A Chinese amusement park faces the allegation that a landmark statue it erected for the Christmas season is a copy of the Gundam combat robot from the Japanese anime series.
Sotsu Co, the Tokyo company managing the copyright of the sci-fi creation, which is also popular in China, said it has started looking into the origin of the golden statue at the Floraland park in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The park’s operator claims the design was original.
The statue in question is about 15 meters tall and its face and equipment designs are similar to the original Gundam. In Japan, 18-meter-tall ‘‘life-size’’ statues of the character have been erected in Tokyo and Shizuoka, drawing many fans and tourists last year and this year.