Well today is the day that all the teens have been waiting for (since the release of Twilight years ago). The Hunger Games officially comes out in theatres today. When I first saw the trailer to this movie, I thought to myself "Oh God they've Americanized Battle Royale dammit" but I searched online for Hunger Games and found out that its actually based on a series of books. Then I clicked onto other sites that compared the two. For those of you that are unaware of Battle Royale, here's a synopsis (w/o spoilers of course, cause that would be unfair)

From wikipedia Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル, Batoru Rowaiaru^?) is a 1999 Japanese novel written by Koushun Takami. The story tells of schoolchildren who are forced to fight each other to the death

From Wikipedia The Hunger Games is a young adult novel written by Suzanne Collins. It was first published on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic, in hardcover.^[1] It is written in the voice of sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds absolute power over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive.

Hmm sounds similar right?! I haven't read the Hunger Games series but I have seen Battle Royale years ago and to me, I feel that the Hunger Games is a G/PG version of the gritty Japanese counterpart. Even critics claimed that the themes were similar.....

Well while the teens go see The Hunger Games, I will be seeing The Raid: Redemption!

For those who have seen Battle Royale, am I right?