Expy/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


See also Rei Ayanami Expy

Gundam

  • Most Gundam series will have a character based on Char Aznable, known as a Char Clone (or just "A CHAR"). Wikipedia lists 16 Char Clones in the entire Gundam franchise to date. They're most easily identified by the fact that they wear a mask for little or no reason and occasionally have a penchant for piloting red mobile suits. They're almost always The Rival and/or The Dragon. Notable Char expys include Iron Mask from Gundam F91, Zechs from Gundam Wing , Rau Le Creuset (and to an extent, Athrun Zala) in Gundam SEED, and Neo Roanoke from Gundam SEED Destiny, most recent but without hidden identity Mr Bushido aka Graham Akre & even a literal clone of Char in the Gaia Gear series of novels & audio dramas.
    • The backstory of Gundam X is basically a thinly disguised version of the original Gundam series, only with a Downer Ending. As a result, several characters and mobile suits are expies of characters and suits from the original series, even if their actual role is pretty different from their original one. Like Janmil, the Amuro expy, who is the mentor and ship captain, while Lancerow is a maskless Char expy without any kind of rivalry with the actual main character of the series, Garrod Ran.
    • Char clones show up quite often in other Humongous Mecha series' as well (see Elzam Branstein's entry in the Games section). Lelouch from Code Geass is a borderline example. Apparently the idea of him wearing a mask came from executives who said something along the lines of "It just wouldn't be a Sunrise show without a mask".
  • Sayla Mass, Char's younger sister, has expies of her own in Cecily Fairchild, Relena Darlian, and Cagalli Yula Athha (who also shares traits with Relena). The common traits shared among these characters are that they were exiled princesses who adopted a different alias, has a strong relationship with the lead character, and she has a relative who's (usually) the lead character's main rival.
  • Mecha Expies are also par for the course in Gundam. Wing's Shenlong Gundam is an Expy of G's Dragon Gundam, X's Leopard is an Expy of Wing's Heavyarms, Deathscythe and Deathscythe H resemble Master Asia's Kowloon and Master Gundams respectively, grunt units are almost always based on either the Zaku or the GM & if the series features mobile suits that can transform it's guaranteed that at least one will have pretty much the exact same transformation scheme as the Zeta Gundam.
  • Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz has Mariemaia Khushrenada, who is based on Mineva Lao Zabi.
  • Fllay Allster from Gundam Seed is partially based on Turn a Gundam's Sochie Heim, namely them harboring a hatred for the Moonrace/Coordinators, having their father killed in front of their eyes, and they both develop a relationship with the male lead character, only for them to lose them at the end.
    • Fllay herself would be the basis for Gundam 00's Nena Trinity.
  • Kira Yamato from Gundam Seed is said to be a mix of Amuro and Turn a Gundam's Loran Cehack, having Amuro's technical aptitude and having almost every bit of Loran's events happened to him. Having a powerful mobile suit? Check. Having a distate for violence? Check. Forced to fight against their own kind (Coordinators/Moonrace)? Check. Relationship with Earthling daughter's who had her father killed by his people (Fllay/Sochie)? Check. Sexless romance with princess figure (Lacus/Dianna)? Check.
    • Kira was made to be the Amuro figure of the Alternative Universes. In personality, cause, and, let's not forget, power.
  • Shinn Asuka is a very close expy to Kamille Bidan: both lost their families to war right in front of them, both lose their crazy girlfriends and both spend a good amount of time regretting the thing they have done.
    • Similarly, Stellar Loussier is Rosamia Badam living Four Murasame's life.
  • Garrod Ran is something of an expy of Judea Ashita, since both were war orphans who couldn't help but get caught up in the events of the world around them and both grew into real badass (or in the case of Garrod Badass Normal) pilots, and even though they both had reason to neither one of them succumbed to their Heroic BSOD for very long.
  • Heero Yuy from Mobile Suit Gundam Wing has the honor of not only having an expy in another Gundam series (Setsuna from Gundam 00), but has one outside the Gundam franchise (Sosuke from Full Metal Panic!). The scary thing is, Sosuke is even more anti-social and military minded than Heero. At least Heero could blend in a high school; Sosuke can barely not shoot or blow anything up that seems suspicious.
  • Both Gundam Wing‍'‍s Heero Yuy (the original one) and King Peacecraft, as well as Gundam SEED‍'‍s George Glenn, were based on Zeon Zum Deikun. Uzumi Nara Attha is based on King Peacecraft.
  • Every Gundam series will have something aside from the titular Mobile Suits that differentiate themselves as main characters rather than mooks, whether it be Newtypes, the Shuffle Alliance, the Zero System, Newtypes again, Moonrace, Coordinators or Innovators.
  • As for the rest of the Gundam SEED characters:
  • And now Gundam AGE has Yurin L'Ciel as an expy of Tiffa Adil from Gundam X, being both loli Mysterious Waif characters that help the main hero with their clairvoyance powers.
    • Decil Gallette is pretty much a mix of 00's Ali Al-Saachez with Zeta's Yazan Gabal, and some classic Enfante Terrible traits. The bloodthirstyness, the love of violence, the belief that War Is Hell = War Is Glorious, the twisted sense of humour, it's shared across all three of them. The differences become even more apparent in Part II of AGE where Decil (now in his thirties) looks like an unholy cross between Yazan and Ali.
    • Flit Asuno started out as an Amuro expy; as of part two he's somewhere between Shinn Asuka and Patrick Zala.

Lyrical Nanoha

  • Signum from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanonha A's is an obvious Expy of Lamia Loveless:[please verify] they look quite similar if looked through a good light, some of Signum's attacks are similar to those of Lamia's Angelg (Main offender is Signum's bow attack, which is a Shout-Out to Phantom Phoenix. Her clothing in the final episode of StrikerS looks a bit like Lamia's, and they are voiced by the same Seiyuu in a very similar way.
    • From the most recent[when?] spoiler of the Darker and Edgier manga, apparently Signum was impaled (to death?) by a new enemy with her own Levantine. Which means it adds up yet another parallel with Lamia: Being beaten, defeated and presumably killed by a newcomer character, which would make the new enemy a female counterpart of Wilhelm von Juergen (though probably with more Badass dosage)
  • See also Agito from StrikerS, who is such an obvious expy that Western fans have taken to calling her "Etnagito".
  • Don't forget the Amuro and Char vibes Nanoha and Fate give off, either: Nanoha's costume is even intended to evoke Amuro's signature RX-78-2 "White Devil" Gundam.
  • Subaru has short hair, wears a bandana, is a big fan of Nanoha, and goes out of her way to copy her techniques. That gives her a striking similarity to Kasugano Sakura. Though the techniques is only in the name and instead looks like the features of GaoGaiGar, leading to her Fan Nickname 'GaoGaiGar-tan'
  • Vita may as well be of Guy in loli form. Not only do they both sport a huge mech drill hammer, but the scene where Vita went up against the Cradle's engine and Eisen shattered (complete with dramatic fall) resembled Goldy shattering and Gaogaigar falling in FINAL. Vita's name is also involved with Hell and Heaven. (gemu giru gan go gufo, vita.) You also have this [dead link].
  • Anti-Villain Zest Grangaitz is pretty much a giant Expy of Zengar Zonvolt. Not only do they look similar and share a deep sense of honor, their big-brother relationships to young orphan girls also plays out in many ways similar.
  • Arnage of Huckebein. As a busty, tattooed Big Eater Fiery Redhead Genki Girl Dark Action Girl Girl With Gatlings who favours skimpy clothing, specifically a tank top and short shorts, she hits the right notes to remind one of Yoko, Revy and the Heavy.
