Battle Royale vs. The Hunger Games

I would like to preface this by saying that I believe my interest in books involving controlling governments stems from reading The Giver when I was in school. Out of all the books we were assigned to read, few of them really struck me. But I'll still flip open The Giver (as well as A Wrinkle in Time, the only other book to leave a lasting impression on me from school) every now and then.

Originally, I had intended to write a comparison of Battle Royale, the novel, and Battle Royale, the movie. I started rereading the book, taking notes and then I realized that by the time I'd reached page twenty, I already had three pages of notes. It's 576 pages long. You can see where I'm going with this, right? That's what lead me to this comparison instead.

For a while now, I've been debating whether or not to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I finally caved and began reading it on Monday. I finished it on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the book is only 374 pages. I've always enjoyed reading, and I never want books to end. I suppose it's forgivable, as the story is continued in two other novels, Catching Fire (which I have not read, but I did order it this morning) and Mockingjay (to be released in August). For the sake of this post, and also because I have no idea what happens after the first book, Catching Fire and Mockingjay will not be taken into consideration and I will treat them as if they don't even exist. All I know is what occurred in The Hunger Games.

There are massive spoilers ahead for both Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, so I suggest you stop reading this now if you don't want to know how either ends.

Let's start with the plot, shall we? Since this post is going to be quite long as it is, I'll try to make this fast.

Battle Royale takes place in the Republic of Greater East Asia, where the government is despised, but little can be done about it. Each year, fifty third-year Junior High School students are chosen to participate in the Program, defined in the book as "a battle simulation program conducted by [the] nation's ground defense forces, instituted for defense reasons." These fifteen-year-old students are brought to the middle of nowhere and told to kill eachother. The last one alive is the winner and receives a pension for life, along with an autograph from the Dictator. For the record, they're mostly repulsed by him.

The Hunger Games is set in Panem, what used to be known as North America. It is made up of twelve districts (there was a thirteenth at one point). Most of the citizens suffer from severe lack of food, and after a rebellion against the Capitol, The Hunger Games were created as a punishment. Each year, a girl and boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen are chosen from each district to participate in The Hunger Games, where they will fight to the death. The last one alive, again, is the winner. Their prize? They're set for life. No more risk of starvation. The Hunger Games are broadcast on TV in every district, in the most twisted reality show imaginable. The book reminds me of Battle Royale and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

In Battle Royale, Shogo believed there were feelings between Shuya and Noriko, but I never really felt that. It always seemed that Shuya was protecting her for Nobu's sake, as he had a crush on her and was no longer alive to protect her himself. In The Hunger Games, I was completely drawn in by the relationship (or lack thereof) between Peeta and Katniss. His feelings for her were obvious from the start, and she was too clueless to realize he hadn't made it up for the games. Throughout the entire novel, I kept hoping that she would stop being so dense and accept that he loved her, and realize she cared for him as well. I'll get back to that later, though.

The character development was absolutely better in Battle Royale, you really get a sense of who the students are and how they became that way. What their lives were like before being thrown on that island. However, I was more emotionally invested in The Hunger Games due to the romantic subplot. What can I say? It got to me. Shuya was a stronger protagonist than Katniss, and well...Kazuo has Cato beaten by miles as a villain. The Hunger Games never goes in depth with Cato's character, we're just told he's incredibly strong and we see that Katniss fears him more than any of the other competitors. As for Kazuo Kiriyama in Battle Royale...He excelled at everything he did pre-Program, making him a serious threat to his fellow classmates. Plus, there's the fact that he does things on a whim. His decision to participate in murdering his classmates came from the flip of a coin. He's completely insane, and he's definitely the bigger threat of the two characters.

Now for the endings...I saw Battle Royale, the movie, before reading the book. But even watching the movie, as grim as it was, I expected a happy ending. I knew Shuya and Noriko would somehow escape the island together. They would never be allowed to leave together as winners, but they would manage to make it off the island alive. I expected Shogo to live through it with them, but unfortunately, he didn't make it.

In The Hunger Games...I expected something horrible. I don't know why, but I did. It just had that sort of tone to it. I was hoping for the best, though, even though I felt that a happy ending would cheapen the rest of the book. I figured it would end in one of two ways:

1. Katniss would fall in love with Peeta, only to lose him as he sacrifices himself to save her from Cato.
2. The Capitol makes a change to the rules of the game, so that if both competitors from the same district are still alive at the end, they can go back home together. In other words, they would live happily ever after. Again, it's cheap and it has no place in a book like this, but it's what I really wanted.

What I got instead? A change to the rules, allowing an alliance between Katniss and Peeta. Then, revoking the new rule, causing them both to almost kill themselves, forcing the Capitol to allow them both to be the winners. Sounds happy enough, right? It's not. Once they got home, Katniss decided to crush Peeta's heart, and I swear, I was so close to throwing the book across the room in disgust. I would rather have had Peeta die for her than have them both survive and not end up together. As a reminder, I haven't read the second book yet so I don't know what happens between them after she breaks his heart. But since I'm basing this JUST on what I've read in the first book...Yes. I was disgusted and disappointed and...Sad, really.

I would recommend both books, honestly. Battle Royale is longer and the characters are incredibly interesting. And The Hunger Games has a love-story thrown into it, which sort of distracts you from the fact that these kids are viciously killing eachother on live TV. I don't have a preference, they were both great in their own ways. And by the way, for anyone that is wondering, Battle Royale: book vs. movie? I enjoyed the movie a lot, but definitely the book.

Edit: After reading the entire Hunger Games series, my opinion has completely changed. I absolutely prefer everything about The Hunger Games.