You may not know who Tsuneji Mori is, but when you mention Kentaro Miura’s “BERSERK” (Hong Kong translation: Brand Warriors, Taiwan translation: Brand Warriors, China likes to use the subtitle of the early TV version of the animation – Legend of the Sword and Wind), I believe you are impressed, right?
Tsuneji Mori was a good friend of Kentaro Miura. After Kentaro Miura’s unfortunate death, he took notes to discuss the setting, follow-up plot and even the finale of “BERSERK” with Kentaro Miura during his lifetime. He also took notes to continue “BERSERK” with Kentaro Miura’s assistant team…
Tsuneji Mori recently expressed his dissatisfaction with Toei and the production unit related to Kamen Rider on X Twitter, and the work involved is the newly launched “Kamen Rider Zeztz”!
Tsuneji Mori announced on Twitter that “Kamen Rider Zeztz” plagiarized the comic “Ddiver” that he and “BERSERK” cartoonist Kentaro Miura co-created during his lifetime. There are many similar parts in this new knight’s setting.
Tsuneji Mori said: The original starting point of the whole thing was through a friend who sent a message and asked, “Can I ask Mr. Mori to help with Kamen Rider’s movie planning?”
I met the producer (hereinafter referred to as Mr. A) in the winter of 2023, and he said to me: “We want to make a Kamen Rider spin-off movie. Although it is still in the planning stage, if you have a good idea, can you help us?”
So I shared some of the plots and ideas I was working on at the time. Since it was a discussion related to planning, I also took out the comic materials and covers of “D diver” that was being serialized at that time as discussion materials.
We had a very pleasant chat and I had a very good impression of Mr. A.
After that, in my spare time, I compiled the plots we discussed and drew a few storyboards. Although it takes a lot of time, it doesn’t feel like hard work since it’s a commissioned job from Kamen Rider, which I love.
Then in 2004, I met Mrs. A again.
Topics discussed include:
- The protagonist who has lucid dreams
- The heroine met in a dream
- Chasing evil in dreams
- Transform when encountering an unbeatable monster
- The enemy invades and dominates real society from the spiritual world (dream)
After seeing my story and storyboards, Mr. A seemed very moved… which made me very happy. I have always hoped that both “D Diver” and Kamen Rider can deeply integrate the concept of “a hero who transforms into a fighting hero in a dream”.
I also gave him a single volume of the comic. The next day, A happily signed the book and wrote: “I’m really looking forward to the transformation scene!!”
Later, although the extra chapter project seemed to have been shelved by Toei, I learned through my friends that Ms. A did not stop it because she was dissatisfied, and she also said, “I really want to see me again.” This made me feel that we had established a good relationship, and I was happy for it.
As time passed, I saw new information about the new show “Kamen Rider Zeztz”. I was very surprised and confused.
The editorial department knew that I had a plan to assist Kamen Rider, so they contacted Company A to ask what was going on.
Mrs. A said at that time that she would come right away to listen to my explanation. To be honest, I was actually a little relieved.
I don’t want to conflict with a big company like Toei at all, especially a company that handles so many of my favorite works. It would be the most ideal situation if we could explain the whole process clearly and clear up misunderstandings between each other.
But things didn’t turn out the way I wanted….
A senior executive sent by Company A said: “I am the producer of the movie version and have nothing to do with the TV version. I have never said anything about this, and I don’t know about it.”
We responded: “We cannot verify whether the other party has said it. But you are also a Toei company and the producer of Kamen Rider. You should have the responsibility to explain this matter.”
Mr. A responded: “You are right. I will bring the head of the TV department for talks as soon as possible.”
We therefore chose to wait, but after a week and ten days, there was still no reply at all.
After two weeks, we were worried that they were just going to ignore us? So I couldn’t help but contact Mr. A again and asked: “Didn’t we agree to have a meeting as soon as possible?!”
Then after a while, I finally received a reply from Mr. B, the producer of the TV version of Kamen Rider.
The content of the letter is as follows:
“I have not discussed that content with Mr. A. I have never read your comics, nor have I read them. Settings like this are very common at home and abroad. We don’t take it to heart, so you don’t need to pay too much attention to it.”
Although the tone is a little more polite, there is generally no sense of responsibility.
Tsuneji Mori said: “There are many settings like this at home and abroad…?? Except for “D Diver”, I have never seen a setting like “a hero who transforms into a fighting hero in a dream”…
I can’t help but think of the time when I and Miura (the late manga artist Kentaro Miura) happily said, “This is really a brand new idea!!”
So when someone says that this setting is “commonly seen at home and abroad”, I can only think that the other person does not intend to face this matter honestly.
Not only did the other party fail to contact me at all, but they also violated their original promise to communicate, which made me feel extremely disappointed. “
What I want to emphasize is that it was the producer of Kamen Rider who took the initiative to ask me to assist in this project, but in exchange for this dishonest response, I really cannot accept it…
I have been thinking since then: “If it weren’t for “D Diver”, I might still be able to bear it. But this work is the last manga that Miura and I completed together, and it already exists like a posthumous work to me, so I became so emotional.
I knew it was scary to let this blow up, but it was too much for me to ignore, so I decided to speak out.
Mori Tsuneji finally said: I tried to explain the whole process in as much detail as possible, but it is too difficult for everyone to accept, and I am really not good at this… I can’t ignore my true career because of this, so I’ll stop here for the last time.
Finally, I just want to ask everyone not to make extreme judgments. I wouldn’t do that myself.
To be honest, things were interrupted before the other person could explain, so I couldn’t understand anything. I’m kind of used to this.
Let me reiterate: I have absolutely no intention of arguing or dwelling on this matter.
As I said before, my hope from the beginning was that this would be resolved through dialogue.
We originally agreed to have a good talk, but the other party broke their promise, so I couldn’t stand up and speak for them.
Ideas like this sometimes crash, and it happens all the time in comics. But if we have a good conversation, maybe it’s just a misunderstanding: “I see, it’s not a big deal.” Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding. Even if there is a collision, we can still respect each other through communication.
Unfortunately we didn’t do it.
I’ll stop here on this matter.
I’m really not good at dealing with this kind of thing… It would be very difficult for me to continue, so I’m really sorry.
Regarding your messages, whether they are reproaches or encouragements, I will not reply again, so please forgive me.
No matter what your opinion is, I will sincerely take it to heart, so I ask for your forgiveness. Thank you all.
Editor’s note:
Regarding this matter, I am a fan of the late Kentaro Miura’s work “BERSERK”, and I also greatly respect Tsuneji Mori for using Kentaro Miura’s dictation during his lifetime and his team of assistants to complete “BERSERK”. It’s a pity that such ripples in the industry will occur. I hope Toei can give Mori Tsuneji a satisfactory explanation.
The new series of “Kamen Rider Zeztz” seems to be very popular. Before it was aired, some people questioned the use of AI in the production. Now that this plagiarism incident has occurred, I wonder if it can be aired safely?
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