Honkai: Star Rail Sunday Trailer Accused of Plagiarism

The official Weibo account for Onmyoji made a post implicitly calling out HoYoVerse for plagiarism in its recent Sunday trailer for Honkai: Star Rail. These accusations are due to similarities between Sunday’s trailer and the Onmyoji trailer for Jinkougyou.

You can watch the Jinkougyou trailer here:

And here is the Honkai: Star Rail Sunday trailer in question:

The Weibo post did not directly mention HoYoVerse. However, it uses two characters from Honkai: Star Rail‘s Chinese name and includes a picture of Tsukiyomi warning HoYoVerse against any rash actions. This is not the first time NetEase accused a company of plagiarizing Onmyoji. Earlier this year, it had a dispute with Tencent over similarities between Honor of Kings and Onmyoji.

There are multiple shots that resemble each other in both trailers. For example, the scene of lights ascending in Sunday’s trailer uses a similar composition to the lights descending in Jinkougyou’s trailer. There is also a shot that resembles a CG from the game itself, and not the trailer. However, many netizens have defended this as a reference to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Some other users have pointed out that the piano scene in Sunday’s trailer is similar to the COA 7 trailer for Identity V. Like Onmyoji, Identity V is a NetEase game.

This is not the first time that people have called out HoYoVerse for potential plagiarism in its trailers. Back in February 2024, many people pointed out that the Sparkle trailer for Honkai: Star Rail resembled the music video for “marenol.” Back then, LeaF stated it was alright because it was more akin to an homage, since it wasn’t a one-to-one recreation. Judging by the Weibo post, though, NetEase and the Onmyoji developers aren’t as okay about the situation.

Honkai: Star Rail is readily available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices. Sunday is part of Version 3.0, which comes out on December 4, 2024.