

As shown in the following pictures, there are so many similar scenes/character
designs with _One Piece_ :

[![exhibit
1](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ENIYRm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ENIYR.jpg)
[![exhibit
2](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oSXWEm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oSXWE.jpg)

Isn't this considered plagiarism?


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one-piece fairy-tail
Did "Fairy Tail" plagiarize "One Piece"?


Both artists have claimed Akira Toriyama (creator of Dragonball) is their
biggest influence, and coming from the same art school I think it's likely
enough they share a lot of other influences as well as possibly knowing each
other personally as well.

Hiro Mashima's earlier work _Rave Master_ was quite similar artistically to
Eiichiro Oda's work & Fairy Tale as well. So, it's not as if Mashima's has
purposefully made Fairy Tale similar in an art style similar to One Piece -
It's just his own style.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/QCe9N.jpg)

And as mentioned before, there is only so much uniqueness that one can have in
a show as long as both of the shows are. The combination of those two facts
are probably sufficient to pass the comparisons you've shown as coincidence.

Regardless, I would imagine that it's not doing Oda any harm so he's chosen to
leave it be if it was the case that there was some level of plagarism going
on.


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[Plagiarism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism) is a legal crime and
thereby **its definition and how it is handled differs by nation** (also,
plagiarism and copyright infringement are two different things). For example,
in the U.S., an illustration that draws upon previous works by others must be
different enough that a specific source for it cannot be pinpointed and that
multiple possible sources cannot be presented (to mash-up a couple of works
and/or to change the pose slightly can be enough that it does not constitute
copyright infringement). Some of the illustrations you include above are not
clearly similar enough to count under that sort of definition.

However, **Japan is not a country that is as concerned about plagiarism** as
many other nations. Plagiarism is generally thought of as poor behavior **in
the academic context** and when infamous cases of it come out in the
international sphere, **an apology** and possibly **a retraction** of the
academic paper may be made: [a recent
example](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304914904579438131341933464)
is the stem-cell research dissertation that contained almost identical
portions to text posted on a U.S. National Institutes of Health website; the
author "said she was 'very hurt' by the media hoopla surrounding the research"
and the university "released a statement of apology it said was signed by Dr.
Obokata and two of her co-authors. They said they 'humbly accept the various
suggestions made about the flaws in our paper' and were discussing a
retraction . . ." Some universities do not even prepare and distribute a
plagiarism policy, professors vocally welcome plagiarism (I heard the other
day a prof say in a room of fellow instructors and students that it is fine
for students to plagiarize speeches as a way of practicing English), and
unwelcome plagiarism noticed by professors is often not reported (instead, the
work is graded according to its quality or the student fails the course. If
the plagiarism is reported, the prof must fill out lots of paperwork and the
student fails the course anyway, which means the same student may be back in
the same class next semester and the same prof has to deal with him/her again,
so failing the student quietly or grading the work on its own merit [usually
not high quality] can be preferred. This is especially true because once the
paperwork is filed, the school administration can decide whether or not to
give the student any consequences or can tell the prof to please go ahead and
pass the student).

**In standard publishing** , plagiarism is usually dealt with by simply making
a **public apology, or an expression of regret** (which carefully avoids
technically apologizing), and possibly **withdrawing further sales of the
publication** and/or the plagiarist **promptly retires** (a culturally well-
thought-of means of demonstrating that you were not qualified to have that
role; if a Japanese company makes a major blunder, often the boss will
announce retirement to take the blame): see the examples in the [Japanese
Wikipedia page on
plagiarism](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9B%97%E4%BD%9C#.E7.9B.97.E4.BD.9C.E3.81.AE.E4.BE.8B).
In only two of the cases listed there did the victim press charges and file a
lawsuit.

Japanese are often assuaged by, or really **the only thing they wanted out of
their complaint is, an apology**. In Japanese culture, it is rude to explain
in an apology why the thing happened (i.e. if you are late to class, only say
you're sorry for being late; do not mention whether your mother just got
rushed to the hospital or the train got delayed from a suicide on the tracks
or you overslept. They want the apology only, and it is more polite to make it
as succinct as possible).