  • As shown in Vivid, Olivie, the Sankt Kaiser, looked almost exactly like Saber. They are also similarities in their backstories, and that they are both considered legendary monarchs in the modern era.

Mahou Sensei Negima

Mahou Sensei Negima has a large cast who have traits of several other anime and video game characters. While it's common for more personality types to be recycled endlessly anyway, many of the most prominent characters are toned-down analogues to Love Hina characters: Nodoka is an early Shinobu, Ku Fei is Su with brawns switched with brains, Chizuru Naba is a just as buxom Mutsumi, etc. Setsuna's similarities to Motoko are explained by them being using the same fighting style.

  • Most characters naturally have design and personality traits from Love Hina characters. Keep in mind just one or two elements does not make them an instant expy.
  • A rather obscure one: Fate Averruncus is obviously based on Program Number 0 from Akamatsu's first manga, A.I. Love You.
  • Before it was scrapped, Akamatsu was hired to draw a manga of Threads of Fate. A number of its character designs can be seen transmigrated to Negima. Most obvious are Negi having elements of Rue, and Anya being a dead ringer for Princess Mint.
  • Yue Ayase draws concepts from two characters. Her prototype design was given to Akamatsu by the artist for the Read Or Dream manga, based on Hisami, ahoge and all. The second, better known source is Patchouli Knowledge, a magician with long purple hair and unexcitable personality usually seen in a vast library. Yue's wand bears Patchouli's trademark crescent and she wears a similar hat during the school festival. Mix the two and...
    • In a minor example, one of Chisame's cosplay outfits makes her resemble Patchouli's assistant Koakuma.
    • From the same series, Evangeline shares more than a few traits with Remilia Scarlet, the Final Boss of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, in that they are both immortal loli vampires with similar personalities. Her doll manipulation and blonde hair are taken from Alice Margatroid, while her Super Mode gives her ice wings similar to Cirno's.
    • Kazumi Asakura resembles the crow tengu Aya Shameimaru, down to having an artefact called "Raven's Eye".
    • Setsuna Sakurazaki resembles Youmu Konpaku, being a swordswoman dedicated to a mischevious and slightly smarter-than-she-seems noble lady (though said lady looks more like Kaguya Houraisan), as well as being a half-human with naturally white hair.
    • Mana Tatsumiya resembles Reimu, being a shrine maiden with a similar hairstyle who works for money and solves problems with More Dakka.
  • Chachamaru is based on the two robot maids from To Heart. While she looks and acts more like Serio, as her hair color entails, she has some of Multi in her as well. Due to being a Ninja Maid who works for a Remilia expy, she could also be said to be a Sakuya expy by extension.
  • Student 31 Zazie bears a strong resemblance to Pagliaccio of the 31 Primevals, made more obvious in her skimpy performance outfit. Their facial marks and skin tone are basically flipped, and both are emotionless clowns with robed cohorts. There have been joking fan theories that Zazie is the last boss... As of chapter 294, they might have been surprisingly close.
  • Twin-tailed Dark-Skinned Blond Tsundere Emily Sevensheep might be an expy of Triela.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

  • Characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! with counterparts in the sequel, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX:
    • Right from the mouths of the powers that be, the protagonist, Judai, was designed with Jyonouchi's personality and Yugi's dueling skills.
    • The Season 2 Big Bad, Saiou, is basically an Expy of Marik (with his sister Mizuchi an Expy of Isis), using the same strategy as Dartz.
    • Kaiba has three in Kaiser Ryo, Manjoume and Edo Phoenix, all of which encompass different aspects of Kaiba's character.
    • Sho seems to be based on little Yugi.
    • The Sacred Beasts are Expys of the God Cards.
    • Fujiwara Yuusuke is very much akin to Bakura Ryou, having lost his family (impiled in both cases to be by an accident, possibly a car crash), and having a definite affinity for the supernatural, along with making some level of a bargain with the final Big Bad.
  • Expies in the third sequel Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's:
    • Jack Atlas in 5D's is clearly Kaiba. The dub plays this aspect up.
    • His assistant Mikage also seems to be an Expy of Scheris from Scryed in both appearance and her relationship with Jack.
    • Bruno looks like an Expy of Johan from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, with his blue hair and instant Ho Yay relationship with The Hero to the point of making other characters jealous. Johan himself was actually an Expy of Judai. So Bruno is an expy of Johan who is an expy of Judai who is an expy of Yugi/Jyonouchi.
      • Thankfully, the similarity between them exists only within the role they play. Personality and backstory-wise, they are radically different characters.
    • Sherry seems like a Gender Flipped version of Edo Phoenix from GX—a Badass Well-Intentioned Extremist out to avenge her parents' murder.
    • In a nutshell, Kazuki Takahashi seems to love mixing different characters together to create new ones, usually combinations of the three original main characters.
      • Yusei Fudo has Yami Yugi's facial structure and eye shape, Jonouchi's height range (middle height of the main trio) and obviously, Kaiba's blue eyes, humble (coming from Satellite) origins and 'no-nonsense' attitude.
      • And of course, Jack Atlas with the majority of Kaiba's personality.
        • And ZONE of 5D's would seem to be the ADAM to Aporia's Gendou. Sherry has similarites to Rei Ayanami, being a key part of the end of the world.
  • The trend continues in Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL.
    • Yuma has Yugi's background (artifact, legacy deck, spirit companion, Childhood Friend Romance) and Jonouchi's noobishness.
    • Kotori is an expy of Anzu (personality, relationship) and Ruka (appearance).
    • Shark is an expy of early Kaiba.

Others

  • The original 1975 Time Bokan by Tatsunoko Productions featured a Terrible Trio consisting of a Fat and Skinny duo headed by a Stripperiffic female. From then on, the succeeding series of Yatterman, Zenderman, Otasukeman, Yattodetaman, Ippatsuman, Itadekiman and Kiramekiman would feature expies with same characteristics, and same seiyuus.
    • It isn't limited to the antagonists. The original Time Bokan had the two main protagonists be a Battle Couple, and five series afterwards would have their own respective expies (Yattodetaman and Ippatsuman just had a single hero be the main protagonist). Regularly these Battle Couples would have a Robot Buddy as well.
    • The Fat and Skinny duo with a Stripperiffic female boss has become a trope of its own, appearing in kids' anime as the typical bumbling squad - for example, as seen in Dinosaur King.
  • Without even airing (or having actual previews), it's fairly obvious that Ain of (the recently announced[when?] anime) Despera is an expy of Lain of Serial Experiments Lain. Then again, it's possible that the entire show is an expy of Serial Experiments Lain.[please verify]
  • The author of Hellsing admits that almost every damn character was 100% ripped off from his old works.
    • As far as is known, the Hellsing family, the council of 12 members, Walter, Warrant Officer Schrödinger the minor Millennium villains (Valentine brothers, Rip van Winkle, Zorin Blitz and Tubalcain Alambra) are the only characters created wholly for the series.
  • In Bakuman｡, several of the main characters resemble ones from the duo's previous series. Moritaka resembles Near, Takagi resembles Light, Kosugi resembles Mikami, Miho resembles Misa, Aiko resembles Kiyomi Takada, and Hiramaru resembles Matsuda. Niizuma's character of Crow also shares some visual traits with Ryuk.
    • Hattori also resembles Ryuk, and both appear to have been based at least partially on a real life Shonen Jump editor.
