Fukasaku found his passion for this film by reflecting on his time as a young teenager when he was forced to work in a munitions factory during WW2. The factory consisted largely of youths around the same age. Fukasaku commented that their small thin arms were essential in placing fuses in artillery shells. The factory was bombed during an allied attack and several of his young coworkers were killed in the blast. After the attack, the officers in charged forced the young living survivors to dig through the rubble and bury the dead.

Fukasaku stated that was the moment when he learned the government cared very little about the youth and a deep hatred for all adults set root.

The Battle Royale program doesn’t make and sense. It doesn’t make sense to those participating in it, let alone the viewer and that’s largely the point. We see the world from the same confused POV of the children. We’re never allowed to see the bigger picture that the adults may have running. All we see is senseless violence with children because of the adults in charge.