History CharacterizationMarchesOn / AnimeAndManga

* ''[[Anime/ShinChan Crayon Shin-chan]]'': Nene used to be scared of her mom when she vented her anger punching her plush bunny, prompting Nene's CatchPhrase "That's not my usual mom!". Not that you would imagine now she does the exact same, though at least this was given a plot reason instead of randomly changing. Also, for some reason Nene's mom punched a teddy bear at first, instead of her iconic Happiness Bunny mentioned earlier.

* In early ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' Kasumi is a largely typical but slightly snarkier YamatoNadeshiko rather than the [[UpToEleven over-the-top]] parody example she would later become, and Nabiki is a normal teenage girl and it is even commented on that she is boy crazy before her misanthropic MoneyFetish takes over.
* ''Manga/FutabaKunChange'' has a reverse Nabiki example with Negiri, she starts off as a out and out [[TheBarnum Barnum]] with a serious MoneyFetish who is quite willing to risk burning to death in a blazing building for a cheap deal but quickly changes into a pretty nice (although still financially shrewd), helpful, and friendly character.
* For most of ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', Nuriko is a brave, funny and extremely likeable warrior. So it's really strange to look back at the early episodes where he acted like a psychotic, possessive {{yandere}} about Hotohori, even going so far as to ''nearly drown'' his rival Miaka. And that's not even getting into the SuddenlySexuality situation later in the series...
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''
** A minor one regarding Rock Lee. His first appearances, he's clearly crushing on Sakura as he attempts to ask her out and adamits his feelings towards her. This plotline then fades into obscurity afterwards with only reappearances in {{Filler}} episodes. Most fans however believe that Rock Lee got over his crush overtime, even if it was never truly explained in the manga.
** The 1st Hokage. From his reputation and appearance the 1st time Orochimaru revives him, he seems like a [[TheStoic stoic]], serious warrior. [[spoiler:When he is later revived (along with the 2nd-4th Hokages), it's revealed that Oro had been suppressing his personality and he's actually a rather jovial, enthusiastic, even somewhat goofy guy akin to an older Naruto.]]
** The Kyuubi/[[spoiler:Kurama]] of all things, has become a BrilliantButLazy, {{Tsundere}} {{Troll}}, which is jarring to when he was as monstrous in personality as he was in appearance, trying to leading Naruto down the DespairEventHorizon in order to one day be set free to cause more chaos.
** Itachi going from a [[TheStoic somber]] [[TheSociopath sadist who brutalized Sasuke and Kakashi both physically and mentally]] and was ok with Kisame cutting off Naruto's limbs who killed his clan ForTheEvulz to [[spoiler: a secret hero who killed his clan to prevent war, non violent and had cared for his brother deeply]]. [[spoiler: Let's not even get into when Itachi develops a witty sense of humor after his resurrection as a Edo Tensei ninjia]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': As time passes in the anime version of the story, either this or {{Flanderization}} occurs to virtually all main characters to some degree for the sake of comedic effect. Poor [[IdiotHero Gourry]] the swordsman is a pretty notable case because he began, in the anime, as a somewhat dim-witted and tactless yet competent swordsman who could point out the [[DumbassHasAPoint less obvious details]] in certain situations. Unfortunately as the story went on, he didn't change characterization so much as he became nearly completely defined by his [[DumbMuscle poor memory, swordsman skills]], and [[SatelliteCharacter role as Lina's "guardian"]]/occasional LivingEmotionalCrutch. It doesn't help that of all the characters, despite being the second most prominent, he has the least explored backstory, and the only information about it has been given through WordOfGod and a single novel released only in Japan. By comparison, novel!Gourry, while still tactless and selective in what he chooses to remember, is clearly in certain situations merely ObfuscatingStupidity to mess with people.
** Lina Inverse is known for having a HairTriggerTemper, insulting others, and a penchant for {{Greed}}. If one goes back to the first anime season (or reads the novels for that matter), they would be surprised that Lina's temper is no where near as short as it had become, that she was something of a businesswoman (as opposed to resorting to bribery), and showed [[DeadpanSnarker signs of sarcasm and sharp wit]].
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''
