Hey guys =)


There's this one question that has been bothering me for a long time now.


Is it illegal to make anime/manga with characters from other published/distributed animes?

Say if I want to make a Sess and Kag anime/manga, and i did, while putting somewhere "Cast of inuyasha belongs to their creator, Rumiko Takahashi. I do not make any profit from this fanmade anime/manga".

Can Rumiko Takahashi come and sue me for copyright infringement material? Or actually can her manager/company who distributed Inuyasha sue me?

I don't think so. In the copyright stuff, it actually gives some authorization for non-commercial use. As long as you're not making money on it, and you gave credit, I think you're okay. Plus, if they're going to go all copyright-infringment on fans, sites like Dokuga would get much higher priority than someone just making fanworks.

No it's not. It's falls under the category of Doujinshi, lots of artists already have some. There's Raindrops by youkaiyume that comes to mind first and many more. As long as you have a disclaimer that you're not making money off of it, and the original characters aren't your property the most they can do is demand you remove it from the net but they can't sue you. (some author's get really touchy about fanfics made of their work and might ask you take it down. But if you're doing a doujinshi of any of the larger scale fandoms like inuyasha you're safe.)

from what I understand it all comes down to distribution. If you publish and distribute the piece as completely yours and without the artist/author's prior knowledge and consent (especially if it's to make a profit), then they have grounds for legal action based on copyright infringement. however, fanfic, fanart, doujinshii all are a shade of grey with the legality. technically it's a no-no but since it's put out there for free and to fan communities there's no gain to be made by civil suits, so all the artists/authors and their reps will really ever do is a.) turn an intentional blind eye, or b.) publicly ask fans not to do recreations of their works.