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Following

Friendly Fandoms / Anime & Manga

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Friendly Fandoms in Anime & Manga.

Shows with their own pages:

Individual examples:

  • Astroganger:
    • For obvious reasons, modern fans of Astroganger are also fans of Chargeman Ken!. Though, it is universally agreed that Astroganger has a much higher production value, and much better writing. This is mainly because the staff at Knack Productions were going through some serious Creator's Apathy (one of the few surviving members has even admitted that the staff used to finish episodes quickly because they wanted to go the beach later) when making the latter anime.
    • In Lebanon, fans of Astroganger are also fans of Grendizer.
  • Beastars, Aggretsuko, and Brand New Animal have a shared fandom being considered Netflix's furry anime triad.
    • Beastars and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, both because the first season OP of the former and the second OP of the latter are similar and because of their shared penchant for having believable characters in unbelievable situations. The overlap is so great that the mods on the r/Beastars discord got sick of people talking about JoJo all the time and set up a bot to post instructions to take it to a different channel every time someone said "JoJo". It backfired horribly and the bot message flooded #general for a couple weeks until they reverted the policy.
  • Blue Flag and Our Dreams at Dusk are both dramatic mangas that heavily deal with LGBT+ themes, which prompted their fanbases to have a good relationship with each other.
  • While they are not too similar plot-wise, many fans of Fullmetal Alchemist also enjoy Soul Eater. Perhaps because of their similar cast and production, or the similar messages and tones, the two are subject to much crossover. Also, they both ran in Monthly Shonen Gangan for nine years.
  • In general, fans of Dragon Ball are usually fans of One Piece, due to the similar art style and tone. It helps that Eiichiro Oda practically idolizes Akira Toriyama. Fans of the franchise also get along with Sailor Moon fans, due to them being fan favorite franchises in the Science Fantasy genre being aired on Toonami in the past. In America, Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon are easily the most iconic and recognizable gateway shows that created many anime fans in the West, and are viewed as a perfect Distaff Counterpart of one another.
  • Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Delicious in Dungeon due to sharing having a memetic elf character in Frieren and Marcille.
    • The two mangas have also been sharing fans for being highly regarded fantasy mangas in a time where a lot of the genre has been taken over by Isekai. In that sense, as well as the fact that they're all written by women, Witch Hat Atelier and Dorohedoro have also been entering this shared fanbase.
  • Fans of My Hero Academia and Sailor Moon have a significant friendship, despite the two having different aspects for the Superhero and Science Fantasy genres (the former is influenced by American Superhero Comic Books while the latter is inspired by the Magical Girl Warrior and Sentai media).
  • My Hero Academia fandom has a good relationship with Haikyuu!! fandom because of the shows' similar vibe despite being different genres. While one is battle shounen and the other is sports shounen, both are set in high school focusing on an ensemble cast of students striving for one goal. In both cases characters are rotated in and out of arcs, resulting in limelight episodes tied to the main theme of the series: "becoming a hero" vs "playing volleyball". Also, anime adaptations have a slew of voice actors in common, resulting in a lot of crossover fanwork imagining the actors' respective MHA and HQ characters changing places.
  • The fandom of My Hero Academia has a good relationship with the Little Witch Academia fandom since not only are both similarly named works set in a fantastical high school, but both's protagonists are adorkable students who start out with a major disadvantage compared to their fellow students but strive to be like their idols regardless. Deku x Akko is also a popular Crossover Ship as a result.
  • Basically any series by CLAMP has a significant fan overlap with any other series done by the same group. The fact that CLAMP wrote a Massive Multiplayer Crossover, Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-, that included characters from almost every series they've ever done essentially created a pan-series fandom.
  • Studio Gainax has a similar story, with fans that cross-over the studio's series more often than not. Popular cross-overs include FLCL-This Ugly Yet Beautiful World and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann-Panty & Stocking with Garterbeltnote .
  • Gainax fans and Studio TRIGGER fans are having close bonds. Just look at all those cross-overs between Kill la Kill and Gainax works, especially Panty & Stocking and Gurren Lagann!
  • The Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Type Moon fans are quite close to each other and are frequently crossed over in fan art and the like. Probably due to author Gen Urobuchi being the writer of Fate/Zero. They even share memes with each other, with the Madoka fanbase using "Unlimited Gun Works" to describe Mami and Homura, and the Fate fanbase borrowing the "being meguca is suffering" meme for several Fate/Zero characters, particularly Lancer.
    • Also with other Studio Shaft productions. Especially Bakemonogatari (the glassy, modernistic backgrounds are somewhat similar, and Homura shares a voice and appearance with Hitagi (and, earlier, with Hanikawa)), Hidamari Sketch (artist Ume Aoki designed Madoka's characters, with Madoka herself bearing a strong resemblance to Hidamari's viewpoint character Yuno), and occasionally Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei for the show's emphasis on despair and it having hired the same animation studio for certain sequences, Gekidan Inu Curry.
