Fanon Discontinuity/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Don't like that something happened in an anime or manga? For fandom, it's simple! Just write it out of existence and pretend it didn't happen.

Note 1: Do not include examples based only in adaptations. Adaptations can not be discontinuous since it is not part of the continuity of the original.

Note 2: Personal examples should not be posted here. The examples posted here should only be of groups of fandoms.


  • Tokyo Mew Mew: Once Reiko Yoshida left the manga, Mia Ikumi retconned many aspects to fit with the anime, rendered the main character practically useless for no reason, and gave her role to a Mary Sue. Small wonder the resulting sequel, Tokyo Mew Mew à la mode, has been discarded by fans (and the editor—it lasted only two volumes).
  • Many fans decry the Distant Finale of Digimon Adventure 02 for rewriting the Chosen Children's history. To beat the Big Bad, they call upon their heretofore unmentioned memories of what they wanted to grow up to be when they were young to Talk The Monster To Death; when the show flashes forward Twenty Minutes Into the Future, they've all inexplicably fulfilled those dreams, despite some of them having been firmly entrenched in other, completely different lifestyles. For instance, Yamato—with his love of music and a fledgling garage band well in the works—dumps all that to become an astronaut. Worse is Miyako/Yolei: outspoken and headstrong in the series proper, a Yamato Nadeshiko in the future. The drama CDs and the Girls' Day special CD try to explain these away, to little avail.
    • Some would go further and throw the entire season out of continuity with its predecessor, based on character changes between the two series and the popular belief that Digimon Adventure 02 was just not what a follow-up to the widely popular Digimon Adventure should have been.
    • There are also quite a few fans who neglect the epilogue due to the outcome of some of the pairings.
    • Similarly, many fans ignore the Bittersweet Ending of Digimon Tamers, where the kids are separated from their Digimon and it's left ambiguous as to whether they'll see them again. One of the movies (made without the input of the original creative team) revealed that the kids reunited with the Digimon fairly quickly (though incidentally, this issue was only ever mentioned in the dub). Canon Discontinuity was declared with the release of the drama CDs, which said that The Stinger at the end of the series never amounted to anything, and the kids have gone several years without their Digimon with no indication they'll see each other again. Guess which one fans prefer.
      • Of course, one of the producers of Digimon Tamers is said to quite like the movie, with Ruki humming the song from the movie in one of the CDs.
      • And some could argue that the CD Drama is only canon to the Japanese version and not the dubs. After all, the dubs ARE adaptations, and therefore could be considered their own universes, therefore setting the Japanese version and the CD drama as the original "canon", with the dub and its adaptation of the movies as its own continuity for those loyal to the English dub.
      • And some of those who dislike the English dub and prefer the Japanese version, would simply disregard the CD drama entirely, some only considering that which has been animated to be canon and the CD dramas not to be so.
      • Note the above as an excellent example of how fan discontinuities can develop.
    • And now Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Leaping Through Time never happened, according to the fans anyway. Most likely due to near the entire show being filler, most of the plot happening in the final 3 episodes, 2 plot twists that come out of nowhere (Psychemon being Quartzmon, and the Watch Man being a reincarnated Bagramon) and Tagiru hogging the spotlight way more than a protagonist needs to. How bad does it get? All the previous heroes from the previous shows become living power ups for Tagiru, who fights the final battle alone.
  • Because of plot holes and overall silliness, many Dragon Ball fans reject Dragon Ball GT altogether. It's made easier because it's not based on any manga and because Akira Toriyama didn't write it. After the Buu saga, Toriyama (after multiple failed tries to end his Cash Cow Franchise) finally put up his pen for good. When executives tried to force him to continue, he gave them some concept art and told them to do whatever they wanted with it. It should be noted that Toriyama apparently liked some of the plot developments in GT; he didn't completely despise it.
    • Despite how long it was dragged out, some fans consider the Frieza Saga the pinnacle of the series; others believe it was the Cell Saga. However, nearly all agree it finished no later than the end of the Buu Saga.
      • Fans are conflicted on saying the Buu saga never happened, since despite being dragged out it a lot of fans enjoyed it. (it's not like DBZ fans can't put up with Filler and Padding after all)
    • GT is a weird case of discontinuity. Most of the fandom ignores anything that happened, but one of its most popular pairings (Trunks/Pan) is based solely on GT events. Probably because in Z, Trunks and Pan never interact and Pan is 4.
    • Many fans pretend that filler never happened, specifically the Garlic Jr. Saga, which consists entirely of filler.
