Forum - View topicSo...is Battle Royale supposed to be good or what?
|
|
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Hiei77
 Posts: 192 |
|
||
|
I've heard a ton of people say that this series really sucks, mostly because of a terrible translation or something. But some people have said that this is a cool series. I love crazy stuff like MPD Psycho, Berserk, and Drifting Classroom, so i thought thisd be good. Plus the huge 3 volume sets came out now too. So is it worth it to buy even with the supposed bad translation or not? Otherwise i thought id buy Uzumaki or Gyo, which are supposed to be crazy too...
|
|||
|
|||
|
fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
|
||
|
One of the reasons people are upset about the English version is that the storyline is changed a bit with the translation. Instead of spoiler[a program to eliminate students it has been changed to a game that people get to watch, which wouldn't be true either. On another note, Japan is supposed to have won WWII and now an empire, but there is no mention of that.] I think there's some good action in there, however sometimes the series can get so drawn out that one encounter (towards the end) takes practically a whole volume and a half. Kill whoever for crying out loud.
|
|||
|
|||
|
joel_s95387
Posts: 1804 Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn |
|
||
|
I picked up all 15 manga volumes and I really liked it. Because the story was changed to a reality show, the latter portion, and some in the beginning, make you wonder where all the mics and cameras are at and why some of the characters do what they do without any trouble... sorry if its hard to understand but you will when you read the series.
Anyway it is a really good series about teens killing teens in a very graphical manner and if you're into that kind of thing then pick this series up. |
|||
|
|||
|
babbo
Posts: 274 |
|
||
|
For crying out loud sums it up pretty well. The whole of the manga almost entirely consisted of the characters killing each other and crying alot. The art work is pretty over done too (some of the characters proportions look creepy). Wasn't my cup of tea to say the least.
Then again I never liked what I've seen of the movie or the book so I might be a bit biased. I do have to admit though the scene in the movie where some kid gets an axe stuck in his and and the main character asks "are you all right?" still cracks me up. I'd say that if you're willing to get by with the alterations in the story (unless you're an elitist hardcore fan I'd hardly say that they're especially major) and the art work then go for it. I personally still stand by the opinion that there's plenty of better stuff out there worth buying. |
|||
|
|||
|
Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16983 |
|
||
|
If you're looking for a title with lots of bloody action with lots of gore then you found the right title. the plot even has some redeemable qualities. They can't outweigh the constant whining attitudes of most of the main characters though. I kept hoping they'd all just die to end it all at some points. It gets worse with that towards the end I felt. If ya want gore and violence pick it up, but if you want something with substance and a real story look elsewhere. There's much better violent manga (if you're into that) out there with much better stories. Like Berserk for example.
|
|||
|
|||
Hon'ya-chan
 Posts: 973 |
|
||
Depending on who you want to believe, TOKYOPOP editor Mark Paniccia hired Kieth Giffen to "Giffenize it" (I wish I was making that lame one-liner up sadly) and how he did it pretty much (as Giffen justified it) was to make bad scenes worse. Which somehow ended up producing enough plotholes that you could plow a tractor trailer thru. (Volume #15 is very notorious for showing the plotholes that Giffen, despite being an experienced Comic Book Writer, obviously was a few brain cells short of a fully functional brain). Tim Beedle offers a side that make abit more sense, that TOKYOPOP wanted to entice comic book readers, and to "tone down" the rating to have more retailers stock the title. Translation: either be traditional and have a small readership, vs. "Giffenize it" and enticing more readership. |
|||
|
|||
Monumension
 Posts: 268 Location: Norway |
|
||
|
Like some other fans of this franchise I have decided to see Tokyopop's adaptation of Battle Royale as merely a fourth version of the story. The decision to give Keith Giffen free hands was horrendous. As you'll see in the links Hon'ya-chan posted his project wasn't to create a faithful translation of the original, but to make his own version of the story:
There are constant references to cameras that doesn't exist, characters that behaves contradictionary - constantly pointing out American pop-cultural references even though they're living in a dictatorship isolated from the rest of the world - ,swearing like Irish sailors, and frequently use some sort of urban slang I never could figure out. You can even see how he recirculated some of the cheesiest lines from Battle Vixens (another "Giffenization"). Last but not the least he decided to "make situations worse", something that's pretty insane when you think about the morbidity of the original story. In short: Tokyopop's translation is a travesty from start to finish. Still, if you can see past Tokyopop's liberties and the extreme content (it outpunks Berserk in certain places) you'll probably have a good time reading it. The manga has been one of my favorites for some time now and the useless translation doesn't change that (I simply ignore it and stare at the images instead).
While I usually don't agree with people who thinks the characters of Battle Royale behave too stereotypical or annoying I wholeheartedly agree when it comes to the two main protagonists spoiler[Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa] who are as dull as they come. Unfortunately the narration follows them closely trough big parts of the story. Last edited by Monumension on Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:10 am; edited 1 time in total |
|||
|
|||
Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
|
||
|
I enjoyed the novel and the (first) live action movie adaptation but the manga adaptation left me cold and I dropped it after two volumes.
The first problem is that whilst the novel and the movie were both made by people who had a point to make, the manga is just tits, gore and sensationalism for the sake of tits, gore and sensationalism. The BR manga is shallow with a capital 'S'. The second problem is the art. It's fairly competent (though patchy) but it's all very pretty and BR doesn't really work well with pretty. The art just doesn't match the tone of the story. The protagonist has been made to look like a young Paul McCartney which is faintly hilarious. The third problem is that the translated dialogue sucks for the reasons given by previous posters. My advice: get the novel instead. It's no masterpiece (the prose is a bit clunky) but it's pretty good and a lot more interesting and intelligent than the manga version. |
|||
|
|||
|
irinthony
Posts: 8 Location: Indonesia |
|
||
|
I agree that the novel is better than the manga. I think the manga got too much nudity in it. I haven't watched the real life movie but I want to if I can get the chance.
|
|||
|
|||
|
sgt.frog
Posts: 16 |
|
||
|
i really enjoyed it. The first vol. was a bit to much of yuck for me but once i got used to it was a really good series. It was diffrent from what i read. My friend bought me the first one and i was debating on buying the next becuase back than i was kinda sheltered.
|
|||
|
|||
Not a Jellyfish
 Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
|
||
|
I'm going to have to reiterate: READ THE NOVEL. Definitely the best version of the Battle Royale story (and the original).
I actually quite enjoyed the manga at first. I read it way back when it first came out, and I had no idea of the translation issues until I just read this thread. But overall, I had really liked the art, and I was completely shocked by the story. I just kept wondering, what would I do if I were in this situation? And that was what haunted me the most. There are some ridiculously over the top gory and sexual situations (Volume 8, anyone?). And that kind of turned me off of reading the series (I started only skimming through the series at about vol 10). I was much more sheltered then than I am now. But if you want to see extreme gore with pretty art, read it. If you want the better version of just the story, read the novel. If you want gore with character, stick with Berserk. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group