Current Events > Any anime/manga with a shared universe as extensive as Marvel and DC?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Or is the idea of shared universes a Western thing?

If you count Jump Stars then yes.

Japanese writers actually own what they produce, so shared universes are usually non-canon events that jump runs where you'll get Luffy eating with Goku, but those stories don't extend back into the individual series.

I've been reading a lot of Go Nagai's stuff and he has a bunch of pseudo-sequels and crossover events with his different stories. But with most of the crossovers, the implication that the stories are the same universe doesn't make a ton of sense. Moreso just fanservice.

s0nicfan posted...

Japanese writers actually own what they produce, so shared universes are usually non-canon events that jump runs where you'll get Luffy eating with Goku, but those stories don't extend back into the individual series.

It's co-owned by the publishing company.

You can find multiple 2-3 series that shares the same universe, but more than that is rare.
The biggest one is probably the work of CLAMP.

Kamen Rider shared the same universe until Showa era, and then they still collaborates anyway with multiverse setting.
Then they also collaborated with Super Sentai series too.