Battle Royale

By: Koushun Takami, Yuji Oniki (translator)

Narrated by: Mark Dacascos

Length: 19 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

Battle Royale, a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence in a dystopian world, it is one of Japan's best-selling - and most controversial - novels. As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television.

A Japanese pulp classic available in English-language audio for the first time, Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world. The first novel by small-town journalist Koushun Takami, it went on to become an even more notorious film by 70-year-old director Kinji Fukusaku.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1999 Koushun Takami; Translation copyright 2009, Yuji Oniki (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Not for those with a weak stomach!

Battle Royale is terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. It's actually given me nightmares. It's also one of my absolute favorite books ever.

I read the print version of the book several times before getting it in audio format, and I think that that made listening to it much easier than if I had listened to it without reading it. The book was translated from Japanese, and the translation's not perfect, so that takes some getting used to, as does the fact that there are 42 children all with very similar Japanese names. It takes a little more concentration to follow Battle Royale than it probably takes for most other books.

If you can get over those few problems, though, and explicit violence doesn't make you cringe, you'll realize that this story is wonderfully terrifying.

Forty-two 15-year-old classmates are thrown onto an island and told to fight until only of of them survives. (Think The Hunger Games, but for grown ups). And heed this warning very seriously - the violence in this book gets *very* graphic. If you're someone for whom that might be a problem, don't buy it. Try the print version instead.

26 people found this helpful

great book, bad narration

This is a great book, not a great audiobook. I read this book twice and decided that it would be fun to listen to it in my spare time since I loved it so much, bad mistake. The narrator is the worst narrator I have ever heard. ever. This is an emotional book and he puts no emotion into it. The characters all sound the same and when someone is dying and yelling at their enemy he reads the same as if they were talking to a friend. He does do a good job pronouncing names but this in no way makes up for how horrible he did with everything else. the narrator manages to make a book that is so intense and exciting come off as such a boring book. sometimes you dont even understand what is going on because of how horrible it is read. I hope that they decide to make another version read by someone that can put emotion into characters. If you really want to enjoy battle royale just pick up the hard copy of the book, it is so much better.

17 people found this helpful

Kids should not have guns.

This book was good, but I will admit I had a hard time with the names. I finally found a print out and wrote notes next to the name with a brief character description, this helped me keep all the characters straight. I know some of the descriptions are cliché, but that is how the author wrote them. Of course it didn't hurt that the kids all had numbers next to their names. The narrator was good, I thought he had a clear voice with a slight Asian accent. This is a very dark book in that the scenes are bloody and I think it makes it worse that they were all friends and schoolmates. Yes there is the teenage crushes going on but the kids are 15, they usually don't have much else on their mind. Probably has to do with all the hormones running through their bodies. Even if the other kids are dying, most people/kids think they will be the exception. I picked this book up because I heard it was like Hunger games. The premises is the same where "there can only be one" but the story is much more gruesome. Like the game "clue" each opponent has a different type of weapon that is supplied.

Boys
1. Yoshio Akamatsu- big kid, timid, picked on
2. Keita Iijima- former friend of Shinji
3. Tatsumichi Oki- jock plays handball
4. Toshinori Oda- short, thin, violinist, snob
5. Shogo Kawada- older kid, scarred, held back a year due to injury, scares other delinquents
6. Kazuo Kiriyama- leader of delinquents, father rich, top student, good at sports, different kind of person
7. Yoshitoki Kuninobu- orphan, crush on Norika, Shuya's childhood friend
8. Yoji Kuramoto- Yoshimi's boyfriend
9. Hiroshi Kuronaga- delinquent
10. Ryuhei Sasagawa- delinquent
11. Hiroki Sugimura- tall, lanky, reserved, into marshal arts, Takako's best friend
12. Yutaka Seto- class clown, orphan, Shinji childhood friend
13. Yuichiro Takiguchi- jock
14. Sho Tsukioka- delinquent, gay
15. Shuya Nanahara- main character, orphan, plays electric guitar, used to play baseball
16. Kazushi Niida- jock plays soccer
17. Mitsuru Numai- delinquent
18. Tadakatsu Hatagami- jock plays baseball, Shuya former friend
19. Shinji Mimura- short hair, wears earring, very athletic, mature views on world knowledge
20. Kyoichi Motobuchi- hard studier, class representative, father in government
21. Kazuhiko Yamamoto- girlfriend is Sakura

