Battle Royale, Volume 10

by 高見 広春, 田口 雅之, Masayuki Taguchi, et al.

Shuuya walks into the dining room to find all the girls except Yuko dead. The tragic deaths of her friends has sent Yuko further over the edge. She climbs to the top of the lighthouse as the madness takes over her mind, ignoring Shuuya's pleas. Realizing she was wrong about Shuuya, Yuko throws herself off of the lighthouse.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159182866X
• ISBN13: 9781591828662
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: TokyoPop
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.4"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

The Best of the Series (SPOILERS)

Following the notorious Lighthouse massacre Shuuya's (one thing I have always wondered is why is it spelt Shuuya in the Manga?) faith is pushed to breaking point as he has to face a terrified Yuko Sasaki and later the insane Mizuho Inada as well as the realisation that he may not be able to save everyone if anyone at all. In this volume the creators of this Manga made the brilliant move of including a side story that runs along side the events of the here and now showing things from Yuko's parents point of view as they hope that their daughter "wins" The Program but they themselfs know deep down inside that their is no actual winner in The Program and they also realise that the chances of Yuko's survivial are pretty much zero but all they can do is have faith in their Daughter's return and faith that she does right. Also included in this story is Yuko's troubled history and the revelation that She was traumatised after witnessing a violent fight in School is very effective and adds to the heart breaking tragedy. Showing Yuko's parents was a brillaint move because it hammers home the point that not only are these childrens lives being destroyed but also the lives of those closest to them and no matter what these childrens actions are in The Program none of them deserved the terrible fate that almost all of them suffered. Simply put The Program brought out the worst in almost all of them. Later in the volume Shuuya comes face to face with the insane beyond reasoning Mizuho Inada and though not as strong as the early chapters Shuuya's near breakdown upon realising that saving anyone is an almost impossible task perfectly illustares the near hoplesness of the situation he has found himself in. Also worth mentioning is Shuuya's "reunion" with Shinji Mimura that shows just how importent Shinji was to Shuuya "I needed him to be okay" is one of the most emotional things said in the entire series. The final chapters concerning Shuuya's reunion with Noriko Nakagawa and Shogo Kawada along with Mizuho Inada's fate and not as strong as the early chapters (the parts concerning Inada are littered with the annoying fan service that the series is notorious for) but are still very good. In short V.10 is an emotional ride and the high point of the entire series. 5/5

Satisfying Conclusion To the Lighthouse Scene

(Contains spoilers from previous volumes) In the previous volume, we witnessed the lighthouse girls kill each other after Yuko Nakagawa was killed from eating her poisoned soup. The one responsible, Yuko, is actually still alive, and has become very emotionally unstable. Shuya comes face to face with Yuko, only to be shot at, believing he is a "demon boy". Will Shuya be able to tell Yuko what really happened and save her, or will she have her way and kill him? The art is fantastic as usual, and there's nothing bad to say about the dailogue. I must say the scenes involving Yuko took much longer than they needed (almost 1/2 of the volume), but the rest of the story was fine. Definately pick this up, especially if you just read 9, for it's an adequate conclusion to the lighthouse segment. It's getting down to the wire, with only 9 students left at the beginning

A TIME TO THINK, A TIME TO KILL

After nearly being killed by the calmly psychotic Kiriyama, Shuuya was left in the care of a group of girls who had decided to abstain from the Program. He promises them that there is a way of beating the game, and that they can all retain their humanity instead of descending into mindless murder. He doesn't notice that one of the girls has had a less than healthy reaction to his arrival in the group. Yuko Sakaki, believing wrongly that Shuuya is lying to the girls and is playing the game, tries to poison him. Instead of killing Shuuya, she accidentally kills one of the other girls and what happens next is pretty predictable, seeing how messed up the situation is, even for friends. In a senseless shoot-out, all the girls kill each other, leaving Yuko the only survivor. As Volume 10 begins, Shuuya arrives in the aftermath of the bloodbath to face Yuko. This volume of Battle Royale is about Shuuya facing up to the fact that his ideals of "people won't play if you just reason with them" and that "everyone has a spark of goodness in them" are put to the test. Shuuya is not a strong character because of his fighting skills. He is strong because he chooses NOT to fight, NOT to kill. So it's going to be interesting to see if he can survive the Program and still remain true to himself. This installment is a more meditative tome that others, because Shuuya finally has time to think, and that's not necessarily a good thing. What does it all mean? He'll have to think about his next move as he makes his way back to Shogo and Noriko, two people he hopes are still alive. The contestant pool is getting awfully small these days.