Pictured above: Walkure. Pictured below: Yami Q Ray. Guess which of those are the originals.
- The Jaegers are this to Akame ga Kill!'s Night Raid.
- General Esdeath -> General Najenda
- Kurome -> Akame
- Wave -> Tatsumi
- Dr. Stylish -> Lubbock
- Run -> Leone
- Seryu -> Mine
- Bols -> Sheele
- Deconstructed, like so many other tropes, in Angel Densetsu, the various evil (and often spear) counterparts are not a cohesive unit, but come in bit and pieces, you have to think on it a bit to see all the similarities. Oh, and of course zig zagged too, the heroes are a Five Bad Band, so their enemies are... delinquents too. It Makes Sense in Context.
- In Berserk, the "reborn" (for lack of a better term) Griffith creates a new Band of the Hawk (comprised mostly of Apostles like himself) that has counterparts to the group of friends formed by Anti-Hero Guts.
- Grunbeld is a massive warrior who wears similar armor to — and has an Arm Cannon like — Guts.
- Irvine and Locus are Bishōnen Noble Demon characters who are obvious counterparts to two nobles (literally and figuratively) on Guts' side, Serpico and Roderick.
- Sonia is a young, oracular Anti-Villain who has an unrequited crush on her superior, compared to Cute Witch Schierke, who has more of a precocious crush on Guts.
- New Band Of The Hawk seems to be made of evil counterparts to the members of original Band of The Hawk, most of whom are already dead following the Eclipse.
- The Shinigami captains vs the Espada in the Arrancar arc of Bleach:
- Mayuri vs. Szayelaporro. Mad Scientist vs. eviler Mad Scientist. "Eviler" because Szayelaporro performs scientific experiments for his own sake, and believes himself to be a perfect being. "Perfection" is an idea which Mayuri vehemently abhorrs.
- Kenpachi vs. Nnoitra. The former just wants a good fight, and even gives himself handicaps so fights will last longer. The latter simply enjoys killing things and thinks nothing of using dirty tricks in battle or attacking weakened opponents. Also, Kenpachi is considerably nicer to little girls.
- Oh, and to top it all off, both use Eyepatches of Power.
- Byakuya vs. Zommari. Both very skilled in shunpo/sonido, Byakuya's pride and devotion to the laws of Soul Society is mirrored by Zommari's zealous worship of Aizen. Zommari even tries to call Byakuya out on his flaws, saying he's only fighting because he believes Shinigami are inherently superior to Hollows. Byakuya then shows off his Character Development by saying he doesn't give a damn about the Shinigami/Hollow thing; Zommari tried to hurt his little sister, and that's more than enough reason to kill him.
- Unohana vs. Rudbornn. As captain of the 4th squad, Unohana's job is to find the wounded and heal them. As captain of the Exequias, Rudbornn's job is to find the wounded and kill them. Not to mention that Rudbornn isn't actually strong enough to be an Espada, while Unohana is implied to be one of the strongest captains (and she is, as she was the very first Captain of the 11th squad and the first Kenpachi, ironically being a diabolical killer herself). The power gap makes it pretty obvious why they didn't actually fight.
- Kyoraku vs. Starrk in the battle of Fake Karakura. Both proved to be Brilliant, but Lazy Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass type characters, although Starrk's backstory reveals he's not so much an Evil Counterpart as a neutral (and fairly sympathetic) counterpart to Kyoraku that considered the other Espada his group of friends.
- Hitsugaya vs Harribel. Both use powers related to water in some way, have introverted personalities, and have the initials T.H. (Toshiro Hitsugaya, Tier Harribel).
- This applies to their respective subordinates Rangiku and Mila Rose. Both are somewhat immature for their age, have feline Animal Motifs, have buxom figures which they show off with their revealing outfits and even have similar-looking faces.
- The clones in the Gotei 13 Invasion Army filler arc. They are stronger and more violent than the originals. And the filler Big Bad has cloned most of the captains. Fun times.
- In Blood+, The Corpse Corps are this for the Schiff. Despite undergoing similar treatment and brutal training, the Corpse Corps are emotionless, thoughtless, cold-blooded killers who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals as given by their masters. It is no wonder why Moses freaked out when he found out who were really behind their masks.
