History CharacterizationMarchesOn / AnimeAndManga

* ''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:

* 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.

* In the ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' manga Vash initially acts a bit more like a StockShonenHero, and is noticeably more hotheaded. It isn't until ''Maximum'' that he acts more like a gentle, sensitive StepfordSmiler. Also in the pilot chapter he acted like a ChivalrousPervert, [[AdaptationPersonalityChange which was used as the basis for his anime personality]], but aside from the Dominique fight early on he never acts like this again in the manga.

** Shortly after being introduced, Sanji manages to woo some nameless girls at the Baratie, including Fullbody's date. Later appearances show that no girls are interested in his advances unless they're planning on using him for one reason or another.

** When Vegeta was first introduced in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', 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. When at a disadvantage, he's cunning and methodical, coming up with good plans on the fly to beat the heroes on Earth and one-up Freeza's more powerful minions on Namek. 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.

* 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).

** Piccolo seemed to go in the opposite direction -- going from a [[LargeHam cackling]] CardCarryingVillain, prone to giving [[SlasherSmile menacing grins]], to being TheStoic and acting much more composed in general. [[note]]You might notice that he follows the trend set by Tien (which would later be continued to some extent by Vegeta after his long-term character development). To put it in more general terms, this is what happens when two characterization staples of the series (DefeatMeansFriendship and EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor) come into conflict; evil characters may reform, but they'll lose their levity in the process.[[/note]]

** 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.]]

*** Although Ash is quite clearly either {{Asexual|ity}} or a ChasteHero in most later seasons, in the early Kanto episode "[[Recap/PokemonS1E9TheSchoolOfHardKnocks The School of Hard Knocks]]", 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.

** Yami Yugi used to be a brutal vigilante in the [[Manga/YuGiOh original manga]]. It's a little jarring when one reads the first [[Manga/YuGiOh manga]] series and sees Dark Yugi -- 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, Jounouchi and Tristan/Honda were less goofy, bullied Yugi (before befriending him), and would get into fights somewhat regularly in the manga.
** 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.

* Konata Izumi of ''Manga/LuckyStar'' was originally portrayed as a cooler GamerChick who plays dumb, not the full-blown OtakuSurrogate we usually associate her with. Her dialogue was even [[OrwellianRetcon altered in the volume release]] to be consistent with her later image.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''

* Konata Izumi of ''Manga/LuckyStar'' was originally portrayed as a cooler GamerChick who plays dumb, not the full-blown OtakuSurrogate we usually associate her with. Also see OrwellianRetcon.

** Midoriya is introduced as someone who can't speak to girls and freezes up when forced to interact to the heroine Uraraka and appears to have a crush on her. Later chapters almost fully let go of this characterization and he is able to interact with Uraraka easily (with [[LuminescentBlush usually]] no sign of having romantic interest in her) and even women he just met with no problem.

** Thanks to character development this happened to [[{{Transgender}} Takatsuki and Nitori]]. Introduced as a confident boy and a quiet, sensitive girl, 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.

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'':

** Piccolo seemed to go in the opposite direction -- going from a [[LargeHam cackling]] CardCarryingVillain, prone to giving [[SlasherSmile menacing grins]], to being TheStoic and acting much more composed in general.

*** 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). However, once ''Black & White'' started up, 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. ''Sun & Moon'' pretty much takes the middle road, making him even more goofy and childlike than ever, but maintaining his battle competence and unexpected insightfulness.

** Ash's main rival [[SugarAndIcePersonality Trip]] has also changed drastically from his first two and a half appearances. He was at first an [[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]], 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.
** 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 ''Black & White''. In 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. ''Sun & Moon'' splits the difference - they're still competent (actually managing to ''defeat Pikachu'') and now have a mission beyond just following Ash, but are also wacky, comedic characters.

* 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]].

