Anime has gained immense popularity across the globe, to the extent that its influence can now be seen in public school education textbooks.
Recently, Bolivia’s Ministry of Education released school textbooks with covers that closely resemble various well-known anime series. Social media users were quick to notice the similarities between the anime covers and the textbook covers.
It has been reported that the government-hired artist traced elements of anime art to create the textbook covers. Here are some instances where the textbook covers appear to borrow from popular anime:
Sixth Grade Textbook & Anime Orange
The cover of the sixth-grade textbook closely mirrors the key visual from the Orange anime, where the main characters are students.
Fifth Grade Textbook & Fruits Basket
The cover of the fifth-grade high school book shares a striking resemblance to the cover of Fruits Basket.
Fourth Grade Textbook & Weathering With You
Even the cover of the renowned director Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering With You has been imitated in the fourth-grade textbook.
Third Grade Textbook & Your Lie In April
The third-grade textbook cover is similar to the cover image from Your Lie In April.
Bolivia’s Education Department Takes Responsibility
As reported by Yahoo News Japan, following allegations of plagiarism on social media, Bolivia’s education department acknowledged the issue and disclosed that approximately 1.1 million copies of these textbooks had been distributed to students.
Edgar Pary, the Bolivian Minister of Education, expressed regret over the plagiarism. He mentioned that legal action and disciplinary measures against those involved are being considered. However, he denied any plans to recall the textbooks, asserting that the content itself is not problematic.
Is It Plagiarism?
The key question remains: does this constitute plagiarism? In this case, the artist employed the tracing technique to replicate the drawing pose from the original artwork.
In most cases, tracing can be considered a breach of copyright law if it leads to the creation of a derivative work from someone else’s copyrighted material without authorization or a valid exception, such as fair use in the US or fair dealing in some other countries. Copyright law protects the original expression of an idea in a tangible medium, which includes visual artworks.
When creating a traced work based on copyrighted material and then distributing, displaying, or selling it without the permission of the copyright holder, you could be infringing on their rights. As a result, the original artist may have grounds to take legal action against you.
Also Read: Ex-illegal manga site operator sentenced to 3 Years in prison by Japan court
Source: Yahoo News Japan, Noticias Bolivisión