- The villains of Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman are the High-Teen Number cyborgs (Cyborgs 0014-0018). They even sport black versions of the uniforms worn by the heroes.
- Digimon Data Squad's Bio-Hybrids. Kouki to Marcus (both are Hot-Blooded fighters, but Kouki takes it all the way to sadistic Blood Knight) and Nanami to Thomas (both Teen Geniuses, but Nanami considers herself superior to all others because of it).
- Digimon Frontier's Dark Legendary Warriors — though for once, it's not entirely clear, at least in the beginning, who is who's Evil Counterpart. Like Takuya, Mercurymon is the de-facto leader of his team. Duskmon was the team's loner, similar to Kouji. Duskmon is also an evil counterpart to Kouichi's spirits due to being a corrupted version of them with Kouichi himself being brainwashed at the time. Grumblemon was the most careful member of the group, similar to Tomoki. Similar to Izumi, Ranamon is the only girl on the team. Arbormon is the strongest and least likely to think things through, similar to Junpei. Barring Takuya and Kouji, the other three per team aren't as clear-cut — and even Counterpart Combat Coordination offers no clues — since the good guys tended to encounter just one of their dark counterparts at once, and they'd all team up against him.
- The guardians of Sephirotmon's spheres, despite their bigger quantity, are a clear example, considering that the spheres represent the same attributes as the Legendary Warriors.
- Eyeshield 21 had traces of this in both Shinryuuji and Ojou. Hiruma, Unsui, amd Takami are all physically average quarterbacks who compensate with their dedication and intelligence, Kurita, Yamabushi, and Ootawara are all incredibly large noseguards who cry at the end of their games, Monta, Ikkyu, and Sakuraba are all recievers determined to be the best who have one area of specialty, and Sena, Agon, and Shin are the "aces" of their team.
- The tail end of the last episode of the first season of Galaxy Angel showed a team of evil counterparts to the Angels, one of whom was a spy that the real Angels just helped release. Unfortunately, this is all we ever see of them.
- Weiss of Knight Hunters run into no less than three teams of Psycho Rangers, with increasingly closer resemblances to the series' four protagonists: Schreient, who qualified as Psycho Rangers mostly just by being a team of four assassins opposing the protagonists; Schwartz, who draw a more direct comparison ("Weiss" and "Schwartz" are German for "white" and "black"); and La Mort, the four villains of Dramatic Precious, all-out Psycho Rangers who started out as a previous incarnation of Weiss themselves only to be driven Ax-Crazy by the job.
- In Lupin III (Blue Jacket), Lupin's gang has a team of heroic opposites in Akechi Holmes Kousuke and his two sidekicks, Yoshio Watson Kobayashi and Mayu Hanasaki.
- Macross Delta: Zettai Delta Live has Yami Q Ray, evil AI duplicates of Walkure created by the Siren System a la Sharon Apple.
- The Wolkenritter are this during their stint as antagonists in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's. Though it plays with it a bit in that it's The Lancer that pairs off against the leader.
- Nanoha and Vita are the respective heavy hitters.
- Fate and Signum both are melee fighters with elemental powers.
- Arf and Zafira are shapeshifting wolf familiars (or Guardian Beasts) that fight unarmed.
- Yuuno and Shamal are the Support Party Members with green magic that spend most of their time working behind the scenes.
- Naruto sets up a fairly traditional Psycho Ranger arrangement for the genin squad trying to rescue Sasuke:
- Gentle Giant Chouji against The Brute Jiroubou. "Who are * you* calling fat?!" ensues.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy-in-remission Neji versus Evil Genius Kidoumaru, who's an Arrogant Archery Guy, much to Neji's initial dismay.
- Wild child Kiba and his tiny ninja Angry Guard Dog Akamaru go up against sadistic The Dragon Sakon whose secret weapon, his twin brother Ukon, lives in his body, making him bonus Creepy Twins as well, resulting in some rather literal Kick the Dog moments.
