Goku next to his descendent of a hundred years later.
Generation Xerox as seen in Anime and Manga series.
- Ace of the Diamond: A sibling example occurs with the Kominato brothers, Ryosuke and Haruichi. The latter has a serious case of Big Brother Worship, to the point he imitates Ryousuke in pretty much everything (choosing the same type of bat, playing the same position, and going to the same school) despite Ryousuke explicitly telling him to not do so. Becomes more evident during Act II after Ryousuke graduates and leaves the team; Haruichi takes over his position as 2nd Baseman and plays in combination with Kuramochi (the team's Shortstop), and he's also taken to talk with a dry wit and a bit of a sadistic streak, much like Ryousuke did before him.
- Seiichirou Kitano from Angel Densetsu not only is as scary as his father. He gets in the same exact problems at school because of that and knows his girlfriend only when she understands he's an All-Loving Hero. Exactly the same as his father's. The only, marginal, difference between the two is that Seiichirou trades in being The Juggernaut (on top of being a Lightning Bruiser) for a metric ton of Selective Obliviousness.
- Arakawa Under the Bridge inverts the situation: when Ric's dad shows up on the bridge, his trousers are stolen. To avoid owing Nino a debt, he refuses her help — abandoning his trousers and getting taken away by a police officer for indecency. This is exactly what happened to Ric in the first chapter.
- Berserk: A boy is born under unusual/supernatural circumstances to a gruff, unloving mercenary father and an ill-fated yet loving mother. The child wants the approval of their father-figure, but the father only has resentment for the son, seeing their "cursed" existence as the cause/reminder for their lover's unfortunate fate; at some point, this resentment turns into an attempt on the son's life, but fails. This describes the origin story of main protagonist Guts and later, his cursed, unnamed son.
- In Bleach, Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryuu Ishida's cordially vitriolic interactions are almost carbon copies of the interactions between their fathers, Isshin Kurosaki and Ryuuken Ishida. Same Shinigami vs. Quincy rivalry, same gut instinct vs. analysis divergence, same trickster mentor relationship with Urahara. Isshin and Ichigo even share their ultimate sword technique, Final Getsuga Tensho and Uryuu's post-time skip bow now looks very similar to Ryuuken's small bow. In the epilogue, Ichigo and Uryuu have even followed their fathers into the medical profession. Ten years after Yhwach is killed, Ichigo is in charge of the Kurosaki Clinic and Uryuu has become a doctor at his father's hospital.
- In Cardcaptor Sakura, Tomoyo has an unrequited crush on Sakura, who happens to be Tomoyo's second cousin. Their respective mothers, who were first cousins, had a similar relationship, as Sonomi had been in love with Nadeshiko, who ended up marrying Sakura's father. There is a slight difference, though; Tomoyo accepted that Sakura would never love her and even helps Syaoran confess his feelings for her, whereas Sonomi could not accept Nadeshiko marrying Fujitaka and would hate the latter for years afterward.
- As much as Tomoya Okazaki of CLANNAD hates his father for neglecting him to dull the pain of his mother's death, he has become exactly the same to his own little girl Ushio to forget that her birth killed Nagisa. Thankfully, both cases get better. And worse. And better, again.
- Code Geass:
- An Emperor and his highly accomplised Knightmare Frame pilot partner, to whom he is very close, form a very elaborate plan to unite the world for its own good by any means necessary, so those they love will be happy. Now, thinking carefully, are we talking about Emperor Charles di Brittannia and Marianne "The Flash" Lamperouge, or Lelouch vi Britannia/Lamperouge and Suzaku "Knight of Zero" Kururugi?
- Then Rolo is a Xerox of V.V. Think of it: they're the younger brother to the Emperor/Emperor candidate (even if just adopted, in Rolo's case), are obsessively attached to said brother, and ultimately murder someone who said Emperor deeply cared for due to utter jealousy (Marianne in V.V.'s case, Shirley in Rolo's.) Pretty much the biggest difference is that Charles kills V.V upon finding out, while Lelouch doesn't kill Rolo to further his plans — which leads to Rolo pulling a Heroic Sacrifice for him.
- Geass contains another, more layered example: Lelouch tells Suzaku that despite the difference in their social status, they can still be friends, citing the example of the first Britannian Emperor and the original Knight of One, who were also lifelong friends (as detailed in the history lessons in the DVD inserts). This is also true of Emperor Charles and his Knight of One, Bismarck Waldstein and again when Lelouch usurps the throne and Suzaku, having patched up their differences, serves as his Knight of Zero.
- Also, a very subtle version but... a young revolutionary eventually talks his reluctant best friend to join the cause against Britannia, dies fighting the Empire, and said best friend finds himself inheriting his position and becoming the protector of the dead friend's younger sister. Are we talking about Naoto Kouzuki, Kaname Ohgi, and Kallen Kouzuki — or Lelouch, Suzaku, and Nunnally?
