Japanese fan reaction to the Yamamoto scandal?

[Black_Anime_Fan]

For being one of, if not the most controversial event in Dragon Ball 's history behind the scenes, how did the fans react in Japan? Was it a big deal or was it kind of shrugged off? I know the whole deal was 4 years ago but to this day the Yamamoto scandal really strikes me and it really hit me hard when I first found it, knowing full well that the music I grew up loving, whether it be from video games or a few pieces from the anime, was stolen in some shape or form. How did the Japanese fans react to this?

[ShaneisMC]

I don't know how the Japanese reacted. But I can tell you that for them to bust him with THREE episodes remaining of Kai 1.0 and have a music swap at the VERY end...... that pisses even me off. I really liked Yamamoto. I made sure to get Kai in parts so I could have Parts 1-4 with his score. I wish nothing had happened and Kai in its entirety could have had it. Either that or appropriately placed Kikuchi all throughout. I REALLY like some of Sumitomos tracks. I truly do. But there's also some I REALLY don't. He's a mixed bag as far as I'm concerned.

[Black_Anime_Fan]

I don't know how the Japanese reacted. But I can tell you that for them to bust him with THREE episodes remaining of Kai 1.0 and have a music swap at the VERY end...... that pisses even me off. I really liked Yamamoto. I made sure to get Kai in parts so I could have Parts 1-4 with his score. I wish nothing had happened and Kai in its entirety could have had it. Either that or appropriately placed Kikuchi all throughout. I REALLY like some of Sumitomos tracks. I truly do. But there's also some I REALLY don't. He's a mixed bag as far as I'm concerned.

Couldn't agree more. Even though I like some of Sumitomo's music, it just isn't the same without Yamamoto's charm.

[Kamiccolo9]

I mean, I think we can all agree that stealing is bad.

But damn those meddling people at Toei who prevented a stolen soundtrack from enriching a children's cartoon. Didn't they know that people really wanted that stuff? I mean, who cares where it came from, if taking it out is detrimental to my enjoyment of people shooting lasers at each other.

Damn people with consciences and potential legal trouble. Where do they get off ruining my favorite show?

[ShaneisMC]

I mean, I think we can all agree that stealing is bad.

But damn those meddling people at Toei who prevented a stolen soundtrack from enriching a children's cartoon. Didn't they know that people really wanted that stuff? I mean, who cares where it came from, if taking it out is detrimental to my enjoyment of people shooting lasers at each other.

Damn people with consciences and potential legal trouble. Where do they get off ruining my favorite show?

Jeez dude relax. Nobody's saying theft is ok. I'm personally just saying that I think it's incredibly unfortunate and very irritating timing. I wish it wasn't plagiarized at all. That being said even though it is it really does suck that he was busted when he was and it must especially have been jarring for the Japanese audience who had been accustomed to listening to a specific set of music tracks only to have it switched out with another composer's music at the very last part of the series initial run. Even worse it being changed literally on the climax episode with the defeat of Cell. Just sucks that were he to be busted it would have been better received by the audience had it taken place after the show ended a mere 3 episodes later.

[Kamiccolo9]

I mean, I think we can all agree that stealing is bad.

But damn those meddling people at Toei who prevented a stolen soundtrack from enriching a children's cartoon. Didn't they know that people really wanted that stuff? I mean, who cares where it came from, if taking it out is detrimental to my enjoyment of people shooting lasers at each other.

Damn people with consciences and potential legal trouble. Where do they get off ruining my favorite show?

Jeez dude relax. Nobody's saying theft is ok. I'm personally just saying that I think it's incredibly unfortunate and very irritating timing. I wish it wasn't plagiarized at all. That being said even though it is it really does suck that he was busted when he was and it must especially have been jarring for the Japanese audience who had been accustomed to listening to a specific set of music tracks only to have it switched out with another composer's music at the very last part of the series initial run. Even worse it being changed literally on the climax episode with the defeat of Cell. Just sucks that were he to be busted it would have been better received by the audience had it taken place after the show ended a mere 3 episodes later.

Except you are literally saying that you wished that it could have continued, just so that the show would have been more enjoyable.

So no. I don't really sympathize with people who say things like:

But I can tell you that for them to bust him with THREE episodes remaining of Kai 1.0 and have a music swap at the VERY end...... that pisses even me off.

I wish nothing had happened and Kai in its entirety could have had it.

I don't really care if it was "bad for the show." If there is a crime being committed, you stop it. You don't simply wait until it's convenient.

[ShaneisMC]

It's like I said dude, I wish none of it had been plagiarized. As far as anything else goes I'm not saying anyone should have just turned a blind eye considering the fact that it is. I'm simply saying that given the circumstances I wish that he could have avoided getting caught for ever so slightly longer, captain buzzkill. It's not like it was near the beginning or middle of some awkward timing to have been brought in like he was. The show was practically over and literally climaxing. You can't reasonably tell me that at least on some level it isn't extremely unfortunate timing and for the show. He'd been stealing for what like 20 years or something? I don't think it would exactly have been the end of the world for him to "get away with it" a whopping 2-3 more weeks, finish the show "properly" and then him being found out about by officials and prosecuted/fired.

[Kamiccolo9]

You don't seem to realize that you are literally saying that you wish a criminal hadn't been caught, so that he could have continued committing crimes just a little while longer, just so that you could enjoy the fruits of his "labor." And the shocking part is that you honestly seem to think that people enjoying his work is an adequate excuse to propagate his stealing.