* On ''the very first page'' of the very first chapter of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', we are introduced to badass protagonist Guts in the boldest way possible: [[spoiler: having sex with a hot demon woman.]] However, later chapters full of traumatic backstory reveal that Guts is '''not''' the type of man who is keen on being sexually adventurous with random women, for pleasure or otherwise [[spoiler: like killing demonesses mid-coitus]] and is staunchly faithful to the one woman he has decided to share his heart with. Granted that one would think that this behavior is only typical of [[NinetiesAntiHero the anti-heroic archetype]] that Guts represented at the time of ''Berserk's'' debut, only it's revealed no more than two chapters later that Guts has some serious hangups about being physically touched [[spoiler: with a bonus hint of foreshadowing for what was going to be revealed in the flashback arc]]. So it goes without saying that a lot of fans find the first scene of the manga [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness weird]], to the point of [[FanonDiscontinuity disregarding it almost entirely.]]

* Looking back at Anime/CarnivalPhantasm in a post-''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' world, some of the characterization can seem a little strange as things have gone forward.

** 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.

** Batou goes through a similar treatment over the various versions. In the manga, he is often used as a ButtMonkey of sorts when the series exposits various details about the world it takes place in- mainly in regards to how prosthetic bodies work- but he also had his own sense of humor, not above making a wise-crack here or then, even in the middle of combat. He keeps this for the most part, even when the story turns serious. His relationship with Motoko pretty much stays as a purely platonic friendship. The movies turn him totally straight-laced serious and professional with his career, though he still shows concern for Motoko's well-being, which becomes a form of [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited love]] towards her, and itself causing him to lose focus on his job in the 2nd movie because Motoko had pretty much disappeared from his life. Stand Alone Complex balance out the two. Batou still has his sense of humor, but he stays completely focused on his job. His humor is toned down a bit over the course of the first season. He becomes a bit more jaded after what happened with his personal hero, the Tachikomas, and the importance of the plot. The dire seriousness of the plot in the 2nd season pretty much forces him to fore-go it altogether. His unrequited love towards Motoko also becomes far more pronounced, but Motoko is aware of it, and shows many signs that she does appreciate it.

** Bakugou was considerably more evil in his introduction, and would happily [[SuicideDare tell Midoriya to go kill himself]] so that he might reincarnate with a quirk after burning his things. He never gets that low again. Somewhat as a corollary to this, Midoriya is somewhat more resentful of Bakugou (albeit not to the extent that he wouldn't save him from the Sludge Villain), angrily wondering whether Bakugou even considered the possibility that Midoriya would actually be DrivenToSuicide.

* 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 sub-arc 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. Note that this applies mainly to the first anime. The manga keeps her cool-headed leader traits intact, blending them with only a touch of CloudCuckoolander that [[{{Troll}} often felt deliberate]].

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

** Kaiba in his first manga appearance is borderline unrecognizable. He's wealthy, but "rich kid" wealthy, not "billionaire" wealthy. His character design is significantly different, being of average height and gaunt rather than tall and handsome. While he is apparently a player of some repute in the world of the card game, that's about it for his actual notability; there's no indication that Kaibacorp is a thing, and Yugi introduces him to his grandpa as "this guy in my class." It's also one of the only times in the franchise where we see Kaiba going to school or wearing the uniform; in future stories, the idea that Kaiba goes to a regular school with Yugi would be laughable. He explicitly does not own Blue-Eyes, and had never even seen a copy in-person. And the climax of the story has Blue-Eyes turning on ''him'' because its heart is more aligned with Yugi's grandfather, something inconceivable to a later incarnation of Kaiba, where Blue-Eyes is shown to have a deep spiritual importance to him.

*** 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. ''Sun and Moon'' pretty much takes the middle road, making him even more goofy and childlike than ever, but maintaining his battle competence and unexpected insightfulness.
*** 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. Pikachu was also much more of a JerkAss and even thought of killing Meowth once. Now he's very much a NiceGuy who rarely ever attacks anyone out of anger or malice. This could be seen as CharacterDevelopment, however when Pikachu lost his memory in a Hoenn episode he didn't revert back to his old personality, implying it is instead this.

