Spiritual Antithesis in Western Animation.
The following have their own pages:
Examples:
- Animaniacs is this to Bonkers. Both are wacky 90s cartoons made by rivals WB and Disney respectively. Both shows' characters also star in in-universe cartoons. While Animaniacs has the Warner siblings rebel against authority, Bonkers features the titular character serving authority (the police force). Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are quite clever and frequently outsmart their enemies, while Bonkers D. Bobcat is more naive. Finally, Animaniacs is more popular and well-remembered than Bonkers, and got its own reboot while Bonkers is more forgotten (he did make a cameo in an episode of DuckTales (2017) though).
- Another case of two opposing shows made by the same people is Superjail! and Ballmastrz: 9009, on [adult swim]. Both are Bloody Hilarious pieces of Deranged Animation, but one uses bright asthetics as a backdrop for a cynical premise — a Wackyland built by a fanciful madman that serves a high-security prison that holds the worst of the worst, while the other uses edgy asthetics as a backdrop for a surprisingly idealistic premise — a post-apocalyptic future reunited by a Blood Sport where Death Is a Slap on the Wrist and the feel resembles a Shōnen Sports Anime. As a result, Superjail focuses more on the staff due to the inmates dying by the buckets, while Ballmastrz focuses on the players of The Game, particularly one Ragtag Bunch of Misfits. Even the flamboyant Reality Warpers who made the world are polar opposites, the Warden being the star of the show with a fully human appearance and an immature prima-donna personality, whereas Crayzar is a Reasonable God-Emperor with a more bizarre appearance who plays a supporting role and acts for the betterment of mankind.
- Batman Beyond is this to Batman: The Animated Series. While both are set in the same continuity, and made by the same people, while being darker series in the animated field, they diverge from there.
- The Animated Series stars an wealthy, older, stoic, Experienced Protagonist in the form of Bruce Wayne, the original Batman. It features a retro, art deco-influenced Anachronism Stew influenced by the '30s and '40s, the villains are campy yet still not to be trifled with, the stories are told primarily from an adult perspective, Bruce primarily relies on skills-first, gadgets-second, and he became a hero because his life was forever changed by the world of criminals. In contrast, Beyond stars a middle-class, younger, joke-cracking, Small Steps Hero in the form of Terry McGinnis, the second Batman. It features a futuristic, anime-inspired Cyberpunk landscape influenced by works like AKIRA and Ghost in the Shell, the villains are played much more seriously and are a product of the era they live in, the stories are told from a younger perspective, Terry has fewer skills and yet has much more advanced tech to make up for it, and he became a hero because in his youth Terry was a criminal himself.
- The Animated Series draws from various aspects of the long-running Batman mythos and distills them, while Beyond is an entirely original creation that takes just as much from other works, notably Spider-Man.
- Even their archenemies are in contrast — whereas The Joker is a cackling crime-lord who schemes more than he fights, and has the insanity to compensate for a comparative lack of wealth compared to Bruce, Derek "Blight" Powers is a no-nonsense Corrupt Corporate Executive with vast resources, and actual superpowers, that makes him the overdog to Terry.
- Musically, The Animated Series uses fully-orchestrated composition, whereas Beyond uses dirty-sounding industrial.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold is also this to BTAS to an even greater degree than Beyond:
- The bigger one is the atmosphere: as explained above, TAS is dark, gritty and realistic, taking place mostly at night and drawing heavy influence from Film Noir. TBTB, by contrast, is much Lighter and Softer and campier, takes place either at day or at night, is very colorful and is influenced by The Silver Age of Comic Books.
- Acording to Word of God, TAS is a solo act; Batman will almost always act alone, with the other members of the Justice League completely banned from appearing, and only Robin joining him from time to time. TBTB, on the other hand, features Batman teaming up with one or more superheroes on pretty much every episode.
- Related to the above point, Batman in TAS exclusively fought against members of his own Rogues Gallery. TBTB Batman often fought against enemies of the hero or heroes he was teaming with that day, or villains of the DC Universe as a whole like Darkseid or Starro, with members of his own Rogues Gallery only appearing ocassionally.
- TAS puts much more focus on Batman's crime-solving skills and heavily downplayed the gadgets, with Batman rarely using anything more advanced than the classical batarang, Grappling-Hook Pistol or smoke bombs. Batman in TBTB, by contrast, with its much heavier focus on superhero action over crime-solving and mystery, has Batman rely not only on more high-tech gadgets, but sometimes he will even break out a Power Armor or a Mini-Mecha.
- Bluey creator Joe Brumm was previously a staff member on fellow Funny Animal show Peppa Pig, and conceived his series as an Australian "replica" of the UK one. However, the two differ in their portrayal of family dynamics, particularly in the role of father figures. Whereas Peppa Pig depicts Daddy Pig as a Bumbling Dad, Bluey intentionally depicts Bandit in a more proactive role, particularly in parent-child play.
