You can watch the trailer, it's very similar.
I hope you don't take this to heart, but...
"whether or not the movie is copying or not, it does not make it okay to be disrespectful." <<< Isn't that what this movie did in the first place?
Please hear me out:
I'm not too mad that they ripped off YOI (although I should be raging, but I'm not). No, I'm not mad because of the copying, this just means people will find out and pay attention to the original, which is a good thing. Don't get me wrong, stealing is still stealing, and stealing is bad, but I'm more raged about the fact that YOI is about diversity of all kinds, equality for all, overcoming mental illnesses and becoming stronger because of it, and then this movie tears through all of this, the DEEP parts of YOI that made the series a hook for us.
Kubo sensei took years to make/write YOI, LOI was made in 2 months. She put so much effort into it, and made great references. For example, Victor is based off of a man who won 2-3 consecutive golds, but then people realized he was so flamboyant, and labeled him "gay" automatically. He never won gold again. Phichit is based off of a skater who wasn't white, and was male. He did PERFECT routines, but never won due to racism and gender expectations.
I'm not sure if Kubo sensei meant to reference these skaters, but nonetheless, it doesn't change the fact that these skaters EXISTED, and that these are their stories.
This type of discrimination happens with females too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAhyMl_ZS04
As you can see, I'm mad that this is making light of YOI. Yes, Hallmark should have asked for permission, but even if they didn't, no one should take a beautiful story like this and dilute it so much, just to make profit off of it. It's an insult. YOI is trying to BREAK stereotypes, LOI can't even amount to that, and they're only seemingly supporting the stereotypes, but that's a whole other can of worms.
(on a side note: Hallmark has copied before, but they were sued for 7 million, how did they not learn their lesson?)
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quhailey
7 years ago
Again, I, too, agree that the movie seems sketchy, and would be extremely upset if they did copy Kubo-sensei and made it bland and not very diverse like YOI.
I understand that many people will not want anything to do with it because the similarities are very off putting, but straight up accusing the movie with anger (people in general, not geared specifically to you) when the movie hasn't even been released is unreasonable.
I appreciate your explanation, and I agree, but I just think that people's anger is premature and without enough backing.
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JustPassingBy00
7 years ago
That's true, and I do want to give it the benefit of the doubt, but what's even sketchier is that they could have waited until the YOI hype was over to release LOI. They're releasing it not long after YOI ended, when the more hardcore fans' thurst are at its peak.
Hallmark might have thought that....
1. They could play in on this thurst, and believed that no one would care because "fans will be excited to see a "spin off" of YOI, so backlash can't be possible".
2. They can take the basis of YOI, change a few things, then rake in the dough. "Since YOI was so popular with the anime community, LOI will be popular with the more general audience".
No, I'm not saying they will copy YOI frame from frame, but the base idea (from beginning to end) of YOI is there, and that's enough to be considered plagiarism. <<< I think this is why so many people are angered. Deep under, they might know that it's not 100% identical, but it's similar enough to trigger them.
I just don't trust Hallmark because they have copied from many, many creators before, and only ONE person actually filed a lawsuit....
^^^Because of this history, I'm not that mad or surprised at this. I just don't like how it's kind of like an insult. I'm not saying they should make a movie that's exactly like YOI, but I feel like it's one of those scenarios where people are fighting for a good cause, but then someone comes in and does something silly and that makes the whole campaign seem like a joke to the people they're tying to convince.
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quhailey
7 years ago
^^ I completely agree. But it's just the way people are going about expressing their anger isn't the best imo, though tbh it's kind of expected once a fandom grows large. I'm just mostly upset that YOI is falling into typical large fandom shenanigans that don't reflect the nature of YOI.
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JustPassingBy00
7 years ago
I must agree, what should have been done is 1. inform Kubo sensei about it first, then 2. see what she says and go from there. What if Kubo sensei didn't want to handle it this way? But for most fandoms, the idea of another big company profiting off the small is disgraceful, so they act first.
I deleted my other post to move it here, since it will just be buried:
The other problem is, if this movie is released and it IS a knock off of YOI, then we can't take action anymore. Hallmark is profiting off of Kubo sensei's hard work at this point, and I think this is the other reason why people are angered.
We can definitely give it the benefit of the doubt, but what if it actually is a knock off? What will we do then? Hallmark will make money, even if it's not a hit movie they will still make money off of someone else's work.
The release date it apparently in 5 days. What if Kubo sensei doesn't respond in time? what if they can't handle the issue and resolve it in time?
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quhailey
7 years ago
Yeah, it's really uncomfortable for creators when their fans take action and make decisions in their place without any prompting.
And lmao I just have to re-type my reply here to your second part.
I commend that people are trying to do prevention rather than back up/clean up because yeah it's much more effective. However the way many people are going about it isn't informative and beneficial at all.
I really appreciate this discussion with you because it takes in all sorts of angles rather than just 'omfg it's a *beep* ripoff of YOI it's gonna ruin YOI thanks cishets' because frankly, that doesn't help with anything??
And even if the issue isn't able to be resolved before the release, I do believe that there are actions that can be taken, though it'll probably be messier.
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JustPassingBy00
7 years ago
I do appreciate this convo too. And yeah, the whole "omfg it's a *beep* ripoff of YOI it's gonna ruin YOI thanks cishets" like you said is rude..... maybe not to the movie company, but as an unofficial representative of the YOI fandom.
Well, if push comes to shove, it will work out in the end, hopefully.
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