Posts Tagged ‘anime’

More Chinese Plagiarism of Japanese Anime?

A video compares scenes of the Japanese anime “Hikarian: Great Railroad Protector” with a Chinese cartoon called “高鉄侠”:

It is painfully obvious that the Chinese cartoon is a copying the Japanese cartoon. The discovery was made by Chinese netizens, who found clips of the cartoon online and questioned its origin after noticing that it used a map of Japan and its main character ate Japanese-style onigiri

Japan’s NTV sent reporters to the Chinese animation company that created the cartoon:

The side-by-side clips are shown to random Chinese people, all of whom seem to agree that it’s a blatant copy. We are also shown angry comments from netizens who disapprove of the plagiarism. The incident is compared to Chinese state television’s unauthorized use of “Top Gun” footage.

They visit the offices of the animation company (its English name is, ironically, “Creativity Pictures”). Its walls are lined with prizes and awards. Apparently it is one of China’s top 10 animation companies. Two animated series from the company are currently airing on Chinese television.

The vice president of the company tells them that the clips being shown on the internet are pre-production “samples” that were created during the planning phase for the cartoon. She doesn’t know how they made it onto the internet, but she claims that the final product will look totally different from the “sample” clips.

An online advertisement for the cartoon shows characters from the “sample” that copied the Japanese anime. When shown the ad, the woman claims it was for promotional purposes, and her company is currently working on a totally original bullet train cartoon.

NTV found a blog post written by a former employee of the animation company. He writes that government subsidies are handed out to companies that can create huge quantities of animation, so the company cuts corners by copying old cartoons.

An article from SearChina contains more excuses. A company representative questioned critics by suggesting that it wouldn’t make sense for a Chinese cartoon about new Chinese bullet trains to copy a Japanese cartoon about Japanese trains from the 1990′s.

The Chinese cartoon was originally scheduled to air on television in August. Now, for unexplained reasons, the air date has been pushed back to October.

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Fake Anime & Disney Characters on Parade at Snow Festival in China

Japanese TV networks are having a blast reporting about the latest batch of hilariously blatant trademark violations coming out of China. Both NTV and FTV were at the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, were a large group of knock-off characters were on parade:

In addition to the Mickey Mouse shown at the top of this post, they also had Donald Duck:

A Doraemon knock-off:

A Pikachu knock-off:

Something that looked like Crayon Shin-chan:

Astroboy with hair coming out of his neck:

And Ultraman:

As in the case of the fake Disneyland, the people wearing costumes saw no problem with removing their headgear and taking breaks in front of tourists.

Update: Here’s a slightly longer FTV clip:

In this clip they call up the organizers of the event, who seem to be saying that the characters are indeed knock-offs, but it’s okay because they made the costumes themselves.

The report also mentions the infamous Gundam knock-off in another part of China, which was quietly dismantled after its theme park had vehemently denied accusations that it was a copy of the popular Japanese mobile suit:

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Tiger Mask Hero Helps Japanese Orphanages

Something very cool has been happening in Japan in the last few weeks. Someone, or several people, have been making donations of toys and school supplies to orphanages in the name of Naoto Date, the main character of “Tiger Mask,” an anime series that aired in the 1960′s:

In the popular animation, Naoto Date was an orphan who grew up in a welfare facility and donated money to the facility after becoming a professional wrestler.

“I suspect that someone around his 50s or so, had similar experience with Tiger Mask and sent the gifts for us. We don’t plan to search for him, out of respect for his feelings,” Matsuba said.

After the gifts were reported in December, child welfare facilities in Kanagawa, Nagano, Gifu, Okinawa Prefectures have received school bags or donations from “Naoto Date,” one after another.

The latest donation, a set of 7 pricey randoseru school packs, was made to an orphanage in Nagasaki. A note attached to the donation said it was from “Nagasaki’s Naoto Date (hibakusha).” The person who left the boxes was apparently an older woman:

The geographic spread of the donations seems to indicate that there are several people acting in the name of Naoto Date. All the press coverage given to the donations is probably helping inspire copycats.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the “Tiger Mask” anime, here’s it’s opening sequence:

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Gundam Phone

Softbank is releasing a special Gundam 30th anniversary version of its 945SH mobile phone.

Here are a couple videos of a press conference about the phone. Just skip through the pointless celebrity banter and check out the few seconds of the clips that are actually about the phone:

They seem to be hoping that mega fans who like building Gundam models will buy this phone. The phone comes with a variety of Gundam decal stickers and a charger that doubles as a stand for a Gundam model. The phone’s menus and sound effects are all Gundam-themed.

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Namie Amuro + Gundam

One of the most-viewed videos on YouTube Japan today gives a sneak peak at Namie Amuro’s new Gundam-themed music video.

Some info from ANN:

Bestselling Japanese singer Namie Amuro has created an animated music video for her new “Defend Love” single with another Amuro — Amuro Ray, the main character of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime franchise. The “Defend Love” video will ship in Japan on a bundled DVD extra with the new Past < Future album on December 16. Veteran voice actor Tohru Furuya (Sailor Moon, Kimagure Orange Road) is reprising his Amuro Ray role for the video.

Here’s the full music video:

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Michael Moore visits a maid cafe in Akihabara

Shinichi Karube of “Mezamashi TV” takes American director Michael Moore on a tour of Akihabara:

Part 1

Michael Moore is amused with the crowd of onlookers taking photos of himself and Karube. He borrows a camera from one onlooker so he can take the onlooker’s photo. He then asks to call the guy’s dad, who is a reporter for the Sankei Shimbun (FTV is part of the same media group). The father cannot speak English, but Moore attempts a conversation anyway.

Upon seeing a man wearing a mask, Moore decides to give a lecture on why it is good for us as humans to breath in germs and get a stronger immune system. The lecture doesn’t seem to have much effect.

They move on to a figure shop. Moore ignores the figures and buys some wire instead.

Next, they interview a Japanese gyaru. She had never heard of Michael Moore, which gives the show an opportunity to air some clips further introducing Moore’s achievements to the audience at home. The gyaru and her friend had just come from a maid cafe….

Part 2 (The maid cafe)

Moore and Karube go to Akihabara’s famous @home maid cafe. Moore does not seem to enjoy the servility of the maids and fears that it is some sort of pedo business that will soon be raided by the police.

Before leaving, Moore apparently comments on his opposition to Obama’s Afghanistan policy. He then reminds Karube that masks are bad and germs are good. Teenage girls are to be avoided.

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