  • Members of the current Pokémon fandom are more likely to ignore just Johto Journeys and Johto League Champions, skipping straight from the Orange Islands to either Master Quest at the end of Johto or to Hoenn, or just ignore everything after Kanto entirely
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's was well received by fans of the franchise, especially those who have been sticking with it since at least the beginning of the new series. That is until episode 107 when the big bad of the current arc revealed in Episode 107 that he his secretly... a robot motorcycle centaur. Wait, what?
    • Most fans were not fussed when 4Kids decided to omit the last season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. It does have Unfortunate Implications as far as the fate of Jaden is concerned, but that's still better than having the fourth season and its unfortunate implications as far as the fate of the world is concerned.
    • Some people disregard the third season of 5D's in its entirety, citing filler, Invincible Heroes, and bad characterization. Others disregard the second season (or just the way it handled Aki and Crow), or 5D's itself for COD GAEMS AWN MOTERBYKZ. Then you have Yu-Gi-Oh! GX fans, who disregard the slow, silly, and badly-plotted fourth season, as above, the oppressively dark and Fridge Logic-filled third season, or the whole show again. Then you have fans of the original, who will tell you that some or all of the filler arcs never occurred, will tell you that the dark and somewhat incomprehensible Millennium World arc never occurred, and features a contingent that puts forth the theory that the entire franchise ended at the end of the old "Monster World" arc in the manga, which occurred right before the Duelist Kingdom arc began and the series became Merchandise-Driven.
    • The latest revelation resulted in what could be the biggest explosion of Yu-Gi-Oh! history. The 'Zone=/=Yusei' twist left fans reeling after weeks of foreshadowing to the theory being proven right, only to get completely stamped on and thrown out the window all of a sudden. The fans have been torn into three camps those who cannot accept this, those who can wholeheartedly and those who can accept it, but aren't best pleased. The former are coming up with new theories just to ignore the canon's explanation; a scientist wanted to recreate himself as Yusei to give hope to everyone, including looking up Internet files that included Accel and Delta Accel Synchro already learned by Yusei; including Zone being forgotten loner Sly amongst others. It doesn't help that the episode before finished with half of Zone's mask falling off, revealing Yusei's face which gave fans hope they'd both get decent Character Development. Quite a few are on the lines of ignoring the duel completely and focusing on the finale.
  • The fandom is divided on whether or not to accept Nia's death at the end of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Those who dislike it because it ignores the show's established premise of "nothing is inevitable/impossible" consider the show to end at the kiss between Simon and Nia at their wedding, ignoring the rest of the series finale.
    • In addition, just about everyone agrees that most of episode 4 never happened, mainly because the episode has a completely different (and worse) style from the rest of the series because of a different director. Even the official manga adaption rewrote that part, removing the weird puffball Beastmen and introducing Kittan and his sisters around the time of Viral's attack. Part of this is also a reaction to the producer insulting everyone at 2ch and stating that he hates Otaku even though Studio Gainax's main fanbase is Otaku—and the owner openly proclaimed himself to be one—and then resigned.

Simon: You can't do that! You can't just skip reality!
Kamina: Of course I can! Who the hell do you think I am!?!

    • And then you have the people who ignore everything after Kamina's death in episode 8.
    • And even among those who can accept Nia's death in the finale, the last few minutes where all the surviving heroes live utterly miserable lives after the war, with no sign of hope left to their continuing existences, has a fair few haters.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion practically invites you to do this. Some people think the last two episodes of the series and End of Evangelion cover the same events from different points of view; some think they're different, accept End of Evangelion as the ending, and disregard the TV series' ending; some only accept the ending of the TV series and disregard the movie; and some reject both endings. With the four-part movie Rebuild supposedly getting a new ending of its own, there will be a third possible ending to further divide the fanbase.
    • The issue is only further complicated by the fact that many fans cannot agree on what the hell happened in either of those endings.
    • It's also complicated by the fact that Rebuild doesn't just have a new ending...it also has a new middle. And a new late beginning.
      • Similar to the Wall of Fire from Scientology, this may....very well be the best. If a proper explanation was given, the relevation would be....utter despair at how stupid it all actually was. Let us pretend it was indeed a Majestic Work of Nonsensically Sensical Art and be done with it.
  • The Abridged Series of Naruto takes this trope to its logical conclusion by producing its own version of the fight between Naruto and Kiba, in which the loss is at least honorable, rather than having Naruto win by virtue of an accidental fart. It insists that the Abridged version is how it happened.
