Gateway Series: Difference between revisions

Gateway series often have some things in common, mostly anything that causes a good first impression, both from the series and the entire genre. Each genre has a certain pattern, so to enjoy it you have to grow accustomed to those unique quirks. Thus, many Gateway Series blend styles or cross genres together; you [[Come for The X Stay For The Y|are attracted to the series by quirks you already have and so get used to the new ones that way.]] Thus, Japanese Anime that has Western-style storytelling makes for good gates.

Contrast [[It's Popular, Now It Sucks]]. Not to be confused with [[Heechee Saga|this]] or its [[Gateway (Video Game)|video game adaptation]]. See also [[TV Tropes As a Gateway Drug]].

* Virtually anything aired on [[Toonami]] and/or [[Adult Swim]] has been a gateway anime for many viewers. Of course, [[Cartoon Network]] seems to have been pretty careful about selecting shows with mainstream appeal -- and clearly they've been successful. This makes it even more alarming that both daytime CN and Adult Swim have drastically decreased their amount of anime programming over the last year or two. Many have pointed at Cartoon Network's...[[Network Decay|controversial changes]] [[Screwed By the Network|as the reason why]].

* Anime reached France en masse at the end of the 70s, and for a good part of the 80s, almost the most programs on children's television were anime. Also, due to [[Animation Age Ghetto]] syndrome, some totally non-suitable for kids series were broadcasted. It backfired spectacularly in the late 90s (until [[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]] then [[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]] made their way). Let's just list the biggest ones: ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer|Goldorak]]'', ''[[Magical Princess Minky Momo|Gigi]]'', ''[[Captain Harlock|Albator]]'' (this one being extremely well-beloved. [[Interstella 5555 (Anime)|Did you wonder how]] [[Daft Punk (Music)|Daft Punk]] knew [[Leiji Matsumoto]]?), ''[[Space Adventure Cobra]]'' (which main character was explicitly modeled after a French actor), ''[[Candy Candy|Candy]]'', ''[[Lady Oscar]]'' (there even was a movie by a famous French director), the furry version of ''Sherlock Holmes'', ''[[Cat's Eye]]'', ''[[Dragonball]]'' and ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' of course, ''[[Saint Seiya|Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque]]'', ''[[Mahou Tenshi Creamy Mami]]'' (provided the [[Magical Girl]] page picture), ''[[Hokuto no Ken|Ken le Survivant]]'' (Sadly, not kidding. The dub deliberately [[Macekre]]-d and [[Gag Dub|Gag Dubbed]] it to tone down the violence.), ''[[Maison Ikkoku|Juliette je t'aime]]'', ''[[City Hunter]]'', ''[[Kimagure Orange Road|Max et Cie]]''. And so on.

** ''[[The Mysterious Cities of Gold (Anime)|The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]'' and ''[[Ulysses 31]]'' weren't seen as anime series, since they are [[International Coproduction|french-japanese]] shows.

* Latin America had gateway anime quite sooner than the US, with series such as ''[[Mazinger Z]]'', ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', ''[[Space Pirate Captain Harlock]]'', ''Space Adventure Cobra'' (!!!), ''[[Kotetsu Jeeg]]'', ''Space Dragon Gaiking'', ''Magnet Robot Gakeen'', ''[[Candy Candy]]'', ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Anime)|Gatchaman]]'', ''[[Astro Boy (Anime)|Astro Boy]]'' and many more being shown regularly after school and on the weekends.

** Not to mention ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', ''[[Dragonball]]'' (and Dragonball Z), and ''[[Cyborg 009]]'' among others like ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]/[[Digimon]]''.

* Not all shows like this have to be absolute masterpieces. Preteens who watched ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'' in the late 90s went on to watch ''[[Dragonball|DBZ]]'' in their teen years and, in some cases, find themselves watching [[Adult Swim]] and beyond now.

* Genres inside a medium do it too. ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', ''[[Kanon (Visual Novel)|Kanon]]'', ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi|The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', ''[[Clannad (Visual Novel)|Clannad]]'', and ''[[AIR (Visual Novel)|AIR]]'' have converted many a [[Shojo|shoujo]] fan to the [[Seinen]] series they once dismissed as [[Fan Service|fanservicey]] junk.

