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Embracing Love's Nitta Acknowledges Tracing Photo
posted on by Egan Loo
The Japanese publisher Libre's Be-Boy Gold magazine editorial staff and manga artist Youka Nitta posted notices on Thursday regarding readers' concerns about Nitta's recent illustration that resembles an advertising photograph. Specifically, the opening page in Nitta's Stand on Vessel (Haru wo Daiteita series #49) manga in the August issue (released on June 28) of Be-Boy Gold bears a great resemblance to a photograph for Italy's Diesel fashion brand. A comparison of 32 Nitta art pieces with earlier works has been posted on an unofficial site, including the Stand on Vessel/Diesel comparison that started the controversy.
In her webpage notice, Nitta directly acknowledged that she traced Diesel's photograph for the opening page of Stand on Vessel. She added that she is somewhat naïve in her awareness of copyrights, but acknowledged after much reconsideration that the illustration infringed on the copyrights of Diesel and the people who shot the advertising photograph. Nitta's webpage notice went further in acknowledging the tracing issue than her earlier July 3 blog entry on the issue. Nitta promised to deal with these issues more carefully in the future, and apologized profusely to Diesel, the people involved, and her readers.
In light of Nitta's words, Be-Boy Gold's editorial staffers determined that her illustration did indeed infringe on copyrights, and added their own apologies to Diesel, the photograph's copyright holders, and the magazine's readers. Like Nitta, the staffers said they will be more aware of these issues going forward. The publisher's advertising for Be-Boy Gold's next issue (the October issue, on sale on August 28) does not list Nitta in its lineup.
Central Park Media's Be Beautiful boys-love imprint published earlier installments of Haru wo Daiteita under the name Embracing Love in North America. Another North American distributor, Media Blasters, released the two-part animated video adaptation of Haru wo Daiteita under its Kitty Media label in May, and licensed its continuation Fuyu no Semi. A geek by any other name's blog notes that California's Yaoi-Con 2008 convention is still planning to host Nitta, who previously appeared at the 2006 New York Comic Con.
