Battle Royale

In the year 2013, the nation of Japan is on the brink of complete collapse. The economy is in shambles, crime rates are soaring, and the once-proud nation is beset on all sides by chaos and disorder. To address the growing crisis, a new law is enacted, known as the "Battle Royale" act. This legislation, created by Minister of Education Noriko Nakagawa and her deputy Kitano Bimbo, serves as a revolutionary and, some say, diabolical solution to the problem. According to the terms of the act, the Japanese government selects one high school class from each prefecture to participate in a national lottery. The winning class is then taken to a remote island, known as Shikanoshima, where they are forced to fight each other to the death in a televised event. The government believes that this brutal program will eliminate the societal problems they see as plaguing modern Japan, such as peer pressure, gang violence, and the breakdown of social norms. The ninth-grade students of Class 3-B from Shikanoto High School in Kokubunji are about to find out what this program entails. The school's students are led by the stern teacher, Kitano, a former instructor of special forces. Their fates are sealed when they are randomly selected to participate in the lottery. On the day of their departure, the students arrive at the school's auditorium, only to see Kitano standing at the front of the room with a seemingly calm demeanor. Kitano, accompanied by two female teachers, instructs the students to leave their belongings behind, stating that they will not be returning. Upon boarding the buses that will transport them to the island, students begin to realize the gravity of their situation. Many of them are scared, but some see it as a chance to make a name for themselves or avenge themselves against the bullying and harassment they suffered in school. The students board a ferry bound for Shikanoshima Island, accompanied by two female teachers, Akane Yashiro, the school nurse, and Yuka Nakamura, a teacher. The students disembark on the desolate island, where they discover an abandoned theme park. The rules of the game are simple: survive as long as possible, as only one can emerge the winner and escape the island. Each student is provided with food, water, and a randomly assigned tool from a selection of knives, bats, and other melee or ranged weapons. There is also a map detailing the location of supplies, first-aid kits, and the game's final target. The game begins with a bang, as two students, Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa's student from another class, are forced to participate in the lottery's "game starter" – a brutal fight that is shown to the students. After that, things escalate rapidly. In the early stages, alliances begin to form and some students choose a path of non-violence, hoping against the odds that somehow, someone will come to rescue them. This does not work for those that are more ruthless, as some of these students will stop at nothing to emerge victorious. The body count rises, and the landscape of the island becomes a grim and deadly battlefield. As days pass by, Shuya Nanahara and his friend, Kiriyama, a former school bully with exceptional fighting skills, find themselves among the few remaining survivors. Despite their differing backgrounds and personalities, the two have formed a bond. However, their friendship is put to the test when Kiriyama turns his attentions, ultimately leading to Kiriyama's tragic downfall. Shuya and a young woman from his class, Noriko's ex-partner, eventually realize that in this deadly game, there might be one way to escape the island, and that is, for them to die together. They form a plan to die at the same time, by a gun Kiriyama had left them, and the act seems to symbolize the ultimate form of their bond. In the climactic final showdown, Shuya, along with some his friends, are left at the game's final target. However, things take an unexpected turn when two students, Kazuo Kiriyama and Nobuaki Todoroki's brother and his friend, manage to eliminate the rest of the group. After Shuya and his friends have been taken down, they are forced to fight in a battle against Kiriyama and Kazuo, in a bid to prove that they can survive against the harsher rules devised by Noriko Nakagawa for the game.