SECTION INDEX: The Student Matrix • Rules of the Game • Endgame • Assorted Questions • Trivia • Locations • Maps and Charts

BATTLE ROYALE (2000)

SPOILER FAQ:
HOW IS THE SPECIAL VERSION DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL VERSION? WHAT'S THE "ALTERNATE ENDING?"

Ai Iwamura, the "smiling winner" from the beginning of the movie, was brought in as a double for the classroom scenes when some of the actresses were unavailable for filming. Check out this page on BattleRoyaleOnline.com to see exactly where she turns up.

Nanahara's father hung himself in the month of April, which jives with Nanahara's statement that his father killed himself on his first day of seventh grade (the Japanese school year begins in April).

Battle Royale takes place on May 21 (the day they go on their trip), May 22 (Day 1), 23 (Day 2), and 24 (Day 3). The computer displays reveal the dates when future danger zones are identified by flashing numbers. (In the novel, the year is given as 1997).

The name of the school and town the kids hail from is "Shiroiwa," which translates to "Castle Rock." Author Koushun Takami chose the name as a tribute to his favorite author Stephen King (whose novels The Long Walk and The Running Man seem to have influenced Battle Royale). King sets many of his stories in a fictional town called Castle Rock. In turn, King chose the name "Castle Rock" as an homage to William Golding's Lord of the Flies, whose kids-stranded-on-an-island premise parallels that of Battle Royale itself.

(Additionally, Castle Rock Entertainment, the film and television production company set up partly in order to produce Stephen King material, produced the 1990 adaptation of Lord of the Flies)

The restaurant that Nanahara and his father (almost) dine at is called La Voglia Matta, an Italian-themed restaurant. Interestingly enough, the premise of the Italian movie La Voglia Matta (1962) goes: "A middle-aged and slightly conservative businessman meets a band of rowdy youths and is smitten by one named Francesca"--which somewhat parallels the Kitano-Noriko relationship, though this is probably mere coincidence.

Chigusa's jogging outfit--jacket, pants, shirt

- The Basketball Sequence. An extended, recurring flashback of a basketball game that was played between Class A and Class B when the kids were in seventh grade; the scene takes place *after* Kitano's stabbing, as he is absent and Hayashida is present. The flashback serves to underscore the camaraderie between the classmates prior to being on the island; in the end (see the Requiems below), it also becomes a character moment for Mitsuko.

- Nanahara's Hallucination. After Nanahara's flashback to the restaurant incident with his father, he has another dream/hallucination, taking place in the same gym as the Basketball Sequence (indeed, the implication is that it takes place after the game). Nanahara sits alone in the middle of the court as a ball bounces past him in slow motion, bouncing upwards (through the magic of reverse photography) into the hands of Kuninobu, who is standing on a balcony overlooking the gym. Kuninobu tells Nanahara to protect Noriko, and waves at him, smiling.

- Mitsuko's flashback. After Mitsuko kills Kotohiki but before Kiriyama attacks, we flash back to Mitsuko's youth. After bidding her friends goodbye, Mitsuko comes home from school to find her mother in a drunken stupor and a strange man taking a picture of her (Mitsuko). It appears that the man has paid Mitsuko's mother to let him do unspeakable things to Mitsuko; going upstairs to Mitsuko's room, the man shows her a doll ("Her name is Mitsuko, too"), and proceeds to pop off the doll's head and take off the doll's clothes. When the man says that it's the real Mitsuko's turn, Mitsuko resists and pushes the man down the stairs, apparently breaking his neck. The sequence is presumably meant to show that Mistuko had a really screwed up childhood (and that she must've been rather freakishly strong for a nine-year -old :) ).

- The Requiems. After Shuya says "Run!" but before the closing credits, three flashback/dream sequences called "Requiems" were added, each with their own preceding title card. This is what consitutes the "Alternate Ending"--it's not a change in the events concluding the film, but rather it's a tacked-on epilogue that takes place in another time or another reality. The Requiems are:

• Requiem I: The Basketball Game. The conclusion of the basketball sequence described above. The winning shot is thrown by Class B, and the entire class pours into the basketball court to celebrate (with all the confetti and stuff, you'd think it was a national championship). Everyone's happy and jubilant, except for Mitsuko--she looks like she wants to join in, but hesitates, before slinking off on her own.
• Requiem II: Nanahara's Dream. An exact replay of Nanahara's hallucination above; it looks like it's meant to remind us that Nanahara has delivered, and has continued to deliver, on his vow to protect Noriko for Nobu's sake.
• Requiem III: Noriko and Kitano's dream. Probably the most significant addition to the Special Version, this scene is a replay of the dream Noriko has of her and Kitano walking on a riverbank. But this time, we hear their conversation, and it encapsulates Fukasaku's theme of the misunderstanding between generations (comments in parentheses mine):

  KITANO
  You okay?
  
  NORIKO
  What?
  
  KITANO
  Anybody sees us together, they'll lock you right back in the toilet.
  
  NORIKO
  It'll be somebody else's turn. (that is, the bullies change their targets.)
  
  KITANO
  Are my classes boring?
  
  NORIKO
  Yes.
  
  KITANO
  How dare you!
  
  KITANO
  I go into class...you guys all look like a pile of potatoes. Slapping 'em around helped me tell 'em apart, even got to like 'em. But not anymore. Now you touch a student, you're fired. Can't even lose it (your temper) when a student stabs you!
  
  NORIKO
  I'll tell you just one thing.
  
  KITANO
  What?
  
  NORIKO
  The knife that stabbed you...actually (the truth is) , I keep it in my desk at home. When I picked it up, I wasn't sure (why) ...but now, for some reason, I really treasure it. Our secret, just between us.
  
  KITANO
  Listen, Noriko.
  
  NORIKO
  Yes?
  
  KITANO
  What do you think a grown-up (like me) should say to a kid (like you) now (that you've told me this) ?
  
  (titles on black):"What do you think a grown-up should say to a kid now?"

Other changes to the film include:

• Redone opening titles
• Redone sound effects
• Added CGI blood to make the shootouts more bloody
• Added/deleted/edited/extended shots and scenes for pacing and clarity purposes, including:
  • added reaction shots of the kids in the classroom to Kitano's "Do you know this law" question, and after Kuninobu's death.
  • a flashback shot of Mizuho and Inada and Kaori Minami, to remind us of who they were when we see their bodies.
  • closer shots of Takiguchi and Hatagami's corpses
  • an additional shot of Nanahara weeping at the top of the lighthouse
  • additional shots of postcards from Mimura's uncle
  • Kitano shutting down power to the computers and ordering the soldiers to reboot after the Third Man attack
  • an additional shot of Mimura triggering the explosives on the truck

A detailed comparison of the two versions, similar to the one begun by battleroyaleonline.com, is forthcoming.