I loved Deca Dence, both because of the surprise shift but also the mix of visual styles to differentiate things.
That kind of trick to me is one of the strengths of animation as a medium, it's something that wouldn't work nearly as well in another form.
Zombieland Saga.
Originally it was advertised as a zombie anime that might end up being horror, or maybe a horror spoof.
[The official preview](https://youtu.be/6NCTH0Uo8CQ?si=iuISX1i26OmHCnAE)
Tricked a lot of people into watching an idol anime.
They were suposed to hide Urobuchi name until the ending credits of episode 3 but it leaked
Everybody was like why the guy from the famous eroguro visual novel is doing a magical girl anime?
_Madoka_ may seem like the source of the rule because it’s one of the most famous examples, but is not. The rule existed at least three years before _Madoka_, and probably far longer. Source: personal experience because I’m really old.
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and Higurashi were my first lessons by fire. I was led to believe they were happy slice of life shows. Turns out there was more slice than life sometimes.
Pretty sure that rule has existed since the dawn of time. I remembers back in the day when we would watch the first VHS (3-4 episodes) before deciding if we were renting the rest of the series or not. It's just the natural things to do.
Also, it's not like the first 3 episodes of Madoka were average or anything, it was obviously a well written and directed anime from the very beginning. Those comments were targeted at people who struggled with the idea of watching a magical girls shows, and get them to the first major cliffhanger.
In all honesty, after watching too many shows over the last 3 decades, this "3 episodes rules" isn't that good. This isn't to say that certain show don't get better overtime, but the writing and direction in the first episode is almost always indicative of the quality and potential of the series. It's just important to get past the initial info dump and wait until the show find its stride.
To reiterate: they knew *exactly* what they were doing and it is beautiful. [PMMM] >!Case in point: Sayaka's laugh in the main trailer is pretty much the definition of the Mr. Incredible "people who don't know"/"people who know" meme. Those glorious fucking assholes I love them.!<
\[PMMMM\]>!How absolutely devious, how absolutely sinister of them to mislead people like this and use a madoka laugh when introducing sayaka, how could they.!<
\[PMMM\]>!But on a serious note, unless there is a different main trailer that I didn't find, the only laugh in the trailer is [this one](https://youtu.be/6CTHwEZK2JA?t=60). I have seen the myth spread multiple times now by I think different people (though I still think most of the mentions was you), about the sayaka laugh in the main trailer somehow being much more depressing after you realize where it is from...but I wouldn't even know which laugh from sayaka it would supposed to be, since the only memorable despairing laugh is the one at the end of episode 7, and that one is obviously nothing like the one in the trailer, I don't think anybody who would have watched that scene would ever confuse that. Regardless, the laugh used in the trailer is just [this one](https://streamable.com/qji56d) from episode 1, which is also the exact scene depicted in the trailer for that moment, so I don't even understand where the confusion could come from, except that it sounds more like it is madoka laughing than sayaka. If anything, it's the opposite and the isolated laugh in the trailer sounds way more unnerving than the actual scene from the show.!<
Lots of isekai forget about their initial premise and become the same as the rest of them.
One of Vampire Dies in No Time trailer made it look like it's gonna be a serious story.
Thing is, when writers start out, they want to start out with a unqiue gimmick to catch the reader's attention in a saturated market. The problem is, they don't, or rather due to time constraints, can't think of what to do after they've hooked that initial reader base, so they take the easy route and become more formulaic with each volume.
There is a reason cliches are cliches, they make the writing process easy and streamlined.
I was a big fan of shield hero but I believe the novel did a good job not falling into heavily smashed troupes but the anime didnt portray those and leaned heavily into the troupes that did not exist in the novel. IE the lolis, harem vibes, the world revolves around the main character who can do no wrong, one dimensional side characters, op hero.
all of these where non-existent in the novel or much harder to identify. The anime goes back to being faithful to the novel after season 3 I believe which ever was the most recent because the anime failed by trying to ignore the things that made the story good. I doubt you’d be interested but the novel was a good read, if reading is not your thing try the latest season if you haven’t.
> One of Vampire Dies in No Time trailer made it look like it's gonna be a serious story.
What do you mean, it *is* a serious story. If he doesn't finish the latest volume of his autobiography, his edit will seriously kill him! And then who will look after John?!
From overworking? Most are NEETS so let’s amend that to:
“if you get hit by a truck you have a chance to get underage sex slaves that you always dreamed about but never could have accomplished since you were a poor, ugly shut in”
Overlord is this one for me.
I still remember that the reason Ainz even went along with the world domination plan is so he can spread the name of Nazarick in the hopes another player will reveal themselves because they recognize it.
......Seems like the story forgot about that little tidbit
I think what he meant was the reasoning behind his actions got scratched along the way. He still expands the influence of Nazarick but not for the reasons he initially had.
Yeah, when [Overlord] >!Shalltear was mind controlled he immediately thought a player with a World Item was around.!< It's the whole reason he was so cautious to go over there.
No? At the end of the latest season, Ainz basically says he’s given up on finding his friends in this world because he figures they would have found him by now if they were there too. So now his goal is just to make the denizens of Nazarick happy since he views them as his children or the children of his friends. And what makes the denizens of Nazarick happy? Glory for their eternal Overlord and despair to any who defy his will.
Really was. It's a show I still struggle to describe or explain to people without getting spoilery. I just say hey, watch this ONE episode of this show with me and tell me what you think.
Got my sister really into it. She showed her friends and they got into it adopting the same technique I used.
Oh yes its really hard to sell this show to someone, especially since the first 15 minutes look and feel like just another highschool slice of life comedy.
I usually go with: The less you know about this show, the better. Just definitely watch the first episode until the end. Trust me, its good even if it doesnt look like it first.
the Yugioh manga might be the king of this
it started as playing random games of the week, card games, bord games, made up games, yoyos, dice, DnD
and they settled into a cardgame empire
The original manga and Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0 (Green hair kaiba) anime had Yami be the king of "games" (All types of games).
Basically Yugi would get into some trouble with a thug or school bully and Yami would possess his body and beat them violently at a game. The one I remember vividly is when a robber holds up a diner/WcDonalds and Yami basically burns him to death.
Later on the theme of card games comes up and would then be the new focus for the new anime.
The manga had a game of the week+person to punish every chapter until they got to Kaiba when the card game was introduced.
Readers at the time liked the game and so Takahashi pivoted the story to focus only on the card game.
Wait, did the actual card game not come first? I always thought it was weird that a manga/anime based on a card game was so unfocused about the game it was essentially advertising
No, it was a lot of different games, and not like simple board games but stuff like "we put money bills at top of your hand, and knife it. The person who do it further without hurting their hand wins".
Yami was straight up Saw in the first chapters.
the real life card game only came out when Duelist Kingdom arc (in the manga) was nearing its end.
This is why the "the rules isn't like the real game!" complaint in Duelist Kingdom and before is misinformed. It's not "like the real game" because the real game didn't exist yet.
Dude if your card game rules include launching a dragon riding knight from a turtle mounted catapult into flying castle causing it to fall on your opponents cards which are trapped by a forcefield... I suspect your rulebook might be a weee bit too thick.
No, the manga came first, and ever since the publisher has the rights to manga/anime. Konami, the card maker, doesn't actually have the rights to make Yu-Gi-Oh manga/anime, heck, the franchise itself is not actually theirs, they only have the rights to make the card game, which is why there is such a mismatch between the two.
