Contrasting Sequel Main Character / Anime & Manga

From the two geniuses battling for love to two idols with their past memories. ^note Top: Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Bottom: Oshi no Ko

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• Arachnid:
  • Imomushi in Caterpillar is pretty nonchalant about her traumatic past and is a Punch-Clock Villain as a killer-for hire, unlike how Alice Fujii, a supposedly natural-born maniac, grew more and more traumatized and frustrated over everything that she went through in the Arachnid Hunt. Imomushi is also sexually aggressive towards her partner Hanakamakiri like Megumi is to Alice. Megumi exploiting Alice's trust to have Sex for Solace with her but getting ditched because of Alice's own personal issues is juxtaposed with Hanakamakiri leaving and breaking his promise to have Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex with Imomushi due to betraying her trust on a way she doesn't even give a damn about.
  • Whereas Alice was the protagonist in Arachnid and had Megumi Oki the roach-girl as her companion, Chiyuri Haijima the roach-girl is the protagonist of Blattodea and has Setsuna Dinoponera, Alice's Shadow Archetype foil, as her companion. Chiyuri is a lot more optimistic and sociable than gloomy and miserable Alice due to having a more stable life despite being homeless, and is an all-around nice girl unlike either Megumi or Setsuna. Also ironic is that Setsuna, despite all her flaws, desperately wanted friends and rises to being a supporting protagonist by protecting Chiyuri with all she's got, unlike how Alice was repeatedly betrayed in Arachnid and ended up ditching Megumi (who was something of a False Friend anyway) to face a Zombie Apocalypse on her own due to embracing her murderous urges.
• Part 2 of Chainsaw Man changes the main POV from horndog debt-slave Denji to antisocial high-schooler Asa Mitaka who has about as much in common with Denji as oil does with water. Both of them are losers who are very bad with the opposite sex, but Denji turned out the way he did due to the Yakuza exploiting him while Asa turned out the way she did due to her unwillingness to open up to others. Denji is an underthinker while Asa is an overthinker. Denji is openly perverted while Asa is disgusted by sex. Both of them die and then resurrect after making a contract with a devil, but Pochita makes a contract with Denji out of selfless love while Yoru makes a contract with Asa out of self-interest. Denji is motivated by his desire to obtain things he wants (Namely food, sex, compansionship, etc.) while Asa is motivated by her desire to get rid of things she doesn't want (Namely those around her being caught in the crossfire from Yoru's presence). Furthermore, while Pochita and Denji only occassionally interact after their contract, Yoru and Asa are constantly going back and forth with each other. It even evolves into something of an Opposites Attract situation between the two of them.
• Due to Cool-Kyou Shinsha's works setting in the same universe, each protagonists of his stories heavily contrast from one another.
  • I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying has Kaoru Tsunashi and Hajime Tsunashi who are contrasts to Kurume and Harundo, the protagonists of RaButa.
    • Kurume is the rich daughter of one of the three major houses who is a Minor Living Alone due to her parents being dead from an accident, who sees her maid Fuyu as her Parental Substitute. Kaoru, on the other hand, is a normal Office Lady who is married to the otaku Hajime and is a Workaholic who was once a Former Teen Rebel. Appearance-wise, Kurume is a teenager who has black hair and blue eyes while Kaoru is an adult woman who currently has a blond hair (albeit her natural hair colour is purple). Both of them lost their parents, though Kurume is an orphan who lives by herself and her maid, while Kaoru is raised by her uncle who is mostly estranged from him due to his violently protective nature.
    • Hajime sets up to be the contrast to Harundo in many ways, aside from them being married to their equally opposite lovers. Harundo is a high school student and a Delinquent who is the son of a butcher from his family's butcher shop, before inheriting his Family Business at the end. Hajime is a House Husband Otaku who is a freelance programmer and is married to Kaoru but has problems finding stable employment due to his hobby, before he becomes a fully-fledeged web designer. How they win the hearts of their significant other differs heavily. Kurume falls in love to Harundo easily, despite being the mere opposite to him in any ways. Hajime falls in love with Kaoru before the events of his home story, but it was rather due to how incompatible they were at first in line to their drastically different interests, albeit Hajime's efforts paid off when he was able to win her heart. Down to their appearances, they starkly contrast; Harudo is an overweight, bald-headed teenage boy who had a spiky black hair, while Hajime is an adult, physically fit man who has black hair.
  • The manga My Girlfriend Without Wasabi, a spin-off prequel to I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying, contrasts both Rino Juse and Nozomu Juse to the previous protagonists Kaoru and Hajime. While Kaoru is an Office Lady, Rino is a professional mask maker who is the adopted heiress to the Juse family where she is rich, is much shorter than Kaoru and has a natural dark blue hair. Nozomu is seen as Hajime's opposite, who is not an otaku and is working at a convenience store and is a boxer. Their marriages are also gender inverted: Unlike Kaoru who takes up her husband's surname Tanahashi, Nozomu took his wife's surname in part due to him marrying the family heiress.
  • Komori-san Can't Decline!: Shuri Komori is the blatant opposite to Rino. Unlike Rino who is a rich adult woman with a Tsundere nature, Shuri is a high school student who, while The Ace just like Rino, suffers from Chronic Hero Syndrome and at some cases she is an Extreme Doormat who can't decline every request (hence the title). And she's also a Huge Schoolgirl, unlike the much shorter yet adult Rino, who is unusually tall for her age, averaging at the height of 1.8 (6') tall.
  • Ojojojo: Haru Jigokumeguri is a big contrast to both Rino and Shuri. Like Rino, Haru is the heiress to a wealthy family, but unlike the Tsundere, Womanchild Rino, Haru is a Rich Bitch who has a Friendless Background due to her initial arrogant, haughty personality, traits that her predecessor do not posses. To Shuri, both are high school students, though unlike Shuri who is an Extreme Doormat and is a Nice Girl who finds friends easily, Haru is haughty and arrogant to others through her wealth and status, leading to others turning away from her very quickly, resulting in her friendlessness that forced her to move to various schools.
  • Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: The titular character Kobayashi is a contrasting counterpart to Kaoru. Both are Office Ladies who work at a company. Appearance, Kaoru has a long blonde hair (once purple) and is noticeably bustier, while Kobayashi has a short orange hair tied in a small ponytail and is flat-chested. Kaoru is a stereotypical Office Lady, while Kobayashi is a stereotypical Salaryman who dresses as a male office worker and is a computer programmer. Likewise, Kaoru likes her duties and has a Benevolent Boss, while Kobayashi's approach as one is a mixed bag at the very least (initially), due to her boss's Bad Boss abusive attiude. Kaoru is Happily Married to Hajime, who is virtually her opposite in many ways, while Kobayashi is unmarried and a bachelorette.