- Bob's Burgers is considered this to the sitcom it was originally panned for trying to copy, Family Guy. While both shows focus on families and their bizarre relationship with each other, FG showcases the often unlikable Griffins and their abusive relationship to each other, milking dark comedy for all it's worth and never shying away from somber jokes, Bob's focus on the heartwarming and simple interactions between the Belchers and their quirky antics while making sure the viewer knows this family loves one another, using a lighter brand of humor.
- BoJack Horseman episode Hank After Dark is exact opposite of The Simpsons episode Homer Badman. In the latter, Homer gets mistakenenly accussed of groping a woman and nearly has his life destroyed when media jump in to sensationalize the hell out of the situation for views. In the former, Diane's offhand mention of allegations against popular actor, that were not as well-known as she believed, make media go after her on assumption she is slandering the guy to build herself up. While Homer Badman ends with status quo restored and Homer's reputation cleared, Hank After Dark has Diane forced to flee the country until the thing calms down.
- Chip Chilla to Bluey, depsite being blatantly inspired by the latter. There are few crucial differences that make it near exact opposite. While kids in Bluey are going to school and learning through play, often with their parents, the games are more gentle guidelines letting them figure out the lessons themselves and be proactive, drawing their own conclusions. In Chip Chilla kids are homeschooled and their parents (their father in particular) have much stricter, hands-on approach, outright telling the kids what lessons they're supposed to take from games. Moreover, huge part of Bluey is love and friendship between her and her sister, while every episode of Chip Chilla is kicked off by Chip and his siblings not getting along.
- The Cuphead Show! and Cat Burglar. Both of them came out within days of each other on the same platform and both of them pay homage to The Golden Age of Animation down to the last detail. However, whereas The Cuphead Show is an all-ages show that (much like the game it's based on) takes its stylistic inspiration from Fleischer Studios, Cat Burglar is an interactive short aimed more at adults and takes its stylistic inspiration from Tex Avery.
- The second Danny Phantom 1 hour special, "The Ultimate Enemy", is this to "Channel Chasers", the second 1 hour special to Butch Hartman's first series, The Fairly OddParents!. Both involve time travel, dealing with growing up and meeting and facing against future selves, but take different paths. In "Channel Chasers", Timmy rejects the idea of growing up and escapes into the world of television to avoid aging; in "The Ultimate Enemy", Danny is stressed about a test that might determine whether or not his future is a successful one. While they both meet and oppose their future selves, each does it differently. Timmy opposes his future self before knowing who he is (believing him to be a threatening individual) and upon learning he is interacting with his older self, he still has trouble with it. However, they bond as they stop Vicky from trying to reach the history channel (and thus cause a retroactive reality warp that would cause her to become ruler of the world.) Danny however never does this with his older self, opposing him all the way due to his older self being a violent sociopath responsible for destroying most of humanity note . By the end, Timmy does look forward to growing up again after being inspired by his older counterpart, while Danny rejects his Bad Future in favor of a better one where he still remains a hero.
- Beavis and Butt-Head's spinoff Daria also did this with its source material. Both were animated sitcoms about Generation X teens who didn't fit in with their peers, but while the titular protagonists of B&B were a pair of meatheaded, delinquent teenage boys for whom ignorance was bliss, the titular protagonist of Daria was a sarcastic, brainiac teenage girl whose intellect made her miserable and antisocial. The titular leads of both shows were Audience Surrogates, but while Beavis and Butt-Head were frequently the butt of the joke (Judge wasn't subtle in his mockery of MTV's target audience in the '90s), Daria Morgendorffer was given a more sympathetic and humanizing portrayal, with most of the humor coming from her commentary on the stupidity and madness of the sick, sad world around her, while she and her friends got real Character Development over the course of the show's run versus the Negative Continuity of the gag-a-day B&B. Daria was originally created as a foil to Beavis and Butt-Head before she got her own show, and while she tolerated the pair, it was frequently made clear that she held them in very low regard.
- Dexter's Laboratory to The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. Both iconic animated series from the Turn of the Millennium about young scientific geniuses, the two shows derive their humor and drama from completely opposite sources. The entire premise of Dexter's Lab hinges on the fact that nobody knows that Dexter has a secret laboratory, while the premise of Jimmy Neutron hinges on the fact that everyone knows that Jimmy has a lab. Dexter's Lab mainly revolves around Dexter's continual struggles to keep his scientific experiments secret, while Jimmy Neutron is all about how Jimmy's reputation as a genius colors his relationships with the people in his life. Most episodes portray Dexter as an awkward and socially isolated kid whose problems mainly stem from his inability to be his true self around others, while Jimmy's problems mainly stem from the fact that he's often a little too eager to flaunt his intelligence—but despite that, he still has two loyal friends as his constant companions. Another notable difference is that while most episodes of Dexter's Lab usually rely on Negative Continuity, Jimmy Neutron has an established continuity, and several episodes tend to reference older ones.