- Brilliant, but Lazy Smart Guy Shikamaru takes on Tayuya, who much like Shikamaru hides her substantial brainpower, but behind the Japanese equivalent of Cluster F Carpet-Bombing.
- Taijutsu specialists face off when sick and dying yet still unbeatable Kimimaro meets still-recovering miniature Bruce Lee Clone Rock Lee.
- The series sets Sasuke himself up as Naruto's very own Psycho Ranger. Right up to the point where Naruto and his charming spiritual freeloader start to psycho back...
- In one chapter of Negima! Magister Negi Magi, while observing Floating Continent Ostia, Arch-Enemy Fate has revealed that he has his own Pactio cards and a squad of partners to match the Ala Alba. It was also revealed that Nagi Springfield's team the Ala Rubra when they fought Fate had a similar set of opponents each to match their abilities: a martial artist, a Big Guy, a wide-spread destroyer, a barrier fighter and Fate himself to match the combat mage hero Nagi.
- The Blackbeard Pirates in One Piece. Based on what we've seen here's how it goes:
- Blackbeard: In many ways, he's a fully grown version of Luffy, but with completely opposite opinions. This can range from simple disagreements on food or drink to the best way to achieve a goal. Both stole their Devil Fruits: Blackbeard sought out a particular Fruit while Luffy thought it was dessert.
- Everything bounces off of Luffy. Everything sticks to Blackbeard.
- Lafitte: Navigator of the Blackbeard Pirates, he used to be a law enforcement official of some sort, manically/maniacally cheerful, and is very stealthy given his ability to sneak into a high security government meeting unnoticed. Nami, navigator of the Straw Hat Pirates, is the adopted daughter of a Marine woman, has a more Tsunderish personality, and has spent the last eight years of her life as a sneak thief before joining Luffy. In combat, however, Lafitte mirrors Brook as tall, very thin somewhat flamboyant men who use canes as weapons and have very high maneuverability, Super-Speed for Brook and flight for Lafitte.
- Van Auger: A master marksman just like Usopp, but Cold Sniper to his Friendly Sniper.
- Doc Q: A doctor like Chopper, but, of course, not so kind; he takes an active delight in foisting off apples on people that might well kill them in a gruesome fashion. Probably an excellent doctor when he needs to be, but doesn't seem to care about anybody besides his crewmates. His old age and guile also contrast with Chopper's youthful naivete.
- Shiryu of the Rain, who makes a good counterpart for Zoro. He is also a swordsman and, much like Zoro in his role as Number Two, is the one who calls out Blackbeard after his recklessness nearly gets the rest of the crew killed. Blackbeard and Shiryu even met in a similar fashion, as the latter was on death row until Blackbeard came along. They also used to have professions involving subduing criminals until they became pirates: Zoro was formerly a bounty hunter, while Shiryu was formerly a jailer.
- Jesus Burgess is the helmsman on the crew, but he is Sanji's opposite in his fighting style: Whereas Sanji attacks only with his legs as a practitioner of a variant of capoeira, Burgess attacks only with his arms as a grappler. This also means Sanji's style involves high-speed movements while Burgess's style is slower but more calculated.
- In this case, it's still a little early to tell who's a counterpart of who, especially now that the Blackbeard Pirates in a matter of hours doubled in size, and during the timeskip were joined by former Admiral Kuzan, thus now supporting Teach as the "Ten Titanic Captains", and that Blackbeard's crew does not seem to apply roles such as cook, shipwright, or musician to them; conversely, the Straw Hats got former Warlord of the Sea and Fishman Karate practitioner Jinbe (as he made good on his promise to ditch and oppose Big Mom) as a new crewmember (their helmsman) after little more than two years of inactivity.
- Any antagonist with a Quirky Miniboss Squad has shades of this, such as the Arlong Pirates or the CP9. In the former example, we have Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy Kuroobi vs Dance Battler Sanji, 6-swords user Hatchan against 3-swords Zoro, and Chew against Usopp, with Luffy and Arlong going at it in the end. For the latter, there's unashamed Large Ham Franky vs gossip-loving Fukuro the silent, figurative wolf Sanji vs literal wolf Jyabura, Chopper vs Kumadori, the Fanservice-laden battle between Nami and Kalifa, Lovable Coward Usopp sniping Dirty Coward Spandam, Zoro vs Kaku, and finally Luffy vs Lucci.