* ''[[Akira (Manga)|Akira]]'' is widely credited with introducing the anime feature film to the West in the late 1980s. Alas, Manga Entertainment capitalised on this by releasing a tide of unmitigated pap straight to video which left the general impression that all anime was ''Legend of the Overfiend'' and ''Violence Jack''.

* An early "gateway movie" for many early otaku was the ''[[Dirty Pair (Light Novel)|Dirty Pair]]'' [[The Movie|movie]] "Project Eden". Many came to it through Adam Warren's Amerimanga adaption of the characters, and it was frequently fansubbed.

** The games too are like this. If you've never played arcade racers competitively before, ''[[Initial D Arcade Stage (Video Game)|Initial D Arcade Stage]]'' will help you break yourself in.

* ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' was a gateway series for many into anime period, though for most it was a gateway series into a specific genre (not necessarily bound to anime either) containing darker themes, intense character interactions, strong dubbing, avoidance of the more obvious anime cliches and a decidedly anti-hero for a protagonist, leading many people to search for more "gray-area" genre series like the aforementioned ''[[Code Geass]]''.

* For several people, ''[[Aria (Manga)|Aria]]'' is gateway series to [[Slice of Life]] anime.

** For others, the gateway into this genre was ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Azumanga Daioh]]'' or ''[[Lucky Star]]''.

* ''[[Gao Gai Gar]]'' (or ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' for a more recent example) is an excellent way to introduce someone to the [[Super Robot]]/ [[Humongous Mecha]] genre.

* For older anime fans ''[[Speed Racer (Anime)|Speed Racer]]'' and ''[[Star Blazers]]'' were gateway series in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively.

* ''[[Naruto (Manga)|Naruto]]'' could be considered the the third Big Boom of modern anime watchers (the first being ''[[Dragonball]]'' and [[Toonami]] and the second being [[Adult Swim]]).

* Know someone who likes shows like ''[[CSI]]'' and ''[[Law and Order (TV)|Law and Order]]'', and who thinks of anime as [[Animation Age Ghetto|"kid's stuff"]]? Show them ''[[Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex]]''. It seems to work quite well.

** Similarly, the original ''[[Ghost in The Shell]]'' movie was one of the first anime to get attention from mainstream critics, and counter the stereotype that [[All Anime Is Naughty Tentacles|all anime was senseless sex and violence.]]

* Sci-fi Channel's initial "Japanimation Week", back in the early 1990's, consisting of ''[[Robot Hunter Casshan]], [[Eighth Man|8-Man After]], [[Project a Ko|Project A-ko: The Vs. Battles]], [[Demon City Shinjuku]], Lily C.A.T.,'' ''[[Galaxy Express 999]],'' and ''[[Robot Carnival]]'' stretched across the whole week. These and a few other movies subsequently went into the channel's "Saturday Anime" rotation. And let's not forget TBS' late-night showings of heavily edited ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'' and ''[[Heavy Metal (Animation)|Heavy Metal]]''.

* [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Anime)|Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]].

* To a lesser extent, ''[[Hamtaro (Anime)|Hamtaro]]''.

* ''[[Tenchi Muyo]]'' or ''[[Love Hina]]'' as gateways to the [[Harem Genre]].

* ''[[Astro Boy (Anime)|Astro Boy]]'' '''could''' have been a gateway series, except there wasn't anything to come afterwards. Nonetheless, people who never watched another anime again know Astro.

* ''[[The Mysterious Cities of Gold (Anime)|The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]''.

* ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' is considered by many to be one of the best magical girl series of all time, not only because of its own merits, but because it was a gateway series into the [[Magical Girl]] genre or anime itself.

* ''[[Monster (Anime)|Monster]]'' is set in Germany and drawn in an extremely realistic style which some people find atypical for manga and anime. It uses very few [[Japanese Media Tropes]], favoring classic detective and crime tropes instead.

* ''[[The Big O (Anime)|The Big O]]'' is heavily influenced by American fiction, having been called [[Batman]] with robots, so it's easy for Americans to follow. For a time [[Adult Swim]] showed it on weeknights just after Family Guy and Futurama, and it got a large enough following in the U.S. that they were able to finance a second season, showing new episodes at the front of their Sunday night lineup.