  • Appearing only in the animated adaptation of Toward the Terra, Serge Starjon is the expy of Serge Batouille, the main character of Kaze to Ki no Uta. Both are similar in appearance and personality.
  • A.I. Love You has numerous examples taken from Ah! My Goddess: Saati is Belldandy, Toni is Urd, Kimika Aso is Sayoko Mishima. Forty fills the same spot as Skuld, but has a notably different personality and is more similar to Kaolla Su from Love Hina.
  • Related to the Negima examples above, Mina Tepes from Dance in the Vampire Bund is an obvious expy of Evangeline. They're both blonde vampire lolis with hot adult forms, both are very powerful, and both are often shown in skimpy clothing and in various states of undress.
  • Despite the fact that they share little in appearance, Shampoo in Ranma ½ was a deliberate attempt by Rumiko Takahashi to do a better job with the character of Lum from Urusei Yatsura.
    • The anime would have originally had Shampoo look a lot more like Lum; in the season one opening, there are eye-catches of Shampoo showing her with dark green hair and light blue eyes.
    • Word of God says that the Inu Yasha and Kagome romance is pretty much a mirror of Ranma and Akane's romance; I/K's is treated more "seriously" simply because it's an adventure show more than a comedy.
    • But Inuyasha is a lot more Ranma than Kagome is Akane- note the perching, attitude, and even resemblance.
      • Inuyasha and male Ranma even share a voice actor (in Japanese and, in the later seasons, English as well).
    • Akemi from Maison Ikkoku is suspiciously similar to Nabiki Tendo, in their eyes and their seductive, jovial natures. Also, she has minor traits of Ranma (face-making, selfish but nice, off-the hook). She could be practically be the offspring of Ranma and Nabiki... except that Maison Ikkoku is considerably older than Ranma ½.
      • Nabiki and Akemi share a few features, but neither one is a ripoff of the other. Deep down, waaaaay deep down, Akemi is still a nice person whereas Nabiki is The Ultimate Capitalist...
      • Akemi is generally linked with Benten from Urusei Yatsura (earthy characters, same voice actress)
    • Yotsuya from Maison Ikkoku looks identical to Sekoi from Takahashi's early series Dust Spot (a.k.a. Wasted Minds). The fact that Sekoi is a secret agent and Yotsuya keeps his job a secret from the residents of Ikkoku has lead some fans to wonder if they're actually the same person.
    • Shun Mitaka of Maison is suave, rich, and has a silly uncontrollable phobia. Just like Shutaro Mendou of Urusei Yatsura (they even have the same voice actor).
      • Kuno Tatewaki is also comparable to Shutaro Mendou. Both are absurdly rich (although Mendou shows it a lot more,) both always carry a sword, which Ranma/Ataru catches, they also want to kill/defeat the main character, for "stealing' their love.
  • Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss has more than a few things in common with Inuyasha. Not only do you have a physical resemblance (both are Little Bit Beastly White-Haired Pretty Boys with Hellish Pupils and Unusual Ears) they also have similar mannerisms (both don't like shoes, both are Deadpan Snarkers and both are Jerks with Hearts of Gold). Then you have the fact that both are forced against their will into being bodyguards and servants to a Type B Tsundere Ordinary High School Student who is afflicted with Chronic Hero Syndrome and both eventually fall in love with said student.
  • The three main characters of Kannazuki no Miko were all upgrade expies from an earlier Kaishaku work called Cross Triangle. (Kurusugawa Himeko and Oogami Souma even shared partial names with their predecessors—Kurusu and Oogami.)
    • All of them have returned yet again in supporting roles in Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora: virtually unchanged, except that Himeko now affects a pair of glasses.
      • Then there's Kaishaku's most recent manga, Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesian. Guess who's back. You may find the scanlation here.
      • And if anyone's interested, there's also the web novel Himegami. You know who are the main characters, so here's the link. It's in Japanese, BTW, so you might want to wait for someone to translate it.
        • Of course, Himegami and Amnesian also have expies of other Kaishaku characters. They sure love reusing.
          • Reincarnation at work.
  • The anime Hunter X Hunter, based on a manga by Yoshihiro Togashi, featured a Ninja named Hanzo who was similar in design to Kazemaru (who was also a ninja) from Yu Yu Hakusho, which was also based on a manga by Togashi.
  • Shii from Puni Puni Poemi is quite a lot like Hyatt from Excel Saga, only excluding the tendency to cough up blood, drop dead, and come back to life, and including glasses and outrageously huge Gag Boobs. They even have the same voice actress, in both the Japanese and English versions.
  • Akira Toriyama is fairly notorious for this, and sometimes he even lampshades his tendency to draw Only Six Faces. A handful of examples:
    • His early work Dragon Boy featured many prototypes of Dragon Ball characters, including Goku and Bulma.
    • Dragon Ball's Master Roshi is an expy of God from his earlier manga Dr. Slump: they look the same (plus sunglasses and a turtle shell for Roshi) and are both perverts with plenty of wacky moments.
  • The Futari wa Pretty Cure girls have counterparts in Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash* Star—Saki and Mai. This is strong enough that a preview for the Italian version of Splash* Star boasts of the former's "return," though ultimately this was dropped for the actual dub.
  • Possibly in an effort to make the typical cipher role interesting, the Kyoto Animation version of Yuuichi from Kanon is basically the well-liked Kyon (thus, "Kyuuichi") from Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu, complete with Shout-Out.
    • Isn't that backwards? Yuuichi is quite snarky in the original Visual Novel dating back to 1999. If anything, Kyon is an expy of Yuuichi.
  • Yukiho from The iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia looks exactly like Shiori from Kanon, and even has a snow reference in her name.
  • Sailor Moon's Usagi is an odd example of an Expy appearing with the original character, as the Codename wa Sailor V manga, in which Minako first appears, predates the series. This results in strange similarities with hair color, both having a magical talking cat, and both having a Magitek disguise device. They also have identical-looking families (both based on the author's), although this was never alluded to in the later series, which would have made Minako the only other character with a sibling.
    • Its different plot aside, the Live Action Adaptation might be an example of retro-fitted Expies in the eyes of older fans. Minako's serious and semi-antagonistic attitude is extremely evocative of the Outer Senshi. An odder case is Luna, whose human form was changed to that of a child for Audience Appeal, given a humorously useless Sailor form, and shares Usagi's hairstyle; all traits associated with Chibi-Usa.
    • Oddly enough, Takeuchi stated, that she originally wanted to give Usagi SILVER hair, to make her less of an Expy. Her publisher, however, told her not to, since a mysterious, calm colour like that would have interfered with her You Suck personality.
    • There was also the transition of Amano -> Umino (although the latter, thanks to his notably larger role in the anime, got significantly more character development and sympathy) and (to a lesser extent) Hikaru -> Naru.
  • Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop's lead characters are designed by the same author and look it. Mugen evokes a Spike before his series began, but otherwise share the same afro, nihilism, and English voice actor.
    • Cowboy Bebop being basically Lupin III In Space is naturally made of expies itself. Spike has Lupin's lanky build and agility, Jet is a mix of Jigen and Zenigata, Faye takes Fujiko's Asian seductress role. Vicious is the most blatant as Goemon without a Heel Face Turn.
  • Lampshaded in Digimon Adventure 02, where Taichi declared Daisuke to be the leader of the new group, partly due to being the character most like him.
    • The Digimon Kaiser is an Expy to Neo Saiba of the manga. The "Digimon Queen" Ruki Makino,as her title hints, have many parallels with the Digimon Kaiser.
