Anime/Manga. Everyone does it. There are countless anime out there which use characters that look so similar that it can sometimes be difficult to tell who drew them and what show they're from. There are varied styles, and I find some of them rather beautiful, but you've got to admit that a lot of it all looks the same.
But now let's take for example, The Simpsons. Or Family Guy. If someone made a cartoon using that art style, I get the feeling people would be outraged that Matt Groening's or Seth McFarlane's style had been ripped off. But then, why isn't manga being "ripped off"?
It's just something I've always been curious about.
I think a specific quality of Anime is that it's qualified as that style because it looks similar. It's like if you described "impressionistic" or "art deco" or even "classical Greek" as an art style.
Within that specific art style, you'll often see issues of copyright infringement if particular characters are co-opted without permission.
For example...If someone tried to pass off Vegeta as their own character with the same visual characteristics but with the name "Bageta," and in a show called "Lemmingball G," I assume they'd be nailed for copyright infringement and IP violations. It would be too similar to the original.
Thanks for that. I still don't get what makes manga a style of art you're free to use, and that seen in other cartoons not an art style you're free to use. But thinking about it, it's just like the typical american style comic book drawings, lots of people use that, too.
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