  • Mononoke Sharing heavily contrasts the main protagonists Yata Kagami and Momi to Kobayashi and Tohru.
    • Yata Kagami is the polar opposite to her predecessor Kobayashi in a few aspects despite their similarity of living alongside a race of fantastical creatures. While Kobayashi has a calm, level-headed and nonchalant personality who is kind to others, acting as the Voice of Reason to Tohru and the other dragons and openly well-likes them, Yata is cruel and cold to others and has a nasty anger issue, where she is openly hateful towards the Youkai including Mizuchi, though she sheds that personality over the course of the story. Kobayashi is an Office Lady who works as a programmer, while Yata is a high school student who works at a part-time job as a gas station attendant. Kobayashi is masculine-looking, while Yata is feminine-looking.
    • Tohru is a shapeshifting dragon who immediately reveals her true nature to Kobayashi in her very first appearance of the manga. Momi is an Oni Youkai whose true nature as a Physical God and the creator of her race and the entire universe along with Lucoa, Miki, Akiko, etc., which birthed many of the characters, is mostly hidden towards Yata up to the final ends of the story, making her a Secret-Keeper. And they also contrast in terms of personality. Tohru is sociable and excitable who regularly interacts with the rest of her dragon and human circle, while Momi is a shut-in who is extremely introverted and rarely interacts to others.
  • Peach Boy Riverside is a case of a Stealth Prequel from all of his works, where the main protagonists Mikoto Kibitsu and Saltorine "Sally" Aldike are the opposite counterparts to both Kobayashi and Tohru from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. They also both contrast to the Traveler and the Ghost Girl from the author's much earlier work Cluster of Life.
    • Mikoto Kibitsu is the opposite to Kobayashi in many aspects. Kobayashi is a Bifauxnen who looks masculine in appearance despite being female, whose feminine traits can only be attributed to her short ponytail. Mikoto is basically the inverse to Kobayashi, who looks outwardly feminine on the outside, but is actually revealed to be a man. Kobayashi is a full-blooded human, while Mikoto is a Half-Human Hybrid who is a half-Oni, half-human. Kobayashi is a kind Nice Girl who has no problems being friends with other species including dragons like Tohru, even going so far in becoming a real hero in the process after stopping Azad. Mikoto is a cold-blooded, ruthless Nominal Hero who has a seething hatred for the Onis after his adopted father was killed by his own kind, becoming completely racist towards other races including his own.
    • In terms of the Traveler, Mikoto has similarities to him who are out on their own adventures. The Traveler is a lone wolf who travels by himself including the Ghost Girl who left his own parents due to his inferiority complex, while Mikoto has several travelling companions on his side, whose motivations to become one stems from him gaining vengeance against the Onis who killed his adoptive father. The Traveler is actively neutral against the war that ravaged his world, while Mikoto joins Sally's cause to actively end humanity's war against demihumans and his own one-sided war against the Onis. Furthermore, the Traveler is a middle-aged, worn man, while Mikoto is a much younger man who is in better shape.
    • Sally is a contrast to Tohru, whose commonality is them trying to ditch their own families in favour of a comfortable life. Tohru ditches her own race, the Chaos dragons, due to their hardlined beliefs and the non-interference rule on Earth, leading to her father Damocles attempting to bring her back to her home world forcefully. Sally is a princess who ditched her title and her rank of aristocracy together in favour of dangerous adventures, whose goal is to unite all races altogether and actively despises the overt discrimination that most of her kingdom's aristocracy does to demihumans. In case of their relationship to their families, Tohru has a seeming hatred towards her father's enforced beliefs about Chaos dragons, while Sally not only hates her family but the kingdom overall, due to their one-sided racism against various other races. Appearance-wise, Tohru has twintails, a pair of dragon horns and dresses in a maid outfit; Sally has short blonde hair and dresses in an adventurer gear.
    • In terms of the Ghost Girl, Sally has similarities to her predecessor, who were both abandoned by their parents, though the outcomes are different. The Ghost Girl's parents voluntarily abandoned her for unknown reasons, while Sally voluntarily abandoned them to become an adventurer. The Ghost Girl has an intense hatred for humanity who Stopped Caring for everyone else and is a Straw Nihilist, while Sally hates humans for a different reason, namely her kingdom's aristocracy who are racists against demihumans, and she is open-minded towards them. Personality-wise, the Ghost Girl is nihilistic, anger-prone and suicidal, while Sally is a Nice Girl who is cheerful, friendly and at times eccentric, though she can be psychopathic and outright bloodthirsty when she activates her peach eyes.
• In the 2020 special chapter of Death Note, this is the case for Minoru Tanaka, who contrasts Light Yagami in just about every way. Light is a TV Genius and one of the top-ranked students in Japan, while Minoru is fairly realistically intelligent and doesn't do well on tests. Light is showy and extremely prideful, making an effort to have his killings be noticed, while Minoru has bad self-esteem and leaves his actions as untraceable as conceivably possible. Light hides his incredibly selfish motivations under a veneer of altruism and a Knight Templar code, while Minoru is honest about the fact that he just wants to use the Death Note to support himself and his family, but his plan results in far greater prosperity for millions. Light comes up with complicated Gambit Roulettes with a thousand moving parts, while Minoru's plan is fairly simple and straightforward. Light sees no problem with killing thousands of people to accomplish his goal, while Minoru, despite being given the power to kill anyone, kills nobody. Near had no respect whatsoever for Light and saw him as nothing more than a vile murderer with delusions of grandeur, but he actually expressed interest in Minoru and saw him as a Worthy Opponent. And while Light was ultimately undone by the flaws in his plan as well as his massive ego, Minoru fell to a Diabolus ex Machina where the closest thing to a God in the setting specifically created a new rule just to kill him.
• Digimon has a history of this:
  • C'mon Digimon has a supporting protagonist in Abe Makoto, while Yagami Taichi and Zermaru of Digimon V-Tamer 01 are clearly the front and center stars. The functional leads of "C Mon" are Kentaro Kamon, an aloof stoic, when the few triggers of his righteous temper are not hit, who wants nothing to do with animals or Digimon, and Bun, a weak glitch "Damemon" or "Badmon" whose behavior is identical to a dog's. Lacking a troubled past like Kentaro, Taichi is a sociable goof absolutely in love with his Digimon Zero, a powerful evolutionary throwback "glitch" monster who fancies himself a noble lord. Following this is Hikaru Ryuugi of Digimon D-Cyber, who is an Idiot Hero where Taichi was The Strategist and his Dorumon partner is initially antagonistic towards him and doesn't have a given name like Bun or Zero. Tsurugi Tatsuno of Digimon Next is much better at raising and battling Digimon than Hikaru, who was the worst tamer of his group. Hikaru's partner also becomes a Royal Knight, an upholder of Yggdrasil's law, while Tsurugi's is an illegal monster because it has the ability to defy and kill Yggdrasil. Taiki Kudo of the Xros Wars manga is the first protagonist who isn't Hot-Blooded and also the first one who hasn't raised any of the monsters he works with.
