Not So Different/Anime and Manga

Examples of in  include:

"Vicious: You should see yourself. Do you have any idea what you look like right at this moment, Spike? Spike: (with a savage grin on his face) What? Vicious: A ravenous beast. The same blood runs through both of us. The blood of a beast that wanders, hunting for the blood of others. Spike: I've bled all that kind of blood away. Vicious: Then why are you still alive?!"
 * The Big O
 * Big Bad Alex Rosewater never gets sick of pointing out that hero Roger Smith is just as arrogant, power-hungry, and obsessive as he is, for manipulating a giant robot to fulfill his personal moral agenda.
 * Except Alex's interpretation can be considered wrong considering that Roger intentionally puts on the air that he is just a business man and saves people by way of business.
 * In episode "Eyewitness" Angel tells Roger Smith that they're not so different.
 * Mazinger Z: Dr. Hell as a white-haired, Large Ham, Obviously Evil Mad Scientist built Humongous Mecha. So was Dr. Kabuto in the original manga. The difference between both was Hell wanted to Take Over the World for himself, whereas Kabuto suggested his grandson making just that. This was intentional, since Go Nagai intented to show Mazinger-Z was a machine, hence he could have just so easily used for bad instead of for good.
 * Great Mazinger: He is a powerful warrior and accomplished swordsman, proud of their skills, that wants to protect his kind, and is capable of showing admiration towards someone who can match his skills, even if that person is an enemy. Both Tetsuya Tsurugi and Ankoku Daishogun fit in that description. Really, the bigger difference between them is Tetsuya is human.
 * Mugen and Jin in Samurai Champloo. Pointed out by Fuu within her diary, much to both's displeasure. They're both morally ambiguous Blood Knights who differ only in personality. Although at first glance Jin appears to be the Standard Good Guy and Mugen appears to be the Token Evil Teammate, the series quickly establishes that Jin is also cold, irritable, and arrogant (esp. in regards to Mugen) despite his noble bearing and fine words, while by the second episode Mugen is already showing some heroic tendencies and concern for Fuu despite his claims of being a loner and hating everyone. Additionally, both Jin and Mugen enjoy the company of prostitutes, both Jin and Mugen love to fight and never back down from a challenge, both Jin and Mugen become better people as a result of Fuu's quest... the list goes on.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Yubel informs Amon during their duel that he's just like her—they both destroy the ones they love.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! has several, but a notable one is in the DOMA arc. Raphael, one of Dartz's henchmen, is convinced that even the nicest people have darkness in their heart, and tries to prove this to Yami Yugi by making him play the Seal Of Orichalcos field spell card that feeds off of the darkness in people.
 * In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann during Simon's final fight against Lordgenome, Lordgenome says, "There was once a man who fought as you do, unaware that his actions would lead to the universe's destruction." He's talking about himself, back in the day stating that Simon and he are not so different in that respect.
 * himself is also an example. He swears that his people
 * Early on, when Kamina first met Leeron, he got creeped out and drew a blade on him.
 * Spike and Vicious have a moment like this during their standoff in the Cowboy Bebop episode, "Ballad of Fallen Angels":

"Edward: It's funny. Every crook I meet wants to tell me how much I'm just like them."
 * The anime also parodies this trope with Andy, Spike's one-shot Foil whose similarities to the protagonist are so prominent as to be lampshaded repeatedly by the remaining cast. Naturally, the two hate each other's guts with a passion—well, Spike hates Andy's guts. Andy can't even remember Spike's name for most of the episode, which only serves to infuriate the protagonist further.
 * Fullmetal Alchemist: Happens a few times in the manga/Brotherhood, and more is added in the first anime like with Bald now giving this speech. Lampshaded in "The Phantom Thief":

"Captain: If you want a friend... You'll have to do better than that!"
 * When Edward confronts Shou Tucker over his use of his wife and daughter as subjects in his experiments, Tucker says Edward is just like him, because Edward used alchemy to try to bring his mother back.
