Anime characters that parallel another anime's character

[FriendlyEL]

Could be just who looks like one another or just that they have a similar role, but I'm just wondering if there are certain anime charachters that make any of you think "That's just like that other guy from that other anime."

Some I noticed:

Ranma-Naruto parralel (mentioned in another thread):

Ryoga - Gaara: Both start out angry berserkers but end up being good guys

Ukyo - Sasuke: Both due to desperation and bad influence go from being occasional annoyances but friends nevertheless to being alot worse

Shampoo - Orochimaru: Both are the bad influences mentioned above, are just in general always considered a pest


Evangelion - Key the Metal Idol parralel:

Rei Ayanami - Key: Many similarities, exept maybe that Rei may be slightly darker. In my opinion, both are among the saner of the cast in both stories simply because they think nothing.

Misato - Sakura: Both are the helpful caretaker of the main charachter, but are also end up being too bitchy to help much in the end.

Gendo - Ajo: Ironically, I consider Gendo more redeemable than Ajo (is more fleshed out to be made human), but neither one is incredibly sane.

Others:

Vash the Stampede (Trigun) - Kenshin (Ruroni Kenshin): Two do good goofs with far more nasty of a rep than they deserve.

Kurama (Yu Yu Hakusho) - Griffith (Berserk): One's certainly more trustworthy than the other, but both have the same voice and more or less same hair style. Both considered tactical geniuses.

[Comartemis]

Tsubame (Rurouni Kenshin) - Hotaru (Sailor Moon)

Both are damsels in distress when they first show up, both change noticably, becoming stronger as people. Both are shy, unassuming, and easily bullied, neither one shows up too often, they have the same general character designs (Watsuki admits to having based Tsubame's design off of Hotaru) and of course both of them are kawaii beyond words.

[bissek]

The problem with comparing Vash and Kenshin is that Kenshin's principles come from hard lessons learned from hard experience. Vash is just a loser who clings to the beliefs of childhood in the hopes that he can avoid growing up. Abel Nightroad of Trinity Blood is a Vash parallel.

There's some parallels between characters in YYH and HxH, but those aren't exactly fair as they're created by the same person.

Hiei/Killua.

Karasu is a mix of Gensuru and Hisoka (though the latter two were created later).

[FriendlyEL]

The problem with comparing Vash and Kenshin is that Kenshin's principles come from hard lessons learned from hard experience. Vash is just a loser who clings to the beliefs of childhood in the hopes that he can avoid growing up.

Well, in that one way they are, but then again in the standard I was going at far too many heroes would be at that.

I remember some people claimed Yusuke was like that, but I thought to myself, no. In fact, during the Dark Tournament he really lost it against one fighter who beat up an unconcious Kurama, sending a furious punch into his chest and breaking his rib cage. Not that I blame him, considering what he did to Kurama it was fairly justifiable, but that is hardly the actions of the pacifist some fans make him out to be.

[claymade]

Ryouga and Sanosuke overlap a lot. The bandanna-wearing, super-resilient brawler with the super-massive weapon and the sometimes-antagonistic relationship to the lighter, faster lead. Even the Bakusai Tenketsu and the Mastery of the Two Layers are uncannily similar in both training and application.

The problem with comparing Vash and Kenshin is that Kenshin's principles come from hard lessons learned from hard experience. Vash is just a loser who clings to the beliefs of childhood in the hopes that he can avoid growing up.

I'd phrase the difference differently myself. Vash's choice not to kill is based on the belief that it's wrong to take life. Kenshin's choice not to kill is based on the belief that it's unnecessary to take life. One is a decision rooted in principle, the other in a (questionable) weighing of the cost/benefit ratio--and confidence in his ridiculously overpowered fighting style.

[bissek]

That doesn't hold water when you consider that Kenshin's belief in not killing started the day he accidentally killed his wife. Death didn't really affect him until something happened that forced him to understand what the pain of losing someone important was. Experience taught him a hard lesson and he chose to devote his life to ensuring that others wouldn't have to learn it.

Vash, on the other hand, learned his philosophy as a child from his mother figure, and fixates on that principle regardless of the evidence. His first kill causes him to have a breakdown because he broke the rules. His principles aren't based on any understanding of the rules, just blind obedience to them.

To get back on track, Nobihiru Watsuki openly admitted in the manga that the Hayasaka siblings from Buso Renkin were derived from Tomoe and Enishi from his earlier work, Rurouni Kenshin.

[FriendlyEL]

Speaking of Sanosuke, I think he sort of reminds me of Gatzu from Berserk, if anything just due to the large sword, appearance, and brutish fighting style.

Another comparison involving Ranma is Pantyhose Taro and Gaara, just because they are both two powerful and fairly merciless fighters that have the great advantage of turning into even more powerful critters if need be.

[FriendlyEL]

She's not an anime charachter, but she made me think alot about Konatsu's ugly stepmother.

