Jujutsu Kaisen has become a global phenomenon for its awesome anime series. But recently, the anime became known for hosting several copied moves from different anime.
An animator and episode director from season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen, Itsuki Tsuchigami, has been accused of plagiarism from various anime like Naruto, One Piece, and other anime franchises. A viral clip shows the comparison between Jujutsu Kaisen battle moves and how they seemed almost copied from the original anime.
Jujutsu Kaisen Animator Accused of Plagiarism
In the posted clip, Jujutsu Kaisen is shown to have blatantly plagiarized My Hero Academia, Naruto, One Piece, Soul Eater, and more. Since the video shows a comparison between the moves, it is easy to judge that the battle scenes have been conveniently picked up from some of the best series out there.
Tsuchigami ended up replying to the allegations. From his responses, it was clear that the director found no fault in referencing an anime battle that could potentially fit Jujutsu Kaisen. Tsuchigami then also named some of the anime that he used for his inspirations: Decode episode 12, Man of Steel, Yozakura Quartet, Hoshi no Umi, Noein: To Your Other Self episode 12, Naruto Shippuden ep 167 and Sacred Seven.
A Twitter user created a whole thread of comparison between Jujutsu Kaisen and other anime. While a few scenes might look understandable at first, the number of scenes is too many to be ignored. Some scenes have also been copied frame by frame and then used in Jujutsu Kaisen. Of course, not all of them are correct, because some of the examples seemed too far-fetched to be true.
Which Side are Jujutsu Kaisen Fans on?
The Jujutsu Kaisen fandom has been divided into two factions due to the ongoing discourse regarding plagiarism in anime. While one faction is quick to doom the anime because the director used other anime as a reference, the other faction tries to reason their way into proving that no one associated with Jujutsu Kaisen can make such a decision.
In fact, Jujutsu Kaisen has been dubbed into Kopy/Copy Kaisen because of the amount of inspired scenes it has. One person even pointed out that if the scale is this huge then it is no more referencing but rather stealing other animation’s works.
Another faction of fans has already concluded that being inspired by other anime is only logical and that’s how anime become better and better. According to these fans, the scenes can’t be called copied since combat scenes in anime are taken from something. Others try to protect the studio and staff by stating that the audience needs episodes early and that can only do so much, thus prompting the usage of inspirations.
Still, both the animator and the studio have come under fire for not being able to restrict the amount of materials that they have taken inspiration from.
You can read Jujutsu Kaisen on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.