- Phineas and Ferb is one to both of these shows, the main characters are also young scientific geniuses but while the latter two were arrogant and socially awkward outcasts, Phineas and Ferb are incredibly friendly and outgoing All-Loving Hero's who are Loved by All. Like Jimmy the whole world knows about their genius but like Dexter their parents have no clue, however Phineas and Ferb have never attempted to keep anything secret from anyone, a series of Contrived Coincidence's simply ensures their parents will always remain oblivious. Also Dexter's older sister is a Kiddie Kid who acts more like an Annoying Younger Sibling and constantly ruins his inventions by getting involved, which results in him being hurt but never really affects her. Phineas and Ferb's older sister see's them as Annoying Younger Sibling's and wants nothing to do with them or their inventions, yet they always cause her to be hurt while never really affecting them. Finally Jimmy's Love Interest is about as intelligent as him but the two constantly compete and try to one up each other, while Phineas' Love Interest is about as intelligent as him but is willing to support him and provide necessary help in all his endeavors.
- The Dexter's Laboratory episode "Copping an Aptitude" is this to The Simpsons episode "Homer Goes to College". They both feature the protagonist going to college and finding it nothing like they were expecting. But "Homer Goes to College" see's middle-aged Manchild Homer go to college, thinking it will be all partying, Wacky Fratboy Hijinks and pranking the crusty dean. Instead the dean is a cool, laid-back guy and the other students are responsible and take their studies seriously. Homer learns the hard way that he's not in Animal House when he gets three good students expelled, puts the dean in hospital, and ends up failing his course and having to take the class all over again. While "Copping an Aptitude" see's Child Prodigy Dexter go to college thinking it will be non-stop studying and attending lectures only to find out most other students are slackers who want to party and have fun all the time and the dean is a cool, laid-back guy who encourages this attitude because too much work will burn them out. Dexter learns this the hard way and ends up suffering a Sanity Slippage and getting expelled.
- Dinosaur Train to Ready Jet Go!. Both are PBS Kids shows created by Craig Bartlett teaching about science. Dinosaur Train is set in prehistoric times and teaches about paleontology. Ready Jet Go! is set in the present day with a science-fiction twist, and teaches astronomy. Craig Bartlett noted that the transition from Jet to Train was like the transition to The Flintstones to The Jetsons for Hanna-Barbera.
- The two Disney Junior shows that Craig Gerber created that take place in a Shared Universe, Sofia the First and the later Elena of Avalor both star young princesses who are compassionate, brave, and altruistic, and cover similar themes on love, family, friendship, altruism, and leadership. However, there are a few differences. For one thing, Sofia is a young girl (said to start the series at 8-9 years old), while Elena is technically a teenager of age 16 who turns 20 by the time her series ends. Sofia was born a commoner and became a princess when her shoemaking mother and King Rolland II fell in love with each other and married. Elena, on the other hand, was born into a royal family that was usurped by Shuriki when she was 15 years old, and fought to get Avalor's throne back when she was freed from the Amulet and her surviving family members were freed from an enchanted painting. Sofia started with more standalone episodes before dwelling into major story arcs, while Elena's story arcs are set up right off the bat and get even deeper. Sofia is worried about keeping her magical amulet and other magical adventures secret until later on in the series, while Elena is more open with talking about her magical abilities and her adventures with her loved ones early on. On top of that, Elena has a more noticeable political edge due to being a more direct ruler as the Crown Princess, while Sofia is more indirect due to her younger age and being the third-in-line for Enchantia's throne.
- The Fairly OddParents! to Dexter's Laboratory. Word of God says the former went with magic as vehicle of putting the characters in different settings and situations because the latter was already using science for that purpose. The two shows' protagonists are near exact opposites - Dexter is isolated, arrogant genius, while Timmy is a normal kid. Dexter has loving parents and is tormented by an older sister who doesn't understand how much he hates her behavior, while Timmy's parents are neglectful and often leave him with an utterly sadistic babysitter that deliberatelly makes his life hell. FOP has large supporting cast of reoccuring characters, while Dexter's Lab has only few such characters outside Dexter's family.
- Gravity Falls is a spiritual antithesis to The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. Both shows take place in an American town where paranormal events usually occur. Both have a boy and a girl as protagonists. While in Gravity Falls the two kids are siblings and are sent to the paranormal town during the summer vacation, in Grim Adventures, the kids are residents of the same neighbourhood and are not siblings. Also the kids of each respective gender have opposite personalities- boys: Dipper is smart, curious and a little shy, while Billy is dumb and hyperactive; girls: Mabel is hyperactive and talkative, but not as dumb as Billy, while Mandy is cruel and emotionless and more anti-social than Dipper. The main adult characters in the two cartoons have different personalities. The Pines twins' granduncle, Stan Pines is an average human, a souvenir shopkeeper, who tries to attract tourists and uses his grand-niblings to advertise his shop, for his selfish purposes. Billy's and Mandy's friend, Grim is a Death God, who lost a competition to them and thus was forced to serve them. He is a very sensitive and kind person, who the kids are using for their own purposes. Both Stan and Grim work at these jobs due to psychological trauma in their youth. The residents of Gravity Falls are unaware of supernatural events, while Endsville residents are monsters, who live alongside humans. Also, Gravity Falls is a continuity-based show while Billy and Mandy runs on Negative Continuity, using a Snap Back every five episodes.
