I had previously failed with the novel this is based on, so I wasn't expecting the manga adaptation to be any better. One of the very few stories that had me reading non-stop until the end, and one of the even fewer stories I've never been able to predict or guess the finale for. He is currently working on a second novel. It went on to become a bestseller when finally released in 1999 and, a year later, was made into a manga and a feature film. It was rejected in the final round of the literary competition for which it was intended, owing to its controversial content. The novel Battle Royale was completed after Takami left the news company. From 1991 to 1996, he worked for the news company Shikoku Shimbun, reporting on various fields including politics, police reports, and economics.

After graduating from Osaka University with a degree in literature, he dropped out of Nihon University's liberal arts correspondence course program. Takami was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture near Osaka and grew up in the Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku. Koushun Takami (高見広春 Takami Kōshun) is the author of the novel Battle Royale, originally published in Japanese, and later translated into English by Yuji Oniki and published by Viz Media and, later, in an expanded edition by Haika Soru, a division of Viz Media.

Koushun takami