METASERIES

A 'metaseries'^[1] includes series of stories which include references to each other and some overall similar chronological or cast backdrop, but are not similar enough to be considered direct sequels.
In some anime fandom, the term can be used to describe all the works and adaptations of a single overall story or franchise, especially when it should be implied each adaptation is not wholly consistent with another. For example, progressive market interest can get a manga made into a short OVA, later made into a television series (animated, live-action, or both), and then a movie. Long-running Japanese anime TV programs are divided into separate series instead of seasons, as Japanese television does not have the concept of 'seasons' that American television uses, so the term 'metaseries' can be applied to the entire collection of series that make up one program.
The series ''Cutie Honey'', ''Dr. Slump'', ''Dragon Ball'',^[2] ''Sailor Moon'',^[2] ''Tenchi Muyo!'', ''Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch'' and ''Futari wa Pretty Cure'' have been comics, multiple TV series, and movies, but they do not have a rigid single continuity, though the latter does have continuity within the same form of media.
''Mobile Suit Gundam'' is a television anime series that has spawned at least four continuation series and at least five alternate universe series, one of which has its ''own'' continuation series. In addition, countless movies, manga, video games, novels, and various other works have been created based on this anime. They all share the common theme of giant robots used as weapons of war, and, for the most part, distinguish themselves by portraying giant robots with a scientific realism. However, there is no single continuity, although one series, ''Turn A Gundam'', attempted to reconcile the various alternate universes into a single rigid timeline, only for ''Gundam SEED'' to come along and break that continuity some years later.
''Pokémon'' is an anime series, a video game series, a manga series and a trading card game but none of them seem to have the same characters. In the anime Ash travels with his friends Brock and Misty (later, May then Dawn) collecting and battling Pokémon. In the video games, the player controls the silent main character, who collects and battles Pokémon and wins the local Pokémon League. The trading card game can be considered plotless.
In American comic books, the term metaseries is almost never used to refer to all interconnected series in a large shared universe, such as the DC universe or the Marvel Universe (or, even more broadly, the crossovers between such universes). More often, the term metaseries (or, in some cases, "megaseries") is used to refer to a small group of interconnected limited series, often by the same creators. Jack Kirby's Fourth World and Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory are two notable examples of this.

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Notes and references

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Notes and references

1. Metaseries is not to be confused with meta fan fiction.
2. ''Sailor Moon'' and ''Dragon Ball'' metaseries information at http://simplicity.com/
3. ''Sailor Moon'' and ''Dragon Ball'' metaseries information at http://simplicity.com/

See also

★ Limited series

★ Shared universe

★ Miniseries