- Bob's Burgers got another antithesis in Louren Bouchard's other Fox animated production, The Great North: Bob's takes place in a decadent tourist-trap beach town, with the titular restaurant being a cramped greasy spoon. Bob's restaurant is failing, but he takes pride in being a skilled cook and level-headed family man. Great North, meanwhile, takes place in a very inhospitable Alaskan town, but Beef and his family live comfortable lives in an isolated spacious home. Beef is a masculine, competent survivalist, but is emotionally dependent on his family. Basically, Bob's Burgers is about the secret joys of living flawed lives, while The Great North is about the secret flaws of idealized lives.
- Harvey Beaks was deliberately intended as one to C.H. Greenblatt's previous show Chowder. Both shows are centered around plucky child protagonists who live in unique, fantastical worlds, but whilst Chowder was a surreal, fast-paced Zany Cartoon that tore down the Fourth Wall on a regular basis and took place in an urban setting, Harvey is much more restrained and often delivered bittersweet reflections on childhood and growing up in the woods.
- Hilda is this to Gravity Falls. Both shows involve a group of kids having adventures that deal with supernatural occurrences. the key differences between both shows is that Gravity Falls has a Myth Arc that leads to several conspiracies and an interdimensional being wanting to take over Earth, Hilda is more of a Slice of Life series with occasional continuity. Also, while the citizens of Gravity Falls are unaware of the paranormal note , the citizens of Trolberg are quite aware of most of the paranormal creatures running about.
- To a degree, Cartoon Network's two most successful (mini)series Over the Garden Wall and Infinity Train can be considered this. Both series bear similar aspects, such as a protagonist trapped in an Eldritch Location setting, and come to terms with a change in your life (Wirt learning to appreciate his younger half-brother in the former and Tulip's being able to deal with her parents divorce in the latter.) but differ greatly in setting. While the former has elements derived primarily from 19th-20th century Americana fiction, the latter is ambiented in a mid-20th Sci-Fi inspired environment. While OTGW only has the Unknown as the principal setting, Infinity Train allows the main character to explore the vastly different worlds contained in the train's cars.
- The Jetsons is this to The Flintstones. Both are animated sitcoms created by Hanna-Barbera about an average family living in a distant time based on the values of America in The '60s. The most obvious contrast is the time period (Hollywood Prehistory vs. The Future), but there's more to it than that. The Flintstones lead a very blue-collar lifestyle due to Fred's manual labor job and their friendships with the Rubbles are a key part of the plot. The Jetsons, on the other hand, are more white-collar and, while not anti-social, George is less connected with the world and doesn't seem to have any close relationships beyond his family and his job. Also, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are pre-verbal infants, and Judy and Elroy are high school and elementary school-aged respectively. Finally, Fred and Wilma start as pet owners and become parents later, while George and Jane are the opposite.
- Mike Judge's flagship shows, Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, both satirize life in the American South, particularly Judge's home state of Texas. The difference is that Beavis & Butt-Head is more scathing in its portrayal of a crude, ignorant, white-trash bunghole, whereas King of the Hill offered a more respectful portrayal of a wholesome, honest, down-to-earth community.
- King of the Hill notably made an effort to avoid the cliches of the typical adult animated sitcom, such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. Such shows starred boorish, rowdy, immature, bumbling dads who often got into wacky situations, whereas King of the Hill prided itself in being realistic and able to find humor in the mundane, with a lead who was straight-laced, sensible, and hard-working. This is most obvious when comparing Hank Hill to Stan Smith of American Dad!, both of whom are stubborn, conservative patriarchs who have a strained relationship with their sons. Stan often ends up learning lessons on humility and open-mindedness, while Hank is almost always portrayed as the voice of reason.
- King of the Hill eventually passed the torch of the down-to-earth adult animated sitcom to another Fox show, Bob's Burgers, whose lead, Bob Belcher, acts as an antithesis of Hank in the opposite direction. He also plays the introverted stick-in-the-mud Only Sane Man trying to keep order within his eccentric family, but has more moments of fallibility and is an Open-Minded Parent in sharp contrast to Hank's my-way-or-the-highway stubbornness.
- On a more obvious note, whereas King of the Hill is a satire of the politically far-right American culture done with love, one of Mike Judge's other shows, The Goode Family, is a satire of the politically far-left American culture that is nothing but scathing.
- The Legend of Korra features Avatar Korra, the exact opposite in temprament to her predecessor, Avatar Aang. Where Aang was pacifistic, Korra is pugnacious. Where Aang had some issues firebending, Korra is most likely to reflexively use it when angry (despite water being her native element). Where Aang was born an Air Nomad, one of the most spiritual of the four nations, Korra just can't get it early on, and still has spiritual issues even after figuring out the Avatar State. Aang only ever loved Katara and while there were occasional one off love interests for Katara, the show mostly avoided love triangles, regardless of the shipping fandom. Korra was in a love quadrangle with all of the main cast, and by the end of the Grand Finale, she's dated all of them. Yes, even Asami. They're still both Avatars, though, and still are almost instinctively driven to do right by the world.
