Lighter and Softer: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' does this for all of history.
** The anime took it even further.
** In-universe, the character of Russia has gone from a [[Stepford Smiler]] [[
* Most anime adaptations of [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s manga get this, as most of the great man's work, while having a generally cartoony look & feel with an uplifting message, still involved copious amounts of death and destruction (''Lost World'', one of his earliest forays into the world of boys' adventure stories was infamous at the time for having the highest body count of any manga up to that point, with only three members of the cast surviving to the end of the book). In more recent years this has started to swing the other way, though (the ''[[Metropolis]]'' animé is far more bloody than the original, and the 2003 ''[[Astro Boy (anime)|Astro Boy]]'' series' version of Dr. Tenma takes the [[Evilutionary Biologist]] gimmick that was only briefly touched upon in the manga and turns it up to 11).
** In light of this, it is interesting to consider ''[[Astro Boy Omega Factor]]'' for the GBA. The first half of the game shows the world growing steadily [[Darker and Edgier]]; the second half is Astro ''making'' things lighter and softer.
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* In the original ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' manga, Yugi once had someone who had a gun to his face set himself on fire and kill himself. Joey (Jonouchi) was involved in a vicious street gang, that beat the crap out of him, and almost murdered him and Yugi. Tea (Anzu) was almost blown up by a terrorist. People got into vicious fights. People got offed now and then. In later adaptations of the franchise, everybody just [[Serious Business|plays cards]].
** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'' is Lighter and Softer than its predecessor up until season 3.
* ''[[Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya|Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya]]'' is a ''[[Magical Girl]]'' manga set in an [[Alternate Universe]] ''[[Fate/stay night]]'', a universe where none of the main characters have surviving parents, siblings often attempt to murder each other out of jealousy, and Ilya {{spoiler|is a [[Not Growing Up Sucks|nineteen year old homonculus who looks ten]], and will die of [[Clone Degeneration]] before she is twenty}}. She also has an odd sorta sexual/mostly familial relationship with her stepbrother Shirou. In ''[[Fate/kaleid liner
** Not quite to the same degree, but the manga adaptation of ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' itself is leaning in this direction. It was already focusing mostly on the 'Fate' route of the visual novel, which is notable for being the most idealistic of the three routes, but then went even further by {{spoiler|removing the multiple rapes and other trauma in Sakura's backstory, and humanizing and sparing the life of Shinji.}}
** Meanwhile, ''[[Fate/hollow ataraxia|Fate Hollow Ataraxia]]'' acknowledges that all the [[Fate/stay night]] stuff happened. It just doesn't dwell on it.
** And now we have ''[[Carnival Phantasm]]'', which is a straight-up [[Gag Series]].
* As both series are intended to be comedies to the core, it would be inaccurate to claim that either version of ''[[Ranma ½]]'' is [[Darker and Edgier]] then the other. The anime version can still be seen as Lighter and Softer then the manga. Not only does it lack|Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya the somewhat darker storylines that the [[Rumiko Takahashi|author]] created after the anime was cancelled... which includes, among other things, a [[Villain of the Week]] whose father was technically killed by ''Genma'', Ranma meeting his mother—and then being threatened with [[Seppuku]] because [[Jerkass|Happosai]] dressed him in girl's clothes, Ranma being trapped in female form by a group of more powerful and much more vicious martial artists, and Akane being kidnapped, near-drowned and then changed into a doll, an almost fatal experience, over Jusenkyo... but also removes several of the more [[Comedic Sociopathy]] moments from shared storylines. Examples of this include Akane's viciously vindictive speech to Ranma after the first Nekoken incident, Happosai's attempt to murder what he believes is baby [[Embarrassing First Name|Pantyhose]] [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|Taro]] because he thinks Taro will become an even better [[Panty Thief]] then himself, and the ending of the Hypnotic Mushrooms story, which in the anime ends with a gag and in the manga ends with Akane surrounding herself with weapons to use against Ranma if he "tries something" while Ranma gives her a [[Deadpan Snarker]] response.
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Vi Vid]]'', which is in sharp contrast with the [[Darker and Edgier]] ''[[Nanoha Force]]'', the other Season 4 manga of ''Nanoha''. To start with, there are no villains after two volumes, with the closest one being Einhart Stratos, who quickly became a more friendly rival after her first appearance ended with her getting [[Defeat Means Friendship|befriended]]. No looming threat to [[The Multiverse]], no undercurrents of a [[Government Conspiracy]], just Vivio having fun with her friends, joining a magical combat sports tournament, and maybe rekindling a [[Reincarnation Romance]] [[Girls Love|with Einhart]].
