In a reversal of the usual form the Battle Royale manga was based on the film rather than the other way around -- and the film itself was a faithful adaptation of the novel by Takami Koshun. Koshun teamed with artist Masayuki Taguchi for the manga series that remains true to its source material. With its 'Lord of the Flies with guns' storyline made all the more disturbing by the fact that the entire Battle Royale bloodbath was created by government edict, this property is actually more typical of contemporary Japanese live action cinema than it is related to current trends in manga and anime. Thanks to directors like Fukusaku, who went from war epics and yakuza films to a shocker like Battle Royale, and Takashi Miike with his well-know penchant for dismemberment, contemporary Japanese live action cinema has made a habit of pushing the boundaries of cinematic propriety. Witness the reaction of Keith Giffen to the Battle Royale property, 'I thought I knew the limits to which 'extremes' could be taken -- I was wrong.' It should be interesting to see if a manga based on a shocking property like Battle Royale is successful here in the States, where the film itself has still not been released.