I'm posting this everywhere I can think of because I'm so sick of hearing wah wah Battle Royale wah.
I have one thing to say to the people whining about Battle Royale having similarities to Hunger Games: "The Long Walk" by Stephen King. It's a novella, written in 1979 (Battle Royale was released in 2000) in which teenagers are forced by the government to compete to the death for the entertainment of the nation. Does Stephen King whine? No, he writes a favorable blurb for the back cover of Hunger Games.
Because he understands that THERE ARE NO NEW IDEAS.
Get over it.
(Also, read it, it's fantastic, one of my favorite Stephen King stories. I don't care how many times this topic is revisited, it's interesting, dammit!)