* The first manga adaptation of ''[[Darker than Black]]'' has much more stylized and less detailed art, a significantly less dark storyline, and does not share the original's [[Deconstructor Fleet|determination to find every trope it can and kill it]]. The [[Properly Paranoid]], [[Stoic]], [[Badass]] [[Anti-Hero]] lets someone who knows who he is go back to her everyday life even though his survival hinges on maintaining his secret identity, the [[Differently-Powered Individual|superpowered]] [[Lack of Empathy|sociopaths]] are less involved in the plot than a former test subject with normal emotions and no [[Power At a Price|remuneration]] whose main motivation is love, [[Generic Cuteness]] is in effect to such a degree that some characters are hard to recognize, and male characters who were [[Mr. Fanservice|already attractive]] were turned into [[Bishonen]]. Somebody coming to the main series or [[Interquel|second manga]] from this is going to be ''[[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|v]][[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|e]][[Mook Horror Show|r]][[Combat Pragmatist|y]]'' [[Dark and Troubled Past|s]][[Child Soldiers|u]][[The Corps Is Mother|r]][[Phlebotinum War|p]][[The Man Behind the Man|r]][[Punch Clock Villain|i]][[Gray and Grey Morality|s]][[A World Half Full|e]][[Overly Long Gag|d]].
* Japanese fans of ''[[Lupin III]]'' were quite nonplussed when ''[[The Castle of
* The ''[[Getter Robo]]'' 70's anime series removes the batshit insane elements the original manga had. Ryouma becomes a virtuous, [[Hot-Blooded]] straightforward hero, while Hayato becomes the archetypical 'cool guy' loner... all in high school setting. They're still [[Hot-Blooded]], though. But just try to compare that version to the latter closer-to-manga versions (Shin vs Neo, Armageddon, NEW)... where they're both [[Ax Crazy]] [[Sociopathic Hero]]es with the side order of [[Hot-Blooded]].
* The 1972 anime adaptation of ''[[Devilman]]'' was considerably Lighter and Softer in comparison with the original manga: Lots of changes to the story were made, the violence and nudity were considerably toned down, comic relief was included, and the most of the character who{{spoiler|died at the end of the manga are still alive in the last chapter of the first anime series, which also has a [[Bittersweet Ending]] instead of the tragic conclusion of the manga.}}
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** What's ironic is that the Mini Marvels comic strips included at the end of the mainstream Marvel universe actually ''parodies'' the shallowness and silliness. The Mini Marvels strips point out how the stories taken seriously are [[Narm|much more ridiculous]] than their Lighter and Softer counterpart.
* ''Spidey Super-Stories'', a Marvel book for the younger set, inexplicably [http://notthebeastmaster.typepad.com/weblog/2004/03/hey_kids_death.html featured Thanos] at one point. Yes, the [[Thanos]] with a hard-on for Death, the one who killed half of everyone in the universe in an attempt to impress her. In a book for little kids. They must have just made him into a big purple guy.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131123041718/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/06/14/i-lova-ya-but-youre-strange-2/ He has a helicopter with his name on it. And he gets arrested by the police in the end. It's awesome.]
* [[Batman]] himself traditionally comes in two flavors, [[Darker and Edgier]] and Lighter and Softer. In [[Darker and Edgier]] mode, [[Wangst|he spends 95% of his time moping in the corner about his parents]], and the other 5% being awesome. In Lighter and Softer mode, however, he ranges from neutral to downright cheerful—and might even make a joke!
* The original 1980s version of ''[[Power Pack]]'', while not nearly as angsty as Marvel's other works, took itself seriously and attempted to be a serious, but not ''as'' serious as usual, comic about [[Kid Hero]]es, with a fair amount of characterization, intelligent plots, and good quality storytelling. It actually tries to realistically portray what children who find themselves with superpowers might actually go through, but still falls short of stereotypical comic angst. The 2000s remake is aimed squarely at a quite young audience and has much cuter art and simpler storytelling.