  • The first protagonist, Taichi Yagami was hot-headed, but grew out of it, and had an aptitude for lateral thinking; the next protagonist, Daisuke Motomiya was hot-blooded and stupid to a fault, but he didn't get distracted from his goals; the third, Takato Matsuda, was sweet, kind and a little timid; the fourth, Takuya Kanbara, was an extroverted people-pleaser; the fifth, Masaru Daimon, was hot-blooded and confrontational; the sixth, Taiki Kudou, was a thinker and tactician; the seventh, Tagiru Akashi, was an excitable reckless idiot, the exact opposite of Taiki; the eighth, Haru Shinkai, was an insecure, introverted book-worm; the ninth, Hiro Amanokawa, was a more cautious logical thinker.
• Dragon Ball, while ultimately retaining the same actual protagonist throughout its long run, was intended to switch focus protagonists. Goku is the classic Idiot Hero who loves nothing more than to fight, while his first son Gohan is a more passive Martial Pacifist and a huge nerd. Pan, who is arguably the 'hero' of GT, is also completely unlike her father Gohan, headstrong and outspoken.
• FLCL: The most obvious contrast is between the first season protagonist, Naoto Nandaba, and the protagonist of FLCL Alternative, Kana Koumoto. Naota is a 12-year-old boy who's trying to grow up too fast and generally acts very closed and standoffish; he also greatly admires his absent big brother. Kana is a 17-year-old girl who's afraid of her coming adulthood and is extremely devoted to her group of friends; she has a younger brother who annoys her. Naota's arc is largely centered around warming up to Haruko and realizing that he has feelings for her; Kana is a casual friend of hers from the first episode, and part of her arc is realizing that she's not ready for a love interest yet.
  • The second season protagonist, Hidomi Hibajiri, is not as direct a contrast, but she's still distinct: she's fourteen, putting her between the two, and is an Emotionless Girl, so her arc is less about examining/changing what she wants than admitting that she wants anything. The season also stands out by making her Love Interest, Ko Ide, a full-blown Deuteragonist and having the pair get a real Relationship Upgrade by the end.
• Fushigi Yuugi:
  • Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden, despite actually being a prequel, has a big contrast in Takiko as its protagonist compared to Miaka. There's a 70 year difference between their respective adventures in the Universe of the Four Gods, Takiko entering it in 1923 and Miaka in The '90s, so their appearance is already different with Takiko wearing a hakama and Miaka a blazer-type school uniform, which had become the norm by then. Miaka was lazy in studying, did not have great grades and was extremely hotheaded at times. On the other hand, Takiko was good in school and was very active, keeping her cool during certain situations and being very self-sacrificing in order to understand other people.
  • What little has been shown of Suzuno in her few appearances, she's a contrast to the other priestesses in that she is described as being a very shy and quiet person, contrary to Takiko's appealing and Miaka's headstrong nature.
• In Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin the main character starts out as a puppy, who trains to avenge his father. He joins a pack of warrior dogs, and since he is smallest and youngest he has to fight hard to earn the respect of others. Eventually, he is chosen to be the leader because of his deeds and he reaches the peak of his powers at the last battle of the manga. In the sequel Ginga Densetsu Weed his son somehow knows how to do his father's ultimate move only by knowing that his father is a hero (he hasn't even met his father at this point) and everyone he meets treats him like an alpha male of the pack or something. The kid even lectures his father about how it is not right to kill your enemy after the said enemy has tortured Gin and killed one of his closest friends in an extremely brutal way.
• Gundam:
  • A stark contrast between Kamile Bidan being an angry and angsty teen and Judau Ashita being happy and idiotic sets up the whole different tones and moods in Zeta Gundam and Gundam ZZ... initially anyway.
  • Shinn Asuka of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny was probably meant to be this to Kira Yamato, being confrontational and arrogant where Kira was angsty and polite. Kira is also a usually-calm Martial Pacifist who seeks to end the war without killing anyone while Shinn is a Combat Pragmatist with a Hair-Trigger Temper who seeks to end the war by killing his enemies as quickly as possible.
  • Hiroto Kuga from Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE is basically this in contrast to Riku Mikami of Gundam Build Divers. While Riku started out as an idealistic newcomer to GBN and pilots the Gundam 00 Sky which relies on overwhelming power and speed complete with a Super Mode, Hiroto is a stoic and experienced GBN player who has been playing GBN since it launched, with his Core Gundam focuses more on pure versatility and capabilities to operate in any battle situation with the use of various PLANETS System armor that he built.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Whether coincidental or an intentional design choice, each protagonist of each part tends to have an opposing temperament to their predecessor.
  • To put it simply, Jonathan is a Nice Guy Determinator bound by the honor of a gentleman and never giving up. His grandson, Joseph is a Guile Hero Jerk with a Heart of Gold who uses his wits to win against an enemy and is almost constantly joking or bragging, even when his back is against the wall. Jotaro is an unforgiving Perpetual Frowner who varies from pummeling to cunning depending on his opponent. Josuke is honorable and doesn't kill his enemies, but is also a gambling addict who's got a Berserk Button with his hair. Giorno has a Just Like Robin Hood streak and isn't afraid to fight ruthlessly with his enemies, and unlike Josuke who dresses like a delinquent but is otherwise law-abiding, Giorno actually is a mafioso. Jolyne is a flighty, irresponsible hedonist looking for a thrill. Johnny is a stubborn and strong-willed cripple with a major Inferiority Superiority Complex. Josuke of Part 8 is dorky with some brooding moments. Finally, Jodio is ambitious, arrogant, and when necessary, ruthless.
  • The two Josukes also heavily contrast each other as well. Josuke Higashikata of Diamond is Unbreakable is one of the most "normal" protagonists in the series to date, with his only real quirks being a gambling addiction, his extreme sensitivity towards his hair, and the circumstances of his birth; other than that, he's just a good-hearted schoolboy. "Josuke Higashikata" of JoJolion, on the other hand, is easily one of the weirdest protagonists in the series, being a physically abnormal and eccentric amnesiac who happens to be a fusion of two different people. And one of the two people who fused to form him was Yoshikage Kira, the alternate universe counterpart of the original Josuke's greatest enemy.
