Genre Busting: Difference between revisions

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[[File:120132-~~c_032505_katamari2b_5081~~.jpg|link=Katamari Damacy|frame| We dare you to put a genre ''[[Widget Series|on this]]''.]]

[[File:120132-c 032505 katamari2b 5081.jpg|link=Katamari Damacy|frame| We dare you to put a genre ''[[Widget Series|on this]]''.]]

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But every so often, something comes along that just ''does not fit'' into our usual map of genres. Most of the time, these kinds of pieces get thrown out, so no one remembers them. If they're good, though, they often go on to found new genres. This means that Genre Busters are often [[Trope Makers]] for a whole range of tropes.

Of course, even genre busters [[Troperiffic|are not entirely original]]. But they are original ~~enough--and~~ powerful ~~enough--that~~ they appear to completely transcend genre. Categories like the broad [[Speculative Fiction]] and the hybrid [[Science Fantasy]] exist so that works can be filed ''somewhere'', but these often fail to capture the feel of a genre buster.

Of course, even genre busters [[Troperiffic|are not entirely original]]. But they are original enough—and powerful enough—that they appear to completely transcend genre. Categories like the broad [[Speculative Fiction]] and the hybrid [[Science Fantasy]] exist so that works can be filed ''somewhere'', but these often fail to capture the feel of a genre buster.

Compare [[From Clones to Genre]], [[Trope Maker]], and [[Trope Codifier]]. Quite often a [[Deconstructor Fleet]]. 90% of the time, you will find [[Mind Screw]] within them, with the other 10% [[Widget Series|just]] [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|weird]]. Compare and contrast [[Genre Killer]]. For a character see [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]. See also [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly]] for a related musical trope.

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* ''[[Planetes]]'' is hard sci-fi (well, hard for anime), with plenty of drama, strong themes on relationship building, and a few comedy bits to relax the audience. Some people just agreed upon it to be a slice-of-life story, but In Space!

* [[Tower of God]]: Modern Fantasy, mystery Shounen tournament, a maturity more commonly seen in seinen works, aspects of a political drama, mind game series and a declaration by the author that every season will be another genre along with affectionate parodies of those genres (you know, when all the death, betrayal and broken dreams get a little too hard on you).

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', starts off as a routine [[Gaming and Sports Anime And Manga]] that gradually morphs into a full-blown [[Mind Screw]], with a chaser of psychological exploration and numerous [[Take That~~|Take Thats~~]] at shonen anime tropes and concepts from its franchise's [[Yu-Gi-Oh!|original series]] ~~-- in~~ other words, ''literally'' busting its own genre.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', starts off as a routine [[Gaming and Sports Anime And Manga]] that gradually morphs into a full-blown [[Mind Screw]], with a chaser of psychological exploration and numerous [[Take That]]s at shonen anime tropes and concepts from its franchise's [[Yu-Gi-Oh!|original series]]—in other words, ''literally'' busting its own genre.

* ''[[Hell Girl]]''. A fusion of suspense, drama and horror, with some slice of life and social commentary about the least appealing aspects of the Japanese society thrown in for good measure. The third season is full of Mind Screw as well.

* In a smaller scale example, ''[[Crossbone Gundam]]'' defies many of the standard tropes conventions of the ''[[Gundam]]'' franchise, itself a [[Trope Maker]] for [[Real Robot]] anime. For starters, the main character is a licensed pilot (no [[Falling Into the Cockpit]] here) and is so [[Angst? What Angst?|well-adjusted]] that even faking angst is difficult for him.

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* ''[[Kara no Kyoukai:|Kara no Kyoukai]]'' is a mix of romance, horror, [[Urban Fantasy]], murder mystery, and action.

* Have fun listing [[Slayers]] as a single genre of anime. Set in a fantasy world, it includes comedy, action, and large amounts of drama...often into a single episode!

* ''[[Boku no Pico]]''. Is it in the [[Boys Love Genre]]? Nope, it's lacking many of the conventions of BL, and is made by men for men. So it must be [[Bara]], right? Again, no, it lacks a lot of the elements of ~~Bara--Pico~~ and pals are nowhere near your typical Bara guys' build. Ultimately, the best it can be classified as is a loli ero-anime, only with the characters who would otherwise be lolis be male.

