We Appreciate Manga

016: Battle Royale vol. 9

By Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi

With English translation by Keith Giffen

Someone plays dead and schoolkids drop like flies.

Theme Music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury

Podcast created by Jim Fitton and Steven Gorton.

Topics :

· Who is Kayako?

· Kazuo Kiriyama

· Narrative storytelling technique in this volume, a stream of consciousness a la James Joyce's Ullyses.

Pop culture references:

Superman / Krypton (Sugimura suspects that "Froggy" has body armour)

Synopsis:

The program continues when Sugimura finds the dead body of Hirono via his tracking device. He continues to look for Kayako only to encounter Yoshitori Oda, a.k.a. Frogboy. Kiriyama breaks up the two, he fires at Yoshi and scares off Sugimura. Yoshi plays dead thanks to the use of his body armour. He cries out in the hopes that Kiriyama can come close enough so that he can make a surprise attack. Kiriyama isn't fooled. With his machine gun he evasively ducks down and disembowels Yoshi from his groin.

Having previously survived an encounter with Kazuo Kiriyama, Shuya Nanahara is guided by a vision of his recently departed friends. He shortly wakes up realising he's been nursed by Yukio Utsumi. Utsumi has set up a group of 6 girls with plans to defeat the program. Chisato Matsui, Haruka Tanizawa, Yuka Sakaki, and Satomi Noda. They have taken fort at the island's light house. However, one girl, Yuko Sakaki, is scared of Nanahara, she is paranoid and deluded enough to believe him to be the devil incarnate. Utsumi locks Nanahara in the bedroom with the promise that she'll free him once he gains all of the girl's trust.

Sakaki poisons Nanahara's food but her go awry when the boisterous Yuka insists on serving the food and tries some for herself. Yuka dies prompting the group into a panic. Satomi takes dominance and holds every one hostage whilst demanding the killer to reveal them self. The cook, Chisato, eventually gets a gun and holds up Satomi only for Satomi to shoot her. In defense of Chisato and the others, Utsumi retaliates and the entire gunfight ends with only one survivor, the person who incidentally started it, Sakaki.

Nanahara breaks out of the bedroom having injured his arm, believing that it is Kiriyama who is responsible for the gunfight.

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015: Battle Royale vol. 8

By Koushun Takami and Masayuki Takaguchi

School kids are forced to kill each other until only one survives! We talk about rape and child abuse on this episode. For your convenience we've provided the following helplines:

UK SAMARITANS: 116 123

JAPAN: 03-5774-0992

USA SUICIDE PREVENTION: 1-800-273-8255

USA NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT HOTLINE 800 - 656 - HOPE (4673)

We talk about the following topics on this episode:

· NOTE* TRIGGER WARNING – rape + child abuse (as we talk about Mitsuko Souma)

· Jamie Walton's work on the Wayne Foundation, a non-profit organisation made to protect the young from sex exploitation.

You can listen to her interview with Kevin Smith on his following podcast.

And you can visit the Wayne Foundation website if you want to see more.

· Using expressionism and surrealism in manga to appropriately censor, but also horrify.

· The optimistic characters in Battle Royale, are they realistic or unreal?

· Opposites attract and the femme fatale trope.

POP CULTURE REFERENCES:

"A star is born"

A 1937 film, Esther Blodgett is the titular star, who falls for a self-destructive man.

Remade with Judy garland and once again in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and another time in 2018 with Lady Gaga.

The following is a plot synopsis of Volume 8:

Since the Battle Royale program began the majority of students have been killed. The strongest competitors being Kazuo Kiriyama and Mitsuko Soma. Soma encounters Hiroki Sugimura who is fully aware of Soma having killed his best friend, Takako Chigusa. Soma fails to seduce Sugimura and instead toys with his peaceful and pacifistic nature, buying enough time to distract Sugimura and flee.

Soma's next encounter involves two boys, Tadakatsu Hatagami and YuichiroTakiguchi. Despite one being an anime geek and the other a sports lover, the two boys are best friends and have developed a trusting relationship throughout the Battle Royale. Soma's plan is to divide these two whilst she's caught in their custody. Yuichiro is the more trusting of the two and whilst Katsu naps, he loosens her cuffs and in turn Soma develops a genuine sense of intimacy with the charming Yuichiro.

Katsu wakes from his nap and decides to switch places with Yuichiro so to watch over Soma. She quickly plays on Katsu's jealousy of Yuichiro and eventually she works up the sexual tension to get his guard down. She lures him into having sex and before she can get out a hidden razor blade, a cat jumps out of the bushes foiling her attempt. She doesn't kill Katsu, but merely cuts his cheek.

Yuichiro wakes up confused, Katsu tells the truth but Soma tells Yuichiro that she was raped. In a demand for trust, Yuichiro asks for his gun back and Katsu is willing to give it, that's until he spots Soma glancing at her sickle. Katsu does not hesitate and fires his gun at Soma. Yuichiro gets in the way of the bullet. This makes Katsu distraught and Soma uses this moment to grab the sickle and kill Katsu.