- In the original series, this was stated to be a recurring event between Avatar lifetimes, in part because previous Avatar generally leave the world in a state that require someone of a much different mindset and personality to address the issues of. For example, strict Yangchen spent much of her time dealing with human world politics, and was was replaced by the (seemingly) more laidback Kuruk, who spent his short life trying to handle all the spirits that Yangchen had enraged by her actions.
- The narrative structure of both shows. While the first series had a Myth Arc spread across three seasons, with a number of episodic adventures and a singular Big Bad, the second series was more heavily serialized and broken up into four explicit seasonal arcs with new villains for each one. While the original series has Team Avatar traveling all over the world, the new series has the cast mostly stay in the same general one or two locations over the course of each story arc (one of which is Republic City). Finally, Aang is facing a decidedly external enemy, the Fire Lord, whereas Korra must often deal with problems that she helped cause in the first place, faces Arc Villains, and constantly has to worry that her decisions are making the world worse instead of better.
- ATLA is optimistic enough to always have a silver lining in even the Downer Ending episodes, while Korra ends several of its episodes in utter defeat and despair.
- Legend of the Three Caballeros is this to DuckTales (2017). While they're both adventurer comedies, Caballeros uses the designs of the classic Disney characters, is also much more zany and cartoony, has Donald be a novice to adventuring, and is about a trio who just met. DuckTales redesigns the characters by taking cue from the comics, is much more down to earth, presents Donald as a seasoned adventurer, and is about triplets who've known each other for life. While DuckTales is a mostly episodic show with overarching plot points, Caballeros is straight up serialized with every episode picking up right after another.
- Two Disney Channel shows made the same creators, Phineas and Ferb and the later show Milo Murphy's Law, star a perpetually optimistic Weirdness Magnet as they go about their lives. The difference is that Phineas and his brother Ferb are Gadgeteer Geniuses who create the weirdness, whereas Milo Murphy is The Jinx who survives the weirdness.
- Though the show does reference preceding episodes from time to time, Phineas and Ferb's episode plots are mostly self-contained and feature increasingly ridiculous applications of the Reset Button in each one. Milo Murphy's Law on the other hand features overarching plotlines and a clear continuity. The first show also takes place across the whole summer, while the latter picks up right after during the school year.
- Phineas and Ferb is this to Beavis and Butt-Head. Both shows focus on a duo of boys who can't live without action. Beavis and Butt-Head are often causing mayhem in daily situations while bothering their entire hometown, which resents them for it, while Phineas and Ferb are often building eccentric attractions and earning tons of money, with the town loving them for it and treating them as their friends, even though their mother is not aware of their antics (no matter how much their sister tries to show her).
- Rick and Morty
- Rick and Morty and Bojack Horseman, both praised as being defining adult-focused animated series of the 2010s, can be considered antitheses to each other: both center on aging alcoholics failing interpersonal relationships and self-destructive behaviors, but go about it in opposite ways: Rick is a scientist, brilliant but personally abhorrent, while Bojack is an entertainer, not particularly skilled, but handsome and charming (his handsomeness is a case of Informed Attractiveness since he's a Funny Animal). Rick is stuck in a middle-class lifestyle with his dysfunctional family, but is essentially all-powerful during his adventures; Bojack is incredibly wealthy and privileged, but too incompetent and depressed to do anything with it. Rick's sidekick Morty is naive and anxious, Bojack's sidekick Todd is a laid-back moocher. In tone, Rick and Morty rejects political correctness and embrace escapism, while Bojack Horseman presents progressive morals and somber consequences for the title character's behavior. Rick and Morty is a surreal sci-fi show, while Bojack, despite featuring talking animals, is more down to earth.
- While on surface, "Full Meta Jackrick" is a clear-cut sequel to "Never Ricking Morty", there is one significant difference. That episode took jabs on serialisation of the series, with Rick hating this phenomenon. This episode on the other hand, takes jabs on the Series' overreliance on Meta humour, with Rick shown to detest Meta humour.
- On the subject of The Simpsons, this video
by The Take describes Rick and Morty as both this and a Spiritual Successor to that show, in many ways turning its setup on its head. Perhaps fittingly, The Simpsons once did a Couch Gag in which Rick and Morty kill them.- While The Simpsons, as noted above, always had an irreverent streak, it was clear that Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa Simpson were good people who truly loved each other, and the show ultimately upheld the ideal of the nuclear family with two parents and 2.2 kids as an unambiguous good thing. Rick and Morty also revolves heavily around a dysfunctional nuclear family, but the Smiths are not at all idealized, the focus rather being on how toxic family relationships can get. Rick destroyed his daughter Beth's life, the effects of which trickled down to her kids Morty and Summer and her husband Jerry, not least of all because Rick is still involved with the family. The Smiths are held together not through love, but through fear of losing the only people they are close to, which causes them to excuse all manner of terrible behavior. It's most visible with how both shows treat alcoholism; while it's Played for Laughs on both shows, Homer's drinking is treated as just a quirk of his, while Rick and Beth's drinking is a major cause of their problems.