    • They also seem to get along with the When They Cry fanbase.
    • There's also significant overlap with the Rebuild of Evangelion fandom in the form of fanart of Homura and Kaworu as friends, mostly due to both of them being interpreted as having same-sex crushes on their respective protagonists and going through multiple timelines in order to save them (a theory in Kaworu's case, confirmed in Homura's case). It's also something of a Running Gag for both fandoms to comfort each other over the Mind Screw and Tear Jerker natures of their respective series.
    • Shockingly, Madoka fans are rather amicable with the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann fandom. This is shocking because both anime come from completely different genres, both at first seem to be on opposite ends of the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism and both have nearly different art styles. However, aside from a few subtle similarities, the overlap comes mostly from the main characters Madoka and Simon who both started out as nearly identical characters before developing into similar but different characters at the end.
    • Princess Tutu and Puella Magi Madoka Magica tend to get along, as both are deconstructions of the Magical Girl genre that takes a dark outlook.
  • The Attack on Titan fandom and Free! fandom are quite close, especially on Tumblr and Twitter, despite being from complete opposite genres. Interactions mainly consist of jokes of characters crossing over, comparisons being made between them, or roleplaying.
  • While not as tight-knit, Big Windup!, Yowamushi Pedal, Ace of the Diamond and Kuroko's Basketball also tie in as sports anime Friendly Fandoms. People who watch one sports anime tend to get sucked into others, and as a result, there's a lot of fandom overlap.
  • Valvrave the Liberator Haruto/L-elf shippers, overcome with emotion from the Tear Jerker ending, jumped onto Hamatora, which began shortly after VVV ended. The "Nice Art" ship was observed to be similar to HaruEru, and thus, the Coffee Ship was born (named after Haruto's comment that he could be like sugar to L-elf's bitter coffee). Sorey/Mikleo of Tales of Zestiria, Inaho/Slaine (OrangeBat) of Aldnoah.Zero, and others have since been accepted into the coffee brotherhood.
  • Kuroh/Shiro of K, Shion/Nezumi of No. 6, and Allen/Kanda of D.Gray-Man are the "Black and White" ships and are often compared and drawn in crossover fanart together like the Coffee Ships.
  • Few fandoms are as tightly integrated as the Humongous Mecha fandom is, in no small part thanks to Super Robot Wars games not just crossing over the various series featured, but also seamlessly merging them into a cohesive whole.
  • Naruto and Queen's Blade is one hell of this, taking into account both series belongs to different demographics (Shōnen and Seinen respectively). The only thing they have in common is both series are action-oriented and the fact, at least regarding Naruto, is the fact some characters, like Ino Yamanaka, Tsunade, Hinata Hyuga and few other females definitely would not be too out of place in the Queen's Blade universe in any stretch.
  • Robotech fans are often very friendly with fans of the slightly earlier anime import Star Blazers. They tend to be of the same generation and most are fans of both. They are both sister icons of old-school anime largely associated with the "first wave" of Western anime fandom. Also, the opinion of purists notwithstanding, the two shows are the most successful early attempts by American anime importers that attempted to preserve the integrity of their respective original Japanese series (allowing more mature themes such as death, relationships, and character development).
  • Bokura no Hentai and Wandering Son fans tend to intersect and be friendly. This largely is because Marika is a Nitori expy in many ways, they both deal with transgender issues and the former manga began just after Wandering Son ended.
  • There's a lot of mixing and friendliness between fans of Hunter × Hunter, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Naruto. When the Naruto manga ended many fans gravitated towards the Hunter X Hunter manga and 2011 adaptation, while a lot of Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 fans are fond of Hunter X Hunter 1999, with some also being fans of Hunter X Hunter 2011.
  • The "Big 3" - Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach - are friendly rivals. There's a lot of insult trading between them but many fans enjoy, or at least respect, the others as well.
  • Studio Ghibli fans tend to be "Studio Ghibli fans" rather than fans of individual movies. Fanartists and cosplayers enjoy crossing over as many Ghibli characters as possible. Also, hardcore Disney fans who tend to balk at the "weirdess" of anime, in general, tend to make an exception to Studio Ghibli due to their beautiful animation and general G-rating (don't tell them about Grave of the Fireflies).
  • Back in the day, there was a pretty well-known overlap between fandoms for One Piece and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, primarily on the basis that they both have very distinct art styles, that Eiichiro Oda and Hirohiko Araki are extremely pop-culture savvy in regards to both Japanese and western media and flaunt it in their work whenever they can, and that both series are Long-Runners whose stories have only gotten wilder and wilder since they began.
