Partially, we stuck in “the novel” because there are a lot of “books” named Battle Royale, specifically the multiple volumes of the manga. The manga was also collected in what was called an “ultimate edition”, so if we called ours the “anniversary edition” or “special edition” it would be a crime against the English language. So “the novel” will help bookstores order this edition more easily.

(Also, in general, putting “a novel” under a novel is sort of a signal that the publisher is going upmarket and thinks that a book is important. Our “the novel” is a variation on that. Pulp Supreme!)

For a while, internally, we were calling the book Battle Royale Deluxe, but dropped it when we found ourselves constantly appending the words “with cheese” to it.