November (at least in the US) is a month of food. Old recipes are dug out of family recipe books, everybody has to relearn how to roast a whole turkey all over again, and all the stores stock up on rarely used items, like turkey basters, and giant Tupperware. In this month nearly every moment is filled to stuffed with research about, talk about, watching about, thinking about, dreading about, and even dreaming about the perfect family meal. And in this frenzy of familial feasting, what is on the mind of many is what makes the perfect pairing. Like wine goes with cheese. Like cranberries go with turkey. Like pie goes with more pie. And for the anime fan, of course we also like the perfect pairing. So please enjoy this menu of anime that just goes so well together!
Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star
If Cowboy Bebop is the classy, jazz listening, too cool for it’s animation, space opera; then Outlaw Star is it’s rough and tumble, guitar rift playing, counter part. Though there is a lot of similarities between these two space operas, it’s the differences that make these anime such a great pair to watch together. For instance, both anime feature wild haired main characters that take a few too many risks, yet their personalities couldn’t be more different. While Cowboy Bebop’s Spike Spiegel doesn’t like women, children, or animals; Outlaw Star’s Gene Starwind gets along with pretty much everybody. He even forgives an assassin that was trying to slice him to bits! Likewise, one of these anime is a lot more space than opera. The Cowboy Bebop crew might spend most of their time on planets solving crimes and getting into trouble, but the Outlaw Star crew is mostly seen in space and gets into quite a few actual space ship battles. The best part about this pair is if you ever get bogged down by Cowboy Bebop’s Noire bleakness, you can always switch over to Outlaw Star for a few episodes to lighten up the mood!
Pretty Boy Detective Club and Clamp School Detectives
Have you ever watched an anime and thought “This could use a lot more retina burning sparkles.”? Watched a brooding detective anime and thought “This main character needs to be cuter, a lot cuter!“? Ever watch and anime hero struggle and wondered “What? Why isn’t he overflowing with an abundance unfounded energetic confidence?”? Well, you’re in luck! Here is a duo of detective anime that plays off each other perfectly. While Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star are great together because of their differences, Pretty Boy Detective Club and Clamp School Detectives work well together because of their similarities. Both have laughably over confident and charismatic “leaders” of their clubs. Both have over the top mysteries and damsels in distress. Both are set in larger than life schools with equally extreme characters. And, both are just so fun to watch.
Princess Tutu and Kageki Shojo
Princess Tutu and Kageki Shojo don’t make a perfect pair by being similar or different but rather by taking the same subject and looking at it from different points of view. The characters of Kageki Shojo focus on the desire to be the best at preforming, to express the best characters they can on the stage, and to be remembered for their shining presents in their art. While the cast of Princess Tutu are actually in the stories that the cast of Kageki Shojo are trying to act out.
The main character in Princess Tutu (Duck) might be a ballet student and striving to be a ballerina, but she’s actually living the theatrical stories. When Sarasa Watanabe climbs onto the stage, she doesn’t have to worry if the bad guy’s going to win, she already knows how the play is going to turn out. What Sarasa needs to worry about is that she plays her part and creates a believable character on stage. Though Duck from PT might have to deal with a lot more uncertainty, for Sarasa the results if she fails in her goal are no less real than Duck’s. And that’s what makes these two anime such a wonderful pair.
Do you have any favorite anime that are better together? Leave a comment below!
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The anime exclamation of the week is: Ane-san! meaning Big Sister!
I’m currently watching:
- Banished from the Heroes Party
- Toilet bound Hanako-kun
- Kemono Jihen
- Click Link
- Visual Prison
- Taisho Otome Fairy Tale
- Mars Red
- Inari Kon Kon
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- The Great Jahy will Not Be Defeated!
- Detective Conan
- The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window
- Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Neo Angelique Abyss
- Hanasakeru Seishonen
- Takt Op. Destiny
- Zombie Loan
- Hells
- Sakugan
- Over Lord
- Backflip
- Bung Stray Dogs
- Cardfight Vanguard Overdress
Anime Hanabi 
You are watchinga a LOT!
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Yeah, I like a lot of variety. I usually watch a couple of hours in the morning, and then another hour during lunch and then maybe like four hours in the evening. And for each watching block I’ll switch between anime series. So that’s like 3 or 4 different series in a day. Honestly, I’m kind of sad, I recently started a new job so I’ve had to drastically cut down on my watching time. Now I’m lucky if I can even get 5 hours in on a work day!
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Interesting pairings! The series that reminds me most of “Cowboy Bebop” is “Coyote Ragtime Show”…though I guess that doesn’t necessarily mean they’d make a good pair….
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I haven’t actually seen Coyote Ragtime Show, maybe it would have paired better with Cowboy Bebop than Outlaw Star. I only kind of remember the trailer for that series. Okay, now I’m curious! I’m going to have to look up CRS and watch it to see which of the three would make the better pairing. Hmm, or maybe CRS would go better with Outlaw Star? Or maybe it’s like a space opera trinity and all of them would go together? Now I need to watch Coyote Ragtime Show to answer my burning questions!
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Oops, sorry! 😛
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