    • In the Shipping Fandom, ALL sides (especially the Big Three NaruSaku, NaruHina, and SasuSaku...and NaruSasu too I guess) like to ignore some parts of the manga that support other couples. Some (extreme) NaruHina and SasuSaku fans refuse to believe/remember any chapters/pages that could hint at NaruSaku(as evident by the biased comment that was here before I edited...). Some(also extreme) NaruSaku fans downplay Hinata's actions(especially the Pain battle). Goes even further when the characters themselves suffer from discontinuity(particularly Sakura who suffers to the extreme) in that thoughts, feelings, words, and actions are ignored just because it could be used as support for the other pairing.
    • After chapter 449, some fans seem to just tell themselves that Pain never invaded Konoha. Konoha's a crater now because of a sinkhole that appeared offscreen.
    • The fandom has gone into apoplectic fits trying to reconcile Itachi's sudden Heel Face Turn during his fight with Sasuke. The problem isn't so much the idea of him having been secretly loyal to Konoha all these years, but the fact that there was nothing whatsoever in the manga even suggesting such a thing, making the revelation seem like a Shocking Swerve out of left field.
      • Sufficiently subtle foreshadowing is indistinguishable from an Ass Pull. Still, in retrospect it wasn't completely out of the blue. Itachi did some things that made absolutely no sense if he wasn't a spy, like busting into Konoha and outright declaring the Akatsuki's intention to kidnap Naruto, giving Konoha over two years' advance warning of the Akatsuki's operations.
    • A truly disturbing number of fanfic authors write off Haku's declaration that he's a boy. Fem!Haku is almost more prevalent than Canon!Haku, especially in stories that keep him alive.
    • There are quite a few of fanfic depicting Neji to be an overprotective towards Hinata and is constantly hounding Naruto, as if he was the one who attempted to kill Hinata. Despite the fact that Neji actually urge her to see Naruto off.
      • Also Hiashi never gets better he still despises Hinata who still stutters after every other word.
  • To most Saber Marionette J watchers, the anime only has 25 episodes, ending when Lorelei and Otaru discussed the Heroic Sacrifice of Cherry, Lime, and Bloodberry, and Otaru walked off upset and missing them, instead of all three of them coming back to life as if nothing ever happened without any logical explanation.
  • There are several points in Death Note where fans often invoke this trope. There's when Light regains his memory and (re)turns evil; some people ignore that and everything that happened afterward, considering Light to have remained L's partner instead. Some ignore what happened shortly afterward, L's death; some or accept the previous spoiler, but reject everything that occurred after it; some accept everything until the ending of the series, when Light is killed. Complicating things further, the anime (slightly) adjusts the manga's ending. Light still dies, but he dies with slightly more dignity, managing to escape but then getting killed by Ryuk, who doesn't want to be bored while Light's in prison. In the anime, he has a Freak-Out prior to his death.
    • There are also fans who don't like the Foe Yay added in episode 25, to the point of pretending it never happened.
      • A small fandom accept it as fanservice while a bigger one hate how it made L look like he accepted defeat.
    • Many fans are displeased by and choose to ignore how Word of God interprets Light and L's relation, and such, in How To Read.
  • Some fans didn't accept Flay's death at the end of Gundam SEED; either they pretend it didn't happen, or they go the Fix Fic route.
  • The rape scene in the anime version of Kannazuki no Miko is subject to massive debate; it's even mentioned in the Japanese DVD Commentary that it was cut away from so people can put their own interpretation on what happened.
  • Some veteran Mai-Otome fans will invariably advise newcomers to the series to avoid the Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo OVA Mai-Otome Zwei at all costs, mostly due to excessive and pointless Fan Service and plot points that make no sense within the context of the series.
  • Several, if not most, fans were outraged at the effective Character Derailment of Manaka and Toujo at the end of Strawberry 100%, when, after all the not-so-subtle hinting that he and Toujo were a Red String of Fate couple and she was the only one he was truly happy with, could relate to, etc., he goes and picks Nishino out of pity or "she was there first" more than anything else, and she doesn't even put up a fight. Most like to imagine that, in the author's private gallery, the real ending exists in which he comes to his senses and chooses the right one at the end; the "official" one was published due to Executive Meddling. These fans reject this turn of events hard because it ruins a comic that was otherwise a masterpiece.
    • And some consider it a masterpiece because of that ending. It's a matter of priorities.