- Crimson Spell:
- A century before the series takes place, King Fleivangr had a very cozy relationship with Halceles, his protector and advisor, but the relationship ended after the king was cursed and Halceles was forced to kill him. His Identical Grandson, Valdrigr, ends up under the same curse and seeks out one of Halceles' proteges, Halvir, for help. Halvir seduces and vows to protect him. When he sees them together, Halceles gets very nervous, but Halvir insists that he won't let it end the same way for him as it did for his master.
- Another of the king's Court Mages, Rimris, invokes this when he reveals that he served Fleivangr using Sex Magic. He uses this as an argument to try to persuade Vald to sleep with him, to Vald's great consternation.
- A Cruel God Reigns: The main character Jeremy looks EXACTLY like his Deceased Parents Are the Best father. And they share the same name. And it is creepily hinted at in just a couple of panels that Jeremy's mother Sandra asked him to call her by her first name when he was a child to replace her husband. It doesn't help that she then appears to kiss him on the lips.
- The final episode of Digimon Adventure 02, the second season of Digimon, ends with a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue in which all twelve of the heroes from the past two seasons bring their children to the Digital World for a get-together. Not only do many of the kids look somewhat like their parents, but ALL their partner Digimon are lower-level forms of their parents' own partner Digimon. This scene is not popular with the fans, though that's mainly for shipping-related reasons.
- Dragon Ball GT is particularly blatant with Son Goku Jr. (and later Vegeta Jr.) in the TV special and the Distant Finale of the final episode.
- As well in Dragon Ball Z with Bardock, Goku, and Goten before he cut his hair.
- Dragon Ball Minus, a prequel manga, introduces Gine, an Actual Pacifist from whom Goku and his progeny ultimately inherited their gentle natures. Goku's brother Raditz takes more after her in looks than Bardock and her great-granddaughter Pan also looks remarkably like her.
- Played with with Gohan, who seems to start off as something of daddy's boy, even surpassing Goku in potential, but whose gentle, pacifistic nature ultimately drives him to abandon his father's fighting legacy and making him more of a xerox of his grandmother who also chose to abandon fighting because of her gentle nature.
- Flame of Recca: The Hero and title character Recca finds out he is exactly like his birth father, Oka when they finally meet. And coincidentally, he is exactly like his adopted father as well!
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- Edward Elric looks almost exactly the same as the younger version of his father, Van Hohenheim, as shown in the flashbacks. Later, Ed and Winry's children both bear a resemblance to them, especially in the Brotherhood anime where the son's hair has Ed's shade of blond while the daughter has Winry's
◊. Edward's son has the same style as him as a toddler and looks like a miniature version of him. - In the 2003 anime version is even more obvious where in an OVA everyone is shown to have a relative that looks exactly like them 100 years later. Ed's great-grandchildren look like him, Alphonse, and... Winry. Whether this means either brother married Winry's Earth alter or whether Winry made it past the Gate is unexplained.
- Edward Elric looks almost exactly the same as the younger version of his father, Van Hohenheim, as shown in the flashbacks. Later, Ed and Winry's children both bear a resemblance to them, especially in the Brotherhood anime where the son's hair has Ed's shade of blond while the daughter has Winry's
- Hanasaku Iroha shows that Ohana's mother Satsuki was a lot like her daughter when she was younger (complete with the same voice actress). The situations were reversed (other work vs the inn) but played out exactly the same.
- Initial D: In the Third Stage movie, Takumi races the son of his father's former rival. And wins, just like his dad did.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a downplayed example. While nearly every member of the Joestar family is Hot-Blooded and wins their fights more through cunning than brute force, the similarities end there, and the series opts for Contrasting Sequel Main Characters instead. The only instance of this trope being played straight is with Giorno Giovanna, who is, for all intents and purposes, a slightly more noble DIO with a different stand. Stardust Crusaders also has Avdol and his father (who also subverts it by actually being Avdol himself in disguise).
- Jujutsu Kaisen: Nobara's grandmother was a jujutsu sorcerer who used the Straw Doll Technique and taught it to her.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
- Both Dr Tanuma and his son are doctors who had a kid at seventeen. His grandson Tsubasa has plans on attending medical school and is long established as having a sexually active relationship with Kashiwagi, but was thought to have avoided that last part when he turned eighteen... until it's revealed shortly after that Kashiwagi had already been pregnant for three months.
- Chapter 186 implies that Hayasaka's relationship with Kaguya mirrors the one that her mother had with Kaguya's older brother Unyo. The big difference is that Kaguya was able to forgive Hayasaka for her betrayal, while Unyo wasn't.
- Used as a plot point in The Kindaichi Case Files, where Masumi and Naoko have very similar life experiences, and they develop very similar personalities as a result. This allows Naoko to manipulate Masumi into committing murders on her behalf, because she knows Masumi's triggers and is able to predict Masumi's actions due to to their similarities.
- The Lupin III Spin-Off Lupin Kozou is about Lupin's son, another thief with a penchant for disguises and a weakness for cute girls. His main accomplice is Marilyn Aiki, who like Fujiko Mine, is a beautiful and mysterious girl who is both tougher than she looks and is a frequent kidnapping target. The major difference is that Lupin, Jr. and Marilyn are both much younger than their respective counterparts.