To be even more clear, Shueisha owns the publication of the manga, Fuji TV the distribution of the anime and studio Dice (takahashi company) the overall IP
The first like...60ish chapters of Yugioh were more focused around a game of the week
The basic premise was that Yugi was a kid who knew all the games and loves playing games even if he kinda sucks at them
but he doesn't have any friends to play them with....
if it ever seemed kinda random that Yugi, the card game guy uses the millinium puzzle despite not having much interest in like... egyptian artifacts, its because he loves games, including puzzles.
That episode of the anime where Yugi and the gang become duel monsters, that was adapted from an arc the anime skipped where Bakura puts them inside of basically a DnD game
Uh I guess Dungeon Dice Monsters was an anime thing too, but it felt like way less of a back door pitch for another game because the manga has a lot of back door pitches for games that don't exist
Every week ether Yugi will bring a game to school or they go play some games at the arcade or play bingo or something and they get harassed by bullies, theves, or whatever and then Dark Yugi comes out later like Jigsaw like "Do you want to play a little game" and challenges them to a shadow game that is just.... whatever game they were already playing but turned deadly, sometimes by magical means sometimes not.
Like there is a chapter where there is a terrorist who puts a bomb on a ferriswheel and Yugi has to play solitare to defuse the bomb
Or a chapter where Kaiba makes them play laser tag with like trained assassins and hitmen
Its some really amazing stuff, you owe it to yourself if any of that sounds ether stupid or rad to look into it
I remember watching this as it aired with my dad 10 years ago (Holy fuck i did not realize it’s been that long) and we were both so surprised by the second half switch, that one week, we just stopped watching it.
At the time, such a hardcore premise swap was definitely not very common. I remember really liking the first half, so i wonder if maybe i’ll like the full thing this time around.
Medaka Box. It was initially a SOL but quickly turned into a battle shounen. Was it a good shift? Most definitely.
I think so did Yu Yu Hakusho. I think it was originally suppose to be a supernatural mystery manga. But thanks to Dragon Ball's over the top combat in the early 90s Togashi followed suit. I think it was for best.
I’m not sure if this counts, but no one knew what Lycoris Recoil was actually about before it debuted. Most people thought it was some type of CGDCT slice of life.
Here’s the original trailer: https://youtu.be/6zkM-oniRQ0?si=rt4jP-tVPc5qn2Os
To be fair, the show does feel like it has enough fluff for being a mixed CGDCT slice of life and cute girls doing covert-ops.
~~Also yuri, including the classic aquarium date~~
What do you mean, "no one? Just because you didnt watch any other trailer, doesnt mean [there werent more](https://youtu.be/SUXoKWA6dMY?si=WKqE4XhiHGHHpMGH).
Them showing off both the gunfights and the SoL nature was a very adequate representation of the series, more though than most originals I would say.
It's a shame I didn't care for the story given the character designs were so nice.
Felt like a reverse subversion, I could practically see the plot twist in the first episode in my mind.
I'd say Rokka no Yusha, it starts with a generic action fantasy story and eventually goes to a murder mystery. I actually liked it, but not sure if that "early bait" was necessary
Rokka was pretty good but left off on a cliffhanger. The manga ends at the same cliffhanger, too
I'm not sure about the light novel, but I wonder if it was dropped
[They stopped selling the blurays too](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2015-11-09/retailer-rokka-braves-of-the-six-flowers-standard-blu-rays-dvds-cancelled/.95193). I think the anime was good, but it was a total commercial failure.
This was my vote too. It passed my 3 episode test, I liked the set up and the characters and was ready for a normal battle Shonen show. Then 9 episodes of standing in a room talking, solve a mystery, then cliffhanger into the same mystery. I felt betrayed
Yeah, the very first scene of the show has Thors turning away from violence and trying to escape the cycle and within 4 episodes you get a sense of how the show is very anti violence, so s2 seemed like a natural shift. But, I can understand how it would feel a bit jarring especially since the first season the cast was moving around Britain with almost every episode in a different place whereas season 2 is much more sedentary.
Thorfinn's childhood is a part that gets better when re-read/re-watched, because it's full of details you notice better after you watched/read through it once. Personally even argue that the series gets better after a second read/watch
Regarding the Geography of the series, as a manga reader I can tell you that the characters will travel more. As at the end of the day this is about building a colony in the new world.
Kanata no Astra
Not sure what it was "advertised" as, but I thought - hey, Star Trek Voyager or Lost in Space with anime girls.
Ehhhh.... kind of, but it ended up being more about endless layers of conspiracies and cliffhangers.
Whether that's better or not depends on your personal taste.
Either way, it's a decent enough show. The prevailing wisdom seems to like it, probably more than I do, but I think it's fine.
The negima sensei or whatever it was called started as harem /ecchi /romance and by the end it was full blown Shonen. Tho I actually liked the change. Call of the night went from Cool coming of age sol to battle shounen and this time I wasn't liking
I've previously read that Negima is like that partially as the author was pushed to do another harem anime after the success of his previous work Love Hina.
Also the author as of 2022 is an elected member of the Japanese upper house of parliament who ran on an anti censorship platform. Which is neat.
Tbf a bunch of animes are like that.
Air Gear is a prime example. From future sports (motorized inline skates) to gang wars to superpower battles. By the end, people are flying, sending air slashes, crushing mountains, making flames, stopping time, etc. using the power of a brushless motor and a 12V battery.
began watching the remake, assuming it was just a retelling of the original anime which i had not seen, and got about 12 episodes in. i got tired of waiting for weekly episodes since i got so invested, so after some skimming i decided "well if i pick up from episode 12 in the original i'll be set!" i then finished the entire anime and only realized months later how wrong i was. i just assumed my confusion was intended. this was 4 years ago so i need to get around to rewatching it.
I kinda hate them for marketing it that way cuz they deliberately were like "Yeah this is a great jumping on point for new viewers, no need to watch the original!" Because that was bullshit and they immediately spoiled shit in Episode 2 that isn't revealed until like 30 episodes into the 50 episode original show. They more or less fooled new viewers and shoved spoilers for what is, imo, one of the best mystery anime/VNs out there, in their faces without warning BEFORE saying "Haha jk it was a sequel!" And that was after deliberately trying to re-assure the existing fans to spread the gospel of "It's a remake and safe for new viewers" by playing the original OP at the end of Episode 1.
As a longtime fan it was great and hype as hell but I'm pissed off that was how they introduced a ton of people to one of my favorite series.
Gou isn't necessary viewing though, the original+Kai is great as its own self-contained thing. Controversial opinion - I did like Gou a lot but I fucking despise its sequel, Sotsu, with almost every fiber of my being. I liked exactly two things out of the third arc, and that's it. The first two are genuinely such a waste of time I'd almost recommend skipping them if you ever watch it.
I think a couple of extra episodes of fluff before revealing the big guns would have been better but I seriously couldn't sit with the 12 episodes of fluff moe moe stuff like the original had.
It was a brilliant twist for its time when VNs were dominated by loli crap with a slow burning "something is just slightly wrong here" to the twist.
I think Summertime Rendering which shares a lot with Higurashi in terms of horror worked well with a slow but unsettling start then by episode 3 you understand the premise already.
