History DemotedToExtra / AnimeAndManga

** Takayanagi was initially relegated to this fate, but he's soon back in the spotlight during his [[spoiler:battle with Mitsuomi, which he won handily despite the collapse of the building around them. From then on, he remains important, as he is the one that has to battle Souichiro at the end of the series and buy enough time for the Natsume sisters to help Souichiro destroy the Susano'o power.]]
*** His battle with Fu Chien was a pretty big spotlight moment, too.

* Takaya/D-Boy aka ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'' in the first half of ''Tekkaman Blade II''. However, when [[TheBusCameBack he returns]], ''[[SpotlightStealingSquad he returns]]''.

* In the anime of ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'', Argo only appears in one brief scene towards the end of the third episode. This is mostly due to the chronology of the light novels versus the anime. Argo the Rat was not a character in the original Sword Art Online novel at all. Rather, she was introduced in Sword Art Online: Progressive, which is a spin off/prequel series. Since the anime was a mix of the original novel and the first Progressive novel, Argo appears only during the first floor covered by the Progressive novel.

* In focusing more on Lily and Jake, [[Anime/{{Supernatural}} Supernatural: The Animation]] dropped early episodes shown in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' featuring Andy and Ava.

* In focusing more on Lily and Jake, [[Anime/{{Supernatural}} Supernatural: The Animation]] dropped early episodes shown in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' featuring Andy and Ava. It also didn't feature Rosie, Ansem, or Scott.

** Max and Mirya's original ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' counterparts, Maximillian Jenius and Miria Fallyna, avert this in the ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise as a whole, where they have starring roles in the ''M3'' interquel video game and are major characters in ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}''.

* ''Anime/StreetFighterIITheAnimatedMovie'': Blanka, Cammy, Dee Jay, T. Hawk, and Zangief had to be given bit parts, in order to fit all 16 fighters into the film's 90min. run time. Even Sagat's grudge against Ryu was sidelined in favor of the film's plot.

* Tennouji Nae briefly plays a fairly large supporting role near the end of ''Anime/SteinsGate'', but this is excluded from the anime.

** Ryouko Takamachi towards the end of both the anime and the manga.

** Happens to the title character of all people. Due to playing TheAce and AloofAlly, the main focus and development is usually given to Chris or another supporting hero, with Sonic only stepping in when the action starts. The roles were reversed in the second series, in which ''Chris'' was DemotedToExtra and Sonic had more focus put on him.
** Tails, to an extent. His role as Sonic's right hand man is seen a lot less in favor of the latter's bond with Chris. He gains a more prominant role in the third season however and the comics also use his sidekick role more often.
** In the game adaptations, [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure the Egg Viper]], the final boss of Sonic's story and one of the most popular boss battles of the series, has about one minute of screen time, while the Egg Walker, Tails' final boss battle, doesn't even appear. [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Egg Golem and Biolizard]] similarly have little to do other than show up, be menacing, and wander off/die.

* In ''Manga/ShinjiIkariRaisingProject'', Pen Pen is just a toy you see in a few panels.

*** Only in the anime though since the anime has Souma's perspective and she's [[spoiler: with Kiriya at this point.]]
** The ones who really didn't get to appear in the anime, ''nor the game'' in Valeria were Volg, Pios, Keiner, and Cupido.

* Aine only appears in the second half of the anime of ''Manga/SensualPhrase''.

* In the anime adaptation of ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'', this hits several less popular characters like Honganji Kennyo, whose sole appearance is just to get sliced to death by Mitsuhide; or Hojo Ujimasa, who immediately got snuffed out by Shingen's HotBlooded punch of fire RIGHT AFTER HIS BRIEF APPEARANCE.
** The second season has this hit Takeda Shingen (though justified since he had to protect his region while Yukimura led the troops).

* In ''Manga/SaintSeiyaSaintiaSho'', the Saintia, theoretically the heroines of the story, fought only occasionally and with minor enemies.

** The anime replaces the Midoriyama Tennis Club with Jousei Shounan. The Musicals only mentions them in a brief recount song. In the manga, however, their miniarc is, if not, very forgettable.

*** Also played with in the Musicals. In the 1st Season, Taki is only mentioned and/or alluded to been replaced by Shishido, while in the 2nd Season, Taki is included in the Hyotei cast with song parts.
*** The All-Stars Hyotei characters album features Taki having a song for himself for the first time.
** Koishikawa was supposed to have a larger role, but Chitose's appearance shot that to hell.

** Now thanks to the wonders of LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars New Stage'' ends up giving this to anyone pre-''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'', meaning 11 heroines show up, but don't have any real purpose beyond "pounding the BigBad's head in in the end". ''New Stage 2'' only elevates this for [[FirstInstallmentWins Nagisa, Honoka, Hikari]], while Setsuna, Tsubomi, Erika and Ellen still managed to keep their speaking role. However, this is at cost of Love, Miki, Inori, Itsuki, Yuri, Hibiki, Kanade and Ako getting the non-speaking role like the previous movie's 11 heroines. As of Movie 7, ''Spring Carnival'', if you're not a Pink-type Cure, Honoka, Nagisa, Tsubomi, Erika or the previous and recent teams, you're probably not going to get lines.