 * Defied when Edward first fights Scar. Scar notes that both of them use their arms for destruction. Edward answers "Don't you start! We're nothing alike!"
 * It's never quite mentioned in the first anime series itself, but: An older brother sacrifices his right arm, so that his younger brother can live. Now, are we talking about Edward Elric, or Scar's older brother? The manga, and second series does bring this up by showing an action by Ed forcing Scar to have a flashback to his brother who did a similar thing to protect Scar. Scar is also a lot older in the manga/Brotherhood to emphasize the bond between brothers that they share.
 * Rare hero to villain instance: after Kimblee's
 * Greed gives one of these speeches to Ed not too long before the final battle, explaining how even though what Ed is wanting to do is seen as noble and Greed's goals are seen as selfish, both of them are at the end of the day motivated by desire, and that "greed" doesn't necessarily have to be evil. Also, when Greed first fought Ed, Greed taunted Ed for being the kind of person who doesn't mind getting beat up but flips out when people he cares about get hurt, and ironically Greed turns out to be exactly the same in that respect.
 * In Outlaw Star, Harry MacDougal pulls one of these on
 * Death Note: Both Light and L fall under this trope, engaging in roughly the same questionable activities in their cat-and-mouse game. For example, they both use criminals to test the power of the Death Note at least once during the story.
 * Lampshaded several times in the story, especially with
 * Matsuda and Light are also Not So Different, as Matsuda admits to having occasionally thought that the world would be a better place if some people weren't in it. Later on, he starts to become seriously worried by how much he sees the world as having improved with Kira around, leading to something of a Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! (minus the hitting) moment on the part of the other policemen. Then you have, whose actions in pursuit of Light are so dreadful that it's hard to say that he's any better than his foe. Really. He's a lot worse. So much that the police is willing to accept Kira's help to take him down.
 * Near, who,, is shown to be just as questionable in his methods as  , if not more so. It's hard to go into detail, but a hotly debated issue is the accuracy of   But many have found him to be simply maligned by L-Fangirls who see him as a Replacement Scrappy
 * Monster: Dr. Gillen invokes this towards the incarcerated serial killers he interviews. Since his sins actually appear to amount to
 * Negima turned to this during the school festival arc. Negi and his group going back in time by ten days to "fix" the future another traveler had created, he reasoned that it was no different than her going backwards to change her own future.
 * And again in the magical world when Tsukuyomi calls out Setsuna on her motivations for helping Negi.
 * Negi and Fate Averruncus are also not so different from one another.
 * The final battle of Zeta Gundam has a couple of speeches along these lines. Played straight in the case of Camille and Jerid, and played rather strangely in the case of Reccoa and Emma. Also, there is a really nice scene in a theater...
 * In the anime version of Prétear Fenrir even says at one point that Himeno is going to repeat her fate—to which Himeno immediately objects.
 * Astro Boy gets to hear one of these speeches every time he tangles with Atlas or Blue Knight. In fact, in Blue Knight's case it actually worked for a while.
 * Late in Code Geass, Jeremiah Gottwald asks Sayoko Shinozaki if it's chivalry (the same code of loyalty that he's tried to live his life by) that makes her remain loyal to Lelouch, despite being Japanese herself, and she agrees that this is probably the reason. Considering they spent the vast majority of the series on opposing sides, and tried to kill each other the first time they crossed paths, it counts. Both are much beloved Ensemble Darkhorses so the idea of them being a pairing soon entered Fanon via Memetic Mutation based ENTIRELY on this small speech.
 * Much more important is the ending:
 * As foils of one another, it's obvious to the audience that Lelouch and Suzaku are Not So Different, and there are a number of instances when they realize this in the show. One obvious example in R2 being
 * Naruto and Gaara. Their arc (and their ) actually bases on them being Not So Different. This also happens in way too many fillers in the anime, particularly in the Temple of Fire filler with Sora. Not only did they initially start out as outcasts in their respective communities, but Sora even has part of the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra within him. Also, in the Ultimate Ninja game, if you select Hinata's history mode, when you face Sakura she'll say that Hinata reminds her of how she used to be shy before meeting Ino, fighting you/Hinata for a good challenge, and offer encouragement and comfort if you/Hinata lose.