- Lyrical Nanoha: Our main character is an over-powered Magical Girl Warrior despite being an elementary schoolgirl who started off as a secondary character in a different series. Her first magic teacher is Yuuno, she has a pair of ordinary friends of contrasting personalities, and looming over the horizon is a brooding, mysterious Dark Magical Girl rival who enjoys balancing on high places, has beautiful eyes, and is every bit her equal. Now, is this Nanoha Takamachi in the first season or Vivio Takamachi in ViVid? Of course, unlike her Nanoha-mama, Vivio has the advantage of the old cast looking after her, so while Dark Magical Girl Fate remained at large for the entire first season, Dark Magical Girl Einhart got befriended almost immediately at the start of ViVid when her attempt at defeating Nove backfired on her.
- The two friends of the latter are neither ordinary nor are they Those Two Girls, they are main characters and Magical Girls instead.
- In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha INNOCENT, Nanoha's two friends are main characters and Magical Girls, too.
- In Chapter 6, Vivio spars with Einhart and loses easily, disappointing her, as she thinks Vivio cannot possibly be the Sankt Kaiser. Vivio proposes a rematch in a week and hopes to get strong enough to satisfy her. Since Vivio heard about Nanoha fighting Fate in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Sound Stage 02, it seems she's inherited Nanoha's ideas about making friends.
- Vivio vs Miura is the ViVid version of Nanoha vs Vita or Fate vs Signum (who are two of Miura's instructors). What does that mean? Vivio loses. In a tournament.
- The two friends of the latter are neither ordinary nor are they Those Two Girls, they are main characters and Magical Girls instead.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing gets hit with this quite badly in the official sequel novel Frozen Teardrop, with most of the original cast members having a younger counterpart who looks and acts just like they did in the original anime; this includes Duo Maxwell II (Duo's son), Kathy Po (Sally's daughter), Trowa Phobos (Trowa Barton's protégé), Katerina Winner (Quatre's younger sister), and possibly Zechs Merquise II, whose relation to Milliardo Peacecraft remains unknown and who has yet to do anything other than show up at the latter's funeral. Zechs and Noin's children Milou and Naina also apply, though they're Gender Flipped versions (Naina looks like a female Zechs while Milou looks like a male Noin).
- It goes backward in time as well: later chapters show the history of the real Heero Yuy, including his Love Triangle with sisters Katrina and Sabrina Peacecraft. They, of course, look exactly like Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft, the show's protagonists (in the case of the Heero it's even worse because, as with Trowa, the two are not related in any form or fashion
- The lives of Katrina and Sabrina Peacecraft mirror the lives of Relena and Milliardo, who are Sabrina's grandchildren. Like Relena and Milliardo, they were separated at a young age before eventually being reunited with one sibling going to rule the Sanc Kingdom (Sabrina in the twins' case, Relena in the grandchildren's case), while the other went on to become a warrior under an assumed name (Zechs Merquise in Millardo's case, Sith Merquise in Katrina's case). Katrina's Sith Merquise mask even looks like Milliardo's Zechs Merquise mask.
- It goes backward in time as well: later chapters show the history of the real Heero Yuy, including his Love Triangle with sisters Katrina and Sabrina Peacecraft. They, of course, look exactly like Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft, the show's protagonists (in the case of the Heero it's even worse because, as with Trowa, the two are not related in any form or fashion
- The Morose Mononokean: Ashiya shares a lot of history with his Disappeared Dad, Sakae. Sakae was an employee of the Mononokean, serving under Aoi, just as Ashiya is now serving under Abeno. Sakae also met his eventual wife (Ashiya's mom) after exorcising a demon who was haunting her and left her ill. Similarly, Ashiya crosses paths with Abeno while trying to get rid of the demon that was draining his life-force and leaving him in the infirmary.
- My Hero Academia has a variant that doesn't go from father to son or the like. Midoriya starts off without a Quirk before inheriting One For All, hoping to use it to become the world's greatest hero. All Might, the one who passed the Quirk down to him, is revealed later to have also been a previously-Quirkless inheritor of One For All who did become the world's greatest hero with it.
- My Monster Secret:
- The hero Kuromine Asahi being the Secret-Keeper to Shiragami Youko about her being a vampire. He ends up being a good friend of hers. Youko notes that her father, a vampire, had his secret discovered by a girl in his school and she kept the secret too. The girl would go on to be Youko's mother. Their relationship mirrors Touko and Genjirou's (Youko's parents) a great deal, sometimes to the point of Contrived Coincidence.
- Later on in the story, Youko actually reveals that she's been invoking this on purpose, going to the same school where her parents met and doing the same things that lead to their falling in love because she grew up listening to her mother's stories and wanted to have the same experience. However, her father Genjirou has been warning Asahi against letting this happen, vaguely implying that if they follow his and Touko's story too closely it'll only hurt both of them.
