plagiarism
Side-by-side comparison points finger at pivotal moment in director Makoto Shinkai’s smash-hit anime film.
It seems controversy over the new National Stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics isn’t over yet.
The organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are still wiping the egg from their faces over the controversy surrounding the event’s possibly plagiarized, definitely dropped logo. Not only is the Organising Committee scrambling to prepare a new emblem, it also has to deal with recalling all of the promotional items it had already produced bearing the now cancelled design.
But with the rather convincing accusations that designer Kenjiro Sano copied the emblem coming so late in the game, some of those promotional materials have already made their way into the hands of private parties who are now reselling the sure to be rare items at a premium in online auctions.
There hasn’t been a lot of love for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics’ logo, which was officially unveiled by the event’s Organising Committee at the tail-end of July. Almost immediately after getting their first eyeful of it, many in Japan called it unappealing and confusing, and just a few days later some were calling it plagiarized.
In other words, not too many people were looking forward to seeing the emblem plastered all over the city during the Games, as well as the years leading up to them. The good news for the logo’s detractors is that they probably won’t have to, as the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics seem ready to officially withdraw the design for their promotion.
Despite their capital city having been chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games just five days ago, the people of China are not currently in the best of moods. Rather than being filled with messages of pride and anticipation, online message boards and micro-blogging sites in China are brimming with anger and negative comments following the release of an official Olympic anthem titled “The Ice and Snow Dance”, written by celebrated pianist Zhao Zhao.
It’s a powerful, stirring piece that elicits the kind of chills you’d expect from a musical tribute to the Winter Olympics. But when you hear the song for yourselves, we think you’ll understand why people are not entirely happy about it.
The prestigious Fudan University (复旦大学) in Shanghai, China has been hit by a storm of criticism for allegedly ripping off a PR video which was released by the University of Tokyo last year.
It’s no secret that these days, everyone’s ripping everyone else off when it comes to products. But yummy Japanese snack foods seem to be a particular target, with Korean-based company Lotte famously copying Japan’s popular “Pocky” sticks right down to their svelte packaging. And now it seems that China has got in on the act, with this knockoff version of Japan’s beloved “Koala no March” animal biscuits.
Unfortunately, these shysters didn’t even bother trying to make it look like an original product, opting instead for nonsensical Japanese writing on the packaging and grimaces of pain on the face of every cookie koala…
Other than a brief trial separation, Disney and Pixar have been working hard together to make some of the best family-friendly movies over the past two decades. Their success has been practically unrivaled in the industry. Huge movies like Toy Story 3 and Monsters University always attract big audiences and with sequels to The Incredibles in the works and Finding Dory on the way, fans can’t wait for the next Pixar movie to come out.
But when the trailer for Inside Out hit Japan, millions of people were wondering, “Didn’t we see this already somewhere else?”
What’s better than a ripoff of a top-selling game? A ripoff of a top-selling game featuring characters ripped off a top-selling anime!
If you own a smartphone and occasionally (or heavily) dabble in mobile games, you should have come across Puzzle & Dragons, one of the top grossing puzzle games available on both iOS and Android platforms. The Japanese developed mobile game’s tremendous success worldwide has led to many envious game developers producing “inspired” games of a similar genre.
Now, it is almost common knowledge that the Chinese are geniuses at creating imitations of anything and everything, so everyone would have expected them to make a pirated version of the monster-battling puzzle game eventually, but they have yet again managed to exceed expectations, incorporating characters and themed events based on one of the year’s hottest anime, Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack on Titan.
Korea’s chart-topping boyband BIGBANG has been cited in Korean high school music textbooks as an example of plagiarism.
The above image was taken by a second year high school student moments after she received the book. She then uploaded it to Twitter where it has since shocked many Korean Internet users.