I have read the first few volumes of Battle Royale and I must say that it reminds me of a far darker version of The Hunger Games. Every one of the characters have demons and checkered pasts, which make them complex and believable individuals. The violence in the story was extreme and exaggerated, but details the characters’ fates. I am glad that Shuuya and Noriko were able to maintain their humanity despite the madness they were in. As for the darker characters such as Kiriyama and Mitsuko, even though they committed monstrously unforgivable things I pitied them because of their dark pasts. If Kiriyama and Mitsuko did not undergo through so much psychological trauma, they might have been better people and The Program would have turned out differently. I am still reading the series and I hope Shuuya and Noriko escape from The Program’s madness.
Grady P Brown - Author 
Have you seen the film? It’s pretty brutal