They accuse Jujutsu Kaisen of ‘copying’ other animes

The Twitter user “卡卡喬喬 (@xdxderen7)” became immensely viral after sharing a video in which he accuses the production team of the second season of “Jujutsu Kaisen” of “copying” a variety of scenes and animation styles from different anime franchises such as “One Piece“, “Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan“, “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure“, “One Punch Man“, among many others. The video consists of a collection of fragments showing a comparison with the “supposed” original scene.

Of course, the user did not leave any comments out, since he added: «A collection of scenes from “Copy-Kaisen”. The team makes fun of all anime fans. They should never forgive them. I can’t forgive them for stealing my favorite scenes». He also mentioned his desire for this video to reach more people, something that eventually ended up happening, since it already has more than 3.4 million accumulated views.

There is certainly a lot of resentment on the part of the user, especially when they have to respond to those who appear to defend the production team and enter into debate. The main concept discussed in these exchanges is usually that of “tribute”, which generally few have an idea of ​​what it means. In fact, there is a fine line between “copying” and “homage,” and it is common for this line to be drawn at convenience.

If you are a fan of the series that is being attacked, you will surely say that everything is a “tribute”; while if you don’t care about the series in question, then you will say that it is a “copy”. At the end of the day, there is no one neutral in this matter, since the general public does not discuss these types of things.

Returning to the main topic, whether the sequences shown from “Jujutsu Kaisen” are actually copies or homages depends a lot on the conditions behind the production. It is possible that the same animators who worked on the original scenes were now returning to work on this series. Considering the evidence of the appalling working conditions at MAPPA, it would be understandable that these animators, faced with the pressure to finish quickly, choose to recycle their previous work.

MAPPA was quick to announce a third season of “Jujutsu Kaisen,” and some even believe it could premiere in 2024. If the pressure continues to increase, will these types of incidents continue to occur? It is quite likely, and the Internet community had something to say:

• «I can’t say for sure, but why do they make the copies so obvious? Wouldn’t it be appropriate to just copy enough that no one notices?».
• «It seems like it’s hard to come up with choreography for a fight, and animators just recycle what they’ve done before.».
• «Foreigners often praise Jujutsu Kaisen as a work of art, and it makes sense considering how much they copy from other successful anime».
• «There is no doubt that the scene taken from live-action is a reference. MAPPA probably doesn’t give the animators enough time to think about the scenes in their heads and draw them, and they just have to repeat what they’ve already done in the past.».
• «If the animator or the director were the same, it wouldn’t be a copy. However, it is difficult to think that there were so many coincidences and that they led to all these comparisons.».
• «The production of storyboards is an art in itself, it requires a lot of mental work and, of course, enough time. Excuses like “tributes” are easy outs for the lazy entertainer or, in this case, the exploited entertainer.».
• «It is a franchise that has been a copy from the manga, what did you expect?».
• «It is totally different from Chainsaw Man, there the scenes were made from scratch and were “true tributes.” Here I only see a dishonest copy».
• «It is becoming a habit to trace and copy other scenes made by more recognized projects, perhaps animators are losing their shame».
• «Well, then Jujutsu Kaisen references and pays homage to many other titles. There is nothing new in that statement. We could say the same about all the copies that have been made within JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and One Piece, right?».
• «Shonen animes do this kind of thing all the time.».
• «I have no problem with making some kind of tribute, but this is directly a copy in design, timing and choreography, there are too many coincidences. Really unfortunate».
• «They are called “references”, something very common in any type of animation, it is not copying or cheating. Even with the little production time available, it is called “taking advantage of resources”».
• «These are “references”, not “copies”, not “thefts” or anything like that. Learn the difference and stop hating current series just because they become popular. The animators put a lot of work and effort into this despite the horrible conditions at MAPPA».

Fountain: Yaraon!