Netizens Criticize TVB’s “Fashion War” For Copying Japanese Drama

TVB is facing criticism once again for blatantly copying certain elements of a Japanese drama into one of their most recent television dramas Fashion War <潮流教主>, which premiered on February 29, 2016. The first week of broadcast, which ended on March 6, garnered an average rating of 23 points, reaching approximately 1.5 million viewers per episode.

Fashion War, which stars Moses Chan (陳豪), Him Law (羅仲謙), Sisley Choi (蔡思貝), and Ali Lee (李佳芯), follows the fashion exploits of a magazine editor and his protege. Netizens said the premise of the drama is quite similar to the 2014 Japanese television drama First Class, which aired in Hong Kong through the J2 channel earlier last year. 

First Class follows “Chinami” (portrayed by Erika Sawajiri), an assistant editor of a fashion magazine who gets entrenched in a world of workplace politics as she struggles to reach to the top. The role is almost identical to Sisley Choi’s “Yannes”, who shares the same background and struggles in Fashion War. Both First Class and Fashion War have a storyline that involves the lead character failing to find a model for her photoshoot, thus having no choice but to model the shoot herself.

In fact, netizens said Fashion War borrowed so many ideas from First Class that some scenes were almost copied frame by frame. The scene where Yannes first steps into the MODES office is almost exactly like the scene where Chinami first steps into the First Class office.

In addition, netizens noticed that Moses Chan, who plays the character of chief editor in Fashion War, has an appearance that is very similar to German fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld. In regards to this, Moses said, “Thank you for the praise. This drama is about fashion. I’ve never tried a style like this before.”

Source: Eastweek

This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

  1. MODE is the bam6of high fasion magazine conpany in US TV series, Ugly Betty. UB is much better done.

  2. What lame people, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and HK all make dramas and copy each other . That is nothing new…

    I quite like Fashiom War, plus I don’t understand Japanese..so who cares if TVB copied, This drama is for HK audiences…

  3. Copy is one thing, Plagarism is another but exact scene is just plain laziness. Thanks TVB, now I am gonna watch the Jap series and miss yours. Frankly not even remotely interested in Fashion War after 5 min of it.

  4. After watching the 2016 sales presentation a few months ago, I straight away said this drama sounds very similar to the american series Ugly Betty! So many elements and concept are the same, even the name of the magazine, tvb could at least be a little more creative on the name, that’s probably the most easiest part, are they really that lazy to come up with a name of their own? *sighhhhh

    1. @melodylai Well, they ARE that lazy. Ever notice that they are fond of recycling characters’ names too (English as well as Chinese), smh!

    2. @melodylai I had that same comparison tendency when FW first came out too. Though to their credits then, Betty really starts and for a good several series ugly af. So I gave FW a benefit of the doubt since their main female lead isn’t ugly. On top of that, their male leads, Moses vs Danny seemed different from sale presentation. Anyways, this series is a pass for me now. So far, nothing in the eps are enticing enough to keep watching.

    1. @m0m0 UB is all that. I’m certain FW is all of rom and ao called office politics too. I highly doubt TVB would come out with any series that does NOT have a rom underline. That’s something they’ll never change, among many other bad habits regarding to script. TVB has been such a slob. Like someone said, it’s understandable to burrow an idea. I mean there’s only so much concept to go around. But to bluntly copy scene to scene is retarded. It’s nothing new though. They’ve done it before and they’ll continue to do so.

  5. sisley actually looks really nice in the pic about w/ aura of a first lead. it must be the make up. with that however, her acting is not a first lead material, much room for improvement. anyway, it could just be this pic.

    1. Sisley is such plain looking and she is leading a fashion drama. TVB have a track record of promoting plain looking actresses. Tavia, Myolie etr

    2. @m0m0
      actually there’s couple others i can name that are plain ugly. one is something ying in the 90s. she was mulan in the drama. the other one is eason chan’s wife. can’t believe they put her on tv. tavia is not pretty i agree but compared to these two, she is indeed a big beauty.

  6. I watched the first episode then stopped. Now thank to TVB extraordinary effort, I’m going to watch First Class instead. In fact, I enjoy watching Japanese dramas.

  7. I’ve actually been enjoying Fashion War. Had expectations for the drama and really prayed that they can pull off another one and so far, the storyline has been good. Let’s just say that I’m happy that there is a storyline (that isn’t procedural or sitcom-like) even tho the office politics thing can drain you out.

    TVB is always accused of copying and getting ideas from here or there. What’s the big deal? Plus there are tons of new stuff getting released each week, I don’t expect people who be always original. What I do care, is that TVB makes their own storyline and like Funn said, as long as they aren’t copying scene for scene.

    Sisley is better here maybe because she has a more mature role than in Speed of Life, but I still feel she’s a miscast because she’s never looked fashionable enough irl.

    1. @ladykriselle
      i do agree totally. sisley isn’t so unbearable here. also the storyline is intriguing. the only one i don’t like is ali. her acting is very exaggerated, she’s trying too hard to portray a bad-ass.

    2. @ladykriselle totally agree with you…

      Sisley is actually not too bad in this..the storyline is actually quite intriguing and the pacing is quite good..

      The only one I actually can’t stand is Veronica Shiu… Her acting is so bad …and her voice is so high pitch…everyone complains about Sisley, but Veronica is 100 times worse..

      1. @mulder99 Hey acting is not bad! You just don’t like her voice. Best troll voice ever!! None of the actors in FW is good imo. They’re just themselves. Look at chan ho ever since tong sum feng bo he’s the same. The main blows. Vincy and zita sucks. Puts the original First Class to shame. None can beat Nanao!

  8. I totally agreed with mulder99. After I’ve watched the first two episodes of FW, I was looking for any criticism about Veronica shiu acting. I am surprised that all the audience criticized Sisley Choi acting. Although I don’t really like Sisley but I think Veronica acting is the worst. Don’t like Veronica’s acting and voice. Feel that this movie is spoilt by her.

  9. Sisley Lead character poorly written, failed to evoke sympathy, Moses lost a chance to bring character to life.
    Ali Lee shines!
    Vivien Yeoh breakout role!

  10. I’ve seen the Japanese version of the drama and I can’t agree more that some scenes do seem very identical to the Japanese version.

    I would say the Japanese version is actually better. There was actually 2 seasons of the Japan version and both season were equally as good.

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