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Kadokawa announced to the bookstores that they have found plagiarisms in Dengeki Bunko's new light novel "Ore to Kanojo ga Maoh to Yusha de Seitokaicho" and decided to withdraw the books. Some lines of the novel closely resemble those of Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu etc. "Ore to Kanojyo ..." is Aikawa Jo's first novel released this May. Aikawa is a 22 year old newface writer and was one of the final candidates in the 16th Dengeki Novel Award.

Comparison between BakaTest and Ore Kanojo Japanese
Comparison (longer version) Japanese
Larger version (may give 404 error)

example




There are divided opinions among other light novel authors. Migiwa Korumono (his tweet) criticized Aikawa and said "I despise him as an author." while Takami Kazuyuki supported him that "As long as the novel is fun, this degree of plagiarism is acceptable."

"Ore to Kanojo" ranked 5th in the weekly light novel ranking for May 3 -9.
ref. Japan's Weekly Manga Ranking for May 3 - 9

Source: Scan of the notice

oh what...

Plagiarisms is one of the worst things you can do to the author.

404 Error

Yeah... ... It's not a nice feeling. :x

404 error, fix it please....

Would like to see more of what the writers of both novels say about this. It could very well be a coincidence, as in the cases of Lion King (supposedly plagarising Kimba the White Lion, but was found to be based of Shakespeare's Hamlet) and Bleach (supposedly plagarising Yu Yu Hakusho)

You can't plagiarize Japanese, they only have like 3 words anyway.

I'd like to see what lines exactly were copied.

Plagiarizing is something despicable for an author because you arent earning the credit with your own ability or skill, you are stealing someone elses work and using it to gain said credit. it shows a lack of ability, respect and integrity on the plagiarizers part. in this case though, with light novels being so similar, there has to be some discretion. i hate to condemn the guy with such little information, so ill with hold my own opinion in this particular instant until i have some hard evidence.

Interesting, before I clicked on this link, I was hoping for more information. The images could not be enlarged very well, so I couldn't exactly compare the lines. Anyways, I know I have very few information to judge on, but going solely by Takami's words, it seems like only a few lines were plagiarized. In other words, it could have been an unlikely coincidence. With the novel ranking that high, I don't think the author intended to plagiarize much. I mean, "Baka to Test" is also a very popular light novel, so I would think someone would notice it immediately and there would be protests by "Baka to Test" fans. Anyways, this is just my opinion based on the very little information I have on hand.

... I'm appalled. You shouldn't call yourself an author if you can't even write a novel yourself.

Can someone post sypnosis/theme of this Ore to Kanojyo ?
Its very weird if the novel accused plagiarize another title just because some copy-paste dialogue

I'll withhold judgment until I know more. Anybody here who can read Japanese able to translate some of the similarities in the link provided? I don't know the details with this case but there is a difference between being inspired/influenced by somebody's work (example: Onani Master Kurosawa and Death Note) and just straight plagiarizing someone's hard work (example: Nick Simmons comic and Bleach).

that's the point of discussion. The story is somewhat similar to other popular titles but not a full copy. He is accused of copying some dialogues and lines.

Synopsis:
Kotaro is a high school boy going to Seitoh Gakuen, which admits both humans and non-humans (vampire, werewolf, android etc.). The high school has two student councils: "Yusha Council" and "Maoh Council". Kotaro's girlfriend Alice excels in everything and is the president of Yusha Council. Kotaro happens to be chosen as the president of Maoh Council and has to turn against Alice with non-human council members.

Too bad such a thing happened with the fellow Korean artist H2SO4's debut on light novel illustration work :(

One would think that copy-paste dialogue already crosses a few too many lines.

Cliche lines and overused phrases are one thing, but this seems to be another altogether. I mean, these aren't even the sort of lines you'd commonly see in other novels belonging to a similar genre.

There's so much DESPISE in Korumono's words that I come to think if he or she also, ahem, borrows passages from other authors.

+dtshyk
now I undestand the probs, thanks. and the synopsis is somewhat cliche too >_>
But still, lines between plagiarize and inspired/parody is kinda blurry, whateva... the probs is maybe because the author is newcomer too and make the accuse is seems valid.

Baka to test just got simmonsed. there are too many identical lines (as seen in the picture) to call a homage or originality. if the story is alike (because of the cliches and tropes), then the author should go creative with the dialogues. or the editor should remark this when editing.