History GenreShift / AnimeAndManga

* While ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' generally keeps to being an action series with elements of horror and mystery, each of the Parts which make up the whole of the series is of different genre. From earliest to latest these are [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood classic horror]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency an Indiana Jones-style adventure around the world]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders a travel story]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable a small-town murder mystery]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind a mobster story]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean a prison drama]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun a western]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion another mystery story]] with elements of a conspiracy story, and finally, [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureTheJoJoLands a heist story]]. Perhaps the most drastic change came midway through ''Phantom Blood'', where [[BigBad Dio]]'s sudden transformation into a vampire ended up changing the manga from a 19th-century period piece into a flat-out action-horror series.

* The ''Manga/BlackButler'' franchise does this in both incarnations. The anime & manga both start out as shounen horror. The second season of the anime is BL shoujo. After the Circus arc of the manga, the series seems to focus on movie parodies (''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' or ''Film/GhostShip'', [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]], ''Franchise/HarryPotter'') & sports. Either way, there's a lot less boobs & more fanservice for the ladies. Although the parodies seem to have ended during the Green Witch arc.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Gungrave}}'' anime starts off as a sci-fi action series with it's first episode. After that, [[InMediasRes it goes back to the chronological beginning of the series]] and becomes a mafia drama as it goes into Brandon/Beyond the Grave and Harry's backstories, slowly reintroducing the sci-fi elements of the story until it becomes a sci-fi action series again.

* The ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' series starts off as a bloody mystery-murder show, much like a slasher flick, each arc unconnected from the others. The second season, ''Higurashi Kai'', turns it into a supernatural suspense with traces of an even an ''action'' series by the end, with the gorn of the first season all but gone, and focused now on conspiracies and the previous mysteries being solved. Then there was ''Higurashi Rei'', which goes from comedy to drama and then back to comedy. The {{O|riginalVideoAnimation}}VA, ''Higurashi Kira'', aims to be comedy-fanservice. It makes sense since it's probably post-''Kai'' [[spoiler:and thus none of the murder and mystery are in play anymore, since the everlasting June finished]]. Also, the Question arcs and some Answer arcs go from a comedic SliceOfLife to tragedy and death.

* While ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' generally keeps to being an action series with elements of horror and mystery, each of the Parts which make up the whole of the series is of different genre. From earliest to latest these are [[Manga/PhantomBlood classic horror]], [[Manga/BattleTendency an Indiana Jones-style adventure around the world]], [[Manga/StardustCrusaders a travel story]], [[Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable a small-town murder mystery]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind a mobster story]], [[Manga/StoneOcean a prison drama]], [[Manga/SteelBallRun a western]], and finally [[Manga/{{JoJolion}} another mystery story, this time with elements of a conspiracy story]]. Perhaps the most drastic change came midway through ''Phantom Blood'', where [[BigBad Dio]]'s sudden transformation into a vampire ended up changing the manga from a 19th-century period piece into a flat-out action-horror series.

* ''Anime/MyHime'' starts out looking like a postmodern take on the MagicalGirl genre, then [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne turns into something disturbingly like]] ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}''.

* ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'': The anime starts out as a typical romantic comedy, then slowly takes a turn for the worse, going into horror at the end. This can sometimes contrast with the original novel, which also begins as a romantic comedy before becoming more of a drama, but the horror-ridden bad endings only happen if you handle things [[EarnYourBadEnding really, really badly]].

* ''Manga/ShimejiSimulation'' is initially presented as a SliceOfLife story despite the CerebusSyndrome moments, until the final WhamEpisode permanently switches the genre between [=SoL=] to full-blown ExistentialHorror. Everything about it is the main character Shijima going to a negative existential crisis where nothing about the last few chapters is PlayedForLaughs at all.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' started as an AffectionateParody of the anime above, with the SeriousBusiness aspect taken up to eleven, and involved the cast getting into increasingly ridiculous adventures. However, as the series advanced, CerebusSyndrome hit in and it became a CosmicHorrorStory about a battle between higher forces, while simultaneously mixing this with a StalkerWithACrush {{Yandere}} in Season 3, and ComingOfAgeStory in Season 4 (which is wildly considered to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs made on drugs]]). In other words, it barely resembled what it started as.

* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', in its first season, was about a magical ballerina princess/therapist restoring emotions to her love interest. The second season revealed it just wasn't like a fairytale, and it turned into a dark, epic struggle against the sadistic author trying to wreck his character's lives. In other words, a slightly different type of fairytale.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGORUSH'' features another shift, with the plot focusing on Yudias, who is an alien, trying to acclimate to life on earth while there is a large scale war in the background plot. Ironically, this is basically a return to the plot of ''ZEXAL'' but with a ContrastingMainCharacter.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGoRush'' features another shift, with the plot focusing on Yudias, who is an alien, trying to acclimate to life on earth while there is a large scale war in the background plot. Ironically, this is basically a return to the plot of ''ZEXAL'' but with a ContrastingMainCharacter.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' started out very light-hearted mostly focusing on Yuya's attempt to become a pro with the dark elements in the background usually focused around the heroine, Yuzu. But since Episode 7, foreshadowing kicked was into overdrive with the payoff being [[spoiler:an dimensional war showing the realistic implications of forcing teenagers into a war. Especially Yuya who goes through numerous BreakTheCutie moments.]] Also, politics suddenly start to play a very big role in the plot.

