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Woman Claims Illustrations Plagiarized by Revolutionary Girl Utena

Woman Claims Illustrations Plagiarized by Revolutionary Girl Utena

Kunihiko Ikuhara, director of the popular anime Revolutionary Girl Utena, sought 4.4 million yen in compensation from a woman who repeatedly made baseless plagiarism claims.

On December 13, the Tokyo District Court ordered the woman to pay 1.21 million yen for defamation and obstruction of business.

“I’m scared,” Ikhuara said frankly at a press conference after the verdict, adding that the woman’s actions reminded him of the Kyoto Animation arson incident. Since the case, the police have been patrolling the area around Ikuhara’s home twice a day.

Woman Claims Illustrations Plagiarized by Revolutionary Girl Utena

The female defendant claimed that an illustration posted by a voice actor was a stolen work that traced one of her own illustrations. She sent several emails to Ikuhara and also filed for DMCA complaints.

Ikuhara and the voice actors formed a band to perform for a concert commemorating the release of a CD album, but the event had to be canceled due to security concerns.

Ikuhara filed the lawsuit in June 2022, but the woman continued sending similar emails to the publisher. She also claimed in court that X, Google, Instagram, and Harvard Law School had examined the image and found that they infringed copyright.

While the court considered prohibiting the woman from posting any of her work, the lawyers deemed that it would be difficult as doing so would go against her ‘freedom of expression.’

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