To sue over plagiarism, the victim who was wronged (the publishing company
that owns the plagiarized work, or possibly the author of the plagiarized
work) must have a desire to sue; then it will come up before a prosecutor and
then possibly proceed to court (sometimes the prosecutor determines that the
defendant is not guilty, or for some other reason that it would not be best
for the case to go to trial, and it dies in the prosecutor's office. Fictional
examples of this can be seen in the Japanese live-action TV drama _HERO_ ).
**In Japanese culture, suing is not as common and viewed as respectable
behavior** as it is in some other countries. About a year ago at my Japanese
university, a student was physically abusing another student and it was found
out by an American international student, who reported it to the advisor. The
advisor was angry that this was reported by the international student because
it could look bad for the department, and the police came to campus to
investigate but were not able to do anything because the victim refused to
admit the abuse, since if he did so, his chance of getting hired by a Japanese
company after graduation would sharply decrease: **a person who reports
misdemeanors is considered a trouble-maker** that a company would not want to
hire; the batterer went off scot-free. This is not the unfortunate case of
every crime in Japan, but it is prevalent for victims to want to protect their
standing in society by not getting involved in a police report or lawsuit.

**Some character designs, and battle poses, are common enough** in many
manga/anime titles that no one could sue over them (such as hair styles like
the long, black straight hair that waves at the bottom seen in Tomoyo in
_Cardcaptor Sakura_ and _Tsubasa Chronicle_ , or the high ponytail with a wide
ribon or sash seen in Kaoru in _Rurouni Kenshin_ , or the shooting-straight-up
spikes of hair like Gon in _HUNTER x HUNTER_ ).

It is also not considered plagiarism to **pay tribute** to a character/costume
design that you like in a parody sort of way. Having your characters cosplay
is the easiest way, like _Hyouka_ 's [Ibara
Mayaka](http://hyouka.wikia.com/wiki/Mayaka_Ibara)'s copy of Frolbericheri
Frol's fashion in the classic shoujo sci-fi [_11 Nin
Iru!_](http://frolbericheri.tripod.com/) (They Were Eleven), but adapting a
design in a way that incorporates originality while giving a big hint to the
audience who you're giving a shout-out to is also unlikely to garner ill
feelings from the artist who created the original character. As an example,
[_Sailor Moon_ parodies appeared in _Crayon Shin-chan_ and vice
versa](http://wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Sailor_Moon_and_Crayon_Shin-chan),
even though the manga titles were not owned by the same publishing company nor
the anime owned by the same animation studio (though both aired on the same TV
channel), and [here's a list](http://wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Cameos) of
other series in which Sailor Moon was given a cameo appearance.

![Costume Comparison](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8YuFi.jpg) ![in Shin-
chan](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hC85H.jpg) ![in Sailor
Moon](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mLy9A.png) ![Shinnousuke character in Sailor
Moon](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2xgXU.gif)

Ultimately, 1) **plagiarism is not considered a major scandal requiring action
to be taken** and 2) **a publishing company or the artist must have a desire
to sue for plagiarism, which is not all that common** in Japan. When Kamiya
Yuu's illustrations were [accused of
plagiarism](http://seventhstyle.com/2014/09/23/no-game-no-life-artist-caught-
tracing/) on the Twitter account rotiflride (which has since been suspended),
no action was taken. When an element in the anime adaption of his _No Game No
Life_ series was discovered to be plagiarized according to another Twitter
account, the production committee admitted this and issued an apology, and
decided to replace the image for the DVD and Blue-Ray release. The specific
artist who committed the plagiarism [wrote a
response](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-05-29/no-game-no-life-
anime-staff-apologizes-for-using-art-without-authorization/.74993) which looks
vaguely like an apology but which does not technically apologize.


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