** Ash Ketchum has gone through quite a bit of change, as well as quite a bit of reversion, since his start in Kanto:
*** Although Ash is quite clearly either {{Asexual|ity}} or a ChasteHero in most later seasons, in the early Kanto season, during one of the episodes, Ash had a small crush on a girl and found her attractive....until she began [[InsufferableGenius talking down to him,]] after which his interest faded.
*** Ash pretty much goes through a complete character re-haul when the Unova series comes around. He was portrayed as a stupid newbie for a good portion of the original series, but gained a sense of maturity throughout the ''Advanced'' and ''Diamond and Pearl'' series (though still blissfully immature in aspects like his HotBlooded battle-lust or obliviousness to love.) Once ''Best Wishes'' started up however, the maturity is dropped, and he's suddenly a complete idiot who even surpasses his original series incarnation. Conversely, in ''XY'', he's gained that maturity back with interest.
*** Even said [[ChasteHero obliviousness to love]] was a later addition; back in Kanto, he knew enough about mating and love that when Butterfree wanted to leave the group to mate, Ash understood ''why''; compare even to ''Advanced Generation'', where he thought his lovesick Grovyle was suffering from a fever.
** While Pikachu eventually came around, he initially thought that Ash would get him killed. Pikachu would shock Ash deliberately when upset, until at least Celadon City. Now, they're inseparable.
** In his first appearance, Brock was the calm, mature (if not somewhat cocky) gym leader of Pewter City who took care of his younger siblings and who recognized Ash as an inexperienced but eventually worthy opponent and wished him well on his journey. Soon enough after deciding to join Ash, while some of his past characteristics remained, for the most part, he was badly [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into a [[CasanovaWannabe immature, horny and love-sick dork]] who even went as far as to be willing to give up his travels, his goals and his two close friends just so he can be with a girl who clearly has no interest in him. The worst example of this was his decision to be with Professor Ivy and left Ash and Misty to fend for themselves just so he can [[BlatantLies "learn more from her."]]
** In the first few episodes of ''Best Wishes'', Iris was seen to be very extreme and rude. But this would prove very grating if continued, thus after Cilan joined up, she suddenly becomes rather behaved, and her wild tendencies were suppressed to focus on the humorous SmallNameBigEgo[=/=]CloudCuckooLander aspects of her personality, and while a DeadpanSnarker, she mostly keeps the quips at her friends' expense to herself rather than be openly rude or antagonize them. Her CutenessProximity habit also faded almost entirely and transferred to [[DumbBlonde Bianca]] instead.
** Ash's main rival [[SugarAndIcePersonality Trip]] has also changed drastically from his first two and a half appearances. He was at first a [[SmugSnake overconfident]] [[{{Jerkass}} trainer]] [[{{Eagleland}} who talked down on Ash and his region]] but [[JerkWithaHeartofGold mellowed out]] halfway through his third appearance because of a smackdown that Burgh gave him. Appearances after that have him [[TheQuietOne very quiet]] [[JerkassFacade and distant]] and more annoyed at Ash for his crazy antics (who would blame him?), but hasn't tried to actively antagonize Ash or talk bad about his region since. Some people (mainly [[DracoinLeatherPants Paul's fans)]] refuse to see the change and only comment that he's just a plain {{Jerkass}} like in his first two and a half appearances.
** Team Rocket has gone full circle with the march of their characterization: from menacing villains to [[GoldfishPoopGang comical]] [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain villains]] to [[VillainDecay complete]] [[HarmlessVillain joke villains]] to borderline {{Designated Villain}}s to..., [[TookALevelInBadass more menacing than]] [[NotSoHarmless the first season villains]] in ''Best Wishes''. As of the ''XY'' series, their Unovan ''competence'' [[DumbassNoMore has been retained]] but they're left with nothing much to actually ''do''; so they've gone back to following Ash for the lulz.
** In the earliest episodes Meowth acted very cat-like, walked with a catlike gait when on two legs, and sometimes walked on four legs. In the English dub, he also had a more catlike voice before switching actors and ended his sentences with a VerbalTic (he uses one in Japan, but I suppose it didn't translate well).
** Jasmine was originally more like her game counterpart - meek and quiet - but by her second appearance she became quite headstrong and confident.
* Subtle instances from ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'':
** Green (Blue in the US version) changed in personality early on. Originally he was arrogant and aggressive like his game counterpart, though after an appearance or two he mellowed down into more of TheStoic.
** Much like Ash's Pikachu, Red's Pikachu (Pika) was a JerkAss who hated Red at first. Aside from his first chapter his aggressive side is never referenced and he became a generically nice Pokemon and one of Red's favorites.
* In ''Anime/UruseiYatsura'', Ataru didn't start out hated by all girls and Shinobu, Benten, and a one-shot named Oniko showed some attraction to him.
** Oyuki also expressed interest in Ataru when she first appeared and seemed to hate him less afterward. Ataru, while still very much a pervert, was less stupid and a bit more on the cynical side in early Urusei Yatsura, more BookDumb than just dumb.
** Shinobu's fiery temper and super-strength were not very significant in early Urusei Yatsura chapters, while the anime changed these appearances to bring her up to date with her later characterization.

