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Well, after some thought, I've decided that I really want to buy this DVD through eBay. The only problem is that there are a ton of prints of this film, and I have heard that some of them have extremely low quality video and audio tracks.

Are any of you knowledged in the way of Battle Royale DVDs? I'm looking for a high-quality print that will play on my run-of-the-mill US DVD player. I would prefer the special edition since that one has an alternate ending.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

dvd.ign.com had a pretty long and intense head to head comparison of the two main versions that are out now.

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/449/449222p2.html

Here's a fairly comprehensive list of many reviews of the various DVD editions of BATTLE ROYALE (takes a few seconds to load):

DVD-Basen search result

If that link doesn't work you can do your own search from here:

DVD-Basen

Have yet to see the film myself but I plan to at some point.

If you have any interest in world cinema, you should seriously consider purchasing a multiregional player with PAL to NTSC conversion. I couldn't live without mine.

Thanks for the links.

Unfortunately, it seems that these are my choices:
1) Go for the special edition which has crappy audio and video.
2) Go for the standard edition which has good audio and video.

I guess I am going to go with choice 2. Good audio and video means a lot more to me than deleted scenes and special features.

I never did get around to buying Battle Royale. I really dislike eBay, and the prices for this DVD seemed quite high, even though both prints I mentioned were less than ideal. I was also quite hesitant to buy it without watching it first.


But... good news for all! Come Jan 25th, anyone will be able to rent it from Netflix!

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=70004548

I've got a low-quality subtitled version and a good quality original language version — even more fun of a choice. Fortunately I haven't forgotten all of my Japanese.

By the way, if you like it, I recommend the book. It goes a lot more into all the characters. It's available in (somewhat awkward) English through Amazon.

Spectacular album.

I have an ancient Philips vinyl in VG condition.

I own the Korean Starmax print (The one with all the extras). It's OK, but I would go with the Tartan print for the better audio and video if I were buying today. I watched the extras once and while the SFX behind the scenes clips were cool, I'd rather have a nicer print of the actual film.

Also, avoid the sequel regardless of print quality. It lacks everything that made the first one worth watching.

...and while we're talking Japanese movies, make time to see Wild Zero, the finest zombie/alien/romance/rockabilly musical film ever.

Heh. Added to my Netflix queue.

Oy. I actually bought BR2 on the assumption that it would be at least similar to the first one. Worst $10 I've ever spent. They blow up the one interesting character right at the beginning.

It's like the director listened to the criticisms about BR being offensive and promoting violence and thought, "You know, that's just not accurate. I should make another one that really does glorify senseless killing."

Is that the same investigator from Suicide Club? Looks like him.