Knight of Cerebus: Difference between revisions

* [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelion]] was a [[Deconstruction|dark series]] to begin with, but the events of the "Action Arc" (from Asuka's arrival up to Leliel/Twelfth Angel) were relatively light-hearted, with Misato and Kaji seemingly making amends, and Shinji starting to gain some confidence. ...Then came Bardiel/The Thirteenth Angel, and everything went to Hell, culminating in [[The End of the World As We Know It|End of Evangelion]].

** ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]] 2.0'' is, for most of its running time, a much [[Lighter and Softer]] story than the episodes it's adapting. There's a good amount of comedy, we see the kids bonding, Asuka's less of a [[Jerkass]], and the angel battles ("[[Fan Nickname|Clockiel]]" and Sahaquiel) are focused more on [[Rebuild of Evangelion (Anime)/Awesome|awesomeness]]. Then Bardiel shows up and possesses Unit-03 {{spoiler|with Asuka inside}}, and the movie goes straight into [[Nightmare Fuel]] territory.

* ''[[Medaka Box]]'' once was a lighthearted, comedic series about school adventures of a [[God Mode Sue]] and her harem. After 14 chapters of that, the first serious antagonist, [[Knight Templar|Unzen Myouri]] appeared, heralding oncoming [[Genre Shift]] into a fighting series with a brutal bloodbath (no one supposedly died, but a ton of people probably were put in hospital for years). And just as the arc, started by Unzen's appearance was about to end, [[Complete Monster|Kumagawa Misogi]] stepped on the scene, signaling a lesser shift to even more [[Darker and Edgier]] tone.

* ''[[Chirin no Suzu]]'' was all cute and adorable until the Wolf appeared and the mood became very dark.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' looked like it was going to be another typical magical girl show, albeit one with unusually dark undertones. Then came Episode 3, which introduced Charlotte, the third Witch. The moment when she {{spoiler|ate fan favorite and [[Cool Big Sis]] Mami alive}} was the moment when the series showed just how dark of a [[Deconstruction]] of the genre that it could be. And this was only a taste of [[It Got Worse|what would come later]].

** Unusually for this trope, {{spoiler|Charlotte is defeated shortly after she killed Mami.}}

* ''[[Claymore]]'' never made any pretenses to be anything other than a dark series, but whenever {{spoiler|Priscilla}} turns up, things are going to go south very, VERY fast.

* Mag Mel from ''[[Bakugan]]''. Previous villains were dark, but Mag Mel is by far the most terrifying villain yet with an extremely dark storyline. He was [[Sealed Evil in A Can|imprisoned for genocide]] and that's before the series ''even started!'' Once he appeared, he [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]] Dan and Drago in a very horrific manner. Once he was finally free, he started trying to burn Gundelia to the ground. In scope of sheer evil and darkness, he's the darkest and most horrifying villain in the entire series!

* Transformers: [[Beast Wars]] II is an incredibly light-hearted show with hilarious characters, that hardly ever takes itself seriously. And its villains are no exceptions - Galvatron - the [[Big Bad]] is a narcoleptic who spends most of the show asleep, leaving his inept kid brother Megastorm to run the show with an effeminate [[Dragon]] (Starscream), a thug who can only repeat his own name (BB), and Beavis and Butt-Head (Thrust and Dirge) under his command. Cue the last 10 episodes of the show, where Galvatron wakes up, takes command, and we learn that he has a gigantic [[Doomsday Device]] en route to Gaia, which he intends to use to destroy the whole planet and siphon the Anglomois energy. And then things go grimdark... Gigastorm (Megastorm after his makeover) is fatally wounded and dies in Galvatron's arms, and the whole series ends with {{spoiler|all the Maximals sacrificing themselves to destroy the Nemesis, in the end flying up to 'robot heaven'. Granted, Beast Wars Neo retcons this.}}

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', although the first major villain, Zabuza, had already been introduced we saw the kids handling on their own against him with the help from their teacher, Kakashi; when Orochimaru is introduced, he is shown to be a villain that even the most experienced jounin fear and ends up killing the Third Hokage. Much later, the reveal of Pain serves as this since shortly after his introduction he kills Naruto's bumbling master, Jiraiya.

* Over the course of the first half of ''[[Mon Colle Knights]]'', the heroes had no problem repeatedly beating back the [[Laughably Evil]] [[Villains Out Shopping]] Count Collection, Bacchi, and Guuko. Then [[Anti-Villain|Dark Angel Zaha]] shows up and turns some of the heroes' monster friends against them by brainwashing them. And if that's not enough, there's [[Big Bad|Reda]], a [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] Dark Angel who is so powerful that even Shiru has problems with him, and he {{spoiler|actually plans to use the Monmon Items to summon Oroboros so he can have it [[Omnicidal Maniac|warp all life into a formless existence, with him as the omnipotent center of time and space]]}}. [[Oh Crap]]...

* The Metarex in ''[[Sonic X]]'' fit this trope really well. So basically, the first two seasons of the show were pretty much light-hearted and funny in tone. Then cue the arrival of the Metarex, a group of dangerous cyborgs and robots that plan to harness the power of the Planet Eggs to {{spoiler|cause a plantation of the entire galaxy and wipe out all flesh and blood so plants can rule}}. The Metarex come in many different types of their own, like the one-shot villain Red Pine, the [[Laughably Evil]] [[The Brute|brute]] Yellow Zelkova, emotionless [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]] like Pale Bay Leaf as well as Black Narcissus, who [[Moral Event Horizon|captured and tortured Chris and Cosmo and used them as bait to lure Sonic to him]], and [[Tragic Villain|the tragically villainous]] [[Magnificent Bastard]] Dark Oak himself.

* [[Toriko]] was a light hearted food hunting series with the occasional creepy [[Nightmare Fuel|GT Robots]], and the arc after them is another finding secret recipe mission much like prior to their appearances. [[Gut Punch|then Tommyrod shows up]]. Unlike Starjun and Grinpatch, who were [[Noble Demon]] and [[Affably Evil]] villains respectively, Tommyrod was a [[Complete Monster]] who literally kept [[Body Horror|all kinds of hideous parasitic insects within his body]], who seriously tries to kill Toriko {{spoiler|and actually manages to win the fight, despite getting an awesome asskicking}}, and from there the story gets much darker.

** Starjun is a milder example, being no-nonscence and having a dark aura, and being the truly first time that {{spoiler|Toriko comes close to death}}.

 

 

* While the newly-revealed backstory for the Ring made it obvious that [[The Lord of the Rings]] was going to have a darker tone than [[The Hobbit]], this doesn't really hit home for either the reader or the characters until the introduction of the Nazgul, and especially of their [[Was Once a Man|true nature]].

* [[Harry Potter]] began getting [[Darker and Edgier]] from day one, but things start going to ''hell'' once [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] finally shows up at the end of ''Goblet''.

* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Yuuzhan Vong]] indirectly killed off Chewbacca, and Anakin Solo died fighting them. They completely destroyed the New Republic. The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] took a dark turn the minute they showed up and it has not been able to regain a lot of lightheartedness since.

* [[The Brute|Atlas]] from ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians (Literature)|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' is the first titan that the heroes fight, replaced the comedic one-shot villains that the heroes defeat during their journey with invincible skeleton warriors that constantly chase down Percy and his friends, and his apperence lead up to {{spoiler|Bianca and Zoë getting [[Killed Off for Real]].}}

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Knight Of Cerebus]]