Takami Koushun

After being banned 20 years ago, Program 68 is back, this time under the direction of a sinister government artificial intelligence. The troubled and misbehaving kids of Daitoa Academy's Class F have been chosen, divided into squads, given weapons, and commanded to fight to the death. Now friendships and loyalties will be tested, and only the strongest will survive.

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….

In the future, random Jr. High School classes are chosen to compete in a game called Battle Royale. The rules: only one student can survive after 3 days on an island or else they all perish. Weapons are handed out and each student is sent out into the field alone and unprepared for the horror that awaits them. The classmates turn upon themselves in a battle for survival, treaties are made and broken, and former friends become foes as the relentless countdown continues. Amid the betrayals and rising body count, two classmates confess their love for each other and swear to survive this deadly game together. Links: AnimeNewsNetwork (live-action movie)