Another Battle Royale reunion, this time with Hirohito Honda (Kazushi Niida), Takashi Tsukamoto (Shinji Mimura) and Shigehiro Yamaguchi (Toshinori Oda).
Shared on Takashi Tsukamoto's instagram account, he writes:
>It's been a while. 🤩
The third volume of Deluxe Edition is to be released on February 25th, 2027!
For those of you who don't know, Battle Royale Deluxe Edition is a re-translated Battle Royale manga, published by YenPress. Battle Royale manga (illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi) was originally translated and published by TokyoPop and the translation adapted by Keith Giffen and it's infamously bad and made inaccurate changes to the story. The translation of YenPress appears to be more accurate.
Sosuke Takaoka (Hiroki Sugimura) posted about recently reuniting with Masanobu Ando (Kazuo Kiriyama) on instagram, writing:
>I met him when I was 18 through a Kinji Fukasaku film, and he's a senior I adore who has always been so kind to me.
After leaving the city, I heard a lot of things about myself that made people dislike me, but I always felt that this person would continue to love me.
Senior, thank you for your unwavering love and for not holding back.
Your sensitive perspective is very comforting.
I look forward to our continued friendship.
He ran into Taro Yamamoto too few years ago – is it not about time for a bigger reunion?
Japanese food giant Ajinomoto printed Tatsuya Fujiwara's (Shuya Nanahara) face on lettuce in attempt to reduce food waste in the summer when over 60% people throw away their lettuce because it quickly wilts and goes bad. The lettuce comes with a QR code leading to Ajinomoto's lettuce recipes to help people use up their Fujiwara lettuce.
Fujiwara's intense expressions are a target of a meme in Japan and it appears he has been a spokesmodel for Ajinomoto before, thus why specifically his face was chosen. Fujiwara seems to be a great sport about the meme though.
I wonder if these Fujiwara lettuce films will be soon seen being sold online?
I want to know everyones favorite actors from Battle Royale movie(s) and just talk about them in general!
^((Names of the actor images above in order: Tatsuya Fujiwara (Shuya Nanahara), Aki Maeda (Noriko Nakagawa), Taro Yamamoto (Shogo Kawada), Masanobu Ando (Kazuo Kiriyama), Shibasaki Ko (Mitsuko Souma), Takashi Tsukamoto (Shinji Mimura), Chiaki Kuriyama (Takako Chigusa), Sosuke Takaoka (Hiroki Sugiumura), Kitano (Takeshi Kitano) and Minami (Keiko, Shogo's girlfriend)))
Did anyone catch your eye watching the movie, how and why? Have you looked up their other work? If you haven't seen any other work of theirs, feel free to just talk about their performance in Battle Royale!
Few years ago I was big on seeing other movies and shows of these actors as I'm an avid watcher of japanese dramas, but nowadays I'm more drawn on Shibasaki Ko (Mitsuko Souma) and Chiaki Kuriyama (Takako Chigusa), I find their performances are easy and entertaining to watch and they've now grown to be solid household names so even if I didn't try to find their work, I would come across them anyway.
I also used to look for works of Tatsuya Fujiwara (Shuya Nanahara), Aki Maeda (Noriko Nakagawa), Taro Yamamoto (Shogo Kawada), Takashi Tsukamoto (Shinji Mimura), Masanobu Ando (Kazuo Kiriyama) and Minami (Keiko, Shogo's girlfriend).
So many shows and movies I've seen of Shibasaki Ko and she is just phenomenal. Few to highly recommend (some of which are on Netflix!) are GO, Orange Days, Good Luck!!, Nobunaga Concerto and Galileo series. She was in 47 Ronin, an US film, with Keanu Reeves, and in it she spoke english even though she didn't understand it. She did quite well in my opinion and looked absolutely breathtaking! But when does she not?
Taro Yamamoto some years later went into politics and retired from acting sadly and some of his movies were so indie they were hard if not impossible to find (not to mention subtitles) or a very small guest role. He did reunite with Tatsuya Fujiwara in a movie Kaiji and a drama Shinsengumi! and with Shibasaki Ko in movie Go!
Tatsuya Fujiwara is also very well known internationally, if not for Battle Royale, then for Death Note. He plays a main role in Kaiji, another beloved death game series and the villain, Shishio Makoto, in two Runouni Kenshin movies and I can recommend both, especially the latter. I might prefer him in villain roles!
Fujiwara does a lot of theater, so unfortunately a lot of his work is unavailable to us lowly peasantry foreign fans :( but! I mention that because he played Harry Potter in the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play in Japan.
I'll not ramble about all of the actors that I've followed but I have to end this with Minami, who was Keiko in Shogo's flash back, because she's also had quite the career. Despite her small role in Battle Royale, she caught my attention enough to look up her other work. Most recently, she had a small role in the Walking Dead universe, in the Daryl Dixon spin off, and being a fan of both, it's a true shame I haven't gotten to see it yet, but I was quite excited for her for such an opportunity! She was also in a movie Minamata, co-star to Johnny Depp, playing his wife. This I've also... not seen. She's a professional artist and has held some exhibitions for her work.
She was also in a movie Sakuran with Masanobu Ando and singer Anna Tsuchiya and in Hana Kimi Special (where there is actually a Battle Royale refenrence!). I discovered Hana Kimi because of her, and that show it very special to me now!
Stills from sequel movie Battle Royale II: Requiem, directed by Kinji and Kenta Fukasaku
All the Battle Royale book covers thorough the years from around the world, years 2014 to 2024. Part 2 out of 2, posting these in parts because I can post only 20 images at once.
1999–2013 covers of part 1 here
Do you own any of these editions? Which one do you like the most? Any covers you haven't seen before? Did I miss any covers you know of?
All the Battle Royale book covers thorough the years from around the world, years 1999 to 2013. Part 1 out of 2, posting these in parts because I can post only 20 images at once.
Do you own any of these editions? Which one do you like the most? Any covers you haven't seen before?
I made these edits in 2020 where I replaced Battle Royale movie actors with their respective manga characters
Pretty new poster for Battle Royale's 25th anniversary, by Lionsgate
Art by Oliver Barrett
The new cover for Battle Royale Deluxe Edition 2!
You can pre-order it here, it's coming out in August 25th, 2026
(They forgot to change the number from 1 to 2 though. Oof.)
Recent photoshoot of Takeshi Kitano for Sabukaru magazine, photographed by Kizen Zhao, Federico Radaelli
Fortune has smiled upon me today. On the recent manga search, I was able to pick up the new Battle Royale Deluxe Edition 12 days early!! So excited to get started on it.