3. Villains
The villains of The Hunger Games also suffer from the fact that they have no personal relation to the protagonists of the story, barely interact with them, and that they are mostly spectators in their own story. The chief villain of Battle Royale, their own teacher, holds an actual grudge against his students, was stabbed by one of them, has a creepy crush on one of them, and himself murders several of them. Donald Sutherlands villain in The Hunger Games has never met or heard of any of the contestants before they are volunteered into the games, and only meets the games champion for the first time at films end. Whereas the villain in Battle Royale is on the ground, involved in the action, Battle Royales villain spends most of the film gardening.
On the subject of villains, it is also worth mentioning that when the villains of The Hunger Games change the rules of the game at the last minute so that there can be two winners, they completely suck the tension out of the film, whereas in Battle Royale, we are constantly wary of the notion that the protagonists will have to turn on each other at some point in the game. For giving us a villain that actually participates in the film, one point to Battle Royale. And a bonus point for his emulsion of extreme cruelty and child-like giddy.