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{{trope}}
:''See also [[Rei Ayanami Expy]]''
== ''[[Gundam]]'' ==
* Most ''[[Gundam]]'' series will have a character based on Char Aznable, [[Fan Nickname|known as]] a [[Char Clone]] (or just "[[Memetic Mutation|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 Power|mask]] for [[Rule of Cool|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 ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Gundam Wing]]'' , Rau Le Creuset (and to an extent, Athrun Zala) in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED|Gundam SEED]]'', and Neo Roanoke from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny|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 ''[[After War Gundam X|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 [[Mobile Suit Gundam
** [[Fountain of Expies|Expies of Relena]] would also include [[Turn
* 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.
** Speaking of Mecha expies, the [[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
* ''Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz'' has Mariemaia Khushrenada, who is based on [[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
* Fllay Allster from ''Gundam Seed'' is partially based on ''[[Turn
** Fllay herself would be the basis for ''Gundam 00's'' Nena Trinity.
* Kira Yamato from ''Gundam Seed'' is said to [[Composite Character|be a mix of]] Amuro and ''[[Turn
** Kira was ''made'' to be the Amuro figure of the Alternative Universes. In personality, cause, and, let's not forget, power.
* [[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
** Similarly, Stellar Loussier is Rosamia Badam living Four Murasame's life.
*** Stella's teammates, Sting Oakley and Auel Neider are Expies of two characters from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
* 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 ''[[
** Setsuna F. Seiei from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00
** It goes much further with [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00
** And of course Ali Al-Saachez is obviously Gauron, with a side dose of ''Gundam'''s original [[Psycho for Hire]], [[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
* 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 [[Mobile Suit Gundam
* As for the rest of the ''Gundam SEED'' characters:
** Murrue Ramius = a gender-flipped Bright Noa, with Archangel being White Base
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** Andrew Waltfeld = Ramba Ral, with Aisha as his Crowley Hamon.
** Admiral Lewis Halberton = General Revil
** [[General Ripper|Patrick Zala]] and [[Villain
** Rau Le Creuset may be the series' [[Char Clone]], but his [[Nietzsche Wannabe|other]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|personality]] [[Beta Baddie|traits]]? And [[War for Fun
* And now ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' has Yurin L'Ciel as an expy of Tiffa Adil from ''[[After War Gundam X
** [[Axe Crazy|Decil Gallette]] is pretty much a mix of 00's [[Psycho for Hire|Ali Al-Saachez]] with Zeta's [[Sociopathic Soldier|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.
==
* Signum from ''[[Lyrical Nanoha|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanonha A's]]'' is an obvious Expy of [[Super Robot Wars|Lamia Loveless]]:{{verify}}<!-- Verify the source, not the expyness - "Super Robot Wars" characters are usually taken from other properties. --> 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 [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|StrikerS]] looks a bit like Lamia's, and they are voiced by the same [[Kaori Shimizu|Seiyuu]] in a very similar way.
** {{spoiler|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 [[Big Bad Wannabe|Wilhelm von Juergen]] (though probably with more [[Badass]] dosage)}}
* See also [[Amplifier Artifact|Agito]] from [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|StrikerS]], who is such an obvious expy that Western fans have taken to calling her [[Disgaea|"Etnagito"]].
* Don't forget the [[Mobile Suit Gundam|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 [[The Hero|Nanoha]], and goes out of her way to copy her techniques. That gives her a striking similarity to [[Street Fighter|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 [[GaoGaiGar|Guy]] in loli form. Not only do they both sport a [[Impossibly Cool Weapon|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 [[GaoGaiGar|FINAL]]. Vita's name is also involved with Hell and Heaven. (gemu giru gan go gufo, vita.) You also have [http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5430/vitaguy.jpg this]{{broken link}}.
