Well then what is it that makes them so similar? I started reading BR last night just to see what it was like, and other than the central idea of a bunch of kids fighting each other to the death on TV, they were completely different. The way the tributes are chosen is different, the age ranges are different, and really the whole world itself is different. In Battle Royale it seemed like as long as you weren't chosen, your life was mostly unaffected and you could live a pretty normal, modern life. In Hunger Games your whole life is spent in poverty (depending on which District you live in-- Districts 1, 2 and arguably 4 are very rich and fashionable and consider being chosen for the Games to be an honor, with kids training their whole lives so that they can enter the Games and win and bring glory to their District; in many other Districts, primarily 8, 11, and 12, people are starving to death and being murdered by the Peacekeepers/police for anything even slightly against the law, like going into the woods surrounding the Districts to try and hunt for food to provide for your family, and the kids there are generally very thin and malnourished and not very able to defend themselves) and servitude to the Capitol, and the Hunger Games were made to remind people that the government controls all of them absolutely (there used to be 13 Districts, but 13 rebelled and was basically wiped off the map, which is what prompted the Games to begin). There's a drawing of names in each District for one girl and one boy, and your chances are different depending on how old you are, and whether or not you want to submit your name more times to get some rations of grain and oil to help your family (the kids in the poorer Districts are almost always doing this). Then, once you're chosen, you're brought to the Capitol and treated like a celebrity, getting makeovers and fabulous food and clothes and personal training to help you last longer. Then all of the Tributes are given interviews to make the populace love them and want to sponsor them (sponsors help Tributes last longer by sending them gifts while they're in the arena). From what I read of Battle Royale (which admittedly wasn't a whole lot comparitively, and definitely correct me if I'm wrong), I didn't see any of this.