- Blackbeard: In many ways, he's a fully grown version of Luffy, but with completely opposite opinions. This can range from simple disagreements on food or drink to the best way to achieve a goal. Both stole their Devil Fruits: Blackbeard sought out a particular Fruit while Luffy thought it was dessert.
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt has the two
rule-obsessed demon sisters Scanty and Kneesocks, whom are also the Big Bad's daughters. Respectively, they battle their counterparts with revolvers and scythes. - Mewtwo's Pokémon clones from the first movie and its Remake. The Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise and Pikachu clones sport markings to distinguish them from the originals but the rest all look the same. It's subverted when Ash gets killed in the crossfire and their tears revive him. In fact the movie might count as a deconstruction of this trope.
- In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the familiars of Walpurgisnacht take the form of the former magical girls, and the manga adaptation takes one step further by explicitly featuring the forms of deceased Kyoko, Mami and Sayaka, which was based on the Dummied Out original storyboard of Episode 11.
- In Reborn! (2004), this is explicitly the setup of the Varia arc. The seven Vongola Rings themselves are introduced as a device to set the hero's core "party" in stone (complete with specific character/elemental characteristics identified with each one)... and no sooner have they been introduced than the Varia shows up—a rival team aiming to usurp the heroes' position, with a matching party set up (one for each one of the Rings). The corresponding party members each then have to duel one another in a high-stakes Tournament Arc, predictably leading up to a final showdown between the two leaders. Specifically:
- Boxer Ryouhei goes up against fellow martial-artist Lussuria with kicking battle style.
- Lambo, whose immunity to lightning is revealed in this fight, faces fellow lightning-user Leviathan.
- Bomber Gokudera is matched with fellow mid-to-long-range fighter Belphegor, who uses knives and wires.
- They both also heavily abuse Hyperspace Arsenal, pulling out ridiculous amounts of knives/bombs from out of nowhere.
- Swordsman Yamamoto has to face fellow swordsman Squalo.
- Chrome Dokuro faces fellow illusion-user Mammon (as a bonus, both characters had been shrouded in mystery up until their fight).
- Hibari faces Gola Mosca... but since Hibari's defining characteristic is being a complete Wild Card, the match is over in seconds, and he moves on to challenge the opposing team's leader without batting an eyelid; the leader chooses this moment to reveal that this was all part of The Plan, and the entire tournament threatens to devolve into utter chaos.
- Finally, Tsuna himself is, naturally, paired up against the opposing team's leader, both flame users and rightful heirs to the Vongola Family, in a match designed to showcase their leadership philosophies. Except that Xanxus is not a rightful heir, which is revealed when he won (He actually utterly lost. He just had a backup plan in the event he did lose. Of course all his efforts were rendered moot when the rings rejected him.)
- Then they do it all again with the Real Six Funeral Wreaths, whose personalities and actions are complete opposites of the element they are supposed to represent.
- Its happening for a third time with The Simon Family and their Rings/Flames of the Earth as opposed to the Vongola's Sky Rings/Flames.
- Saber Marionette R: The Sexadolls to Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry. They are older, evil, sexier and more sexually aggressive counterparts to the three main girls. The respective masters of each trio are the princes of Romana, and the relationships they have with their masters contrast on how the main girls have a loving and caring relationship with Junior, while the Sexadolls relationship with Star-Face is an Interplay of Sex and Violence. Interestingly, Star-Face is also the one who created both the Sexadolls and Junior's marionettes.
- Saiyuki has Affably Evil gang Kougaiji-ikkou to oppose Sanzou-ikkou, with the ring leader Kougaiji, the polite-but-deadly Yaone to Hakkai, the Badass Adorable Lirin to Goku, and the Big Guy Dokugakuji to Gojyo. They are all provided with solid backstory and personalities distinctive enough from the main characters to hold their own in the storyline. Both teams even work together on one occasion.
