So..Youka Nitta quit due to copying stuff (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-07-12/embracing-love-nitta-acknowledges-tracing-photo).

I saw the pictures myself on 4chan.

What can I say? I do the same things, I use reference pictures constantly. My art wouldn't go nearly as far if I didn't have something in front of me to use.

And hell, even artists use models to draw. Every art book I've ever come across (hundreds) all contain poses that serve specifically to be used as reference.

The biggest issue that I could identify was how the background looked like it was entirely traced. The bodies on top of the building, however, looked like they had been drawn using the original photograph as the reference picture.

Plagiarism isn't anything new, the sincerest form of flattery is to imitate, eh?