* Konata Izumi of ''Anime/LuckyStar'' was originally portrayed as a cooler GamerChick who plays dumb, not the full-blown OtakuSurrogate we usually associate her with. Also see OrwellianRetcon.
* Rin of ''[[Anime/YesPrettyCure5 Yes! Precure 5]]'' was originally supposed to be a shopaholic despite her tomboyish personality. This was completely phased out. She does, however, retain the jewelry design dream that goes against the same stereotype.
* Char Aznable: In most of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', he desires vengeance against the Zabi family, coupled with a Zeonic victory in the war, because of the memory of his father, Zeon Deikun. However, he never seems to take his dad's ideology too seriously. The experienced ''Gundam'' lover will search the original series in vain for Char's trademark ideology: that human life on the Earth is parasitic and an abomination to our holy mother, and that the Earth should be rendered uninhabitable to force people into space and further evolution into Newtypes. Almost from the start of ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', Char begins preaching this ideology of his dad's like he's believed it all his life.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'''s Heero Yuy started out the series as a guy who would laugh like a maniac when shooting down his enemies, and was also suggested to be some kind of superhuman. All of this was quietly forgotten after a few episodes, and Heero switches to TheStoic HitmanWithAHeart who is highly trained and tough, yes, but to much more believable levels.
** The laughing while slaughtering enemies comes off as even more unusual when you get to ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz'' and see [[spoiler:his accidentally killing a little girl and how it drove him to attempt suicide in penance, as well as his overall war weariness that leads him to declare, in his last line in the movie, "I don't have to kill anymore. I...don't want to..."]]
* Many characters from ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' gets this as part of the series' [[GenreShift transformation]] from a [[UnwantedHarem goofy harem series]] to an action-packed adventure story. Let's see:
** Main character Negi changed from a [[IneptMage bumbling wizard-in-training]] to a {{badass}} [[TrainingFromHell hardworking]] [[MagicKnight combat mage]]. Some of his early goofiness [[{{Handwave}} was explained]] as his spells being jammed by the AntiMagic powers of his target.
** The first time we see her, [[BroughtDownToNormal depowered]] vampire Evangeline A.K. [=McDowell=] is a [[GlassCannon powerful]] but somewhat [[SquishyWizard squishy sorceress]] who requires [[RobotGirl Chachamaru]] to [[BattleButler guard her]]. She is also apparently incapable of flight, as her first crush on Nagi happened after [[RescueRomance he saved her]] from falling of a cliff. In contrast, later appearances (her combat training of Negi, her illusionary duel with Setsuna, Negi's [[BlackMagic Magia Erebea]] [[TrainingFromHell admission test]]) shows her as an [[LightningBruiser uber-powerful]] [[KungFuWizard all-round combat]] [[LadyOfWar vampire lady]] who can still [[BroughtDownToBadass massacre her opponents without magic]], and one of the most powerful characters in the series, prompting Chamo to theorize that she was just screwing around when she was fighting Negi.
*** While a lot of the changes were planned well before the first manga episode was published, to ease into the intended story, the author's notes show some characters were significantly altered during the planning process. While Evangeline was always intended to become Negi's teacher, she wasn't originally a ''vampire'' or older than Negi - just a trained magic-using assassin with a family grudge. Evidently she got carried along with the scope of the plot.
* In ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'', who was the first character we met that was likely to use the word [[ValleyGirl "fantabulous"]] in regular speech? No, not Poland. [[ProperLady Lithuania.]]
** England also changes drastically, as he was ''far'' more {{Tsundere}} for America than he is now.
** Russia seems to be getting LighterAndSofter over the series' run so far.
** Poland has become less selfish and childish.
** There was also no trace of Belarus' LadySwearsALot personality and she didn't show as much emotion as she does now.
** France's original personality and hobbies pretty much consisted of [[HandsomeLech perving on other nations]], [[SitcomArchNemesis annoying England]] and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs annoying England by perving on him]]. Later his most lecherous qualities were toned down, he was given HiddenDepths and his LargeHam DramaQueen traits were more emphasized.
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', minor villain Hatchan was so dumb that he would catch the seat of his own pants while fishing and failed to recognize Zoro as a prisoner or realize that he had just defeated the rest of the guards. In the Sabaody Archipelago arc, he's significantly more intelligent, understanding much about the island and [[MrExposition helping the Straw Hats to learn what to do while they are there]]. While in the Arlong arc, he showed no remorse for his or his crew's actions, when he reappears, he [[TheAtoner regrets what he's done, dreads the prospect of Nami recognizing him, and wants to make up for his past actions as best as he can]].
** Although the cover story focusing on him shows this was a gradual change; at first, Hatchan is very quick to abandon Camie in exchange for a map leading to a Takoyaki recipe.
** Similarly, Ace was introduced as being polite and cheerful, even when facing off against Marines, and to an extent, Blackbeard. The Impel Down and Marineford arcs, as well as Luffy's flashback on the two meeting each other paint him as having picked fights with people who spoke ill of [[spoiler:his father, Roger]] and questioning the value of his life, which would potentially suggest that the way he was shown acting before was [[StepfordSmiler a facade]].
*** His hotheaded nature was foreshadowed during his cover story, when he blows his cover in a Marine base by punching out a Marine who talked smack about Whitebeard.
** [[KnightTemplar Rob Lucci]] from the [=CP9=] arc went from a [[TheStoic shallow]] [[GoodIsNotNice government]] agent who tolerates no failures in his mission which is summed in his quote "This is a confidential matter that could affect the entire world" to a [[BloodKnight bloodthirsty]] PsychoForHire.
** Considering his [[NoSenseOfDirection legendary ability to get lost]], it's a little odd during the Captain Kuro arc that Luffy's the one who gets lost on the way to the battle, while Zoro's only delayed by a slippery hill. It's even more odd in an earlier arc, where the anime adds a joke where he points Luffy in the right direction to charge in. Let that sink in: ''Zoro is telling someone else they're going the wrong way.''
** In Zoro's case, this trope is invoked due to greater diversity in the crew. When it was a two-man outfit, he was the OnlySaneMan, very much so in comparison to Luffy, but as the crew has gained a greater balance of sanity (namely through Nami and Robin, as well as Chopper and Usopp when the situation calls for it), he started becoming quirkier. Much the same goes for Sanji, who has not lost his original competencies, but has had less need to use them as more down-to-earth crewmates were added.
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'''s Hajime Saito is well known as the cold, sarcastic anti-hero who views himself as a (very sharp) instrument of justice. But when he first arrives on the scene he's portrayed as a blade-licking psychopath who can barely keep his murderous urges under control.
* When Vegeta from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' was first introduced, he was a calculating, cold blooded killer who never emoted beyond a PsychoticSmirk and was perfectly willing to sit on the sidelines and let his underlings do all the fighting. Reconciling the overly proud, overly intense, [[TheBerserker Berserker]] BloodKnight who curses like a truck driver and is always ready to fly off the handle for one reason or another that we see later on with that earlier version is a bit difficult.

