Continuity Lock Out: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. Same goes for [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime adaptation]], especially if you're watching the [[OVA]] and didn't see the last few episodes.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' is susceptible to this during its arcs.

* Given the length of ''[[~~Jo Jo~~'s ~~Bizarre Adventure|Jo Jos~~ Bizarre Adventure]]'', it's natural that this can happen. However, the author is generally good at keeping new readers up to date, as every volume of the manga has a timeline of the series, and the various relationships outlined. The first (duh), third, fourth, and seventh parts of the series can easily be picked up and read without any previous knowledge about the series. The others require ''some'' background knowledge, but that's it.

* Given the length of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', it's natural that this can happen. However, the author is generally good at keeping new readers up to date, as every volume of the manga has a timeline of the series, and the various relationships outlined. The first (duh), third, fourth, and seventh parts of the series can easily be picked up and read without any previous knowledge about the series. The others require ''some'' background knowledge, but that's it.

* ''[[Death Note]]'', mostly due to the [[Gambit Pileup]] nature of the series. It's possible to jump in within the first ten episodes or so, but after Light and L actually meet each other, forget ''that''.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' inverts this, in that you [[Mind Screw|don't understand anything about the overall plot]] [[Gainax Ending|coming OUT of the series]]. Then again, you have a pretty good idea of how fucked up everyone's mind is at least. But do we REALLY need to know what Shinji, Misato, and umm....Gendo do when they're feeling "lonely"?

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** Of course, the OVAs were only ever released as bonus material for certain Japanese limited edition volumes of the manga, so it's not like casual fans have access to them anyway. Assuming we're talking about the Ala Alba ones and not Spring and Summer, which were primarily [[Fan Service]] episodes.

* Would you believe a simple [[Fan Service]]-laden [[Unwanted Harem]] show like ''[[To Love Ru]]'' has this? If you only watch the anime, you'll never find out what's the deal with [[Cheerful Child|Celine]], where did she come from, and why she's suddenly living with the main cast. Or, until the second anime season, where did [[Cute Ghost Girl|Oshizu]] get herself a new body. Also, the new manga ''[[To Love Ru]] Darkness'' makes no effort of helping newcomers on telling who's everyone.

* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]''. It is a [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover]] that requires you to read ''[[~~XxxHolic~~]]'' in order to understand what's going on in the background. Even then, you'd probably still be a little lost unless you also happened to have read ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' (which, admittedly, is probably the reason why you're reading ''Tsubasa'' in the first place), [[Running Gag|AND]] ''[[X (manga)|X 1999]]'' [[Overused Running Gag|AND]] ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'' by extension.

* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]''. It is a [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover]] that requires you to read ''[[xxxHolic]]'' in order to understand what's going on in the background. Even then, you'd probably still be a little lost unless you also happened to have read ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' (which, admittedly, is probably the reason why you're reading ''Tsubasa'' in the first place), [[Running Gag|AND]] ''[[X (manga)|X 1999]]'' [[Overused Running Gag|AND]] ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'' by extension.

* ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' has its instances of this, with current, important plot points coming from previous-generation chapters.

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== Video Games ==

* ''[[Metal Gear]]'' slowly rose from humble origins, into the self-sequels ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty]]'', had a brief blip for the stand-alone ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'', and then gunned the canon whole-heartedly into the massive continuity snarl-ups of ''[[Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots]]'', both of which only a very serious and dedicated fan would be able to [[Continuity Porn|understand totally]].

* ''[[Metal Gear]]'' slowly rose from humble origins, into the self-sequels ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', had a brief blip for the stand-alone ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'', and then gunned the canon whole-heartedly into the massive continuity snarl-ups of ''[[Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', both of which only a very serious and dedicated fan would be able to [[Continuity Porn|understand totally]].

** As a sort of alternative, the ''[[Metal Gear Acid|Ac!d]]'' games happened in an alternate universe, but they still expected a familiarity with the main phase series with its [[Spoiler|spoilerrific]] character cards. In the first game's story, a lot of hints about Snake's identity and motivations require some knowledge of his main phase [[Canon]] [[Backstory]], such as his sterility.

** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'' is an interesting exception in that while the story can be completely enjoyed and understood on it's own it's packed with [[Continuity Nod|Continuity Nods]] and back story for characters in the other games.

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* [[Star Craft 2]] is also slightly guilty of this. There are summaries on the website, but otherwise you have to read the novels to know anything about Valerian, Tychus, Matt Horner and Nova.

* The ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series. Starting from any game from ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories|Chain of Memories]]'' and onward will get confusing.

** And to make things worse, the continuity is spread over multiple handheld systems, including the GBA, DS, PSP, and the 3DS. Note that three out of four of these are Nintendo systems. The [[~~Play Station~~ 2]] remake of ''Chain of Memories'' alleviates the confusion slightly for those without Nintendo handhelds, but they'll need to get a 3DS to get [[Kingdom Hearts 3D|Dream Drop Distance]], which will tie together the previous three hand-held installments ([[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2|358/2 Days]], [[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Birth by Sleep]] and [[Kingdom Hearts coded|coded]]) ''and'' the inevitable ''Kingdom Hearts 3''. Likewise, those with Nintendo handhelds, but no [[~~Play Station~~ 2]] or PSP... you get the picture.

** And to make things worse, the continuity is spread over multiple handheld systems, including the GBA, DS, PSP, and the 3DS. Note that three out of four of these are Nintendo systems. The [[PlayStation 2]] remake of ''Chain of Memories'' alleviates the confusion slightly for those without Nintendo handhelds, but they'll need to get a 3DS to get [[Kingdom Hearts 3D|Dream Drop Distance]], which will tie together the previous three hand-held installments ([[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2|358/2 Days]], [[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Birth by Sleep]] and [[Kingdom Hearts coded|coded]]) ''and'' the inevitable ''Kingdom Hearts 3''. Likewise, those with Nintendo handhelds, but no [[PlayStation 2]] or PSP... you get the picture.

*** Basically, [[Crack is Cheaper]] than playing the entire series.

*** It also doesn't help that the [[Updated Rerelease|Final Mixes]] in the series [[No Export for You|are unavailable outside Japan]], despite containing critical plot points. This makes it difficult to follow the [[Kudzu Plot|already complex plot]] of the series, unless you look up fan translations.