- Late in the series it goes in a dramatic direction: Asahi gets sent 20 years into the past and befriends the teenage Genjirou and Touko when they were high schoolers; their relationship is basically a gender-inverted version of Asahi and Youko's. However, things went to Hell just days before graduation when Genjirou's vampiric nature went out of control and he had to drop out of school, which is what Genjirou was warning Asahi about. Genjirou also had a trio of friends just like Asahi's own friends, but they turned on him when he went berserk, which has Asahi worried that his friends might do the same. Even worse, Asahi's Granddaughter from the Future subsequently tells him that history did repeat, with Youko going berserk like her father and disappearing forever; the final arcs of the series are dedicated to the cast doing everything they can to prevent the Bad Future despite being told that You Can't Fight Fate.
- In terms of non-relationship connections, during their senior year Asahi and Youko both decide that they want to become teachers and help out young people with secrets; at the end of the chapter, we learn that Genjirou had the same wish, but was unable to carry it out because he had to leave school during his senior year.
- Later they meet the angel girl Shirogane Karen, who is the best friend of Youko's parents, just like the alien Aizawa Nagisa. Karen and Genjirou even found out each other's secrets in exactly the same way Youko and Nagisa did. However, unlike Nagisa who is struggling between her feeling for Asahi and her friendship with Youko, Karen was a complete Shipper on Deck for Touko and Genjirou.
- Akane was the homeroom teacher of Youko's parents. In the current day, Asahi and Youko's homeroom teacher is Akari, Akane's great-great-granddaughter, while Akane herself is now the principal of the school.
- The hero Kuromine Asahi being the Secret-Keeper to Shiragami Youko about her being a vampire. He ends up being a good friend of hers. Youko notes that her father, a vampire, had his secret discovered by a girl in his school and she kept the secret too. The girl would go on to be Youko's mother. Their relationship mirrors Touko and Genjirou's (Youko's parents) a great deal, sometimes to the point of Contrived Coincidence.
- In My-Otome, both Arika and her mother Lena Sayers have a blonde friend who is apparently a lesbian and turns out to be secretly working against them; Erstin for Schwarz, Elliot for a Five Columns conspiracy to kill Sifr (although she decides to oppose the Columns and rescue Sifr with Lena). Arika and Nina's personalities are similar to Lena and Sifr's, although the roles are reversed; Arika's mother Lena is like a somewhat more relaxed but still consistently serious Nina, and Nina's mother Sifr is like Arika.
- In one Naoko Kodama one-shot, a young woman goes before the parents of her girlfriend Nami, asking for Nami's hand in marriage. It turns out that not only is it true that Nami has two mothers, but so does at least one of Nami's mothers.
- Naruto: One of the manga's themes is the recurrence of certain characters, traits, and patterns across the generations:
- Team 7's relations and characteristics are a dead ringer for those of the Legendary Sannin. This was one reason many fans were able to pick up on a Luke, I Am Your Father revelation long before it was revealed in canon.
- The relationship between Naruto and his friend/rival Sasuke works as this across multiple generations, dating all the way back to the very invention of ninjutsu.
- There's now an explanation for the phenomenon. It turns out that even after the sons of the Sage of the Six Paths died, their chakra kept reincarnating into their descendants again and again for generations to continue their feud. And before Naruto/Sasuke, the previous vessels were Hashirama/Madara.
- There's also Team Minato in regards to Team 7, with Minato/Kakashi as The Mentor; Obito/Naruto as the brash, hot-headed one with a one-sided crush on The Heart; Rin/Sakura as The Medic in love with the genius Lancer; and finally young Kakashi/Sasuke who are The Stoic. Though this particular generation is Inverted in that that it was Obito who ended up being the bad guy and Kakashi being the hero. To further deepen the parallels between Team Minato and Team 7, Kakashi ended up becoming Hokage, just like his sensei did. Though it's also Inverted in regards to their respective teams, as Naruto, Obito's counterpart, is the one who became Hokage — then again, it was also Obito's dream, at least until he became evil. Then Obito became good again, and knowing that he could no longer achieve that dream after all the damage he had done, passed it on to his best friend Kakashi to fulfill, but as the Sixth Hokage, so that Naruto can be his successor as the Seventh.
- Part of the drama/storyline is that Generation Xerox is present, but also a curse of types. Sasuke is the biggest example/offender that he seems like silly putty. Is he going to be a copy of Kakashi, Orochimaru, Itachi, Obito, or Madara?
- Nara men have a thing for troublesome women. Shikamaru, just like his father, marries a very troublesome woman — Temari.
- The Ino-Shika-Cho formation and its relationship with the Sarutobi clan goes back 16 generations. In the epilogue, their children — Inojin, Shikadai, and Chocho — are shaping up to follow.
- When first shown as resurrected zombies under Orochimaru's control due to Edo Tensei, the First and Second Hokages had muted, very stoic personalities, to the point that the only difference between the brothers was their radically different appearances. When they're revived again by a more complete version of the jutsu, Tobirama is about the same overall, but Harashima is far more jovial and energetic, resembling his distant blood relative Naruto and heightening the Xerox effect due to his own relationship with friend-turned-rival Madara Uchiha.