Let's apply this logic to other situations.

"This guy writes really good books with those first drafts he stole off that other guy. I know it's wrong, but they're really good. Let him do it just a little while longer; it won't be the end of the world."

"Let's allow a guy to steal jewels from rich people, just a little while longer, so I can watch those rich people get what they deserve. They can handle it; it's not like the end of the world or anything."

"Let's allow a mugging to continue, just a little while longer, because I like watching someone I dislike get beat up. It won't be the end of the world."

"Let's get drunk and drive, just for a little while, because it'll be fun. It's not the end of the world."

Do you seriously not see the problem here?

The only unfortunate part of the situation was that it got as far as it did in the first place.

And "Captain Buzzkill?" Really? What is this, middle school? What kind of place do you come from where having disdain for a thief is looked down on? You have absolutely no moral authority here. If you're immature enough to place your own enjoyment of something as more important than a person having their work stolen, then you are most assuredly someone that I would not want to associate with.

[ShaneisMC]

I guess not. I'm just more morally grey than you. It's a really big universe out there. To each his own. For the record btw just in case it seemingly goes over your head some more, I said all of that again out of which that very particular circumstance happened. As I said first and foremost I wish there had been no plagiarism to start with.

[ekrolo2]

In a perfect world Yamamoto would've made all those songs himself and gone on to do the new movies, Kai 2.0 and Super but the fact is he stole that music. As much as I enjoyed it and still listen to it often, he still broke the law and deserves what he got. That's the law.

[Ajay]

I don't even know how to feel about the Yamamoto score these days. What actually is the "Yamamoto score" and what's shamelessly stolen material? You just don't know. For all we know, every single composition was taken from somewhere. I won't deny that I enjoyed "his" work in Kai, but it's a weird thing to talk about.

As for Kai 2.0, the new movies, and Super... Holy fuck, Toei, what was wrong with Takaki?! He proved time and time again that he could do Dragon Ball well, yet he was tossed aside for Sumitomo! Terrible decision.

[Alex9196]

To me you cant steal music, cause you cant really own music. Music is there to enjoy and thats it.

[Lunatic Fringe]

To me you cant steal music, cause you cant really own music. Music is there to enjoy and thats it.

You absolutely can steal music. It's property that you as the composer work at creating out of the ground with your own ingenuity. You have the right to enjoy the fruits of your own labor w/o someone coming around and plagarizing it. It shouldn't be treated as any differently than plagarizing an essay. Even if you don't copy everything word for word, you're still trying to pass it off as work that YOU came up with and that should have serious consequences.

[TheGreatness25]

I love when people think you can't steal music. That's simply because the person who says stuff like that usually has never created music. If you worked hard on something, created it, thought about it, worked hours or days or whatever on it and then some jerk comes along, sees your work, and goes, "Oh, yeah! I could use that!" you'd be pissed off.

I don't care about this score either way. I didn't think the Yamamoto score was a Godsend. The GT music was much better in my opinion.

[ShaneisMC]

I think its much more simple in some ways than some may make it out to be. Its of course certainly possible to look at a situation from multiple angles with conflicting feelings. For example for me personally and likely many others i would imagine if you asked them from an outside perspective was it morally right for him to do it? No. From a legal stance should they have busted him immediately upon proof? Yes. As a fan of the show however is it seriously that hard to wish for a more proper ending to this situation? Of course its not hard. It sucks shit got screwed up. And from that perspective and that one alone with moral/legal integrity aside though still valid as they are it is perfectly reasonable and i could only imagine logical to want things to go best for the sake of the show. On a side note, not that this likely could really have much if any application in his defense.... I mean there is "Original Thought Theory". It would apply to musical notes as well id imagine. But again thats just intentionally throwing dude a bone. However possible its unlikely of course he just so happened to have created said tracks "on his own" without ever having heard it elsewhere.

[Alex9196]

So just because someone comes up with a piece of music he automatically owns it?

[Ajay]

So just because someone comes up with a piece of music he automatically owns it?

Uh, y-yes...

[Lunatic Fringe]

So just because someone comes up with a piece of music he automatically owns it?

If the composer copyrights the music that he or she comes up with, thus granting them the exclusive legal rights of its use and distribution, then yes, they own it.

[Alex9196]

So just because someone comes up with a piece of music he automatically owns it?

If the composer copyrights the music that he or she comes up with, thus granting them the exclusive legal rights of its use and distribution, then yes, they own it.

If you go by law that may be true. But who says that the laws of a random country are fair? "property" this days goes way to far. People think they can own everything.

Also if music is really a property isnt everyone these days a thief then? I mean who really buys every song they listen too?

[Lunatic Fringe]

If you go by law that may be true. But who says that the laws of a random country are fair? "property" this days goes way to far. People think they can own everything.

Also if music is really a property isnt everyone these days a thief then? I mean who really buys every song they listen too?

I don't see how gaining profits and earning the respective credit from your own work isn't fair. You don't owe a dime to anyone who thinks that they can get away with being a hack and ripping you off of your creation and passing it off as their own. By the way, there are limitations and exceptions to copyright and it's all under the banner of "fair use", at least in the United States. You might have heard about it from YouTube every now and then with complaints about videos being removed for "illegally" using copyrighted music in their videos.

Commentary, teaching, parody, etc, that's all fine and dandy but outright claiming it as your own is a big no-no and deserves the scrutiny that comes with being a thief.