"Battle Royale" has been critically acclaimed abroad. In "Entertainment Weekly", writer Stephen King included it as one of the seven books in his 2005 summer reading list, after it was recommended to him by novelist Kelly Braffet (writer of "Josie and Jack"). King described "Battle Royale" as "an insanely entertaining pulp riff that combines "Survivor" with World Wrestling Entertainment. Or maybe "Royale" is just insane." He also notes that it has some similarities to his own novel "The Long Walk". He concludes the brief review with a "No prob," as "Takami's Springsteen-quoting teenagers are fond of saying."