Negative Continuity: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Continuity has always been a bugaboo for writers, the requisite for things to make sense and follow some form of narrative logic. A requirement that provides scribes with all manner of headaches, hairsplitting, and plot-hole-induced dementia. Nevertheless, many series go out of their way to pay careful attention to every little detail that goes on in their worlds. The [[Universe Bible]] is king; nothing can happen that doesn't fit the existing history. Other shows are less exacting, and an occasional continuity error will be glossed over for the sake of the current episode's plot.

Not only is there no established continuity, but the show is free to completely wreck the continuity and be assured of [[Snap Back|a full reboot]] by the start of the next episode. Burned a hole in your [[Limited Wardrobe|favorite outfit]]? Don't worry, it'll be better next episode. Burned down your house? No worries, it will be back next time. Turned into a frog, died, destroyed the universe? No problem! If one episode ever continues from the last, it's only because it's part of a storyline too long for just one episode - don't expect any apparent changes from the previous episode to be recognized ''outside'' that specific storyline.

 

 

Among fans of Western entertainment of the past, the most shameless examples of this phenomenon were noted in the ''[[Star Trek]]'' movie series, so much so that someone actually devised the "James T. Kirk Loophole" to explain the otherwise inexplicable occurrence of characters repeatedly being able to do things that ''the story itself'' had established them never being able to do.

 

Related to [[Status Quo Is God]], except it is (or can be) more deliberate/explicit, and it doesn't require any narrative explanation.

 

* ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'': Plotlines inevitably led down to anarchy, chaos, and [[Thundering Herd|lynch mobs running around]] by the end of each episode, but all injured characters and buildings would have undergone [[Snap Back]] by the next episode. [[Status Quo Is God]] indeed.

* Likewise with ''[[Ranma ½]]''. Within individual arcs, a [[Game-Breaking Injury]] would be a serious matter, the Tendo home would be all but demolished and the characters would have to repair it, someone would get in deep financial trouble and stay that way through the end of the plot, or someone would land in the hospital with a full-body cast. All this damage will be undone by the next arc with nary a word from anyone. The only permanent change was the destruction of the Saotome home ([[Status Quo Is God|to force the family, Nodoka included, back into the Tendo household]].) This was even lampshaded once in the ''early anime'' when Genma tended to Ranma's neck injury and said it would take a week ([[Don't Explain the Joke|the time between episodes]]) to heal.

** Corollary: Should any specific fighting theory or technique come into play during a big fight (Ranma's shorter limbs in his female form being a disadvantage, using the opponent's aggression to create the Hiryushotenha, turning a boulder into gravel by poking it in just the right spot, etc.), said theory or technique will play a critical role in that fight, after which it'll be utterly irrelevant for the entire remainder of the series.

* In ''[[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel Saga]]'', negative continuity is ''[[Anthropomorphic Personification|personified]]'' by a being known as The Great Will of the Macrocosm, who resets things at least [[Once an Episode]]. Though this is also [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] insofar as the Will is not always available, and also episodes 22-25 have [[Gainax Ending|dramatic elements]] and more or less logical continuity for significant events. Throughout the series, there is also a slight bit of continuity in with all the general weirdness. Then the next episode, aptly titled "Going Too Far" jumps right back to this.

* Nicely subverted in the anime ''Crayon Shin-Chan''. A [[Snap Back]] is expected when Shin accidentally blows up the family's house at the end of one episode, but the event is actually followed by an arc in which the family lives in a cramped studio apartment while the house is rebuilt.

* The ''[[Urotsukidouji]]'' series. The original, ''Legend of the Overfiend'', ended with the world being destroyed. The sequel, ''Legend of the Demon Womb'' began with the world good as new. And the pattern was well and truly set.

* ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' does not even pretend to have anything resembling a continuity, the characters have actually had to repeat their second year ''several times'' yet none of them shows any signs of aging. The school gets frequently destroyed and Nozomu Itoshiki, the main character, has been killed several times. [[Snap Back|None of this is ever referenced again once the manga chapter or anime episode in which it happens is over, however.]]

** ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' takes this and goes to its logical conclusion - nothing that happens on Rokkenjima ''actually matters''. All that is intended is to convey a series of scenarios slowly revealing clues to the player so that they might solve the ultimate [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|not a mystery]].