** And then there's the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS CrossOver game, where both Honoka AND Kaoru and Michiru get DemotedToExtra! Well, fine, Kaoru and Michiru have it ''much'' worse, since they don't even appear (again). Honoka does appear but she's the only one out of the 11 [=PCs=] who [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent never gets to be the main character of a chapter]]. Yes, even her {{Expy}} Mai and {{Sixth Ranger}}s Hikari and Kurumi get to star in one chapter, and Kurumi stars in two. The game's about ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' with the older series tacked in so this is not a surprise, but still.

** In the first NonSerialMovie, Nagisa [[SpotlightStealingSquad does everything]]: she befriends the prince who oddly looks like [[LoveInterest Fuji P]]., he gives her the [[ChekhovsGun trinket that saves the day later]], she has a scene where she risks her life to save one of the [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Ridiculously Cute Critters]], and she alone gives the FillerVillain the [[PatrickStewartSpeech lecture about love and whatnot]], when on the series proper they're always delivered by both girls trading lines. Honoka gets only two scenes, where she warms up the AloofAlly. Even ''Hikari'' has more memorable scenes, and she spends half the movie injured in bed. (In fact, she's there ''because'' of such awesome scenes!) At least the second movie was fairer to poor Honoka... by giving ''Hikari'' the shaft instead.

** Yamcha was the first recurring villain in the first manga and Goku's first true rival (predating Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien, and Krillin), yet he was quickly reduced to a joke character and treated as little more than background noise after the Frieza saga. Or well before that: he never went past the quarterfinals on a tournament (Krillin did twice), didn't do anything for most of the second Dragon Ball hunt, and when he finally fought, he won against the Invisible Man with outside help (admittedly, his enemy had that too) and lost to an opponent [[CurbStompBattle Goku defeated without trying at all]]. Then he spent the Piccolo Daimaoh saga [[PutOnABus with a broken leg]]. And in the 23rd World Tournament [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments he broke his balls on a disguised guardian of Earth]]. In the Saiyan saga, he had the dubious distinction of being the one character killed by a ''Saibaman'', as dramatic as his death was. He also originally served as the love interest for Bulma, but in ''Dragon Ball Z'' gets replaced as soon as Vegeta decides that Earth isn't so bad after all.

** Gohan, who played a key role in every saga of ''Dragon Ball Z'' (he was the hero of the Cell saga and was even intended to become the main character after Goku died), in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' is reduced to being a secondary character that ends up being defeated every time he jumps into action. He only receives appropriate focus when taken over by Baby and when Piccolo dies but this are very small instances.

** Android 18 was a major villain in the Android saga of ''DBZ'' (though her true villain status is debatable) before she falls into a relationship with Krillin, [[HeelFaceTurn and becomes more of a good guy,]] and appears in a slightly reduced role (though still a fighter) in the Buu arc. Her role in DBGT however, was mostly limited to a few brief cameos before she finally got her own SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome in the Super 17 arc. Afterwords, she's hardly even mentioned ever again.

*** Bulma's role in the manga version of Future Trunks saga in ''Manga/DragonBallSuper'' is significantly reduced compared to anime version, she does not accompany them to the future nor does she play a role in using an alternative time machine since it's never destroyed due to Black not returning to the past to fight Goku.

** In ''Anime/BattleSpiritsShonenToppaBashin'', Meganeko and Card Sensei [[spoiler: are not chosen card battler like their anime counterparts]] and are reduced to background roles as a result. On the Numbers side of things, Masako only appears in a few panels, and Seven gets even worse treatment, with half of his 4-panel cameos being in the form of a shadow. At least all of them fare better than [[AdaptedOut Kyouka Sawaragi]].

** ''Pokémon Journeys'' has a very strange case in regards to Ash's and Goh's Pokémon. In the case of ''any'' Pokémon that has already evolved to their last stage, chances are they disappear from the story for absurd periods of time. Ash's Gengar gets hits the worst with this as it doesn't receive any special attention after it;s captured [[TheLoad except to crash and lose in battles]] (ironically, Gengar already had a history of its previous trainer ditching it behind). Goh's team gets hits the worst as his starters and other "big name" Pokémon not named Raboot that appear with him in opening titles lose focus after they evolve once (ever since his Sobble evolved into Drizzile, it simply has disappeared for the next ''ten'' episodes over Grookey taking the lead). His Cinderace loses its status as a walking Pokémon, ''[[UpToEleven and it's his first Pokémon]].''

* Joker the leader of the Clowns gang is a major character and one of the few to survive to the end of the story of ''Manga/{{Akira}}'', in the film he only shows up at the beginning during the gang fight and flees when the police arrive, although the Clowns return in a later scene, Joker isn't with them. And Lady Miyako, who is a major character in the manga, is a male member of the Akira cult who is killed after Tetsuo causes a bridge to collapse.

