BATTLE ROYALE Print

Mitsuko: You just have to fight for yourself; no one's going to save you. That's just life, right? Kyouichi Motobuchi: If I survive, can I go home? Teacher Kitano: Yes, but only if everyone else is dead. Chigusa: Come at me. Every inch of me will resist you. Shougo Kawada: There's a way out of this game. Kill yourselves together, here, now. If you can't do that, then don't trust anyone... just run. Shougo Kawada: [Noriko wakes up abruptly] You OK? Noriko Nakagawa: I had a dream... Shougo Kawada: What dream? Noriko Nakagawa: I was alone with Kitano on an empty riverbank. Shougo Kawada: Must've been scary. Noriko Nakagawa: But Kitano just seemed lonely. Shougo Kawada: Hmmm. Noriko Nakagawa: Before this, I always just thought of myself as normal. I'd have a normal marriage, age normally, just like my mom... but when this game started, I realized - it's just that I was sheltered. Shougo Kawada: Some things are better not to know. Teacher Kitano: The last one... Cookies sure were good. Chigusa: Shouldn't you be worried about your life, instead of that useless micropenis of yours? Teacher Kitano: Here's your list of friends in the order they died. Opening speaker: At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At 15% unemployment, 10 million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted the schools. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA the BR Act… Shinji Mimura: When we escape, it will be together Teacher Kitano: Sorry - it's against the rules for me to kill, isn't it? Mitsuko: This is my weapon. I thought it was so-so, but actually, it's not so bad. Found Yoshimi and Kuramoto dead next door - strung up all cozy together. Not my scene! I'll never die like THAT! Teacher Kitano: Life is a game. So fight for survival and see if you're worth it. from ‘Battle Royale’ (2000) Starring Kitano Takeshi (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi), Fujiwara Tatsuya (Death Note), Maeda Aki (Harami), and Tarō Yamamoto (Izo). Written by Fukasaku Kenta (Battle Royale II: Requiem). Directed by Fukasaku Kinji (Legend of the Eight Samurai). Based on the novel by Takami Kōshun Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル, Batoru Rowaiaru) is a 2000 Japanese action-thriller film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, with a screenplay written by Kenta Fukasaku, based on the 1999 novelby Koushun Takami. Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarō Yamamoto, 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 filmfor six weeks after its initial release, and it was later released in 22 countries worldwide, grossing over $30 million in ten countries. The film earned critical acclaim and, especially with its DVDreleases, 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. Battle Royale was the last film to be directed by Fukasaku. He also started working on the sequel titled Battle Royale II: Requiem, but died of prostate cancer on January 12, 2003, after shooting only one scene with Kitano. His son Kenta Fukasaku, who wrote the screenplay for both films, completed the film in 2003. Battle Royale became a cultural phenomenon, and is considered one of the most influential films in recent decades, having been highly influential in global popular culture. Since the film's release, the term "battle royale" has been redefined to refer to a fictional narrative genre and/or mode of entertainment inspired by the film, where a select group of people are instructed to kill each other off until there is a triumphant survivor. It has inspired numerous media, including films, animation, comics, visual novels, and video games; the battle royale game genre, for example, is based on the film. Source: Wikipedia