Sandbox / Dueling Works Anime And Manga

• Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982) vs. Genesis Climber MOSPEADA (1983)
  • Concept: Transforming Mecha and an Idol Singer fight Scary Dogmatic Aliens.
  • Approach: Similar enough that both were later kitbashed together into Robotech.
    
    
• The Noozles (Wonderous Koala Blinky) (1984) vs. Adventures of the Little Koala (Koala Boy Kokki) (1984)
  • Concept: Series catering to the "koala-mania" sweeping Japan in 1984 when Tama Zoo in western Tokyo acquired its first koala, and the Australian government sent six koalas to Japan as a goodwill gesture.
  • Approach: Noozles was a fantasy-oriented series with a human protagonist which took a turn for the dramatic halfway through; Adventures of the Little Koala was a light-hearted Slice of Life series with a purely anthropomorphic animal cast.
    
    
• Ghost in the Shell (1995) vs. Armitage III (1995)
  • Concept: 90s Cyberpunk anime.
  • Approach: Armitage III was a four-episode OVA that released a few months before the feature length movie Ghost in the Shell. However Ghost in the Shell was based off a manga from 1989.
    
    
• One Piece (1997) vs. Naruto (1999)
  • Concept: One young man with odd powers gathers True Companions and makes his mark on the world
  • Approach: Both are manga series from Weekly Shonen Jump. In theory, they're fairly different given their different settings, but in practice both revolve around cool abilities and fights, with a villain that starts as Plucky Comic Relief before revealing his true nature and sparking a global war. It's Shōnen, there's only so much that changes from the formula. Also, the dueling pair gives us a meta pirates vs. ninja, which might have been started from the competing fandoms. Curiosly, as both series star regularly in Shonen Jump crossover games, this pirates vs. ninja is a popular choice of match.
    
    
• Pokémon: The Series (1997) vs. Digimon (1999) vs. Monster Rancher (1999)
  • Concept: Mon series about kids Walking the Earth. Usually involves defeating some sort of Big Bad too.
  • Approach: All three went off in different directions. Though all three were Merchandise-Driven, Pokémon become a blatant merchandise show after its third season, while Digimon and Monster Rancher remained plot-driven series.
    
    
• Naruto (1999) vs. Bleach (2001)
  • Concept: A Determinator who has to coexist with thier Superpowered Evil Side.
  • Approach: Both were serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump and were among the most popular Shonen series during the new millennium, as well as being prime examples of Long-Runners.
    
    
• Naruto (1999) vs. O-Parts Hunter (2001)
  • Concept: A Determinator with a demon inside him seeks to rule the place that abused him and makes friends and enemies along the way. The difference between the two is that one deals with ninjas while the other keeps the focus on "angels" and "demons".
  • Approach: Well, the authors are twin brothers...
    
    
• Yu-Gi-Oh! (2000) vs. Duel Masters (2002)
  • Concept: Anime show about kids/teens engaging in Card Games with the fate of the world at stake.
  • Approach: Yu-Gi-Oh is based on a manga that used to focus on a variety of games, with its card game being inspired by Magic: The Gathering. While Duel Masters is based on a manga that used to focus on Magic: The Gathering, but it ended up getting its own game instead.
    
    
• Shakugan no Shana (2002) vs. Kaze no Stigma (2003)
  • Concept: Fanservice-laden supernatural/magical schoolgirl light novels/shows, with varying degrees of competent male sidekick/love interest.
  • Approach: Female redhead protagonist, check. Flaming sword, check. Combat schoolgirl outfit, check. Accomanying/obligatory Zettai Ryouiki, check.
    
    
• Sketchbook (2002) vs. Hidamari Sketch (2004)
  • Concept: Quirky Slice of Life show, originally Yonkoma, about quirky girls being quirky in a quirky art school, with lots of Scenery Porn and Navel Contemplation.
  • Approach: Sketchbook was first, and has more and quirkier girls; Hidamari Sketch goes more deeply into the relationships between them.
    
    
• Rosario + Vampire (2004) vs. Vampire Knight (2004)
  • Concept: High School romance between a human and a vampire.
  • Approach: Rosario + Vampire is (initially) a light-hearted comedy compared to the more dramatic Vampire Knight, but both manga have their share of funny moments and tense ones.
    
