Genre Shift: Difference between revisions

Not to be confused with [[Art Shift]] or [[Genre Turning Point]]. Compare with [[Tone Shift]] and [[Cerebus Syndrome]].

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' started out as a supernatural story, then a supernatural crime drama, then a supernatural martial arts story, and ended up a supernatural psychological thriller.

* A strange example occurs in the last ''[[Steel Angel Kurumi]]'' [[OAV]], a far-future prequel done in the format of a fairly serious drama instead of the show's usual bubblegum cuteness.

* ''[[Mai-HiME (Anime)|Mai-HiME]]'' starts out looking like a postmodern take on the [[Magical Girl]] genre, then turns into something disturbingly like ''[[Highlander (Franchise)|Highlander]]''.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', as pictured. It ''looks'' like a [[Harem|harem comedy]] when it starts, but slowly starts throwing in more and more action sequences... until you hit the [[Tournament Arc]], and suddenly realize that you're reading a [[Shounen]] action series with an unusual amount of [[Fan Service]]. By now, the harem antics are only occasional joke fodder, the story's mainly about Negi's quest to find his long-missing father, and the [[Power Levels]] are over... well, [[Memetic Mutation|you know how it goes]]. Basically, it's become ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' meets ''[[Harry Potter]]'' meets ''[[Love Hina]]''. The anime adaptation was cut short ''long'' before reaching the aforementioned [[Tournament Arc]], but still managed to pull off a slightly different [[Genre Shift]] [[Gecko Ending|in the last few episodes]].

* ''[[Princess Tutu]]'', in its first season, was about a magical ballerina princess/therapist restoring emotions to her love interest. The second season revealed it just wasn't like a fairytale, and it turned into a dark, epic struggle against the sadistic author trying to wreck his character's lives. In other words, a slightly different type of fairytale.

* Similarly, ''[[Love Hina]]'' became prone to Road Trip arcs as the series lingered and most of the romantic misunderstandings had been resolved. These were apparently brief but enjoyed changes of pace for the author, as the later series ''Negima'''s framework allows them to be used more extensively.

** The series, in manga more than other forms, also has a tendency to dip into being a magical action show as opposed to a romantic comedy. More recent manga story arcs have come to focus more on conflicts between the angels and the demons which tend to result in epic battles and intense situations wherein just a few chapters before, [[Mood Whiplash|everyone was just fighting over what to watch on TV!]]

* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' combines an initial genre subversion (a magical girl show pitched specifically at a male audience) with a genre shift halfway through the series.

** As the series nears it's end ([[Dangerously Genre Savvy|if the villain is to be believed]]), this would indeed appear to have been the point, as it's now come full circle back to the original plotline, except much changed from all the fighting and genre savviness that arose from the first shift.

* ''[[Full Metal Panic]]'' - at least, the later novels. Directly [[Lampshaded]] by the author, who mentions that he's changing the series to have a darker, more depressing feel.

* The ''[[Trigun]]'' anime started as a humorous, lighthearted western with sci-fi elements, with a bit of mystery sprinkled throughout (courtesy of Vash, the show's protagonist). That all changed with the episode "Diablo." Suddenly, Trigun became [[Darker and Edgier]], the comedic moments were few and far between, and the show was much more plot oriented. In this case, the shift worked very well, since the second half fleshed out details that were only teased in the first half.

** That's happened because the anime basically took all the lighthearted and comedic parts of the manga, and used them in the first part. The manga version was a dramedy from the beginning - it became increasingly darker towards the end, but not to the point of complete mood shift.

* The second half of the 2nd OVA for [[Seto no Hanayome]] switches from comedy/action into straight horror, borrowing elements from [[The Ring]], then suddenly switches back to comedy at the end.

* The first half of ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' is [[Coming of Age]] with [[Mons]]. The latter half is [[Cosmic Horror Story]]...with [[Mons]].

* This happens in [[Monster]], which switches very early on from an almost noir-like hospital drama to a horror story involving Neo-Nazis, espionage, and serial killers shortly after adult Johan shows up.

* ''[[Chirin no Suzu]]'' starts off as a cute kid's movie about a baby lamb, but halfway through the film it turns into a dark tale of revenge.

** The Black Hood gets a odd one in the very last issue of his Golden Age run when a villain unmasks him and he dropped the costume to become a civilian detective. The 'civilian detective' direction continued for a few back-up stories in Pep Comics.

** [[The Spectre]] went from being a dark supernatural hero to being a guardian angel for "Percival Popp, Super Cop!"

* ''Savage'' started off as an [[Alternate History]] action series, with technology slightly more advanced than the present day. Around 2009 or 2010, it shifted to full-on [[Science Fiction]], with teleporting tigers and the predecessors of the [[ABC Warriors]] appearing.

* [[Cerebus the Aardvark]], which went from adventure-parody to straight-adventure, to... well, no one's quite sure ''what'' the hell it ended up as.