      • Each season's lancer is an expy of Yamato from the first season. He, Ken/Digimon Kaiser, Ruki, Kouji, Touma, and Kiriha are varying degrees of blue oni to the Goggle Boy's red oni, each has some connection to the color blue, all but Ken and Kiriha are partnered with or transform into canids, and three of them are blond males. Kiriha's an odd duck, though, as he is partnered with a Greymon, traditionally associated with the Goggle Boy. At least it's blue this time around.
  • Most female leads in Hayao Miyazaki's films are Expies of Nausicaa. This is almost averted in Laputa: Castle in the Sky, until the main villain removes Sheeta's pigtails.
    • Averted with Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle, who, while still plenty cute in her young form, is definitely "plain" by comparison.
    • Chihiro and Rin from Spirited Away look a lot like Shizuku and her older sister from Whisper of the Heart.
      • Or more like an early-teen Mei.
    • The males in most of Miyazaki's films look to be expies as well. Just look at Lupin and Ashitaka, and tell me they weren't drawn from the same cloth visually. Then, look at Haku from Spirited Away, they all look drastically alike.
    • Miyazaki does this deliberately. He treats character designs as "actors", and re-uses them between films. They're rarely expies in anything but appearance, though.
    • As a result, you can trace a line of expies through his works, going back to well before Nausicaa. The Totoros have ancestors in the pandas of Panda! Go, Panda!. Pazu, Sheeta, and Muska are expies of Conan, Lana, and Lepka from Future Boy Conan. Kushana is an expy of Monsley from Conan. Ponyo is basically Mei with magic. And then there is his recurring pig, his trees, etc. etc.
  • Leiji Matsumoto is another writer who uses 'actors' to the extreme, which considering the number of crossover characters in his series, can be confusing as hell. It's particularly noticeable in Galaxy Express 999, when after watching enough episodes you can predict a character's personality, and even their chances of surviving the episode, the first time they appear. Strangely enough, this doesn't make the series any less awesome.
  • Everyone in the Giant Robo OVA is an Expy of a character from various manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama.
  • Tite Kubo revived the protagonist of his ill-fated first manga, Zombie Powder, as the arrancar Grimmjow Jeagerjaques in his more successful later series -- Bleach—even drawing him in the exact same pose on one of the covers. Interesting in that the new character is an antagonist, albeit one who seems well on his way to a Heel Face Turn.
    • Zombie Powder earns the distinction of producing two expies in one series from the same character. An early design for Gamma is very clearly the design around for Renji Abarai.
    • Make that three, Stark's released form is also based on Gamma, just with guns instead of a chainsword.
  • The relationship and design of Louise and Saito in The Familiar of Zero is greatly similar to Shana and Yuuji in Shakugan no Shana. They even have the same voice actors. While she doesn't have a Yuuji/Saito counterpart, Taiga from Toradora! is also in their mold.
  • Subverted massively in Tsubasa, where the major characters are warned that during their dimension-hopping, they will likely meet many different versions of the same person. This results in later volumes featuring Expys of characters from earlier in the same manga. Continuing with the "Alternate Universe" theme, nearly all of these recurring characters are themselves Expys from an earlier CLAMP work.
    • And then inverted when one of the "same face, different place" characters really does turn out to be the same person they'd met before.
    • Deconstructed later on, when one Expy turns out to be the son of the character he mimics, for... less than healthy reasons.
    • CLAMP wrote Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle as a 20th anniversary Fan Service gift to its fans, so Expy is essentially the raison d'etre for the series. ×××HOLiC is a concurrent CLAMP manga series that intersects so tightly with Tsubasa as to require reading both to fully appreciate and understand each story. For the 100+ list of CLAMP Expys in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, see Tsubasa Chronicle Crossover Characters Note that the crossovers with ×××HOLiC are mostly deleted from the anime adaptations because separate production companies animated each series, creating contractual and creative differences. Expy instances in Tsubasa vary in the anime because the series veers from the manga late in season two (though is recovered mostly in the Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations OVA series.
  • Continuing on from the Gundam listing above, Code Geass has plenty of its own.
    • Lelouch is a main character version of Char, what with both being exiled members of (more or less) royalty, suffering from having their beloved parent murdered, having a sister, planning for revenge, and not allowing that sister to be part of it, or even knowing about it. And when she does find out, they have a showdown, and she gets in his way, etc, etc. They also fight an internal battle between revenge, wanting to join with the "nice guys" and be a real hero, and mass genocide.
    • Kallen is so much and so little an expy of Domon Kasshu that many like to joke about them being father and daughter. Which is a little ironic, since Kallen hates her Britannian father, and Domon is Japanese. Well, Neo Japanese. She's got a similar facial structure, a one hit kill hand attack, and massive amounts of hot blood. However, she just barely misses out on being the shows most important female, is more prone to killing her enemies, and some rather twisted circumstances towards the end of the show make her try to kill her love rather than do the "Love Love Tenkyoken" with them.
    • Suzaku's Lancelot is a Gundam expy. It's the first truely humanoid design in its world of origin, with unprecedented mobility, in a white colour scheme. It even has Beam Shields! Suzaku, on the other hand, is not really a Gundam main character expy, as the series shows us quite clearly that Suzaku is part of an organisation which does not agree with, and will not allow, his equalist egalitarian views to come to fruition.
      • Suzaku does fairly regularly get compared to Kira Yamato (enough to get a Fan Nickname out of it, anyway). He's a brunet with a super mecha, opposed to violence, has a best friend for a Rival, a romance with a pink-haired pacifist princess...
    • Rolo's Vincent has a V on its head like a gundam to top it off Rolo is a Geass User like lelouch but Rolo only stops the persons sense of time wile Lelouch comands people and Rolo killed Shirley a girl that Lelouch cared about and Lelouch hates Rolo for that just like how Amuro killed Lalah a girl that Char cared about and Char hates amuro for that plus Char and Amuro are Newtypes wich makes Rolo the Amuro to Lelouch
    • Don't you dare tell me that you see no resemblance (both physical and in regards to plans) between Muruta Azrael and Schneizel el Britannia. Only difference is that Schneizel can actually keep his cool and dignity near the end.
      • On the note of Schneizel: Although people often compare Lelouch to Yagami Light, not many people realize Light actually appears in Code Geass - They just took away his Artifact of Doom and changed his name to Schneizel. Face it. They look similar, they have similar attitudes, they're both geniuses, they both intend to create a peaceful world by killing lots of people, they both want to become the god of that new world...
    • The first time this Trooper saw Code Geass he though: Is that Kamui vs Shaolan? Lelouch look a lot like Kamiu from Clamp's X and Susaku could be Shaolan's twin.
      • Well considering that the characters were designed by the the exact same people it's hardly surprising. Many of their characters from different series have a strong resemblance to one another.
  • One could say that Euphemia Li Britainnia is an expy to Gundam SEED's Lacus Clyne. Their appearance as purple-eyed, pink-haired girls is what is most obvious, but they are both also women in positions of power who want to make their world better. Both also seemed air-headed at first glance, but turned out to idealistic pacifists. In addition, they both have love relationships with skilled pilots.
  • Clannad is, in some ways, a revisiting of Kanon, only somewhat more depressing and switching around the character dynamics. For example, Sunohara is Kitagawa as the main character's best friend, Tomoyo and Kotomi are the two different aspects of Mai, Fuko i.s Ayu, only sadder and not the winning girl, and Nagisa is Shiori, except that she really dies and that she's the winning girl.
    • It could be argued that Nagisa is Shiori because she doesn't really die, if you're going by Kyo Ani's (and the visual novel's) continuity.