    
• Pretty Cure (2004) vs. My-HiME (2004) vs. Lyrical Nanoha (2004)
  • Concept: All feature the main female characters being physical attackers compared to the standard magical girl at the time.
  • Approach: All three premiered in the same year of 2004 (with Pretty Cure being the first one of all of them)
    
    
• Genesis of Aquarion (2005) vs. Eureka Seven (2005)
  • Concept: Transforming Mecha series with the protagonists piloting a legendary robot fueled by The Power of Love. Both mecha are designed by the same guy
  • Approach: Aquarion sways more to the Super Robot size and contains lots of fanservice and innuendo in contrast to Eureka which is mostly Real Robot and less in need of censorship. Both series aired around the same time and so did their sequels, and both debuted in Super Robot Wars Z.
    
    
• Death Note (2006) vs. Code Geass (2006)
  • Concept: Anime show starring a megalomaniacal Teen Genius who is randomly selected by an Enigmatic Empowering Entity (who then sticks with him for the duration of the series, out of sight because of his Secret Identity) to receive a single, specific godly super power, which he decides to use to fulfill his extant dream of remaking the world for the better. His actions mean he may or may not be a villain. Features strong Black-and-Gray Morality.
  • Approach: Both shows premiered in Japan at roughly the same time, although Death Note was based on a manga. The tone of Death Note is somewhat darker, grittier and more realistic and features Shinigami, while Code Geass allows for occasional filler episodes, has somewhat more levity while still somehow being more violent and still quite dark,^note mostly because Death Note goes heavy on the grittiness and features Humongous Mecha.
    
    
• Sky Girls (2006) vs. Strike Witches (2007)
  • Concept: Scantily clad young females operate fantastic flying machinery to fight creatures that copy the appearance of other things.
  • Approach: Strike Witches leans more toward the Mecha Musume concept whereas Sky Girls has a more classical Humongous Mecha theme. Both series feature character designs by Humikane Shimada and contain quite a bit of fanservice, although Strike Witches really ups the ante by giving none of the girls any pants. Both OVAs were created at roughly the same time, though Sky Girls was turned into a TV anime first.
    
    
• Kotetsu Jeeg (2007) vs. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007)
  • Concept: Super Robot animes with Transforming Mecha that work mainly on Rule of Cool.
  • Approach: They aired on the same season, Spring 2007, and both have a suprising large ammount of common elements, even drills. However, Gurren Lagann keeps basically one-upping itself while Jeeg is a more standard Monster of the Week show, but it's the sequel of an anime from The '70s, hence being the "original".
    
    
• Freezing (2007) vs. Infinite Stratos (2009)
  • Concept: A boy joins a school where girls are trained to become weapons of mass destruction and seeks to live up for the legacy of his legendary older sister while earning his own Unwanted Harem.
  • Approach: Infinite Stratos has a much lighter tone and focuses more on the harem aspects of the story while Freezing is packed with nudity and gore. Both anime series aired their first and second seasons together. Freezing has the author's personal fetishes as fan service. It also has given the main character a larger harem he doesn't deserve.
    
    
• Code:Breaker (2008) vs. Out Code (2008)
  • Concept: Superpowered teenaged boys join up with The Organization and partner with muggle girls and save humanity from equally superpowered enemies.
  • Approach: This appears to blatant copying, with Out Code being the shonen-er version of Code:Breaker. The main difference seems to be the aims of their enemies: CB's Big Bad wants superpower supremacy while OC's Mad Scientist wants to begin a huge Bizarre Baby Boom. Also, the lead of CB has fire powers while OC's lead is electric.
    
    
• Blast of Tempest (2009) vs. Magi: Labyrinth of Magic (2009)
  • Concept: Shōnen fantasy series heavily inspired by classics of literature.
  • Approach: Blast draws its "Spirit Inspiration" from the works of William Shakespeare while a good part of Magi's main cast is named and modeled after "V.I.P.'s" from the Arabian Nights. Both manga had their debut around the same time, and their anime adaptations first aired on the same week and channel.
    