Soma switches her behaviour from killing Yuichiro to feeling guilty about his bullet wound. The guilt overwhelms her and in an act of pity she promptly rapes him. Yuichiro is bewildered and in pain yet he notices something about Soma's mood swings and the look in her eyes. There are two Mitsuko Soma's. A past trauma she endured has resulted in her having split personalities. Soma, or the cold and calculating Soma, eventually kills Yuichiro and proceeds to her next target.

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014: Battle Royale Vol. 7

All about trust issues and having fake friends. Mimura fights Kiriyama.

You can contact us at [email protected]

Theme Music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury

Podcast created by Jim Fitton and Steven Gorton.

TOPICS:

· Kiriyama vs Mimura

· The arcade fight.

· Coke being synonymous for Cola.

· Trust issues, and times we were sold out by fake friends.

POP CULTURE REFERENCES:

Ella Fitzegerald sings Gershwin

"Deny yourself satisfaction in the act, yearn for more."

Geroge Gershwin – Blue rhapsody, and American in paris 1920's to 30's died before the age of 40

The following is a plot synopsis of Battle Royale vol. 7:

In the middle of their game of death, Shinji Mimura and Yutaka set out to bomb Mr. Kamon and the rest of their government sanctioned captors.

Quickly they become distracted when they bump into Keita. Mimura finds it hard to trust Keita due to his petty and cowardly sensibilities. Mimura once beat Keita at an arcade game only to be left to fend for himself against bullies without Keita around to help him.

Mimura decides not to allow Keita to follow them, firing his gun in order to threaten him. Keita begs Mimura, and failing that he turns on Yutaka. Keita berates and mocks Yutaka yet becomes scared and desperate when Mimura makes his decision final. As Keita approaches Mimura fires a second round, this time killing Keita.

Yutaka is upset that Mimura would kill someone who is defenceless, Yutaka's faith in Mimura is questioned and Mimura's inability to trust others is addressed. Mimura apologises and explains that killing Keita was an accident, in a show of trust he gives his gun to Yutaka and tearfully submits to the mercy and forgiveness of him. Yutaka forgives Mimura and gives back the gun.

Mimura's catharsis does not last long when a hail of gunfire swarms the two of them. Mimura survives, leaving Yutaka dead. Mimura is disembowelled from the gunfire and thus he changes his plan to avenge Yutaka's death before he himself dies. He succeeds in setting off the explosion in order to kill his pursuer and proudly announces how he came close to landing a coup de 'tat. He claims he would have succeeded if not for Kiriyama playing the game. This is enough to unnerve Mr. Kamon, who has been monitoring the game from the beginning yet failed to notice Mimura's plan. Students across the island notice the explosion and remain in awe.

Kiriyama survives the explosion by hiding in a nearby car and shoots at Mimura from behind, emptying his machine gun. Mimura aims for one last shot at Kiriyama , intercepting him before he can reload. Sadly, Mimura dies as Kiriyama switches to a handgun.

The morning after, we see Sugimura craft darts for the recuperating Nanahara, both having survived an encounter with Kiriyama that previous night. Sugimura leaves the sleeping Nanahara to find Kayako.

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Twitter - @RealJamesFitton

Website – Weappreciatemanga.com

Email – [email protected]

013: Battle Royale vol. 6

On this episode we talk about the following topics:

· Nanahara as a framing device (why is he everywhere!?)

· Kiriyama's attack on the Nanahara gang

· Kiriyama vs Sugimura

· Nanahara's philosophy – You win and we all lose, Kiriyama is a waste according to Nanahara and so raises the question if Kiriyama's life would have any meaning if he survived or not.

· Life/Real talk – Yutaka and Mimura's relationship stress

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012 Battle Royale vol. 5

The chapter begins with Yutaka in a street fight. Mimura saves him from the attack and the two become friends. When Mimura questions Yutaka he finds that his fight was made so to protect a stray dog from bullies. The two decide on working together to help the dog find a home. Fast forward to their Battle Royale and they are still working together. This time making a bomb with the intentions to attack their captors and escape the Battle Royale program.

Since the game began Sho Tsukioka has been spying on Kiriyama. Sho is waiting until he is strong enough to win the end game. However, he struggles to keep up with Kiriyama since they are loitering in a soon to be no man's land.

Meanwhile Noriko wakes up from her fever dream.

Hirono is dehydrated after being shot by Nori. Eventually she finds a well only to be pushed down it. Her attacker having played dead thanks to his body armour.

Mimura appreciation:

· Dale Carnegie's 'How to win friends and influence people'

· Positive reinforcement and apologies.

· Mimura can fight?

We also talk about the importance of having a mental/psychological crutch for when times get tough.

Product Placement in the manga includes Audi Volkswagon and Party/Helium Spray

010: Battle Royale Vol. 4

We apologise in advance for the foul language! Sound issues, so please give yourself a moment to adjust to the audio.

The topics:

· Are there women like Chigusa? The character is an example of the sexist "resting bitch face" trope.

· The clever use of Flashbacks throughout 'Battle Royale' and how they are used to quickly build sympathy, especially with characters who we only spend a short time with.

· Kaori's mental illness.

· Sugimura.

· Kawada's empathy skills.

· Pop culture references - Bruce Lee -Sugimura's nose tap and toy.

