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Warning：Movie not suited for the fainted hearted. xD

In Battle Royale, a new law has been passed across Japan in which a class of students is randomly picked to join a “game”. In this game/law, the students must eliminate one another such that only one survives. This is to ensure that the countries resources are not wasted on “wastrels” and the fittest will survive. Students are given random weapons and are expected to kill one another till there is only one person left after 3 days. There are also other conditions such as danger zones and the collars on their necks which will be not elaborated here.

In Battle Royale II, survivors of the previous B.R.A. (Battle Royale Acts) have come together to form a terrorist group. This terrorist group, called Wild Seven, perform terrorist attacks on Japan because the adults made them go through the B.R.A. The rules of the B.R.A. is changed such that students will have to kill the leader of the Wild Seven to live. In this game, they are allowed to go home together as long as the leader, Shuya Nanahara is killed.

The globalization of politics has spread over to films such as Batlle Royal II. Battle Royale II seemed to react to the bombing that happened on September 11. The film starts off by reenacting a bombing similar to that one of 9/11, with several minor differences. One is that the bombing is held in Tokyo, Japan and another difference is that the terrorist group is called Wild Seven. Several other references have been made to America reactions to the 9/11 bombing like the scene where Riki, the “teacher” of this mission states that “in life, there are only winners or losers”, which some people think that it reiterates America’s stance after the bombing. After the fiasco, watch the movie for more information on the movie, the remaining members of the Wild Seven hide in Afghanistan and their leader wears the same white robe as Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

Could this be a political message being sent to the Japanese governments and civilians to reconsider their role as America’s ally? The Wild Seven can be said to portray the Al Qaeda while Japan as America. This film places Japan (America) in the bad light in several different ways.

Several references in the movie suggests that Japan (America) is behind the Battle Royale Acts, which made students kill each other, an act of cruelty. A direct poke at America is shown when Riki is seen in the beginning furiously writing down the names of several nations that have been bombed by America, starting with Japan and ending with Afghanistan. This complements the movie in a way because the movie starts of with a scene in Japan and the ending scene is in Afghanistan. Shuya Nanahara (leader of Wild Seven) also recalls a scene where he saw innocent and happy faces in Afghanistan in spite of the bombing happening then, and stating that he started the Wild Seven because of that scene. The Wild Seven showed a spark of sympathy when they did not kill the children that were sent to kill them. Does this mean that Al Qaeda can also show sympathy?

In a nutshell, this movie portrayed Wild Seven (Afghanistan) as a victim of Japan (America) in several different ways and “persuaded” the Japan government to reconsider their stand as being America’s ally. And that the globalization of politics has been influenced by films and movies like Battle Royale which holds a very strong political view of the world.