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Gundam and Giant Robots in South Korea

Sat, 2006-10-28 03:57
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imgPirated Gundam products (videos, toys, etc.) has always been very popular in South Korea. In 2005, when Sunrise, which owns the rights to Gundam, tried to register "Gundam" as a trademark in South Korea, they were turned down by the South Korean agency.

Naturally, Sunrise appealed to the Korean courts. However, Sunrise lost the appeal for the incredible reason that "In Korea, 'Gundam' is a general term for robots which appear in anime" (韓国では『ガンダム』とはアニメに登場するロボットの一般名詞である)!

The "Gundam Trial" was so shocking to Japanese people that it had come to be seen as an urban legend. However, it was proven that it was no joke, but an actual trial. For more info, see here or here (創通＝Bandai).

When "super robot" anime and manga were gaining momentum during the 80's, the popular shows weren't as easily accessible in South Korea as they are today. Surpassing even the modern fansubbers, people in South Korea began releasing Japanese animations as "Original South Korean Products" under different names, many of which were televised by Korean TV stations. Below are some examples of the "Original Korean Products" and their Japanese counterparts:

Gundam Models

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Galactic Dark Knight 1979

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"New Gundam Series"

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Mazinger Z...

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...and Tekon V

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VOTOMS

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Last but not least, One Piece!

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Do Koreans realize how

Submitted by Shura (not verified) on Tue, 2007-03-27 08:47.

Do Koreans realize how utterly ridiculous they look by doing this?

No, they don’t. I know

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 02:38.

No, they don’t.
I know Japan has been bothered and damaged by their piracy.

Do you REALIZE how stupid you sound?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2008-07-12 09:52.

Do you REALIZE how stupid you sound? i mean, serioulsy, maybe it's revenge after wat japan did to korea? raping young women, forcing them to drink their urine. eww.

Wow, anons are great. I

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2008-11-03 15:02.

Wow, anons are great. I wasn't being anti-Korean; I was addressing how stupid those particular Korean plagiarists are. And you want to pursue revenge after 63 years? Do peace treaties not mean anything anymore? And mind you, it was the Japanese government and military that in favor of war and conquest. The average Japanese person had little to no political power and while they may have had xenophobic views, that doesn't justify hating an entire group of people for the actions of their minority. The same goes for the group of Korean plagiarists that don't respect Japanese copyrights.

Check out here for more Korean piracy

Submitted by G-Saber (not verified) on Tue, 2007-03-27 15:20.

Toppage
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/frame.html

funny photoes page from link above
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/koreanime.html
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/html/robot.html
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/html/toy.html
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/html/chracter.html
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/html/nihonigaikara.html
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/html/animesong.html
http://nandakorea.sakura.ne.jp/html/jissyaka.html

I hate their piracy but I want the Gundam L-GAIM model...

That One Piece one, it's

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 04:03.

That One Piece one, it's just too funny!

Im sorry but these Japs

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2008-02-06 00:37.

Im sorry but these Japs crying is funny. They are making robots cartoons? Oh noes? Robots are an American concept. The Koreans made a cartoon about robots like the Japanese did. Cry me a fucking river.

Oh such ignorance

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2008-06-03 13:51.

Well actually its a Czech media concept which was first used during the 30's in a play.
Oh and Leonardo Da Vinci designed the first Robot, a clockwork suit of armor way before America was even discovered by Columbus.

actually i'd just like to

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2009-07-01 05:46.

actually i'd just like to say, that Korea didn't make a cartoon about robots like Japan. But took already existing cartoons from Japan and then redrew them so that they almost look different but no where near enough to be original. They even used the original titles for god sake!

Im sorry but these Yanks

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-03-06 23:24.

Robots an american concept? No American cartoon comes even close to Japanese Manga. Why do Americans complain about everything?

That's a nice opinion you

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2009-09-09 16:34.

That's a nice opinion you have there, champ.

There are so many problems

Submitted by Sandy (not verified) on Wed, 2008-12-17 23:42.

There are so many problems with this thread. You can't blame something bad on an entire people. You also can't blame something that happened 60 years ago on people who weren't even born yet. You also are talking about war... versus plagiarism. There's all sorts of hideous things people do to their own people in times of war (as well as peace times), let alone what they do to those who aren't their countrymen. I doubt you know every single bad thing everyone on this planet has done, so your point is null. Besides, where's the connection? Sorry, but the point you were trying to make was completely out of context.

Also, you can't really copyright the idea of a robot suit.... not now anyway, there's too many. But, if you take something, and make it look exactly like something else, with just minor detail changes, that is plagiarism.

Also, saying "oh noes the ____ are crying" and being prejudice... it makes you just as bad as you think the people you're being prejudiced against are. That kind of behavior and thinking just makes the world worse than it SHOULD BE.