New music "inspired by" copyrighted material: ok or not?

[Rob Peters]

Some frustrating issue that's bothering me (as a composer) for a while.

I planned to write a chamber music piece based on a manga by a Japanese author. The music doesn't depict the events in the manga literally. The three movements are just inspired by the mood of the general premise, a key scene in the middle and the ending, respectively.

Now, I tried contacting the author at his Tumblr and Twitter accounts, but to no avail. Guy's a bit of a recluse (and a weirdo...) and there may be a language barrier too.

So I'm wondering, would it be ok to write and publish the piece (here at IMSLP, under a non-commercial CC license) with an "inspired by [manga title]" subtitle without it presenting copyright/trademark infringement?
I've got no idea how Japanese copyright works, and I respect the original author way too much to "insult" him with something that could be perceived as a faux-pas instead of a loving homage. But I would very much regret being forced to upload the piece here stripped of its title and original meaning.

[Sallen112]

As long as your not using any of the original source material from that author if he or she is still alive or died recently in your work without there permission. If it is just "based on" and your not using any melodies, musical phrases, etc. from that work and is completely original, then you should be fine. You might want to mention something like this in your score.

[Rob Peters]

That's good to hear, thanks!
And yes, I'll mention it in the score. Since the manga got an anime adaption, which comes with its own musical score, people could assume the piece could be based on the anime (and its music) and not on the manga. Better to clear up possible misunderstandings right away.