 

== Fan Fiction ==

* ''[[My Immortal]]'' starts off as a fairly generic, albeit a little over-the-top, ''[[Harry Potter]]'' badfic with a typical [[Mary Sue]] protagonist and the [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|usual focus on relationships, clothing and teen popular culture]]. Then it gradually turns into a surrealistic mish-mash of fanfic clichés and confused plot points involving such things as [[Time Travel]] -- sort of like a badfic version of ''[[Lost]]''.

* ''[[Undocumented Features]]'' started off as a joke, a corny self-insert fic in which college students launch part of their dormitory into space to fight anime villains. It quickly went [[Grimdark]] with the "Exile" plot, stabilized into an odd mash-up of science-fiction adventure, has intermittently gone [[Song Fic]], and has dipped into romantic fantasy with the "Symphony of the Sword" plot.

* The Spanish-language [[Suzumiya Haruhi]] fic called, unoriginally [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5125713/1/El_de_Haruhi_Suzumiya El ... de Haruhi Suzumiya] starts out as your ordinary OC-with-[[Sailor Earth|new-powers]]-joins-the-SOS-Brigade fare, albeit with the twist that the OC's powers are rarely used. Then, the characters all graduate and join the [[Author Appeal|military]] {{spoiler|[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]] At that point, the genre shifts to war story and then to [[Space Opera]], with the characters fighting [[Horde of Alien Locusts|insectoid aliens]] who destroy one of Earth's cities. Might I add that the OC from earlier reappears with a [[Hollywood Cyborg|bionic arm]], and that their [[Casual Interstellar Travel|faster-than-light]] spacecraft is so luxurious it has a ''[[Serial Escalation|miniature shopping mall]]'' inside?}} The author expects his reviewers to understand what's going on, but he still has not provided a convincing explanation for the sudden shift in tone.

 

 

** ''[[Psycho]]'' in its first third, is a heist film, with Marion scheming to embezzle $40,000. Then Marion checks into the Bates hotel under an assumed name and it becomes {{spoiler|a psycho slasher film}}.

** ''[[The Birds]]'' starts off as either a quirky romance between two awkwardly charming leads, or perhaps a psychological thriller featuring a paranoid [[Stalker With a Crush]]. It's only as the A-plot's gradually eclipsed by the inexplicable bird attacks that the movie's true nature as apocalyptic horror starts to become apparent.

* Due to its episodic nature, and a rotating set of writers and directors, the ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' movies tend to shift dramatically from one genre to another with each film. The first movie was intended as a slow, philosophical ''[[Two Thousand One|2001]]''-style epic, but critics and audiences simply found it boring, and completely at odds with the feel of the television series. The franchise was dramatically reworked as more of a naval adventure in space, and the next film, ''[[Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan (Film)|The Wrath of Khan]]'', was a huge success. The third, fifth, seventh and ninth movies aimed more for mysticism and a quasi-fantasy feel (and, perhaps not coincidentally, the odd-numbered Trek movies were all considered to be cursed by inferiority before the latest movie came out), the fourth one broke the pattern as a [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]] comedy, the sixth movie features a [[Tom Clancy]]-style political adventure paralleling the end of the [[Cold War]], and the eighth movie involves [[Body Horror]] and the crew caught in a [[Survival Horror]] situation. The most recent movie combines a [[Cosmic Retcon]] with another shift in tone, unfolding as a more lighthearted, fast paced action-adventure story than the previous movies.

** The last movie also has a subtle shift. The first part of it is basically about the beginnings of Kirk and Co., so while we expect trouble, it feel like a typical [[Negative Space Wedgie]] plot. Then {{spoiler|Vulcan is blown up}}, and everything becomes a horror story

* ''[[Kill Bill]] Volume 1'' is a kung fu action thriller that's given an excuse plot and little consideration as to character or story development. ''[[Kill Bill]] Volume 2'' is a character-driven, plot-heavy ode to the Western. Both Volumes were originally intended as one four-hour movie.

* In a bizarre example of this trope happening in a ''trailer'' an up and coming Jack Black film initially appears to be a [[Judd Apatow]] style slacker in love romantic comedy set in New York, then suddenly shifts gear into science fiction territory with a trip into the Bermuda Triangle, ''then'' finally reveals itself to be a modern reimagining of ''[[Gullivers Travels]]''. See it for yourself [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhoktf7X0aQ here].

* ''[[The Prestige]]'' begins as a romantic tale of a professional rivalry between magicians, and ends very much as [[Science Fiction]].

