(28/07/25, 23:05 WIB)
Last weekend, I brought Battle Royale, one of my favorite books from my teenage years, to Banquet Book Club’s book discussion, with the theme of friendship.
I had trouble deciding which book to bring because turns out I barely have any book that focuses on friendship 😕 My library is filled with loneliness, slow burn yearning that almost always crash and burn, women spiraling but it’s giving Philosophy, etc. Friendship isn’t always rainbows and butterflies so I thought Battle Royale fits the theme perfectly. Reading it made me think a lot about friendship—the idea of it, the extent of it, my own friends—while simultaneously adding quite meaningful connections to my own world. I bonded over it with my friend back in school, and even made a few online connections through fandom activities lol. Over a decade later, from the book club, I met some cool new people to share my interest with! A cycle that keeps on giving ❤
When I introduced the book, I was quite surprised that some were not familiar with it yet. I thought it’s quite popular but maybe I was just a bit too obsessed with it. But their curiosity made me even more excited to YAP!
If you’re not familiar, Battle Royale tells a story about 42 ninth-graders, consisting of 21 girls and 21 boys, who were forcefully sent to a remote island, somewhere in Japan, to fight for their survival until there’s only one left standing. Basically they had to kill their classmates. The program was organized by the authoritarian government to show their power over citizens. A random ninth grade class from a random school was picked, and if I’m not mistaken this was an annual thing (at least there had been a survival program done before this book started). Each student was given a duffle bag containing food, water, a compass, a flashlight, a map of the island, and a random weapon. Some got guns, some got knives, some got a frying pan or a rope. They had to fight for three days and each morning, a list of students who had died was announced, as well as how many students were remaining. The book was first published in 1999 and in December 2000 the movie adaptation was released. I watched before I read.
I watched Battle Royale for the first time in ninth grade and instantly fell in love (I’m a sucker for a Good Concept, especially if it’s dystopian). Coincidentally, a classmate also liked it a lot and we ended up fangirling over Battle Royale every chance we got. He ended up buying the book, which I later borrowed, and to this day I think it’s one of those instances where the book > the movie adaptation.
The movie is 113 minutes long, while the book is 576 pages thick. There were so many details that the movie couldn’t deliver. The third act, leading up to the conclusion, was kind of ???, which I think was because some of the key characters were altered. The biggest difference to me, however, is the amount of details that each and every character has in the novel, which the movie didn’t fully capture. Every student—all 42 students—are given at least a chapter, even the most minor characters. It tells you about their journeys, their fears, their strengths, and their struggles, during and before the program. Their lives and deaths. It gives you more depth.
I like seeing things from the eyes of others. I’d like to understand situations from different angles. That’s why I think it’s quite a shame that the movie couldn’t showcase those critical details. You’d understand more about the kids and their decisions throughout the program. You’d understand why some are super driven to survive, even if they have to blow their friend’s brains out, and you’d understand why some lives were spared. You’d begin to question trust, because imagine if in the middle of a bloodbath, your best friend suddenly drops a bomb on how you haven’t been treating them properly all this time, how you once offended them and they pretended they didn’t care, and how it’s been so exhausting to be stuck with you at school because they didn’t know how to make new friends although they’ve been wanting to break off your friendship so so badly, and on top of that they have to go home to their abusive parents every single day. I’d wish they’d drop an actual bomb on me instead.
What have they been hiding? Do you really know your friends? Would they kill you if they were given the chance? Would they sacrifice you for their own survival? Reading Battle Royale as a teenager planted so many questions in my head. I was a ninth-grader too! My friend and I would discuss the characters and insert ourselves in situations from the book/movie. We’d insert our classmates as well, hehe… Imagine if you’re facing situation A and then X tried to do Y to you and by the way… Q is so much like this character! I think they’d do DCE to JKL using a W (we were pretty angsty ninth-graders… 😔). At one point I created a Battle Royale fanblog on Tumblr to post GIF sets from the movie, quotes, and a directory of roleplay accounts (it was very much a thing). I made a few online friends there and we would just bond the way my friend and I did. If I remember correctly that went on for a year-ish?
Apologies to the Battle Royale kids but I made some wonderful connections from your unfortunate, fictional lives and deaths. If you’re interested in the book and/or movie, I have to warn you; they’re pretty graphic. Aside from children murdering each other, it also contains sexual assault. Avoid it if you can’t deal with those.
For those who’d still like to read/watch… I hope you’ll make new friends from diving into this piece of media just like I did. There’s at least one nerd (me) who’d be more than happy to talk about it with you 🥰
🌟 Bonus: My Battle Royale costume from Halloween 2022. Made the collar by myself using a beer can.
— S. N.
breaking my spine 