    • Also, Kyou and Ryou bear a striking resemblance to Kagami and Tsukasa of Lucky Star, respectively. Mauve-haired twin sisters--one a Tsundere with long hair, the other shy and gentle with short, though the Fujibayashi twins are identical while the Hiiragi twins are fraternal. Amusingly enough, Tsukasa even remarks at one point that "Kagami" can also be read as "Kyou"...
      • Amazing in that Kyoto Animation finished Lucky Star before working on Clannad.
      • Most likely a reference to the visual novel, which was contemporaneous with the original Yonkoma on which the Lucky Star anime was based. It may also just have been a coincidence that the studio capitalised on to up the otaku quotient; Kagami is actually named after her creator.
      • This picture (which is also the header picture for the Cosplay Fan Art page) says it all.
    • Misae is an Expy of Kaname Chidori, down to the seiyuu. Hell, her last name is Sagara.
    • Tsukasa is a visual (at least) expy of Akari Kamigishi from To Heart, which the series delights in pointing out. The poor girl once gets photographed by an Otaku who sees the resemblance and Konata once gives her Akari's red uniform.
      • By transivity, Ryou is also a visual Expy of Akari.
  • Mitsuka-sensei from DearS is a direct Expy of Shikijo-sensei, almost to the point of ripoff status, as they share the same English voice actress. Ren is an obvious expy of most of the persocoms from Chobits, but more specifically, Chii.
    • Speaking of DearS, Junpei from Nyan Koi is very reminiscent of Takeya.
  • Most Mai-Otome characters are Expies of My-HiME characters. In fact, almost all of the main characters of Mai-HiME appear in Mai-Otome, although they may only be supporting characters or even extras. The reverse is often true as well—the main character of Mai-Otome, Arika, appeared in Mai-HiME for only a few seconds at the end of the last episode. One character, the android Miyu, actually seems to be the exact same Miyu and not a new character after all, as though Mai-Otome is set in Mai-HiME's future. The future-time setting leads to some fan speculation about the Mai-Otome characters being reincarnations.
    • Rena Sayers, however, is an expy of not of a character from Mai-HiME, but that of a character of another series: Rena Yuuki of the PlayStation game Future GPX Cyber Formula: The New Challenger. Their first names sound alike (except the "L" replaces the "R") and addition to that, the series' main character designer is also the main character designer for the last 2 OVAs for Cyber Formula as well as most of video games based on that series.
  • In One Piece there were two characters who share similarites to Nami who appeared in previous versions of Romance Dawn. One was a Swordswoman who joined Luffy's crew, personality wise she was more gentle than Nami. Another was more similar to Nami's current self in terms of personality however from the way the Pilot's story was going it seemed like she wouldn't join the crew.
    • Weirder case here because we have no reason to think Oda was ever influenced by Berserk, but the resemblance between Zoro and Guts is rather uncanny. It's as if Zoro is how Guts probably would've been if he was a allowed to have an easier life and much, much more faithful friends.
  • Shotaro Ishinomori introduced a character by the name of Roam in the The Legend of Zelda manga he drew. This character is an obvious expy for Ishinomori's Cyborg 009 character 002/Jet Link.
    • Jet got yet another Expy in GaoGaiGar's Pizza/Soldato J.
    • And another in Disgaea's Kurtis.
  • Mahoro from Mahoromatic and Noel from Shina Dark are both Robot Girl maids who hate Ecchi things with a passion voiced by Ayako Kawasumi. Mahoromatic and Shina Dark are by the same author, so the expyness makes sense.
    • Also in Shina Dark. Noel's other form resembles the Numbers' from Nanoha StrikerS. And Gallet resembles and has a similar personality to Signum from Nanoha. And to solidify it all, Shina Dark's artist is authoring a Nanoha spin-off.
    • No, that's the definition of an Expy, it doesn't just 'make sense'.
    • Chapter 19 plays with the Noel / Mahoro connection to it's logical extreme.
  • Several characters & mecha from Mamoru Nagano's Five Star Stories are expies of ones from an anime he had earlier worked on with Yoshiyuki Tomino called Heavy Metal L-Gaim, not the least of which were the Humongous Mecha Junchoon & its pilot Colus VI who are expies of L-Gaim's titular mecha and series protagonist Daba Myroad. Infact, the story arc in the manga focusing on Colus VI retaking his throne is an almost exact retelling of the plot of L-Gaim. Interestingly, L-Gaim features an expy of its own Lilith Fau, a tinkerbell-esque fairy who bears an uncanny resemblance to Cham Huau from a previous Tomino series, Aura Battler Dunbine.
  • Akira from the Hentai game Viper V 16: Rise is a blatant Expy of Yuka from Variable Geo. The two both work at maid cafes, and both share the same character designer (Takehiko "KimuTaka" Kimura). A later Viper game in the same setting introduced Makoto, an Expy of Variable Geo's Jun.
  • Nobuhiro Watsuki freely admits in the chapter notes to Busou Renkin that the series protagonist, Kazuki Muto, is a gender-swapped expy of Misao Makimachi from Rurouni Kenshin. In addition, he notes (to his apparent surprise) that one of the minor villains is a thinly recast Enishi, and theorizes that he wanted to give Enishi a happier ending through his expy.
    • Speaking of Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki also Expies several Shinsengumi members by using them as bases for other non-Shinsensgumi characters. In particular, he used Hijikata as a reference for Aoshi, Okita for Soujirou (who also got Okita's birth name), Harada for Sanosuke, and Kanryuusai for Kanryuu.
    • In fact, all three of Watsuki's post-Rurouni Kenshin manga series contain a Misao: Colice in Gun Blaze West, Kazuki in Busou Renkin and finally Elm in Embalming. Elm is even paired up with an Aoshi expy, Ashuhit.
    • Do not forget the many characters in RK that share way too many features with Marvel characters to be considered merely shout outs. Seeing The Hulk, Gambit, Apocalypse, or Venom fighting Kenshin in Meiji era Japan is... surreal, to say the least.
  • In Pokémon Ritchie is a Expy to Ash, who also has a few of the same Pokémon as Ash (but he has a bit more common sense). Ash's Sinnoh rival Paul is an expy of GSC antagonist Silver in personality and appearance, though ironically is even crueller than his original, releasing untold numbers of Pokémon that he captures because he finds them too weak.
    • Pikachu in manga tend to be headstrong and disobedient, similar to how Ash's Pikachu was at first.
  • Suigintou from Rozen Maiden has a couple now:
    • Kyouran Kazoku Nikki gives us Himemiya Senka who when first introduced shared Suigintou's white hair (intended to resemble silver), unnatural eye color, and creases under the eyes showing her disturbed mentality, and even remarkably reminiscent dress as well as obsessive jealousy and hatred towards a main character. She's even referred to as a "Solitary Doll," though in this case it refers to her replacement role as her family's shared abuse victim. Like Gin, though, you eventually learn to empathize with her a bit once you know her background.
    • The Daughter of Twenty Faces gives us a character known only as "the white-haired demon" so far. She shares Suigintou's long white hair, purple eyes, and psychotic creases under the eyes as well as a jealous, obsessive cruelty towards the main character. While she looks human most of the time, her body is actually some kind of animated marionette, complete with Rozen Maiden-like doll joints.
    • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: In the second season. A very briefly seen character had pale hair with devious eyes. And she was even voiced by Rie Tanaka who also voiced Suigintou.