* ''[[Tiny Titans]]'' is an even lighter version of [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] compared to [[Teen Titans (animation)|the TV show]]. It takes places in a bright happy world where some of the worst things the elementary school Titans need to worry about are: embarrassingly-loving father Trigon, grumpy lunch lady Darkseid, and stern principal Slade. In both versions of ''Teen Titans'', Trigon wishes to conquer Earth and turn it into a literal hell, [[Darkseid]] is out to conquer ''all'' life, and Slade is an amoral mercenary and assassin.
** To say nothing of the comic version Starfire's [[Most Common Superpower|character design]]...
* The 1994 [[
* Done in-universe in ''[[The Sandman]]'': [[Cain and Abel|Abel]] tells the baby Daniel the story of how he and Cain came to live in Dream's dominion... well, a version appropriate for a toddler, anyway. The story involves [[Super-Deformed]] versions of themselves, Dream and Death. Cain is utterly sickened. ''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|It's hilarious]].''
==
* ''[[Decks Fall,
* ''[[South Park Monogatari]]'' tones down the swearing slightly and has little to no innuendos whatsoever.
* The [http://archiveofourown.org/series/9224 "Daycare 'Verse"], a series of [[Alternate Universe]] modern-setting ''[[X-Men: First Class|X Men First Class]]'' [[Slash Fic]]s. In it, Charles Xavier runs a daycare for [[Kid Fic|mutant toddlers]], and [[Magneto|Erik Lehnsherr]] is his [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] engineer boyfriend (instead of a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] [[Nazi Hunter]]-turned-terrorist). Instead of [[Fantastic Racism]] and imminent nuclear war, the main hazards in the characters' current lives seem to be annoying coworkers and getting set on fire by a mutant preschooler with [[Power Incontinence]] issues.
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6933825/1/Pony_Space Pony Space]'' A ''[[My Little Pony:
* In the ''[[Death Note]]'' [[Crack Fic]] ''[[All You Need Is Love]]'', [[Sadist Show|basically Death Note the]] [[Sitcom]], there are much fewer deaths of series regulars and Light/Kira is much more mentally stable in this ficverse "sticking to a diet of murderers and rapists" and doesn't [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|jump off the slippery slope]].
* ''[https://archiveofourown.org/works/31492754?view_full_work=true Mars Attacks: Simpsons]'', a crossover of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' and ''[[Mars Attacks!]]'', while Gnard Martian Aries takes his job serious, Loki often find some ways to create antics. Kang and Kodos have join the citizens of Springfield to deal with the Gnard Martians with the Pace Martians being on notice about the threat. Yet, even Gnards, Veles and Hades, [[Punch Clock Villain|tells their prisoner that it wasn't personal what they're doing to her, it was business]].
== Films -- Animated ==
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* [[The Bible|Chronicles]] is a rehashing of [[Books of Kings]] to highlight Israel's achievements and give hope to the Jewish exiles in Babylon.
* While not without their grim moments, ''Speaker for the Dead'' and its sequels are virtually rainbows and puppies compared to [[Ender's Game]].
* Part VIII of ''Lightenings'' by [[Seamus Heaney]] (the one with [[Cool Airship|the airship]]) is based on traditional Irish materials; the earliest mention is in the Annals of Ulster for 748. There's a version in ''Otia Imperialia'' by Gervase of Tilbury around 1215. See the comparison [https://vunex.blogspot.com/2007/06/on-marvellous.html on a blog over there], [[Internet Backdraft|with rather vigorous arguments in the comments.]]
== Live-Action TV ==
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* Many thrash metal bands went in this direction around the time of the grunge explosion, partially to keep up with the times and partially because the bandmembers themselves were growing tired of the musical style they were playing. During the last decade, however, this has been subverted by many of these same bands.
** [[Testament]] subverted this trope after their "Lighter and Softer" ''The Ritual'' flopped. ''Demonic'', in particular, borders on being a full-blown death metal album.
* Played with [[BTS (band)|BTS]] at several points of their career.
** Subverted with ''Love Yourself: Her'', the album that followed the philosophically charged ''Wings''. It begins as a softer album full of [[Silly Love Songs]], but the songs gradually turn into [[Obsession Song|obsession ones]], and after the mid-point skit the tone becomes darker and [[Lyrical Dissonance|sometimes dissonant]].
** ''Be'', the album that the group created as a result of the lockdowns and cancelled tours because of the Covid-19 crisis to soothe themselves and their fanbase, is very much softer and hopeful than their previous release ''Map of the Soul: 7'', an album created to celebrate their 7th anniversary and as such explored the positive and negative parts of their carreer until then.