    
• Phantom Requiem for the Phantom (2009) vs. Canaan (2009)
  • Concept: These two gunkata drama/thriller series debuted the same year. Phantom is about a young amnesiac man caught at the wrong place at the wrong time and forced into a crime syndicate. Canaan features a girl targeted by a crime organization and relies on the title character for protection.
  • Approach: Both series based on visual novels.
    
    
• Love Live! (2010) vs. AKB0048 (2012)
  • Concept: Nine aspiring idols aiming to reach stardom while saving the day in the process (or vice versa).
  • Approach: Love Live! is part of a large multimedia project and the anime series started at the same time of the second season of AKB, which is fueled by the tie-ins with its real-life counterpart.
    
    
• The Idolmaster (2011) vs. Love Live! (2013)
  • Concept: Idol anime involving a bunch of girls struggling to chase their dreams and achieve success.
  • Approach: Both are multimedia franchises involving games, anime series and live performances with the voice actors having their own successful spin-offs.
    
    
• Alderamin on the Sky (2012) vs. Altina the Sword Princess (2012)
  • Concept: A young, outcast princess seeks the help of a brilliant but lazy strategic genius teenage boy to correct the course of their weakening empire.
  • Approach: Alderamin leans more towards an ensemble core cast with the princess and boy disliking one another personally while Altina focuses primarily on the duo who are friendly with plenty of Ship Tease. Alderamin has a developed magical system where Altina is a low fantasy. Alderamin is also decidedly darker and more mature despite that both series address similar issues with their respective empires.
    
    
• Sword Art Online (2012) vs. Accel World (2012)
  • Concept: The journey of a young VR gamer who joins a high stakes MMORPG/fighting game where he makes lots of friends and earns his own Unwanted Harem despite having already picked up a girlfriend.
  • Approach: Both come from light novels by the same author and share a setting, though Accel World is set a few decades further into the future (Sword Art Online started being written years earlier as a webnovel, but both went together to the bookstore and Accel World made it to the TV one season earlier). There is even a special story featuring both protagonists fighting each other.
    
    
• From the New World (2012) vs. Unlimited Psychic Squad (2013)
  • Concept: Both anime involve populations of psychics and the dangers they pose to society and how said society deals with it (with prejudice).
  • Approach: While the premise is more or less the same, the main difference is society and the different directions each anime takes in involving its societies, with From the New World giving deeper focus on the sociological aspects and impact, set in the distant future after a small flashback to the past, and The Unlimited Hyoubu Kyousuke being more action-oriented, set in the current day due to somewhat less devastation having been wrought upon the world by psychics. The starkest difference is that the discriminators and the discriminated are reversed.
    
    
• Majestic Prince (2012) vs. Valvrave the Liberator (2013)
  • Concept: Pick a bunch of teenagers with loose screws, give them cutting edge robots and send them to kick some bad guy's ass IN SPACE!
  • Approach: Majestic Prince is based on a manga while Valvrave is an original story. Both air on the same day, but different timeslots and channels.
    
    
• Sword Art Online (2012) vs. Log Horizon (2013)
  • Concept: Both are based on ongoing light novels about a large group of MMORPG gamers being trapped inside the game.
  • Approach: In Sword Art Online the gamers are unable to log out or remove their VR helmets, but the Evil Programmer promises to free them if anyone can reach his tower and defeat him. In Log Horizon the gamers are transported to a physical version of the game inhabited by real people instead of NPCs, with no obvious clues as to how they got there or how to get back. Sword Art Online focuses mostly on action scenes and Japanese Spirit, while Log Horizon focuses on political intrigue and attempts to recreate modern technology. Log Horizon is more lighthearted than Sword Art Online.
    
    
• Assassination Classroom (2012) vs. Akuma no Riddle (2014)
  • Concept: Both shows involve a "special" class of high school students who are given a target to assassinate by a certain time period. Also, they feature a blue-haired protagonist who is level-headed and competent at what they do.
  • Approach: Assassination Classroom shows a comedy sci-fi setting that involves students of E-Class trying to assassinate their octopus-like teacher before their graduation, while Akuma no Riddle features a serious, realistic setting about twelve students of Class Black trying to kill a girl named Haru Ichinose with one of them have defected to protect her.
    