  • The three major characters of Detective Conan are visual Expys of the major characters of Aoyama's previous manga Magic Kaitou. Most especially, Kudo Shinichi is a visual Expy of Kuroba Kaito. This is lampshaded by the fact that not only do they have the same seiyuu in the anime, Kaito is mistaken for Shinichi once in the early manga?and is able to impersonate Shinichi without his usual Latex Perfection masks in one of the Non Serial Movies, Magician of the Silver Sky. The resemblances between Aoko and Ran, and Nakamori and Kogoro, are downplayed as the Magic Kaitou cast is reintroduced into the later, and better-drawn, Detective Conan.
  • Masataka Takayanagi from TenjhoTenghe and Kazu from Air Gear. Both are Oh! Great creations, and both are shy and reserved with untapped potential. Also, they both play second fiddle to hot headed leads Soichiro Nagi and Ikki, respectively.
  • Dufaux, the bookreader of Zeon, is an Expy of an unused design of Kiyomaro Takamine in Gash Bell. Similarly, Ted bears a strong resemblance to one of the original designs of Gash.
  • Sora Hasegawa from Ah! My Goddess strongly resembles Yoriko Nikaido from the same mangaka's earlier series You're Under Arrest.
  • Reading into some of Mrs. Arakawa's other works shows a few oddly familiar faces. She openly admitted that Jean Havoc and Lust were based on Jack and Kuo from Shanghai Youma Kikai. Then there's Dr. Tachibana, who looks like Ranfan with glasses. And her latest offering, Silver Spoon AKA Gin no saji features Alex Louis Armstrong transplanted into a farming school in Hokkaido Japan, complete with sparkles.
    • Major spoiler, but it seems likely that Jack from Shanghai Youma Kikai is an expy in terms of character path of Barry the Chopper of Fullmetal Alchemist. Jack is revealed to be a demon who was Jack the Ripper, and pulled a Heel Face Turn after being curbstomped by a beautiful woman. Barry is likewise a former Serial Killer who reformed post-curbstomping. The main difference is that Jack is human looking and much more genuine in his repentance.
  • Nanaka from Myself Yourself resembles and initially acts like Komachi Tsugumi from Ever 17.
  • Most of class 2-D is taken from Zeon. The resident CHAR is Harry MacKenzie.
  • In Amanchu!, the author transported Aria's Akari back to Earth, renamed her Hikari and gave her some scuba gear. And seemingly infused her with some interesting drugs, since Hikari tends to be even more spaced-out than her predecessor — which is quite a feat in itself.
    • In the most recent[when?] chapters, they give us characters Akane and Chizuru who look exactly like Akari and Aika respectivley.
  • Kentaro Yabuki reused both the appearance and the powers of both Kyoko and Eve from Black Cat when designing Magical Flame Kyoko and Golden Darkness in To LOVE-Ru.
    • Train Heartnet, the Black Cat, also gets an Expy in the form of a gun wielding killer called Black. He even has a gun that looks very much like Train's gun, Hades. he also seems to be based on Eraser!Train rather than Sweeper!Train.
    • With the reveal of Tearju Lunatique as Yami's creator, this verges to being Alternate Universe versions rather than Expies.
  • Mutsumi Saburo/Mutsumi Hojo from Keroro Gunsou is kind of a sendup to Kaworu Nagisa from Neon Genesis Evangelion, to the point of having (decorative) wings on his back for his first appearance in the manga, and his "introduction" scene in the anime mirroring Kaworu's reveal as an angel, complete with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony playing in the background.
  • Tamaki Suou and Kyouya Ootori from Ouran High School Host Club appear very similar to Satsuki and Toyua respectively from Hatori's older work, Millennium Snow.
  • Husband and Wife, the unamed characters from Spotted Flower are expies of Genshiken characters Harunobu Madarame and Saki Kasukabe respectively, both works by the same author. The characters are so similar in appearance and personality, plus the setting being similar, that the fans are speculating that they are the same characters; Genshiken is the past, Spotted Flower is the future.
  • Gaku Namikiri of Absolute Boyfriend is basically Tasuki from Yuu Watase's earlier work Fushigi Yuugi, reincarnated as a supernatual low-ranking salesman. Though Gaku is slightly less Hot-Blooded, he's got the same Idiot from Osaka tendencies, the same loveably roguish demeanor, the same gift for socially incorrect remarks, and the same ability to show up whenever the plot conveniently needs to be moved along.
    • Before we note that Tooya and Soushi are reincarnations of Tamahome (Tooya in looks and fighting skills; Soushi in looks), it must be said Tamahome is actually himself a reincarnation of Manato Sudou from Fushigi Yuugi's older sister, Shishunki Miman Okotowari.
  • Because of their many similaries (Stoic Child Soldiers who grow more human after meeting and protecting an Ojou, have Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass goofball Lancers, and pilot Humongous Mecha with dangerous but powerful technology), Sousuke Sagara is often considered an Expy of Heero Yuy. When the two finally met in Super Robot Wars, their similarities were lampshaded, and Heero actually mentors Sousuke in an attempt to do something about his Fish Out of Water-ness.
    • In addition to this, Sousuke shares some chracter stylings from both Sanousuke and Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin.
  • Claire, the protagonist of Claymore is an almost perfect expy of Ikuno from Angel Densetsu. Down to her behaviour. (And she's attracted to Raki/Yuji too). For some added expiness read the episode in which Kitano dreams during math lesson just after reading Claymore, and notice his sword and the oni's eyes.
    • Cynthia is an expy of Ryoko, the main female lead of Angel Densetsu. Could explain how she's avoided cashing in the numerous death flags she's collected to date.
  • Gerard in Fairy Tail. Not only does he look exactly like another mage, Sieg Hart from Mashima Hiro's previous manga Rave Master, he goes under the alias Siegrain for a long time and has some spells with the same name.
    • And of course Kageyama, who is the mirror image of Shippuuden-version Shikamaru. Down to the shadow-based magic.
    • Haru=Natsu, Elie=Lucy, Musica=Gray. The author even lampshaded this by dressing them up as each other and seeing if readers would notice. Erza from another dimension's 10 commandments=Haru's 10 commandments. Ice Make magic is pretty similiar to Silver Claimer. And of course, Plue is Plue. In fact, too many to count in these 2 series, likely with more to come.
    • Another Mashima series Monster Soul features Mamii who is quite similar to Erza.
    • Monster Soul also features Aki, Gray's physical Expy and Natsu's personality Expy.
    • Natsu also closely resembles Black*Star from Soul Eater, from the scarf down to hair to the tattoo on the same arm.
    • Speaking of Soul Eater, several characters are expies or callbacks to the author's previous series B.Ichi. Whether its the name of an attack like Law Abiding Silve Gun or the whole character being a mix of previous characters depends on the individual, but it seems that about half the cast has a callback to a prvious character in some form.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Chie-sensei is an authorized Expy of Ciel-senpai, down to the curry, seiyuu and Black Keys (well, wooden T-squares, in her case).
    • Frederica Bernkastel is an Expy of Rika Furude. It doesn't help that it's hinted that they're essentially the same people, but Bernkastel is said/guessed to be the totality of all of Rika's past lives. The reference is made canonically in one of Rika's monologues. However, it's made in such a throwaway line, and there's so little support in any comparison of the characters throughout their series', so perhaps it's just an intercontinuity Shout-Out.
  • The teacher/aide in Ken Akamatsu's Earth Defender Mao-chan looks identical to Naru from Love Hina, including the use of the same Seiyuu, Horie Yui. The similarity is remarked on in the animated adaptation when the gang goes to a remarkably familiar looking hot spring inn and meet the un-named but equally familiar hostess.