  • There is a ton of camaraderie between fans of Fist of the North Star, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Berserk thanks to all three series' reputation for MANLINESS and the similar appearances of their protagonists and art styles. The three are sometimes called "The Holy Trinity of MANIME (with the fourth being the Cult Classic Sakigake!! Otokojuku''.
  • Over the years, the Fandom Rivalry between fans of Pokémon and Digimon has mostly subsided, and the fandoms have become more and more friendly with each other. It's likely BECAUSE of the former rivalry that the two have grown close.
  • Lyrical Nanoha and Symphogear, since both shows feature Magical Girls with insane amounts of badassery and firepower... which begs the question: Which fandom beat the other up for them to become friends?
  • This was the case for fans of the works of Key/Visual Arts, but the popularity of both Angel Beats! and the TV adaptation of CLANNAD means that there are now a lot of people who like only one or both of those two and don't feel the need to get into any of the others. Angel Beats! especially, as it's very different from the romances. Still, a lot of the old guard are flat-out "Key fans" instead of just "Angel Beats fans," etc.
  • Assassination Classroom:
    • With JoJo's Bizarre Adventure due to the series' tendency to combine over the top, characters, humor, and action with some serious drama. There's also the fact that Matsui was inspired by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Some have even seen Assassination Classroom'' as a Spiritual Successor to JoJo since JoJo no longer runs in Shounen Jump. It also helps that both seasons of the anime aired while a JoJo season was airing.
    • Also with Danganronpa as both series involve characters in classroom settings where their assignment is to kill someone as a "graduation requirement" while putting emphasis on many students who all have unique characteristics and talents. It also helps that both animes share the same animation studio.
    • There are a few Assassination Classroom fans who are also fans of Akame ga Kill!. For the most part, this seems to be a result of the fact that both shows are centered around assassins but with a tone of black humor and the anime for Assassination Classroom aired right after the anime adaptation of Akame ga Kill! finished.
  • Ever since the premiere of Isekai Quartet there has been a strong overlap between the shows that make it up - KonoSuba, Re:Zero, Overlord (2012), The Saga of Tanya the Evil, and (starting from the second season) The Rising of the Shield Hero and The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious. The former two's fandoms have an especially strong overlap owing to both series deconstructing the Isekai genre but in vastly different ways: KonoSuba is more comedy-oriented, while Re:Zero is more dramatic and horror-tinged. It further helps that the authors of the two series are friends in real life.
  • A Place Further than the Universe and Laid-Back Camp have some fandom overlap due to superficial similarities—a group of girls going outdoors someplace cold—and the animes airing in the same season. For April Fools' Day 2019, their respective official websites traded characters, editing the ones from the other show into their promo images.
  • The recent wave of Romantic Comedy manga and anime has many overlapping fandoms, but most especially with Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Komi Can't Communicate, Teasing Master Takagi-san, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, Horimiya and My Dress-Up Darling. This is largely thanks to their lead girls all usually ranking very high in popularity contests, also prompting surprisingly friendly conversations on which girl is better as well as a ton of crossover fanarts.
  • Spy X Family has this with Chainsaw Man due to both having the same editor (Rin Shihei). Their radically different tones are even somewhat complementary. Both ranked in the top 3 of their respective categories in the 2019 Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards, and Spy×Family's voice actors even did a promotion for Chainsaw Man in late 2022.
  • YuYu Hakusho and Inuyasha, two Monster of the Week anime shows released to American audiences on Cartoon Network in the early 2000s. Both were about Ordinary High School Students taking on Youkai. Crossover fanfiction between the two is especially popular, with Yu Yu Hakusho even providing an explanation for why demons in Inuyasha are so plentiful in the past but rare in the present, a question Inuyasha itself never addresses.
  • Given the subject matter, it's probably no surprise that Moriarty the Patriot shares a lot of fans with Death Note (for the warring between a detective and criminal protagonist) and Black Butler (just for the edgy Victorian era Ho Yay aesthetic, although the fact that Mycroft Holmes shares an English voice actor with Sebastian Michaelis doesn't hurt).
  • Due to the Perfect Ultimate Getter mashup between Oishi No Ko's Idol and Shin Getter vs Neo Getter's Storm, Getter Fans have grown to enjoy the anime's fame giving Getter robo newfound resurgence in notoriety.
  • Mecha fans and Magical Girl fans often share kinship in a brother-sister genre way. This may be due to several factor:
    • Both the grandfather and grandmother of mecha and magical girls anime Sally Witch and Tetsujin 28 Go were both written by Mitsuru Yokoyama, giving them the same point of origin
      • They both have long running juggernaut franchises, Gundam for Mecha and Precure for Magical Girls.
      • Go Nagai, creator of the Grandafather of 70s hotblooded Super Robots also created Cutie Honey, often considered the prototype Magical Girl Warrior.