* [[Anti-Villain]] Zest Grangaitz is pretty much a giant Expy of [[Super Robot Wars|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 [[Gatling Good|Gatlings]] who favours skimpy clothing, specifically a tank top and short shorts, she hits the right notes to remind one of [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Yoko]], [[Black Lagoon|Revy]] and [[Team Fortress 2|the Heavy]].
* As shown in ''Vivid'', Olivie, the Sankt Kaiser, looked almost exactly like [[Fate/stay night|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 [[Gadgeteer Genius|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.
** Chisame looks and acts like [[Meganekko|nerd]] [[Tsundere|Naru]]. She's also starting to resemble [[Haruhi Suzumiya|Kyon]], as both started as [[Ordinary High School Student]] which was then dragged [[I Just Want to Be Normal|kicking and screaming into crazyness]] before finally returning normal, only to find [[Can't Stay Normal|normalcy to be uninteresting anymore]] and decided to return to the crazyness while [[Deadpan Snarker|still being snarky about it]]. {{spoiler|Especially after [[The Final Temptation]] sub-arc reveals that the reason she isn't affected by the [[Lotus Eater Machine]] is because deep inside, she finds her current life fulfilling.}}
** Chizuru Naba is like Mutsumi Otohime many ways including , has the biggest talents among all her peers, very nice and very kind to others just to name a few. Though Mutsumi does not share the habits of losing her temper nor trying to give you homemade leek enemas like Chizuru sometimes will.
** Motoko is split into Setsuna as fighting Motoko, Madoka as Tsundere Motoko.
** [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v04/c033/3.html Nodoka] is a dead ringer for [https://web.archive.org/web/20090203104710/http://www.onemanga.com/Love_Hina/96/05/ young-Kanako].
* A rather obscure one: [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v06/c046/3.html Fate Averruncus] is obviously based on [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/ai_ga_tomaranai/v08/c053/25.html Program Number 0] from Akamatsu's first manga, ''[[A.I. Love You]]''.
* [[What Could Have Been|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 [[Tsundere|Princess Mint]].
* Yue Ayase draws concepts from two characters. Her prototype design was given to Akamatsu by the artist for the [[Read or Die|Read Or Dream]] manga, [http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/8771/00062ch4.png based on Hisami], [[Idiot Hair|ahoge]] and [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|all]]. The second, better known source is [[Touhou|Patchouli Knowledge]], a [[Badass Bookworm|magician]] with long purple hair and unexcitable personality usually seen in a [[The Library of Babel|vast library]]. Yue's wand bears [[Lampshade Hanging|Patchouli's trademark crescent]] and she wears a similar hat during the school festival. [http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/3407/hisaatchoue.jpg Mix the two and...]
** In a minor example, one of Chisame's cosplay outfits makes her resemble Patchouli's assistant Koakuma.
** From the [[Touhou|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 [[Obfuscating Stupidity|smarter-than-she-seems]] noble lady (though said lady looks more like Kaguya Houraisan), as well as being {{spoiler|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 Girl|robot]] [[Meido|maids]] from [[To Heart]]. While she looks and acts more like [[Emotionless Girl|Serio]], as her hair color entails, she has some of [[Dojikko|Multi]] in her as well. Due to being a [[Ninja Maid]] who works for a [[Touhou|Remilia]] expy, she could also be said to be a Sakuya expy by extension.
* Student 31 Zazie bears a strong resemblance to [[GaoGaiGar|Pagliaccio]] of the 31 Primevals, made more obvious in her [[Stripperiffic|skimpy]] [[Bare Your Midriff|performance]] [http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/9602/pagliazie.jpg outfit]. Their facial marks and skin tone are basically flipped, and both are [[Emotionless Girl|emotionless]] [[Monster Clown|clowns]] with robed cohorts. There have been joking [[Epileptic Trees|fan theories]] that Zazie is the [[Final Boss|last boss]]... {{spoiler|As of chapter 294, they might have been surprisingly close}}.
* [[Twin Tails|Twin-tailed]] [[Dark-Skinned Blond]] Tsundere Emily Sevensheep might be an expy of [[Gunslinger Girl|Triela]].
== ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' ==
* Characters in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' with counterparts in the sequel, ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'':
** Right from the mouths of the [[Word of God|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.
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** 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!
** 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 Flip
** 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.
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** 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]]''.{{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 Amazon|hot adult]] [[Older Alter Ego|forms]], both are very powerful, and both are often shown in [[Fan Service|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 [[Official Couple|Inu Yasha and Kagome romance]] is pretty much a mirror of [[Ranma ½|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 [[Money Fetish|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.
*** There's also a TV anchor in ''Urusei Yatsura'' manga with practically [http://koti.phnet.fi/otaku/takahashi/tvanchor.jpg identical looks]{{Dead link}}.
** 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).
*** [[Ranma ½|Kuno Tatewaki]] is also comparable to [[Urusei Yatsura|Shutaro Mendou]]. Both are absurdly rich (although Mendou shows it a lot more,) both always carry a sword, which Ranma/Ataru [[Barehanded Blade Block|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 Boy]]s with [[Hellish Pupils]] and [[Unusual Ears]]) they also have similar mannerisms ([[Does Not Like Shoes|both don't like shoes]], both are [[Deadpan Snarker]]s and both are [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|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 [[Meganekko|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 [http://zefiberyl.blogspot.com/search/label/Amnesian here].
*** And if anyone's interested, there's also the web novel ''Himegami''. You know who are the main characters, [http://www.himegami.com/1.html 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 (anime)|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.
** Poemi ([[Running Gag|also]] [[No Fourth Wall|known as]] [[Actor Allusion|Kobayashi]]) herself is an Expy of [[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel]] ([[Incredibly Lame Pun|Expel?]]), only [[Up to Eleven|more]] [[Genki Girl|genki]].
* [[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 ''[http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Boy 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 [[Dirty Old Man|perverts]] with plenty of wacky moments.
* The ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]'' girls have counterparts in ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star|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.
** ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'' apparently tried to do it again before changing their tune to make a more traditional [[Magical Girl]] team; traces of Nagisa and Honoka can still be found in Rin and Karen, despite their being tweaked considerably. More obvious is Komachi, otherwise known as [[Tokyo Mew Mew|Retasu]].
** ''[[Fresh Pretty Cure]]'' had the blatant [[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch|Lucia]] expy Love/Cure Peach.
** [[Heartcatch Pretty Cure|Kumojacky]] is a younger [[Pretty Cure Splash Star|Kintolesky]].
* 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, "[[Fan Nickname|Kyuuichi]]") from ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya
** 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 Idolmaster Xenoglossia|The iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia]]'' looks ''exactly'' like Shiori from ''Kanon'', and even has a [[Snow Means Love|snow reference]] in her name.
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** 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'' [[The Lancer|lancer]] is an expy of Yamato from the first season. He, Ken/Digimon Kaiser, Ruki, Kouji, Touma, and Kiriha are varying degrees of [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|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 of the Valley of
** Averted with Sophie in ''[[
** Chihiro and Rin from ''[[Spirited Away]]'' look a lot like Shizuku and her [[Cool Big Sis|older sister]] from ''Whisper of the Heart''.
*** Or more like an early-teen [[My Neighbor Totoro|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''. [[Justified Trope|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 [[My Neighbor Totoro|Totoros]] have ancestors in the pandas of ''Panda! Go, Panda!''. [[Laputa: Castle in
* 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]]''
** ''[[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 ''[[Rule of Three|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 ''[[
** Much more. Kugimiya Rie voice-acted Shana of ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' (animated by J.C. Staff), Nagi of ''[[
** The [[
*** Which is then very severely subverted, due to the ZnT headmaster being a [[Dirty Old Man]], and Dumbledore confirmed by [[Word of God]] to be gay.