- The Kougaiji-ikkou are almost a play on the trope, as they fit every criteria except being evil. For that matter, although Kougaiji is technically Sanzo's counterpart and Lirin is Goku's, it's Kougaiji and Goku who have the "Worthy Opponent" brawl whenever they meet, while Sanzo shoves food into Lirin's mouth until she shuts up.
- Sailor Moon had a set of these guys in most arcs/seasons (in order of appearance: The Shittenou, Ayakashi Sisters, Witches 5, Amazoness Quartet and Amazon Trio). Each of these groups was made up of colour-coded and power-coded evil counterparts of the Four Guardians (Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako). In the manga, the Witches 5 were even resurrected just to kill the senshi they copied!
- The Dark Kingdom Arc/Sailor Moon Classic: The Shittenou. Jaedite - Mars, Nephrite - Jupiter, Zoicite - Mercury, Kunzite - Venus.
- Black Moon Arc/Sailor Moon R: The Ayakashi Sisters. Kooan - Mars, Berthier - Mercury, Petz - Jupiter, Calaveras - Venus.
- Infinity Arc/Sailor Moon S: The Witches 5. Eudial - Mars, Viluy - Mercury, Tellu - Jupiter, Mimete - Venus.
- Dream Arc/Sailor Moon SuperS: The Amazones Quartet. Ves Ves - Mars, Palla Palla - Mercury, Jun Jun - Jupiter, Cere Cere - Venus. In the manga, we find that they actually become Chibiusa's equivalent of the Four Guardians in Crystal Tokyo.
- In the manga, the minor Quirky Miniboss Squad, the Amazon Trio, had counterparts; Fish's Eye - Mercury, Tiger's Eye - Mars and Hawk's Eye - Jupiter; whereas Venus was targeted by the Monster Clown duo Zeolite and Xenotime.
- While the final arc (Stars Arc/Sailor Moon Sailor Stars) have no direct counterparts for the senshi, in the manga the Mentor Mascots got some: Sailor Lead Crow for Phobos and Deimos, and Sailor Tin Nyanko for Luna, Artemis, and Diana. It's also implied that all the Animamates are Psycho Rangers of the Sailor Senshi they stole their Sailor Crystals from, however, barring a single panel of Sailor Coronis, none of the 'real' Senshi were ever seen to confirm this.
- Saint Seiya. The Black Saints to Bronze Saints; they are identical in appearance and wear black cloth versions of bronze cloth.
- In the second season of Saint Seiya Omega, Pallas and her Pallasites are this to Athena and her Saints.
- Samurai Pizza Cats
- The Rude Noise are an evil Ninja Crow counterpart to the Pizza Cats' own Rescue Team. However, they only actually took on their counterparts in one episode. In all their other appearances, they directly took on the three main pizza cats.
- A non-hostile, non-evil version is the Eiryou High School Student Council from Seitokai Yakuindomo, who get along well the main characters in the Ousai Academy Student Council.
- Ousai Student Council President Shino Amakusa is excitable, dramatic and comfortable in the limelight. Her counterpart Chihiro Uomi is stoic (even when making sex jokes), quiet and has admitted she's uncomfortable drawing attention.
- Ousai Student Council Secretary Aria Shichijou is a beautiful, buxom and brilliant heiress who draws attention wherever she goes. Her counterpart Toori Aoba is very much a face in the crowd and a Satellite Character.
- Ousai Student Council Treasurer Suzu Hagimura is a genius who easily does 10 digit calculations in her head, but is cursed with a very short height for her age; meanwhile Eiryou's Yuu Hirose is Book Dumb but is the tallest character in the series so far (even being slightly taller than the already tall main character Takatoshi).
- Meanwhile, Takatoshi Tsuda of Ousai and Nozomi Mori of Eiryou are both the Deadpan Snarker, Only Sane Man Vice Presidents of their respective Student Councils. They get along incredibly well because of their similar personalities, to the horror of many of the other girls.