Girls
1. Mizuho Inada- weird girl
2. Yukie Utsumi- class representative, mainstream girls/neutrals
3. Megumi Eto- believes in ghost
4. Sakura Ogawa- boyfriend is Kazuhiko
5. Izumi Kanai- preppy, mainstream girls/neutrals
6. Yukiko Kitano- Yumiko's childhood friend, likes to bake
7. Yumiko Kusaka- Yukiko's childhood friend, tomboy
8. Kayoko Kotohiki- regular girl
9. Yuko Sakaki- regular girl
10. Hirono Shimizu- delinquent
11. Mitsuko Souma- leader of girl delinquents, pretty
12. Haruka Tanizawa- tall, plays volley ball, mainstream girls/neutrals
13. Takako Chigusa- pretty, track, Hiroki's best friend
14. Mayumi Tendo- delinquent
15. Noriko Nakagawa- normal, petite and playful, likes to write, Yoshitoki's crush
16. Yuka Nakagawa- heavy girl
17. Satomi Noda- model student, calm, intelligent, mainstream girls/neutrals
18. Fumiyo Fujiyoshi- gossipy girl
19. Chisato Matsui- quite, withdrawn, mainstream girls/neutrals
20. Kaori Minami- pop star fan
21. Yoshimi Yahagi- delinquent, Yoji's girlfriend

45 people found this helpful

Amazing book but Dacasos ruined it.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If it didn't sound like Mark was bored reading it. He is a pretty good actor but put absolutely no acting in. It was bad and it made me bored and not interested in the book. Good thing I read it a long time ago.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Battle Royale?

Difficult to say. I suppose it would have to be after all the fluff in the beginning and they get right down to the game where the students learn what's going on and have to grab their packs and leave. I felt the author did really well putting the audience in that room.

What didn’t you like about Mark Dacascos’s performance?

Everything but above all just shocked and surprised he played it so stiff. One has to wonder why he was chosen in the first place. It seemed like it was just a paying gig for him and sadly I think the organizers figured nobody would care. Now, plenty of lazy people who would never read the book are going in and having a very bad experience with what is a very good book.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

With the book, impressed. With the audio book, major disappointment.

Any additional comments?

When you don't do something right, redo it. This time without Mark. Love ya, buddy, but this was God awful.

36 people found this helpful

Monotone reader but AMAZING novel

this book is so good that its not hard to see past readers monotone voice. it would be that much better if he showed enthusiasm. great book! on the edge of my seat!

5 people found this helpful

wish I could understand what hes saying

Horrible audio. I'm not sure what's worse, the fact that Mark Dacascos has the emotional range of a dead sloth, or the audio quality which makes every third word impossible to understand.

3 people found this helpful

A cult classic

I have been hearing about Battle Royale since I first got into the dystopian society genre and now I'm kicking myself for not adding it to my collection sooner. This story completely blew me away. What I loved about it was that all of the children involved had preexisting relationships and perceptions of one another giving the story emotional depth. If you're not into violence, I would skip this one. It was incredibly graphic.

The only thing I would change about this is the narrator. This was such an exciting and emotional journey and his narration lacked the passion I was looking for.

3 people found this helpful

Great book w/ narration so bad I almost died IRL

If I could give 0 stars for the performance rating I would. Mark Dacascos is like a broken Speak 'N' Spell reading from a script. He literally made me fall asleep at the wheel coming home from work. This is no joke, I actually had a minor car accident because his performance of this book bored me to the point of passing out. I woke up when I drifted off the road and blew out my tire on the curb. If I kept going, I would have wound up in a lake.
This is not the book's fault. Battle Royale is an awesome book worthy of being read several times. Even the movie was pretty good. I suggest you buy the book and physically read it, because the audio book could potentially get you killed... I am glad this was free (gifted to me by my brother when I signed up for Audible), because if it weren't I seriously would have returned it.

6 people found this helpful

Took some time to get into this one.

Narrator was fine. Pronounced the Japanese names very well (Japanese speaker here). Reminded me a lot of Hunger Games. There were just times in the middle where I would have to rewind and re-listen.

2 people found this helpful

The Hunger Games before there was a Hunger Games.

Any additional comments?

I've loved this story since I was a teenager. I read the novel, watched the movies, and even read the Manga, which expands on the character back stories even more than the novel.
I expected good things out of the audio book, but the narrator puts out a very lackluster performance. There's a big difference between narrating a story and just reading a book aloud. Disappointing, but I still recommend for the story.

4 people found this helpful