One of the most famous and idiosyncratic directors working today, Quentin Tarantino is as acclaimed as he is controversial. Tarantino is the mastermind behind modern classics like “Pulp Fiction” and “Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood,” and all his films — from his worst to his best — are known for their killer soundtracks, crackling dialogue, and sudden bursts of brutal violence. But there is one shocking, blood-splattered film that the “Django Unchained” director wishes he could have made himself: “Battle Royale.”
Released in 2000, “Battle Royale” is the final completed film by legendary director Kinji Fukasaku. In a dystopian Japan, the totalitarian government annually abducts a randomly chosen junior high school class, outfits them with weapons and explosive collars, and gives them one mission: kill each other until only one is left. Featuring non-stop sprays of blood, a grim on-screen countdown of remaining students, and a darkly comedic performance by Takeshi “Beat” Kitano as the “teacher” overseeing the carnage, “Battle Royale” was described by the Chicago Sun-Times as an “intensely violent fable” and “a magnified reflection of adolescence and humanity.”
It’s no wonder that “Battle Royale” and its unique mix of graphic violence, social commentary, and teenage melodrama appealed to the director who famously scored his “Reservoir Dogs” torture scene to the kitschy folk song “Stuck in the Middle With You.” As Tarantino remarked in a 2009 video interview, “If there is any movie that has been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I had made, it’s that one.”
Battle Royale was unavailable in the U.S. for years
Today, “Battle Royale” is considered one of the best dystopian movies you can watch right now, but for Western audiences, it wasn’t always accessible. The film was a box office success in Japan, despite, as Fukasaku told Midnight Eye, the government’s complaints that it was “harmful to the youth.”
Toei declined to release “Battle Royale” in a post-Columbine North America due to concerns that the graphic depictions of teen violence would cause legal troubles, and its unavailability led to false rumors among cinephiles that it was “banned” in the United States. Bootleg DVDs and the rise of online piracy in the 2000s, however, burnished its reputation as a cult classic until its long-awaited official U.S. release in 2010.
“Battle Royale” is now a pop culture phenomenon and one of the most influential films of the 21st century. The original novel by Koushun Takami has been translated and published in multiple editions, and it has spawned numerous manga spin-offs and a 2003 sequel film, “Battle Royale II: Requiem,” which was finished by director Kenta Fukasaku after his father’s death. The film that pioneered “the concept of the teen death game (via Reuters), the impact of “Battle Royale” can be felt in the South Korean mega-hit “Squid Game,” and perhaps most notably, the “kids chosen by dystopian lottery to kill each other” franchise “The Hunger Games” (any similarities to “Battle Royale,” says “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, are coincidental).
Tarantino cast an actor from Battle Royale in Kill Bill
One of the most notable performances in “Battle Royale” belongs to Chiaki Kuriyama as Takako Chigusa, aka Girl #13. A beautiful but haughty member of the school track team, Chigusa is cornered by her classmate Niida (Hirohito Honda) during the game. Niida threatens to rape Chigusa, and cuts her face when his crossbow accidentally goes off. Furious, Chigusa runs after Niida and repeatedly stabs her would-be assailant in the crotch with a jackknife, killing him.
Despite Chigusa’s limited screen time, no one who sees “Battle Royale” is likely to forget her — and Quentin Tarantino paid homage to the film by casting Kuriyama in his 2003 revenge-o-rama “Kill Bill: Volume 1.” Kuriyama plays Gogo Yubari, a sadistic 17-year-old who looks like an ordinary schoolgirl but is actually the bodyguard of O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu). Wielding her deadly meteor hammer, Gogo is one of the more capable opponents to tussle with Uma Thurman’s unstoppable Bride in the film’s blood-soaked climax.
Two decades later, Gogo Yubari remains one of Quentin Tarantino’s most iconic characters. In 2025, to celebrate the release of “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair,” a Gogo Yubari skin was added to the hit video game “Fortnite” — which happens to include a player-versus-player “Battle Royale” mode.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).