Shared universes in manga?

In comics there are several companies that have large universes that most of there characters are a part of, is there anything like this in manga?

All of CLAMP's stuff is implied to be one huge multiverse thanks to Tsubasa and Xxx Hollic.

Ken Akamatsu's non-oneshot works all share a universe.

edited 26th Apr '16 5:58:25 PM by burnpsy

Jokingly, Shonen Jump often tries to all of its series together in the Jump Super Stars series.

edited 26th Apr '16 6:01:41 PM by Demongodofchaos2

It's more multimedia (print novels, visual novels, anime, and games), but there's also the Nasuverse (Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, and others).

All of Gundam is technically 1 universe via Turn A Gundam, as to the exactly how the timelines work together is up in the air.

It's kind of heavily hinted that The World God Only Knows shares a universe with one of Wakaki's older works, Seikesshou Albatross.

Ditto for Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa, where places like the setting of Sakura Discord have been referred to as well.

I think pretty much anything with a spinoff or several counts.

The OP seems to be looking for shared-world series that aren't spinoffs though.

It's somewhat uncommon in manga, I think, since the vagarities of editorial fiat means that most of the time a mangaka will have to move on to something new after a series is done.

Oh, here's another: three of Ooi Masakazu's series (Oku-san, Ashitaba-san chi no Muko Kurashi, and Ichinensei ni Nacchattara) seem to be set in the same city, and happen roughly in the same timeframe.

edited 26th Apr '16 9:37:59 PM by MyssaRei

Oh, there's also the (AFAIK) unnamed shared verse that includes Baccano, Durarara, Etsusa Bridge, and some others.

edited 26th Apr '16 9:39:55 PM by DarkHunter

Those are light novels though, not manga.

You were saying?

Save Etsusa Bridge, they all have anime and manga adaptations.

But they started out as light novels first. The OP seemed to be looking for manga, because it's really uncommon unless you're a prolific author. Most series are one-and-done, unless the author himself liked the setting so much, and has enough leeway with their editor, to set another story in the same universe with it.

edited 26th Apr '16 9:50:43 PM by MyssaRei

"But they started out as light novels first."

Pedantry. A manga's a manga.

It's a qualifier that creates un-needed complication, as it would include every Light Novel that's had a manga that's had a spinoff ever. Because that's what Light Novel-related media tend to do. Spawn spin-offs. So no.

That aside, I think an older version of Ishinomori's (classic, hah!) Skull Man used to intersect with Cyborg 009, as the hero of the former became a major big bad in the latter.

edited 26th Apr '16 10:01:08 PM by MyssaRei

From what I've seen, it's not terribly uncommon for authors to through in hints that their works share a universe, but multiple authors writing stories in the same universe is pretty rare

Very rare.

The only one I remember in fact, is how Tezuka's Black Jack surprisingly pushes the plot of Ray in motion. And even then, the only reason why we even KNOW it's Black Jack himself rather than an expy is because Ray the Animation was produced by Tezuka pictures. ^^;

edited 26th Apr '16 10:06:14 PM by MyssaRei

Cool-kyou Shinsha's works (Ojojojo, I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying, Komori-san wa Kotowarenai!, Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, etc) are supposed to be in the same universe, in the same town.

Apparently Kouji Seo has most of his works in one universe, which only made one particular part of his latest manga more tragic for loyal readers.

I only read two of the more disconnected works of his, though.

Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump and Dragon ball takes place in the same universe, and there is a crossover in Neko Majin.

Working!! and Servant x Service takes place in the same universe, probably even the same city as there are some audio drama crossovers.

Giant Robo and Shin Mazinger Z are technically speaking crossovers (not with each other mind you), Yasuhiro Imagawa likes to do this a lot.

edited 27th Apr '16 12:43:55 AM by zsmg

Toriyama's shared universe is surprisingly big. DB and Dr. Slump have the obvious connection, but then there's other things such as:

• The aforementioned DB cameos in Neko Majin.
• Beelzebub's dad from Sand Land being implied at being a younger Dabura.
• Sachie-chan Guu and Jiya being two other manga that delve into the Galactic Patrol.
• Various characters from Wonder Island, Mysterious Rain Jack and Today's Highlight Island appear in Dr. Slump.
• Arale appears in the short comic Rocky.
• King Nikochan appears in Pola & Roid.
• Ackman from Go Go Ackman cameos in Dragon Ball.
• The main characters of the one-shot Escape cameo in Dragon Ball.
• Rock and Pepper Town from Dub & Peter 1 appear in Dragon Ball.
• Tech-Tech aliens appear in Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, Neko Majin, Toccio the Angel and U-Sama.

That is some crazy stuff right there.

The ending of Spirit Circle implies that Mizukami Satoshi's works are set in separate universes, but that people from one can reincarnate in another (complete with oblique references to the events of The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer and Sengoku Youko).

The Nasuverse is the closest thing I can think of to the Marvel/DC model - it started with just Nasu, but now there's multiple writers telling stories in different parts of the world, often re-using each other's characters.

edited 27th Apr '16 5:14:59 AM by Prime32

So would a large universe like marvel be accepted in manga form?

I think we've made clear from the replies alone where stories by a SINGLE author share a single verse aren't as uncommon as one would think. However a universe where MANY authors collaborate, telling different stories all set in the same universe? Pretty rare, as a Western comic book reader would understand it. Heck, the best example of a collaborative setting, the Nasuverse, end up reusing the same devices over and over. In the end, it always comes back to the Grail War. *shrugs*

Compare this to something like the Marvel Universe for example, where you have "ground level" heroics, to cross-country heroics, to international-level stories, to truly COSMIC adventures... Stories about different people experiencing the same event, but written by different authors... Stuff like that doesn't really happen in manga.

edited 27th Apr '16 9:23:58 AM by MyssaRei

if it did though, if someone made a universe like that would it be accepted? do you think people would like it or hate it?