- The distinction can also be seen by comparing both shows' respective main characters. The alcoholic grandfather Rick Sanchez is a counterpart to both Abe and Homer Simpson, but whereas Abe's family disrespects and marginalizes him, Rick dominates his family, and whereas Homer is stupid and puts his children in peril through well-meaning incompetence, Rick is a genius and does so out of a reckless desire to challenge his family. Jerry and Beth Smith are also quite similar to Homer and Marge Simpson in their respective roles as the mediocre Bumbling Dad and his wife. Homer, however, is the clear patriarch of the Simpsons, the show treating his flaws as lovable, and while Marge is often frustrated with him, she is ultimately satisfied in her role as a stay-at-home housewife and resolves all her problems with Homer by the end of each episode. Jerry, meanwhile, is rarely excused for his faults so easily and is shown to have little control over his household, while Beth is the primary breadwinner in the family and fully aware that she is Jerry's intellectual superior, often feeling that he is holding her back (though with many signs she is actually as irresponsible and ego-driven as her father, deconstructing her Women Are Wiser dynamic more seriously than Marge's more sporadic Not So Above It All moments). Bart Simpson is a grade-school Anti-Role Model with an attitude whose stories usually have him causing trouble on his own or alongside someone else, while Morty Smith is a much more pessimistic Ordinary High-School Student who is almost always coerced into the adventure by no fault of his own, and whose own decisions almost always end in disaster. Finally, Summer Smith is Lisa Simpson's counterpart as the intelligent daughter who serves as the show's moral center, but whereas Lisa is a nerdy overachiever who is presented as having little interest in "girly" things and champions moral causes to the point of sometimes being a Soapbox Sadie, Summer is an unapologetic Girly Girl who purposely gets mediocre grades in school even though she's capable of better and, while she'll call her family members out on their unacceptable behavior, certainly isn't morally squeaky clean herself and doesn't pretend to be.
- Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling to Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus - both are animated finales to classic Nicktoons that ended up on Netflix at the same time. But Zim was about giving the franchise a sendoff and conclusion fans were denied for so long and addressing some of the complaints they always had (like how crappy Gaz and Membrane are to Dib). Rocko meanwhile engages in meta-commentary about whenever there is still a place for shows like this in a world that moved on and is deeply critical of clinging to nostalgia and chasing things that remind you of the past.
- Screwy Squirrel to Bugs Bunny. For Screwy everybody was fair game for his antics and he would pick on fairly helpless dolts because it was funny. Bugs started off this one way, but in time became a more moral character, who would only retaliate if provoked by an outright bully, or defense of somebody else.
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power: In the former, Adam/He-Man and the other Heroic Warriors protect Eternia from Skeletor's attempts to take it over. The latter flips this setup around with Hordak and the Evil Horde having already conquered Etheria while Adora/She-Ra and the other heroes are part of a resistance movement trying to overthrow their tyrannical rule.
- Their respective reboots bring this up to eleven; in addition to the aforementioned differences of the original series, the former is a love-letter to Masters of The Universe as a whole borrowing elements of both the original Filmation cartoon, supplementary material, and The New Adventures of He-Man, has detailed character designs, puts a great deal of effort into making He-Man's Secret Identity believable, and was brought down by poor toy sales, while the latter is quite fond of trying out new ideas, has simplified character designs, does away with the Secret Identity aspect altogether, and downplayed the toyline aspect. Even their respective versions of Hordak are wildly different: In He-Man, he's a Knight of Cerebus and the Greater-Scope Villain to the series as a whole, while She-Ra makes him a more sympathetic figure compared to his brother and the real Big Bad, Horde Prime.
- According to Super Eyepatch Wolf in "The Fall Of The Simpsons: How It Happened", The Simpsons in modern times (colloquially known as "Zombie Simpsons") has more or less become the antithesis of itself back in its prime. The characters in Prime Simpsons were satires of character archetypes in the wholesome family sitcoms that came before it, but also had developed personalities, and jokes in the series had to be written around those personalities, while in Zombie Simpsons they're generic characters with simple personalities that can be form fit into whatever unrelated jokes the writers want to write (i.e. Ned Flanders initially being a left-handed, all-loving Ace who's also a devoted Christian, and eventually just becoming a vehicle for jabs at Christians and Conservatives.) Its relationship with celebrities changed as well; in Prime Simpsons actual real-life celebrities rarely appeared, instead opting for Lawyer Friendly Cameos voiced by one of the regular voice actors, or having celebrity cameos voice new one-off characters who look nothing like them (Michael Jackson appearing as a mental patient who thinks he's Michael Jackson being one of the most famous examples,) while in Zombie Simpsons celebrities appearing as themselves became the norm (with one of the Simpsons even blatantly pointing them out as a Running Gag.) One section says it best: Prime Simpsons satirized pop culture, while Zombie Simpsons is the pop culture being satirized.