  • Jodio Joestar contrasts every previous Jojo, being the only Jojo so far who can be described as a "bad person", but especially his original universe counterpart Giorno Giovanna. Jodio is a drug dealer and a thief who wants to be rich to support his family, contrasting Giorno's more lofty reasons for being a criminal of wanting to overthrow the ruthless mafia boss terrorizing the population of Italy. He's also a lot more ruthless with his stand than Giorno was. While Giorno generally tries to avoid harming people who don't actively pose a threat to himself or his friends, Jodio has zero qualms about using his November Rain to violently beat a pair of crooked cops who lacked stands of their own in the first chapter. His stand November Rain is also the most combat-oriented out of all the main Jojo's, having little utility outside of raw destructive power, which contrasts Giorno's Gold Experience which is one of the most versatile stands in the entire series. Jodio is also a massive idiot who's constantly cracking jokes and gets duped by someone who is very obviously a narc, while Giorno was very stoic and is the second smartest Jojo after Joseph.
• Kichikujima has each of its main characters different than the last.
  • In Part 1 Takahisa was a normal college student who had unrequited love for his classmate Yuka Uehara. He would get the same powers of the family thanks to which he went crazy until towards the end of part 1 starts to fall in love with Mari.
  • Alice from the prequel series Zoumotsujima was a lowly popular idol who wanted to get more love and fame. She ended up being confused by Kaoru for his mother and becomes a half-squid human hybrid who comes to view Kaoru as her surrogate son.
  • Part 2 of Kichikujima, set five years after part 1, has a young woman named Chinatsu who arrived on the island with her siblings being the survivors in a plane crash, and she would also be confused for Mari due to their similarities. She would later gain the powers similar to the family's and is later revealed to have come to the island before having a boyfriend in the past and having made a Dea With The Devil before, but lost her memory of this somehow.
• The Legend of Zelda (Akira Himekawa) does this with two different incarnations of Link.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1999), the Hero of Time is a naive, sheltered, optimistic child who answered the Call to Adventure with little hesitancy, took setbacks in stride, and easily took to his role.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016), the Hero of Twilight is cynical, emotionally fragile, has to be dragged kicking and screaming into his destiny, and has some suppressed Blood Knight tendencies.
• Every Macross installment has a protagonist who differs from the previous ones in one respect or another. To put it simply, Hikaru Ichijyou is a former stunt pilot turned military pilot, Isamu Dyson is an older Military Maverick who is already in the military at the start of the story rather than Falling into the Cockpit, Nekki Basara is arguably the odd one out among the franchise's protagonists in that he is a Badass Pacifist rock star rather than a soldier (to the point that he was The One Guy in the Uta Macross mobile game amidst the myriad Idol Singers of the franchise), Alto Saotome is a brooding former kabuki actor who views the sky as his stage and gets frequently called out for his effeminate looks, and Hayate Immelman is a Teen Genius looking for a purpose in life and who - while also viewing flying as a performance like Alto - views it from the perspective of a dancer rather than an actor.
• The main protagonists of Mono are different to the main protagonists in Afro's other work Laid-Back Camp, due to both mangas taking place in the same universe.
  • The Cinephoto Club is this to the Outdoor Activities Club, despite being established as school clubs of their own school. Unlike the Outdoor Activities Club who is a well-established club for years, the Cinephoto Club is a much more obscure club formed between the merging of two failing clubs into one whose members from both have graduated. They are both similar in a way, however, being school clubs with very few members to boot, where its members are mutually close to each other.
  • An Kiriyama is the exact opposite to Rin in some ways. Rin is a quiet, reserved girl who is introverted on the outside who is socially inept. An is the exact opposite to Rin, being cheerful, friendly and extroverted yet a ditz who is extremely sociable. Rin is an avid camper who likes camping trips with the rest of her group and is born from a family of campers. An is an average high school student who is listless in her own future, having only joined the former Photography Club out of sheer fondness for her best friend Satsuki before she subsequently joins Haruno. Rin has a blue hair and purple eyes, while An has black hair and orange eyes.
  • Satsuki Amamiya is the reverse to Nadeshiko. Personality-wise, Nadeshiko is a Genki Girl who is extremely cheerful, energetic and sometimes a ditzy girl. Satsuki is an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl who is calm and nonchalant but is not as extremely cheerful as Nadeshiko. Appearance-wise, Nadeshiko has brighter-coloured features including a long pink hair and light blue eyes, while Satsuki has darker-coloured features including a short black hair and dark blue eyes. In terms of their life goals, Nadeshiko already has a set goal from the start as a camper who joined with Rin and a few other members of the Outdoor Activities Club including Chiaki, Ena and Aoi. Satsuki, on the other hand, joined the former Photography Club with her friend An, out of the former's misguided admiration for her former senpai Sakihara, which resulted in her becoming a shadow of her former self after she graduated, leaving her completely off-tracked until she met Haruno.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi stars a young, cute, anxious Child Prodigy Negi Springfield. Its sequel series, UQ Holder!, stars a much more classic Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero, Touta Konoe. This gets lampshaded by one of Negi's former students.
  Ayaka: My, my, my. You look nothing like Negi-sensei. Your hair, your skin... You seem like a mischief-maker, without a care in the world. His opposite in every way.
• Made in Abyss contrasts Riko to both Jima and Rokka from the author's previous work Gears Maiden.
  • About the same thing Riko has in common to Jima is their adventurous nature and also being children with good-natured, adventurous personalities, as well as them being unable to return to their own homes. What immediately sets apart Jima from Riko is that the former is a human-animal hybrid who has a horn and a tail who was born from an egg, while Riko is simply a human girl. Jima started off as a normal girl who stumbles upon the mysteries of the Saw Monster, but casted them off including the boy after getting scolded by her teacher and discovering one; before she finally disappears from myth after stopping a large ogre attack. With Riko, she voluntarily sets off her journey to the Abyss to find her mother Lyza in the lowest layers, but she has Reg, Nanachi and later Faputa as her staple companions on her side.
  • Rokka, just like Jima, also has in common with Riko being adventurous as well as disappearing after they fulfilled their own purpose. Though unlike Rokka who is an orphan girl with no memories of her past life as well as her identity, Riko has fond memories of her mother. Unlike Rokka who doesn't smile all the time up until the end of her Chapter, Riko is often seen to be energetic in most of her appearances.
• Kousuke from Sakura Discord was an abrasive, grumpy, always serious and (initially) slightly cynical protagonist. Asahi from My Monster Secret is (too) honest, a bit shy, clumsy, a notable Butt-Monkey, and kind to a fault − as well as a bit of a Covert Pervert. ^note While Jitsu wa isn't a direct sequel, there are some hints that the two series take place in the same universe (notably occasional cameos from the former series.)
