According to Hayakawa Shobo and Square Enix, the winner of the 18th Square Enix Manga Award Special Grand Prize was found to plagiarize Ubukata Tow’s short story “Mardock Scramble -104”. Hayakawa Shobo, the publisher of Mardock Scrumble series, officially made a protest against the violation of copyrights. Square Enix and the author of the manga titled “Compliance” admitted plagiarisms and retracted the award. The author was a rookie mangaka and obtained a chance to serialize his manga on Shonen GanGan magazine by the award. The author announced in his blog that he will return the prize money and will self-restrain creations.
The common story line of the novel “Mardock Scramble-104” and the manga “Compliance”
The protagonist is an agent of the judiciary. He tries to save a female whistleblower, who has been chased by hitmen hired by the accused company, but he cannot open fire until permission from the judiciary is issued. He gets the permission and shelters her in a hotel. The accused company purchases up the whole building of the hotel and designates the place as a military exercise ground in order to make gun-shooting legal and disguise the assassination. The protagonist opposes to the company by attempting to purchase back one of the rooms and the two sides compete with each other over the ownership of the room The protagonist suspend the whole legal process by suing the hotel for causing the whistleblower’s burn in the room. The protagonist succeeds in repelling the hitmen.
Differences between the two works
1. The three main characters of Mardock Scrumble (Boiled, Oeuf Coque, and Dr. Easter) were merged into one character in the manga.
2. In the novel, Dr. Easter ordered the whistleblower to put her hands in the hot water to cause the burn. In the manga, the whistleblower accidentally burnt her hand by cigarettes.
Sources: Hayakawa Online, Square Enix
