While I fundamentally agree with you about the lineage, I can appreciate that there is a direct thread of artistically psychotic surrealism in Squid Game that feels inherited from Battle Royale.
The pink caskets (which might be my favourite visual element) feel like they would be at home in the world of Battle Royale, but IMO feel way too dark humor for Hunger Games.
Battle Royale and Squid Game both feature characters reaching quivering ecstacy when players die. My memory could be rose colored at this point, but Hunger Games just wasn't that dark.
I always thought of Hunger Games as Battle Royale for children. The violence and darkness in general is so very stripped down. IMO that's what made Battle Royale and, as you point out, Squid Game interesting. I do think that's more common in Asian cinema and tv though.
There are several characters in the first Hunger Games that revel in the death of their competitors, including several that torture their victims to death. A number of the competitors go into the games knowing what they involve, having specifically trained to kill other children.
In the second and third Hunger Games novels, the traps and obstacles are designed to torture, maim, and/or inflict painful deaths, for the viewing pleasure of those watching (in the second) or just to inflict pain (in the third). At the end of the final novel, the "good" guys murder a bunch of innocent civilians (including children) in order to assure their ascendancy to power.
In terms of darkness, the Hunger Games is darker than Battle Royale. But it's not a direct comparison, since Battle Royale is a satire and Hunger Games is not.
As a white male American, I've sort of started to realize that 'asian' media plays with life/death more than american media, which seems to simply delineate: life = good; death = bad instead of exploring the notion of acceptance.
> Squid Games is just Kaiji with better presentation.
The presentation comparison is apples to oranges. Kaiji just wouldn’t work as live action (although they tried with a movie) as it relays heavily on the affordances of anime/manga as a medium to present Kaiji’s inner world and show visual metaphors for his emotions. Without that you take away the substance. It’s fair to say Squid Game steals a lot of themes and ideas from Kaiji, but it’s certainly not just Kaiji with different wrapping (unless there is something I am missing having not read the manga).
I guess, it takes a lot of effort to do cross-medium adaptation. Personally I dropped the show mid-series because I have consumed similar stories (Kaiji, Liar's Game) so the show didn't sustain my interest. YMMV
That being said, I was thinking of the article when I wrote my comment, they should've featured Kaiji instead of Battle Royale since it's the main inspiration behind the show.
Same, Battle Royale always seemed anti-government to me where Squid Games is very explicitly anti-capitalist.
I know there was a reward for winning and the fundamental reason for the Battle Royale was economic, but I always got the vibe the government was the problem.
Like, the kids in Battle Royale weren't exempt if they were rich, right? It was a lottery. Squid Game only appeals to people struggling under capitalism.
Kaiji and Squid Games could be happening last week, in some warehouse complex, or a missile silo, and we'd never know. The contestants choose to be there, even if the choice isn't exactly free. Meanwhile the point of Battle Royale and Hunger Games is to have the entire world watching. Pure amusement for the rich vs political propaganda trying to remind the masses how little they are worth. A Battle Royale participant is semi-worthless, because every teenager, possibly every person, is seen as worthless. In Kaiji they are setting up situations to show how stupid and immoral the dregs of society are.
Yes! Squid Game is voluntary and motivation is economic pressure or greed whereas Battle Royale is a randomly selected school class which is explicitly a punishment for young people.
Battle Royale was about curbing juvenile delinquency, no overt or fundamental economic reasons. So, same boat, Battle Royale is anti-authoritarian thus in the same line as Hunger Games. Squid Games is anti-capitalist thus in the Running Man (the novel, 1982) line.
Another one is Ready Player One borrowed from Sword Art Online, which borrowed from .hack, which borrowed from Serial Experiments Lain, which drew upon a rich pantheon of cyberpunk novels.
Hunger Games is the one closer to Battle Royale, while Squid Games is just Kaiji with better presentation.