Analysis of the Deja Vu Artworks and OS-tan Controversy

Many people may recognize "Deja Vu" or "Deja Vu Artworks" as the doujin group known for creating OS-tan comics. However, they are also infamous for allegedly attempting to claim OS-tans as their own. Much of this controversy as seen in the western side seems to stem from an older version of the OS-tan Wikipedia article, which lacked reliable sources to support these claims. This made me want to look deeper into the drama as an outsider and piece it together. The result is this summary, which represents my analysis of the situation.

By the way if you're gonna use this for like a youtube video, please link back to it or at least give me credit... there is most likely mistakes here and there as well so welp.

The Actual Drama

The ever-expanding OS world has gone beyond Futaba and can now be found on a variety of sites, including Deja Vu's own.

At some point, Deja Vu Artworks began publishing Shared Fol-DA!, a manga featuring OS-tan characters. While it gained recognition, the group faced criticism for misrepresenting the OS-tans’ personalities. The original OS-tans were known for their depth and satirical charm but in Shared Folder DA!, they were reimagined as generic "moe" characters, losing much of the humour and community-driven uniqueness. Deja Vu failed to properly credit Futaba as the origin of OS-tans. This omission along with promotional language that implied the characters were original to Shared Folder DA!, led to confusion. Some even believed that Deja Vu had created the OS-tans, which enraged the Futaba community, known collectively as "Toshiaki." There are some more issues that Deja Vu did besides the "cosplay" incident and trying to claim ownership.

Specific Issues with Deja Vu

• Reluctance to Credit Futaba and Claiming Them As Their Own: Deja Vu delayed acknowledging Futaba as the origin of OS-tans despite repeated community requests. When asked to credit Nijiura, they resisted, claiming to "protect Nijiura from increased traffic." They finally credited it during Comiket, the busiest time, with a phrasing like, “This was conceived anonymously on Nijiura.” Deja Vu also published a manga featuring 2K-tan, marked with "© Deja Vu," adding to the accusations of ownership claims. Deja Vu later described this as a careless mistake, but the damage was done. It appears they intend to present OS-tan as their own original concept. Although it's not explicitly mentioned, there's a clear air of entitlement. For instance, in reference to a 2k Garage Kit:

"We'll transform the most popular 2k-tan from the Shared Folder poll into a Garage Kit!"
"This will utilize the Shared Folder design as the foundation for my personal, life-sized 1:1 model."

• Diary Provocations and Trolling “Toshiaki”: On June 7–8, 2004, Deja Vu published diary entries mocking the Futaba community. While Deja Vu claimed their remarks targeted disruptive individuals, many Toshiaki interpreted them as insults to the broader community. Deja Vu’s attempt to frame the posts as addressing only "stalkers" further alienated Futaba users, who felt the remarks were unjustified and inflammatory. The diary entries included lines such as "としあきはもっとセンスあふれるレスをつけるもんだ。こんなただの叩き厨はとしあきじゃない" (Toshiaki usually makes more sensible comments). It got to the point where these responses in reply to the diary entries have accumulated and intensified, making it difficult for new visitors to understand since many past ones have been erased.
• Unauthorized Publication of Cosplay Photos: A Futaba user known as "Fukushoku Aki" designed an XP cosplay outfit and allowed MALINO, a member of Deja Vu, to try it on under the condition that the photos remain private. However, Deja Vu published the photos on their site. The situation worsened when a hidden link on Deja Vu’s website (text matching the background colour) was discovered, further fuelling accusations that Deja Vu had violated the agreement. Deja Vu claimed they acted to counter misinformation but later deleted the link following complaints from Fukushoku Aki. Déjà Vu’s claims they only posted the photos after seeing them reposted on Nijiura to clarify that Fukushoku Aki wasn’t affiliated with them and that time, was in a panic and was not in a normal state of mind. Nijiura thought that Fukushoku Aki might be related to Deja Vu though this is not the case.
• Closure of Discussion Boards and Access Restrictions: In the "Shared Folder!" section, there were two forums: the "Feedback Board," where users could share their opinions, and the "Discussion Board," which was intended for debates. On the Discussion Board, topics such as "Why is Déjà Vu criticized?" "Suggestions for improvement," and "Questions about Déjà Vu contradictory statements" were actively discussed on a daily basis. However, around September 2004, Déjà Vu stopped participating in the Discussion Board entirely, leaving numerous questions unanswered. They claimed to be busy with personal matters (though they continued to respond to posts on the Feedback Board). Those who had posted questions waited patiently, sometimes for months, hoping for a reply. Then, without warning, the Discussion Board was shut down. Questions marked as "Awaiting a response!" were left unanswered, critical issues were ignored, and the board was simply closed. It seems some people were even subjected to access restrictions to Deja Vu's discussion board...
• NT-tan: Deja Vu created their own NT design as part of their works with claims that Futaba saw her as a bootleg design, though I never saw any claims about her being seen as a bootleg design when researching. All I found was this: It was speculated that this is attempting to present Shared Folder DA! as an original creation of OS Girls but in reality she was simply based on 2K, and they wanted to add the NT-like personality with a similar appearance and character, plus the sharp tongue. Whenever she was a “bootleg” or not is up to the reader as I can’t say for certain, as there has never been any direct evidence saying this.

Related Drama with NetRunner Magazine

This was not the first time there was controversy involving OS-tans and attribution issues. NetRunner, a prominent Japanese magazine, published a Me-tan trading card without proper attribution to Nijiura and instead credited 2channel as the source and used Me-tan for commercial purposes, thus is hated by the residents of Nijiura. Deja Vu’s involvement with NetRunner added another layer to the drama. After being confronted about connections to the magazine, Deja Vu denied working with them and retroactively altered their work history section to reflect this. For example, they updated their website to claim that they did work with NetRunner but involved "事後承諾で転載されただけだし" (unauthorized reprinting without proper agreement). This lack of transparency further tarnished their reputation.

Other Drama(?)

On one of the sites it mentions about how an OS-musume-only event was planned by an eventer with many bad rumors, but there is not much to it. It could be related to Netrunner such as someone from there as it is listed along with them.

The motivation behind Deja Vu attempts to claim OS-tans remains unclear.