I don’t know if this is much ado about nothing but it’s certainly gotten more attention as the drama airing has gone on for tvN‘s hit rom-com This Life is Our First (Because This is Our First Life). Japanese entertainment has now taken note of similarities of that drama with the hit J-dorama from 2016 We Married as a Job (Nigeru wa haji daga, yaku ni tatsu) and gone back to the screenwriter Yoon Nan Joong‘s previous works and discovered what feels like more appropriation without proper attribution.

The short drama The Great Gye Choon Bin is based on the Japanese novel Psychiatrist Irabu series in particular Kuchu Buranko (Flying Trapeze), and her one-episode drama Snail Goshiwan is based on the Japanese novel Waseda 1.5 sq Meter Youth Diary. This on top of Yoon Nan Joong adapting K-drama Queen of the Office from the J-dorama Pride of the Temp which was properly licensed. I haven’t checked out either the source or her dramas purportedly taking uncredited inspiration but clearly she has a type which is lifted from Japanese entertainment.