* Over the years, ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro (Anime)|The Castleof Cagliostro]]'' has been used by anime fans as a jumping-on point for the [[Lupin III]] franchise. This can get very ironic considering [[Characterization Marches On|the titular character's actions and personality in the movie]] [[Casanova Wannabe|don't quite match up with any of his other incarnations]].

* ''[[Mariasama ga Miteru (Light Novel)|Mariasama ga Miteru]]'' is probably ''the'' [[Girls Love]] gateway series.

* ''[[Batman Begins]]'' set a standard of believability in [[Comic Book]] movies that eclipsed all previous attempts. This was successfully recreated in the ''[[Iron Man (Film)|Iron Man]]'' film and the standard was set once again with ''[[The Dark Knight]]''.

* ''[[Casablanca]]'' or ''[[Citizen Kane (Film)|Citizen Kane]]'' for classic films

** ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' was a less-drastic but still notable example of the same thing. It goes to show that a good production will [[Merchandise-Driven|sell more toys]] than a [[Product Placement|movie designed to sell toys.]]

* The myriad of [[Philip K Dick]] adaptations (''Scanner Darkly'',''Total Recall'',''Paycheck'', ''Blade Runner'', ''Minority Report'') and also the [[William Gibson]] adaptation/basis of movies like ''Johnny Mnemonic'' or ''Strange Days'' as an introduction into sci-fi beyond laser beams and space ships.

* The ''[[Scream (Film)|Scream]]'' series did a lot to introduce young people in [[The Nineties]] to all the older horror movies that it referenced/parodied, to the point where it's credited with singlehandedly [[Popularity Polynomial|reviving the genre]] after having been [[Deader Than Disco]] for the better part of the decade.

* [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' and [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Gaunts Ghosts]]'' novels are good introductions to the ''[[Warhammer 40 K]]'' Universe; being not quite as [[Grimdark]] as the rest, but introducing the concepts and names via genre mixing.

* ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'' does serve as a Gateway Series for many young readers to [[Vampire Fiction]] or even reading in general.

** To a lesser extent, ''[[Stargate Universe (TV)|Stargate Universe]]'' has attracted people previously uninterested in the [[Stargate]] mythos to the franchise. Tycho of ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' [http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/9/29/ wrote something to the effect of] "I really didn't know much about Stargate other than that there are gates and they somehow involved stars but I like this show and am now interested."

* A popular gateway series to ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' is [[Kamen Rider Den O|Kamen Rider Den-O]]. Only ''Decade'' and ''W'' are like ''Den-O'' so it's not especially representative of ''Kamen Rider''.

* If it weren't for ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' there probably wouldn't be half as many sci fi nerds as there are now. In fact, there probably wouldn't be as many people in the space industry.

* ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' can be this for those who don't know or didn't pay any attention to [[Joss Whedon]], particularly those who were a little too young to be into ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' in its heyday.

** Not to mention Rockapella's appearances on ''[[Where in The World Is Carmen San Diego]]'', probably the first exposure many had to ''a cappella'' groups in the 90s.

* For many, [[Daft Punk (Music)|Daft Punk]] have been a gateway into the world of House Electronic music.

* [[Green Day]], [[Nirvana (Music)|Nirvana]], AgainstMe! and NOFX are all punk bands who, though derided for going "mainstream" often act as Gateways to real underground and DIY punk rock.

* Some of the more mainstream [[Nu Metal|nu-metal]] bands like [[Linkin Park]], [[Slipknot]] and [[Korn (Music)|Korn]], while not particularly heavy, have served as good Gateways to much heavier and varied subgenres of the heavy metal musical umbrella.

** And on that note, bands like [[Metallica (Music)|Metallica]], [[Megadeth (Music)|Megadeth]], [[Slayer (Music)|Slayer]], [[Anthrax (Music)|Anthrax]] [[Black Sabbath (Music)|Black Sabbath]], [[Judas Priest (Music)|Judas Priest]], [[Iron Maiden (Music)|Iron Maiden]] and [[Dream Theater (Music)|Dream Theater]] tend to be common gateway bands into more obscure or specific subgenres of metal. A lot of people tend to get into metal through [[Alice in Chains (Music)|Alice in Chains]], too.