  • Many fans of Saikano believe that the series should have ended on episode 10 with Shuji and Chise running away together, instead of all the (additional) Angst and It Got Worse we get bombarded with in the next 3 episodes.
    • Just to drive the point home, there's a fansub of episode ten that states immediately after that episode's ending:

"This is the end of happiness in Saikano. If you would prefer the anime to have a happy ending, consider stopping here and pretending there are no more episodes. Continuing will only bring misery and pain. You have been warned."

  • In Full Metal Panic!, many fans want to pretend that Kalinin's betrayal never happened. After his touching backstory with young Sousuke was released, his Face Heel Turn just didn't sit well. The one person it seemed he would never betray had been Sousuke, since he felt great guilt and felt that he owed him and thought of him as a son.
  • To quite a few Bleach fans, Yammy really is the 10th Espada, and there is no such thing as a 0 Espada.
    • This is partly because there is actual evidence. It took Kenpachi serious effort to hurt Nnoitra at all (Before the spoonhead even released), but he was slicing limbs off of Yammy as easily as if he were a really big hollow.
      • Justified, however, given that Nnoitra had the strongest hierro and Kenpachi observed at the time that he'd been forced to learn to adapt to it before he could start injuring Nnoitra. Since Nnoitra had the strongest hierro of all espada, once Kenpachi had adapted to fighting hierro of that level of strength, other espada would naturally have been easier to cut (going solely by hierro, that is). Yammi was also specified from the moment he first entered the storyline as being strong but both unskilled and very stupid, two abilities that consistently got him into trouble even when he shouldn't have been from his very first introduction.
  • Code Geass fans often are unsatisfied with the official ending as declared by the Word of God in which Lelouch dies for real at the end of the series.
    • This has spawned a number of theories, pointing out the uncertain nature of being a Code Bearer and how the immortality is transferred. The series reveals that it is transferred from person to person when the Geass evolves to where it occupies both eyes permanently, at which point the Code is taken. Fans point to the fact that Charles responded to Lelouch's command when he shot himself as proof that he did not have his Code active at the time.
    • There is also the fact that Lelouch technically does kill a Code Bearer while his Geass is at full power. From what little we know, it could be seen as a transfer.
    • The Zero Requiem itself is considered Fanon Discontinuity by many, for the following reasons: 1) it involved Lelouch being even worse than ever before, which contradicts his stated wish to atone, and 2) nature abhors a vacuum, meaning that whatever peace that would be gained wouldn't be everlasting, and a new conflict would arise sooner or later. From side materials and the events right before it, it's evident that Lelouch was looking for an excuse to off himself following Nunnally's apparent demise and the Black Knights turning on him, which left him practically all by himself. This suicidal behaviour is actually in character for him, as he goes on several psychotic mind trips during the series, most notably, when he meets with Euphemia to derail her intentions and enact a plan of his own design that would, unbeknownst to him, result in catastrophic failure, simply because he believes that his plans are better than hers. However, unlike then, once it's revealed that Nunnally is alive, no one talks him out of it, because all his allies are suicidal, uncaring, or want to kill him, and all the people who would stop him aren't his allies by design, so that they wouldn't miss him when they died.
    • Certain elements of the epilogue also seem rather unusual. Kallen's mother is still bedridden and can't speak, despite the supposedly upbeat monologue from Kallen; Xingke not appearing, implying that he died off screen, much to the dismay of those fans who liked him, without any major issues; Ohgi being named president of Japan, despite the series painting him as generally incompetent at leadership; etc.
      • For the record, Word of God says Xingke is fine, he just wasn't at that particular ceremony.
    • Some time after the end of the anime, Sunrise released the "Birthday of Miracles" picture drama, in which an evil eunuch takes over Ashford Academy with terrorists, and all the good guys work together to save the day. All the characters who died are there as if they always had been, but all of them -- including Lelouch -- vanish after it's over and Nunnally remarks that the day was his birthday and she believes they came back one last time to say goodbye. This seems to be a pretty solid way to say "He's gone, accept it."
    • Then there are those who prefer to ignore the whole second season and pretend Code Geass ended in a Cliff Hanger.
  • Many fans of the Witchblade comics will scream at the anime for one reason. It completely ignores the fact that the Witch Blade is not a Deadly Upgrade MacGuffin. Quite the opposite. The saddest part of all is that it's entirely justified hatred, given that the anime is officially recognized canon.
  • Endless Eight. A lengthy repetition of time, plot, and scenery. Not to mention more than half of the second season of Haruhi Suzumiya. As soon as the arc ended, all of the Image Boards celebrated.