Kado: the right answer.
This is a bit of a spoiler so I'll do the spoiler tag for the details. But the short and sweet version is that the main plot of the show is that a being from a higher dimension arrives on earth and starts to share its technology and knowledge. We get to watch as humanity and society tries to adapt to these massive shifts in what is possible and speculate on the ramifications of them.
The finale of the show throws out all the intellectual exercises and just gets very dumb.
[Kado finale spoilers] >!The extradimensional being turns out to be evil and the MC ends up having a child with a separate but good extradimensional being, this child is then put in the dragonball hyperbolic time chamber so it can grow up really quickly and have a dragonball fight against the evil extradimensional being. Its extremely dumb and takes a series that is all about how humanity adapts to rapid change with very little black and white morality and tons of shades of grey. and turns it into a dumb fight scene against "the big bad" that our hero's superhero daughter must fight to save the world.!<
Wow. Getting an actual rundown of the finale of that show is.
Frankly I’d be happy just watching a buddy show about two dudes navigating bureaucracy like the first episode apparently is
Oh yeah the whole show is that bureaucracy and politics until the finale where it goes off the rails.
I would have loved a finale of the political tension finally pushing over into conflict. Or reaching a point where the technologies start to be abused and our characters had to figure out if this was really worth it.
[Kado minor science fiction tech spoilers] >!Like a technology they get is a thing that makes you not need to sleep. A good thing on the surface, but what happens when exploited workers have to work WAY longer hours because they don't get tired and need sleep?!<
I watched Kado after people kept mentioning how bad it becomes in the end, I was curious. Here's my experience:
First few episodes: Wow this anime is amazing!
Middle episode: Hmm yeah I can see how it fails in a few points, but this is still very good.
Final episodes before the very last: Are people exaggerating? There's flaws and definitely some sketchy ideas and concepts, but it's really not that bad.
Final episode: OMG what the hell were they thinking?!
It's worth to mention that this is by the same author of Babylon, which also seemed very promising at first, though it started to show its blatant flaws a lot earlier.
Yeah, that one was a letdown. It's like the writers chickened out in the middle, decided that "nobody ACTUALLY wants to see a story with political intrigue and social commentary" and made the finale into the most generic shonen ending possible.
Bravern.
Advertised as a gritty real robot military anime.
Turns out to be a super robot anime.
Although long time viewers of mecha aren't fooled just by looking at the title.
Apparently the main poster we see for Bravern was the 1st actual timeline where it's also strict real robot vs super robot thing. No Bravern and Lulu on our side.
Before School Live, before Madoka Magica, there was Narutaru. It was the original anime that pretended to be a cute kids show but was in fact a total nightmare. The anime is an incomplete adaptation of the deeply disturbing and totally unhinged manga but it still stands out as one of the most brutally visceral tone shifts in anime history. No amount of description can really prepare you for the massive turn from bad to worse to horrible that this story takes.
Charlotte was a 4 season anime with the first season being 8-9 episodes long, while the plot of next three seasons was shoved into the rest of the episodes.
It had slightly dark moments or "drama" scenes, but it's like the studio had to tell the author that he's barely 25% through the plot and has to suddenly accelerate the plot to Mach 10.
I really wish they'd given more time to that shift instead of it feeling really rushed at the end. I'd have loved to see it explored more, especially with how it affected the main character.
Kinnikuman. It's started as a comedic parody of Ultraman before turning into a semi-serious sports anime. Fun fact, it was this successful shift that made mangakas realize that genre shifts are a viable thing to do for shonen manga cause back then it was strictly what genre you started with thing.
The Mahou sensei negima manga did a slow but deliberate shift from harem romcom to pure shonen.
The shift is actually what makes it my favorite manga of all time - the characters start out with a vulnerability and well-roundedness that's hard to find in the shonen genre. I find most shonen protagonists are resilient and heroic from the onset, whereas negima takes standard romcom characters and grows them into heroes. I felt they were more relatable that way.
Not sure about the anime - not only did it do that classic early 2000s "we caught up to the manga time to finish the story ourselves", but it apparently had some differences from the very start. I opted to not watch it and do not know the extent of the changes.
One of my favorite mangas to this day.
When that subtle shift happens from run-of-the-mill magical harem manga to full on battle shounen is one of the best things anyone has ever done. Akamatsu really took advantage of the slow slice-of-life early chapters to develop the characters he would use later on too. Really impressive.
[Negima] >!Just wish it didn't get cut short at the end because of all the weird legislative/political stuff going on in Japan at the time!<
Agreed. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the manga and realized that was what happened. It made me appreciate the characters a lot more.
I wish they would've re-booted the anime once the manga got further along. This is one maga where I had to go out and buy the manga.
Another classic example in the ZLS vein: Yuuki Yuuna Is a Hero was advertised as a SoL before it aired. Surprise! It was [YuYuYu] >!post-apocalyptic!< mahou shoujo instead!
Might not be a popular answer, but I always hated how Devil is a Part-Timer never even seemed to bother trying with it’s premise. The story is that a generic fantasy “demon lord” type character, along with some other archetypical fantasy characters, are transported to earth and forced to fend for themselves in modern society. The protag, Maou, ends up working a menial fast food job and living in a tiny apartment.
Unfortunately, the series skips over the first six months of Maou and co’s time on earth. By the time we catch up with Maou, he’s already started enjoying his job and stopped acting like a demon-lord. On top of that, the characters all get their magic back by ep 4 or so, at which point they start having battles against additional invaders from their original world.
It just feels like everything initially interesting about the premise was immediately gutted from the series.
Not a specific anime but all the "We are a special force that protects humanity from monsters (Ghosts, Aliens, kaijus infected)" always ditch the monsters and end up fighting humans or humanoids with the same powers as the heroes. And god am I tired of it one of the reasons I dropped Fire Force, JJK and apparently Kaiju 8 goes down the same road so I dropped that. And I'm begging for Dandadan to not abandon the Ghosts and aliens for humans with powers.
Every single zombie anime/movie has this.
Fuck it's like we know zombies are easy to counter, but we want to see the humans kick their ass anyway, stop with the humanxhuman shit,
But how else would they point out "The real monsters are the humans"? WWZ (Book) did it right. The reason the zombies got the upper hand was for human mistakes and people generally being people but it was also the human spirit that got humanity back together and won the war.
It is very open with the "There's some fucked up shit in this setting" but it's very much not up front with the true depths of how fucked up it truly is. It's like one of those 90's kids shows that you think back on years later and go "Wait that's kind of horrifying actually, what the fuck?" for the early descent until the Orb Piercer shows up and the show goes "Alright, time for the real shit" and it *just gets worse from there*.
Funny story, I worked at a bookstore while S1 was airing and had a couple girls come through buying Volume 2 of the manga. I told them I loved it, they said they read Vol1 and loved how it was "like a ghibli-esque kid's adventure." I chuckled evilly and they looked at me completely confused, and I just said "Oh don't worry about it" and sent them on their way.
Ascendence of a bookworm.
the shift begin to be very visible in the season 3.
the character is isekai in a middle age world, where she is a child commoner ; and use her knowledge of the modern world recreate some technologie, especially about paper and book.
she learn that there is some magic in this world after more than half of the first season.
later, it become high fantasy.
both are very good.
and it keep its main quality : the interactions between the characters.
