Genre Shift: Difference between revisions

* The ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' series (both the original light novels and the anime) begins as a comedy series that, while featuring a very eccentric protagonist in [[Genki Girl]] Haruhi, was still a fairly realistic [[Slice of Life]] comedy. Then the aliens, time travelers, and psychics start turning up, and we get the big reveal that {{spoiler|Haruhi is God (or at least the next best thing), and her subconscious desires can warp reality, or even destroy the universe if she becomes bored enough.}} It actually remains a [[Slice of Life]] comedy for the most part, but it's slices of much weirder lives than we originally thought.

* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]''. It starts out as standard fairly light shonen fare, then takes an extremely abrupt left turn in Tokyo onto [[Mind Screw]] Way towards Drama Town.

* Oh God, ''[[Narutaru]]''. It initially shows signs of being a lighthearted, female version of [[A Boy and His X]]... only to suddenly change into a dark, depressing series with lots of horrible things.

* ''[[D.Gray-man]]'' has evolved somewhat from being a [[Horror]] Gothic [[Shonen]] series to more of a... normal [[Shonen]] series. Oddly enough, if the [[D.Gray-man/Nightmare Fuel|Nightmare Fuel page]] is to be believed, the switch from horror-style [[Monster of the Week]] plots to a more complicated storyline has actually made it a lot ''more'' scary.

* ''[[Medaka Box]]'' underwent a [[Genre Shift]] not unlike that of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', except far more sudden. It was a quirky series talking about the adventures of a [[God Mode Sue]] and her harem, with just a bit of fighting here and there, for about 14 chapters. Then (probably as was planned from the beginning, considering swiftness of the change), [[Knight of Cerebus|the first character with superpowers to match said Sue appeared]], and heralded a very swift change into a bloody, [[Darker and Edgier]] fighting series, with swiftly escalating power levels.

** 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.

* The plot of ''[[Rosario to Vampire]]'' has come along way from the [[Romantic Comedy]]/[[Monster of the Week]] story it once was, and while it remains an [[Unwanted Harem]] series, it is a very nonstandard one. [[Unlucky Everydude|Tsukune]] received a major [[Shonen Upgrade]], complete with a [[Super-Powered Evil Side|troublesome]] [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|alter-ego]] and some [[Body Horror]]. Even the romance has gotten [[Deconstruction|deeper and less comedic]]. Overall, the current series is much [[Darker and Edgier]], and leans more heavily on shonen action these days.

* 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.

* ''[[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.

 

 

* ''[[Passions]]'' started out as a typical soap opera and quickly mutated into a supernatural weird-fest. Ditto for ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]'' and ''[[General Hospital]]'''s [[Spin-Off]] ''Port Charles''.

* The early episodes of ''[[Lonelygirl15]]'' 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\]

* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'' is a slightly odd example since, in hindsight, the static setting seems an obvious way to do more [[Story Arc|arc-based]] storylines and use lots of recurring characters but, in the beginning, it was just normal [[Star Trek]] with a gimmick -- the only important difference was that the [[Once an Episode|alien of the week]] from the [[Planet of Hats]] came to ''them'' instead of the other way 'round thanks to the wormhole discovered in the first episode. The first season is almost indistinguishable from other Treks, and only when the characters are established do the writers start doing different things.

** ''[[DS 9]]'' was always somewhat [[Darker and Edgier]] and handled more [[War Is Hell|mature]] [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized|subjects]] than earlier [[Star Trek]] shows, but with the introduction of [[The Empire|the Dominion]] [[Cerebus Syndrome|about halfway through the series]] it became a full-on war story.

* The game system in the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series remains mostly unaltered, but the story and style subtly shift between games.

** ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' is gritty modern military (unless playing ''The Twin Snakes'').

** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'' is ''shamelessly'' martini-flavored [[Spy Fiction]].

** Also the final boss battles: {{spoiler|1=MGS1 ends with a fist fight and chase sequence. MGS2 ends with a sword duel. MGS4 ends with hand-to-hand brawl. MGS3 avoids this, as stealth is a very effective tactic when fighting The Boss.}}

** ''[[Metal Gear Solid Rising]]'' finally dropped the stealth and jumped headfirst into [[Hack and Slash]] [[Action Game]].