* ''[[Boku no Pico]]''. Is it in the [[Boys Love Genre]]? Nope, it's lacking many of the conventions of BL, and is made by men for men. So it must be [[Bara]], right? Again, no, it lacks a lot of the elements of Bara—Pico and pals are nowhere near your typical Bara guys' build. Ultimately, the best it can be classified as is a loli ero-anime, only with the characters who would otherwise be lolis be male.

* ''[[Un-Go]]'' - [[Post Cyber Punk]] detective drama with supernatural elements throw in for good measure.

* ''[[Gunbuster]]'' is a [[Coming of Age]] [[Sports Stories|Sport]] [[Super Robot Genre|Super]]-[[Real Robot Genre|Real Robot]] [[Military Science Fiction]] [[Space Opera]].

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== Comic Book ==

* ''[[Watchmen]]'': a [[Film Noir]] [[Raygun Gothic]] [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] / [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] / [[The Dark Age of Comic Books|Dark Age]] [[Sci Fi]] [[Cyberpunk]] [[The Great Politics Mess-Up|Political]] [[Alternate History]] [[Deconstruction]] of superheroes that ''invented'' half the tropes used by modern comics, and quite a few others besides. Phew.

* ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]'' is a [[Funny Animal~~|Funny Animals~~]] comic book that follows all the conventions of the classic [[The Epic|Epic]] ~~-- a~~ truly modern epic.

* ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]'' is a [[Funny Animal]]s comic book that follows all the conventions of the classic [[The Epic|Epic]]—a truly modern epic.

** That sounds like [[Bone]]

* ''[[Strangers in Paradise]]'' is a [[Slice of Life]] story, mixed [[Girls Love|lesbian romantic comedy]], [[The Syndicate|crime]] [[They Fight Crime|drama]], and on occasion a [[Xena]] parody.

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== Literature ==

* [[Literary Fiction]] is expected to not fit into a particular genre. Certain academics who regard [[Lit Fic]] as [[True Art]] are guilty of looking down on works that don't engage in [[Genre Busting]].

* [[Literary Fiction]] is expected to not fit into a particular genre. Certain academics who regard [[Lit Fic]] as [[True Art]] are guilty of looking down on works that don't engage in Genre Busting.

* William Gibson's ''[[Neuromancer]]'' combines elements of film noir, mystery, pul science fiction and an emphasis on technology to create what is now known as [[Cyberpunk]] . It is now seen as the [[Trope Maker]] of the genre, and depending on who you ask, the [[Trope Codifier]] as well.

* ''[[Riddley Walker]]'' is an [[After the End]] [[Science Fiction]] done in the style of a Middle Ages [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|mind screwy]] historical novel.

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* ''[[Thursday Next]]'' lives' off of [[Meta Fiction]], so the fact that it's a fantasy/sci-fi/mystery/comedy/drama involving everything from [[Time Travel]] to [[Serious Business|cheese smuggling]] as major plot points eventually just starts to be classified as "I give up."

** The'' [[Nursery Crime]]'' series as well, given it's a spinoff of ''[[Thursday Next]]'', though it has its roots in Detective Fiction [[Deconstruction]].

* ''Second Sons'' is almost brilliant about this. From one perspective, there's little reason why it couldn't just be called [[Historical Fiction]]~~-- it~~ has no magic, no aliens, no [[Applied Phlebotinum]], and generally nothing outright impossible, and while it definitely [[Never Was This Universe]], that doesn't necessarily disqualify it from fitting the genre. However, it's marketed as fantasy, because it ''really'' [[Never Was This Universe]] rather than being just our universe [[Recycled in Space|with different names]], and because the depicted world has [[Alien Sky|two suns in its sky]]. (For the record, the author calls it medieval science fiction.)

* ''Second Sons'' is almost brilliant about this. From one perspective, there's little reason why it couldn't just be called [[Historical Fiction]]—it has no magic, no aliens, no [[Applied Phlebotinum]], and generally nothing outright impossible, and while it definitely [[Never Was This Universe]], that doesn't necessarily disqualify it from fitting the genre. However, it's marketed as fantasy, because it ''really'' [[Never Was This Universe]] rather than being just our universe [[Recycled in Space|with different names]], and because the depicted world has [[Alien Sky|two suns in its sky]]. (For the record, the author calls it medieval science fiction.)

