If you follow Japanese pop, you know that groups don't get much bigger than AKB48. (Literally!) One of the troupe's latest singles was allegedly copied by a Chinese variety program.
The show, whose title roughly means Enjoy Forever with Your Family, is broadcast on Hunan satellite television in China.
Above, you can see a performance from the song that was broadcast earlier this month. Listen closely to the theme song! Below, you can hear an excerpt of AKB48's wordy single, Suzukake Nanchara.
Well, whaddya think? The dancing, the lyrics, and the outfits, of course, are different, but what about the melody and the song?
Online in Japan, commenters were quick to call the Chinese program out on the rip-off. As... they were in China, too! As one of China's biggest news sites Xinhua reports, some agreed that the program copied the AKB48 song. Others thought Japan copied a lot of things from China, including its language, and China has only copied Japan a wee-bit. Uh, okay!
Hey, what about Spider-Man, Jack Sparrow, and Disney?!
【放送事故】 中国のテレビのAKB48パクリが酷い [48juno@YouTube]
中国テレビ局がＡＫＢ４８の曲を丸パクリ、日本から批判殺到！「ごもっとも」「日本は盗人、中国はちょっと模倣」―中国ネットユーザー [Xinhua]
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