- This is later revealed to be an important plot point for the Uchiha clan, as their Curse of Hatred — beginning with the clan's forefather — is connected to their Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan. The Uchiha clan is capable of great devotion, love, and friendship, but the moment they lose a loved one — whether it be death or a perceived betrayal — they tend to go off the deep end, their newfound despair and hatred creating the Sharingan. The more powerful the Sharingan becomes, the deeper they fall into madness. The few Uchiha who have been able to transcend this and adopt Konoha's Will of Fire philosophy all come across as similar in personality, such as Itachi, his best friend Shisui, and Shisui's father Kagami, who's a subordinate of the Second Hokage. And also Obito, who seems to have overcome his Curse of Hatred and returned his belief in the Will of Fire.
- Hinata, like her father Hiashi, was ready to die to protect something — in this case, Naruto. However, at the last second, Neji sacrifices his life for her, just like how his father Hizashi, Hiashi's younger twin brother, did before him. Also, just like his father, Neji didn't do it out of duty, but out of love for Hinata and Naruto, who are a part of his closest friends and family.
- It is hinted that Naruto is very much like Kurama was when he was young. Who is Kurama? The Nine-Tailed Fox, of course.
- Appearance-wise, Naruto is a dead ringer for his father Minato, with some subtle bits from his mother Kushina. Both Naruto and Minato have indomitable spirits and fierce ambitions that drive them through all their choices in life. Both are of unwavering loyalty to Konoha and their loved ones — friends and family — and that devotion inspires all those around them. Both have the tendency to create long, complicated names for their jutsu. Both are kinesthetic learners — the type who learns with their body or by doing. Both are Amazon Chasers towards their respective wives, Hinata and Kushina. Both have a dorky awkward side and a Nice Guy nature.
- Most of Naruto's traits and intelligence come from Kushina: Hot-Blooded personality, ninjutsu style, hobby of pulling pranks, Character Tic, Verbal Tic, love for ramen, and being the host of Kurama. Both were Bully Hunters in their youth. Both didn't have a good first impression of their quiet nice counterpart — Hinata and Minato, respectively — until they got to know and understand each other better, which led to their strong relationships. Both experience a Love Epiphany towards their quiet nice counterpart, who they recognize is their One True Love. Tsunade even points out that Naruto has far more similarities to Kushina than to Minato in Chapter 367, a sentiment that both Kushina and Minato agree with in Chapters 498 and 645, respectively.
- Many of the events that occurred during Minato and Kushina's romance are echoed in Naruto and Hinata's, such as Rescue Romance and the Red String of Fate. Even Opposites Attract is in play, except Gender Inverted — Naruto is the boisterous one oblivious to his One True Love's affections until the Canon movie The Last, like Kushina, and Hinata is the quiet one who has loved and admired him from afar since they were children, like Minato.
- In the manga's epilogue, Naruto's own son is shown to take after him, both in appearance and personality. Boruto is every bit the prankster his father and his sensei, Konohamaru, were as kids. He even has a similar Verbal Tic — in this case, "dattebasa". The difference is that Boruto is shown to hate the Hokage, as the position means his father can't spend more time with him. Meanwhile, his younger sister Himawari is shown to take after Hinata in appearance and personality. Both children have inherited Naruto's Innocent Blue Eyes and facial markings, and Himawari has the same face and eye shape as Naruto.
- Boruto's similarity to Naruto is Played With in Boruto: Naruto the Movie. Their differences in personality help drive much of the plot. For example, Naruto earned his current place through hard work, training, and determination; Boruto, born a prodigy and connected to two very powerful clans — the Uzumaki and Hyuga clans — is more than willing to take shortcuts or straight-up cheat his way to victory. Even the animation plays with this a bit — despite his great likeness to Naruto, Boruto has the same round face and eye shape as Hinata. Like Father, Like Son mixed with It Runs in the Family, since in his own youth, Naruto bore a strong resemblance to Minato, but had Kushina's round face and eye shape. At least until it was reversed in The Last, where the 19-year-old Naruto resembled his mother more than his father.
- Rapidly subverted in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, which has the earnest, 10-year-old genius mage Negi following in the footsteps of his hugely famous Disappeared Dad, the "Thousand Master" Nagi... Only later Nagi is shown to be a laidback magic school dropout who, although quite powerful, had to read spells off of a card and resorted to cheap tricks whenever possible (like, say, luring a certain vampire into a covered hole in the ground). In power and personality, they're completely different, and Negi increases the divide even further by choosing the powers of darkness.
- That all said many comparisons can be made between generations, and grow with each revelation: Negi=Nagi, Kotarou=Jack Rakan, Setsuna=Eishun, and of course Ala Alba=Ala Rubra. For that matter, Albrieo Imma is rather mischievous and the team healer, like Konoka. And with the Nagi calling the Zect his "master" recalls Eva.
- In Chapter 258 Rakan's flashback confirms above, and also shows that there is a sticking resemblance between the relationship that Negi's parents had and the one he shares with his partner, Asuna. Of course, this is only in reference to their relationships, as the personalities of the parties involved are sometimes totally opposite.
- Also it seems that for all their differences Negi and Nagi have the same goals and priorities (namely saving Asuna and the world while they are at it) the difference is their approach to this (Nagi "beat the guys who threaten them" vs Negi's "eliminate the villains reason for threatening them")
- To further hammer the point in, the ships used by Ala Alba and Ala Rubra look remarkably similar (similar enough to possibly be the same ship, even). The only difference is the Ala Alba logo on the Great Paru-sama.