* ''[[Complete World Knowledge]]'' combines the almanac with the absurdist comedy.

* ''[[House of Leaves]]'' is a horror/fantasy/parody/romance story.

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** Also [[Police Procedural]] tropes, especially in the later Ankh-Morpork City Watch novels.

* ''[[Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency]]'' was described by author [[Douglas Adams]] as a "detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic".

** Of these labels, only four are really ~~accurate -- detective~~, ghost, whodunnit and time ~~travel -- and~~ two of those are synonyms.

** Of these labels, only four are really accurate—detective, ghost, whodunnit and time travel—and two of those are synonyms.

* ''[[Dhalgren]]'' is written very much like psychological [[Sci Fi]] (one of the characters [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this at one point), but it ends up being [[Mind Screw|very hard to classify]].

* ''[[Earth's Children]]'' is a portrayal of life during the Ice Age, but this includes elements of [[Romance Novel]], [[Historical Fiction]], historical fantasy, erotica, travelogue and [[Shown Their Work]] mixed with a lot of [[Artistic License]].

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* ''[[Tokusatsu]]'' can do this.

* ''[[Lost]]'', while also being a [[Trope Codifier]] for the [[Noughties Drama Series]], started off with what can best be described as a clean slate since [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot|the plot was so heavily shrouded in mystery]]. This allowed the writers to construct a story that would include tropes from... well... Pretty much everything.

** The general rule, at least in the early seasons, was that the island stories were [[Ontological Mystery]] or supernatural stories, while the flashbacks were romantic or character driven, either or being able to be replaced with a comedy plot for [[Breather Episode~~|Breather Episodes~~]]. This changed post-season-three-finale.

** The general rule, at least in the early seasons, was that the island stories were [[Ontological Mystery]] or supernatural stories, while the flashbacks were romantic or character driven, either or being able to be replaced with a comedy plot for [[Breather Episode]]s. This changed post-season-three-finale.

* [[Joss Whedon]] seems to enjoy this trope as evidenced by his past creations: a [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Drama/Comedy about Teenaged Monster Hunters]] and a [[Firefly|Space Western]]!

** [[Space Western]] is a fairly common subgenre of science fiction, though. Though, usually not ''so'' western.

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== Newspaper Comics ==

* When you get right down to it, ''[[Lio]]'' is like nothing else in America. The closest it gets to "normal" is when it emulates ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', but it's just as likely to resemble a Victorian morality fable mixed with [[Surreal Horror]].

* When ''[[Candorville]]'' began, it essentially was to ''[[Doonesbury]]'' what ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'' is to ''[[Penny Arcade]]'', albeit with far more black people. As time passes, however, the [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment~~|Big Lipped Alligator Moments~~]] not only have gotten more frequent, but seem to have stopped being [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment~~|Big Lipped Alligator Moments~~]] and become canon. At the same time, in what seems to be an unrelated process, the previously unimportant character of Saxon Kenchu set up a comedic horror plot that has been declared to be his insanity, then declared actually true, then declared to be the main character's insanity, then indicated to be true after all, with no end in sight.

* When ''[[Candorville]]'' began, it essentially was to ''[[Doonesbury]]'' what ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'' is to ''[[Penny Arcade]]'', albeit with far more black people. As time passes, however, the [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment]]s not only have gotten more frequent, but seem to have stopped being [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment]]s and become canon. At the same time, in what seems to be an unrelated process, the previously unimportant character of Saxon Kenchu set up a comedic horror plot that has been declared to be his insanity, then declared actually true, then declared to be the main character's insanity, then indicated to be true after all, with no end in sight.

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* There is absolutely no way to categorize ''[[Jet Set Radio]]'' as anything other than [[Buffy-Speak|that one cool game]] [[Rollerblade Good|with the rollerblades]] [[Generic Graffiti|and the tagging]] [[Cel Shading|and the cel-shading]]. [[Crowning Music of Awesome|And the music]]. [[Overly Long Gag|And the cops]].

* ''[[Mondo Agency]]'' is a Deconstruction of the FPS genre that's also a [[Mind Screw]] puzzle game with platforming and [[Surreal Horror]].

* The ''[[Defense of the Ancients]]'' mod for ''[[Warcraft]] III'' qualifies. It's an online game played in teams that contains elements of [[Real Time Strategy]], third person action and [[Role Playing Game~~|Role Playing Games~~]].

