The Knights of the Multiverse

The Knights of the Multiverse is a fan-made series crossing over cartoons and anime from all sorts of such as Steven Universe, Regular Show, Star Vs the Forces of Evil, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Sailor Moon, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, various Gundam and Transformers shows, and numerous others. A mix between action/adventure/fantasy/comedy/mecha genres, it contains one 13 episode mini-series and three seasons.

Test Animation Collection
A collection of short animations showcasing all the characters in the series, with each character introduced in each presiding season being added into each new segment.

Mini-Series
The original 13 episodes detailing the origin of the Crystal Knights, and their attempts to defend their homes against the threat of the Heralds of Unicron. Also features guest appearances from the Justice League.

Season 1
This season introduces the main format for the series, with episode lengths interchanging between two 11 minute segments or a full 22 minutes. Each episode involves the Knights either having mini-adventures around a city, traveling to some other Earth to assist another hero(es) or just having misadventures on Earth. This season also introduced many important themes and characters, such as the team's first oppositional force, L.O.S.R., and adds a MASSIVE amount of new characters to the roster (for the full list, visit Season 1's main page). This season also has the longest length, with 49 episodes.

Season 2
This season introduced many new themes and characters, most notably the Gundam Seed Destiny casts, the aversion of Evangelion's Third Impact, a second team-up with the Justice League, crossing paths with Adora and a whole other band of heroes that were brought together by the Multiverse's near collapse in the Mini-Series, and the creation of Mazinkaiser. This season also gives the series a more serious tone than the first one, exemplified by how several of the main characters aren't just heavily injured in battle, but even killed off.

Season 3
This season introduced the threat of the Guild of the Multiverse. It also plays heavily with the applications of Getter Rays, as exemplified by the inclusion of the Getter Army and the introduction of Shin Getter Robo.

Major Influences
KotM has two major influences, both behind the series' conception and the show's main plot elements and storyline.


 * The series' creation was very heavily inspired by the Super Robot Wars franchise, a series of video games that crossover dozens of giant robot anime (many of which appear/play big roles in the series), with how it takes multiple storylines and character arcs from different shows and combines them into a single narrative.
 * The series' story is very much inspired by the much-celebrated Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, from its large cast to its love of almost all things mecha, especially Super Robots (like Getter Robo) and of course a good amount of optimism and hot-blooded energy, with no fear, no shame, and not a single care given. This even extends to references to scenes from the series itself, such as the variation of the Shine Spark used by the drill-based Getter Robo formations being based off of the titular robot's Giga Drill Breaker, and arguably the most important moment in the series, Kamina's death, is a major influence in Hayato's death in Season 1 (which, subsequently, leads to the development of other characters, like Kamina's death did with Simon). What's more, each episode even has their own pair of eyecatches, which are even stylized very closely to the ones in Lagann. However, like Gurren Lagann, this series is also inspired by many other works and creators.
 * Another less impactful but still important influence is the original Powerpuff Girls series, with a good chunk of the main cast being made up of cute girls that get into really dangerous battles against sometimes really scary enemies, as well as a good amount of influence from Japanese shows.

While the Mazinger and Getter Teams, as well as the other classic Super Robot pilots, do interact with the team many times & appear to help out the team in numerous battles, especially in the first season, and their members are recognized as founders of the team, they are not technically members of the team since, technically speaking, they are meant to act more like the team's mentors or backup when they get too far over their heads (as degrading as that might unfortunately sound). Plus, for the most part, their stories have already happened, meaning that they've already had all of their character development and are ostensibly at their prime (well, most of them, anyway).


 * So why bother including MazInkaiser and Shin Dragon then? Well aside from the fact that they're awesome, it's sort of meant to act as a parallel to their status in the real (anime) world. While many other Super Robot-centered characters/shows just like them have fallen to the wayside (but are still remembered to some extent), for one reason or another, Getter and Mazinger are the ones that're remembered and celebrated the most: the ones that continue to inspire others like Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann, and even get new incarnations themselves, like Mazinger Z: Infinity & Getter Robo Arc. So much like they seem to in real life, Koji and Ryoma will keep moving forward, fight and inspired when no one else can/will.

