The art in Battle Royale is heavily textured with both cross-hatch and mechanical shading, which gives the figures more sense of bulk to 'em than I, at least, have associated with manga art. (This is particularly impressive in the looming shots of a menacing Mr. Kamon.) Some of the other manga art conventions prevail - big-eyed femmes, large beads of sweat and tears that (understandably) flow freely, occasional untranslated lettering that more typically appears during moments of intense emotion or sudden death - but none of it interferes with our understanding of the book's violent action.

Or its central dilemma. At the root of the gore-riddled story lie questions of hope and trust: is either stance sensible in a setting where all of your peers have been set against you? Some of the students, we see, only too eagerly take to the Darwinian struggle. Others, like Shuuya and plucky Girl #15 Norika, work to build an alliance that will help them turn the tables. "I've thought it through," Shuuya tells Norika, after seeing his best friend murdered and another student gone round the bend, "and opted for 'hope.'" After we've read this inspirational statement, the book moves onto two other students who've gleefully chosen another path. Mario Bava would've definitely approved.

Who, the book asks, is better suited to survive The Program? It's a testimony to Takami & Taguchi that I don't know by the end of Volume One what the answer'll be. But I definitely wanna find out.

(Originally posted in Pop Culture Gadabout.)