    • This was what Kyo Ani was aiming for, as they didn't want to do the 8 episodes that Kadokawa asked.
  • The Rurouni Kenshin Non-Serial Movie Seisouhen (known as Requiem in English). Its many, many, many, many shortcomings have been discussed to death elsewhere on this wiki, so it suffices to say here that most fans deny its existence.
  • Two main points keep Elfen Lied fans from fully accepting the well-done-if-truncated anime. One is Kurama's death, which keeps it forever outside even a latter-day pick-up series following the manga, and Kohta's decision to forgive Lucy/Nyu for his family's murder
    • Also, the implication that Lucy is still alive.
  • The Lucky Star fandom dismisses Konata's comment on her not being lesbian as her being in the closet, not realizing it, or just plain out ignoring the quote. The fandom also ignores anything post-high school, manga-wise.
  • For the most part, the Tenchi Muyo! fandom would simply prefer to believe that the third OVA never existed.
  • The Fist of the North Star manga is often divided into two major eras: the Raoh-era ("the good era"); and the post-Time Skip-era ("the not-so-good era"). Originally, Buronson and Tetsuo Hara intended to end the manga with the death of Kenshiro's main rival Raoh. However, due to contractual obligations they had with Shueisha, they were forced to extend the manga's storyline by a few years. This led to the sudden introductions of other rival martial art schools for Kenshiro to face that were somehow not around during the earlier conflicts, too much emphasis on ki-based attacks (when they were originally used only for special occasions), and the sudden appearances of way too many long lost relatives (especially Raoh's brother Kaioh, a character who can easily be described as "Raoh with a scar on his face"). Many of the more recent spin-off works and side-stories rarely acknowledge any of the events after the death of Raoh, outside of a few plot points (like the retconned origin story of how Raoh, Toki, and Kenshiro were originally refuges from Shura).
  • Lupin III is subject to this at times, mostly because of its status as a Long Runner. Especially with the Milestone Celebration. Most fans like to think that Pycal dies at the end of his original appearance. The 30th anniversary special Return of the Magician doesn't exist. And while Green vs Red wasn't considered bad, most of the fandom prefers to think of it as being an alternate canon due to how it implies that Lupin the Third is not a single man, but a title passed down throughout the years. Or that he wants to retire and picked a ramen shop-worker to take his place.
    • One wonders how these fans will react now that the voice actors for Zenigata, Goemon, and Fujiko have been replaced (aside from the death of Lupin's original VA, there had been no cast changes at all since 1977).
  • Fans of the Wandering Son anime don't often like the last episode, due to the Broken Aesop.
  • Some Black Butler fans LOVE forgetting that Grell is a male to female transsexual, despite the Word of God. Becomes specially ugly if we're talking of rabid Yaoi Fangirls who hate the idea that Grell/Sebastian is actually het instead of yaoi. (Though, to be fair, if one hasn't read said Word of God and doesn't know it exists, it's easy to read her as merely hopeful.)
    • Said Word of God states that she's still pre-op, which means Grell/Sebastian would probably still be considered yaoi.
  • There's also a sizable contingent in Black Butler fandom which disavows the second series because of its ending, in which Ciel becomes a demon, forcing Sebastian to be his servant for all eternity, since he now has no mortal soul with which to pay for services rendered.. In fact, even some who otherwise love the second series have been heard to shun the ending.
  • Canaan fans, especially shippers, prefer to forget the whole "Canaan and Maria went their separate ways and never met again" part of the ending.
  • One of the few aspects of Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force that most English fans agree on is that it's a terrible story and didn't happen...but good luck getting them to agree on why.
  • Maetel Legend is the prequel to Galaxy Express 999, establishing the long suspected connection between 999 and Queen Millenia. Many feel that Millenia stood best on its own, especially if their only experience is the 1982 film. In Maetel Legend, the heroine of Queen Millenia, Yayoi Yukino is shown to become the evil Queen Promethium of 999. The turning of such a likeable character into a villain was probably the reason why many fans would prefer to forget Maetel Legend, especially since she had such a good sendoff in the 1982 Queen Millenia film
  • Devil May Cry: The Animated Series is subject to Fanon Discontinuity, despite Word of God declaring it canon. However, some fans say they'll stop ignoring it once it gets properly brought up in-game.
    • The anime's case isn't helped by the fact that in Devil May Cry 4, Dante and Trish are portrayed as partners, while in the anime the two are working independently.
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