** Some songs of [[Nightwish (Music)|Nightwish]] and [[Within Temptation]] making it into the pop music charts made and make some people interested in [[Symphonic Metal]], if not Metal in general.

* [[Nirvana (Music)|Nirvana]], and to a lesser extent [[Pearl Jam (Music)|Pearl Jam]], serve as a gateway to grunge at first, and then to alternative music in general. Sometimes this also leads to non-mainstream music of other genres in general.

* [[TV Tropes (Wiki)|Look no further than the very website which you happen to be browsing]] at this [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|(probably) late hour.]] How many books, TV shows, etc. were ''you'' blissfully unaware of before coming here but [[TV Tropes As a Gateway Drug|now have a sudden unrequited urge to experience?]]

* [[Youtube Poop (Web Animation)|Youtube Poop]] introduces many younger people who weren't able to watch them when they first aired to cartoon adaptations of popular video games such as ''Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog'', to the ''Philips CD-i'' as well as ''Volvic'' mineral water, ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' and since the rise of the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwoOWTABYbk #71519 fad] to ''[[The Critic]]''.

* [[The Spoony Experiment (Web Video)|The Spoony One]], and his review of ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]]'' in particular, introduced a lot of people who came in late to internet reviewers, and specifically the critics on [[That Guy With the Glasses]]. (Given the amount the reviewers cameo in each other's videos, someone who starts with one will soon be aware of most of the main cast.)

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' Fourth Edition in particular has been rather successful at being friendly to new players.

* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade (Tabletop Game)|Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' of the ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' has been a more recent gateway game.

* ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40,000]]'' is often a gateway to [[Tabletop Games]] as a whole. You start with 40k after coming across it as a teen, then after a few years you might move along and start playing spin-off game or even ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]''. If you play at a multi-gaming club, you'll probably end up at the very least being interested in those systems as well and there's no telling just how many you might get into.

* The ''[[Pokémon (Tabletop Game)|Pokémon]]'' and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game led eventually to ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'' for lots of players. Helped by the fact that a lot of sanctioned tournaments of the former shared venues with tournaments for the latter. Also, the huge media presence (straddling many years) and child-friendly image of both ''Pokémon'' and ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' practically guarantees that these will be the first [[CC Gs]] people get into.

* ''[[Rent]]'', ''[[Les Misérables (Theatre)|Les Misérables]]'', ''[[Avenue Q]]'', and ''[[Wicked (Theatre)|Wicked]]'' for [[The Musical|musicals]].

* After [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983]], people thought gaming was dead... but then enters ''[[Super Mario Bros]]'' bundled with the NES...

** For PC gamers, ''[[Commander Keen (Video Game)|Commander Keen]]'' or ''[[Jill of the Jungle (Video Game)|Jill of the Jungle]]'' is likely to take this role.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'' was a gateway [[RPG]] for a lot of players -- to the detriment of the genre, some might argue. And it doubled as a bit of a gateway introduction to anime as well.

** ''[[Super Mario RPG (Video Game)|Super Mario RPG]]'' is a a very good introductory RPG that's actually an RPG.

* The ''[[Baldurs Gate]]'' series.

** ''[[Half Life]]'' and ''[[Counter-Strike (Video Game)|Counter-Strike]]'' would like to contest this claim as well.

* Play one addictive puzzle game, and you're bound to wind up hunting for more. ''[[Peggle (Video Game)|Peggle]]'' is a good example.

* Many gamers' first [[Real Time Strategy]] game was ''[[War Craft]] II'', and for good reason, too. The graphics are nice to look at, the mechanics are fairly simple compared to other RTS games, and most importantly, it's a lot of fun (including against your friends, even if they do kick your butt in 95% of the games you play with them).

* Although ''[[Rogue (Video Game)|Rogue]]'' was, by definition, the first [[Roguelike]], many fans of the genre get their start with the [[Trope Codifier]], ''[[Nethack]]'', leading into more difficult games like ''[[Angband]]'', and a greater acceptance for ASCII games in general. It's probably not a stretch to say that ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' wouldn't exist if it weren't for ''[[Nethack]]''.