- The Snowman is this to Frosty the Snowman. Both specials feature a child befriending a snowman that magically came to life (Karen for Frosty, and "James" for the Snowman note ). Santa Claus also appears in both specials. The notable differences between both specials is that while Frosty the Snowman has dialogue, The Snowman is a Mime and Music-Only Cartoon. Another difference is while Frosty briefly melts but is brought back to life, then goes to the North Pole, promising Karen that he'll return each year, the Snowman sadly melts away the morning after his adventures with James, with no way to bring him back, leaving James saddened over what happened.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog aired at the same time on the same channel, but approached the source material in vastly different ways. SatAM was a Darker and Edgier post-apocalyptic tale where Sonic was part of an underground resistance fighting against the tyrannical rule of Doctor Robotnik, who was a truly frightening villain that proved to be a serious threat. Adventures was a wacky and surreal comedy that paid homage to The Golden Age of Animation. Robotnik was an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who rarely proved to be a serious threat to Sonic. While Sonic in SatAM rarely needed help from Tails and had help from a large supporting cast, Tails was more pro-active in Adventures and Sonic's only recurring companion.
- The creators of South Park personally consider their show to be one to Family Guy. While both are long running adult cartoons reliant on mocking anyone and anything they can, the way in which they do so are quite different. South Park tries to avoid gags and make jokes and pop culture references that are relevant to the plot; Family Guy largely sacrifices story and character writing for an overwhelming amount of gags. Also, even though the creators of both shows are not members of any religion, and mock those who are, South Park's creators show at least some respect for them while Family Guy's tend to genuinely bash them.
- A writer for Time once described SpongeBob SquarePants as "the anti-Bart Simpson". Both are playful young yellow-hued cartoon characters from the most popular animated shows in their respective decades (Bart in the '90s, SpongeBob in the 2000s), but Bart is a cynical spiky-headed troublemaker known for his complete hatred of all forms of authority, and SpongeBob is a relentlessly optimistic flat-headed go-getter who instinctively sees the best in all people. This also spills into both shows' general appeal: The Simpsons appeals to both kids and adults with its intentionally subversive humor on top of its general wackiness, while SpongeBob is unabashedly a kids' show, but manages to appeal to adults with clever humor rather than vulgarity.
- Both have also come under fire due to the intense amount of Seasonal Rot. Though while with SpongeBob it is said because the original creator left the show (before coming back after the second movie).
- Star Wars Rebels is both the sequel and Spiritual Antithesis to Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The Clone Wars was set during the time of the Prequel Trilogy and used the main characters from that trilogy and focused mostly on standalone episodes while Rebels went to the Original Trilogy, used original characters as protagonists, and made more use of serial, arc-based storytelling.
- Steven Universe: Future is this to Ben 10: Alien Force: While both shows are sequels to a Cartoon Network series about a Kid Hero dealing with that same hero in his teen years and are Darker and Edgier than the respective shows they're a sequel to, Steven Universe Future is made by the same people who made the original Steven Universe and is Darker and Edgier by virtue of deconstructing how a kid would react to all the trauma of his formative years while Ben 10 Alien Force was made by different people than the ones who made the original Ben 10 series and was Darker and Edgier by virtue of putting Ben in much darker situations than before.
- Teen Titans (2003) and Young Justice (2010) have this kind of odd symbiotic relationship. The generally serious (though not without its moments of lightness) Teen Titans book was adapted into a zany Lighter and Softer cartoon (though not without its moments of darkness). The generally zany (though not without its moments of darkness) Young Justice book was adapted into a serious Darker and Edgier (though not without its moments of lightness) cartoon.
- Teen Titans (2003) is also this to Codename: Kids Next Door. Teen Titans deals with teenage heroes and, despite the occasional gag episode, tends to be more serious in tone. By contrast Kids Next Door follows pre-teens and, even at its most serious, still has a strong comical tone to every episode. However, the structure of both shows is quite similar.
- Both feature a Five-Man Band of young heroes that protect their home, and at times the world as a whole, from a Rogues Gallery comprised of both comical and serious villains.
- Numbuh 1 and Robin are The Comically Serious leader who always keep their eyes covered. Both tend to become obsessed with completing the mission and taking down the bad guy, often putting success over their own safety until their team snaps them out of it. Robin takes after his father-figure Batman while Nigel unknowingly takes after his actual father, Numbuh 0.
- Numbuh 2 and Cyborg are both The Big Guy and The Smart Guy. Each is a Big Eater and a Gadgeteer Genius who loves working on vehicles. Like their team leaders, they tend to become obsessed with their personal antagonists. Hoagie is most often seen wearing a bright blue shirt, while much of Cyborg's robotic parts are bright blue.
- Numbuh 3 and Starfire act as The Heart. Each is a Cloud Cuckoolander and a Genki Girl. Each has a crush on another member of her team, where both sides of the romance Cannot Spit It Out. Starfire has green eyes and fires green bolts of energy as her primary attack, while Kuki is most often seen wearing a green long-sleeve.
- Numbuh 4 and Beast Boy are the shortest members of their teams, tend to act as Dumb Muscle in a fight, are are the most likely to be treated as the Butt-Monkey.
