . . spoiler space for the novel . . . . . . . . . It's obvious that Keith Griffen (English re-writer) has never read the novel and couldn't have read all of the manga (because it's not finished in Japan) How the hell is he going to explain the ending. if the program is being televised wouldn't Kamon AKA Sakamochi or some other soldier see Shogo removing Shuuya and Noriko's callers, and how could they sneak onto the boat if there's cameras everywhere. Sakamochi was going to spray the island with poison because no one knew where Shuuya and Noriko were except Shogo that is. |
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cyrax777
 Posts: 1825 Location: the desert |
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Zell i noticed that also im like WTF only the winner is shown on TV in both the novel and the Movie.
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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*Chuckle* I don't know about my Battle Royale review, but feel free to complain about Mike's BotS review. ^_^
Anyways...
You know, I'm not too sure about that. Of course, it's going to be helpful to have a good background before you plunge into a review. But on the other hand, going in totally uninformed could yield an opinion that would be closer to the average (casual) consumer's impression. If you were to review, say, the fifth volume of a TV series when you didn't see the first four, I'd call that a problem. To make any reasonable comments about the characters and plot, it would be almost essential to have seen the preceding episodes. But this is different. It's an adaptation of a novel and movie, not a continuation. This is a guess, but I think Tokyopop intended to target those who haven't read and seen the originals, so I imagine it's valid to review the manga without them under your belt. The movie comparison is bonus perspective. Don't chastise him simply because there isn't comparison to the novel. In fact, if you're reviewing the manga on its own, neither movie nor novel should have much impact on the reviewer's impression. |
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John Jakala
Posts: 60 |
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No, I didn't realize that. When I ordered it through my online comic shop, the description said "#1 (of 5)." But, yeah, Toykopop's site does list eight volumes for Battle Royale. Looks like I'll be reading that novel sooner than I thought.... |
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cyrax777
Posts: 1825 Location: the desert |
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well from tokyopops site around vol 4 theres *spoiler*
25 remaing *spoiler* at the rate thats going there should be 2 left by vol 8. I did also notice some errors in the adapation other then the on tv thing and some minor things that bugged me *spoilers* like when Yushikto is shot in the face with a 357 mag and it shows half his blown off and there all like "you must help him he is dying" im sorry but if you were shot in just under your eye ball at that range with a .357 your going to die and your brains are going to be all over the person behind you. And the one thing that Really irritated me was when he's saying whats in the packs "weapons range from knives to semi automatic machine guns" There is no such thing as a semi auto machine gun it has to be able to shoot Fully Automatic to be a Machine gun! of course that could have been a typo and could have been "semi automatic pistols, and Machine Guns" and the main thing thats getting on my nerves Is the english Adapatation by Keith Giffen the changes just seem to jump out at me like when Megumi is on her Cell instead of Taunting her for thinking that her cell phone would work and that her family could save her. The teachers all like talk dirty to me. I dont know for someone that really enjoyed the novel and the movie the manga just feels diffrent not thats its bad just diffrent. |
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