  • Utau Hoshina from Shugo Chara and Fate Testarossa from the Lyrical Nanoha series share many traits. They are both Dark Magic Girls who aren't actually evil and are doing it for the sake of someone (Precia and Ikuto), both of them have long blonde pigtails, they refuse any peaceful or friendly attempt from the main character and both of them recieve a Heel Face Turn undergoing Defeat Means Friendship. A rather long list of shared traits right? They are also voice by the same voice actress!.
  • Likewise, most characters in Pani Poni Dash! correspond to characters in Azumanga Daioh. Most obviously, the Cat God is basically Chiyo-Chibi, with a pinch of Mr. Kimura.
  • By Word of God Ritsu's mother in Fruits Basket is very much based on a ghost character from one of Natsuki Takaya's earlier works.
  • In Seto no Hanayome, Lunar's dad is The Terminator WITH BLOND HAIR. Lunar herself bears quite a resemblance to Etna.
    • "Quite a resemblence""? Lunar not only looks virtually identical to Enta (Lunar's hair being a few shades lighter, and her tail is different), her real personality is also very close to Etna's.
  • Max Taylor of the anime series Dinosaur King is very much an Expy of Ash Ketchum. The similarities include their weird hair, both being comical protagonists, yet serious about their fighting, having a pet with lighting attacks and both having the same (English) voice. The connection is helped in that Veronica Taylor uses the exact same voice she used for Ash.
  • Lucifer of Saint Beast is Sephiroth with black hair—they are otherwise identical in looks. However, he zig-zags all over the place in regards to similar personality, so that whenever Lucifer gets screen time (especially with Zeus) it just feels rather...odd.
  • Kaede from Ladies versus Butlers! seems a bit familiar...
  • Okay, here we go. Most people (in the audience, not in the show) seem to like the Broken Bird/Woobie/often Stoic character. One of the first and most well known is Ayanami Rei, from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Then, about eight years later, another hugely successful manga/anime debuts. That anime is Suzumiya Haruhi. The character is Nagato Yuki. About a year after that, The Familiar of Zero debuts. Besides the two main characters having the same seiyuus as the two main characters of Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima has Tabitha. All three have the same hair color (light bluish. Yuki's hair is kinda purplish too), are similarly very quiet, and have similarly tragic pasts (okay, Yuki's past isn't nearly as tragic as Rei's, but that may be because the Suzumiya Haruhi series is a comedy/sci-fi series, and NGE is a psychological drama/horror.)
    • There are even more expies who share her personality if not her looks (or at least try to), especially in mecha and high school anime. Dorothy, Kanade Tachibana and Ruri just to name a few. Basically the quiet, cool girl with a mysterious past and a strange link to the hero has become very popular in anime.
    • Tabitha seems to be a combination of Neon Genesis Evangelion's two heroines, with the apperance and personality of Rei, with the backstory of Asuka.
    • The trope-savvy Rei from Evangelion Abridged lampshades this by mentioning just how many Rei expies there are. She's probably seen this page. Probably after trawling through all of the slightly unsettling fanart of her.
    • In fact, there are so many expies of Rei that they have their own trope!
    • Speaking of Evangelion, Asuka is basically Female Tetsuya Tsurugi, sharing a lot of elements from Tetsuya. Ace Pilot ? Check. Hot-Blooded ? Check. Arrogant ? Check. Have a kind of parental issue ? Check. Fight against Mass Produced version of their own Mecha ? Check. Massive amount of Inferiority Complex ? Oh so very Check. Ironically this make her an Expy of the character who codifies the trend that she tried to deconstruct.
  • Yukiteru from Mirai Nikki shares a number of character traits with Shinji, especially in the beginning. Timid and lonely but unable to connect with the people around them even if they really want to and are forced to fight even though they really don't want to. Both seem to want their father back in their lives, but both end up betrayed. The main difference seems to be Yukiteru has his mother and Yuno. The last of which is a mixed blessing to say the least.
    • And let's not forget about that Kaworu thing that Akise's got going on... they even both ended up getting beheaded.
    • And Minene is a Chaotic Neutral version of Misato with a vendetta against religion and an eyepatch.
  • In one episode of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann there was a Team Gurren member who had the same clothes and hair as Battle Frontier Brain Noland from Pokémon.
    • In a more prominent example, Simon himself is basically Shinji Ikari with blue hair and a very inspirational rolemodel and "Bro" in the form of Kamina. Well, at least early on. It's really hard to see the similarities between Simon and Shinji in the end of their respective series.
  • Ai Kora is full of this tropes, featuring characters inspired by Love Hina and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Sakurako = Naru with Asuka Soryu Langley's looks thrown in. Tsubame = Kitsune mixed with Misato Katsuragi. Kirino = Motoko. Yukari = Shinobu. Hachibei, Tsubame, Yukari and kirino's designs respectively resemble Seiji, Rin, Midori and Nao from Midori no Hibi.
  • Ai Yazawa's series tend to borrow designs from whatever series she made that preceded them. For example, Tsutomu is a more fleshed-out Ken Nakagawa (though this is lampshaded in-series), and Yuusuke (from the same manga) is a possible precursor to Nana's Takumi. The fact that they both ended up sharing the same voice actor only adds to the idea. A more obvious example comes appearance-wise from Mikako to Miwako. (Justified, though, since they're sisters.)
  • The characters in Robotech are all expys of the characters in Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada. All three shows were originally unrelated but combined together to tell a multigenerational epic.
  • In Gun X Sword, Van is an expy of Spike of Cowboy Bebop in terms of very similar appearance, and Carmen 99 is an obvious expy of Faye from the same series.
    • Michael Garrett looks a lot like Kira Yamato, they both dislike violence, and they both have sex with a love interest who is a part of an organization they joined in an unorthodox way. When the two meet in a Super Robot Wars game, this tends to be Lampshaded. "Stop Fighting!" "No, you stop fighting!"
  • In Desert Punk, Junko is something of a Faye/Fujiko expy.
  • The Count in Gankutsuou is an expy of Alucard of Hellsing. Both have the same Japanese voice actor, and the Count exhibits a number of traditional vampire traits (in fact, he might be more of a traditional vampire than Alucard). Also, both manifest Extra Eyes when they're about to do something badass/terrifying. Admitedly, the vampire idea in Gankutsuou derives in part from the Count of the novel being compared to one, specifically the Byron-expy Lord Ruthven- the anime just took the idea literally.
  • The main characters in Princess Tutu seem to be expies of the main characters in Junichi Sato's earlier work, Prétear. Both series have:
    • A a redheaded Magical Girl with a lot of energy that struggle with feeling like they don't fit in due to changes in their lives, both played by Luci Christian in the dub. (Himeno in Pretear, Ahiru/Duck in Princess Tutu)
    • A Tall, Dark and Snarky Jerk with a Heart of Gold that lashes out at the heroine because of trauma in their dark pasts but ends up falling for her. (Hayate, Fakir)
    • A White-Haired Pretty Boy with a gentle, giving heart who originally seems to be a love interest for the heroine, but ends up being tainted by evil because of the Dark Magical Girl and ending up as her romantic interest. (Sasame, Mytho)
    • A dark-haired girl who is a friend of the heroine, but becomes the Dark Magical Girl because of a misguided belief that she's unloved. (Fenrir/Takako, Rue/Kraehe)
      • However, Princess Tutu was actually in the works while Sato and Ikuko Itoh (the creator of Tutu) was working on Sailor Moon, possibly meaning that the Prétear cast are the true expies. (Also, it's worth noting that Sasame and Fakir have the same actors in both the Japanese and English dubs--Takahiro Sakurai and Chris Patton, respectively—but this is likely just a casting fluke.)