* 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 [[
** And then inverted when {{spoiler|one of the "same face, different place" characters really ''does'' turn out to be the same person they'd met before.}}
** [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]] later on, when one Expy turns out to be {{spoiler|the ''son'' of the character he mimics, for... [[Oedipus Rex|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. ''[[
* 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 <s> equalist</s> [[All
*** 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 [[The Rival|Rival]], a romance with a pink-haired pacifist princess...
** {{spoiler|Rolo's}} Vincent has a V on its head like a gundam to top it off {{spoiler|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 [[Death Note
** 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 [[CLAMP
* One could say that Euphemia Li Britainnia is an expy to ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
* ''[[Clannad (
** It could be argued that Nagisa is Shiori because {{spoiler|she ''[[Not Quite Dead|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 ''[[
*** Amazing in that [[Kyoto Animation]] finished ''[[
*** 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 [[Pandering to
*** [[media:
** Misae is an [[Expy]] of [[Full Metal Panic!|Kaname Chidori]], down to the [[Satsuki Yukino|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 [[Lampshade Hanging|pointing out]]. The poor girl once gets photographed by an [[Otaku]] who sees the resemblance and [[Otaku Surrogate|Konata]] once gives her Akari's red uniform.
*** By transivity, Ryou is also a visual [[Expy]] of Akari.
* Mitsuka-sensei from ''[[
** Speaking of ''[[
* Most ''[[
** 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 [[
* In [[
** Weirder case here because we have [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|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 {{spoiler|much, much more faithful friends.}}
* Shotaro Ishinomori introduced a character by the name of Roam in the ''[[The Legend of Zelda (
** Jet got yet another Expy in ''[[
** And another in ''[[Disgaea]]'s'' Kurtis.
* Mahoro from ''[[Mahoromatic]]'' and Noel from ''[[Shina Dark]]'' are both [[Robot Girl]] [[Robot Maid|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
** 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 ''[[
** They even become best friends in ''[[Super Robot Wars 4]]'' and ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact]]''
* Akira from the [[Hentai]] game ''[[Viper V 16]]: Rise'' is a blatant Expy of Yuka from ''[[Variable Geo]]''. The two both work at [[Fan Service
* 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-Out|shout outs]]. Seeing The Hulk, Gambit, Apocalypse, or ''Venom'' fighting Kenshin in Meiji era Japan is... surreal, to say the least.
* In ''[[Pokémon (
** 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. {{spoiler|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. {{spoiler|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
* The three major characters of ''[[
** Also, Conan himself is an Expy of [[Sherlock Holmes]], much as Kaitou is an Expy of [[Arsène Lupin]].
* Masataka Takayanagi from ''[[Tenjho Tenge|TenjhoTenghe]]'' and Kazu from ''[[
* Dufaux, the bookreader of [[Evil Twin|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!
* Reading into some of [[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|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 (manga)|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 [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|Komachi]] [[Jerkass|Tsugumi]] from ''[[Ever 17]]''.
* Most of class 2-D is taken from [[Mobile Suit Gundam
* In ''[[Amanchu!]]'', the author transported ''[[
** In the most recent{{when}} chapters, they give us characters Akane and Chizuru who look
* Kentaro Yabuki reused both the appearance and the powers of both Kyoko and Eve from ''[[Black Cat (
** 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 [[Expy|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) {{spoiler|wings on his back}} for his first appearance in the manga, and his "introduction" scene in the anime mirroring {{spoiler|Kaworu's reveal as an angel}}, complete with [[Shout-Out|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 [[The Idiot From Osaka|Idiot from Osaka]] tendencies, the same [[Loveable Rogue|loveably roguish]] demeanor, the same gift for [[No Social Skills|socially incorrect remarks]], and the same ability to show up whenever the plot conveniently needs to be moved along.
