DCAU (The Anime Equivalent)

For a long time I've wondered: how did the DCAU come into being? The DCAU, the DC Comics Animated Universe, is a restyled, Massively Multiplayer Crossover setting where numerous DC heroes are given reformatted origins and storylines that coalesce. Superman and Batman deal with each other. Wonder Woman is a newcomer to the Justice League. Superman, Flash, and Green Lantern are aware of each other. Justice League War, etc etc. Various stories that combine these superheroes plausibly.

Could this be done with some of the more recent anime? I've noticed a deal of animes dealing with superpowered students and weird happenings going on in urban/school settings, or at least sound like they do:

• Durarara
• A Certain Magical Index
• Highschool DXD
• Haruhi Suzumiya
• Panty & Stocking
• Megaman NT Warrior
• Puella Magicka Madoka
• Dragon Ball (Buu Saga)
• Yu Yu Hakusho
• Bleach
• Higurashi When They Cry

Am I asking for help in assembling the "Justice League of Anime". Perhaps. I'm more curious about what the best setting would be, and how many you could fit in without breaking suspension of disbelief.

I'd say Ikebukuro, from Durarara, would be the ideal setting. "City of Adventure and Weirdness where random supernatural events seem to occur".

EDIT: Though, I suppose a "shared anime universe" would be more slice-of-life and comedic than actiony and supernatural. Maybe something like this, a giant Highschool AU:

• Haruhi
• K-On
• Sailor Moon
• ...running out of "highschool" animes, but you get the idea.

edited 22nd Dec '14 9:06:49 AM by FOFD

No, because it starts by having multiple manga series in a Massively Multiplayer Crossover manga franchise. Then the established settings are referenced and distilled, creating improved stories for many one-note villains, and featuring lesser known characters in a prominent fashion.

The closest I can think of is the Raildex universe maybe?

The trouble is how many anime 'verses are focused on internal consistency and a strong tendency towards Magic A Is Magic A. It would be odd to suddenly make them a shared universe compared to DC, where you had things like magic and super science interacting even within the discrete "stories" of the different heroes. Batman fought a vampire, for instance, in early Golden Age stories.

The door is not open, meanwhile, for things like Hollows to exist in the world of Haruhi Suzumiya (Haruhi, in fact, would be difficult to incorporate logically into other realms, given the Mind Screw and navel-gazing tendencies of that 'verse's particular brand of philosophy and metaphysics, unless you made the whole thing a Haruhi spinoff as many Haruhi crossover fics have, where the whole thing occurs because of her Reality Warper nature. But then you have an issue of power-scaling).

You'd have to be very careful about who you chose to integrate.

Even then, the Raildex universe only consists of To Aru Majutsu no Index and Spin Off series based around two of the protagonists who don't get as much focus. That's sort of the reverse of what the OP wants (or so I understand); they were part of a single work that branched out into separate series. To put that into perspective, the DC equivalent of the Raildex universe would be the Batman Family, i.e., Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin, Batgirl, etc.

@OP:

That...is sort of the description of 80% of the Manga and Anime that the industry pumps out (the reason behind it is obvious: students are the target demographic and escapist fiction commonly has supernatural elements in it). Making this criteria the sole basis for creating a single universe would just result in a tonally incoherent mess (Attempting to combine Madoka Magicka with Durarara! is...rather ambitious).

edited 22nd Dec '14 10:44:29 AM by Elfhunter

Haruhi, in fact, would be difficult to incorporate logically into other realms, given the Mind Screw and navel-gazing tendencies of that 'verse's particular brand of philosophy and metaphysics

The Nagato Yuki spinoff universe says hi.

It should be mentioned even superhero universes aren't 'totally coherent' as a whole. The same universes who hold Ambush Bug and Howard the Duck hold John 'Hellblazer' Constantine and the angst-ridden X-Men. Fantasy Kitchen Sink is an old standing trope for a reason.

As for tone, not even Real Life is coherent as a whole, either. Some people's lives are Azumanga Daioh minus the extreme weirdness and some others' are plucked from the most depressing realistic Seinen, and yes, those can intersect briefly (or even longer) at times, too.

edited 22nd Dec '14 11:36:13 AM by NapoleonDeCheese

Super Robot Wars

The most immediate issue for crossovers like this is the legality of such, because contrary to popular belief, Japan does have things like licensing and copyright. While Super Robot Wars is the best example of what FOFD wants, it's also possible mainly because the franchise has developed decades of prestige and a legion of OCs to build from. The DCAU works because it is all handled by DC Comics (and, by extension, Time Warner), so the easiest method would be to keep to works within a single company/magazine like Shonen Jump.

Even then, there's also a matter of consistency. As much as manga are compared to American comic books, they are self-contained in a way you see more in the likes of graphic novels. Even concepts that seem very similar can play under very different rules depending on the manga. Shinigami from Bleach aren't shinigami from Death Note, for example.

So there's two routes. The first is to just slap all the series together with disregard for details and differences, but that tends to be a bit on the messy side. Personally, I would prefer the second route, which is where you actively acknowledge that the series involved are different universes and play that into the plot, chief example being Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

edited 26th Dec '14 7:31:32 AM by Watchtower

The problem is DCAU is odne by just one big company making several different franchises.

What you suggest are more super robot wars styled crossovers.

Your best bet are just going to be video games like SRW or the Shonen Jump games.

edited 26th Dec '14 9:57:59 AM by Thorn14

Sorry to keep harping on this but...

True as that may be, there are some examples in Real Life (as mentioned in this podcast, though be warned that the conversation goes all over the place, and the advertisements are a bit long) where events are cut-off from the narrative because it clashes with the overall tone of the story, and I see no reason why there can't be more that went unmentioned. What I'm trying to say is people want even Real Life events to have a consistent tone, and a work with a mishmash of different tones will only end up feeling jarring rather than realistic.

Anyway, I have to agree with @Watchtower on this: If you're going to do this, acknowledge that all the shows you plan to combine belong to different universes and any kind of crossover is a result of characters moving between the worlds or some kind of Inn Between the Worlds sort of situation.

edited 28th Dec '14 6:29:47 AM by Elfhunter

I made sure to look at the Massive Multi Player Crossover page. The entry that I'm most familiar with are the Pretty Cure All Stars movies. The movies are also mentioned on the Bat Family Crossover page.

Six theatrical Pretty Cure All Stars films have been finished, with a seventh one currently planned. If you want to watch them in English, please keep in mind that you will need to look for a Fan Sub. I don't think you will need to know all of the individual Pretty Cure series or characters in order to understand what's happening.