The Making of Battle Royale: The Experience of 42 High School Students, documentary featuring footage from the shooting of the film and cast and crew discussions The Correct Way to Make Battle Royale: Birthday Version, a new version of the original instructional video made to celebrate Kinji Fukasaku’s birthday Picture: Battle Royale has been restored at 4K by Arrow using the original 35mm camera negative of its Theatrical version, and a 35mm dupe negative of the Director’s Cut. HDR10/Dolby Vision grading then brings it bang up-to-date. For this review I’m only able to work off the first two discs in the set featuring the first film in both the original and special edition cuts and their bonus features, as those were the only discs I received. Playing like a turbo-charged hybrid of Lord of the Flies and The Most Dangerous Game, the final completed work by veteran yakuza film director Kinji Fukasaku (Battles without Honor and

Bloody Education: Kenta Fukasaku on Battle Royale, a brand new exclusive interview with the film’s producer and screenwriter Shooting the Special Edition, on-location featurette with footage of the cast and crew reuniting for the shoot of the Special Edition In the attempt to define ‘Battle Royale’ in the category of genre, the term ‘action’ gets thrown around a fair bit when it’s being discussed but, personally, I don’t see it as an action film by any level of trait but a film that has action in it to serve the point it’s trying to get across to the audience. What I mean by that is that the film doesn’t do fights or explosions for the sake of them, but as an extreme level of pulling the audience into the horrifying situation the characters are having to go through. No one attempts highly choreographed fight scenes, it’s messy, sudden and brutal and a lot of the time when one student is trying to kill another, it never goes according to plan and where the film shines in its depiction of violence is that it isn’t easy (other than the psychopathic exchange student) for the killers to go through with their actions cleanly and they have to get their hands dirty. That said, Arrow’s 1.85:1 4K presentations are
still by far the best either version has ever looked. Close-ups and brightly lit scenes reveal more precise details than earlier Blu-rays managed, and even the muted colour palette has a little more life to it.A newly filmed documentary about the legacy of Battle Royale featuring interviews with Kim Newman, Kaori Shoji, Mark Schilling, Paul Smith and Yoshiki Takahashi. At the very beginning of the film, each of the main characters begin in a personally isolated state whether it be central characters Noriko and Kitano respectively as the only student or teacher that partakes in the education system all the way, to the main protagonist Shuya losing his father to suicide in the very opening scene. As deplorable as the game they take part in is, it’s the very thing that brings them together and allows them to see something in the other that isn’t lost to the way of the depressing world they inhabit. Bloody Graduation: Kenta Fukasaku on Battle Royale II, an exclusive brand new interview with the director and screenwriter of Battle Royale II

Tokyo International Film Festival Presentation, With footage from the gala screening at the Tokyo International Film Festivalrestoration of the Original Theatrical Version and Special Edition Director’s Cut of Battle Royale from the original camera negative by Arrow Films, approved by Kenta Fukasaku Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new essays by Matt Alt and Anne Billson and archival articles It’s fair then to say that Battle Royale (2000) and Battle Royale II: Requiem (2003) are the culmination of Fukasaku’s life-long exploration of these themes of death, human conflict, and violence. Playing like a turbo-charged hybrid of Lord of the Flies and The Most Dangerous Game, the final completed work by veteran yakuza film director Kinji Fukasaku (Battles without Honor and Humanity, Graveyard of Honor) helped launch a new wave of appreciation for Asian cinema in the 21st century.