Battle Royale (2000)
Coming Out at 16 December 2000 in theaters.
“Batoru rowaiaru”
Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Battle Royale is dystopian action thriller film directed by Kinji Fukasaku and screenplay written by Kenta Fukasaku, based on the 1999 novel by Koushun Takami. Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda and Takeshi Kitano, the film follows a group of junior high-school students that are forced to fight to the death by the Japanese totalitarian government. The film drew controversy and was banned or excluded from distribution in several countries. Toei even refused to sell the film to any United States distributor for a long time due to concerns about potential controversy and lawsuits (until Anchor Bay Entertainment eventually acquired the film in 2010 for direct-to-video release).
The film was first screened in Tokyo on more than 200 screens on December 16, 2000, with an R15+ rating, which is rarely used in Japan. It was the highest-grossing Japanese-language film for six weeks after its initial release, and it was later released in 22 countries worldwide, grossing approximately $30 million in nine countries. The film earned critical acclaim and, especially with its DVD releases, drew a large global cult following. It is often regarded as one of Fukasaku’s best films, and one of the best films of the 2000s. In 2009, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino praised Battle Royale as the best film he had seen in the past two decades.
Following a major recession, the Japanese government has passed the “BR ACT” to control Japan’s unruly youth. Middle school student Shuya Nanahara copes with life after his father committed suicide. Noriko Nakagawa is the only student regularly attending class 3-B. Their teacher, Kitano, resigns after being wounded by Yoshitoki Kuninobu, Shuya’s best friend.
One year later, class 3-B takes a field trip, but they are gassed and taken to a remote island. Kitano reappears surrounded by JSDF soldiers, explaining to the class that they are chosen to participate in the annual Battle Royale as a result of the Act: they have three days to fight to the death until a victor emerges, while explosive collars will kill uncooperative students or those within daily “danger zones”. Each student is provided rations, water, a map of the island, compass, flashlight, and a random weapon. Kitano personally kills two of the students for disobedience, one of them being Kuninobu, who dies from collar detonation.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Writers: Koushun Takami (novel), Kenta Fukasaku
Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Sôsuke Takaoka, Takashi Tsukamoto
Cast:
| Tatsuya Fujiwara | … | Shuya Nanahara – otoko 15-ban |
| Aki Maeda | … | Noriko Nakagawa – onna 15-ban |
| Tarô Yamamoto | … | Shôgo Kawada – otoko 5-ban |
| Takeshi Kitano | … | Kitano-sensei (as Bito Takeshi) |
| Chiaki Kuriyama | … | Takako Chigusa – onna 13-ban |
| Sôsuke Takaoka | … | Hiroki Sugimura – otoko 11-ban |
| Takashi Tsukamoto | … | Shinji Mimura – otoko 19-ban |
| Yukihiro Kotani | … | Yôshitoki Kuninobu – otoko 7-ban |
| Eri Ishikawa | … | Yukie Utsumi – onna 2-ban |
| Sayaka Kamiya | … | Satomi Noda – onna 17-ban |
| Takayo Mimura | … | Kayoko Kotôhiki – onna 8-ban |
| Yutaka Shimada | … | Yûtaka Seto – otoko 12-ban |
| Aki Unone | … | Fumiyo Fujiyôshi – onna 18-ban (as Aki Inoue) |
| Ren Matsuzawa | … | Keita Îjima – otoko 2-ban |
| Hirohito Honda | … | Kazushi Nîda – otoko 16-ban |
| Ryou Nitta | … | Kyôichi Motobuchi – otoko 20-ban |
| Sayaka Ikeda | … | Megumi Etô – onna 3-ban |
| Anna Nagata | … | Hirono Shimizu – onna 10-ban |
| Yukari Kanasawa | … | Yûkiko Kitano – onna 6-ban |
| Misao Kato | … | Yumiko Kusaka – onna 7-ban |
| Hitomi Hyuga | … | Yûko Sakaki – onna 9-ban |