- The Garuru Platoon from Sgt. Frog. Giroro's counterpart is Garuru, Dororo's counterpart is Zoruru, Kururu's counterpart is Tororo, Tamama's counterpart is Taruru, and Keroro's counterpart is a child-aged clone of himself from before he met Fuyuki and Natsumi.
- The Yes! Pretty Cure 5 movie features a Dark Cure team. The first thing they do when they face the Pretty Cure team is to warp their counterparts off to different locations so they can't use the "switching opponents" trick. Dark Dream, the leader of them does a Heel–Face Turn after being defeated, and gets killed by the Big Bad during her Heroic Sacrifice.
- HeartCatch Pretty Cure! has the Mirage Pretty Cures, but they're just Enemy Without Threshold Guardians. You could also count Dark Pretty Cure to be this to Cure Moonlight.
- Near the end of Smile Pretty Cure! the Bad End Precure are created, who promptly became Ensemble Darkhorses despite only appearing in two episodes.
- The Doma Arc of Yu-Gi-Oh! has the three Swordsmen of Dartz, Rafael, Amelda and Valon who are more sympathetic than most examples of this trope.
- Rafeal like Atem has a special bond with his cards, in Rafael's case it is because they were a gift to him from his family before they died. Like with Atem, Rafael is the only one whose reasons for participating in the conflict are not personal. Both Atem and Rafael want to save the world but have different views on how this should be done. Rafael becomes one of the few duelists to ever beat Atem fairly in a Duel Monsters game and the only one other than Yugi and possibly Jonouchi to do so fairly. Both also manage to avoid having their souls taken by the Seal of Orichalcos card even after losing a duel and both manage to defeat the darkness in their hearts.
- Amelda hates Kaiba because of his brother Muriko being killed in a conflict between two countries who were both supplied by Kaiba Corp weapons by Kaiba's adoptive father, Gozubaru Kaiba (In reality it was Dartz disguised as Gozubaru as Dartz wanted to induce a traumatic event in Amelda's life to make him susceptible to the Orichalcos' corruption.). During his second duel with Kaiba, the similarities between the two are made clearer as both of them became what they were due to their little brothers (Kaiba became ruthless and pragmatic to give Mokuba a better life, while Amelda is fighting to avenge his brother). When Amelda loses his second duel to Kaiba, as the seal takes his soul, he hallucinates Mokuba as his brother and gives him his brother's Dyna Dude action figure before collapsing.
- Valon and Jonouchi were both born into a world of poverty and violence. Jonouchi grew up with his father who was a gambling addict and became a bully because of his poor home life before becoming a better person after Yugi helped him. Valon grew up in orphanage and was a Blood Knight due to his troubled life which became only worse when the orphanage was burned down killing a nun whom he was quite fond of. He ended up in prison and was recruited by Dartz who was secretly the mastermind behind his plight. Both Valon and Jonouchi love and are loved by Mai and play opposing roles in her character development. While Jonouchi was the one that taught Mai the value of friendship and convinced her to be more open, Valon is the one who led her to Dartz who preyed on her trauma and convinced her to hate her friends. Valon and Jonouchi see each other as worthy opponents in their duel and Valon having come to see how wrong his actions were begs Jonouchi to save Mai. Which Jonouchi does at the cost of his own soul meaning that both men lost their lives fighting for Mai. Fortunately, they both get better.
- The Dark Signers from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds were specifically recruited by the Earthbound Immortals to defeat the Signers. Most of the Dark Signers themselves have reasons to fight the Signers: Misty wants revenge on Aki because she (falsely) believed that Aki killed her brother; Demack has control over Duel Spirits and stole Luka's Ancient Fairy Dragon, while Luka is the Duel Spirits' champion and the true owner of the dragon; Rudger worked with Yusei's father on Momentum, and specifically played a role in its explosion, which resulted in Yusei, Crow, and Jack's parents perishing; Carly was instrumental in Jack's Heel–Face Turn beforehand, and their relationship almost got Jack killed when he tried to tie the duel. Kiryu was Yusei's, Jack's and Crow's leader who is after revenge and specifically targets Yusei for "betraying" him. Bommer's (misled) motivation is similar to Crow's, which is how they bond with each other during their duel.