• The titular character of Naruto is an orphan without any known extended family while his son, the eponymous protagonist of Boruto, has a very loving family. They are both troublemakers; however, while Naruto acted out as a means for attention in general, Boruto acts out as a means to get attention from his father who is always busy. Naruto's lifelong dream was to become Hokage while Boruto has no interest in the career. Naruto was considered a very weak shinobi at first and had to work hard to be strong, while Boruto is a Brilliant, but Lazy Child Prodigy whose skills far surpass what his father's was at the same age. And while Naruto's Heroic Lineage was unknown to most of the village (and especially to Naruto himself), leaving him presumed to be an ordinary peasant, Boruto's status as both the son of the Hokage and a member of the prestigious Hyuuga family is well-known to everyone and makes him as the closest thing Konoha has to royalty.
• Oshi no Ko contrasts a few of its main characters from its predecessor manga Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, another manga made by Akasaka:
  • Aquamarine and Ruby Hoshino contrasts to Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane. Kaguya and Shirogane were both living humans and are both unrelated to one another, while Aqua and Ruby are both reincarnates of Goro Amamiya and Sarina Tendouji, respectively, who later became the twins to their late mother Ai Hoshino. Mentally speaking, both Kaguya and Shirogane act at their own age group, while Aqua and Ruby, due to their Past-Life Memories, act as an adult (as Goro was in his 30s) and a 12-year-old teenage girl respectively (the age where Sarina died in the past). While Kaguya and Shirogane's relationship to one another is at least at healthy terms, Aqua and Ruby's relationship as siblings is revealed to be on unhealthy, even at times toxic terms.
  • Aqua Hoshino sets up as the polar opposite to Shirogane for many reasons. While they both have issues with one of their parents and are liking the other parent, they are both mirrored. For Shirogane, he has antagonism towards his mother as many of their family's problems all trace back to her, while he is in good relations with his father. Aqua, on the other hand, loves his mother Ai, but has a more extreme antagonism towards his father since he's responsible for Ai's death and plans to kill him to avenge her. They are both high-school aged teenagers, but how they act is different. Whereas in Shirogane's case who is a chronological teenager behaving exactly at his age, Aqua is a teenager but is a reincarnate of Goro, who was 30 at the time of his death, who is mentally older than Shirogane and acts more adult-like due to his Past-Life Memories. Their relationship to their sisters also heavily contrast. Shirogane often gets the brunt of Kei's teenage rebellion, while Aqua resorts to much more questionable methods and has no qualms of showing his controlling nature towards Ruby.
  • Ruby Hoshino sets up as the polar opposite to Kaguya for many reasons. In terms of Ruby's past life as Sarina, both suffered from Parental Abandonment in their past lives, but in terms of how it went, their circumstances are wildly different. Kaguya was born as a Heroic Bastard, whose father Gan'an had an affair with her mother Nayotake, while Sarina was born through her legitimate parents, but suffered serious neglect when she was dying from cancer at the age of 12 and only saw Goro as her Hope Spot. Even more so, Kaguya admired her late mother and would go at lengths to call anyone out who used her mother's name on bad faith, while Sarina eventually became a victim of her parent's neglect and instead treated Ai and Goro as the closest that is to a parental figure, especially considering the significance of their presence before succumbing to cancer. While Kaguya had someone close to her, that being her former maid and childhood friend Ai Hayasaka, Sarina suffered from loneliness until her death and she had no one close to her but Ai Hoshino and Goro, of which happened in her final moments before her death; adding insult to the injury is that both of them were murdered. In terms of her present life, Ruby is different to Kaguya in terms of personality. Kaguya, at first, is seen as cold and calculating on the outside, but in reality she is actually a kind and innocent-minded teenage girl. Ruby, on the other hand, starts off as an innocent teenage girl until it is eventually revealed to be two-faced who is not above on manipulating others and is now bent on finding the murderer responsible for Goro and Ai's death; where she eventually becomes like her own brother Aqua. Both are also antagonistic to their own fathers in line due to their hostile treatment. In Kaguya's case, her upbringing and her hostility to her father Gan'an was resulted of his cold, neglectful nature who has high expectations for her, which was what resulted in her cluelessness in the outside world. In Ruby's case, after encountering Goro's corpse, she goes from an innocent teenage girl into an embittered, two-faced girl who uses others for her own gain, eventually following her brother's vengeance of hunting down their own father to avenge the death of their mother, thus she eventually becomes the complete antithesis to her.
  • Ai Hoshino contrasts to Nayotake Shimizu, Kaguya's mother. Ai has some similarities to Nayotake, being that they are the out-of-wedlock mothers to the main protagonists and both died under tragic circumstances, though they are different to each other in many ways. Nayotake is a middle-aged woman with black hair, while Ai is a much younger girl who was only 20 before her death. Nayotake was a High-Class Call Girl who worked as a prostitute in a red light district, while Ai hailed from a rural upbringing who only became a famous idol during her teenage years. Nayotake died under natural causes, while Ai was murdered by Hikaru's accomplice.
  • Akane Kurokawa contrasts to Kobachi Osaragi. Both are timid, quiet teenagers who suffered from bullying and they were shunned by their own peers due to an unfortunate incident, as well as them being celebrities. Osaragi was shunned by her peers because of a scandal that hit her family and had to keep a low profile ever since the incident. Akane was cyberbullied and also shunned, like Osaragi, because of a particular incident with her accidentally scratching Yuki on live television. While Osaragi was a Former Child Star who has distanced herself from the world of celebrities because of the incident regarding her mother's affair, Akane comes back to being a celebrity after Aqua saves her from committing suicide due to the cyberbullying she had to endure.
• The anime adaptations of Persona, in chronological order, have contrasting personalities for the lead character. Makoto Yuki in Persona 3: The Movie is moody and rarely speaks until his Character Development kicks in and he starts to form emotional bonds with his friends. Yu Narukami of Persona 4: The Animation is instantly Not So Stoic and openly talks while leading his friends, being a main source of comedy with his Deadpan Snarker and The Comically Serious personality. Ren of Persona 5: The Animation meanwhile goes back to being mostly silent, but isn't as moody as Yuki and becomes flashier than the previous protagonists when he's fighting as Joker.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • The female leads of each series tend to contrast significantly from their immediate predecessor.
    • May was a naive, inexperienced Nice Girl with a Big Brother Mentor relationship to Ash, in contrast to Misty's hotheaded Tsundere and role as Ash's coach.
    • Dawn was overconfident and immediately sure of her goal before starting her journey, in contrast to May's initial underconfidence and lack of ambition.
    • Iris was a tomboyish and sometimes bratty Wild Child, in contrast to Dawn's Nice Girl fashionista.
    • Serena was another sweet-natured fashionista, had an obvious crush on Ash, and rarely battled, in contrast to Iris's outdoorsiness, frequent bickering with Ash, and regular engagement in battle.
    • Lillie was a shy, rich girl who was deathly scared of touching Pokémon, despite her own desires to get to know them better. She otherwise had a sweet disposition and was well liked by her friends, but had a frosty relationship with her overworked mother.