      • Both have a similar history of the genre evolving and branching off into multiple direction. For Mecha, there was Super Robot<Real Robot<Hybrid Mecha. For Magical Girls it was Cute Witch<Magical Girl Warrior<Tragical Girls
      • There has been an overlap of Magical Girl and Mecha in works like Cutie Honey, Magic Knight Rayearth, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna. Cyber Team in Akihabara, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Mai Hime, Symphogear, Neptunia, Vividread Operation, Kill La Kill etc.
      • Several periods of boom and floodimg the market with a surplus of shows for each evolution, followed by an eventual period of decline and stagnation, with both genres fans being very dedicated and underground.
      • Having a breakout entry in the 90s result in anything even similar them be called a ripoff. For Mecha it's Evangelion, for Magical Girls it's Sailor Moon. Magical Girl fans often have hear Precure be called a Sailor Moon ripoff the most. Also for Mecha, anything that is a combiner or transforming type mecha will be accused of being a Powerangers/Voltron/Transformers ripoff.
      • Constantly hearing those who aren't into either being turned off by their subject matter and style (With the exception of a few: See Below). For mecha, detractors often dislike the idea of characters depending on machines to fight, feeling that the battles feel too impersonal, cold and lack stakes or risk, compared to something like Shonen were a character has to physically fight in person, be injured, lose a limb,die from lethal blows etc. Also some find the concept of giant robots to be too unrealistic compared to tanks/planes, or that anything a robot could do could be done by a character via any special abilities or weapons on hand. For Magical Girls, the genre may turn viewers off due to the cute, fluffy, girly aspects to them, feeling that Magical Girls feel too childish and idealistic. Once again, Shonen fans who prefer more gritty, rugged, macho fights and designs may not like something they perceive as too soft, moe or cutesy.
      • And finally, both having to deal with non mecha/magical girl fans misconceptions about the genres and having to constantly have the breakouts of their genre among a wider audience (Code Geass, Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, 86) for mecha and Madoka for Magical girls being praised as unique and totally different to what has come before, not knowing that the a lot of the elements those series are praised for were previously done by past entries.
  • Mecha/Toku/Super Sentai fans seem to have a strong liking for Digimon compared to Pokemon. This may be due to a few reasons.
    • A lot of Digimon, especially in the later stages begin to take on heavily armored/mecha like appearances, to the point that some become borderline/completely mechanical. Examples for Sentai are Wargreymon, Gallantmon, Flamedramon, Magnamon, the Biomerge forms of Tamers etc (Especially Justimon) and lastly the entire season of the entire cast of Frontier which is the Sentai Digimon.
    • For Mecha examples, Metal Garurumon, Imperialdramon, Omegamon, Alphamon, The Biomerge forms in Tamers (Since the Digidestined control them the mons from the inside) especially Saint Galgomon, Shine Greymon and Mirage Gao Gamon and most blatantly, Digimon Xros Wars which is basically a Super Robot in disguise. It doesn't help Xros Wars had a DS game called Super Xros Wars, almost a blatant reference to Super Robot Wars. Which makes this a Hilarious in Hindsight due to the release of Super Robot Wars X-Omega on smartphones.
    • Digimon often has a similar save the world from a great threat/conspiracy going on behind the scenes, something Sentai/Toku/Mecha has in common compared Pokemon which is more of formulaic sport than a plot heavy story.
    • In later seasons, there's themes of conflict/war and distrust among the Mons and humans, with attempts to find peace/common ground a big part, something mecha deals with a lot.
    • Mecha and Digimon have undergone a similar development from perceived kid friendly stories to more apocalyptic horror series/Humans Are Bastards//hotblooded Humans Are Special. Even some of the none-Xros Wars examples have themes and feel that you'd see in mecha. The deconstrucitve Tamers is often compared to Evangelion due the darker, apocalyptic tone and more meek Takato compared to his predecessors/succesors, were as Savers is often regarded as being more akin to Getter Robo/G Gundam/Gurren Lagann due to the overtly macho, fight happy, punch first and asks questions later Masaru who believe in the human spirits potential. it helps that Masaru physically fights much like the aformentioned examples, to the point in the dub he even says he'll make the impossible possible.
  • Hello! Sandybell:
    • In Cuba, many fans of Hello! Sandybell are also fans of Voltes V because they aired around the same time slots on the channel Cubavisión.
    • Swedish fans of Hello! Sandybell tend to also be fans of other anime titles released in Sweden during the 80s since they were all dubbed by the same company, most notably Starzinger (which uses the exact same voice cast as Hello! Sandybell) and Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin. These three titles are sometimes cited as a trifecta of sorts among older Swedish anime fans, not dissimilar to how 00s' shounen fans had "The Big Three".
    • After the Revolution in Romania, anime started airing in the country, and there were three major ones that were a Gateway Series for young Romanian viewers: Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon and Hello! Sandybell.

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