Under the guise of a "study trip," a group of students from Shiroiwa Junior High School in the fictional town of Shiroiwa (Kagawa Prefecture) are gassed on a bus. They awaken in the Okishima Island School on Okishima, an isolated, evacuated island. They learn that they have been placed in an event called the Program. According to the rules, every year since 1947, 42 third-year high school students are isolated, and each student is required to fight to the death until one student remains. Their movements are tracked by metal collars around their necks, which contain tracking and listening devices; if any student should attempt to escape the Program, or enter declared forbidden zones, a bomb will be detonated in the collar, killing the wearer. If no one dies in a 24 hour time period, there will be no winner and all collars will be detonated simultaneously. (Source: Wikipedia) Note: The TokyoPop version was extensively rewritten by Keith Giffen which eventually led to contradictions and plot holes in the later volumes. TokyoPop rereleased the series in 5 omnibus volumes under the name "Battle Royale: Ultimate Edition" from October 16, 2007 to February 10, 2009.

The Program is a brutal military experiment that pits junior high students against each other every year in a brutal battle to the death.
 
Most of the students from Shiroiwa Junior High scatter as soon as they reach the remote island where they must participate in the latest round of the Program. But Yukie Utsumi and five of her friends lock themselves in the lighthouse, clinging to a desperate hope of survival. They all trust each other, but they also know that only one can survive the Battle Royale…
 
(Source: Viz Media)

Like the earlier Battle Royales, a class of middle school students are picked to compete in fights to the death on an island until there is only one left. The manga follows the point of view of Girl #10 Makoto Hashimoto, an unlucky girl who fears that her class will be chosen to participate in "the program," a mysterious event that forces students to kill each other. Makoto attends Shikanotoride Junior High School. After the encouragement of her best friend Itou Yamamoto and her mother she decides to face the chances. Her fears are supposedly put to rest when word spreads that all 50 Programs had already been executed in the year making them 100% unlikely to participate....


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