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After reading [rave-master](/questions/tagged/rave-master "show questions
tagged 'rave-master'") and [fairy-tail](/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show
questions tagged 'fairy-tail'") I noticed the high similarity in their
characters. Some even being identical copies of the characters out of the
other series.

So how common is it for a mangaka to maintain the same character design
through out several of their manga's? Or is this just something Hiro Mashima
does ?


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manga-production mangaka
Is it common for mangaka to maintain the same characters design between different titles?


It's definitely not something that just Hiro Mashima does; in fact, it's very
common. Roel van Uden mentions Milk Morinaga in the comments. Sp0T mentions
Ken Akamatsu. If you look back at Akamatsu's work, he almost always creates
spiritual successors for his characters that have very similar appearances and
personalities, e.g. AI Love You's Cindy became Love Hina's Naru who became
Negima's Asuna; AI's Forty-chan became Love Hina's Kaolla Su who somewhat
became Negima's Ku Fei; Love Hina's Shinobu became Negima's Nodoka Miyazaki;
Love Hina's Kitsune became Negima's Kazumi Asakura. In the early sketches for
Negima that are given as bonus material in the US manga release, you can see
that the original design for Negi looked a lot like AI's Forty-kun with
glasses. There are many other examples in Akamatsu.

As another example, in Kozue Amano's Amanchu, the character of Hikari is very
similar in appearance, personality, and name to the character of Akari in
Aria. (Both names mean "light".) There are various similar-looking characters
across the CLAMP works, e.g. Sakura Kinomoto's older brother Touya resembles
Subaru Sumeragi from X, and both somewhat resemble Shizuka Doumeki from
xxxHolic and Rikuo from Legal Drug.

I think user2435 has a point that artists develop certain habits and
tendencies that express themselves in the character design. But it could also
be about staying recognizable; when I see the Negima volumes in the store, I
know right away that it's by Ken Akamatsu, because Naru's twin-tailed little
sister is staring at me from the front cover. Even if an artist is capable of
drawing in a very different style, it isn't necessarily advantageous to do so.
It may also be relevant that manga-ka tend to write the same kinds of stories
for each work, and so might draw in the same style to make sure the art and
story match. By the time we get to UQ Holder, Akamatsu has switched from love
comedy to adventure, and there are subtle differences in the art as a result
(Yukihime looks much more mature than any major heroine in his previous work.)
CLAMP uses a slightly different style between xxxHolic and Chobits, even
though the two works came out around the same time, because the stories are
different.

In short, it's very common for manga-ka to reuse character designs, or to
slightly tweak existing character designs.


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In Japanese it's called [Star
system](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_system_\(filmmaking\))

Earliest manga author who uses star system is [Osamu
Tezuka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka). See
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka%27s_Star_System) for
details of his star system.

Japanese version of wikipedia has a page for [Star system of
manga/anime](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B7%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%83%A0_\(%E5%B0%8F%E8%AA%AC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BB%E6%BC%AB%E7%94%BB\)#.E6.BC.AB.E7.94.BB.E3.83.BB.E3.82.A2.E3.83.8B.E3.83.A1.E3.83.BC.E3.82.B7.E3.83.A7.E3.83.B3_.28.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.29)

Manga/anime section describe 3 categories.

  1. Clearly defined same name character. Osamu Tezuka, [Fujiko Fujio](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiko_Fujio), [Shotaro Ishinomori](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotaro_Ishinomori), etc.

  2. Different character, Different world. [rave-master](/questions/tagged/rave-master "show questions tagged 'rave-master'") and [fairy-tail](/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-tail'") are categorized to this. Other example is heal team in [Time Bokan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Bokan). This contains [Team rocket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_in_the_Pok%C3%A9mon_anime_series#Team_Rocket) in pokemon.

  3. Same character, Same world. Negima, UQ Holder and CLAMP's manga are categorized to this. Each story is happen in same world, but focus to different time or character.

Outside of this, there are spin off story. [Magical Project
S](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Project_S) from [Tenchi
Muyo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenchi_Muyo!), [Magical Girl Lyrical
Nanoha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Girl_Lyrical_Nanoha) from
[Triangle Heart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Heart) and [Fate/kaleid
liner Prisma
Illya](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate/kaleid_liner_Prisma_Illya) from
[Fate/stay night](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate/stay_night).

That Wikipedia page also mentioned about game. For example, In addition to 2d
action, Mario is protagonist of cart game, tennis game and other.


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