Divine from John Water's "Female Trouble" (which, I might add, has to be among the most god awfully insane movies I have seen) is your typical white trash woman has been offered a hair treatment at the hair salon run by the flamboyant Mr. and Mrs. Dasher, who offer her a job as a super model. Along the line, her next door neighbor tosses scalding hot water at her in a family feud, and somehow the Dashers consider her even more appealing after that. Keep in mind that she has a fourteen year old daughter who she got from some slob in high school, who wants to ruin her career out of spite for being abused all her life, and the fact that she and the rest of the audience seem to find her more sexy as she does everything such as gaining weight, scalding her face, getting a mohawk and putting on Kiss-like eyeliner, and you have a narccisistic, child abusive person not unlike Konatsu's ugly stepsister.

[CRBWildcat]

There used to be this one website that compared various characters in Yu Yu Hakusho with those of other anime...for instance, Hiei with Vegeta. I don't remember all the details, but there was actually a fair list for comparison...and not just the hair, either.

[FriendlyEL]

Speaking of Yu Yu Hakusho, I sort of think there's some similarities between some of the charachters in that and Ranma.

Yuusuke/Ranma - Both are cocky, brash, evidently not great at school, and at times slightly bad tempered, but when you really think about it are willing to put themselves on the line to save people (and especially in Ranma's case, people who don't always deserve it).

Differences: Ranma comes across to me as more of a pacifist and is more forgiving. The only time he kills anyone (and even then they're apparantly revived) is Saffron, while Yuusuke seems to be far more willing to when need be. Although, that's partly because he generally in more desperate situations.

Kuwabara/Kuno-Ryoga: All three are more or less "knights of love", having a girl whom they would seemingly rip their beating hearts out of their chests to save (Yukina for Kuwabara, Akane for both Kuno and Ryoga). Unfortunately, fans are generally prone to not having a high opinion of their intelligence due to their naive behavior.

Differences: The exact opposite of the other comparison, Kuwabara comes across as the type that would never hurt a soul unless they royally deserved it (the only one he tried to in the Dark Tournament was elder Toguro, which was quite justifiable given the situation). I wonder exactly if Ryoga or Kuno would have gone about the Dr. Ichigaki scenerio the way Kuwabara did.

Genkai/Cologne: Two grumpy old women, both smoke, are tiny, and have martial arts skill that even the heros of the show envy. Both are among the most calm among the cast of the given show, while still teaching and irritating the living hell out of the hero. Also note that both have had some sort of romantic situation with a strong antagonist in the show (Toguro for Genkai, in more of a stalker way Happosai for Cologne).

Differences: Genkai generally tends to annoy Yuusuke with a grumpy and harsh attitude. Cologne, while still at times harsh on Ranma, is more likely to resort to comic mischief for that. Cologne seems to swear less and is generally in a better mood.

Hiei/Pantyhose Taro: Sort of look alike, loners with some of an evil streak, and at times bad tempered. While both are generally resourceful and intellegent, their brash "attack first and ask questions later" mentality gets them in much more trouble than they would have otherwise. Note also that both have worked with the respective good guy while at the same time being pissing them off in a reluctant truce.

Differences: I think Hiei and Yuusuke get along better than Taro and Ranma, partly because the first two have been around each other more to get along better. I see the "Rogue" story sort of like the Saint Beast one, where both groups are grouped together by neccicity for the first time, despite hating each other causing trouble. Maybe Taro and Ranma will get along better if they ever do anything more together.

Honerable mention goes to Kuwabara's sister/Nabiki due to their similar voice and generally sarcastic and cynical attitude, and Botan/Shampoo (even if Botan is generally a tad nicer than Shampoo) due their similar looks and bubbly personality.

[bissek]

Another Kuwabara/Kuno similarity/difference: They both think of themselves as modern-day samurai. But Kuno mainly goes for the trappings of samurai, while Kuwabara tries to follow Bushido as closely as he can. Part of the reason he often appears dumb is the fact that he always ends up in situations where the premises behind the principles of Bushido don't apply, against enemies who think that an opponent who fights fair is just an idiot who gives them a handicap.

Botan and Shampoo both have a bubbly personality, but that's about all they have in common. Shampoo abuses her prime admirer (Mousse) regularly. Botan just politely put off her only canon admirer (Kuwabara). Of course, Kuwabara also forgot about that infatuation completely after he saw Yukina's photograph two arcs later (Botan's only reaction to losing her suitor was a highly sarcastic 'oh, darn'). If she had to put up with that infatuation for years on end, that might have changed (Then again, Kuwabara's notion of courtship, while sometimes annoying, is never as aggravating as Mousse's).

Botan also doesn't use violence without a justifiable reason, while Shampoo tends to be more arbitrary. I haven't seen the entire show, but up to the end of the tournament, she's only smacked people around three times. One time was when Yusuke showed blatant disrepect to her boss (one smack upside the head). One time was against some mind controlled people trying to kill Keiko (Limited to the amount of force needed to incapacitate them long enough to run away). And the third time was when she gave a spirit lens to Yusuke. When she explained that it could see through clothing, he put it on while facing her. Even then, all she did was bop him on the head with her oar once. If you tried that with Akane, you'd end up in orbit.