* When he was a villain, Hiei from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' was outright psychotic, with Creator/NobuyukiHiyama [[LargeHam hamming it up]] in voicing him. When he makes his HeelFaceTurn, he's a DeadpanSnarker PerpetualFrowner AloofAlly, and the way he's voiced naturally changes along with the characterization.
* Early on in ''Manga/{{Mitsudomoe}}'', Futaba is just as resentful of her father as her other two sisters. Later chapters show that she's the only one who will openly say that she loves her dad and means it, perhaps too strongly. The anime actually brought Futaba's first onscreen moment with her father in line with her later characterization.
* For a good while in ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'', Kenichi's masters were eccentric men (and one woman) who often causally talked about teaching Kenichi various lethal techniques and easily suggesting that he just slaughter his opponents. Then, just before Yami entered the picture, Kenichi's masters suddenly switched to MartialPacifist experts in Katsujin Ken, just so that they could have an ideological divide that would set them apart from the future bad guys. Right from the very start, Kenichi himself had honorable intentions to learn martial arts, and never considered to or wished to use it for lethal purposes, so the characterization his masters were given to set them apart from the antagonists wasn't a big deal.

* ''[[Anime/ShinChan Crayon Shin-chan]]'': Nene used to be scared of her mom when she vented her anger punching her plush bunny, prompting Nene's CatchPhrase "That's not my usual mom!". Not that you would imagine now she does the exact same, though at least this was given a plot reason instead of randomly changing. Also, for some reason Nene's mom punched a teddy bear at first, instead of her iconic Happiness Bunny mentioned earlier.
* Yami Yugi from ''Anime/YuGiOh'' used to be a brutal vigilante. It's a little jarring when one reads the first [[Manga/YuGiOh manga]] series and sees Yami -- the wise father figure to Yugi with an honor code when it came to card games -- burn/electrocute/inflict divine punishments on villains (while wearing a psychotic grin) after challenging them to deadly games. In fact, some character just seem insane comparing their old personalities to now. Kaiba and his little brother Mokuba used to not be above [[DisproportionateRetribution gladly killing Yugi and his friends just because they were beaten at their games, using death-trap filled theme parks and Russian Roulette, respectively.]] On a lower note, Joey/Jonouchi and Tristan/Honda were less goofy, bullied Yugi (before befriending him), and would get into fights somewhat regularly.
** Initially the villains would be [[{{Jerkass}} ass]][[DesignatedVillain holes]] who just happened to act mean spirited to the heroes while forcing them to play a variety of games that were rigged in their favor; fast-forward to the sadistic minions of later BigBad Pegasus, Marik, etc., who would prolong suffering while being extremely smug and overconfident.
* ''Manga/WanderingSon'' has a {{justified|Trope}} version. Chiba was originally a normal, if a bit odd girl. She was sweet and cute girl, who likes cute things and feminine boys. Chiba wasn't that unusual from rest of other cast. She changed after a stream of bad things happening to her such as a rejected LoveConfession, an argument with her friend Takatsuki that made them hate each other for a while, and generally feeling she was putting pressure on her friends. She became a bitter, depressed, pre-teen with a sarcastic streak, her appearance became more mature, and she's generally angry. She's since mellowed down though and has become more like her original personality too.
** Less {{justified|Trope}} in Sasa's case. In the first few chapters she didn't have a concrete character or even a name so she's taller than she should be and lacks her TheCutie personality.
** Thanks to character development thia happened to Takatsuki and Nitori. Introduced as a confident girl and a quiet, sensitive boy by the end of the manga they had changed a lot. Roughly 8 or 9 years have passed, with Takatsuki's confidence being more fickle and Nitori being the more decisive of the two.
* While the titular character of ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' has always shown to be rather self-centered, the downright callousness he shows Komatsu is an early arc is jarring. Komatsu gets ''killed'' because Toriko forgot to warn him that the crackers he gave him were in fact ''bombs''. Komatsu only lives because of a friendly old man Toriko earlier gave booze to (and the old man would've had his own to begin with if Toriko hadn't bought it all for himself), and afterward Toriko is all, "You died? Oh well, good thing you're alive again!"
** The anime fixes this by Komatsu being given the earplugs right away along with the firecrackers (though he accidentally drops them at a critical moment, forcing him to use one without them). Toriko also shows more relief that Komatsu is safe when he and Coco find him.
* Chief technician Shiro Sanada in ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' (called Sandor in Star Blazers) was originally just the SmartGuy of the ''Yamato''. Sanada rose in status to being the elder spokesperson of the crew, especially after the deaths of Captain Okita (Avatar) and Chief Engineer Tokugawa (Orion), and someone who could be a captain in his own right. In ''Yamato Rebirth'', Sanada actually becomes the head commander of the EDF, now outranking his old captain, Kodai (Wildstar).
* Ginei Morioka of ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' is a total pervert and annoying, but he's genuinely kindhearted, a trusted friend and values those close to him more than anything to the point where risking his life is nothing....which is why seeing him as a manipulative JerkAss who outwardly threatens to make the heroine his 'woman by force' can be really, really strange. Likewise with how outright murderous Mizore and Kurumu can be at their intros.
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Gray Fullbuster used to be TheRival to Natsu Dragneel, based on their RedOniBlueOni interactions. Gray is now Natsu's [[TheLancer Lancer]], and they haven't been shown to have a fight for quite while. Similarly, Erza Scarlet was at first shown to scare everyone in the guild, though nowadays that seems to have mellowed. This is even lampshaded by Lucy at one point, when she says that Erza has changed from being completely intimidating to someone who is genuinely easy to get along with.
** Several of the [[DefeatMeansFriendship hero-turned-villains]] are like this as well, Gajeel Redfox and Pantherlily most notably. Gajeel started out as a completely sadistic nutcase who beat his ImpliedLoveInterest the first time they met, and Pantherlily was OK with sacrificing a town at his king's whim. Compared to Gajeel's current status as {{Friendly Rival|ry}} SixthRanger and Pantherlily's as the OnlySaneMan, their early characterization can be a little jarring to look back on.
** Erza mellowing out is actual development. It's her obligatory quirk that changes. During her first appearance she has as poor a grasp on normalcy as Natsu. Later chapters just have her taking everything seriously, no matter how minor.
** Erza was also initially suggested to be constantly out on difficult missions like most of the other S class mages and only returned briefly to pick out a new job. She's out on a mission for the first 4 episodes the terror everyone is in while she's around suggests she's not frequently around. Yet after this she's a regular fixture, either part of Natsu's team or hanging around the guild. In fact the next arc has a plot point that she's the only S class mage that's always on hand.
** The very first job Natsu and Lucy take is breaking into a rich man's house to steal his property and destroy it during which they beat him and his staff up and destroy his house. A blatantly illegal act. It would later be established that Fairy Tail, and Natsu in particular look down on Guild's that deliberately commit crimes, such as Phantom Lord trying to kidnap Lucy and Trinity Raven's assasinations, and such work is usually done by Dark Guilds. Instead most of their work is "good" like saving people from monsters and such.
* It can be a little odd going back to episode 2 of ''Manga/SoulEater'', where [[YamatoNadeshiko Tsubaki]] is not only frustrated with [[HighlyVisibleNinja Black Star]] but snarks at him and throws ninja stars at him, considering her rather... large amount of patience with him in the rest of the show.
* Osaka from ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' started out as a quiet girl who was deeply pensive to a fault, and was often made the butt of others' jokes (getting branded with the nickname "[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Osaka]]" was one such instance). Within a few episodes though, she made the transition to full-on CloudCuckooLander.
** Kaorin used to be content just to say that Sakaki was "really cool." But in the later episodes her feelings went [[SchoolgirlLesbians quite a lot further.]]
** In the earlier episodes, Koyomi was less uptight and even pulled a prank on Osaka. This is quite jarring, given that she was firmly cast as the show's OnlySaneMan just a short time later.
* Keiichi in early chapters of ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' was highly interested in moving directly into a physical relationship with Belldandy. As the series progressed, this faded until even holding hands was enough to make him blush. Becomes a plot point when [[spoiler:it's revealed his sexual urges were suppressed by the Ultimate Force]].

* ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero''
** You have Saito's {{Love Interest|s}} Siesta who in the first anime season is a good-natured classy women; seen as the complete opposite Saito's main {{Tsundere}} {{Love Interest|s}}, Louise. Later seasons however, Siesta's character takes a complete 180 and acts more like a desperate slut trying to force her way into the relationship. Some fans say that her desperation was just a change in tactics after realizing near the start of season two that she's failed to win Saito by way of her normal persona. The kicker however, is that you never see the same loveable Siesta from season one again after deciding to change her actions.
** Even Saito went through an unexplained change between seasons. Season one, he always stayed calm whenever he ended up in embarrassing situations with the women. Season 2 and on however, he clearly shows a perverted side of himself anytime a women tries to seduce him in some form.
* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': an enforced example of this trope. Pop Culture has established a certain view of Lupin the Third that is radically different from his original presence. Adaptations of the series with Origins Episodes make it a feature of everyone's CharacterDevelopment to move from their {{Manga}} counterpart to their Pop-Culture counterpart.
** Were one to read the original ''Manga/LupinIII'' manga, they'd probably collapse from the shock of seeing how different Lupin was. The original portrayal of Lupin made him a cold-hearted bastard and the goofy demeanor was mainly an act; he'd be more likely to seduce a woman and then kill her after he had his way with her. The subsequent anime adaptation transitioned into a LighterAndSofter approach and turned him into a lovable goofball with a heart of gold, and that portrayal has pretty much stuck since for the most part.
** Part of the reason why ''[[Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine The Woman Called Fujiko Mine]]'' was so controversial was because it was an [[OriginsEpisode Origins Series]] for the entire gang, and [[DarkerAndEdgier had a tone closer to the original manga]]. [[AdaptationDisplacement Audiences who were more used to the iconic anime depictions of the characters were shocked to see how violent and borderline sociopathic they were in the new show, even though that's more or less how they were in the original manga]].
* In [[YuruYuri Yuru Yuri]], Ayano hits her assistant Chitose a number of times in the second episode. Never Again. She is much sweeter and more gentle the next time she appears, though still {{tsundere}} toward Kyoko.

