I should probably start this review with somewhat of a disclaimer. About 10 years ago — not long after Kinji Fukasaku's film adaptation of Koushun Takami's controversial novel "Battle Royale" became a cult hit overseas — I bought a screen-printed poster from a London-based design studio called Airside. The design featured a highly stylized frame grab from the film, of a schoolgirl being thrown into the air as she is shot in the back, the crimson of her blood contrasting vividly with the tan and white of her school uniform. It's a disturbingly beautiful and iconic tribute to a great film, and it hung proudly in my living room for years.
Some time later, after moving to Japan, I found myself friends with an actress who played one of the doomed schoolgirls in "Battle Royale" — and was, it turned out, the very same girl featured in the poster, a coincidence I still find very, very odd.