CATDOLL: Japanese manga suspected of plagiarizing Chinese mobile game characters, the official wants to perfunctorily deal with it

Some time ago, there were reports that the characters in the Japanese manga "Mushi Bugyo" were very similar to those in a Chinese mobile game "Girls Frontline", and there was suspicion of plagiarism. Recently, the staff of "Girls Frontline" posted a comparison picture on Twitter, listing the similarities between the new characters in the manga "Mushi Bugyo" and the character settings of the mobile game "Girls Frontline". In the face of controversy, Shogakukan's "Shonen Sunday" announced that it would change the character design in the manga, but mentioned that the author himself had never heard of this overseas game.

"Mushi Bugyo" is a juvenile manga that Japanese manga artist Hiroshi Fukuda started serializing in 2009. It was officially serialized in Shogakukan's "Weekly Shonen Sunday" in 2011, and was adapted into a TV animation in 2013. Previously, a netizen posted a comparison picture of the character that appeared in the comic "Mushi Bugyo" on January 6, 2016 and the character "Mauser Kar98K" published in "Girls Frontline" in August 2015, and said it was suspected of plagiarism.

However, facing the allegations of plagiarism, Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday has not responded. But yesterday (January 26), the official of Shonen Sunday finally issued a statement similar to the explanation: "A few days ago, the new character in Mushi Bugyo was accused of being similar to a character in an overseas game that the original author Hiroshi Fukuda had never heard of, which caused misunderstandings among fans who have supported the work for many years. Although it was not the intention of the author and the editorial department, the relevant character design will be changed starting from the 9th issue of 2016." This means that the official and the author do not think this is plagiarism because "the author does not know this game at all", but in order to avoid things from developing in a bad direction, the official will still change the character design. I always feel that the official is perfunctory.