- Numbuh 5 and Raven each serve as the Deadpan Snarker, often poking fun at their teammates when the others do something stupid. They both tend to wear dark blue. Raven's father Trigon is the main antagonist of the fourth season of her show, while Abigail's sister Cree is one of the major villains in her show.
- The Delightful Children From Down the Lane and the Hive Five each serve as the Evil Counterpart to the titular heroes of their show.
- Father and Slade each serve as the Big Bad. Both have a deep, sinister voice and frequently use the heroes' evil counterparts as minions. Father has pyrokinesis while Slade was temporarily granted similar powers by Trigon. In Operation Z.E.R.O., Father unleashed his own, more powerful father, Grandfather, who turned most of the world into zombified geriatrics. In the fourth season of his show, Slade helped unleash Trigon, who turned most of the world to stone.
- Transformers: Prime is this to Transformers: Animated. Animated draws more asthetically from the G1 cartoon, and is a bright Animesque Genre Throwback to Saturday Morning Cartoons. Prime draws more asthetically from the Transformers Film Series, and is lot more grim and serious. Animated deconstructs the series background by showing the Gray-and-Gray Morality that started the Autobot / Decepticon war, while Prime deconstructs the characters themselves to show what made them who they are. Animated notably echews the more "religious" aspects of the Transformers mythos (Primus, Unicron, the Thirteen) so as not to clutter the show, whereas Prime deeply explores these concepts as it goes on.
- The animators of The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat intended the show to be the polar opposite of the Joe Oriolo's Felix the Cat cartoons due to their hatred of that series and love of the original Otto Messmer Felix cartoons. Don Oriolo, Joe's son, forced elements from that show like the Magic Bag of Tricks into the first season, and put a stop to this altogether with the second season's retool making things more in line with the Joe Oriolo version.
- Ultimate Spider Man seems to have one in the form of the Spider-Man cartoon that preceded it, The Spectacular Spider-Man. The latter focused solely on Spider-Man himself as the hero, using only supporting characters and villains exclusively from books starring him, used only internal monologue when depicting Peter's thoughts and had a great emphasis on character development, plot development and how Peter's life and friends are affected by his secret identity. The former features as many superheroes from the Marvel universe whenever possible, features Spider-Man supporting characters and villains sporadically, features Spider-Man breaking the fourth wall in the middle of a scene to convey thoughts, character and plot development was divided and it focuses far more on Peter and his team of heroes rather than his friends and life.
- Ultimate Spider-Man also serves as one to Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Both shows are about a hero who works alongside other heroes. The difference is that while USM has an ongoing story that takes place during Peter's early years, BATB is mostly one-shots with Bruce already a veteran. Not to mention while Peter is in a group with few guest heroes, Batman doesn't officially join a team until later in the series, with most guest appearances from other heroes.
- The two Disney Junior shows that Chris Nee created, Doc McStuffins and its successor Vampirina are both similar in some ways and different in other ways. Both shows are about plucky young girls with some kind of special power or ability who lives among a group of close friends and loved ones. Both shows involve the main character trying to hide her secret from others. They still differ greatly though. Doc is someone who can talk to stuffed animals and toys due to a magic stethoscope she got from her grandma, who was revealed to have previously inherited the stethoscope from her. Vee, in contrast, is naturally magical due to how she's a vampire. Doc is also someone who usually has a solution for many problems, only really getting down when she greatly messes up. In contrast, Vee is someone who makes more mistakes, whether she's trying to hide her vampire side or messes up a spell. Also, Doc is someone who befriends many toys, with the show eventually placing more focus on them over her human friends once McStuffinsVille is introduced. In contrast, Vee has a smaller group of friends in the form of Poppy, Bridget, and Edgar who generally get a good deal of focus in each episode. Doc's parents are also kept in the dark about her secret. Also, while Doc still maintains the secret identity, her grandmother is revealed to know about it in season 4 while the same season also has Dez learn about it. For Vampirina, the show does still use this in Vee hiding her vampire nature from Pennsylvania, but also isn't afraid to let others find out earlier. Poppy and Bridget find out in episodes 1 and 2 respectively while Edgar finds out much later in the season 2 finale, which sticks in season 3. As for educational material, most early Doc episodes were just about giving simple health tips, while later episodes become more story-driven with the material being woven in. For Vampirina, while there's some educational material, it mostly sticks to emphasizing friendship and family and greatly utilizes morals.
- All of the shows created by Matt Groening contrast each other in many ways.
- The Simpsons takes place in a suburban town in a (relatively) modern era, is a long running show of over 3 decades, suffers through Negative Continuity and is mostly a Gag Series that often verges on Sadist Show.
- Futurama is set in a sci-fi future, has been cancelled and revived a few times, does have more consistent continuity and manages to shuffle from being either a comedy and heartwarming show.
- Disenchantment has a medieval fantasy setting, had a run of 5 seasons, is a lot more story driven, and the comedy is overshadowed by the adventure and drama aspects of the show.
