History CrapsaccharineWorld / Literature

* Creator/HGWells' ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'': the Time Traveler arrives on the future Earth in what seems to be a natural paradise inhabited by the peaceful Eloi, the descendants of modern humans. He later discovers that the Eloi's way of life is sustained by the subterranean Morlocks, who [[PeopleFarm raise the Eloi on ranches like this]] and [[ImAHumanitarian feed on them for sustenance]] (and the Morlocks are arguably the ''more'' sympathetic of the two).

* ''LightNovel/EvenThoughImAFormerNobleAndSingleMother'' shows the title character, Shirley, in town getting her daughters ready to go to school, and the town looks happy and peaceful. Just off-screen, things are horrific. Shirley worries about her daughters' well being because she herself became a citizen for a single bribe of three gold coins, no background check or vetting. She dares not accept promotion in her line of work, adventuring, because emergencies, capable of destroying the kingdom, occur all across the land, ''multiple times a week'', and if she accepted a promotion, she'd be legally bound to go off and face them, leaving her two daughters completely unattended. Then there's her own DarkAndTroubledPast.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has "Academy City" (officially known as Academy City of Science and Technology) advertised to the whole world as a technologically advanced city filled with students from kindergarten to university level that learn side-by-side along with the scientists, wanting to become Espers. What they don't advertise about the city, however, is that more than half of Academy City's students are Level 0 Espers who don't have "useful" ability (including the main character [[TheHero Touma Kamijou]]), and discrimination against low level Espers is not uncommon. While Level 3, 4 and 5 students mostly have special oppportunities such as getting high allowances and access to elite educational facility, Level 0 students have to live like [[{{Muggles}} Muggles]] around "scientific demigods" and try their best to catch up (to no avail). There also exist the "Dark Side" of Academy City, which refers to the criminal underworld of Academy City that dealt with criminal enterprises, such as human experimentation, espionage, and assassinations.

* More or less every town, city and other form of population concentration points in the world of ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' feature this trope. [[spoiler: For example, one nation Kino visits boasts about its peaceful nature, having abandoned the war machines it used in past wars with its neighbor and its citizens living happily and in harmony. However, how the two nations reached this lasting peace becomes known later on, as Kino witnesses small but well armed forces from both nations slaughter unarmed civilians that belong to neither. These civilians are castaways, no one cares about them, so the wars of the past were replaced with a competition where both nations kill these outcasts as much as they can in a set time limit. At the end the bodies are piled up on a weight meter and the side that killed more "wins the war", after which both return to live in peace.]]

* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'': The world is peaceful because crime and war etc. are forbidden by {{God}}, and all bets are enforced by MagicallyBindingContract, and so such agreements must be honored. However, this means that skilled cheaters are the most dangerous people in the world, capable of dooming even countries in a single game. Also, the sentient species are ranked by magical ability, which means humans are at the bottom of the barrel and dying out as a result. Of course, Volume 6[=/=]the movie indicates that this is actually something of an ''improvement'' over [[CrapsackWorld the old world]].

* ''Literature/LegendTrilogy'':

* The Lavender Kingdom of ''Literature/ScaryStoriesForYoungFoxes'' sounds nice for a fox. Plenty of food, protected from threats and thieves, smells wonderfully of lavender. That is, as long as you obey the commands of your protector Mr. Scratch. Up to and including the murder of children.

* The Wizarding World in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' starts as a wondrous, perfect place, and an escape for the main hero from his dreary and miserable life. Then it is gradually revealed that the government is often incompetent; the state prison is a hell-hole where psychological torture is par for the course; keeping slaves is a common practice; and [[FantasticRacism slurs about blood status]] are thrown about freely by the primarily pureblood upper class. It turns out Voldemort isn't so much a person that totally goes against the ways all wizards think, but merely exemplifies the flaws of their society UpToEleven. There's even mention that a noticeable amount of people in Wizard society were on Voldemort's side until they saw how far he was willing to go.

* The world of the Kindar in the ''Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy'' starts here. It's a peaceful utopia where there is no overpopulation, hunger, homelessness, everyone's employed (there is an option for people to change careers, but it's seldom used), crime is so rare as to be a curiosity, violence is unheard of (even two-year-olds squabbling over a toy is a sign of bad parenting), and everyone has PsychicPowers. Scratch the surface and we get widespread narcotic use (in the form of a ritual berry), the psychic powers are fading at earlier ages than ever (the protagonist thinks he's merely average when it turns out he's probably the most powerful psychic on the planet), everything is run by the Ol-Zhaan, the Ol-Zhaan run by a secret cabal in its ranks, and one ''huge'' Big Lie keeping all in place. [[spoiler: Raamo's recruitment was part of a BatmanGambit on D'ol Falla's part to atone for her actions as the grandmistress of the cabal, and once the Big Lie is uncovered, things start to heal up.]]

* ''ComicBook/TransformersTransTech'''s [[CityOfAdventure Axiom Nexus]] sure ''looks'' like a utopia at first glance, compared to every other ''{{Transformers}}'' universe. It's the only universe where the CivilWar never happened, and millions of Cybertronians of all factions and universes live together in a shiny, high-tech city. In actual practice, however, the Civil War still exists... just in the form of political intrigue, corporate warfare, racial/class tensions and bigotry, gang warfare, and lots and lots of red tape. And if you happen to have any tech in your body that the [=TransTechs=] find interesting and/or dangerous, regardless of whether you intend to do anything wrong with it or not, they'll at best kidnap you and at worst kidnap you and then [[PlayingWithSyringes find out what makes you tick]].