 * also pulls this off in his fight with Naruto, pointing out that they both act out of their sense of justice and that they both desire peace, even if their methods are different.
 * In chapter 485, Naruto admits that he isn't too different from . He claims that if things had been a little different, their positions could have been switched.
 * In chapter 581
 * Jail Scaglietti of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha uses as the basis of his Break Them by Talking the assertion that Fate's adopting children who would become Child Soldiers that loved her makes her no different from Jail himself or her Evil Matriarch of a mother. Erio and Caro, the children in question, respond with a You Are Not Alone speech about how they're the ones who chose their path and that all Fate did was raise them to be strong-willed enough to do so, which gives Fate the strength to take Jail and his Numbers down in a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * In A's, during Zafira's third fight with Arf in Episode 7, he says that he will serve his mistress regardless of whether what he's doing is right. He then says "You're the same type of beast as me... can you say you're any different?" While he is a guardian beast and Arf is a familiar (which Arf herself says is a difference only in terminology), he has a point considering that Arf had helped Fate gather the Jewel Seeds in the first season. Arf is left unable to articulate a response.
 * Ironically, it turns out that Jail is right about himself and Fate being similar, just not in the ways he thinks: both are.
 * Tetsunosuke and Suzu from Peacemaker Kurogane, although constantly pushing each other's buttons and being rivals, are shown to think to themselves that maybe they're not so different after all. At least until
 * A variation: Habashira Rui and Hiruma have a moment in Eyeshield 21 where Habashira asks why their paths are so different when their methods are the same.
 * In One Piece, done inadvertently by Sanji when fighting Absalom: Not only they have a similar reaction to seeing a sleeping Nami in a wedding dress, but Sanji reveals that given invisibility powers, he would do little better than Absalom himself.
 * It becomes a bit unnerving just how similar Luffy and Blackbeard were when they first met.
 * Done with a positive intonation in Gaiking Legend of the Daiku Maryu. When Lee actually meets a momentarily-blinded Vestanuu, she lets him know she fights simply because she and the others of Darius believe that humanity attacked first and they're justified in defending themselves.
 * In Yu Yu Hakusho, Yusuke notices that he's some similarities with his opponent Jin, particularly enjoying fighting and a similar fighting style, and his acknowledging their similarities is slightly played up in the anime., Toguro tells Genkai that Yusuke has the potential to become great, but might end up like him if Genkai doesn't make the right decisions.
 * Happened with Hiei and Mukuro as well, with Mukuro recruiting Hiei for the sole reason they they both grew up with terrible lives, and living in Makai, where it's a constant struggle for survival, that's saying something.
 * This is actually a major underlying theme in the story. Mainly in that demons are also Not So Different to humans. Demons are a designated evil and have no obligations to being good. Thus often making themselves out to be more evil. Well, at least in this show. But the series then introduces many humans who are just as evil if not worse than demons and many demons who have proven to be truly good hearted, at least deep down.
 * In SD Gundam Force, Sazabi tries this on Captain near the end of their fight, in an attempt to lure him to the dark side. Captain's response?


 * Subverted in Code Breaker when a Chaotic Evil character says she was severely abused because of her powers, and a Chaotic Good character says that he too was abused. They go through a Defeat Means Friendship moment . It seems that Defeat has nothing on treating someone like a human being.
 * Baccano! goes for a not quite good, but not quite bad thing in "Drugs and Dominoes", when Eve Genoard finally encounters Luck Gandor, the man who "killed" her brother . Not only does she learn that he's not the Complete Monster she thought he would be but also that, given similar circumstances (namely, learning that killed her father and other brother for his own personal gain), she would do the same without a second thought—the only reason she didn't blow 's head off then and there was because of Luck's intervention.