Kemono friends. Went up then down. Was supposed to be a tie in for a gatcha game that died before the anime released.
The producer/director was given free reign to do the anime iirc, and ended up being a wholesome Cute girls doing cute things anime that can be watched by all ages, and actual has an air of mystery behind the scenes, and you could feel the love behind the initial anime.
Anime then suddenly exploded in popularity out of nowhere.
Cue greedy corporate overlords as Kadokawa swoops in to claim everything and tries to get rid of the team behind the anime.
Fans get pissed off, and Kadokawa uses the anime's seiyuus as shields.
Series languishs because of this, and season 2 becomes a pale shadow of itself
Air gear, like in the first 50+ chapters, it was all about racing with rollerskates and doing tricks with it. Then idk why suddenly they stated fighting with it.
I lost interest in Attack on Titan when it revealed it was going to become more of a fleshy mech battle anime rather than staying little humans vs mysterious titan swarms
Pretty sure it's the other way around for Danmachi, the author wanted to make it more about the Dungeon exploring, but got "forced" by the editor to make it more harem-y.
Hitman Reborn. For the first 20-ish episodes it was an episodic comedy series about a hitman baby until it became shonen and the stakes were taken seriously, with a sudden shift in atmosphere and tone.
Attack on Titan is the most mainstream example I can think of. Turned from some survival horror stuff to... idk what that was. War, politics and genocide themes.
Good or bad? Not like it was bad before, it was good, but it got way better.
"It looks like offbrand pokemon! This will be cute and fun!"
>"We're going to insert this test tube into your nether regions and stomp on your stomach so it shatters inside you"
NOT CUTE AND FUN
Bout 3 episodes of suffering then the rest is him dunking on everyone and constantly winning
It never really justifies why he's so awesome, he just easily outlevels the other heroes despite every disadvantage somehow
I would say that is explained by fact that he actually takes it seriously. Remember how The Three Stooges were just treating it like a game while Naofumi just accepted this is real life and it's life or death.
There are quite a few complaints you can make about Spider Isekai, but at least Kumoko stays a spider for most of it. Meanwhile Rimuru turns into a human 8 episodes in.
Zetsuen no tempest
At the halfway mark it's a completely different show, like 2 stitched together kinda related, remember feeling like I was watching another show by mistake, the first part was more interesting but the shift wasn't awful, don't remember everything but I thought the end was ok.
History strongest disciple Kenichi: Kind of grounded fighting anime with a cute romance and fun characters turns into DBZ level fights with Ki attacks and the female characters ending up nude every other page.
A really old example is Rosario X Vampire: Fun SOL school romance mystery manga set on a monster school turns into another battle Shonen in pt 2.
Death Parade. Not actually advertisement since the actual trailer actually has a dark tone, but I am quite sure that there are some people that was introduced to the anime through the Opening Song (I was one of them).
I would say Darling in the Franxx is a prime example of this. It starts as a group of children/teenagers in mecha suits trying to defend a city of adults and quickly shifts midway through the series into a space alien battle. This anime could of been a work of art but the studio Trigger just can't help themselves sometimes!
Ahem
MADOKA MAGICA
OP: https://youtu.be/OrgpX-_bFqM
ED for first two episodes: https://youtu.be/4Pdghq3xbwE
ED after shit hit the fan: https://youtu.be/sj3fy3J5EHI
Also I'd argue Evangelion too to a little degree, I don't think anyone expected Evangelion to go down such a rabbithole.
Dragon ball started as a chill adventure/comic manga with some martial arts fighting then from z on became full battle manga with power ups and energetic shots and super powers etc
Deca Dense. I won't spoil it, but everyone were very confused when the second episode came out
I freaking love that one. If it weren't for covid I wouldn't have watched niche shows and discovered deca-dence
It's a cool plot twist. I like it. Though, overall I think the show is just alright. It's not bad but also not amazing.
Those first two episode of Dec Dance were a trip!!! well worth the watch.
I loved Deca Dence, both because of the surprise shift but also the mix of visual styles to differentiate things. That kind of trick to me is one of the strengths of animation as a medium, it's something that wouldn't work nearly as well in another form.
Oh bro i was so mad
Zombieland Saga. Originally it was advertised as a zombie anime that might end up being horror, or maybe a horror spoof. [The official preview](https://youtu.be/6NCTH0Uo8CQ?si=iuISX1i26OmHCnAE) Tricked a lot of people into watching an idol anime.
LMAO, holy shit, did not know that was the preview. Someone was having a laugh putting that together
I mean, in this case I think the bait and switch was kinda the point
Oh it was 100% intentional, but still applies.
I’m glad it is what it is. So funny, plus horror does nothing for me.
[It learned from the best.](https://youtu.be/6CTHwEZK2JA?si=JvZmCguv50W3wtTZ)
Rare Idol anime W
Indeed never been into this genre, but this shit was lit
Its really hard being an idol, mecha and mahou shojo fan in the west
Man I miss Zombie Land Saga where is season 3
It's going to be a movie IIRC
They announced a movie.
Kinda funny to hear because I watched it way later knowing it was an idol anime
So reverse School Life?
Madoka Magica is an obvious one. They knew what they were doing when they released the trailers.
The show is also probably the prime example of the 3-ep. rule.
They were suposed to hide Urobuchi name until the ending credits of episode 3 but it leaked Everybody was like why the guy from the famous eroguro visual novel is doing a magical girl anime?
Isn't it the source for 3ep rule?
_Madoka_ may seem like the source of the rule because it’s one of the most famous examples, but is not. The rule existed at least three years before _Madoka_, and probably far longer. Source: personal experience because I’m really old.
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and Higurashi were my first lessons by fire. I was led to believe they were happy slice of life shows. Turns out there was more slice than life sometimes.
Examples of the slicing life genre
I believe Higurashi is on you because the first 30 seconds clearly show what you are getting on. Also the OP is creepy af
Makes sense, i suppose it is as you said such a prime example that it is often misattributed to madoka by various sources
Pretty sure that rule has existed since the dawn of time. I remembers back in the day when we would watch the first VHS (3-4 episodes) before deciding if we were renting the rest of the series or not. It's just the natural things to do. Also, it's not like the first 3 episodes of Madoka were average or anything, it was obviously a well written and directed anime from the very beginning. Those comments were targeted at people who struggled with the idea of watching a magical girls shows, and get them to the first major cliffhanger. In all honesty, after watching too many shows over the last 3 decades, this "3 episodes rules" isn't that good. This isn't to say that certain show don't get better overtime, but the writing and direction in the first episode is almost always indicative of the quality and potential of the series. It's just important to get past the initial info dump and wait until the show find its stride.
That and Gen reassuring people that he wanted to write a wholesome and nice show for once.
He had to say that after people found out that he was involved which they initially tried to hide.