    • Chloe Cerise was the daughter of a prominent Pokémon researcher, but she herself didn't really care about them, left unsure of her own goals until she wound up with an Eevee that she took towards helping find a path to evolution in the same way she was looking for her own path.
  • The male leads of the series were also far different compared to their predecessors.
    • Cilan was a passionate Renaissance Man who loved cooking, mysteries, science, and trains, and one who sought to become the best Pokémon Connoisseur (to the point of frequently giving evaluations even if it bit him in the rear), in contrast to Brock being a skilled breeder (later doctor) that chased after every skirt that crossed his path.
    • Clemont was a Bungling Inventor aiming to become a better Gym leader while taking care of his little sister (who, much to his exasperation, tried playing matchmaker with every pretty girl she saw).
    • Kiawe was a Blood Knight with an intense, burning passion for battle, while Sophocles was a science-loving trainer with a goal of becoming an astronaut.
    • Goh was previously a social shut-in who sought only to obtain the legendary Mew before settling on his goal of catching all the Pokémon in the world, though he was quite picky about the company he kept and had difficulty working with others.
  • Some Pokemon caught by the main characters differ greatly from each other:
    • May's Eevee was a playful but powerful Badass Adorable until it evolved, Serena's Eevee was a Shrinking Violet until it evolved, Sandy (Lana's Eevee) was extremely excitable and a bit oblivious, and Chloe's had a forced case of Not Allowed to Grow Up.
    • Iris's Dragonite is a complete 180 from its friendly species as a whole, while Ash's literally embraces it.
    • While Ash's Charizard is young, hot-headed, and stubborn, Kiawe's is old (as it was previously owned by his late grandfather), rarely sees action (though it's still as powerful as any 'Zard), and is happy to take a relaxing spa day, while Friede's is a Gentle Giant that can dish out with the best of them, but isn't a Blood Knight like Ash's.
    • Ash's Bulbasaur and Squirtle were non-evolved seasoned combatants skilled as an ambassador and firefighter respectively, while May's Bulbasaur and Squirtle were both relatively young until they both grew more powerful and evolved into Venasaur and Wartortle respectively.
    • In a human to Pokemon example, Brocks' Croagunk was this to Misty and Max being the chaperone to Brock's Casanova Wannabe tendencies, except Misty and Max dragged him by the ear while mocking him, while Croagunk poison jabbed him in his gut, back, or ass and dragged him away while laughing. He was also willing to back off if the girl in question was willing to reciprocate Brock's feelings, while May and Max rarely gave Brock a chance to see if she was interested.
    • Ash's Cyndaquil was shy, timid, and initially had a hard time warming up, while Dawn's Cyndaquil was an eager and playful little fire starter before both later evolved into Quilava.
• Pokémon Horizons: The Series: As the follow up series to Ash's tenure, its characters quickly distinguish themselves from their predecessors.
  • Liko is the primary replacement for Ash, but while he was a Hot-Blooded Blood Knight that grew from a bratty, immature Jerk with a Heart of Gold who wanted To Be a Master into a Nice Guy that Took a Level in Badass to be the very best (like no one ever was!), Liko is a shy schoolgirl who's less confident in her Pokémon skills and winds up being hindered by her Extreme Doormat tendencies.
  • Roy is the other replacement for Ash, being just as eager to seek a challenge (Roy wanting to challenge the Pokémon of legends while Ash wanted to be a Pokémon Master), but Ash had the innate skill that was hindered by his massive ego, while Roy is a case of High Hopes, Zero Talent in that he has the drive, but lacks the skill to battle properly.
  • Professor Friede and the Rising Volt Tacklers substitute for the series usual adult protagonists like Kukui or Cynthia. Instead of being mainly hands off while helping to mentor the heroes into growing from a slight distance, the RVT are directly responsible for Liko and Roy's care and training. Friede in particular is also far different from Professor Oak, finding a distaste for the traditional Pokémon Professor path compared to Oak loving his job.
  • Liko's Sprigatito and Captain Pikachu stand in for Ash's Pikachu, with the former being an initially disobedient starter that grows more attached to its trainer, while the latter is of the same species. However, Sprigatito is a cat that's less of a jerk and more aloof compared to Pikachu's earlier bratty attitude, and is a Grass Type cat instead of an Electric Type mouse. Cap, meanwhile, is a Badbutt who wants to fly and is pretty much all attitude every time, unlike Ash's Pikachu showing a softer side off the battlefield.
  • Last but certainly not least are The Explorers, the Big Bad of the series. Right out of the gate, they prove they're not the incompetent Goldfish Poop Gang that could occasionally be a Not-So-Harmless Villain known as Team Rocket by being leagues more skilled in battle, far more competent, and deadly serious with their mission.
• Pokémon Adventures has protagonists ranging from the basic To Be a Master Idiot Hero like Red or Gold to the Speaks Fluent Animal Yellow, the Gotta Catch 'Em All Crystal, Camp Straight Ruby, Manzai duo Diamond and Pearl, etc...
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
  • Madoka Kaname in the original series was an Ordinary High-School Student with an attitude of Incorruptible Pure Pureness, a strong moral code, a happy home life, and a largely passive role in the series until the end. Oriko Mikuni in Puella Magi Oriko Magica is abnormally talented and intelligent, serves as a Villain Protagonist, has few-if-any moral compunctions, has a largely miserable home life, and is the main driver of the story's events. Additionally, while Madoka's story is defined by trying to find her life's purpose, Oriko is given her life's purpose immediately and the rest of the story is about her trying to act on it. This goes in line with their closest allies: both of them are black-haired girls with time-based powers, but Homura is stoic, withdrawn, and mature, keeping her feelings close to her chest, while Kirika is goofy, extroverted, and childish, and downright proud of the fact that she loves Oriko.
  • Tart in Puella Magi Tart Magica is far more similar to Madoka at first glance—both are optimistic heroic types with great magical potential—but stands out due to the fact that, while Madoka treated the magical girl system as a horrifying thing that needed to be changed (to the point that revelations about its workings serve to Break the Cutie), Tart is an avid believer in the system and never loses faith in it, even to the end, interpreting the same revelations that shocked Madoka as miraculous occurrences. Similarly, her counterpart to Homura is Riz: while Homura was cold and openly cared about Madoka only, Riz is rather altruistic and honorable.