 * In 1711, while agonizing at the possibility of having to kill the envious fellow alchemist Szilard to protect some dangerous knowledge, Maiza asks "Are he and I really so different?" (As it turned out, they were different enough that Szilard completely lost his marbles and started killing people for the knowledge even while Maiza was still thinking it over.)
 * In Full Metal Panic!, Sousuke is subject to this kind of Break Them by Talking from Gauron in . Gauron gets pissed off that Sousuke has been trying to fit in with normal people and have friends, saying that it's making him "weaker", and that it's a hopeless goal to have. He proceeds to go on about how they were a match made in heaven, and that Sousuke shouldn't deny it. It eventually ends with Sousuke
 * In the manga, Leonard Testarossa asks Chidori why she is more afraid of him than Sousuke, saying that Sousuke has killed just as many, if not more people than Leonard.
 * Urusei Yatsura. Ataru Moroboshi is a Casanova Wannabe and Unlucky Everydude, shunned by everyone, while his unwanted wife Lum is a Cute Monster Girl Magical Girlfriend who is immediately popular with all the other schoolkids. It's subtly hinted that part of the reason why Lum is attracted to Ataru (the other part being that she can recognize his deeply buried noble qualities) is because they're much the same; Lum is also sneaky, mischievous, bad-tempered and uninhibited. The main reason she comes off as a Tsundere in their relationship is because Ataru keeps chasing after other women rather than pay attention to her, which makes her angry and jealous, rather than being angered by his perversion.
 * Similarly, as much as Jariten berates Ataru for his perversity and gets angry when Ataru hints at Ten's own lustful thoughts, he's really no better than Ataru, as he's well aware that being a cute little baby makes him much more attractive to the girls then Ataru.
 * In Hellsing OVA 4, the Major pulls a double whammy. First he points out that if He allows the Major's evil to exist, then Iscariot's God must be mad, or evil. When told "You're Insane!" for showing off the slaughter he's caused, he points out, "You sure didn't have a problem fifty years ago!" He is talking to the Iscariot Organization.
 * Alucard also notes how similar he and the Major are, as they are both lovers of war who destroy their enemies and allies alike in pursuit of their mad ambitions..
 * It turns out that the two who were really Not So Different all along were, in fact, Alucard and Anderson, to the point that it  . Though the two originally had a Red Oni, Blue Oni thing going on, Alucard appreciated him as his dearest enemy and tells him that . That doesn't stop him from going full force against Anderson to test him, though...which ends up backfiring hard when Anderson uses a Deadly Upgrade and essentially becomes a tool of God in order to finally kill Alucard. Alucard, who   gets extremely pissed because he didn't want Anderson to
 * In Revolutionary Girl Utena, Mikage (the villain of the second arc) points out that he and Utena are very similar. He can barely finish the sentence before she punches him.
 * Afro and Justice from Afro Samurai becomes a clear case of this over the course of the series. Justice is the reigning Big Bad, having killed Afro's father before his eyes when he was young boy. From that day on Afro led his life on the path of vengeance to kill Justice. While his reasonings for wanting to kill Justice is sound, Afro uses rather extreme measures to achieve his goals essentially making him a Villain Protagonist. By the end of it, the viewer comes to realize the only thing that really sets Afro apart from the Big Bad Justice is that Afro is simply the viewpoint character. It was even stated by Word of God that Justice had his own legitimate reasons for killing Afro's Father, making Justice a Designated Villain more than anything else.
 * Gunslinger Girl. Triela comes to think this of Distaff Counterpart Pinocchio (the young assassin she'd dedicated herself to killing) at the end of Il Teatrino. Flashbacks reveal that their backstories are remarkably similar—both are victims of child abuse rescued by their surrogate fathers, and who judge their own worth solely by their ability to kill for that 'father'.
 * In Slayers, it is revealed that the only differences between Gods/Shinzoku and Demons/Mazoku is the type of emotions that feeds them and the magic that can be called upon from them (Shinzoku being HolyMagic and Mazoku being Black Magic.)