  • Fushigiboshi no Futagohime: The vice principal and his two henchmen from season 2 are the spitting images of the Moon Kingdom's former and late chancellor and his two henchmen from season 1.
  • Angel Beats!: This show also has some characters that fit this trope, especially the main protagonist Yuri that looks and acts similar to Haruhi Suzumiya. We also have the main protagonist Otonashi that is like almost all the other other protagonists of Key. Tenshi despite not looking the same as Nagato Yuki has the same personality as her.
  • Stop me if you've heard this premise before: A young, newly-hired male teacher and his busty female co-worker/love interest have to deal with a class of hyperactive students, particularly a "unique" trio of girls whose antics cause no shortage of misunderstandings. This can describe Kodomo No Jikan, Hanamaru Kindergarten, and Mitsudomoe. It's a triple threat of expy-ness!
  • Lettuce Midorikawa fron Tokyo Mew Mew and Michiru Kita from Zombie Loan. Both have glasses and shy personalities, and in the beginning of Zombie Loan, Michiru even has Lettuce's twin braids. Until she chops them off, of course.
  • Sharnid Elipton is a pretty much a copy of Kurz Weber: a sniper, whose skill is matched only by his laid-backness, with long blond hair and a propensity for womanizing.
  • Gainax has claimed that ever since Neon Genesis Evangelion they have just been using Shinji as a base for their male protagonists and changing how he was raised. For example Simon is Shinji who admired his cool older brother and Takeru is Shinji with abandonment issues towards his mother rather than his father. Hopefully we don't forget Naota as well.
  • Tsubame Sanjou from Rurouni Kenshin is an expy of Hotaru Tomoe from Sailor Moon.
  • Pick any character from Karakuridouji Ultimo and you will find someone from Shaman King, Takei's previous work, who resembles them. Rune and Manta is probably the most infamous.
  • The Manhwa Witch Hunter is quite an expy of D.Gray-man. The main protagonists both have white hair, wear black uniform which are the same color as their respective comrades', show sympathy towards their enemies' race, and have hilarious financial problems.
  • Many of the characters in Rumiko Takahashi's latest work, RIN-NE, seem to be expies from her older works (though in looks, Rinne's grandmother Tamako seems to be a genderbent Ichimaru. For example, Sakura Mamiya is a more laid-back Kagome, Tsubasa Jumonji looks a lot like Miroku (though his personality is more like Ryoga's). Ageha looks very similar to Abi-hime, too.
  • Lost Universe is considered the sister series to Slayers for the near-identical parallels between plot and characters; the plot is more or less the same but in a sci-fi setting, with a Big Bad sharing a similar name to the Big Bad of the latter series. It's theorized that both franchises are a part of the same universe becacuse of the presences of a God and a Satanic force in each, and because LU's Big Bad Dark Star Dugradigdu appeared as the main antagonist of the third season of the Slayers anime. Word of God insists otherwise, but it's fairly plausible.
  • Future GPX Cyber Formula: Osamu Sugo/Knight Schumacher. Let's see, he has a Secret Identity, he's a really fast driver, he has a little sister who's in love with the main character, also being the long lost brother of said little sister, he's The Rival of the hero, he has a cool accessory covering his face (his sunglasses), he's really popular with the fans and he drives a white and red machine (in his case a race car)...does this remind you of somebody?
    • There's also Kyoshiro Nagumo from SAGA and SIN, who is an expy for Gilbert Dullindal of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. They have almost exactly the same looks, motives and they are voiced by the same voice actor.
    • Henri Claytor is an expy for Yzak Joule, except that Henri has a strand of red streak on his bangs and Yzak doesn't have one.
  • D'Eon from Le Chevalier d'Eon is pretty obviously a genderflipped Expy of Oscar from Rose of Versailles.
  • Walker and Erika from Durarara!! serve as expies of Isaac and Miria from Baccano!, both being a set of very weird Birds of a Feather that facilitate the plot from the sidelines by being their very bizarre selves. They're even all Otaku (Yes, bandits living in the 1930s New York can apparently be Occidental Otaku. Try not to think about it too much). The main difference is that Walker and Erika are much more unstable than their 1930s American counterparts.
    • A latter Baccano! book set in 2002 features Huey Laforet's great-great-grandson by way of Chane and Claire, Charon Walken, who strongly resembles Kasuka Heiwajima both in appearance and personality. This is lampshaded in a later volume of Durarara!!, when Saki mentions meeting a boy with an uncanny resemblance to the actor in question.
  • Nitori from Wandering Son looks near identical to the protagonist of the mangaka's earlier manga, Inhabitants of the Threshold. You probably won't notice at first due to the very different art styles, but when she drew them in the first omake of her new series it becomes very apparent. The difference ends there, as their personalities are polar opposites.
    • Shimura is well-known for reusing designs in her manga. In Aoi Hana several of the characters are near-identical to characters in Wandering Son, there's even a background girl who has the same hairstyle and face as Nitori's. But as said, resemblances almost always end at appearances.
  • How many of you consider Jo from Burst Angel to be an expy of Dante from Devil May Cry? Let's see. silver hair? Check. Red trenchcoat? Check. Twin handguns? Check.
    • She has a few things in commen with Nero from the fourth game too. Again, silver hair, and again, trenchcoats, (Nero's is blue though.) But they also have girlfriends that you really don't want to put in danger, otherwise they'll go on rampages (Jo has Meg, Nero has Kyrie) and they both have glowing right arms that are linked to their superpowers. (Jo has the "Angel Tatto which glows when she gets mad and unleashes her physical strength, Nero has the "Devil Bringer" that lets him use a grappling power, sometimes with a large fist)
  • .hack: Justified example (as similar player-characters in actual games often have the same base model), but it doesn't stop the trope from being lampshaded and played with; for example, BlackRose and Mimiru actually argue over this in a SIGN Omake episode, accusing the other of being a copycat; in the same episode, Bear is killed by Orca but everyone assumes one is the other. A similar incident occurs in Roots and the G.U. games, where Haseo finds himself being befriended by a character who's nearly identical to a close friend of his, who was PKed and put into a coma. Mistral and Mirelle are an interesting example as Mistral and Mirelle are the same The World character, but Mirelle is played by Mistral's player's four year-old daughter. (She changed the character's name to Mirelle at an event.)
    • The character of both Kite and BlackRose has been used many times, particularly Kite. Aside from Kite himself, there's Shugo (Legend of The Twilight Bracelet), Azure Flame Kite (G.U.) and Azure Flame Knight (LINK). Oh and, Kite (Sora) in LINK as well as Sakuya in Quantum (both being played by females, incidentally).
      • On another note, some has noted the physical similarity of Kite's X-Form with Kaworu. Hey, Sadamoto is the character designer after all...
  • Ghost Hunt - Naru's assistant, Lin Koujo has the same hairstyle and pretty much the same stoic mannerisms as Fruits Basket's Hatori Sohma.
  • The unnamed husband and his wife in Spotted Flower are pretty clear Madarame and Saki Expies. The wife has an ex-boyfriend who is a friend of her husband's, just like Kousaka from Genshiken. The husband also mentions throwing away some S&M DVDs because he could not get into them, something else Madarame also does.
  • Sora O Kakeru Shoujo: Leopard looks a lot like Lelouch from Code Geass. And in the words of Leopard himself, that should he be human, he would in fact look like Lelouch. And for extra points, both he and Lelouch has the same voice actor.
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