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'''Andy:''' ''(offscreen)'' Jason, will you stop bawling long enough to tell me what's wrong?! }}
** Also, a later storyline has Andy forcing Peter and Jason to play Mothers Against Gory Games-approved versions of popular video games (such as ''[[Vice City|Nice City]]'') in an attempt to make them ''stop'' playing video games altogether.
* As shown above, Bucky from ''[[Get Fuzzy]]'' had an idea to [[The Mockbuster|remake famous films]] in this vein. Relevant strips begin [https://web.archive.org/web/20100326072236/http://comics.com/get_fuzzy/2010-02-08/ here].
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] shifted their free TV programming from a TV-14 rating to TV-PG starting in 2008; this was done to help distance the current product from the "anything goes" [[Attitude Era]] (especially in light of the [[Chris Benoit]] tragedy and the steroid scandals brought to light by a Sports Illustrated article in 2006 that named names), as well as to help attract new advertisers (and a younger demographic).
** It's also been speculated that the shift was to accommodate Linda McMahon's run for the US Senate; an attempt to portray her as a CEO of a "family-friendly" organization, even going so far as to attempt to block all videos on [[YouTube]] taken during the Attitude Era. Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to be working, and most WWE fans are hopeful that if this campaign fails, the company will revert back to a TV-14 product. While the campaign failed, it didn't result into the TV-14 rebound some IWC fans were hoping for. Which may or may not cast doubt on if this was ever really a factor at all. Now, it seems to have been a factor, thanks to the edgier turn WWE's been taking since 2010, arguably the worst of the [[Dork Age]] when the election was ongoing. Now that there's no need to portray themselves as a "family-friendly" company for the purposes of election politics (which in hindsight, seems to have been the deciding factor in switching to PG), the WWE is free to switch back to TV-14 (presumably in the next few months), and has started making subtle changes to foreshadow this. A new Attitude Era is promised by [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] himself.
* In the mid 80's, [[
* The newly revived "ECW". It's used more as a launching platform for up and coming wrestlers and a place to dump useless ones (* cough* '''VLADIMIR KOZLOV''' * cough* ).
* [[John Cena]]'s "FU" ([[Don't Explain the Joke|a common internet acronym for "Fuck You"]]) was renamed to the "Attitude Adjustment". Similarly, the STFU ("Shut The Fuck Up") was renamed to the "STF Crossface Combo".
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** Curiously, they kept [[A Date with Rosie Palms|Five Knuckle Shuffle]].
* When [[Mick Foley]] hit legitimate main event status in late 1998, he traded in a lot of the more sado-masochistic elements of his gimmick for a more humorous approach (which [[Triple H]] referred to as a "human muppet") that included a sock puppet and a more child-like demeanor. He, however, still retained bits of his [[Crazy Awesome]] tolerance for pain which, combined with his new more innocent behavior turned into [[The Woobie]] of the WWF.
* Prior to coming to the [[
* The entire [[CHIKARA]] wrestling league is built around this. Television production is broken into distinct "seasons", with each season's DVD release being designed as a comic book cover. Several wrestlers are based on video game and comic book characters. There is no swearing whatsoever, to the point where attempts to start a swearing chant by the crowd are shouted down ''by the rest of the audience''. [[Rule of Funny]] holds sway, with stunts like holding the first minute or so of a match in slow motion, while another has a wrestler who doesn't like where the match is going, so he ''pauses and rewinds'' the match several seconds, starts again, and this time reverses a move he now sees coming.
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** ''Geist'' also tends to be Lighter And Softer compared to the ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' in general. It's not exactly a bag of kittens, but it's generally optimistic—the Bound got a second chance at life, and intend to use it to the fullest, whether that means saving people, helping innocent ghosts, destroying malevolent ghosts, killing villainous people, or just making their lives comfortable. After previous games have been the likes of ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'', ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'', or even ''[[Hunter: The Vigil]]'', it's a bit of a shock to see a game that falls closer to ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]].