 * In Bakuman｡,, having revealed his true colors, tells the main characters, whom he's a fan of, that they should understand his lack of trust in editors and plan to get ahead by releasing his rejected one-shot online and consulting 50 people for advice by saying that they had to defy their editors and make waves in the past, and that "Tanto," a work that they were dissatisfied with enough to want to end, is the result of them listening to their editor.
 * In the Berserk manga, Puck chastises Guts - who at the time is just as vicious as the monsters he hunts for - for being so cruel to Vargas, a kind but revenge-driven man who wants the apostle  dead, saying that they weren't much different and should consider each other allies. Guts laughs it off, but later
 * Another, very disturbing one is the result of Fridge Horror. . It causes me to shiver everytime I remember, because you can just see how close Guts is to turn into what had become!
 * Also appears in the non-canonical video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage, when it is revealed that both Guts and Balzac, the game's antagonist, had not-so-different tragic love stories.
 * In Bleach, making this connection with Kyoraku Shunsui is part of why Starrk loses, as he starts to assume too much about Kyoraku's methods. For his part, it's left somewhat ambiguous how far Kyoraku actually is like Starrk, as it's the Espada who gets the revealing monologue and flashbacks. Given that the similarities between the two is why Starrk would sooner see Kyoraku as a friend than an enemy, this is also a Tear Jerker.
 * Heaven Canceller in A Certain Magical Index points out to Accelerator that he and Touma are not all that different in their determination to protect those they care about.
 * A few characters Lampshade Hanging how both sides of Science vs. Magic have similar methods and goals. For example, Academy City's goal of creating a Level 6 Esper through science is similar to the teachings of Gnosticism.
 * Black Lagoon Between Rock and Balalaika.
 * Leiji Matsumoto really loves this trope, but it's more obvious in Galaxy Express 999 (in fact, the series revolves around the concept that the only difference between humans and mechanized people is that the mechanized people feels less limited by their robotic bodies).
 * Played horribly straight in Uchuu Senkan Yamato. For most of the first season we are repeated that the Gamilas are evil for what they've done to Earth and Mankind, but when the Yamato is about to reach Iskandar we find out that the Gamilas did what they did because they had no other choice but to adapt Earth to them if they were to survive, and that included the extinction of Earth's original life forms. Kodai has to acknowledge the Not So Different angle after the battle to reach Iskandar has.
 * Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water: When Jean and Hanson stop fighting over the blue water, they realize they're more mecha geeks and simultaneously Squee over the Nautilus. For the last seven episodes, these two have been antagonistic but thanks to Enemy Mine they become good friends.
 * An interesting variant occurs in Gundam Seed when Uzumi Nara Atha, leader of the neutral nation of Orb, notes that the warring factions of ZAFT and the Earth Forces, are not so different; both are genocidal regimes who are unwilling to compromise or seek a mediated solution. He draws particular paralells between their leaders, the Natural-hating Patrick Zala and Coordinator-bashing Muruta Azrael. Both men would go ballistic if they heard this.
 * In My-HiME, Natsuki realizes that she is Not So Different from her bitter enemy Nao when Nao reveals that her father was killed and her mother was rendered comatose in a robbery, leading her to trick men into soliciting her for Enjo Kosai and robbing them in revenge and for her to distrust anyone other than herself. Natsuki lost her mother at a young age and her father abandoned her, leading her to be similarly vengeful, as well as distrustful of others until she met Shizuru. As a result of this,.
 * Inuyasha: Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru turn out to be this. They even follow the same Character Development path (although it takes Sesshoumaru longer and the anvils dropped on his head need to be more vicious to get him to pay attention). This is lampshaded a couple of times in the manga, usually Played for Laughs, such as when Toutousai deliberately provokes the pair into trying to kill each other then complains that their identical short tempers prove they're brothers.
 * The Commonwealth and the Kingdom in Princess Principal, to the point that we hear almost nothing about their political differences.