| Satomi Ishii | … | Haruka Tanizawa – onna 12-ban |
| Asami Kanai | … | Chisato Matsui – onna 19-ban |
| Satomi Hanamura | … | Yûka Nakagawa – onna 16-ban |
| Yousuke Shibata | … | Mitsuru Numai – otoko 17-ban |
| Shirô Gô | … | Ryûhei Sasagawa – otoko 10-ban |
| Yuuki Masuda | … | Hiroshi Kuronaga – otoko 9-ban |
| Shigeki Hirokawa | … | Shô Tsukioka – otoko 14-ban |
| Tamaki Mihara | … | Izumi Kanai – onna 5-ban |
| Tomomi Shimaki | … | Sakura Ogawa – onna 4-ban |
| Yasuomi Sano | … | Kazuhiko Yamamoto – otoko 21-ban |
| Shin Kusaka | … | Yoshio Akamatsu – otoko 1-ban |
| Gouki Nishimura | … | Tatsumichi Ôki – otoko 3-ban |
| Shigehiro Yamaguchi | … | Toshimori Oda – otoko 4-ban |
| Osamu Ohnishi | … | Yôji Kuramoto – otoko 8-ban |
| Satoshi Yokomichi | … | Tadakatsu Hatagami – otoko 18-ban |
| Junichi Naitou | … | Yûichiro Takiguchi – otoko 13-ban |
| Tsuyako Kinoshita | … | Mizuho Inada – onna 1-ban |
| Mai Sekiguchi | … | Kaori Minami – onna 20-ban |
| Takako Baba | … | Yoshimi Yahagi – onna 21-ban |
| Haruka Nomiyama | … | Mayumi Tendô – onna 14-ban |
| Ai Iwamura | … | Onna no hito – won last Battle Royale |
| Ai Maeda | … | Shiori – Kitano no aijô (voice) |
| Minami | … | Keiko |
| Michi Yamamura | … | Reporter (as Michiko Yamamura) |
| Suzuka Tonegawa | … | Young Mitsuko (in Special Version) |
| Tarô Suwa | … | Middle-aged man (in Special Version) |
| Reiko Kataoka | … | Mitsuko no okâsan (in Special Version) |
| Takeyuki Hirai | … | Soldier |
| Tomu Asakawa | … | Soldier |
| Yûya Nakahara | … | Soldier |
| Takashi Komori | … | Soldier |
| Ryôta Nakamura | … | Soldier |
| Akihiro Ugajin | … | Soldier |
| Yôichi Murakami | … | Soldier |
| Tsuguharu Niizaki | … | Soldier |
| Jun’ichi Nashiki | … | Soldier |
| Hiroshi Kitagawa | … | Soldier |
| Hideaki Kawashima | … | Soldier |
| Umiji Tasaki | … | Soldier |
| Mitsuaki Tachikawa | … | Soldier |
| Hidetsugu Okumura | … | Soldier |
| Daisuke Yazawa | … | Soldier |
| Nobuki Baba | … | Soldier |
| Naoki Iwasawa | … | Soldier |
| Kôji Tokuhisa | … | Soldier |
| Mikiya Sanada | … | Soldier |
| Kazuhiro Yokokura | … | Soldier |
| Shigeki Homma | … | Soldier |
| Kazuo Araki | … | Soldier |
| Gôshi Matsuhara | … | Soldier |
| Akira Yoshizawa | … | Soldier |
| Kenzo Shirahama | … | Soldier |
| Kanji Okumura | … | Soldier |
| Shôji Takano | … | Soldier |
| Ryôji Sugimoto | … | Soldier |
| Hajime Yoneda | … | Soldier |
| Hideaki Kojima | … | Soldier |
| Nanami Ohta | … | Mitsuko no tomodachi (in Special Version) |
| Ayana Noguchi | … | Mitsuko no tomodachi (in Special Version) |
| Tetsu Masuda | … | Kurasu 3A no sensei (in Special Version) |
| Kazutoshi Yokoyama | … | Basketball referee (in Special Version) |
| Kotaru Kamijou | … | Jô Kitô, Basketball player of Class 3-A (in Special Version) |
| Hirobumi Seki | … | Kôsuke Okiyama, Basketball player of Class 3-A (in Special Version) |
| Kiyoyuki Matsumoto | … | Shinichirô Tanaka, Basketball player of Class 3-A (in Special Version) |
| Gou Ryugawa | … | Lieutenant Anjo |
| Takashi Taniguchi | … | Nanahara no otôsan |
| Ken Nakaide | … | Hayashida-san – Kurasu 3B no sensei |
| Kanako Fukaura | … | Basugaido |
| Yûko Miyamura | … | Training Video Girl |
| Ko Shibasaki | … | Mitsuko Sôma – onna 11-ban |
| Masanobu Andô | … | Kazuo Kiriyama – otoko 6-ban |
| Doug Erholtz | … | Hayashida (voice) |
| Erin Fitzgerald | … | Yukie Utsumi / Yumiko Kusaka (voice) |
| Stephanie Komure | … | Mitsuko Souma / Megumi Eto / Training Video Girl / Kayoko Kotohiki (voice) |
| Stephanie Sheh | … | Takako Chigusa (voice) |
| John Snyder | … | Kitano (voice) |
| Spike Spencer | … | Yoshitoki Kuninobu (voice) |
| Kaiji Tang | … | Shogo Kawada (voice) |
| Julie Ann Taylor | … | Reporter (voice) |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia