Thread:Shanethefilmmaker/@comment-397235-20140929045127

Honestly, I think you should look this novel up. I read it a few years ago and was actually pretty impressed. You'll also find there are several parallels to Another (specifically the anime) in the novel:

Unrequited love is one of the main themes of Battle Royale. Granted, it doesn't drive anyone to murder, but it's still fairly prevalent.

The main male character is crushed on by no less than half a dozen of his female classmates.

Takako Chigusa, the girl we were discussing earlier, has a death fairly similar to Izumi's in the manga. She dies in the arms of the guy she has a thing for (who happens to be one of her best friends; hello cliche!) and is heartbroken when he can't convincingly tell her he feels the same way. Granted, Takako's death is especially sad because she's one of the few PoV characters whose death is from her own perspective, and her last thoughts are basically her pleading with God for Him to give her more time with her friend.

The main male antagonist is a psychopath who goes on a mass murder spree across the island because he literally has no feelings. The first people the main character sees him kill are two girls who foolishly took a megaphone and tried to convince the rest of their classmates to protest the game by refusing to play. Remind you of anyone? Bonus points: the author states in an interview in the edition I own he modeled this character specifically after Robert Patrick's character in T2; this is why he uses an SMG, and why the "heroic" male killer uses a shotgun (i.e., he's supposed to be Arnold Schwarzenegger).

And of course, in a meta sense, both Another and BR were the subject of a manga which changed major plot points and a film which pretty much jacked everything up.

Anyway, I highly recommend the novel. The movie...not so much. 