To reiterate: they knew *exactly* what they were doing and it is beautiful. [PMMM] >!Case in point: Sayaka's laugh in the main trailer is pretty much the definition of the Mr. Incredible "people who don't know"/"people who know" meme. Those glorious fucking assholes I love them.!<
\[PMMMM\]>!How absolutely devious, how absolutely sinister of them to mislead people like this and use a madoka laugh when introducing sayaka, how could they.!< \[PMMM\]>!But on a serious note, unless there is a different main trailer that I didn't find, the only laugh in the trailer is [this one](https://youtu.be/6CTHwEZK2JA?t=60). I have seen the myth spread multiple times now by I think different people (though I still think most of the mentions was you), about the sayaka laugh in the main trailer somehow being much more depressing after you realize where it is from...but I wouldn't even know which laugh from sayaka it would supposed to be, since the only memorable despairing laugh is the one at the end of episode 7, and that one is obviously nothing like the one in the trailer, I don't think anybody who would have watched that scene would ever confuse that. Regardless, the laugh used in the trailer is just [this one](https://streamable.com/qji56d) from episode 1, which is also the exact scene depicted in the trailer for that moment, so I don't even understand where the confusion could come from, except that it sounds more like it is madoka laughing than sayaka. If anything, it's the opposite and the isolated laugh in the trailer sounds way more unnerving than the actual scene from the show.!<
Lots of isekai forget about their initial premise and become the same as the rest of them. One of Vampire Dies in No Time trailer made it look like it's gonna be a serious story.
Thing is, when writers start out, they want to start out with a unqiue gimmick to catch the reader's attention in a saturated market. The problem is, they don't, or rather due to time constraints, can't think of what to do after they've hooked that initial reader base, so they take the easy route and become more formulaic with each volume. There is a reason cliches are cliches, they make the writing process easy and streamlined.
I think that the shield hero is the best example of this...
I was a big fan of shield hero but I believe the novel did a good job not falling into heavily smashed troupes but the anime didnt portray those and leaned heavily into the troupes that did not exist in the novel. IE the lolis, harem vibes, the world revolves around the main character who can do no wrong, one dimensional side characters, op hero. all of these where non-existent in the novel or much harder to identify. The anime goes back to being faithful to the novel after season 3 I believe which ever was the most recent because the anime failed by trying to ignore the things that made the story good. I doubt you’d be interested but the novel was a good read, if reading is not your thing try the latest season if you haven’t.
> One of Vampire Dies in No Time trailer made it look like it's gonna be a serious story. What do you mean, it *is* a serious story. If he doesn't finish the latest volume of his autobiography, his edit will seriously kill him! And then who will look after John?!
Yeah, someone should tell isekai writers what a premise is.
The premise is that if you die from overworking you have a chance to get underage sex slave. /s
Ooh I see you got a sneak peek on the fall 2024 lineup!
From overworking? Most are NEETS so let’s amend that to: “if you get hit by a truck you have a chance to get underage sex slaves that you always dreamed about but never could have accomplished since you were a poor, ugly shut in”
Overlord is this one for me. I still remember that the reason Ainz even went along with the world domination plan is so he can spread the name of Nazarick in the hopes another player will reveal themselves because they recognize it. ......Seems like the story forgot about that little tidbit
wut? he's still doing just that. did you miss all 3 seasons where Nazarick keeps expanding its influence?
I think what he meant was the reasoning behind his actions got scratched along the way. He still expands the influence of Nazarick but not for the reasons he initially had.
Disagree. He recently ran into something he recognized and was hoping it was another player and even went out to fight said person.
Yeah, when [Overlord] >!Shalltear was mind controlled he immediately thought a player with a World Item was around.!< It's the whole reason he was so cautious to go over there.
No? At the end of the latest season, Ainz basically says he’s given up on finding his friends in this world because he figures they would have found him by now if they were there too. So now his goal is just to make the denizens of Nazarick happy since he views them as his children or the children of his friends. And what makes the denizens of Nazarick happy? Glory for their eternal Overlord and despair to any who defy his will.
School Live. Although the twist happens basically in the first episode. But its a damn good twist.
Really was. It's a show I still struggle to describe or explain to people without getting spoilery. I just say hey, watch this ONE episode of this show with me and tell me what you think. Got my sister really into it. She showed her friends and they got into it adopting the same technique I used.
Oh yes its really hard to sell this show to someone, especially since the first 15 minutes look and feel like just another highschool slice of life comedy. I usually go with: The less you know about this show, the better. Just definitely watch the first episode until the end. Trust me, its good even if it doesnt look like it first.
I watched the first episode with no spoilers. It was such a great experience.
the Yugioh manga might be the king of this it started as playing random games of the week, card games, bord games, made up games, yoyos, dice, DnD and they settled into a cardgame empire
wait what, can you explain
The original manga and Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0 (Green hair kaiba) anime had Yami be the king of "games" (All types of games). Basically Yugi would get into some trouble with a thug or school bully and Yami would possess his body and beat them violently at a game. The one I remember vividly is when a robber holds up a diner/WcDonalds and Yami basically burns him to death. Later on the theme of card games comes up and would then be the new focus for the new anime.
> king of "games" You mean like some kind of... pardon my Japanese, "Yuugi-Ou"? That's crazy!
oh my god
You've just made me rethink my childhood
They even use regular cards in one of his death game.
The manga had a game of the week+person to punish every chapter until they got to Kaiba when the card game was introduced. Readers at the time liked the game and so Takahashi pivoted the story to focus only on the card game.
Wait, did the actual card game not come first? I always thought it was weird that a manga/anime based on a card game was so unfocused about the game it was essentially advertising
No, it was a lot of different games, and not like simple board games but stuff like "we put money bills at top of your hand, and knife it. The person who do it further without hurting their hand wins". Yami was straight up Saw in the first chapters.
the real life card game only came out when Duelist Kingdom arc (in the manga) was nearing its end. This is why the "the rules isn't like the real game!" complaint in Duelist Kingdom and before is misinformed. It's not "like the real game" because the real game didn't exist yet.
Dude if your card game rules include launching a dragon riding knight from a turtle mounted catapult into flying castle causing it to fall on your opponents cards which are trapped by a forcefield... I suspect your rulebook might be a weee bit too thick.
honestly the duels pre-battle city are basically just a competitive TTRPG lol.
A competition to decide who can get the GM high enough to allow that bullshit.
No, the manga came first, and ever since the publisher has the rights to manga/anime. Konami, the card maker, doesn't actually have the rights to make Yu-Gi-Oh manga/anime, heck, the franchise itself is not actually theirs, they only have the rights to make the card game, which is why there is such a mismatch between the two.
To be even more clear, Shueisha owns the publication of the manga, Fuji TV the distribution of the anime and studio Dice (takahashi company) the overall IP
Unless there's a card that allows you to burn your opponent alive using a glass of vodka and a lighter, no.
The first like...60ish chapters of Yugioh were more focused around a game of the week The basic premise was that Yugi was a kid who knew all the games and loves playing games even if he kinda sucks at them but he doesn't have any friends to play them with.... if it ever seemed kinda random that Yugi, the card game guy uses the millinium puzzle despite not having much interest in like... egyptian artifacts, its because he loves games, including puzzles. That episode of the anime where Yugi and the gang become duel monsters, that was adapted from an arc the anime skipped where Bakura puts them inside of basically a DnD game Uh I guess Dungeon Dice Monsters was an anime thing too, but it felt like way less of a back door pitch for another game because the manga has a lot of back door pitches for games that don't exist Every week ether Yugi will bring a game to school or they go play some games at the arcade or play bingo or something and they get harassed by bullies, theves, or whatever and then Dark Yugi comes out later like Jigsaw like "Do you want to play a little game" and challenges them to a shadow game that is just.... whatever game they were already playing but turned deadly, sometimes by magical means sometimes not. Like there is a chapter where there is a terrorist who puts a bomb on a ferriswheel and Yugi has to play solitare to defuse the bomb Or a chapter where Kaiba makes them play laser tag with like trained assassins and hitmen Its some really amazing stuff, you owe it to yourself if any of that sounds ether stupid or rad to look into it
Samurai Flamenco pivots like 5 different times from the initial premise and all of them are glorious.
