[RayChuang88]

A very interesting tidbit: the Toei Company, the entertainment studio that produced the movie, never really showed the original Battle Royale movie outside of Japan except in a few movie festival screenings because of the controversy of how the movie was rated in Japan--the Japanese equivalent of the MPAA wanted a more adult rating than what Toei suggested for the movie, and that controversy become front-page headlines in Japan.

It's only now that Americans can see Battle Royale and its sequel movie widely, thanks to the Blu-ray disc release that just came out less than a week ago.

[a fool in paradise]

I’ve had Battle Royale as a Hong Kong DVD import for many years. Even been several years since I last popped the sequel in a DVD player (I like it for the career retrospective trailers more than the movie itself).

A US company translated the Japanese comics into paperbacks again several years ago.

Not everyone waits for the Blu-Ray-3-D-HD edition of things.

At the time of Kill Bill, there were cult film fans in America that recognized one of the actresses from Battle Royale.

[a fool in paradise]

And all of it rips off The Most Dangerous Game. Running Man was a ripoff with a game show element too.

But BR and HG both set the victims as high school students who must murder their peers for a home audience.