Originality begins with one idea/concept. Not just any idea, but one that no one else has thought of, one that has not been trademarked or patented, one that makes itself unique and distinguishable from the others. It takes an extensive amount of time to truly develop and polish this idea into a clear, concise vision. Each idea/concept has its own characteristics and those characteristics are the foundation of genre. Some of those characteristics also branch out to create sub genre.

For example, anime, a popular form of animation, was first invented in 1917 Japan by “fathers” Ōten Shimokawa, Jun’ichi Kōuchi and Seitaro Kitayama. The source material for mainstream anime, called manga, first appeared in the 12th century. For the genre of anime, numerous amounts of sub genres have been born. In 1966, the magical girl sub genre was created through pioneer, Sally the Witch. The show’s first seventeen episodes were first shot in black and white, and color was later implemented, thus also crowning the young witch as the first colored anime.

Sally the Witch (1966)                                                 Sally the Witch (1967, in color)

After Sally established the foundation of this sub genre, it wasn’t until Naoko Takeuchi’s iconic soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon, made her debut and defined the magical girl sub genre in 1992. Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, and never running from a real fight, Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako, Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru, and their allies, join forces to exterminate the evil that threatens the Moon Kingdom, but not as their given civilian names, but as the sailor scouts. The group of girls magically transform into these other identities (like how Diana Prince twirls around three times to become Wonder Woman). With these given details, this soon became the successful formula other anime creators use to create their own magical girl anime. Because Takeuchi’s creation has set the bar very high for the genre for eons to follow, other anime creators essentially copy that formula and add their own ingredients to their concoctions because not only would they be avoiding copyright infringement, but also generate a lot of revenue and supporters.

90s version       Manga version    Modern version (2014)

With that being said, this case has reappeared and bled into every genre of the entertainment industry, thus proving that most, if not all, of the content we consume today is not truly original, yet we, the consumers, remain content with that. A handful of us with keen eyes and ears can distinguish how one piece of content is highly similar or different (mostly similar) from another. The majority of audiences crave for something new, but now matter how many times they cry out for content diversity Hollywood chooses to ignore their pleas as the famous production hills are alive with the sound of money. If audiences wish to see more content diversity, they must refuse to support the copycat content.