Novelist sues Toho Shi Ai, alleging DQ movie protagonist's name plagiarized from his novel

Remember the full 3DCG animated film "Dragon Quest: Your Story" released last year? According to Japanese media reports on November 26, novelist Kumi Saori recently sued Toho Shi Ai, claiming that the name of the protagonist of the DQ movie was plagiarized from her novel, and demanded a public apology and 2 million yen in compensation.

The incident stems from the tradition of the DQ series that the protagonist's name is not fixed and needs to be customized by the player. So the protagonist in "Dragon Quest: Your Story" was named "Liuka", but it was this name that caused controversy.

Novelist Kumi Saori previously wrote a spin-off novel of Dragon Quest 5. The protagonist of the novel is named "Rukai Irom". So how close is it to Ruka? In fact, the whole name is quite similar.

The full Japanese name of the protagonist of Dragon Quest: Your Story is "リュカ・エル・ケル・グランバニア", while the full name of the protagonist of Kumi Saori's novel is "リュケイロム・エル・ケル・グランバニア". This is the focus of the lawsuit. It sounds like the name of the protagonist of Dragon Quest: Your Story is a nickname from the novel version.

Kumi Saori formally filed a lawsuit on the 24th of this month, demanding 2 million yen in compensation from Toho and S&E, and issued an apology statement in the media. As of press time, neither Toho Pictures nor S&E has issued a clear response.