** While not as bad as the above example, Honoka/Cure White also suffers from this. Supposedly co-stars with Nagisa/Cure Black. Actually appears half as much as her and has less episodes and scenes focused on her, plus she has no lover (Well, there's Kiriya, but he only appears a bit in the first season and [[EverythingFades vanishes into light]] at the end. Fuji P. is around ALL the time both seasons), has almost no friends, and her family rarely appears. The exact opposite happens for Nagisa. The second season only made things even more unbalanced, for [[SixthRanger Hikari]] stole most of Honoka's screentime while Nagisa held a firm grip on most of hers, leaving Honoka with even less importance.

* The ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise loves {{Sixth Ranger}}s... unless they're Michiru and Kaoru, the DarkMagicalGirl twins from ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'', who share the dubious title of [[SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer Dame Not Appearing In This Trailer]]. They have no merchandise whatsoever despite being on a MerchandiseDriven show, and they didn't even get to fight in the ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars DX'' movie and only showed up for a few seconds without any lines. It wasn't a voice actor issue, as Moop and Fuup, played by the same two people, appeared and got lines. No, Michiru and Kaoru just didn't get their spotlight for no good reason, even though every other Cure and support character in the history of the SeriesFranchise, ''including'' Cure Berry, Cure Peach and Cure Pine from ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' (which started just over a month before the movie's release date!) got tons of attention. The second ''DX'' movie ''finally'' gave them a speaking part, but it was very minor and they didn't get to fight. This is very weird, considering they were the first {{Dark Magical Girl}}s in the franchise. Though in general, the older your series was the less screen time you got on that movie (''Splash Star'' and Original[=/=]''Max Heart'' getting the worst of it), so they should still be thankful.
** Their demotion actually began with ''Pretty Cure All Stars [=GoGo=] Dream Live'', a five minute short made as DVDBonusContent for the ''Anime/YesPrecure5 GO!GO!'' NonSerialMovie. It stands out because [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Michiru and Kaoru don't appear at all]], while almost everyone in ''Splash Star'''s supporting cast does. It's enough to make you wonder...

* ''Anime/PokemonOrigins'':
** Due to the short length of the series, much of the plot was skimmed over. A majority of Gym Leaders received cameos at most.
** According to his team in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', Red's highest level Pokémon is his Pikachu. Red in ''Origins'' however is only briefly depicted catching a Pikachu. His electric type of choice is a Jolteon, which [[CanonForeigner isn't even on his game team]].

** ''Pokémon Journeys'' has a very strange case in regards to Ash's and Goh's Pokémon. In case ''any'' Pokémon has already evolved to their last stage, chances are they disappear from the story for absurd periods of time. Ash's Gengar gets hits the worst with this as it hasn't received any special attention after its captured [[TheLoad except to crash and lose in battles]] (ironically, Gengar already had a history of its previous trainer ditching it behind). Goh's team gets hits the worst as his starters and other "big name" Pokémon not named Raboot that appear with him in opening titles lose focus after they evolve once (ever since his Sobble evolved into Drizzile, it simply has disappeared for the next ''ten'' episodes over Grookey taking the lead). His Cinderace loses its status as a walking Pokémon, ''[[UpToEleven and it's his first Pokémon]].''

** The Porygon line are never given episodes to themselves like most other Pokémon, and only appear as background cameos -- and that's if they ever appear at all. Of course, it's understandable given that the one time it ''did'' get the spotlight, [[NeverLiveItDown it swiftly went down in infamy as "the seizure episode"]].

** BreakoutCharacter Lucario has become a SeriesMascot since its first appearance in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl''. Lucario is featured in several games and adaptations, often times being plot relevant. It and its pre-evolution have appeared several times in the anime (Lucario debuted in its own movie, Riolu had an arc in Sinnoh, several trainers have Lucario, etc) however Ash has yet to obtain one. Both Riley and Korrina give you a Riolu egg and a Lucario respectively in two different games, but these events don't occur in the anime. This means that Lucario's significance is downplayed compared to the games.
*** However, in ''Pokémon Journeys'', Ash acquires an egg that hatches a Riolu, which he later evolves into Lucario. Egregiously, however, after a strange filler set in Castelia City, his Lucario only appears a grand total of two times in the next ''twenty episodes'' (one as a background character, the other as a distraction from poachers while Goh is left to tend [[spoiler:Suicune, whom he captured after the poachers had already weakened it]]).

* In ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'', Igor - he has one or two lines an episode. This is because Igor's seiyuu passed away prior to the anime's production, and rather than recast the role the producers decided to only use archived dialogue from the game itself.
** Also amongst the S-Links, since the two possible Sun S-Links are separate stories, they chose Ayane's S-Link. As a result, the only time we see Yumi is when she's silently annoyed at Kou hamming it up in the Cultural Festival drama play.

* ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'':
** This is done to Momoko, who is a key character in her introductory season, but by the next one is shafted in favor of [[PlotRelevantAgeUp magically grown-up Hana-chan]] and becomes merely window-dressing.
** [[TheSmartGuy Hazuki]] and [[TheBigGuy Aiko]] (particularly the former) arguably suffer this too as the seasons go on. [[TagalongKid Pop]] suffers this from ''Motto" onward.