Based on the first two story arcs (Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency) of Hirohiko Araki’s epic manga, the first season of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures tells the tales of Jonathan and Joseph Joestar. Jonathan’s story takes place in Victorian England, and Joseph’s (Jonathan’s grandson) story largely takes place in World War II Europe with some parts in New York and Mexico. While Jonathan fights Dio Brando and his army of the night in Phantom Blood, Joseph in Battle Tendency takes on the Pillar Men, the creators of the masks that made Dio a vampire.

If you enjoy manly anime, nothing can equate to Vanishing Line’s masculinity more than JoJo. Both series share heroes who fight specific monsters and use special abilities to combat them. While Sword ultimately needs his blade and armor to take out his enemies (despite being a competent fighter without them), the cast of JoJo rely on a special technique known as Hamon, or the Ripple, to manipulate their energy and breathing into the sunlight to fight vampires. What makes JoJo distinct beyond its unorthodox poses and psychedelic use of colors are its creative action sequences. How creative they are is just something that you have to see for yourself, which mostly comes to fruition when the series gets into Joseph’s story. While Garo has JAM project as part of its slaying soundtrack, JoJo pays homage to its rock influences by using Roundabout by Yes as its ending theme, which Araki listened to when he first made the manga.

So imagine that you died, and based on a good majority of religious upbringings, you’re raised to believe you either go to Heaven, Hell or be reincarnated into something else based on how you lived your life. In the world of Drifters, you are transported to a world of elves, dwarves, and other mythical creatures that are at war with each other, and you got no choice but to fight. The main trio from Japanese history that drives the series is Shimazu Toyohisa, Oda Nobunaga, and Nasu no Yoichi. However, they are not alone when other figures throughout world history find themselves in this crazy world. Other famous unique additions to this cast are Joan of Arc, Butch Cassidy, Rasputin, and even Adolf Hitler are all involved in this conflict. So what happens when one group wins? No one knows, but kicking ass is what these people do best and that’s what they do.

Both Vanishing Line and Drifters are supernatural action series that have their share of not only action, but also humor and intriguing cast of characters. If anything, you can add a twist of Bill and Ted into this anime and you get one bogus journey and with a rockin’ soundtrack, you can air guitar to. While Shimazu tends to drive the series as the heart, Oda is the brains (and is used for comic relief), and Yoichi is the shadow that takes care of loose ends.

What makes this series distinct is how it uses actual tactics (mostly concocted by Oda) in order to achieve victory. They even take advantage of the magic of the mysterious world in a usage that even the natives never considered. For example, the natives use crystal balls for general communication, but Oda uses them on the field to coordinate his assaults with all of his teams to get things smoothly going. While the action does have brain, it equally has its share of brawn and balls that you also can see in Vanishing Line.

In this anime, time-eating demons manifest when an individual’s feelings of wanting to go back in time and change their lives become strong enough to give life to them. Combating this threat are the Chrono Rulers, led by the Putin family, who are specifically trained and equipped to handle them. The Putin family consists of father Victor, his wife Mina, and their son Kiri.

The obvious similarities to both Vanishing Line and Chrono Ruler are that the villains are born from a darker side of human desires, and a specific group of warriors fights them. Like in the mythos of the Garo franchise, being part of the Chronos Ruler group is also a family-oriented tradition. Victor, a 39-year-old trapped in his 16-year-old body shares many qualities with Sword. While both characters are very outgoing to the point it put offs their peers, they truly care about the people they want to protect and are still kick ass warriors. While Garo tends to take a masculine approach to its designs, Chronos Ruler is more bishonen oriented. So if you want horror action with the bishonen flavor, Chronos Ruler might be for you.

In the year 2036, mankind discovers a dimensional energy source named Dimension W. The New Tessa Energy corporation gains exclusive access to harnessing and providing the supposed unlimited energy source from Dimension W. 36 years have now passed and the coils, devices that are used to capture the energy, are also on the black market. And the only people who can re-obtain the illegally used coils are expert retrievers known as Collectors.

Both series are dark and take place in a metropolis where threats reside. Another quality they both share is that they deal with the dark sides of human greed but in distinct ways. While Vanishing Line expresses it in a manner through horrors and that makai knights are still obligated to protect humans, Dimension W deals with that quality more directly with criminals going after the energy coils. The action sequences are high-octane and rely on a balance of strength and strategy.

So if you want something with urban action with some destruction, Dimension W offers that. Last, both main characters have interests that are rather retro. For Kyouma, he is into old technology by the standards of 2072 by using older cars, while Sword enjoys eating out at 1950’s style diners.

In Kekkai Sensen, the world has changed for the weirder now that other lifeforms have evolved to live alongside humans after a dimensional gateway opened and enclosed New York City. What was once known as the Big Apple has now become know as Hellsalem’s Lot. Everyone tries to get along but things just don’t work as planned. The only ones capable of maintaining law and order is a group of special fighters known only as Libra. And their newest member is an amateur photographer, Leonardo Watch. At the cost of his own sister’s vision, he obtains the all-seeing eyes of the gods, which gives him several abilities such as enhanced vision, seeing things for what they are, and can manipulate the vision of other people.

For starters, both take place in modern American cities filled with unique creatures and only special organizations can stop their threats. While Leonardo isn’t a fighter like Sword, he does bring his own contributions to the battle with his abilities. While the monsters tend to be the bad guys and hidden in Garo, that isn’t 100% the case in Kekkai Sensen since humans and nonhumans do try to co-exist within the confines of their situation. Another base quality they share but express in different ways is the nature of human co-existence. Both Vanishing Line and Kekkai Sensen demonstrate that humans are by no means perfect and they are capable of doing some really bad things, but it doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth protecting.

Based on the long-running hit manga by Kentaro Miura, season 2 of the new Berserk anime has Guts continuing on his quest for revenge against Griffith, and to cure Casca of her catatonic state. However, he is not alone in this journey because he has the help of Serpico, Isidoro, Farnese, and Schinke to combat Griffith’s newest army. Not only does he get a new team, he finally gets the fearsome Berserker armor, which makes him more powerful than he ever was.

These series shares many numerous qualities by having macho knights who fight evil creatures of the night. While Sword tends to be friendly with regular people, Guts tends to isolate himself from others due to bearing a cursed brand on his neck that can summon evil spirits. In addition, they both bear armors that give them power-ups, but if used for too long, can drive them to lose their minds. Despite sharing these base qualities, they do have their differences.

For starters, Berserk takes place in a medieval fantasy setting while Vanishing Line takes place in a modern city, and Guts and Sword have different fighting styles. With Sword, he tends to rely on his fists before he puts on his armor. As for Guts, he mostly relies on his monstrous Dragon Slayer but occasionally uses his knives, crossbow, and arm cannon.