Crossing Over

                                                                

 

 

 

With the recent announcement of the Attack on Titan crossover with Marvel, there might be a new set record for exploding heads of fans out of excitement on the horizon. So in anticipation we look at some of the other crossovers that anime has been so nice to give and other amusing strange concepts as well.

 

 

DragonBall Z X One Piece – One Piece is one of the longest running, most imaginative anime shows you could ever watch, with plenty of strangeness, heart and adventure, it isn’t hard to see why it’s such a global phenomenon. So why would it be a surprise that it would cross over with another fan favorite title that has been fighting its way into people’s heart for more than one generation of anime fans.  Well actually the crossover has more to do with the two creators than the idea that it would be huge to have them in a single episode. Noted of course that it is huge! Eichiro Oda the creator of One Piece has often cited Akira Toriyama the creator of Dragon Ball as an inspiration, whom he looks up to and admires. One Piece echoes the feel of the original Dragon Ball series in the sense that both feel more like an adventure show, Dragon Ball probably more so than Dragon Ball Z, still it seems very fitting for the both to crossover. The connections don’t stop there before Oda would become the creator of one of the biggest manga’s of all time he would work under Nobuhiro  Watsuki the creator of another classic Rurouni Kenshin. So we definitely have consider the respect among the two authors to be one of the strongest factors. Yet it doesn’t stop us from gushing at the notion of how it would look to see Luffy and Goku kicking butt and wearing I’m with Stupid shirts.

 

       One Piece has captured the imagination of anime fans everywhere when it also comes to their endless line of figures, ranging from the costume changes in the show, to those of them when they’re kids, to movie versions and so much more, so of course having DBZ crossover with One Piece would make sense in the figure world where both crossing over would first happen. Wearing each other’s clothes and the rest of the cast switching threads as well.  It would move on from that to the manga having a chapter where they cross over and now announced to become an anime special on TV. Dreams do come true and the Attack on Titan X Marvel crossover is in good company. If you’re worried about the crossover being a little strange considering how vast both worlds are, don’t because One Piece has had a crossover before DBZ and that was with another eating monster much like Luffy and that’s the gourmet hunter Toriko.

 

 

 

Nausicaa Valley of the Wind X Neon Genesis Evangelion- Before anyone scratches their head about this one, think first of the connection the two legendary directors have to each other. Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder and world renown director for so many of Sudio Ghibli films, helping to have anime crossover and break through to new audiences in the United States and Hideki Anno, director of the game changing Neon Genesis Evangelion TV show, which has been retold in the critically acclaim series of movies currently coming out.  Before Anno had done the works he’s famous for, he worked with good friend and his “Sensei” Hayao Miyazaki on Nausicaa Valley of the Wind, his dedication did not go unnoticed, sleeping under the tables in the studio for a week without going home, he was responsible for helping design the God Warriors in the film that have a striking resemblance to the Eva Robots in his own show. In fact when pressed on the possibility of a sequel ever being made of Nausicaa, Miyazaki said that if it ever did happen it wouldn’t be him to direct it, he would though like to see Hideki Anno direct it. Many consider Miyazaki’s retirement from directing as a passing the torch to Hideki Anno. I qualify this as a crossover.

 

Detective Conan X Lupin The III – I won’t pretend to hide my excitement for this one. The Great Detective vs the Master Thief. Lucky for fans you get to see the meet up of Edogawa Conan and Lupin The III twice on the screen, first the small and then the big. In 2009 a TV special aired of the crossover and in 2013 the full length feature was released.  The film would go on to get a Japanese Oscar Nod and after its release was the highest grossing Detective Conan film of all time. Which says a lot considering there were seventeen films before it. This crossover was no stranger to figure releases as well. Having both main characters wear each other’s costume and even had Lupin wearing another master thief’s costume, Conan’s rival Kaito Kid who this past year had a new spinoff series released which is currently airing alongside Detective Conan.

 

 

Fairy Tale X Rave Master- Here’s an interesting one both titles are done by the same creator Hiro Mashmia in which the two main characters happen to meet by chance and due to a misunderstanding end up fighting each other. Fans of Fairy Tail that have never seen Mashima’s previous work might want to check out the manga wherever that would be possible. It might interest you into exploring Rave Master’s manga/anime. Do you watch Fairy Tail instead then have no fear as not long after the manga the anime was announced. The crossover would see certain sequences drawn by Mashima himself and even have a few characters that weren’t in the manga crossover.

 

 

Pluto – So this one is another crossover in the sense of the word. Naroki Urasawa responsible for critically acclaimed works such as Monster and 20^th Century Boys would set out to do a manga that could be called a Science Fiction Mystery. In it an Inspector has to investigate murders that seem to target the Seven Robot Wonders of the World and their creators, a dangerous task considering that he himself is one of these special Robots. With special permission and working with Osamu Tezuka’s son and company he was allowed to use the Greatest Robot In The World story arc from the Astro Boy series including several characters in Astro Boy. You can consider it a retelling of the arc or an influence into something entirely new but it amazing and captivating. Reading the manga makes clear the love Urasawa has for Osamu Tezuka’s works and how it had influenced him. If you’ve never read this eight volume manga then I recommend you check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

Tsubasa Chronicle X XXXholic- In many ways this crossover spans beyond these two shows/mangas and like many other Clamp related titles, has characters from other series that have different roles in this universe while giving nods to their original. Everything from Chobits to X can find itself in the show and even the two main characters in Tsubasa had different roles then they did as the main characters in Cardcaptor Sakura along with different personalities.  Tsubasa Chronicle is interesting because they travel through many worlds and each world has a feather that contains one of Sakura’s memories, in each world they would see familiar faces but just because they look like the people they know doesn’t mean they are that same person. One person can be enemy in one and the same person in a different world might be an ally, one could be friendly the other not so much.  So who gives them the ability to travel through the worlds to obtain Sakura’s memories, why it’s one of the main characters in XXX holic of course, known as the dimensional witch to them, Yuko Ichiara. In both shows you’ll see things that belong to the other and the meeting in the beginning would not be their last. If you really have a thing for crossovers than these two shows and Clamp and general is for you. If you look closely in both shows you can find things belonging to the characters of the show running parallel to it.  You could go crazy with all the connections of the titles. What does Angelic Layer have to do with Chobits, what does Tokyo Babylon have to do with X.  In the world of Clamp it’s all connected.

There are plenty of other crossovers in anime and even more cameos, references and so on and it jumps to mediums that have ties to anime like games and movies and even crazier things in between.  It might have to be a challenge to undertake, what classic anime characters did one of the characters from Toradora dress up and which one did she quote. Who are some of the characters from a certain famous fighting game among the crowds awaiting Genkai in Yu Yu Hakusho. After starting to think about it you know you want to find out.