* The ''[[Defense of the Ancients]]'' mod for ''[[Warcraft]] III'' qualifies. It's an online game played in teams that contains elements of [[Real Time Strategy]], third person action and [[Role Playing Game]]s.

** It ended up starting what are now called "[[Multiplayer Online Battle Arena]]" games, but for a while were just called "[[Shaped Like Itself|DotA clones]]." (''DotA'' itself was called an "AoS clone" as it duplicated the mechanics of the "Aeon of Strife" map from ''[[Starcraft]]''.)

* ''[[Pikmin]]'' - one can make a reasonable case for it being a [[Real Time Strategy]], action-adventure, and a puzzle game, yet none of these terms properly describes it.

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* ''[[System Shock|System Shock 2]]''. It's in a first-person perspective, but has strong survival horror elements (aside from the monsters, you'll be scrounging for ammo and playing inventory management as you go), isn't ''quite'' a first-person shooter, nor an RPG or Action-RPG. Most who play it, though, say that whatever it is, it's good.

** It's part of the same genre as ''[[Deus Ex]]''.

** Warren Spector's ''[[Epic Mickey]]'' is similar, but [[X Meets Y|with ]][[Mickey Mouse]].

** Warren Spector's ''[[Epic Mickey]]'' is similar, but [[X Meets Y|with]][[Mickey Mouse]].

** ''[[The Precursors]]'' is similar, best described as ''[[Deus Ex]]'' [[X Meets Y|meets ]]''[[Freelancer]]''.

** ''[[The Precursors]]'' is similar, best described as ''[[Deus Ex]]'' [[X Meets Y|meets]]''[[Freelancer]]''.

* ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' defies easy description. It's a [[Real Time Strategy|Real Time]]/TurnBasedStrategy Hybrid...which incorporates [[Bullet Hell]] elements because the enemy is shooting at YOUR CURSOR, not the units you temporarily bring to life to attack back. There are [[RPG Elements]] for the units you control, but there's some stuff that can't even properly be classified, like hitting a big red/blue switch for Law and Chaos that completely changes the hit ranges and attack types for your characters across the map, or that you advance stages by destroying enemies placed on a grid via a roulette system.

** If you want an [[Blatant Lies|easier description]], the general gameplay (not including the story) is: [[Ikaruga]] (minus the Bullet Absorb) meets [[Persona 3]] (combining souls to create one...this sub-system is too complicated to explain) meets [[Final Fantasy Tactics]] (it's not exactly turn-based, but it acts like one heavily) with an [[Everybody's Dead, Dave]] (with several exceptions, you control souls) twist in a [[Real Time Strategy]] (HEAVY emphasis) environment that also includes a [[Interface Screw]] (explained above).

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** Speaking of Jungian, [[Persona 2]] is an RPG [[Urban Fantasy]] about saving the world ''and'' facing your fears ''and'' with psychological elements and it's a horror game like the other Megatens and it's got elements of romance. Confusing stuff. [[Persona 3]] and [[Persona 4]] are all that but with dating sim mechanics. Hmm...

** Which is even lampshaded in the first episode WAY before the players figured it out

* ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' is inclined towards being a [[Real Time Strategy]] game, but your skills at [[Hack and Slash]], [[Rhythm Game~~|Rhythm Games~~]], and driving are often more important than RTS-related skills. The single player campaign being a [[Wide Open Sandbox]] further complicates slapping a genre label onto it.

* ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' is inclined towards being a [[Real Time Strategy]] game, but your skills at [[Hack and Slash]], [[Rhythm Game]]s, and driving are often more important than RTS-related skills. The single player campaign being a [[Wide Open Sandbox]] further complicates slapping a genre label onto it.

* ''[[Monday Night Combat]]'' at first looks like another [[Third-Person Shooter]], but teamwork is vital, playing deathmatch style tends to do as much harm as good, you're effectively fighting on a two-sided [[Tower Defense]] game, you've got to upgrade your abilities and buy bots with money you earn during battle, and topping it all off it's class-based to keep things balanced.

** ''[[Fantasy Earth Zero]]'' is also like this. Most of the game is typical MMO stuff, but the main heart of the game is basically 100-man [[PvP]] RTS/Tower Defense.