Battle Royale, Vol. 5

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Progression
Review: If you are reading this, then I assume you have read all of, if not most of, the mangas released prior to Vol. 5. That having been said, I shall continue. This book focuses primarily on the plans and relationship between the basketball star Shinji Mimura and his incompetant sidekick, Yutaka Sato. By this point, there is far less mindless violence than the first few mangas, and much more in depth character development, which takes the series to an entirely new level.

We also get to see even more background on Shuuya, making him more and more realistic and likeable.

Perhaps most importantly (in my opinion, anyways) is the continued upward scale of how hardcore Kazuo Kiriyama is, and what an important role in the story he really will have (Those fans of the movie and novel know exactly what I mean)

Overall, I am impressed with the progression of the manga and shall continue to read them until the last one is released (if it hasn't already, I just finished Vol. 7) and can't wait to see what other noteable plot changes occur.