While the show is inspired by a handful of western media, especially superhero media like DC (especially Justice League Unlimited) and Marvel Comics, the show's story is inspired by a large majority of Japanese storytelling: most notable are the works of quite possibly Japan's most important content creators, Osamu Tezuka and Yoshiyuki Tomino (the creators of Astro Boy & Gundam), hence the inclusion of a lot of their works in the series. Such elements used in KotM that've been inspired by their stories include:


 * Tomino's use of large, eccentric ensemble casts made up of wackos/unique characters of all ages, sizes, genders, powers and levels of intelligence (even literal children) that've been gathered together by nothing more than coincidence to fight against formidable, organized and often militarized bad guys, with most barely holding it together but somehow coming together and succeed in spite of all odds (of course, the cast act a bit more positively around each other than most Tomino ensemble casts), as well as a mixture of light-hearted goofiness and grim, merciless brutality.
 * Tezuka's themes of loss and sadness but hope for a better tomorrow, as well as robot characters dealing with issues of their identity - whether they are simply tools for other people to use or their own beings, and how they could find their place in the world, especially the ones that were made to look like other people, much like Astro Boy (and yes, this is why there are so many android characters in the series). Of course, this is juxtaposed a little bit by how his characters are represented in KotM, with them all arguably having much better endings than in their home series'.

The show's visual aesthetic/animation style is also inspired by the styles of older Japanese animators/storytellers, like Osamu Dezaki (with frequent use of unique styles like split screen, dutch angles, three-takes, and of course "postcard memories") and Yoshinori Kanada(very expressive character/effects animation, exaggerated/extreme poses).


 * Speaking of Dezaki, one of his most popular and influential works, Ashita no Joe, also influences a good amount of stuff in KotM as well, like Kamille's relationship with the younger members of the team being similar to Joe's relationship to the Neighborhood kids and how brutal some of the non-mech based fights can get at times. This also extends to visual references, like Joe's signature move, the Cross-Counter, being nodded to a good number of times throughout the show.

Many of the robot characters in this series have elements of their stories inspired by other robot-based cartoons & anime:


 * Many of these stories are mostly inspired by stories from the Astro Boy series, especially the 1980 and 2003 series (aside from the characters from said shows being featured).
 * The most apparent of these is Nyoka, who has borrows many elements from Astro's story, including some of his abilites and elements of his backstory, as a nod to how she was based off of one of Astro's prototype designs.
 * Atros and Epsilon's relationship is based off of Atlas & Livian from the 1980 Astro Boy series, another pair of robots treated terribly by their creator but find sanctuary in each other. Of course here, it's more just a simple sibling love, whereas Atlas and Livian eventually developed romantic feelings towards one another, especially after being rebuilt into adult forms.
 * The rivalry between Starr & Organ's "families" is based off of Astro Boy's reimagining of Romeo & Juliet, with their two families being rival robotics experts that more often not fight each other than their actual opponents (which is also meant to be a nod to Drum and her sisters being Expys for the Sabers). Of course Drum & Lime have a simple "besties"-type relationship rather than a romantic one, and the way their powers are presented are a little different since all three Organ Droids have the same powers while the Starr Droids have different powers. It also acts as a good way to both implement both trios in a way that feels at least a little natural & show some of the personal relationships that occur within the Renegades' ranks.
 * The story of Minerva, Lorelai's "evil" twin, is inspired by the story of Black Might Gaine, the (meant to be) evil clone of the titular hero robot of Brave Express Might Gaine, though her story is based more off of how Black Gaine's story was told in Super Robot Wars V.
 * Part of Earth-chan's characterization is based off of Brave Police J-Decker's Duke Fire with wanting to be a perfect "hero" and initially rejecting any "evil" emotions, though learns their value as time goes on.

For more information on the basics of the series, visit the following pages:


 * List of Series Featured
 * Series Timeline
 * Alternate Dimensions
 * Science
 * Magic
 * Continuity