Cowboy Bebop and the Tanis Love Triangle (New!)

Grrr...Julia...*seethes*

Look! I mean, they even have matching headbands! How much freakier does it get??

Aha! What do we see here? Could it be that the Tanis/Laurana/Kitiara love-triangle is comparable to the Spike/Julia/Faye love-triangle? I think SO!

Let us take a moment to examine this situation. Julia is a figure that haunts Spike's past, his lost love from yester-year. Laurana is a figure who haunts Tanis's past, a lost childhood love from yester-year. Both of whom are blonde, incidentally. Faye and Kitiara are both dark-haired, busty, fiery-tempered women that wormed their ways into Spike's and Tanis's hearts later in the men's lives. Both Tanis and Spike are torn between their past and present relationships and, sadly, both end up with their old loves, Tanis as his wife and Spike in death. But Kitiara dies anyways. No one knows what happened to Faye.

Twin Syndrome: Raistlin and Caramon vs. Knives and Vash

Vash and Knives are the main source of conflict in the anime Trigun. Though most of Knives' appearances in the series are in flashbacks from Vash's memory, he is a dark figure that constantly haunts Vash's past. Most of the time, Vash is a peace-loving, pacifistic jokester who pretends to be more stupid than he really is, while Knives is a psychotic mass-murderer who exhibits immensely powerful psychic abilities and considers all humans insects. They aren't humans, themselves, but Plants, or "Those Who Live Outside of Time", meaning they were created via a mixture of nature and lost human technology.

Caramon and Raistlin are two major DL characters. They are a constant source of personality conflict and have a very love/hate kind of relationship. They have opposing abilities and personalities, Caramon as the robust, sentimental, cheerful, slightly slow warrior, and Raistlin as the sickly, cold, cynical, intelligent mage. Raistlin believes that they were intended to be one person, but by some twisted joke of the gods, were separated into two each with their own share of characteristics. Caramon thinks that Raistlin depends on him for protection, but in actuality, it is Caramon who depends upon his brother.

There are really an enormous amount of similarities between these two combinations, mostly because they both have the sort of "Evil Twin" theme underlying them. (Also I like to insert plugs for my favorite anime!) So, onto the comparisons!

Similarities:
-Knives and Raist both have the lighter hair and darker skin, while Vash and Caramon have darker hair and lighter skin.
-Caramon has a red cloak and Vash wears a red duster! (Okay, that was pretty cheap)
-Vash and Caramon can both be pretty goofy and clumsy at times.
-Knives and Raistlin both have the real powers. Raistlin has magic, and from the anime, we can tell that Knives is telepathic (Well, so is Vash, but whatever), and he can make little black-hole thingies that kill people really slowly and painfully by sucking them into oblivion. ^_^
-Both pairs share that unique love-hate relationship. They hate what the other does, but can't bring themselves to completely hate them. They still maintain the bonds that brothers who grew up together have.
-Knives and Raistlin have extremely small regard for human life

Differences:
-Well, there's the obvious difference that DL is a fantasy, and Trigun is a sci-fi/western/action/comedy/romance/drama.
-Vash's hair resembles a broomstick when it's up.
-Caramon is slow while Vash can calculate the trajectory of a bullet between the time it's fired and the time it's about to hit him.
-Raistlin doesn't follow the "Kill the spider to save the butterfly" philosophy, meaning he doesn't want to destroy mankind.
-The DL twins are not a higher form of life called plants.
-Vash and Knives are 133 years old. Raistlin and Caramon are only 25.
-Caramon is willing to kill his enemies without hesitation, Vash will not kill them at all.
-Knives doesn't try to challenge the god of evil; he believes he already is a god.

Dragonball and Dragonlance: More Than Just the Names?

Tanis: Trunks (Mirai)- Both are the tragic heroes in the story. Both are half-breeds, and they both had sad childhoods. Their names both start with the same letter.

Caramon: Gokou- Figure it out! Both are big, dumb, strong, and like to eat a lot!

Tika : Chi-chi- Both are dominant wives of the big, dumb, strong guy who enjoy bossing their husbands around a lot.

Laurana : Bulma- Both are smart, bossy, and slightly naïve.

Raistlin : Vegita- Both have egos that are roughly the size of Texas and both are constantly searching for ways to gain more power.

Otik : Master Roshi- Both are the old geezers in the story. (I'm not sure if Otik is quite as big a pervert than Kamesennin, though.)

Sturm (Majere)/Tanin: Gohan/Goten- Both are the sons of the big guy.

Sturm (Brightblade): Piccolo- Both are the overly serious friends of the big guy (except Sturm was never a bad guy).

Tasslehoff : Krillin: *shudder* I hate to compare my beloved Tas to the "No-nosed-wonder" but they do have some similarities. They're both short and both the comic relief. 

Paladine: Shenron: Both big, almighty, dragon-type people.

Draconians: Most of Freezer's henchmen: Green, lizard-like and followers of a big evil person.

Riverwind : Yamcha: Boring idiots who don't do much.

Fistandantilus : Every Fused Character: They're both partially one person, and *dramatic pause* someone else.

Miranda: Maron: Both ditzes who only show their faces for about five seconds. Names both start with the same letter.

The Highseeker of Solace: Mr. Satan: Both idiots who think they're more powerful than they really are.