* ''[[Cube|Cube 2: Hypercube]]'' to the original ''Cube''. The first movie was at least ''somewhat'' grounded in reality, with the cube structure obviously futuristic, but still employing normal and believable machinery. The second replaces this with some sort of [[Alien Geometries|physically impossible]] mega-structure consisting of millions of rooms that freely employs [[Time Travel]], intersecting [[Alternate Universe|parallel universes]], and many more "[[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness|hardcore sci-fi]]" contraptions. ''Cube Zero'' goes back to the conventions of the first, but partly changes the [[POV Sequel|character point-of-view]] instead.

** The shift from science fiction to fantasy is definitely the most clear cut example of genre shift in the show. The dramatic shift from (occasionally bonkers) sci-fi to straight up [[A Wizard Did It]] fantasy left a sour taste in the mouth of many longtime fans, to the point that season 6 more than any other season has been fanonically disregarded by many. Lost never really shifted into sci-fi to the same jarring degree, it was really grounded in it from the beginning, albeit far more subtly and with a greater emphasis on mystery than anything else.

* ''[[MASH]]'' famously began drifting away from being a Black Comedy after the departure of Colonel Blake and Trapper John, and by the time Radar left in the 8th season, it had lost most of its dark humorous edge and has rebranded itself a "Dramedy."

* The early episodes of ''[[Lonely Girl 15]]'' were in the style of a realistic video blog. Over time, it turned into a sort of soap opera/drama/thriller hybrid with evil cults, conspiracies, guns and laser beams. For an example of just how different the show has become, compare classic episode "Proving Science Wrong!"[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQEBobE9XZs\] to one of the early season 2 episodes, "Home Invasion."[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnVvMzQpGUo\]

* ''[[House (TV)|House]]'' was pitched to Fox as a show somewhat along the lines of ''[[Diagnosis Murder (TV)|Diagnosis Murder]]'', where the doctors use their medical skills to solve crimes. It quickly moved away from this and became a drama centered on the fact that "everybody lies," from the patients to [[Jerkass|House]] himself.

** ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' goes from sweet and funny romantic comedy to an [[Anyone Can Die]] [[Tragedy]] with lightning speed.

** Witness ''[[Hamlet]]'' turning the standard bloodthirsty revenge plot into a more philosophical meditation on the human condition. Indeed, a lost play by the same title (c. 1589-1594), which if written by Shakespeare would have been one of his earliest works, was apparently a far more straightforward revenge tragedy (and according to one source, [[Old Shame|not a particularly good one either]]).

 

 

* ''[[Rainbow Six]]'' switched from a plan-based multi-team [[Tactical Shooter]] to a more straightforward single-team semi-tactical shooter starting with the console versions of ''3''.

* The first two installments of ''[[Need for Speed]]'' had fairly realistically-handling cars, then it shifted to arcade-style handling starting with ''Hot Pursuit'', then to [[Wide Open Sandbox]] racing from ''Underground to Undercover''. Only with ''Shift'' did it return to its simulation roots.

* The ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' [[Game Mod]] ''[http://www.planetphillip.com/posts/day-hard-complete-half-life-2/ Day-Hard]'', usually a straightforward parody FPS, has a part where you need to enter a [[Hell Hotel]] sans weapons for a [[Fetch Quest]]. What follows is ''[[Silent Hill]]''-esque [[Surreal Horror]]. It doesn't last too long, but it's very out-of-place nonetheless.

* The original ''[[Ikari Warriors]]'' was a ''[[Rambo]]''-inspired run 'n gun shoot-'em-up essentially developed to be SNK's answer to Capcom's ''Commando''. The sequel, ''Victory Road'', retained the same game system from the first game, but was now set in outer space and featured alien enemies and high-tech power-ups. The third and final game in the series, ''Ikari III: The Rescue'', returned to the military theme of the first game, but was now an overhead beat-'em-up instead of a shoot-'em-up.

** ''Final Fight: Revenge'' for the arcade and Saturn, which is ironic since the original ''[[Final Fight]]'' began development as a beat-'em-up spin-off of ''[[Street Fighter (Video Game)|Street Fighter]]'' titled ''Street Fighter '89''.

* The original ''[[Saturday Night Slam Masters (Video Game)|Saturday Night Slam Masters]]'', along with its upgraded edition ''Muscle Bomber Duo'', played pretty much as one would expect from an arcade-style [[Wrestling Game]]. The sequel, ''Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II'', plays like a wrestling-themed version of ''[[Street Fighter II (Video Game)|Street Fighter II]]'' (i.e. multiple punch and kick buttons, command-based special moves, 2D playing field, victory by KO, round-based matches).

* The original ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' for the [[Game Boy Advance]] was a puzzle platformer modeled after ''[[Donkey Kong 94]]'', but the sequels from ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2'' and onward were ''[[Lemmings]]''-style puzzle game that utilize the touch screen and stylus.

* [[Fahrenheit]]'s story is an extreme example of this; the story starts out as an occult murder mystery, but, somehow, it suddenly turns into a philosophical sci-fi action flick a la [[The Matrix]] near the end.