Battle Royale Vol. 8 [Paperback]

Koushun Takami (Author), Masayuki Taguchi (Author)

Book Description

Series: Battle Royale | Publication Date: August 3, 2004

In the most provocative volume of "Battle Royale" to date, the sinister and sinful Mitsuko Souma comes into focus. Widely accepted as the only female in Class B, with a shot at winning "The Program", Mitsuko has already eliminated four of her classmates. One of them was Takako Chigusa, close friend and companion to Hiroki Sugimura. The honorable martial artist isn't one to give in to the desire for vengeance, but the horror of "The Program" is enough to bring even the strongest of beliefs into question. When Hiroki finds himself confronted by Takako's murderer - by Takako's unarmed murderer - all his sadness, fear and rage nearly manifest themselves in one squeeze of the trigger. Meanwhile, when Yuichiro Takiguchi runs into his close friend Tadakatsu Hatagami, the two decide to team up, believing that if you can't trust your friends, the game's as good as over. But, there's nothing like a woman for creating mistrust between buddies, particularly when that woman is Mitsuko Souma. Playing one off of the other, Mitsuko's sure that she can come out ahead, and bring herself that much closer to winning "The Program" in the process. However, this pair may present a greater challenge than even Mitsuko's prepared for. She can handle men who want to kill her. She can handle men who want to rape her. But, men who genuinely want to help her? She wasn't prepared for that, and it's going to cost her a trip down memory lane. And, when your closet is as full of skeletons as Mitsuko, that's one terrifying trip. Will it be enough to put her over the edge? Featuring some of the most graphic and explicit art of the series, and dealing with some seriously dark subject matter, this volume of "Battle Royale" will rattle you to your core, and haunt you long after you've turned the final page.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: TokyoPop (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591824206
• ISBN-13: 978-1591824206
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Travel > Specialty Travel > Adventure > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MITSUKO LETS IT ALL OUT, December 19, 2005

By 

Sesho "www.sesho.libsyn.com" (Pasadena, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Battle Royale Vol. 8 (Paperback)

As you can tell from the cover of Volume 8, Mitsuko takes center stage in this volume, with all the bodily assets that she squeeze into it! Mitsuko is always looking for a few nice boys to kill some time....I mean boys to kill and she'll stop at nothing to gain their trust in order to slice their throats with her mini-scythe. The next two unfortunate lucky guys are the complete pre-adolescent loser Yuichiro and the brawn of the outfit Tadakatsu. Mitsuko weasels her way out of the attempted killing of Tadakatsu and gains the trust of Yuichiro and then the mind games begin. Mitusuko's body is on full display as she tries to turn the friends against each other and mark off some more contestants from the Program. But she reveals a bit too much as we find out what caused her to become so warped and morally repugnant.

Battle Royale 8 was a little over the top, bordering on the ultraviolent pornography stereotype of manga in the West. So many bodily fluids are excreted in this installment that you might want to wash yourself with a garden hose after reading it. In some ways you feel that Mitsuko's victims deserve their fate for letting their lust cloud their judgement. I mean while they are too embarrassed to look at her naked body, they have no qualms about killing their fellow students. Not for the squeamish, but still an engaging, if tragic and heart-rending series.

13 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good story, but worst translation ever seen..., October 28, 2004

By 

S. Lee (Canada, Taiwan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battle Royale Vol. 8 (Paperback)

I knew that Tokyopop's translators have been mistranslating their mangas for years, but this one, Battle Royale vol. 8 is the worst one I have ever read!!
Before I bought this volume, I had bought Tokyopop's other mangas like Vampire Game, Petshop of Horrors... Each of them has same problem.

OK, I can understand that a lot of Americans might not find the jokes in the mangas funny because of the cultural differences, so they had to change characters' conversations in order to satisfy the readers. But if Tokyopop does samething too often, I will say Tokyopop are disrespecting original authors' rights.

In this volume, the translator changed almost 95% of all the conversations, even the most slightest detail. Although the "new" content is not "that" different from the original one, but these modifications already spoil the whole story.

For example, in the last page, after Souma Mitsuko raped(?) and killed Yuichiro, what she said to Yuichiro's corpse in the original version was, "If I am pregnant, I will give birth to your child." In Tokyopop's version, the translator changed it to, "Thanks, guys. It was fun while it lasted. Sorta...Hmm...I wonder how many people saw me naked?"

All right. "If I am pregnant, I will give birth to your child." Is this sentence that hard to understand? Do readers have to know Japanese culture well in order to understand it!? The translator totally changed Mitsuko's personality by modifying her mumble. I can't see why the translator had to do this!

I suggest those who like this story and haven't read volume 8, take Japanese version or French version if you can read in Japanese or French. This volume will piss off anyone who has read other versions before.