“The Host”, a Korean horror/suspense film about a mutant monster created by waste dumped by American soldiers, came to Japanese theaters last week. It has been panned on many Korea blogs for it’s blantant anti-Americanism, but it seems to be doing somewhat well in the box office here (it opened at number 7, but it will probably rise on the charts: opening weekends aren’t usually the biggest earning period for movies in Japan). Some people might immediately label such a film as a typical creation of Anti-American South Koreans. However, the plot line might not be a Korean creation after all. Hoga News has been reporting that Japanese netizens are accusing “The Host” of being a blantant rip off of a monster storyline contained in the 2002 Japanese anime film “WXIII Patlabor”.

Here’s a translation of the issues Japanese netizens have, from Hoga News’ original post:

Waste No. 13 (Patlabor’s monster)

1. A secret biochemical weapon made by the US military escaped to become the monster

2. Anti-US message is included

3. Some battles take place in sewers

4. After all, the monster gets burned to death

Gwoemul (The Host)

1. A biochemical waste of the US military caused the birth of the moster

2. Anti-US message is included

3. Some battles take place in sewers

4. After all, the monster gets burned to death

Interesting, so the plot is very similar. Let’s look at some pictures of the monsters. In the concept sketches, the 1995 monster is from “Patlabor” and the 2004 monster is from “The Host” (images taken from the enjoy Korea post by a Japanese netizen):

Hoga News reports that the Korean media has taken the stance that while the monsters are similar, there was no copying of the Japanese monster. The fact that the Japanese have made so many monster movies over the years has made it pretty much impossible not to create a monster with a similar-looking Japanese version (with a similar origin, similar plotline and similar anti-American tone, right?). The production studio behind “The Host” has dismissed the accusations as an anti-Korean slur.

It’s pretty hard for me to look at these images and plot descriptions without seeing this as a case of copying. Surely coincidences do happen, but this would have to be a huge one.