The following is a synopsis of the plot:

As part of the Battle Royale, a young woman, Chigusa, is caught in a fight with the misogynistic Nida. His plan being to batter her into submission before he can rape and kill her. Chigusa, remembering something that her friend once said, gains the spirit to fight back and kill Nida. Not long after this she is shot by Mitsuko Soma.

She lives long enough to see her friend, Sugimura and warn him about Soma. The two confess their love for each other.

Meanwhile Noriko gets a fever from a bullet wound, this prompts Nanahara to take the risky option of carrying her to an infirmary, much to the chagrin of Kawada who prefers to wait it out.

Nanahara hides Noriko as he tries to break up a gun fight between Kaori and Shimizu. Kaori is an avid fan of a pop idol known as Junya Kanzaki. Under complete stress, Kaori's idol and ill-equipped totem no longer act as a coping mechanism, instead they fuel her paranoid schizophrenia. She shoots at Shimizu, scaring her off. Nanahara is saved by Kawada, who arrives in time to shoot and Kill Kaori.

During this time Mimura finds out that the explosive collars that the students wear are bugged with microphones. He once again proceeds to hack into their oppressor's system, this time with a USB device given to him at his uncle's funeral.

Kawada treats Noriko at the infirmary yet once given time to rest she starts to eavesdrop on Nanahara and Kawada. Both the young men count their amenities, Nanahara more so since he watched his best friend, Nobu, die. Noriko mourns the loss of Nobu when she hears that he had feelings for her. She watches the sunset and hopes her romantic feelings towards Nanahara are not in vain now that her life depends on it.

James' audio is peaking in this episode, a reason for this, as well the foul language, is that the Battle Royale run of the podcast was the first recorded episodes.

We talk about the following subjects:

· Kawada, and the fact that he has the misfortune of being in two separate Battle Royales.

· Mistuko Soma's shocking practice of pimping her friends out to lecherous men, and what her motive may have been.

· The toxic masculinity of Yoji, how he struggles with his sexuality alongside his girlfriend.

We hope that talking about such subjects would be a way of bringing context to a real-life trauma or abusive relationship. Our intention isn't to trigger but to validate those very real feelings.

In any case if the subjects we spoke about in this episode was upsetting please consider the following helplines which were accurate as of the date of the upload:

UNITED KINGDOM SAMARITANS:

116 123

JAPAN TELL LINE:

03-5774-0992

USA SUICIDE PREVENTION:

1-800-273-8255

The following is a synopsis:

Minutes after the death of Yumiko and Yukiko, Kawada explains to Nanahara and Noriko how he has played the game previously, and that he is unfortunate to have this as his second run. He explains how easy it is for anyone to lose themselves in the game as he has done previously, but he also shares the sentiment that Yumiko and Yukiko died as heroes. Thus, establishing that being a hero and being alive are separate issues regardless of what is right and wrong.

Yutaka Sato runs into Shinji Mimura, they team up together in the hopes of dismantling their collars. Mimura has set up a laptop with a phone connection in order to do this. He explains how his uncle taught him everything he knew, about basketball, women and hacking.

Mr. Kamon and his soldiers are hearing the conversations that the students are having, in the process he raises a hypothetical bet on who would win the Battle Royale. The obvious being Kiriyama, the martial artist Sugimura, Soma and possibly Mimura.

Meanwhile Yoshimi Yahagi meets her boyfriend and lover, Yoji. She is grateful that this is Yoji and not Soma, since Yahagi is bitter towards Soma due to being pimped out for sex.

Yoji is not the first to have sex with Yahagi and so she is ashamed of that fact. Yoji himself, being young as he is, has a hard time reconciling with Yahagi's past sexual experience. Yoji threatens Yahagi but she stands unafraid and eventually empathises with Yoji, knowing that he is afraid, she finds solace with Yoji killing her. Until Soma kills Yoji, Yahagi is enraged. Soma explains that she saved her from him and should be grateful. She explains that his behaviour was like all men. Yahagi protests but Soma does not care. She kills Yahagi with a shot to the head.

Yutaka fantasises with the idea that Mimura could team up with Nanahara and Sugimura. The possibility is quickly stripped away when Mimura's plan for the coup is hindered. His laptop connection is terminated. Mr. Kamon has intercepted the signal and decides to inform the authorities and see to Mimura's Uncle.

During this time Sugimura is racing through the island looking for someone, wishing he gets to them before someone else. Throughout the distance covered he hasn't once killed anyone.

Schoolkids are forced to fight to the death until only one survives. Battle Royale is an explicit Manga, for adults only.

Theme Music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury Podcast created by Jim Fitton and Steven Gorton.

Schoolkids are forced to fight to the death until only one survives. WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT THROUGHOUT Apologies in advance for the swears and sub-par audio. Episode 8 was our first recorded episode and so we hope you forgive our rookie ways.

The final volume of A SIlent Voice (a.k.a. Koe no Katachi) Author Yoshitoki Oima nails the landing on this poignant coming of age drama. Theme Music: 'Electro Hype' by Liam Bradbury Podcast created by Jim Fitton and Steven Gorton