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''. During 3e , there were chaos cultists on Terra, the Imperium was losing worlds by the hundreds and High Lords did not care, in fact most of them had been driven insane by imperfect deageing treatments. This was before the Horus Heresy, before the Imperium's methods were justified by dozens of books. There was no [[Ciaphas Cain]], no likable or sane character to be found. The Sisters of Battle fielded suicide bomber cadres, the Space Marines were a shadow of their power in later editions, and more insane: imperfections in their half forgotten surgical techniques rendered 9 out of 10 recruits dead and the survivors deranged. The [[Religious Horror]] was at its peak, the artwork like of things that can barely be called human hugging and kissing undetonated artillery shells, begging the gods of war for salvation has never been reprinted, the forces of Chaos, later [[Ultimate Evil]], were simply presented as an alternate form of insanity to that of the Imperium's. By 5e, ''Warhammer'' shows an Age of War where humanity's survival hangs in the balance. 3e showed an Age of Insanity where the spirit of man was long dead. The reason for this is because Games Workshop realized that almost everyone saw the storyline as a huge joke because it was too [[Grimdark]].
** And then there's [https://web.archive.org/web/20120410134009/http://www.mmogrindhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/hello-kitty-40k.jpg this...] And [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Brighthammer_40,000_%282nd_edition%29 Brighthammer 40000], which takes every race and makes them more sympathetic save the Tau, who conveniently are [[Complete Monster]]s.
* ''[[Little Fears]] Nightmare Edition'' as compared to the original. The constant pall of child abuse is gone, and it's actually fairly well-suited to running a relatively light-hearted Kids Vs. Monsters adventure in the vein of ''[[The Monster Squad]].'' It has suggested rules modifications for taking it even ''further'' in the Lighter and Softer direction with the Dark Fairy Tales playmode (think ''[[Coraline (novel)|Coraline]]''—or your choice of children's fairy stories with a dark cast to them, if that one scared you too much)... or, alternately, darkening it to the point that it's more in line with the original game.
* ''[[Mutant Chronicles]]'' can be considered a lighter and softer take on ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''. There are a lot of similar elements and the feel is much the same, but in ''Mutant Chronicles'', human life is considered precious and humanity still has a fighting chance.
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* ''[[Death Smiles]]'', a shooter by CAVE while not too dark, reduced a bit of its horror elements with a lighter style where the girls stops an evil Santa Claus to find several [[MacGuffin]]s to wake up their benefactor who saves them from certain death.
* ''[[Godzilla]]'' for Game Boy features the title monster in a puzzle platformer game portraying Godzilla and the enemy monsters as mini-sized cutesy creatures. Godzilla in particular resembles the protagonists of ''[[Bubble Bobble]]''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAxcuP6_RdQ It has to be seen to be believed].
* ''[[Tetris the Grand Master]] 4 - The Masters of Round'' is looking to drop the serious-looking backgrounds in favor of [https://web.archive.org/web/20090913125927/http://am-show.sega.jp/jamma09/t_tgm.shtml flowers and prettiness].
* ''[[Hey You, Pikachu!]]'' and ''[[Pokémon Channel]]'' to the mainline [[Pokémon]] series. You just take care of a wild Pikachu and with time, you become good friends. [[Recycled in Space|The latter half is the same as the prequel, but while you both watch T.V.]]
* Illusion's [[H-game]] library started off as dark sci-fi and fantasy style H-Games, as they gotten newer 3D technology, it has soften a bit compared to its past games. Compare Rapelay to Sexy Beach 3, Illusion characters are now more or less Adult Video Actresses.
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* ''[[Zeus and Sons]]'' is lighter and softer than the Greek mythology that it parodies, turning even the most horrible acts of the Greek gods into comical mishaps.
* ''[[Sinfest]]'' is a webcomic that used to be extremely cynical and celebrated the sinful lives of the main characters. Nowadays, the overall tone of the strip is very optimistic and deals with how the very human characters deal with the temptation of sin while exploring the connections they have with each other. It's hard to point out exactly where the shift occurred, but consensus says it became official during the [[Love Redeems]] storyline between one of the succubi and the nerdy bookworm.
** [
* ''[[Fluffy Bunny Domination]]'' lives and breaths a Lighter and Softer version of [[BDSM]].
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', the alien trolls are [[Darker and Edgier|violent, amoral, and unstable]]. In their previous incarnation they were peaceful, kind, and {{spoiler|so weak they couldn't play the game that would create a new universe so they had to reboot it and be manipulated into something more aggressive}}.
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[[Category:Tone Shift]]
[[Category:Lighter and Softer]]
[[Category:Character Development]]
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