Did This New Anime Steal a Character?

‘Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate’ is a classic highschool anime series from 2012 based on a visual novel, and involving ‘yaoi sticks’. The protagonist’s childhood friend, and fellow member of the ‘Food Research Club’, Chisato has a relatively distinct design.

When I saw the poster for ‘Kinsou no Vermeil: Gakeppuchi Majutsushi wa Saikyou no Yakusai to Mahou Sekai wo Tsukisusumu’ on MAL, I immediately noticed the character of ‘Lilia Kudelfate’ and initially thought it was Chisato, although I then realised that it was completely unrelated.

Comparing the sources, they don’t appear to have been designed by the same artists, but the characters in both seem incredibly similar. Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate was originally a visual novel by Sprite, and later adapted into a manga, and anime series. The Kinsou no Vermeil manga was written by Amana Kouta and illustrated by Umezu Youko, and as far as I can tell, neither of these people were involved with Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate.

Let’s compare the characters to see just how similar these characters’ designs are. To start off, let’s compare their physical appearance. Both characters have a pale complexion, thin eyebrows, and large blue eyes. They both have long, flowing, pink hair with a bunch of hair, or faux twintails on the sides. The school uniforms worn by the two characters are also very similar. Both wear a blue school uniform, with a white dress shirt beneath. The uniforms both have long sleeves, covering the whole arms, and the chest area is left exposed by the jacket, revealing the dress shirt beneath. Both uniforms also terminate with short skirts, either connected to the uniform itself, or as a separate piece of clothing. Around the necks of the characters, they both have a tie. Lilia wears a more traditional necktie, whereas Chisato wears a ribbon in a bow. For Lilia the ribbon appears to have moved from the neck to be used as hair ribbons for her twintails.

One difference that I need to point out about the two characters is that they do have slight differences and differing art styles. This doesn't discount the fact that both characters appear very similar, as differing art styles are common between different studios, and even different releases of the same property.

I don’t want to accuse anyone of plagiarism, but I just wanted to point out that I noticed that both characters’ designs seem to be very similar.

Also, there is a rhinoceros beetle called François.