* ''[[Naruto]]'' is full of this in the episode "Gotta See! Gotta Know! Kakashi Sensai's Real Face!", but it was more or less an episode-long omake anyway. Waterfall seems to get this a bit. In its first appearance in a dedicated OVA the village could house maybe twenty families and was ruled by a spineless coward. In its second almost appearance, it was noted for constantly launching border raids on other villages, disguised as war games. In its third appearance, there was a bunker with enough shinobi present to populate the entire village.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'': Shorts often ended with inescapable doom, or other seemingly-permanent bad things (like the destruction of Dexter's lab on several occasions, or ''the whole planet'' getting destroyed by a huge meteor shower in "Let's Save the World, You Jerk!").

* ''[[Duckman]]'': Lampshaded when the character Ajax was beat up and placed in traction. He mentioned that he would be in perfect shape tomorrow due to non-FDA approved drugs. Another example: The amount of grievous bodily harm that Duckman puts his secretaries Fluffy and Uranus through, only for them to be back to normal by the following episode; this was lampshaded by Uranus in the first episode, when [[Ambiguous Gender|s/he]] comments that being stuffed makes them "very resilient."

** The fan webcomic ''[[Grim Tales from Down Below]]'' explains this as a case of [[Death Takes a Holiday]]—Billy and Mandy's life timers ran out long ago, but Grim can't bring himself to reap them.

* ''[[Invader Zim]]'': The world has been dragged trillions of miles off course and major characters have been turned into bologna or had their organs replaced with household objects, and yet virtually every episode starts as though nothing unusual has happened. Again, there are occasional callbacks.

* ''[[The Angry Beavers]]'': Both Norbert and his brother Daggett suffer this by getting themselves in all sorts of trouble in end of almost every episode. It's mostly from other animals in the forest, and the humans especially.

* ''[[Sealab 2021]]'': The [[Running Gag]] of Sealab blowing up repeatedly. [[Lampshade Hanging]] occurs in the third episode, "Radio Free Sealab," when Marco tells Captain Murphy, "Once again, your stupidity has killed us!" before the explosion. The show also plays with this trope—some episodes reference past shows with perhaps only some characters actually remembering the event. For example, when Quint mentions he was a robot (as revealed in an earlier season) and everyone seems surprised, Quint explains he had told them previously.<ref>It should be noted that the episode in question ended with everyone being killed.</ref>

{{quote|'''Mr. Burns''': I'm sure your replacement will be able to handle everything. Who is he, anyway?

'''Smithers''': Uh, Homer Simpsons, sir--one of your organ banks from sector 7-G. All the recent events of your life have revolved around him in some way.

** Midway through Season 5's "Homer Loves Flanders", Lisa observes that, on account of Homer now being friends with Ned Flanders, something odd seems to happen to their family every week, but soon enough something happens which returns everything to normal. At the end of the episode, the main plot has not been resolved, and Homer and Flanders are still friends, causing Lisa to fear that perhaps this means it's the end of their adventures. We then flash forward to the following week's airtime ("Thursday, 8 PM") when a completely different plot is set in motion. We then see that off-camera, [[Reset Button|the events of the previous week's adventures have returned to normal]] and Homer hates Flanders once again with no explanation given. [[Status Quo Is God|Lisa and Bart both sigh in relief.]]

** The Simpsons did a remarkable job, for a long time, of keeping all their flash-forward episodes in continuity despite no continuity in the current-time episodes. Many episodes implied Bart becomes Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

* ''[[Aeon Flux]]'': The title character died in every single ''[[Liquid Television]]'' short, usually at the end and once near the very beginning. Justified in that a later episode explains Aeon to actually be a series of identical clones.

* ''[[Drawn Together]]'' applies this trope endlessly, with characters dying several times an episode, spouses of otherwise unmarried characters showing up for one episode and then vanishing, the Earth being conquered (and all characters killed) by robot insects with hats, etc.

* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'': Particularly with the special "[[The Movie|Wishology]]." In this special, Timmy finally becomes [[Genre Savvy]] and makes responsible wishes and even solve some problems on his own without his fairies. However, the next season completely disregards all of this and appears to reset Timmy's character. He, once again, makes very irresponsible wishes.

** In fact, it's moderately common in the show. For example, in one episode, Mr. Crocker does not recognize Poof, who he had a bond with in "Bad Heir Day" (keep in mind, this happened after that episode).

 

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