* In ''Manga/{{Sekirei}}'', Mikogami Hayato is significantly different between his first appearance and all later appearances. In his first appearance, he's a sinister ClassicVillain that tries to kill Takami and capture Kusano by force. When the Sekirei he sent to retrieve Kusano is defeated, he declares her "useless". Since then, he's been consistently portrayed as a CloudCuckooLander [[FairPlayVillain Fair Play]] [[AntiVillain Anti-Villain]] that lacks in standard morality, but genuinely cares for his Sekirei. This can make comparing his later sympathetic portrayals to his portrayal in the "Green Girl" arc fairly jarring.
* In ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'', a lot of people tend to forget that Ren Kougyoku had a completely different characterization in her introduction where she was portrayed as an AlphaBitch that looked down on anyone that she saw as disgusting; even to the point of brutally beating down Ugo until he was forced to leave Aladdin's side forever. It wasn't until Sinbad stepped in that her more "likable" side took over, and became the ShrinkingViolet / {{Tsundere}} mix that everyone views her as nowadays.

* ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'': Atobe in the beginning is seen as quite the smug {{Jerkass}} when he tries woo An Tachibana. While he does retain some over-the-top arrogance. subsequent scenes establish him as someone who cares very much for his teammates and his rivals.
* Between SoulEater and its later established prequel SoulEaterNot, there are quite notable differences between Jacqueline's personalities. In SoulEater, she was introduced as being the least quirky of the secondary cast, and can be easily described as TheStoic. In NOT, she's quickly established as being a good yet strict student, easily embarrassed, and is heavily implied to be attracted to her meister, Kim. Note that even though NOT is a prequel, it was written long after her first introduction and she's never shown to have these characteristics in the original series.
** Kim is also this in NOT, though to a lesser extent. She was always portrayed as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but according to NOT she used to be a TomBoy and an IneffectualLoner. This aspect of her past was never mentioned, or even hinted at, in SoulEater.

** Note that this applies mainly to the first anime. The manga keeps her cool-headed leader traits intact, blending them with a touch of CloudCuckoolander.

** This is the only explanation for Koga. He starts out as a straight up villain, setting his wolves on Rin's village and killing her, kidnapping Kagome and threatening to kill Shippou. After a brief arc, he mellows out into an AntiHero rival to the main character and no mention of this previous deeds is ever made. It's rather jarring that Inu Yasha or Sesshomaru haven't hunted him down and killed him, seeing as how he'd hit their BerserkButton and they've killed demons for less.

** The Kyuubi/[[spoiler: Kurama]] of all things, has become a BrilliantButLazy, {{Tsundere}} {{Troll}}, which is jarring to when he was as monstrous in personality as he was in appearance, trying to leading Naruto down the DespairEventHorizon in order to one day be set free to cause more chaos.

