Violence
Battle Royale is known as being an incredibly violent film, depicting children attacking and killing one another after being forced to participate in a kind of "game." This violence is particularly shocking because it is committed by children, who we generally see as being innocent and peaceful. In addition to the violence of the children, there is also the violence of government officials and soldiers. The children are told that they are wearing explosive collars, which will be used to kill students who are not cooperative. Kitano kills two of the students for being uncooperative by detonating their collars.
Survival
There is a lot of survival imagery in this film, as the children must think tactically and use their given resources in order to win the "Battle Royal." For example, Shinji tries to hack into the computer system to try and stop the game, in the hope that he can his classmates survive. The children are given food rations, a map of the island, water, a compass and a torch. In addition to this, they are each given a random weapon, which they are expected to use to kill their classmates.
Death
This film unsurprisingly involves many deaths, due to the fact it is about a "game" in which children must fight to the death. First, two students are killed by their former teacher for disobedience, by an exploding collar. After the game begins, many of the children die quickly. Some of the deaths are caused by suicide, while others have been killed by other children. The sheer amount of deaths in this film means that it has become known for its violence, and has been criticized for this reason.