- That all said many comparisons can be made between generations, and grow with each revelation: Negi=Nagi, Kotarou=Jack Rakan, Setsuna=Eishun, and of course Ala Alba=Ala Rubra. For that matter, Albrieo Imma is rather mischievous and the team healer, like Konoka. And with the Nagi calling the Zect his "master" recalls Eva.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion:
- A scientist gets involved with one of her bosses, is used and manipulated by her lover, breaks down horribly when she realizes what has been truly going on, sees a very young girl as her rival and kills her, sorta, and ultimately meets her doom in quite the fucked up way. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi or her mother Naoko? Note that said boss happens to be the same for both.
- It is indicated that some of the problems between Shinji and his father are a result of the fact that both of them are very socially awkward. Furthermore, they share a depression induced by not being accepted by their peers, which is especially present when seeing the flashbacks of Gendo. Indeed, it has led some fans to speculate that if Shinji actually grew up, he could have ended up like Gendo.
- The Rebuild film series more deeply explores the theme of "children walking in parents' footsteps", with both Shinji/Gendo and Rei/Yui.
- One Piece:
- Subverted: The exploits of Luffy are implied to very closely mirror those of Gold Roger, the previous Pirate King; he also meets quite a few people who personally knew the guy (either that, or the successor of said person), and his actions are consistently described by these people as being exactly what Roger would do. However, it's pretty clear right from the start that Roger isn't Luffy's father, and it's outright confirmed later on. But the real kicker came shortly before the Time Skip: Roger actually did have a son: Ace, Luffy's older "brother," who absolutely despises the guy and wants nothing to do with him. And is now dead. Also subverted in that, according to Whitebeard (who was Roger's rival), Ace wasn't much like his father in terms of personality.
- Luffy is looking to be this way with Shanks, sharing the Obfuscating Stupidity and later in a bar scene with Bellamy, he refuses to fight until his friends are harmed much like his idol.
- In another chapter, it is revealed a young Gold Roger looked exactly like Luffy, right down to the trademark hat. Which was passed down from Roger to Shanks to Luffy.
- Roger and Rayleigh's first meeting (particularly in the anime) has parallels to Luffy and Zoro's first meeting. Roger wanted Rayleigh to join him with Rayleigh refusing. And the boat they started with was a small one.
- Franky and Iceburg's adoptive father built the Oro Jackson, the ship that Gold Roger used to conquer the Grand Line. After Going Merry's death, Franky and Iceburg would be the ones to build the Thousand Sunny for the Straw Hats.
- Robin is an archaeologist like her mother, can read Poneglyphs like her mother, and even looks just like her mother, safe for the hair, which is black.
- Trafalgar Law ultimately became an incredibly skilled doctor and surgeon, just like his mother and father. And in flashback scenes, he's shown to look very similar to his father, although with his mother's grey eyes.
- Most of the Straw Hats can easily be compared to one or more of an older generation, either ability-wise or personality-wise. Some to relatives and mentors, others are completely by chance:
- Luffy to Roger (his journey and goals), Shanks (his outlook and beliefs), Garp (his personality), and Dragon (his charisma and willpower).
- Zoro to Mihawk and Rayleigh — they are all Devil Fruit-less swordsmen, Zoro shares Mihawk's attitude towards weak opponents, and Rayleigh's relationship with Roger mirrors Zoro's with Luffy. Zoro begins to resemble Mihawk even more after the Time Skip, largely due to training with the man in question.
- Usopp to Yasopp — he looks identical to his father with exception of his nose and hair, Yasopp hasn't been given enough screen time to say anything for personality. Yasopp has the same role in Shanks' crew as Usopp has in Luffy's.
- Sanji to Zeff — his mentor, also a master chef who dreamed of All Blue and fought by kicking.
- Chopper to Hiluluk — his "father," a doctor with faith in miracles, who wanted to cure all diseases.
- Robin to her mother, Olvia, as stated above.
- Franky's relationship to Luffy can be compared to his mentor Tom's relationship with Roger. Lines can also be drawn to the set of Vegapunk and Kuma — Vegapunk is a genius inventor of whom Franky adopted the designs of during the time-skip, and Kuma is a cyborg built by Vegapunk — much like Franky is a cyborg built by himself.
- The Toy Soldier/Kyros and his daughter Rebecca are both gladiators with exceptional skill but are widely hated by the audience, though in both cases, said audience eventually got over their hatred of them and came to like them. On the same topic, Rebecca also threw her status as princess away to live with Kyros, just like her mother Scarlett before her. This was even lampshaded by King Riku, Rebecca's grandfather.
- Luffy's relationship with Smoker is a near carbon copy of Roger's relationship with, ironically, Garp, Luffy's grandfather. By the time Roger died, he and his marine nemesis were Fire-Forged Friends (even if said nemesis would never admit it), and Roger trusted him as much as he did his own crew. So much so that Roger entrusted Garp with the life of his unborn child, Ace. Luffy's relationship with Smoker is very much the same, having been forced into several Enemy Mine situations over the course of the series. By the end of the latest one, their interactions border on that between friends (even if Smoker will be back to chasing Luffy around by the next time they meet).
