Forum - View topicBattle Royale Translation = Major Plothole??
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Abarenbo Shogun
 Posts: 1573 |
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I just finished Battle Royale #15, and the translation has me questioning if theirs a major plothole that Tokyopop neglected to tie up or just ignored it.
spoiler[So pretty much Tokyopops translation of Battle Royale is that "The Program" is a huge Reality TV Show type of deal. In fact, several dialogue text across the series alludes to this fact, even in #15, with the leader guy stating "The DVD sales will go to the roof!!" Now, i'm kinda lost here. Tokyopop rewrote the story so that it played out as Reality Show, yet there are three instances in #15 that put a plothole in the Reality TV idea: 1. Kawada "shooting" Shuya and Noriko is broadcast on a radio set, not television screens that is supposedly alluded to in the Tokyopop version. In fact, no TV screens of any nature appear in the School Base of Operations in any panel. 2. When Kawada is on the boat, he is asked about the "end" of Shuya and Noriko. Most of the preliminary evidence suggests that the info was gleaned from the collars, which had minature mikes in them. 3. The kicker: Kawada is then confronted with evidence that he didn't kill Shuya and Noriko. The evidence produced.....are satellite photos, one of Shinji's death scence at the Farm Co-op, the other of the area where Kawada supposedly killed Shuya and Noriko. Now, I would expect that there would be TV cameras filming this and then produced footage to Kawada of his lie. But the manga never even does this. So now I have to ask: Did Tokyopop just willy-nilly decide to pull a 4kids, and decided that this would sell more after looking at the entire series; or did they just do it, without realizing that it would backfire due to lack of volumes to look at?] |
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Monumension
 Posts: 268 Location: Norway |
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It doesn't make much sense right? By the time Tokyopop released volume 1. in May 2003 the Japanese manga was only up to volume 9. For some reason Giffen decided to go on with the Reality-TV changes not knowing if the later volumes would feature scenes that would make his concept of a TV program impossible.
As you mentioned, in the last chapters of the adaptation the final twist backfires totally. Tokyopop should have been familiar with the novel and movie which were released at the time and seen how pointless their tweaking would seem in the manga. Here's an interview with Giffen about some of the changes he made and why he felt like doing it: www.newsarama.com/Battle_Royale.htm |
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hanachan01
 Posts: 504 |
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This reminds me of
This- animenewsnetwork.com/columns/sunday.php?id=35 and this- http://www.animeboredom.co.uk/anime-articles/80/ 'nuff said. |
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coolerimmortal
Posts: 522 |
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Yes, it's a huge plothole, one I have pointed out many times before.
In short, Giffen, the guy who rewrote the series, is a moron. He attempted to write BR without any knowledge of the source material. There is no excuse for his changes; they turn the US version into a joke. The completely rewritten dialogue (volume 15 spoilers: spoiler[For example, in Kiriyama's death scene, his last words in the Japanese version are, "Nana...Nanahara...", as he dies in Shuya's arms. In the US version, he says, "I can feel again..." and then he dies. Completely different!]) is awful. Don't buy the US version. If you must read it, download it. Tokyopop deserves no money for the crap job they did. |
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joel_s95387
Posts: 1804 Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn |
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I think you are a little late. I already own all 15 volumes and I don't regret it. Even though those instances completely make the US story come to question, it was still a story of survival and kids killing kids. "Kill or be Killed" and that's what it gave us. Yeah it wasn't a reality show, but I guess reality shows were big around the time this was released so it was a pretty good assumption that people would buy a "reality show" book and hook those people who don't regularly read manga. Did it ruin the series for the hardcore fans? Yes. But did it ruin it for us people who had almost to no prior knowledge to what Battle Royale? No. I mean this series even got reviewed by Playboy. Last time I checked Playboy is not for reviewing manga so to get your title picked is pretty awesome... although knowing how US business works, I'm betting Tokyopop payed Playboy magazine to review their manga. Major Plothole, but the story was played out and the winner was announced at the end. |
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Abarenbo Shogun
Posts: 1573 |
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It's good that you pointed out the movie, because it reminded me of something. spoiler[http://www.battleroyalefilm.net/movie/spoilerending.html] I think I can guess where Giffen got the idea of his ill-brained idea of his. |
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