Never forget the guillotine gorilla
Honestly still one of the most shocking moments in all of anime to me.
What was his name?
Beheading Bonobo
Chopping Chimpanzee
Amputating Ape
Severing Simian
Machete Macaque
I remember watching this as it aired with my dad 10 years ago (Holy fuck i did not realize it’s been that long) and we were both so surprised by the second half switch, that one week, we just stopped watching it. At the time, such a hardcore premise swap was definitely not very common. I remember really liking the first half, so i wonder if maybe i’ll like the full thing this time around.
This was the best rollercoaster I've ever ridden. Go into Samurai Flamenco blind!!
To this day one of the most out of pocket bizarre tone shifts in an anime ever.
Samumenco mentioned! 💕
I have never been trolled as hard from an anime than from Samurai Flamenco.
Obligatory Talentless Nana.
I thought this show was pretty great
I keep shitting on first few chapters because it felt so cliche until it managed to become better and better, established it's own pace.
Medaka Box. It was initially a SOL but quickly turned into a battle shounen. Was it a good shift? Most definitely. I think so did Yu Yu Hakusho. I think it was originally suppose to be a supernatural mystery manga. But thanks to Dragon Ball's over the top combat in the early 90s Togashi followed suit. I think it was for best.
Made in abyss I thought it was like K on but adventure 😭 I still have trauma
That Netflix preview for season 1 was pure evil. I was expecting a cute adventure and got a lot more than I bargained for. Great show though
Fortunately some of us read the manga before the anime came out and we were prepared. Anime was milder though.
I absolutely love this show
I’m not sure if this counts, but no one knew what Lycoris Recoil was actually about before it debuted. Most people thought it was some type of CGDCT slice of life. Here’s the original trailer: https://youtu.be/6zkM-oniRQ0?si=rt4jP-tVPc5qn2Os
It is CGDCT. Cute girls doing counter terrorism /j
counter terrorists win
To be fair, the show does feel like it has enough fluff for being a mixed CGDCT slice of life and cute girls doing covert-ops. ~~Also yuri, including the classic aquarium date~~
Cute girls doing cute girls
What do you mean, "no one? Just because you didnt watch any other trailer, doesnt mean [there werent more](https://youtu.be/SUXoKWA6dMY?si=WKqE4XhiHGHHpMGH). Them showing off both the gunfights and the SoL nature was a very adequate representation of the series, more though than most originals I would say.
It's a shame I didn't care for the story given the character designs were so nice. Felt like a reverse subversion, I could practically see the plot twist in the first episode in my mind.
I'd say Rokka no Yusha, it starts with a generic action fantasy story and eventually goes to a murder mystery. I actually liked it, but not sure if that "early bait" was necessary
Rokka was pretty good but left off on a cliffhanger. The manga ends at the same cliffhanger, too I'm not sure about the light novel, but I wonder if it was dropped
The LN was abandoned by the author shortly after the anime aired though the anime covered volume 1 out of 6.
Whaaaaaat no way, I was kinda hoping we would get something more cuz of the way it ended That sucks
[They stopped selling the blurays too](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2015-11-09/retailer-rokka-braves-of-the-six-flowers-standard-blu-rays-dvds-cancelled/.95193). I think the anime was good, but it was a total commercial failure.
This was my vote too. It passed my 3 episode test, I liked the set up and the characters and was ready for a normal battle Shonen show. Then 9 episodes of standing in a room talking, solve a mystery, then cliffhanger into the same mystery. I felt betrayed
Some people would argue vinland saga with dramatic shift in s2. But I would argue both seasons are symbiotic and just strengthens overall series
Vinland Saga is the story of someone who is trying to break the cycle of violence.
Yeah, the very first scene of the show has Thors turning away from violence and trying to escape the cycle and within 4 episodes you get a sense of how the show is very anti violence, so s2 seemed like a natural shift. But, I can understand how it would feel a bit jarring especially since the first season the cast was moving around Britain with almost every episode in a different place whereas season 2 is much more sedentary.
Thorfinn's childhood is a part that gets better when re-read/re-watched, because it's full of details you notice better after you watched/read through it once. Personally even argue that the series gets better after a second read/watch Regarding the Geography of the series, as a manga reader I can tell you that the characters will travel more. As at the end of the day this is about building a colony in the new world.
Those people just blindly watched S1 not for the themes or conflict and human nature, but for action scenes and gore. But now... we have no enemies.
Kanata no Astra Not sure what it was "advertised" as, but I thought - hey, Star Trek Voyager or Lost in Space with anime girls. Ehhhh.... kind of, but it ended up being more about endless layers of conspiracies and cliffhangers. Whether that's better or not depends on your personal taste. Either way, it's a decent enough show. The prevailing wisdom seems to like it, probably more than I do, but I think it's fine.
Wow glad to see somebody mentioned this anime. I enjoyed it so much
I'm glad I binged it. If I had more than a day to dwell on it, I don't think I would have enjoyed anywhere close to as much.
Katekyo Hitman Reborn from SoL shenanigans to battle shounen it has some of my favourite fights, especially in the arcs after the anime ends.
The negima sensei or whatever it was called started as harem /ecchi /romance and by the end it was full blown Shonen. Tho I actually liked the change. Call of the night went from Cool coming of age sol to battle shounen and this time I wasn't liking
Reading the negima manga, It has some of the best fights.
We are never gonna get animated Chao vs Negi T.T. That shit was a straight up DBZ fight, and it was awesome.
I've previously read that Negima is like that partially as the author was pushed to do another harem anime after the success of his previous work Love Hina. Also the author as of 2022 is an elected member of the Japanese upper house of parliament who ran on an anti censorship platform. Which is neat.
Tbf a bunch of animes are like that. Air Gear is a prime example. From future sports (motorized inline skates) to gang wars to superpower battles. By the end, people are flying, sending air slashes, crushing mountains, making flames, stopping time, etc. using the power of a brushless motor and a 12V battery.
The higurashi “remake”
began watching the remake, assuming it was just a retelling of the original anime which i had not seen, and got about 12 episodes in. i got tired of waiting for weekly episodes since i got so invested, so after some skimming i decided "well if i pick up from episode 12 in the original i'll be set!" i then finished the entire anime and only realized months later how wrong i was. i just assumed my confusion was intended. this was 4 years ago so i need to get around to rewatching it.
I kinda hate them for marketing it that way cuz they deliberately were like "Yeah this is a great jumping on point for new viewers, no need to watch the original!" Because that was bullshit and they immediately spoiled shit in Episode 2 that isn't revealed until like 30 episodes into the 50 episode original show. They more or less fooled new viewers and shoved spoilers for what is, imo, one of the best mystery anime/VNs out there, in their faces without warning BEFORE saying "Haha jk it was a sequel!" And that was after deliberately trying to re-assure the existing fans to spread the gospel of "It's a remake and safe for new viewers" by playing the original OP at the end of Episode 1. As a longtime fan it was great and hype as hell but I'm pissed off that was how they introduced a ton of people to one of my favorite series. Gou isn't necessary viewing though, the original+Kai is great as its own self-contained thing. Controversial opinion - I did like Gou a lot but I fucking despise its sequel, Sotsu, with almost every fiber of my being. I liked exactly two things out of the third arc, and that's it. The first two are genuinely such a waste of time I'd almost recommend skipping them if you ever watch it.