    
• Attack on Titan (2013) vs. Black Bullet (2014)
  • Concept: Humanity fighting in a defensive war against Eldritch Abominations in a post-apocalyptic setting and are both known to kill off a large number of characters.
  • Approach: Both are grimdark action series with the main character being voiced by Yūki Kaji and both have reasonable Character Development and Tear Jerker moments. Attack on Titan puts more emphasis on straight-up action and takes place more in the medieval/Renaissance time period. Black Bullet takes place 20 Minutes into the Future with sci-fi elements, puts more emphasis on philosophical and political themes, and is more inspired by Gen Urobuchi and nitro+ works. Attack on Titan does not have lolis while Black Bullet does.^note In fact, the cursed children from Black Bullet are a race of lolis..
    
    
• Kill la Kill (2013) vs. Akame ga Kill! (2014)
  • Concept: Protagonist joins an Anti-Hero La Résistance group to take down a despotic government (or in Kill la Kill's case, a despotic school board and later on, an Evil Corp). Both shows have over-the-top action and violence, incorporation of Black-and-Gray Morality, have a female protagonist that uses a blade weapon in combat, and have the word "kill" in the title.
  • Approach: Kill la Kill is an original anime series made by the same team responsible for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Akame ga Kill! is based on an ongoing manga. The female protagonists are anti-heroes for different reasons: Ryuko has a more selfish goal of revenge against the person who killed her father, while Akame is a cold-hearted assassin who resorts to murder to topple the Empire and rebuild society. Akame ga Kill! is considered to be Darker and Edgier than Kill la Kill because the former has a higher death count while most characters in Kill la Kill either are knocked out or receive Clothing Damage at worst. Kill la Kill incoporates more quirkiness (such as the theme involving clothes) and comedy, while Akame ga Kill! incorporates more Tear Jerker and drama.
    
    
• Free! (2013) vs. Haikyuu!! (2014)
  • Concept: Sports anime featuring Cast Full of Pretty Boys with a strong passion of a particular sport.
  • Approach: Free! has swimming as the main focus while Haikyuu!! has volleyball as the main emphasis. Free! is an anime original work with a light novel predecessor. Haikyuu!! is based of a manga series. Free! is mostly geared towards a female audience and put more emphasis on male Fanservice while Haikyuu!! is geared towards the traditional Shounen demographic fanbase and follows the traditional sports anime themes (i.e. The Power of Friendship and Team Spirit). Free! ran in two separate 12-Episode Anime seasons in separate years while Haikyuu!! ran in a single two-hour series.
    
    
• Tokyo Ghoul (2014) vs. Akame ga Kill! (2014)
  • Concept: Fighting Series that have anime adaptations on the 2014 summer block, both of which have gore filled fights. Male leads are naive and brought into the story after a close encounter that nearly kills them.
  • Approach: Akame ga Kill! is about a young village boy who is separated from his friends and joins an assassin group after the girl who was taking care of him turns out to be a serial killer. Tokyo Ghoul is about a young boy who is attacked by a ghoul; a human eating monster that pretends to be a human.
    
    
• Aldnoah.Zero (2014) vs. Argevollen (2014)
  • Concept: They are both Anime First Mecha Shows that debuted in the summer of 2014.
  • Approach: Argevollen takes place in a Constructed World where a young soldier stumbles upon the titular Super Prototype and uses it to help his country fend off an enemy invasion. Aldnoah meanwhile is an Alternate History where alien technology was found on the Moon and Mars in 1972. An Earth-established Martian colony then declared independence from Earth and eventually launched an invasion of the Blue Planet in 2014.
    
    
• Tokyo Ghoul (2014) vs. Parasyte (2014)
  • Concept: Out-of-the-blue, a dorky protagonist Ordinary High-School Student contracts a dehumanizing affliction, but clings to his human part successfully enough to allow for dramatic story of Body Horror, coping, surviving and exploring the unknown. Both are seinen series as well.
  • Approach: Parasyte is a manga series that takes place in the 1980s (although the anime adaptation modernized the series to incorporate modern day technology like smartphones and the internet). Parasyte have the monsters as aliens taking control of humans, while Tokyo Ghoul have ghouls. Tokyo Ghoul put more emphasis on its action scenes while Parasyte puts more emphasis on Character Development.
    
