Metaseries

A metaseries includes stories which reference each other and some overall similar chronology, cast, and/or background, but are not similar enough to be considered direct sequels.
Anime
Among some anime fans, the term may be used to describe all the works and adaptations of a single overall story or franchise, especially when 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, and then a movie. Long-running Japanese anime TV programs are divided into separate series (unlike American television 'seasons'), so the term 'metaseries' may apply to an entire collection of series that make up one program. The "Leijiverse" is an informal term for referring to the universe that includes the science fiction works of manga artist and animator Leiji Matsumoto. The most consistent elements of the Leijiverse are the charactrers and situations from Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, Queen Millenia, and Space Battleship Yamato, the latter being an alternate version to the anime due to licensing restrictions. Although over the decades characters from these different stories have interacted with each other, each have also been continuoiusly reimagined. From the beginning, there has never been a serious attempt at establishing one official continuity. As a result, in the practical sense, nothing need be considered non-canon and all stories are equally valid even if they appear to either contradict or reimagine previous stories.
The series Macross, Transformers, Cutie Honey, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon<ref name="DB & SM"/>, and ' have been comics, multiple TV series, and movies, but they do not have a rigid, single continuity—though Tenchi Muyo! does have continuity within the same form of media.
The Gundam franchise is an example of a metaseries. Mobile Suit Gundam is a television anime series that has spawned at least four continuation series (beginning with Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) and seven alternate universe series, including one with its own continuation series (the Cosmic Era timeline). 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 mecha Real Robots used as weapons of war and, for the most part, distinguish themselves by portraying giant robots with a degree of shared aesthetic elements. 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 Mobile Suit Gundam SEED to come along and break-up that continuity with its Cosmic Era timeline some years later. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 once again departed from this by being set in the current Anno Domini timeline instead.
Pokémon is an anime series, a video game series, and various manga series, with few shared characters. In the anime Ash travels with his friends Brock and Misty (later May and Max, 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 various manga series are largely unrelated to each other and feature various characters, some original and some based on the video games and anime.
Comics
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, Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory and Mike Mignola's Hellboy are notable examples of this.

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