The plagiarism controversy surrounding the Netflix drama 'Squid Game' has been raised again.
On August 1st, a related online community claimed that 'Squid Game' plagiarized the Japanese movie 'Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler' ', resulting in hundreds of comments and heated debate among netizens.
In fact, since the release of 'Squid Game', similarities with 'Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler' have been constantly raised. The same point of view has been raised this time as the stories of these two works overlap to a large extent.
'Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler' is a movie of the same name based on a cartoon and was released in October 2009. This work, which was released as 'Kaiji' in Korea, achieved a box office record with a box office income of 2.25 billion yen in Japan.
The main character, Kaiji, who lives idle, is in debt and receives a proposal for a 'murder game' to survive by gathering the losers in his life.
'Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler' was made into a movie after being a box office hit in Japan. The story follows the format of a Japanese death game. home page capture
With this storyline, suspicions are being raised that 'Squid Game' plagiarized 'Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler' . A video that briefly summarizes and introduces 'Kaiji's 'gambling apocalypse' was shared on media such as YouTube, supporting this controversy.
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who directed the actual 'Squid Game', once said that he had been inspired by 'Squid Game' as he came across 'Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler' as the original cartoon. He pointed out the success of 'Squid Game', saying, "I was able to immerse myself in the emotions of the characters in the game because anyone, regardless of age or gender, could easily understand the game. The difference is that 'Squid Game' is simple, and viewers focus on people rather than games."
However, the industry's perspective on these two works is different. Although a Japanese-style death match game was used as the main story line, this is because the form of the game and the characters' personalities are completely different. The same controversy has been raised as videos introducing simple stories are shared and compared to 'Squid Game'.
Writer Osamu Suzuki, who wrote the screenplay for 'Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler', wrote an article for the Asahi Shimbun in September of last year, ending this controversy himself. He said, "If you look at the plot of ('Squid Game'), you might think 'gambling apocalypse look Kaiji' or 'as God says'.
He also commented, “Even though it was a ‘death game’ drama, it ended neatly.
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