Chinese plagiarism of Japanese anime
Simon Scaraffiotti of The Observers reports on an “original” work of Chinese animation that copied scenes from a Japanese work:
Same set, same features, same hairstyles – manga fans were not fooled. Several scenes from the 52-episode cartoon were copied directly from “Byousoku” (Five Centimetres per Second), a popular Japanese animated film by Makoto Shinkai released in 2007.
CCTV, China’ state-owned television network, says it was not aware that the production violated copyright. China’s propaganda department, which co-produced the cartoon, had billed it as an educational programme. “Soul’s Window” was supposed to teach children a lesson in ethics.
Replying to the accusations, the cartoon’s producer, Lanhai, recognised that roughly 1 percent of the 2,500 scenes mirrored parts of “Byousoku” and offered an apology. The company said it would launch an inquiry in order to “identify those responsible and draw lessons from this case”.
More screen capture comparisons can be found here.
[hat tip to 空]
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