- After being implied occasionally over the course of the series, the Wano Arc confirms that Zoro is a dead ringer for "Sword God" Shimotsuki Ryuma, the Famous Ancestor of his childhood rival Kuina and the Shimotsuki Family of Wano, and the man/zombie he inherited Shusui from. On top of the physical resemblance, Ryuma was also a one-eyed samurai who shared a similar fighting style and code of honor with Zoro (in part due to the latter being trained by one of his descendants). These similarities are why the natives of Wano come to trust Zoro so much, with many noting that the fact Zoro was the one to (admittedly unwillingly) return Shusui to Wano cannot be a coincidence but rather an act of fate. They may very well be correct, considering how a later SBS reveals that Zoro is in fact another of Ryuma's descendants, being the grandnephew of the deceased Daimyo of Ringo, Shimotsuki Ushimaru.
- In Pet Shop of Horrors, Count D's dad is portrayed throughout the series as a nasty piece of work, a Manipulative Bastard supreme. It's surprising then, when a short story reveals that D's dad was much like his son when he was younger, to the point he even had a "Leon" of his own in the form of Vesca Howell — a loud-mouthed and brash best friend who he was exceedingly fond of but whom he ultimately abandoned, just as D abandoned Leon at the end of Petshop. The elder D's later "madness", and the fact that he and Howell were eventually responsible for each other's deaths, doesn't bode well for his son, especially given the "Count D" family's odd connection to karma.
- Pokémon: The Series: Grace, formerly a professional Rhyhorn Racer, tries to enforce this with her daughter Serena, intending her to become a Rhyhorn Racer as well. Serena has no intention of letting it happen though and finds her own path as a Pokémon Performer instead. When she sees Serena's determination, Grace decides to let her follow her dream.
- In Princess Knight sequel "Twin Knight", her son Daisy is kidnapped, and Sapphire has to dress his twin sister Violetta like a boy and present her as "prince Daisy" every two days. Crossdressed like her mom before, Violetta will also have a long wandering far from her kingdom, before finding her brother and become a girl again.
- Reina of Queen's Blade with her mother Maria Vance, all the more so because Reina took up her mother's armor.
- Taken to extremes by Reborn! (2004) where Tsuna, the tenth boss of the Vongola Mafia Family, looks almost identical to the first boss, despite the fact that ten generations separate the two (and the fact that none of the other bosses look very much like him, despite it supposedly being a direct line). On top of that, every member of Tsuna's inner circle is said to bear a strong resemblance to a member of the First Vongola's circle, despite the fact that none of them are blood-related.
- Not only do they each resemble their first-generation counterpart physically, but they also use the same weapons, have the same general personalities, and in some cases even seem to have the same life stories. All of which seems to have happened completely by coincidence.
- Actually, Tsuna's the only boss of the Vongola to be directly related to the first bossnote — the rest are direct descendants of the second boss, who was the first's cousin.
- However, during the Future arc, Yuni specifically mentions that this is a special trait of the Vongola Family, and in a recent chapter it is at least heavily suggested (if not outright stated) by Daemon Spade that the tenth generation Vongola are in fact reincarnations of the first generation.
- But that just raises further questions since at least one member of the first generation is still alive. Although, there may be a bit of a Kagome-Kikyo thing going on.
- Rosario + Vampire: In Capu 2, Kurumu and Mizore's rivalry over Tsukune echoes that of their mothers' over a male student during their time at the academy. Neither won and the guy (who is Saizou's dad) turns out as a Gonk over the years; nowadays, they seem to view Kurumu and Mizore's status in Tsukune's Unwanted Harem as a means to renew their old feud and see who's daughter wins Tsukune's heart. Of course, Kurumu and Mizore are a lot less openly hostile towards one another than their mothers were.
- In the manga, San, Ginei, and Haiji have a very similar relationship like the Three Dark Lords. San and Akasha are both The Smurfette Principle, Akasha is the strongest of them and the leader, San is the strongest in Yokai Gakuen's history and she led Ginei and Haiji's paths in their school life as their senpai. Ginei and Toho Fuhai are both Chivalrous Perverts and they have a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with Haiji and Mikogami, respectively, and they are more Bishōnen than the latter. Haiji and Mikogami are both more of muscles. Ginei and Haiji admire San, and it's revealed that both Toho Fuhai and Mikogami have flirted with Akasha. Also, all of them are high-class yokais.
- Rurouni Kenshin:
- A rough-looking Jerk with a Heart of Gold from the north punches his way through adversity, gets lost easily and is very Hot-Blooded. Sanosuke Sagara, or his father Kamishimoemon?
- Also Kenshin's son, Kenji. Takes after his father in both appearance and the whole Walking the Earth and swordsmanship thing. Also, the cute-looking girlfriend with long black hair.