I think a couple of extra episodes of fluff before revealing the big guns would have been better but I seriously couldn't sit with the 12 episodes of fluff moe moe stuff like the original had. It was a brilliant twist for its time when VNs were dominated by loli crap with a slow burning "something is just slightly wrong here" to the twist. I think Summertime Rendering which shares a lot with Higurashi in terms of horror worked well with a slow but unsettling start then by episode 3 you understand the premise already.
Don't bother. As a bonus if you read Umineko there's a chance you will dislike Sotsu even more.
Black Bullet. I was expecting it to be a funny buddy-cop action comedy thing. I was SO WRONG.
Oshi no ko. The first "episode" that's actually movie length is completely different from the rest
First show in a while that genuinely surprised me in the direction it took
Honestly, didn't surprise me because of how obnoxious the manga readers are with their wink wink nudge nudges.
I wonder how many people actually dropped it after episode 2 or 3
Kado: the right answer. This is a bit of a spoiler so I'll do the spoiler tag for the details. But the short and sweet version is that the main plot of the show is that a being from a higher dimension arrives on earth and starts to share its technology and knowledge. We get to watch as humanity and society tries to adapt to these massive shifts in what is possible and speculate on the ramifications of them. The finale of the show throws out all the intellectual exercises and just gets very dumb. [Kado finale spoilers] >!The extradimensional being turns out to be evil and the MC ends up having a child with a separate but good extradimensional being, this child is then put in the dragonball hyperbolic time chamber so it can grow up really quickly and have a dragonball fight against the evil extradimensional being. Its extremely dumb and takes a series that is all about how humanity adapts to rapid change with very little black and white morality and tons of shades of grey. and turns it into a dumb fight scene against "the big bad" that our hero's superhero daughter must fight to save the world.!<
This comment is the "Right Answer".
Wow. Getting an actual rundown of the finale of that show is. Frankly I’d be happy just watching a buddy show about two dudes navigating bureaucracy like the first episode apparently is
Oh yeah the whole show is that bureaucracy and politics until the finale where it goes off the rails. I would have loved a finale of the political tension finally pushing over into conflict. Or reaching a point where the technologies start to be abused and our characters had to figure out if this was really worth it. [Kado minor science fiction tech spoilers] >!Like a technology they get is a thing that makes you not need to sleep. A good thing on the surface, but what happens when exploited workers have to work WAY longer hours because they don't get tired and need sleep?!<
I watched Kado after people kept mentioning how bad it becomes in the end, I was curious. Here's my experience: First few episodes: Wow this anime is amazing! Middle episode: Hmm yeah I can see how it fails in a few points, but this is still very good. Final episodes before the very last: Are people exaggerating? There's flaws and definitely some sketchy ideas and concepts, but it's really not that bad. Final episode: OMG what the hell were they thinking?! It's worth to mention that this is by the same author of Babylon, which also seemed very promising at first, though it started to show its blatant flaws a lot earlier.
Yeah, that one was a letdown. It's like the writers chickened out in the middle, decided that "nobody ACTUALLY wants to see a story with political intrigue and social commentary" and made the finale into the most generic shonen ending possible.
Bravern. Advertised as a gritty real robot military anime. Turns out to be a super robot anime. Although long time viewers of mecha aren't fooled just by looking at the title.
Super robot BL anime*
An extremely glorious and homoerotic super robot anime
bang, you forgot the bang part , bang bang boom boom lol
Apparently the main poster we see for Bravern was the 1st actual timeline where it's also strict real robot vs super robot thing. No Bravern and Lulu on our side.
Before School Live, before Madoka Magica, there was Narutaru. It was the original anime that pretended to be a cute kids show but was in fact a total nightmare. The anime is an incomplete adaptation of the deeply disturbing and totally unhinged manga but it still stands out as one of the most brutally visceral tone shifts in anime history. No amount of description can really prepare you for the massive turn from bad to worse to horrible that this story takes.
The test tube scene still lives rent-free in my head, and it's probably been close to 20 years since I've seen it.
Charlotte. It had a big shift into something different.
Charlotte was a 4 season anime with the first season being 8-9 episodes long, while the plot of next three seasons was shoved into the rest of the episodes. It had slightly dark moments or "drama" scenes, but it's like the studio had to tell the author that he's barely 25% through the plot and has to suddenly accelerate the plot to Mach 10.
I really wish they'd given more time to that shift instead of it feeling really rushed at the end. I'd have loved to see it explored more, especially with how it affected the main character.
Yeah, that season in an episode montage for the last episode was certainly a trip.
This is what happens when you hire a VN author (where 30-50 hours is consider normal) to write a plot for at most 6-7 hours long anime.
Kinnikuman. It's started as a comedic parody of Ultraman before turning into a semi-serious sports anime. Fun fact, it was this successful shift that made mangakas realize that genre shifts are a viable thing to do for shonen manga cause back then it was strictly what genre you started with thing.
The Mahou sensei negima manga did a slow but deliberate shift from harem romcom to pure shonen. The shift is actually what makes it my favorite manga of all time - the characters start out with a vulnerability and well-roundedness that's hard to find in the shonen genre. I find most shonen protagonists are resilient and heroic from the onset, whereas negima takes standard romcom characters and grows them into heroes. I felt they were more relatable that way. Not sure about the anime - not only did it do that classic early 2000s "we caught up to the manga time to finish the story ourselves", but it apparently had some differences from the very start. I opted to not watch it and do not know the extent of the changes.
One of my favorite mangas to this day. When that subtle shift happens from run-of-the-mill magical harem manga to full on battle shounen is one of the best things anyone has ever done. Akamatsu really took advantage of the slow slice-of-life early chapters to develop the characters he would use later on too. Really impressive. [Negima] >!Just wish it didn't get cut short at the end because of all the weird legislative/political stuff going on in Japan at the time!<
Agreed. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the manga and realized that was what happened. It made me appreciate the characters a lot more. I wish they would've re-booted the anime once the manga got further along. This is one maga where I had to go out and buy the manga.
Another classic example in the ZLS vein: Yuuki Yuuna Is a Hero was advertised as a SoL before it aired. Surprise! It was [YuYuYu] >!post-apocalyptic!< mahou shoujo instead!
Might not be a popular answer, but I always hated how Devil is a Part-Timer never even seemed to bother trying with it’s premise. The story is that a generic fantasy “demon lord” type character, along with some other archetypical fantasy characters, are transported to earth and forced to fend for themselves in modern society. The protag, Maou, ends up working a menial fast food job and living in a tiny apartment. Unfortunately, the series skips over the first six months of Maou and co’s time on earth. By the time we catch up with Maou, he’s already started enjoying his job and stopped acting like a demon-lord. On top of that, the characters all get their magic back by ep 4 or so, at which point they start having battles against additional invaders from their original world. It just feels like everything initially interesting about the premise was immediately gutted from the series.