* ''[[Touhou (Video Game)|Touhou]]'' has introduced many a gamer to the wonderful world of [[Bullet Hell]] shmups.

* Although two games predate it (in America, at least), ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' was the [[Gateway Series]] to ''[[Tales Series]]'' for a lot of Western fans. It being one of the better RPGs on the GameCube meant that it drew a lot of attention from people who had previously dismissed the previous games in the series. Also, ''[[Tales of the Abyss (Video Game)|Tales of the Abyss]]'' to an extent, purely because it was for the PS2.

* Quite a few people have been introduced to either the First-Person Shooter genre, PC gaming, or both by way of ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]''.

* Sakevisual, the artist of [[RE Alistair]], wants her game [http://sakevisual.blogspot.com/2010/06/eight-reasons-why-you-should-plug-re.html to become a gateway series] for fans who don't yet know about [[Romance Game|otome games]].

* [[Interactive Fiction]] started the [[Adventure Game]] genre, but many felt it to be too inaccessible. The move to graphic adventures was fairly rapid, but despite some awesome games like ''[[King's Quest]]'' and ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' they remained a niche genre for several years. Then [[Lucas Arts]] (at the time still a strict part of Lucasfilm) went and made a game called ''[[Loom (Video Game)|Loom]]'', one of the most accessible adventure games ever created. This created a veritable explosion in the PC adventure game market, which ended almost a decade later. And for those who were not yet fully convinced, Lucas Arts followed the left punch with the right soon thereafter, giving us the most famous PC Adventure Game ever created, ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]''.

* ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]'' are good start for those interested in the [[Shin Megami Tensei (Franchise)|Shin Megami Tensei]] series, seeing how they're generally considered the most accessible of SMT games. In fact, the original ''[[Persona (Video Game)|Persona]]'' was designed to be a more easier SMT.

* ''[[Poker Night At the Inventory (Video Game)|Poker Night At the Inventory]]'' got a lot of ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' fans into ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' and ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]''.

* A main gateway series to [[Visual Novel|Visual Novels]] is arguably ''[[Tsukihime]]'', and in a broader sense, the ''[[Melty Blood]]'' fighting game series. While some eroge can surely bring with them a great story and be classified as [[Porn With Plot]], it usually isn't [[Fetish Fuel|marketed]] or [[Porn Without Plot|seen that way]] in the West. Many a Visual Novel has been consumed since then, and since something as broad as Visual Novels is rather variated, rather guiding newcomers to ''[[Planetarian]]'', and from there:

* Those that may be averse to 18+ material to ''[[Ever 17]]'' or ''[[Kira Kira (Visual Novel)|Kira Kira]]'' (the all ages version)

* Those with a unique taste to [[G Senjou no Maou (Visual Novel)|anything by]] [[Sharin no Kuni (Visual Novel)|Looseboy]], [[Saya no Uta (Visual Novel)|Urobuchi Gen]], [[Tsukihime|Kinoko]] [[Fate Stay Night (Visual Novel)|Nasu]], or [[Kana Little Sister|Ro]][[Family Project|meo]] [[Yume Miru Kusuri|Tan]][[Cross Channel|aka]]

* And those looking for gameplay or humor (or both) to ''[[Galaxy Angel (Video Game)|Galaxy Angel]]'', the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series or ''[[Sengoku Rance (Video Game)|Sengoku Rance]]''.

** ''Kichikuou [[Rance (Franchise)|Rance]]'' was a [[Gateway Series]] in its native Japan since it is one of the highest selling [[H Game|H Games]] of all time.

* [[Katawa Shoujo]] is one partly because it is English Language [[Freeware]], partly because its relation to [[Image Boards|4chan]] and its concept as a [[Disabled Love Interest]] [[H Game]] made it [[No Such Thing As Bad Publicity|somewhat famous]], and partly because it is well made.

** ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' in general is a Gateway Drug, since [[Colbert Bump|many of the things that Tycho links to in his blog end up getting hit by a surge of readers/viewers]]. This happened with both ''[[Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Web Video)|Doctor Horrible]]'' and ''[[Minecraft]]''.

* [[Batman the Animated Series]] serves as an introduction into the DCAU, and to the overall Batman mythos.