[_____V_____]

Exactly.

In both films - Suicide Club and Battle Royale - you don't see even a single parent shed a tear for their children. What kind of a severe dysfunctional society has that led to? If you don't live and follow by a set of rules your family has put forth, you will not be a part of it. Your own family ditches you once you try to make a track for your own self? That's why the kids grow up and develop their own likes and dislikes, and don't expect their parents or peers to understand them. Say for example, why do they like a particular set of music/songs, why do they linger in such company, where are they and what are they doing, etc.

Teens have stopped expecting from their parents to understand them or their choices, their needs, their thinking. And that's what Suicide Club defines in its own bizarre way - teens as friends are ready and willing to share their death with you, while your parents and peers don't give a shit about your life. There's the sense of belonging for an outcast, hence he/she's willing to die with his/her fellow teen friend. My friend is with me through death and after, while my own family doesn't know my existence in my life.

It's a dark and bizarre representation of a teenager's mindset today which Sono has brought to the screen. And he's not wrong, for the most part.