Frozen may be one of Disney's biggest movies of 2013, but like a lot of Disney movies, it is not without its controversy.

Lately, theories that Frozen is a rip-off of a Japanese anime have heightened. The Japanese cartoon in question is Saint Seiya, which ran from 1986 until 1989 thanks to Toei Animation and was also a manga from 1986-1990. A Tumblr user succinctly summarized the similarities eight months ago.

"Anna and Elsa from Frozen reminds me a lot to Freya and Hilda from Saint Seiya," the user named anni-thii wrote. "- The Ice Kingdom that Elsa and Hilda govern, and theis [sic] powers to manipulate ice. - The love triangle implicating Anna and Freya. - The intense wish of Freya and Anna to save their sisters and their Kingdom. - Their hair colors."

Frozen is said to be based off The Snow Queen, a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. Still, Frozen does seem to be reminiscent of Saint Seiya to some degree. As Kotaku points out, Freya wears pink, has pigtails and lacks superpowers like Seiya. Elsa and Saint Seiya's sister, Polaris Hilda, also reportedly have a bit in common.

"Like Elsa, she is an older sister," Kotaku reports. "And like Elsa, she has supernatural ice powers and used to be kind until she takes a turn for the worse."

Even Twitter has noticed the connection between the two works.

"The concept for frozen was pretty much ripped right out of saint seiya. I've been saying this for a while. Disney loves to rip off anime," Joy Omar Santana said.

Not everyone agrees, however.

"Folks that are trying to link Frozen and Saint Seiya have limited knowledge of both (or just of SS). Seriously, guys, what? LOL," Carla Azevedo said via Twitter.

"Some japanese nerds think that Disney ripped off Saint Seiya when they made Frozen. Yeah ok. I mean I guess The Snow Queen doesn't exist," Samurai Policeman tweeted.

Frozen is not the first movie to be suspected of stealing from anime storylines. The Lion King has infamously been accused of being a rip-off of Kimba the White Lion, whose manga series ran from 1950-1953 and whose anime spin-off aired from 1965-1966. Disney says that The Lion King is based off of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Frozen can reportedly be seen online here at viewers' own risk.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.

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