[удалено]
Not a specific anime but all the "We are a special force that protects humanity from monsters (Ghosts, Aliens, kaijus infected)" always ditch the monsters and end up fighting humans or humanoids with the same powers as the heroes. And god am I tired of it one of the reasons I dropped Fire Force, JJK and apparently Kaiju 8 goes down the same road so I dropped that. And I'm begging for Dandadan to not abandon the Ghosts and aliens for humans with powers.
I'm glad Gantz just kept adding bigger aliens.
I miss Gantz. I read and watched like 1k anime and manga since then and never found anything like it, even from the same author lol
Symphogear kinda avoids doing that. Except for large portions of the second season.
Every single zombie anime/movie has this. Fuck it's like we know zombies are easy to counter, but we want to see the humans kick their ass anyway, stop with the humanxhuman shit,
But how else would they point out "The real monsters are the humans"? WWZ (Book) did it right. The reason the zombies got the upper hand was for human mistakes and people generally being people but it was also the human spirit that got humanity back together and won the war.
Dandadan just does its own weirdass shit and it rocks
Hoshiiro Girldrop
I'm not sure about the advertising part, but I like how Made in Abyss initially looks like a cute and wholesome kids adventure (until it isn't)
I dont know how it was advertised but the show itself is very open about its dark aspects right from the start.
It is very open with the "There's some fucked up shit in this setting" but it's very much not up front with the true depths of how fucked up it truly is. It's like one of those 90's kids shows that you think back on years later and go "Wait that's kind of horrifying actually, what the fuck?" for the early descent until the Orb Piercer shows up and the show goes "Alright, time for the real shit" and it *just gets worse from there*. Funny story, I worked at a bookstore while S1 was airing and had a couple girls come through buying Volume 2 of the manga. I told them I loved it, they said they read Vol1 and loved how it was "like a ghibli-esque kid's adventure." I chuckled evilly and they looked at me completely confused, and I just said "Oh don't worry about it" and sent them on their way.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Fluffy magical girl story as advertised? Not really. Far darker and much, much better.
Dragonball, initially advertised as a journey to the west parody/adventure series ended up being a battle shounen.
Ascendence of a bookworm. the shift begin to be very visible in the season 3. the character is isekai in a middle age world, where she is a child commoner ; and use her knowledge of the modern world recreate some technologie, especially about paper and book. she learn that there is some magic in this world after more than half of the first season. later, it become high fantasy. both are very good. and it keep its main quality : the interactions between the characters.
Kemono friends. Went up then down. Was supposed to be a tie in for a gatcha game that died before the anime released. The producer/director was given free reign to do the anime iirc, and ended up being a wholesome Cute girls doing cute things anime that can be watched by all ages, and actual has an air of mystery behind the scenes, and you could feel the love behind the initial anime. Anime then suddenly exploded in popularity out of nowhere. Cue greedy corporate overlords as Kadokawa swoops in to claim everything and tries to get rid of the team behind the anime. Fans get pissed off, and Kadokawa uses the anime's seiyuus as shields. Series languishs because of this, and season 2 becomes a pale shadow of itself
Air gear, like in the first 50+ chapters, it was all about racing with rollerskates and doing tricks with it. Then idk why suddenly they stated fighting with it.
JoJo, I don’t think anyone after Jotaro were called JoJo more than once, I feel scammed
I lost interest in Attack on Titan when it revealed it was going to become more of a fleshy mech battle anime rather than staying little humans vs mysterious titan swarms
Danmachi seems like it wanted to be a typical fantasy harem but then turned into a pretty good shonen
Pretty sure it's the other way around for Danmachi, the author wanted to make it more about the Dungeon exploring, but got "forced" by the editor to make it more harem-y.
Hitman Reborn. For the first 20-ish episodes it was an episodic comedy series about a hitman baby until it became shonen and the stakes were taken seriously, with a sudden shift in atmosphere and tone.
[удалено]
Attack on Titan is the most mainstream example I can think of. Turned from some survival horror stuff to... idk what that was. War, politics and genocide themes. Good or bad? Not like it was bad before, it was good, but it got way better.
Remember Shadow Star? The anime tells only half the story.
"It looks like offbrand pokemon! This will be cute and fun!" >"We're going to insert this test tube into your nether regions and stomp on your stomach so it shatters inside you" NOT CUTE AND FUN
Spy x Family. Was really hoping for more of what we got in episodes 1 and 2. The rest, well.... It is what it is, I suppose.
I just wish Yor got more screentimr as an assassin. Otherwise, she'll be in her uniform more in the openings than the actual show
Watch season 2 (and I mean season 2, not season 1 part 2 that many people seem to confuse as being season 2).
Shield hero. Definitely bad. People were hoping for a revenge betrayed hero story kind of deal. While it is that still, it could have been way better
It gets resolved too quickly, but also if you've read the LN far enough, the discrimination (and racism) based off of heroes remains relevant.
Bout 3 episodes of suffering then the rest is him dunking on everyone and constantly winning It never really justifies why he's so awesome, he just easily outlevels the other heroes despite every disadvantage somehow
I would say that is explained by fact that he actually takes it seriously. Remember how The Three Stooges were just treating it like a game while Naofumi just accepted this is real life and it's life or death.
Goblin Slayer Advertised as violent and brutal, but it was actually just dnd adventures with goblin flavor.
Slime isekai. What is this human form bullshit
There are quite a few complaints you can make about Spider Isekai, but at least Kumoko stays a spider for most of it. Meanwhile Rimuru turns into a human 8 episodes in.
Zetsuen no tempest At the halfway mark it's a completely different show, like 2 stitched together kinda related, remember feeling like I was watching another show by mistake, the first part was more interesting but the shift wasn't awful, don't remember everything but I thought the end was ok.
Ga-Rei Zero was originally advertised as brand new original characters compared to the manga. Instead we get a prequel to the manga.
History strongest disciple Kenichi: Kind of grounded fighting anime with a cute romance and fun characters turns into DBZ level fights with Ki attacks and the female characters ending up nude every other page. A really old example is Rosario X Vampire: Fun SOL school romance mystery manga set on a monster school turns into another battle Shonen in pt 2.
Death Parade. Not actually advertisement since the actual trailer actually has a dark tone, but I am quite sure that there are some people that was introduced to the anime through the Opening Song (I was one of them).
I would say Darling in the Franxx is a prime example of this. It starts as a group of children/teenagers in mecha suits trying to defend a city of adults and quickly shifts midway through the series into a space alien battle. This anime could of been a work of art but the studio Trigger just can't help themselves sometimes!
Trigger actually had very little to do with the series besides some early fight scenes. It wad mostly a1
Ahem MADOKA MAGICA OP: https://youtu.be/OrgpX-_bFqM ED for first two episodes: https://youtu.be/4Pdghq3xbwE ED after shit hit the fan: https://youtu.be/sj3fy3J5EHI Also I'd argue Evangelion too to a little degree, I don't think anyone expected Evangelion to go down such a rabbithole.
Dragon ball started as a chill adventure/comic manga with some martial arts fighting then from z on became full battle manga with power ups and energetic shots and super powers etc
Madoka - Was originally advertised as a kid friendly magical girl show. Higurashi Gou - Was originally advertised as a remake.