Ask John: Is Plagiarism Common Among Anime Productions?

Question:
Have there been any major issues of copyright infringement or plagiarism in anime apart from the recent problem with Seto no Hanayome? Where does the industry draw the line between thematic similarities or “tip of the hat” homages and downright plagiarism?

Answer:
Over the past few years a number of cases of apparent plagiarism have arisen in the professional manga publishing industry. In 2005 artist Yuki Suetsugo publicly admitted to copying imagery from Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk manga series. Ironically, later in 2005 Japan’s Cyzo Magazine accused Takehiko Inoue of copying photographs of NBA players for his Slam Dunk manga, despite Inoue having previously admitted to taking inspiration from photos of NBA players. In early 2007 Shueisha Publishing stopped publishing manga by Rin Yoshii after speculation that the artist copied magazine photos. Artist Yuji Shiozaki’s Ikkitousen manga has frequently been accused of copying artwork from Oh! Great’s similar but earlier manga series Tenjho Tenge. And there are countless other contemporary instances of manga titles and their artists being accused of copying other material. In some cases the accusations may be justified while others seem to be unreasonably harsh criticism of coincidental similarities.

Manga may be especially vulnerable to plagiarism and accusations of such because manga is created by individuals or small teams of artists. In effect, manga creation has relatively little oversight. Anime, on the other hand, is created by dozens of artists, thereby decreasing the chances of any single artist illicitly copying another work without notice. Plagiarism is committed by artists that don’t have the time or ability to create something original. That conflict doesn’t arise in anime production because multiple artists compensate for each others’ weaknesses. If a manga artist is unable to draw a certain pose, the artist may be forced to copy a reference work. If an anime artist is unable to draw a certain pose, a fellow artist on the production can take that duty. Furthermore, anime character, mecha, and costume designs avoid directly copying earlier designs from other works because so many people scrutinize the designs during the production process.

It’s important to distinguish the difference between plagiarism and homage or parody. Plagiarism is the immoral act of stealing an earlier artist’s work and taking credit for it. Homage is obvious copying used to draw attention to itself and acknowledge the influence of an earlier work. Seto no Hanayome episode 17 was accused of plagiarism, but the offending scene may have been an obvious homage to a live action super hero program that wasn’t appreciated as an obvious homage. While I can think of countless examples of anime blatantly borrowing characters, images, and ideas from other works for the purpose of intentional and obvious humor or respectful homage, I can’t think of any additional instances of anime productions accused of literally stealing ideas without giving due credit.