** A minor one regarding Rock Lee. His first appearances, hes clearly crushing on Sakura as he attempts to ask her out and adamits his feelings towards her. This plotline then fades into obscurity afterwards with only reappearances in {{Filler}} episodes. Most fans however believe that Rock Lee got over his crush overtime, even if it was never truly explained in the manga.

* ''Manga/PrinceOfTennis'': Atobe in the beginning is seen as quite the smug {{Jerkass}} when he tries woo An Tachibana. While he does retain some over-the-top arrogance. subsequent scenes establish him as someone who cares very much for his teammates and his rivals.

* Minako from ''Manga/SailorMoon'' is unusual in that she actually goes through ''two'' different personalities before hitting on her final one: In her original manga ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'', she was a ditzy, emotional heroine type character based on the author herself. However, when the publishers asked Naoko Takeuchi to make Sailor Moon, she gave Usagi that same basic personality as well. This would've been fine if Sailor Moon was a re-telling or alternate universe to Sailor V, but later episodes had Minako enter as part of the Sailor Senshi. This created a difficult problem: how to write Minako to distinguish her from Usagi? At first, the show sort of played on her competent veteran nature, playing her as more quiet, mature, and cool than the others. However, they never really took it that far, and by season 2 when Usagi had another angst subarc to herself, she'd fizzled down into a blank slate with not much more to her than a weird RunningGag about her quoting phrases wrongly. Finally, partway through R they came up with the personality she'd stay with for the rest of the series: a ramped-up version of her original personality that took her ditziness up to outright CloudCuckooLander levels.

** Although Ash is quite clearly either {{Asexual|ity}} or a ChasteHero in most later seasons, in the early Kanto season, during one of the episodes, Ash had a small crush on a girl and found her attractive....until she began [[InsufferableGenius talking down to him,]] after which his interest faded.
*** Ash pretty much goes through a complete character re-haul when the Unova series comes around. He was portrayed as a stupid newbie for a good portion of the original series, but gained a sense of maturity throughout the ''Advanced'' and ''Diamond and Pearl'' series (though still blissfully immature in aspects like his HotBlooded battle-lust or obliviousness to love.) Once ''Best Wishes'' started up however, the maturity is dropped, and he's suddenly a complete idiot who even surpasses his original series incarnation.

** In the first few episodes of ''Best Wishes'', Iris was seen to be very extreme and rude. But this would prove very grating if continued, thus after Cilan joined up, she suddenly becomes rather behaved, and her wild tendencies were suppressed to focus on the humorous SmallNameBigEgo[=/=]CloudCuckooLander aspects of her personality, and while a DeadpanSnarker, she mostly keeps the quips at her friends' expense to herself rather than be openly rude or antagonize them.
** Iris' CutenessProximity habit faded almost entirely and transferred to [[DumbBlonde Bianca]] instead.

** Team Rocket has gone full circle with the march of their characterization: from menacing villains to [[GoldfishPoopGang comical]] [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain villains]] to [[VillainDecay complete]] [[HarmlessVillain joke villains]] to borderline {{Designated Villain}}s to...menacing villains again, [[TookALevelInBadass far moreso than they even were originally!]] As of the ''XY'' series, they lack any sort of sufficient characterization and have limited screentime, a fact stemming from [[PutOnABus them meant to be written out of the show in Unova]], but getting SavedByTheFans and left with nothing much to ''do.''

* Subtle, but Green (Blue in the US version) from ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'' changed in personality early on. Originally he was arrogant and aggressive like his game counterpart, though after an appearance or two he mellowed down into more of TheStoic.

** One could argue that Vegeta's lack of emotion and willingness to sit on the sidelines came from his confidence that he was the strongest fighter in the universe (except Freeza). Notice that once Goku arrived Vegeta began freaking out due to the possibility that Goku was on his level.

** Brock liking the girl Ash has a crush on; making it the only time he likes a girl younger than him.

** Kim is also this in NOT, though to a lesser extent. She was always portrayed as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but according to NOT she used to be a TomBoy and an IneffectualLoner. This aspect of her past was never mentioned, or even hinted at, in SoulEater.

* ''Manga/PrinceOfTennis'': Atobe in the beginning is seen as quite the smug {{Jerkass}} when he tries woo An Tachibana. While he does retain some over-the-top arrogance. subsequent scenes establish him as someone who cares very much for his teammates and his rivals.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', some could cite this as the cause of Mayuri Kurotsuchi's transformation between his first and second appearances from an evil MadScientist to more of a BunnyEarsLawyer JerkAss. Still not a nice person, but still rather jarring to those that had come to think of him as "pure evil" back in the Soul Society arc
** When we first met Kon he was a overly interested in girls but was also willing to risk his life for several children and made it clear he was absolutely against killing. This quickly got turned into an obsession with women and practically a guarantee that he'll be tossed around a room whenever he appears.
** Some of the main cast go through this, Ichigo, the borderline SociopathicHero who'd tear out a Hollow's tongue before his [[AllLovingHero benevolence]] of being ridiculously merciful and Rukia is less prone to snarkness than she was earlier in the series.

