[EVA] & Battle Royale

[Luna1883 at aol.com]

was wondering if any in the forum has had the privilege to see kinji fukasaku's battle royale, a controversial film released in Japan last year. It stars Beat Takeshi and 42 junior highschool kids in a survivor-meets-lord of the flies premise: the kids are left on an island in a game where they literally kill each other off while Beat Takeshi's character plays puppet master. because of the inability of most american censors to apprehend irony or value satire, it is banned in the US unless a prospective distributor agrees to savage cuts . 

The eva references in the movie are impossible to miss, right down to the shinji ikari-esqe male lead, and the use of the same bach & beethoven cuts. wondering if any of the japan-based folks on this mailing list could comment on the audience reaction to this movie as a lot of the original EVA viewers would have invariably seen its theatrical release...