    
• Aldnoah.Zero (2014) vs. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015)
  • Concept: Anime First Mecha Shows featuring Mars, a princess, and an emotionally stunted main character that deconstruct a lot of Real Robot Genre tropes. Both shows take place in the wake of a disastrous war in the past and are a more realistic take on real robots and super robots. Both shows also heavily pitched the fact that they had some serious star power in the form of their writers: Gen Urobuchi for Aldnoah.Zero^*At least for the show's basic background and the first 3 episodes and Mari Okada for Iron Blooded Orphans.
  • Approach: Aldnoah features a Martian invasion of Earth led by imperialistic Martian colonists who want to plunder Earth's natural resources. Iron Blooded Orphans is about a Martian PMC group made up of Child Soldiers trying to escort the leader of a colonial independence group to Earth to negotiate for greater colonial autonomy with a corrupt military organization standing in the way. Aldnoah.Zero flips the premise of the Real Robot Genre by putting the hero in a basic training unit and showing how good planning and tactics can defeat advanced technology. Iron Blooded Orphans gives the hero advanced technology but limited resources with little formal training.
    
    
• Gourmet Girl Graffiti (2015) vs. Food Wars! (2015)
  • Concept: Anime based on manga series that are focused on Food Porn.
  • Approach: Gourmet Girl Graffiti runs in a Manga Time Kirara magazine that is a Slice of Life series that is geared towards an adult male audience while Food Wars is a comedy series that run in a Shonen Jump magazine that is geared towards a younger audience. Gourmet Girl Graffiti is about a young middle school girl living by herself while Food Wars is about a young highschool boy from a family restaurant aspire to be the best chef in the world by entering a very competitive culinary school. Gourmet Girl Graffiti have characters eat the food in a very erotic way and more focused on common traditional Japanese foods; while Food Wars, even though it's not an action series, takes the concept of cooking and takes it to a ridiculous extreme and focuses on different variety of foods and cooking styles.
    
    
• Jewelpet: Magical Change (2015) vs. Show by Rock!! (2015)
  • Concept: Shows based on Sanrio franchises which started airing in spring 2015. Both involve transformations into different species.
  • Approach: Jewelpet Magical Change is aimed at children and is about the titular pets turning into humans; Show By Rock is aimed at adults and about humans who turn into humanoid animals.
    
    
• Shimoneta (2015) vs. Prison School (2015)
  • Concept: Anime series by J.C. Staff that aired in the summer of 2015 which focus on a group of characters struggling in an oppressive environment and involve heavy amounts of Ecchi.
  • Approach: Shimoneta takes place in a world where R-rated jokes don't exist and is a flatout lighthearted comedy. Prison School is flatout Black Comedy anime series where most of the female characters are portrayed as sadists while the male characters are portrayed as either stupid, perverted, or incompetent.
    
    
• School-Live! (2015) vs. Prison School (2015)
  • Concept: Anime with very dark take on the school setting that are geared towards a seinen audience.
  • Approach: School-Live! is a horror/Slice of Life Schoolgirl Series with the anime written by Kaihou Norimitsu (who works for nitro+ and a contemporary of the well-known Gen Urobuchi) heavy Mood Dissonance because it takes play in a post-apocalyptic Zombie Apocalypse setting. Prison School is an ecchi Black Comedy series written by Akira Hiramoto where five boys are placed in sadistic punishment in a highly oppressive all-girls high school setting after peeping into the girls' locker room.
    
    
• The Asterisk War (2015) vs. Chivalry of a Failed Knight (2015)
  • Concept: Light novel adaptations focusing on a highschool setting that focuses on competitive combat as a sport with a lot of Fanservice.
  • Approach: Both series aired within the same season airing on the same time slot on the same day. Complete with a long-haired princess with fire powers who starts off as a Tsundere to the protagonist. However, The Asterisk War focuses on a sci-fi setting with advanced technology while Chivalry of a Failed Knight puts more emphasis on magic in combat. Asterisk War is less comedic, focusing more on its social science fiction.
    