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' started off as a story that swapped between HumongousMecha action and high school comedy antics, provided by FishOutOfWater ChildSoldier Sousuke Sagara and his long-suffering {{Tsundere}} classmate Kaname Chidori. Life-and-death battles over psychics with knowledge of overtechnology were interspersed with stories where Sousuke turned a theme park mascot costume into PoweredArmor and transformed the school's wimpy rugby team into violent psychopaths. The seventh novel, however, pulls a major NothingIsTheSameAnymore: [[spoiler:the series' BigBad Leonard Testarossa plays his hand, destroying Sousuke's SuperPrototype, sparing his life only because Kaname pulls a TakeMeInstead, shattering the organization Mithril and forcing the rest of the heroes into hiding.]] At this point the wacky high school side of the story completely disappears, becoming a straight-up mecha military thriller that goes to some dark places before ultimately [[spoiler:giving our heroes a happy but somewhat bittersweet ending.]]

* The ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series (both the original light novels and the anime) begins as a comedy series that, while featuring a very eccentric protagonist in GenkiGirl Haruhi, was still a fairly realistic SliceOfLife comedy. Then the aliens, time travelers, and psychics start turning up, and we get the big reveal that [[spoiler:Haruhi is [[TheOmnipotent God]] (or at least the next best thing), and her subconscious desires can warp reality, or even destroy the universe if she becomes bored enough. And then the STABBING and sci-fi battles begin...]] It actually remains a SliceOfLife comedy for the most part, but it's slices of much weirder lives than we originally thought.

* ''LightNovel/IsThisAZombie'' is not so much this as a [[CerebusRollercoaster Genre Mix]], with regular moments of out-of-genre action. It's a {{Harem|Genre}} story about an [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent average guy]] who happens to be a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies zombie]] and accidentally gets a MagicalGirl's powers, complete with the Cute Dress. However, there is a [[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank ridiculous amount of blood]], and at one point the protagonist defeats a [[GoodThingYouCanHeal multi-lived villain]] by {{chainsaw|Good}}ing her [[ImmortalityHurts to death]] [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap over and over again]] until she's back down to one life, complete with jets of blood and agonized screams.

* ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'': Invoked. Kurami plays a game of chess against Sora and Shiro [[HumanChess with living pieces]], where the pieces can sometimes take extra moves or refuse to obey a weak player; this lets her cheat without it being obvious. However, Sora realizes that this means there's no need to pretend the normal rules of chess apply at all, and starts ignoring the turn order, basically turning it into a RealTimeStrategy game. Kurami has no experience with such games, and is quickly overwhelmed despite her cheating.

* ''LightNovel/ReZero'' starts off seeming like another TrappedInAnotherWorld romance anime, but then Subaru and his primary love interest are murdered. Things still seem up when he tries to get around what causes their deaths, but the real tone sets in after he dies a third time. The first episode was nearly an hour long and Crunchyroll split it into two parts in order to better maintain this effect. Fans of the novel looked at the promotional art and compared the marketing to offering a child an ice cream cone with nails hidden inside of it.

* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'' shifts back and forth between action/supernatural and typical high school love story, until the final arc where it becomes a war story.

* ''LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan'' Season 1 was a comedy that focused on over-the-top cartoonish gore. The second season had no violence, but became an unwanted harem with comedy akin to ''Eiken'', ''Anime/PuniPuniPoemi'', & the last episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga''.

* ''Manga/OnaniMasterKurosawa'' is perhaps another poster child of this. It starts off as ''Manga/DeathNote'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY with]] [[ADateWithRosiePalms fapping]] (yes, ''seriously'') but then after a certain WhamEpisode the main character decides he'd rather be [[Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye Holden Caulfield]] than Light Yagami.

** ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' though makes a return to an action-packed style like the earlier seasons, and ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'' takes it UpToEleven, and turns into an all out ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' style duke out that makes ''Futari wa'' look downright tame.

* ''Anime/SamuraiFlamenco'' started out as a realistic, slice-of-life comedy with the {{Deconstruction}} of the {{Tokusatsu}} genre. Until Episode 7, [[spoiler:when its WhamEpisode came where the MonsterOfTheWeek brutally kills people which led to the a full-fledged tokusatsu series]], before the genre changed ''again'' in Episode 15 [[spoiler:between Hazama being wanted by and on the run from the government, and eventually battling the Prime Minister of Japan]], again in Episode 17 [[spoiler:with an exercise in existentialism that would do Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion proud]], and [[UptoEleven AGAIN]] in Episode 19 [[spoiler:with the introduction of [[CreepyChild Sawada Haiji]]]]. It became apparent after a while that genre shifts were an [[GenreBusting integral part]] of the show's premise.

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' started out as an episodic (but still continuity-heavy) DesertPunk comedy, with the rebellion against Lordgenome essentially being an excuse for the show to have fun with itself. Then [[spoiler:Kamina dies]], and the series takes a darker turn, but not without keeping its idealism and having occasional lightheartedness. The first half of the TimeSkip is more character-driven, focusing on Simon and Rossiu's beliefs clashing, Viral's ordeals following [[spoiler:Lordgenome's defeat]], and [[spoiler:Simon and Viral finally joining forces]]. Finally, the last arc of the series is a SpaceOpera AstralFinale that [[SerialEscalation takes the action]] [[UpToEleven to galactic extremes]], but it also has no shortage of [[TearJerker heart-wrenching moments]].

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' started as an AffectionateParody of the anime above, with the SeriousBusiness aspect taken UpToEleven, and involved the cast getting into increasingly ridiculous adventures. However, as the series advanced, CerebusSyndrome hit in and it became a CosmicHorrorStory about a battle between higher forces, while simultaneously mixing this with a StalkerWithACrush {{Yandere}} in Season 3, and ComingOfAgeStory in Season 4 (which is wildly considered to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs made on drugs]]). In other words, it barely resembled what it started as.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/genre_shift_zettai_reiiki_chapter_515.png]]

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'' started out as a GagSeries with some fighting, but eventually developed into a more serious FightingSeries with dashes of comedy.

* ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' changes genres each arc. They start as quirky adventures then turn more violent and team based.