Star twitterer Aya Hirano is being accused of ripping off fellow singer-seiyuu Nana Mizuki by stealing both her album title and cover art.
The accusations stem from the fact that the title of Nana Mizuki’s best hits album “The Museum,” released in 2007, is more than a little reminiscent of the title of Aya Hirano’s best hits album “Aya Museum,” due May 2011.
As if this were not enough for Hirano’s legion of stalkers to be getting on with, the cover “Aya Museum” is not dissimilar to the cover of Mizuki’s newly released single “Scarlet Knight”:
The cover itself is a parody of Delacroix’s famous depiction of France’s 1830 July Revolution, Liberty Leading the People:
The covers for the other editions of the album also parody historical themes…
The Mona Aya:
The previously featured Ayapatra:
Oddly, she looks significantly better in the versions she snapped from her phone…
Whether the similarities are genuine plagiarism or mere coincidence is of course a matter of some debate, but that controversy seems to inevitably follow in Hirano’s every step is now beyond dispute.
Isn’t cover art, themes and whatnot up to the marketing team?
I don’t think Aya herself has much to do with the decisions here.
Uugh.
The album art is terrible. It looks like its been photoshopped to death. And the photographer should be guillotined for having the idol perform such a dull pose – she looks more like Liberty negotiating compensating dating daydreams than leading anyone anywhere.
Yet another Japanese album referencing a culture it doesn’t understand for a gimmick no one will remember or value. Pass!
it will better if named:
Blinding Shine of Mona Lisa Forehead
isn’t it?
This parody of French revolution is just a joke, doesn’t even respect the REAL point of the picture, which is actually the only reason French people would fight for : boobs.
Her producers should be more careful.