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Batoru rowaiaru (2000) More at IMDbPro »

Contrary to popular belief, this film was not banned in the United States. A combination of reasons helped to stop the film's release. It failed to find the necessary distributor, failed to meet Toei's conditions for sale and also the MPAA general standards. The nature of the film - not the violent aspect, but the fact that the main characters are so young - also created much controversy and slowed down any possibility of a US release.

This girl, whose name is Mai, is a winner of a previous Battle Royale. While she appears in Battle Royale 2, she is merely shown at the start of Battle Royale in order to portray the aftermath of a Program. She is not seen and bears no further relevance to the rest of the film, and has no connection to Class 3B who participate in the Program the film portrays (although the actress who portrays Mai plays multiple characters as stand-ins).

The film, as the book before it did, symbolises the transition from education to the cut-throat employment market in Japan. It is also a nightmare vision of a world dominated by adults with nothing but contempt for children, and the horrors, tragedies and emotions of childhood.

The Extended version of Battle Royale runs approx. 8 minutes longer than the Theatrical version and features a mix of both prolonged story elements and violent scenes but the latter ones are in the minority. Even though the Extended version is not the real DC, Fukasaku preferred the original theatrical version, it's worth a look for every fan of this movie. A detailed comparison between both versions with pictures can be found here.

This list gives a list of times of death and causes.

0:12 Fujiyaki (girl #12) - knife thrown through head by Kitano

0:14 Nobu (boy #7) - collar exploded by Kitano

0:21 Tendo (girl #14) - shot with crossbow by Akamatsu

0:22 Akamatsu (boy #1) - shot with his own crossbow by Kazushi

0:27 Kuronaga (boy #9), Sasagawa (boy #10), Numai (boy #17), Tsukioka (boy #14), Kanai (girl #5) - all shot with sub-machinegun by Kiriyama

0:29 Sakura (girl #4) and Yamamota (boy #21) - commit suicide together by jumping off a cliff

0:31 Kuramoto (boy #8) and Yahagi (girl #21) - commit suicide together by hanging

0:31 Megumi (girl #3) - killed by Mitsuko with a kama (a scythe-like weapon, called a scythe in the English subtitles)

0:34 Oki (boy #3) - accidentally killed by Shuya with his own hand-axe

0:35 Motobuchi (boy #20) - killed by Kawada with shotgun

0:36 Kusaka (girl #7) and Yukiko (girl #6) - shot with sub-machinegun by Kiriyama

0:41 Hirono (girl #10) - shot in back with pistol by Mitsuko

0:49 Niida (boy #16) - stabbed several times by Chigusa

0:52 Chigusa (girl #13) - shot with pistol by Mitsuko, dies several minutes later

1:00 Oda (boy #4) - killed by Kiriyama with a wakizashi (a short sword used by samurai; not to be confused with the longer katana)

1:05 Kaori (girl #20) and Mizuho (girl #1) - stab each other to death fighting over a life preserver

1:05 Takiguchi (boy #13) and Hatagami (boy #18) - seen naked, stabbed to death by Mitsuko; she is dressing herself, so presumably she seduced them to lower their guard

1:10 Yuka (girl #16) - accidentally poisoned by Yuko after eating soup meant for Shuyo

1:11 Yukie (girl #2), Satomi (girl #17), Haruka (girl #12), Chisato (girl #19) - all killed in a gunfight after Yuka is poisoned (Satomi kills the other three and is killed in turn by Yukie)

1:11 Yuko (girl #9) - commits suicide by jumping from lighthouse onto rocks after the death of all her companions

1:24 Sugimura (boy #11) - shot with pistol by Kotohiki as she thinks he killed Chigusa

1:24 Kotohiki (girl #8) - shot with pistol by Mitsuko

1:26 Mitsuko (girl #11) - shot with pistol by Kiriyama

1:30 Iijima (boy #2), Yutaka (boy #12) - shot with SMG by Kiriyama

1:30 Mimura (boy #19) - explodes his collar on purpose in the hope of killing Kiriyama

1:31 Kiriyama (boy #6) - shot in the collar by Kawada

1:40 Kawada (boy #5) - dies from wounds received from Kitano

Noriko (girl #15) and Shuya (boy #15) survive.