• Renai Daikou:
  • Mari is set up from the beginning as the opposite of Kaguya from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War despite sharing her basic mold as an affluent, popular girl unable to confess to the boy she likes. Appearance-wise, Kaguya was a traditional Japanese beauty, while Mari is admired by her classmates for her more Western features. Socially, Kaguya tended to only hang out with a small group of friends despite her popularity, and Mari is shown to be a social butterfly that regularly interacts with every girl in her class. In terms of their family, Kaguya was born out of wedlock and lost her mother when she was a baby, while Mari was born to a married couple and lost her father shortly after her parents got divorced. And when it comes to love, Kaguya had no trouble regularly interacting with Shirogane but couldn't even admit to herself that she liked him until almost halfway through the series, while Mari Cannot Talk to Men but is fully open about her crush on Seki even with a complete stranger. Even their methods are opposites, with Kaguya constructing elaborate plans to force a confession, while Mari is literally paying someone else to help her confess.
  • Similarly, Seki pretends to be an unassuming guy so as not to overwhelm Mari and wears glasses despite not needing them as part of his persona. Shirogane on the other hand pretended to be a confident intellectual so Kaguya wouldn't ignore him and avoided wearing glasses out of fear of looking nerdy despite really needing them. Seki's attraction to Mari is presented as being physical in nature, while Shirogane was attracted to Kaguya because of her personality. It's also mentioned in Chapter 4 that he was raised well by his mother, a stark contrast to Shirogane given that most of his issues could be traced back to his mom.
• ST☆R: Strike it Rich:
  • Nozomi to Kazuo. She is a young woman who just lost her job while he is a middle-aged salaryman. Both of them serve as the main POV despite not being fighters, but Nozomi is experienced and could have gone to the public sphere if not for her Career-Ending Injury, while Kazuo gave up all hope of being a fighter long ago. Their relationship with the main fighter of their respective manga are also inverted: Kazuo often encourages Ohma when fighting and deeply respects him for his strength and refusal to ever give up, while Nozomi is annoyed that Hina wins her fight too easily and is uneased by her strength and personality.
  • Hina to Ohma. Both them serve as the main fighter of their respective manga, but Hina is a outgoing and fiendly girl while Ohma started as an asocial and rude man. Both are looking to fight strong opponents, but Ohma wants to both prove his strength and avenge his mentor Niko by defeating his killer, while Hina is looking someone stronger than her. Ohma's first meeting with Kazuo ends with him asking Kazuo if he wants to fight and, when Kazuo refuses, he is disappointed but accepts it. Meanwhile, Hina's first meeting with Nozomi starts with them fighting and Hina wants Nozomi to fight her for real, despite the latter refusing.
• Steel Angel Kurumi has a different human protagonist in the first and second series, the one in the second being either the great-granddaughter or great-grandniece of the one in the first. They're reasonably similar in personality ("shy naive character dealing with a robotic Stalker with a Crush" being a crucial plot element in both), but they are of different sexes.
• A Town Where You Live, which takes place after Suzuka, contrasts Haruto with previous protagonist Yamato. Though Haruto is prone to reckless actions, he generally comes off as more responsible and thoughtful than most of his friends.
• Duke Fleed from UFO Robo Grendizer. Compared to all male leads of the Mazinger Trilogy (Koji of Mazinger Z and Testuya of Great Mazinger), he was the most mature and the less prone to put his foot in his mouth.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!
  • Judai Yuki (or Jaden in the dub) is considerably more outgoing and laid-back than both the timid, yet empathetic Yugi Muto and the proud and stoic Dark Yugi/Atem. Even their decks contrast, with Yugi/Dark Yugi's core strategy is based around Dark Magician and summoning the Egyptian God Cards, while Judai's deck being based around the Elemental HERO archetype and its focus on Fusion Summoning.
  • Yusei Fudo contrasts both Yugi and Judai by being much calmer and more serious than either of them. His deck, comprised of Synchron monsters is based around swarming his field with lower-level monsters to Synchro Summon more powerful cards like Stardust Dragon.
  • Yuma Tsukumo keeps to the trend by being even less serious than Judai was and he lacks the skills of the previous protagonists at the beginning of the story until his time with Astral, and he's very Hot-Blooded and hard-headed. His Onomat deck, while being a swarm deck like Yusei's, revolves around Xyz Summoning and the 100 Number Monsters, particularly Number 39: Utopia.
  • Yuya Sakaki is a bit more like Judai but with more serious issues and acts more comically whenever he is doing his finisher combos to entertain the audience. He also isn't as laid-back as Judai and Yuma, and he's rather the quiet type when he's not dueling and his character is relatively well balanced. His Performapal/Magician/Odd-Eyes deck is built around manipulation of ATK & DEF and Pendulum Summoning, though later incorporates Xyz, Synchro and Fusion monsters as the series goes on.
  • Yusaku Fujiki, on the other hand, is different than the previous five, since he started out as a cold-hearted Jerkass and has a great distaste for standing out. And unlike the previous five, Yusaku doesn't enjoy Dueling at all and just sees his deck as mere weapons to eliminate any enemy, since everything is about Dueling. Said cards, the Cyberse monsters are a beatdown deck focused on Link Summoning and later Ritual, Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Summoning.
  • Shoma Yusa is a cunning but socially inept, introverted, and dense Country Mouse who is a big fan of Dueling, can see and communicate with Duel Monsters, and doesn't experience a serious traumatic event. He's also the only "Yu" character to constantly switch decks (all of them are heavily customized) after a few chapters.
    • His Cool Big Sis, Ageha Yusa, is a direct contrast to the previous female leads in the entire franchise, mainly due to being the first adult main female lead instead of a teenager (or a young girl, in Luca's case), as well as the first fully legitimate female "Yu" character.
  • Yuga Ohdo goes back to being cheerful and energetic, and loves Dueling so much he invented Rush Dueling. Though what breaks things is that unlike previous protagonists being teenagers (or young adult, in Yusei's case), Yuga is an elementary school Kid Hero. He runs the Sevens Road deck, which focuses on attack manipulation, though it also contains Maximum and Fusion monsters.
  • Yudias Velgear is an alien from the Velgear Star Cluster, who fled to Earth following a war in his home system, and is the first "Yu" character to have never played the game before the start of their respective series. He is also the first "Yu" character to have his name spelled with katakana instead of kanji. His deck is comprised of Galaxy-type monsters.
    • Likewise, Yuuhi Ohdo and Yuamu Ohdo are a Sibling Team of "Yu" characters who have a familial connection with Yuga (through their surname). Yuamu is even more so, since she's the first under 20's main female "Yu" character.
• Lyrical Nanoha
  • Subaru Nakajima of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS is this to Nanoha Takamachi. Nanoha grew up on Earth as an ordinary girl, while not only is Subaru the daughter of a Bureau division commander and an Enforcer, she and her sister Ginga are actually adopted Combat Cyborgs. Nanoha's older siblings are significantly older than her, while Subaru is close to her sister in age, and they serve in the Bureau together. Nanoha primarily uses ranged attacks with her staff Device, and while Subaru has imitated some of Nanoha's moves, she's more of a close-quarters combatant with a Power Fist Device.
