AI-Powered Korean Webtoon Suspected Of Copying Mushoku Tensei

The world of Artificial Intelligence & ChatGPT is not only expanding as the days go by but improving its efficiency, sometimes outputting better results than humans in a quicker fashion. But that’s definitely not always the case in the current timeline where human creativity is still valued higher.

This mindset exists in anime & manga fans as well who have recently accused a Korean Webcomic titled “The Knight King Who Returned with a God” for blatantly copying the popular Isekai series Mushoku Tensei & Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy by using Generative AI.

Similarities between Leon, the protagonist of The Knight King, and Rudeus Greyrat, the protagonist of Mushoku Tensei, have raised eyebrows among fans. Not only do they looked similar, but certain frames and sequences in the webtoon were also lifted directly from the well-known Isekai series.

A recent webtoon on Naver Webtoon called "The Knight King" by Blue line Studio released on May 22nd, has come under fire recently by readers as being suspected of tracing the Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation anime by using AI. pic.twitter.com/OiT9Ob94Ai

— Manga Mogura RE (@MangaMoguraRE) May 24, 2023

Suspicions of plagiarism were bolstered by details like Rudeus’ first glimpse of the outside world through a window and Han Ari’s uncanny resemblance to Eris from Mushoku Tensei.

[ The Knight King Who Returned With A God ] I didn’t wanna believe, but this is indeed atleast AI enhanced
by u/Clashking666 in manhwa

In response to the controversy, the author of the webtoon admitted of using AI in his work but exclaimed that it was used only for for final touches and corrections. After receiving several complaints from disappointed readers, The Knight King’s creators at Blue Line Studio decided to remove those panels from the webtoon.

“We did not use AI-generated images but used 3D models and various materials to reduce the sense of discomfort felt in the webtoon, and used AI to correct them at the final stage of the work. We technically used AI to finish the work for efficiency, but in the creative area, we did all the work in the studio as shown below,” the creators of the webtoon said.

In addition to Mushoku Tensei, fans have also accused the creators of The Knight King to have replicated the design of Marvel’s iconic character ‘Groot” in one of their characters.

Blue Line Studio hopes to reassure fans that they will not compromise the quality of future chapters of The Knight King by using artificial intelligence. As fans continue to voice their displeasure and call for more responsibility, it is unclear what effect this scandal will have on the webtoon and the studio’s reputation.

The Knight King Who Returned with a God Webtoon, which began serialization on May 22, 2023, is based on the webnovel of the same title following the story of a boy who returned to Earth with an unknown person after hunting devils in the otherworld for three hundred years.

Source: Nate News, via Sportskeeda