Squid Game Accused Of Plagiarising Japanese Movie But Director Says He Did It First

Disclaimer: The article will contain some spoilers about the hit series, Squid Game so if you have yet to watch the series, read at your own risk. 

The Netflix series Squid Game has grown in popularity recently and has even taken over memes on social media.

However, some viewers have noticed that some scenes in the K-drama series are similar to those in a Japanese movie, As The Gods Will which was released in 2014.

The particular scene in question happens in the first episode of Squid Game where the characters are killed off one by one during a childhood game called, ‘Red Light, Green Light’. As The Gods Will also features a gut-churning scene of its characters being killed during a survival deathmatch.

Both games involve a countdown clock and a giant doll head, which are depicted in both the K-drama series and the Japanese movie.

Daruma doll head in as the gods will

Giant doll in squid game

However, director Hwang Dong-hyuk has denied the accusations and claimed that he had the idea first as the script for the series was already in the works from 2008 to 2009.

He said the show was put on hold due to a lack of interest until a decade later when Netflix came into the scene, reported The Straits Times.

“It is true that (the first game is) similar, but after that, there aren’t any similarities,” he said in a press conference.

He added that As The Gods Will was created in the 2010s, after his initial idea for Squid Game, which came to him after reading a lot of manga on the survival genre.

Although he was hesitant to claim ownership of the story, he said, “But if I had to say it, I would say I did it first.”

Scene from as the gods will

Scene from episode 1 of squid game

Netizens have since criticised Dong-hyuk’s attitude towards the issue and said that he did not properly address why so many of the scenes in Squid Game are similar to As The Gods Will, reported Today Online.

“Having multiple overlapping scenes suggests that he knowingly shot them the same way. Copying another show’s cinematography is just too obvious,” one netizen said.

What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments below.

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