S8E8: BATTLE ROYALE

For the final episode of our eighth season, your co-hosts revisit a dorm room film classic, the 2000 action-adventure-thriller-satire BATTLE ROYALE, about a Japanese classroom forced to fight to the death on an abandoned island. Upon release in Japan, it was both hugely controversial and hugely profitable. But in most of the Western world, it didn't receive a proper release for another dozen years. In between, it both attained an exalted cult status and maybe (or maybe not?) inspired one of the biggest Hollywood franchises of the current decade. Discussed in the season finale: the generation gap in Japan and abroad, Tarantino's inspiration, our favorite scenes, some lingering questions, multiple versions, the lamentable sequel, comparisons to other novels and films, violence in the media, and yes of course The Hunger Games. 

Episode links:

Battle Royale on IMDb Battle Royale (film) on Wikipedia Battle Royale (novel) on Wikipedia Battle Royale (manga) on Wikipedia Variety film review from 2001 A.O. Scott review from 2012 Wesley Morris review from 2012 Slant (negative) review from 2012 Fukasaku interview in The Guardian The Atlantic on BR's cult status New Yorker on BR vs. Hunger Games WSJ on BR vs. Hunger Games NPR on BR vs. Hunger Games Kotaku on BR vs. Hunger Games Jet Fuel Review essay on BR

Show links:

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