* ''Manga/{{InuYasha}}'': Most fans know Inuyasha's AloofBigBrother Sesshomaru as a [[TheStoic Stoic]] PerpetualFrowner. In his first appearance in the manga, however, he was smug, cruel, sneered a lot, and enjoyed openly mocking and insulting Inuyasha rather than simply treating him with dismissive disdain.

* ''Manga/{{InuYasha}}'': Most fans know Inuyasha's AloofBigBrother Sesshomaru as a [[TheStoic Stoic]] PerpetualFrowner. In his first appearance, however, he was smug, cruel, sneered a lot, and enjoyed openly mocking and insulting Inuyasha rather than simply treating him with dismissive disdain.

* In ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'', a lot of people tend to forget that Ren Kougyoku had a completely different characterization in her introduction where she was portrayed as an AlphaBitch that looked down on anyone that she saw as disgusting; even to the point of brutally beating down Ugo until he was forced to leave Aladdin's side forever. It wasn't until Sinbad stepped in that her more "likable" side side took over, and became the ShrinkingViolet / {{Tsundere}} mix that everyone views her as nowadays.

** Gaara went from a sociopathic, sadistic and cold-blooded killer to a kind, compassionate and caring Kazekage after Naruto finishes [[HeelFaceTurn beating some]] [[DefeatMeansFriendship sense into him.]]

* In ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'', a lot of people tend to forget that Ren Kougyoku had a completely different characterization in her introduction where she was portrayed as an AlphaBitch that looked down on anyone that she saw as disgusting; even to the point of brutally beating down Ugo until he was forced to leave Aladdin's side forever. It wasn't until Sinbad stepped in that her more "likable" side side took over, and became the ShrinkingViolet / {{Tsundere}} mix that everyone views her as nowadays.

* In ''Manga/{{Sekirei}}'', Mikogami Hayato is significantly different between his first appearance and all later appearances. In his first appearance, he's a sinister ClassicVillain that tries to kill Takami and capture Kusano by force. When the Sekirei he sent to retrieve Kusano is defeated, he declares her "useless". Since then, he's been consistently portrayed as a CloudCuckooLander [[FairPlayVillain Fair Play]] [[AntiVillain Anti-Villain]] that lacks in standard morality, but genuinely cares for his Sekirei. This can make comparing his later sympathetic portrayals to his portrayal in the "Green Girl" arc fairly jarring.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': As time passes in the anime version of the story, either this or {{Flanderization}} occurs to virtually all main characters to some degree. Poor [[IdiotHero Gourry]] the swordsman is a pretty notable case because he began, in the anime, as a somewhat dim-witted and tactless yet competent swordsman who could point out the [[DumbassHasAPoint less obvious details]] in certain situations. Unfortunately as the story went on, he didn't change characterization so much as he became nearly completely defined by his [[DumbMuscle poor memory, swordsman skills]], and [[SatelliteCharacter role as Lina's "guardian"]]/occasional LivingEmotionalCrutch. It doesn't help that of all the characters, despite being the second most prominent, he has the least explored backstory, and the only information about it has been given through WordOfGod and a single novel released only in Japan. By comparison, novel!Gourry, while still tactless and selective in what he chooses to remember, is clearly in certain situations merely ObfuscatingStupidity to mess with people.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': As time passes in the anime version of the story, either this or {{Flanderization}} occurs to virtually all main characters to some degree. Poor [[IdiotHero Gourry]] the swordsman is a pretty notable case because he began, in the anime, as a somewhat dim-witted and tactless yet competent swordsman who could point out the [[DumbassHasAPoint less obvious details]] in certain situations. Unfortunately as the story went on, he didn't change characterization so much as he became nearly completely defined by his [[DumbMuscile poor memory, swordsman skills]], and [[SatelliteCharacter role as Lina's "guardian"]] and occasional LivingEmotionalCrutch. It doesn't help that of all the characters, despite being the second most prominent, he has the least explored backstory, and the only information about it has been given through WordOfGod and a single novel released only in Japan. By comparison, novel!Gourry is merely selective in what he chooses to remember, and in certain situations is is merely ObfusciatingStupidity to mess with people.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': As time passes in both the novels and anime, either this or {{Flanderization}} occurs. [[IdiotHero Gourry]] the swordsman is a pretty notable case because he began, in the anime, as a dim-witted and tactless yet competent swordsman who could point out the [[DumbassHasAPoint less obvious details]] in certain situations. As time progressed, he didn't change characterization as much as he [[SatelliteCharacter dropped most of his personality all together]]. He is now pure DumbMuscle, and depending on the situation, is reduced to a plot device of sorts because he happens to own a [[ForgottenSuperWeapon powerful ancient sword]] that draws attention from many.