** Before we note that [[Ayashi no Ceres|Tooya]] and [[Absolute Boyfriend|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 ([[The Stoic|Stoic]] [[Child Soldiers]] who [[Character Development|grow more human]] after meeting and [[Bodyguard Crush|protecting]] an [[Ojou]], have [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] goofball [[The Lancer|Lancers]], and pilot [[Humongous Mecha]] with dangerous but powerful technology), [[Full Metal Panic!|Sousuke Sagara]] is often considered an Expy of [[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
** 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 [[
** 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.
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** 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
** Frederica Bernkastel is an [[Expy]] of Rika Furude. It doesn't help that it's hinted that {{spoiler|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 Magical Girl|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 [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!|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 [[Nana Mizuki|voice actress!.]]
* Likewise, most characters in ''[[Pani Poni Dash!]]'' correspond to characters in ''[[
* 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]] {{
** "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 [[Pokémon (
* Lucifer of ''[[Saint Beast]]'' is [[Final Fantasy VII|Sephiroth]] with black
* Kaede from ''[[Ladies
* 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 ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya
** 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. [[The Big O
** [[
** 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 [[Rule 34|fanart]] of her.
** In fact, there are so many expies of Rei that they have [[Rei Ayanami Expy|their own trope!]]
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** And let's not forget about that Kaworu thing that Akise's got going on... {{spoiler|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 [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Shinji Ikari]] with blue hair and a ''very'' inspirational rolemodel and [[Blood Brothers|"Bro"]] in the form of Kamina. Well, [[Character Development|at least early on]]. It's ''really'' hard to see the similarities between Simon and Shinji in the end of their respective series.
* ''[[
* Ai Yazawa's series tend to borrow designs from whatever series she made that preceded them. For example, [[Gokinjo Monogatari
* 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 (
* 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 [[Redheaded Hero|a redheaded]] [[Magical Girl]] with [[Genki Girl|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
** A [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] with a gentle, giving heart who originally seems to be a love interest for the heroine, but ends up {{spoiler|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/{{spoiler|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]],
* ''[[
* ''[[Angel Beats
** This serves as the driving force of a [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6149731/1/ crossover fanfiction between the two franchises.]
* 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 [[Meganekko|glasses]] and [[Shrinking Violet|shy personalities]], and in the beginning of ''[[Zombie Loan]]'', Michiru even has Lettuce's twin braids. Until she chops them off, of course.
* [[Chrome Shelled Regios|Sharnid Elipton]] is a pretty much a copy of [[Full Metal Panic!|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 [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Simon]] is Shinji who admired his cool older brother and [[This Ugly Yet Beautiful World|Takeru]] is Shinji with abandonment issues towards his mother rather than his father. Hopefully we don't forget [[
* 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.
** Machi Shina looks like [[
** Service looks like Rin from [[Vocaloid]]. [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|Except Service is a boy.]]
* The [[Manhwa]] ''[[Witch Hunter]]'' is quite an expy of ''[[D
* Many of the characters in [[Rumiko Takahashi]]'s latest work, [[
* ''[[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 [[Epileptic Trees|theorized]] that both franchises are a part of the same universe becacuse of the presences of a [[God]] and a [[
** As for the characters, protagonist Kane Blueriver is a male, less sociopathic version of [[Red Headed Heroine|Lina Inverse]], [[Tsundere|Millie Nocturne]] and [[The Ditz|Nina Mercury]] are split parts of [[The Pollyanna|Princess Amelia's]] personality, Railey Claymore carries a few of[[Jerk
* ''[[
** There's also Kyoshiro Nagumo from ''SAGA'' and ''SIN'', who is an expy for Gilbert Dullindal of ''[[
** Henri Claytor is an expy for [[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
* D'Eon from [[Le Chevalier
* Walker and Erika from ''[[Durarara!!]]'' serve as expies of Isaac and Miria from [[Baccano
** A latter ''[[Baccano
* 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 [http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/2945/houroumusukov01001.jpg 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 [[Only Six Faces|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 ''[[
** 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 [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|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 {{spoiler|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 [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|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|Fruits Basket's]] Hatori Sohma.
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* ''[[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 [[Jun Fukuyama|same voice actor.]]
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