  • Fuka Reventon of ViVid Strike! is a stark contrast to her predecessor Vivio Takamachi of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid. While Vivio is a martial arts-loving Genki Girl who easily makes friends and was adopted into a well-to-do family, Fuuka is a martial arts-hating cynical orphan who easily gets into fights with other people and needs to work various odd jobs just to feed herself. While Vivio ends up becoming friends with Einhart as a result of fighting against her, Fuuka had a falling out with her old friend Rinne.
• The producers of The iDOLM@STER and THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls are quite different from each other — 765's producer is lax and just starting his career, while 346's is serious and has been at the job for some time.
• Much like its live-action versions, the animated series for GARO also feature this. Leon was a hotblooded, somewhat cynical newcomer, while Raikou was a calmly devoted samurai. Sword is a goofy musclehead who's been on the job longer than either of them.
• Makoto Shinkai's second and third major films, The Place Promised in Our Early Days and 5 Centimeters per Second, contrast vividly in how protagonists their protagonists react to their circumstances, including both of them having to move to and from Tokyo and being tormented by their pasts. While Hiroki Fujisawa starts out passive, he eventually gets his act together in the final act, even braving hostile airspace to save Sayuri. For Takaki Tohno, however, while he in the first act makes his own way to Tochigi to see Akari, he subsequently succumbs to inability or unwillingness to actively maintain his Long-Distance Relationship with Akari, and in the end not only Did Not Get the Girl but didn't even bother calling out to her when they crossed paths in the last scene.
• The protagonist of Taisho Kitan Majo, a manga made by Miki Usami, significantly contrasts the previous protagonist from Flower Girl in Dystopia, another work made by the same author, despite both characters being subjected to Fantastic Racism by others due to their quirky qualities. First of all, they live in very different periods of time; the flower girl lives in future Earth situated After the End where Humans Are Not the Dominant Species and non-humans dominate the ruined planet. The witch girl is the reverse, who lives in past Earth during early 20th Century, where humans are the dominant species and she's the only witch amongst humans. The flower girl is simply an average human with no powers, while the witch girl is a witch who has magical powers. Lastly, while the flower girl is a mainstay local in the 7th District with her mechanical brother, the witch girl is a foreigner who arrived to Tokyo by herself.
• Tsukumizu's works Shimeji Simulation and Girls' Last Tour contrasts the main characters of each stories heavily which becomes apparent once the climax of the former confirms their connection of being part of the same universe.
  • Shijima Tsukishima is a contrast to Chito. Chito is a post-apocalyptic survivor along with her friend Yuuri from a technologically advanced Crapsack World within the future and is the main driver of the Kettenkrad. Shijima is an ordinary teenage girl in a seemingly idyllic town of West Yomogi, who became reclusive for two years due to a certain tragedy regarding her friend in the past. Both also deal with existential crisis, but while Chito deals with the slowly negative outcomes of her and Yuuri's journey in the empty, snowy world, Shijima deals with struggles in her life after her reclusion and how it affects her school life before befriending Majime. Chito is only friends with Yuuri, while temporarily to people they encounter like Nuko, Kanazawa and Ishii. Shijima initially struggled to make friends due to her pessimistic worldview attributing to her past and befriended Majime after Chapter 10, as well as befriending the others including Majime's mother and the members of the Hole-Digging Club. While Chito is a Bookworm and a Wrench Wench who has knowledge of machinery and especially the Ketenkrad, Shijima shows little interest in studies and has no skills in machinery, but makes it up when she gets Reality Warping powers. Both are orphans of their own circumstances since birth. Chito was an orphan born in a town under a civil war and was taken care of by an old man, later named as "Caretaker". Shijima was an orphan along with her sister after they were revealed to be created by the simulation next to the grass within the danchi.
  • Majime Yamashita is a contrast to Yuuri. Yuuri, along with her friend Chito, is a survivor of a Crapsack World in the future, who ventures with her through the empty world. Majime is an ordinary teenage girl living in West Yomogi, a seemingly idyllic town, who is a goofball just like Yuuri. While Yuuri has been orphaned since she was born from her unknown parents in a town under a Civil War, Majime lives with a noticeably stable family, including her mother and her father. Both are odd-kitter goofballs and serving as The Anti-Nihilist Foil to the respective main protagonists. Whereas Yuuri's optimism and cheerfulness often excites the rather grey and bleak atmosphere surrounding her and Chito (often to varying results), Majime uses both to defrost Shijima's icy and distant personality in an attempt to make her as her first best friend.
• Goro Shigeno in Major was a baseball prodigy since his elementary school days, with a great throwing arm that quickly made him a star pitcher, and a Determinator to a point he pushed through injuries and hurdles no matter how hard things could get. His son Daigo in Major 2nd is an average player at most, and his weak shoulder means he's nowhere near his father's level for pitching. He actually stopped playing because he was disappointed in himself for lacking his father's talent and needed a push from someone else to get back to play.
• In Jujutsu Kaisen Yuji and Yuta contrast each other in many ways, Yuta was the protagonist of the prequel Volume 0 and was originally intended to be the series's protagonist before Yuji replaced him as the protagonist of the main series. Yuji is outgoing while Yuta is reserved. Yuta's development in Volume 0 focuses on him becoming more confident and learning to accept the death of a loved one, while Yuji's development has his resolve to save others and give people a meaningful death repeatedly broken and rebuilt, turning him more pessimistic. Their fighting styles are also completely opposite — Yuta reinforces his frail body with his massive cursed energy to fight with swordsmanship and copied cursed techniques; Yuji has natural superhuman strength to fight barehanded but no proper cursed technique.
• The Summer You Were There has the main couple contrast with those of Yuama's previous work, The Girl I Want is So Handsome!.
  • Shizuku Hoshikawa is this to Hinami Ayukawa. Hinami is cheerful, outgoing and a bit ditzy, while Shizuku is gloomy, reserved and prone to overthinking things. Hinami has two friends- one Childhood Friend and one newer friend- who serve as Those Two Guys, while Shizuku has no friends. Hinami has Love at First Sight with Shiki Hiiragi, who initially doesn't notice her feelings, while Shizuku initially finds Kaori Asaka annoying, while Kaori has long been interested in her. Hinami is the elder of two sisters while Shizuku is the younger of two sisters. About the only things Hinami and Shizuku have in common are that they're first-years in high schools, lesbians and unathletic.
  • Kaori also contrasts with Shiki. While both of them are genuinely nice, Shiki's cheerfulness is generally not an act, unlike Kaori's. Shiki is a tall Bifauxnen(half a head taller than Hinami) while Kaori is more feminine and petite(only coming up to Shizuku's shoulders). Shiki has an older brother and lives alone, while Kaori has a younger sister and lives with her family.

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