** 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]] 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.
** 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''. In 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. ''Sun and Moon'' splits the difference - they're still competent (actually managing to ''defeat Pikachu'') and now have a mission beyond just following Ash, but are also wacky, comedic characters.
** In the earliest episodes Meowth acted very cat-like, walked with a cat-like gait when on two legs, and sometimes walked on four legs. In the English dub, he also had a more cat-like voice before switching actors, with his meowing VerbalTic from the Japanese version also adapted for a short while. While still not exactly a formidable fighter, Meowth has also become slightly braver and more cunning towards physical combat. He usually cowered before Ash's Pokemon when it came to actual battle, in one ''XY'' episode he is so incensed with being outdone he ''demands'' a fight from Pikachu, even getting in a small bit of damage.
** Jasmine was originally more like her game counterpart - meek and quiet - but by her second appearance she became quite headstrong and confident.

** The first episode featuring Ditto, a Pokemon capable of transforming into other Pokemon, established that some of them can't replicate a Pokemon fully. The main Ditto featured in this particular episode couldn't change it's black beady eyes and mouth into the proper shape, unlike the other Ditto that had no trouble with this. This was very important to the plot of this episode, and was resolved when this Ditto eventually learned to transform it's eyes and mouth properly. Come the ''Sun & Moon'' anime, this problem with the eyes was extended to apply to all Ditto and is something they can't learn to overcome, and is said to be a way to tell Ditto apart from the Pokemon they transform into. This is actually reflecting the canon of the games more accurately, as the Pokedex says they can't transform perfectly. The whole discrepancy was anime only.

** 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.

** When Red met Misty he blushed at her and there was some ShipTease between them. After a few chapters Red becomes a ChasteHero who is ObliviousToLove. Misty is presented as having unrequited feelings towards him.

* ''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.
** America himself started out as a tactless, arrogant GloryHound whose [[HeroicWannabe obsession with being a hero]] was often implied to be self-serving. Later episodes made him more of a [[TheDitz ditzy]], laid back, teddy bear-ish ManChild who genuinely does want to help people out but does a bad job of it because he's just so overzealous about it. Even when his lack of tact shows up, it's done more as InnocentlyInsensitive then him being intentionally mean.
** Russia becomes much LighterAndSofter over the series run, with his ManChild qualities being played up over his PsychopathicManchild ones. [[note]]Though he still has [[CharacterCheck his moments]] in the present as well.[[/note]] May be [[JustifiedTrope justified]], considering that after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has been getting steadily less dystopian.
** Poland has become less selfish and childish. Considering that at one point in the past, Poland promised Lithuania that he'd try to be less selfish, it may instead count as CharacterDevelopment.[[note]]Though the aforementioned scene may have been a [[AllJustADream dream]] that Lithuania had.[[/note]]
** 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.
** Both [[TheTrickster Hong Kong]] and [[TheOjou Monaco]] were depicted as [[PerpetualFrowner Perpetual Frowners]] in their early appearances, but became much more expressive in their subsequent ones.
** [[WordOfGod Himaruya]] mentioned that this happened with [[BoisterousBruiser Prussia]], who started out as a more villainous, threatening character, but became more [[TheDitz comedic]] and [[ButtMonkey pitiful]] with each appearance.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''

* 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:
** The 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.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''

** When Chocho appeared in the epilogue she was unapologetically FatAndProud. Come ''Manga/NarutoGaiden'' and now she's slightly more sensitive about her weight (though nowhere near Choji's level) and into the idea of dieting

* In ''Manga/YuruYuri'', 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.

* ''Anime/CrayonShinChan'': 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.

** Iida is introduced as an ArrogantKungFuGuy who belittles Midoriya and Bakugou. His traits as a dorky ComicallySerious character doesn't show up until the end of the Heroes vs. Villain exercise.
** During the USJ invasion arc, Shoto Torodoki is depicted as a more sinister character; the only reason he doesn't kill villains is because it would hurt his reputation[[note]]But at the same time, he's not inclined to rescue them either, basically just telling the guys he froze solid "Hurry up and thaw yourselves so I don't look bad."[[/note]], and is shown using his [[KillItWithFire fire powers]] freely. The very next story arc shows that he's a legitimately heroic person who's dealing with [[FreudianExcuse some pretty heavy personal issues]], first and foremost being his [[AbusiveParents abusive]] {{Jerkass}} of a father; this arc also establishes that Shoto refuses to use his fire powers as a deliberate slight against his father. It isn't until he gets some [[WarriorTherapist mid-battle "therapy"]] from TheHero Deku that he slowly starts getting better.