The second and third books are where a lot of the biggest differences open up, but I've always thought of Battle Royale as more about the fear and hatred of the young in Japan, whereas the Hunger Games trilogy asks about the cost of survival. The political commentary is a lot sharper in the Hunger Games, and the books use the premise of the Games to open up and explore the world of Panem; I feel like Battle Royale is less interested in the outside world and more interested in the Lord of the Flies stuff going on on the island.
And Katniss could whup Shuya's ass. In a heartbeat.
(Also, the reality-TV show element is apparently not present in the original story, which I missed out on at first because I'm mostly familiar with the English translation of the manga. Which added that in for -- I don't even know why they added that in.)
But yeah. Similar-ish premises, really different reasons why that premise exists in-universe, really different ways of looking at the event itself, really different characters -- and the Hunger Games ends up being about a lot more than the Games.
And Katniss could whup Shuya's ass. In a heartbeat.
(Also, the reality-TV show element is apparently not present in the original story, which I missed out on at first because I'm mostly familiar with the English translation of the manga. Which added that in for -- I don't even know why they added that in.)
But yeah. Similar-ish premises, really different reasons why that premise exists in-universe, really different ways of looking at the event itself, really different characters -- and the Hunger Games ends up being about a lot more than the Games.
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