Battle Royale

From Viz: Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller envisions a nightmare scenario: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan, where it became a runaway best-seller, Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world.

Like the earlier Battle Royales, a class of middle school students are picked to compete in fights to the death on an island until there is only one left. The manga follows the point of view of Girl #10 Makoto Hashimoto, an unlucky girl who fears that her class will be chosen to participate in "the program," a mysterious event that forces students to kill each other. Makoto attends Shikanotoride Junior High School. After the encouragement of her best friend Itou Yamamoto and her mother she decides to face the chances. Her fears are supposedly put to rest when word spreads that all 50 Programs had already been executed in the year making them 100% unlikely to participate....

The Program is a brutal military experiment that pits junior high students against each other every year in a brutal battle to the death. Most of the students from Shiroiwa Junior High scatter as soon as they reach the remote island where they must participate in the latest round of the Program. But Yukie Utsumi and five of her friends lock themselves in the lighthouse, clinging to a desperate hope of survival. They all trust each other, but they also know that only one can survive the Battle Royale… (Source: VIZ Media)

**High school students battle each other to the death in the original survival game!** Twenty years ago, the fascist government of the Republic of Greater East Asia seized control of Japan. In order to terrorize the citizens and crush any possibility of rebellion, the government set up Program 68, a savage military program where Japanese high school students were sent to a remote island and forced to kill each other—the Battle Royale. After being banned for two decades, Program 68 is back, now under the direction of a sinister government artificial intelligence. The troubled and misbehaving kids of Daitoa Academy's Class F have been chosen, armed, and divided into squads, and now must fight each other to the death. Friendships and loyalties will be tested, and only the strongest will survive. (Source: VIZ Media)