    
• KonoSuba (2013) vs. Re:Zero (2012)
  • Concept: A savvy, somewhat geeky, tracksuit-studded shut-in ends up having to Reincarnate in Another World, only to have a more unconventional fantasy adventure than most.
  • Approach: Originally starting out as reincarnation fantasy stories on Shosetsuka ni Naro, they were since cleaned up and published as legitimate light novels. Their respective anime adaptations premiered in the Winter 2016 season. Both were done by relatively "low tier" studios at the time (Studio DEEN and White Fox, respectively), whose work on their chosen series helped put them (back) on the map. Storywise, they're complete opposites: whereas KonoSuba was a farce focusing on a party of self-centered Jerks with Hearts of Gold, Re:Zero was a character-driven drama that often broke the characters as often as they were helped. The authors of both are also good friends in real life.
    
    
• Macross Delta (2016) vs. Love Live! Sunshine!! (2016)
  • Concept: Series involving Idol Singers, which aired on the same season, is a sequel, and is backed up by a recording company.
  • Approach: Macross Delta started airing a cour earlier than Love Live! Sunshine!! They aired in the same time slot at the same channel as well. However, Macross mainly focuses on two members of it's Idol Singer group and two pilots of fighters that support them, while Love Live! focuses on all of the 9 members and how they became the part of the group.
    
    
• My Hero Academia (2014) vs. Black Clover (2015)
  • Concept: The mangas are about a Determinator Muggle that wants to become the very best of their respective worlds
  • Approach: Both mangas try to take over as Shonen Jump's new flagship work in its post-Naruto era.
    
    
• GeGeGe no Kitarō (2018) vs. Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside (2018)
  • Concept: A meta-Great Yokai War featuring two Darker and Edgier entries of popular Yokai-themed franchises.
  • Approach: As stated, both are Darker and Edgier installments of Yokai-themed franchises. Kitaro premiered in order to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the first anime airing, and has a lot of social comment on Japan-related real-life topics and thus keeps relevant to the present day. Meanwhile, Shadowside is a sequel set after a 30-year timeskip featuing the children of the previous series' protagonist as the main characters, as well as scarier Yokai, and is now plot-driven unlike the previous series. Note that both franchises come fresh from a crossover in the Shadowside movie, which launched the Shadowside project. Following this, Kitaro characters appeared in a Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble collaboration event, and later in Yo-kai Watch 4 in a sidequest.
    
    
• We Never Learn (2017) vs. The Quintessential Quintuplets (2017)
  • Concept: Guy helps some girls with their studies, girls fall in love with him.
  • Approach: Both are Rom Coms, but We Never Learn plays more to the comedy side while Quintuplets takes the romantic approach more seriously.
    
    
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011-??) vs. Symphogear (2012-2019)
  • Concept: Unconventional stories in the Magical Girl Warrior genre that have Aoi Yūki as the lead actress for both series, and aimed at adults.
  • Approach: The latter was originally seen as a ripoff of the former due to an early bloody and dark tone in its first airing, though slowly it became its own entity, more Hot-Blooded and optimistic in vein to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Studio TRIGGER works, while the former remains a darker and more deconstructive take of the idea through and through.
    
    
• Spy X Family (2019) vs. Mission: Yozakura Family (2019)
  • Concept: Both series revolve around a family of spies.
  • Approach: Spy x Family is more comedic and slice of life, while Yozakura has more action feeling like Reborn! (2004). Both are Shueisha properties, though while Spy x Family is run in the Jump+ app, Yozakura is published in Weekly Shonen Jump, though both run in the Mangaplus app overseas.
    
    
• Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective (2020) vs. i tell c (2021)
  • Concept: Both are Shonen Jump manga that focus on an eccentric detective, their unusual methods to solve crimes, haunted by a past case they could never solve, and accompanied by the Straight Man sidekick.
  • Approach: Both shows premiered within a few months of each other in Shounen Jump magazines (one in Jump+ and another in Weekly).
    
    

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