- A few years after Sailor Moon finished up, Naoko Takeuchi released Parallel Sailor Moon, a one-shot Alternate Universe sequel starring Kousagi Tsukino, Usagi's daughter. Not only did Kousagi carry on her mother's legacy as the new Sailor Moon, but it then turned out that all the Inner Senshi had given birth to daughters who ended up inheriting their mantles. The girls all strongly resembled their mothers as well. Though as a bit of a twist, the other girls don't actually like Kousagi, which is a far cry from Usagi's close friendships with the original Inner Senshi.
- In the Saint Seiya Spin-Offspring anime Saint Seiya Omega, one of the original protagonists, Dragon Shiryu, finally settled down with his childhood sweetheart Shunrei, and the two had a son together. Not only does said son inherit his father's Dragon Cloth, he also has both of his parents' calm and polite personality, fights several battles that are nigh-identical to the ones his father faced, although with different outcomes (such as him not having to blind himself in order to defeat the Perseus Saint), and even has a Power Tattoo just like his father's. The kid also happens to look a lot like his mom.
- The Seven Deadly Sins: Meliodas fought Ban and gave him a permanent scar. Later, Meliodas' son Tristan and Ban's son Lancelot fight and Tristan gives Lancelot a permanent scar.
- A flat-chested sorceress from Zephilia meets a mercenary swordsman and they fall in love while fighting to make a buck. Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev from Slayers, or Lina's parents?
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann gave us the worthwhile Parallel Works 8 which covers at least seven years of time. It shows a boy finding a Gurren After the End, creating and leading La Résistance, then rebuilding a civilization capable of challenging the Anti-Spirals. The stories diverge when Simon is reminded he has someone worth fighting for.
- There is a possible application in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-. Due to time travel and reincarnation, The Syaoran and Sakura that we start the manga with turn out to be the parents of one of the people they are cloned from and virtually identical to. Whether the clones are imitating their originals, or the younger male is imitating his father (who just happens to also be his clone) is a matter best left to illegal substances, or at least alcohol.
- Vinland Saga has two prominent examples:
- Canute spends much of the second arc tempted by and ensnared in The Chains of Commanding much like his father, not helped at all by his father's head acting as a stress-induced Spirit Advisor telling him to commit to his darker impulses, employing assassination and terror tactics as means to hold on to power and employing The Needs of the Many logic in order to become a Dark Messiah that will save Europe from the vikings. Ultimately, Thorfinn is able to make him remember why he's doing it, causing Canute to take a step back from the precipice and avoid The Dark Side Will Make You Forget.
- The more the story progresses, the more Thorfinn follows in the steps of his father Thors. He begins as a cold-blooded killer before having a spiritual awakening and becoming a Martial Pacifist, seeking to escape the wars and death of the old world by building a new and better life in the west. Only instead of stopping in Iceland like his father, Thorfinn is aiming even further by wishing to settle Vinland.
- Thorfinn also begins resembling his Parental Substitute Askeladd during the Baltic War arc, becoming more cynical and disgusted with man's capacity for violence, and begins to employ guile and trickery as a means to intimidate enemies and defuse conflicts, something Thors generally avoided. Unlike his mentor he avoids fully falling into He Who Fights Monsters territory, though his attitude comes close at times.
- In Wild Rock, Yuni and Selim, from Feuding Families, fall in love but go their separate ways. When their sons meet they too fall in love as well, and unite the two clans.
- In Wolf Guy - Wolfen Crest, the protagonist Akira Inugami falls in love with his teacher Akiko Aoshika. The same thing happened around 20 years before: when Inugami's dad Tetsuya was teaching at Stanford, he and his student Lois (who was a werewolf woman) fell in love and got married.
- Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside - The Return of the Oni King opens stating that "There used to be a boy who could control Yo-kai with a mysterious watch. However, he became unable to see Yo-kai when he became an adult. With the boy's duties finished, the watch was buried away in space-time." The name of the boy in question? Keita Amano (Nate Adams if you need a hint. "...Then 30 years later, quiet everyday life comes to an end as a fateful day begins with a comet drawing near. The terrible Yo-kai virus Onimaro infects people's malevolent intentions and spreads infinitely. The one chosen by the Yo-kai Watch is the one who can save humanity from its crisis. The bond between humans and Yo-kai may be recovered with the attainment of a new Yo-kai Watch." The name of the one chosen by the new Yo-kai Watch who has to save humanity from the Onimaro and rebuild the bonds between humans and Yo-kai? Natsume Amano. She even gets to solve incidents revolving around Yo-kai (though these Yo-kai are more terrifying) in the sequel series, though with some of her friends and her younger brother (who looks like Nate but he's very different personality-wise) in this case.
- Part of why Asagi Ayase and her mother don't get along in Yotsuba&! is because they're almost exactly alike. When Asagi's father points this out, both turn and shout "How rude!" at the same time.
- One episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! features a duel between Yugi and a girl named Rebecca, who accuses Yugi's grandfather of stealing his Blue-Eyes White Dragon card from her grandfather. The duel ends up mirroring exactly a duel between the two grandfathers held in a caved-in archaeological site, with the last bit of water on the line. Both Yugi and his grandfather ended up surrendering their duels even though they would have won with their last card draw.
