I see your point as to topology. Stretch this, shrink that, and you can smoothly transform one result into the other.
But if you approach your analysis more vector style, like where does the pen path start and end, there’s little in common between starting at top center going down, and starting at lower right going up & left.
Using @pulykamell’s cited examples, my cursive plus is third row 6th from left. With the pen path starting at the top center going down and ending at middle right going right.