Chinese TV drama apologizes for stealing from His Dark Materials

A Chinese series called Douluo Continent has apologized after being called out for lifting elements of HBO’s His Dark Materials for its opening credits.

You heard it here first, folks. As reported by Den of Geek, a Chinese fantasy series titled Douluo Continent has been accused of stealing from the HBO series His Dark Materials.

Based on the book series of the same name by Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials takes place in a world where a human’s soul takes the form of an animal companion called a daemon. The series follows a young girl named Lyra Belaqua’s (Dafne Keen) as she journeys to discover the truth about her parents and their connection to a deep-rooted conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Douluo Continent tells the story of a 16-year-old prodigy Tang San (Xiao), who is sent to Ruoding Academy to harness his magical powers. While there, he and several other students decide to join together against the forces of evil.

The point of contention is the opening credits of each show. If you watch both, a few things might jump out at you. Here’s His Dark Materials…

…and here’s Douluo Continent:

After watching both clips, I can definitely see why there was a plagiarism accusation. Both sequences feature otherworldly imagery, specifically something that looks like dust or glitter floating through undefined space. In fact, the first four shots of Douluo Continent opening look pretty much identical.

Visual Impact Digital Production, which made the Douluo Continent opening credits sequence, issued an apology and explained that the plagiarism “was caused by the lack of rigorous creative attitude and incomplete review mechanism.” The company also said that Douluo Continent‘s title sequence “will be revised overnight and replaced in time, and it will strengthen copyright awareness in the future.”

The company also admitted to using the animation of a character named Jhin from the video game League of Legends as “inspiration.” It’s up to you whether you think that’s too soft a word.

As of right now, there is no news about whether the creators of Douluo Continent will face legal retaliation from HBO or Philip Pullman over the incident.

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