History KnightOfCerebus / AnimeAndManga

* While ''Manga/GushingOverMagicalGirls'' starts rather comedic and VillainProtagonist Magia Baiser's [=BDSM=] battles with Tres Magia [[CerebusSyndrome begin turning more seriously]] as soon as Chapter 5, Chapter 12 has [[spoiler:the arrival of the founding members of Enormeeta: Lord Enorme and her Legion. Unlike Utena and co., these girls don't mess around and were shown to have killed a number of good-aligned magical girls before; and their arrival turns what began as a straight evil-vs-good conflict into a MeleeATrois where [[TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil Utena's group is the Bad and Lord's Legion the Evil.]]]]

* ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]'' started out almost ridiculously lighthearted but after a bunch of {{Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain}}s, Haman Karn gets into the plot and all of a sudden the heroes really need to worry. Another Gundam example is ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' though only the first few episodes are rather easy going until Devil Gundam and Kyouji are first mentioned.
* In ''Anime/GundamBuildDiversReRise'', there's the Gundam Seltsam, a powerful Gunpla based off of the Gundam Mk-III. The first time BUILD [=DiVERS=] fights him, they only escape because Hiroto sacrifices one of his armors as a distraction. The second time, May [[spoiler:is forced to reveal herself as an EL-Diver]] and fights him to a standstill.

** [[spoiler: The possible BigBad of the series Imu]] manages to outdo all of the above. While the series is no stranger to seriously menacing villains, they still had some comedic moments of their own (Kaido, Blackbeard, Kizaru) or could sometimes be the StraightMan in a comedic situation (Akainu, Crocodile, Rob Lucci). Whenever [[spoiler: Imu]] is on screen, however, there is '''absolutely no comedy''' to break up the tension, and whenever he gives out an order, it always leads to a catastrophe.

** [[spoiler: The possible BigBad of the series Imu]] manages to outdo all of the above. While the series is no stranger to seriously menacing villains, they still had some comedic moments of their own (Kaido, Blackbeard, Kizaru) or could sometimes be the StraightMan in a comedic situation (Akainu, Crocodile, Rob Lucci). Whenever [[spoiler: Imu]] is on screen, however, there is '''absolutely no comedy''' to break up the tension, and whenever he gives out an order, it always leads to a catastrophy.

** [[spoiler: The possible BigBad of the series Imu]] manages to outdo all of the above. While the series is no stranger to seriously menacing villains, they still had some comedic moments of their own (Kaido, Blackbeard, Kizaru) or could sometimes be the StraightMan in a comedic situation (Akainu, Crocodile, Rob Lucci). Whenever [[spoiler: Imu]] is on screen, There is '''absolutely no comedy''' to break up the tension, and whenever he gives out an order, it always leads to a catastrophy.

** [[spoiler: The possible BigBad of the series Imu]] manages to outdo all of the above. While the series is no stranger to seriously menacing villains, they still had some comedic moments of their own (Kaido and Blackbeard) or was a straight man in a comedic situation (Akainu). Whenever [[spoiler: Imu]] is on screen, There is '''absolutely no comedy''' to break up the tension, and whenever he gives out an order, it always leads to a catastrophy.

** Envy [[spoiler: murdering Hughes in both the 2003 anime and the manga/Brotherhood]] steers the story into darker territory, showing that nobody is safe from the Homunculi and just how high the stakes are.

** [[TheHeavy General Blue]] of the [[NebulousEvilOrganization Red Ribbon Army]]. Before Blue appeared, the Army was more or less an IneffectualSympatheticVillain faction, which never succeeded at anything it tried ([[OffstageVillainy against Goku, at least]]) and was largely comical in its failings. By contrast, while Blue's military units were trashed with similar ease, the general himself not only took everything the heroes had and kept going, but managed to seriously threaten Goku and his friends with gruesome deaths, and even won a partial victory in the end by capturing Goku's Dragon Ball detector. The rest of the Red Ribbon story arc remained considerably darker than what had gone before, with numerous non-comical deaths (though mostly of villains) and an even more sinister antagonist in Mercenary Tao. Arguably, General Blue was the first serious villain in ''Dragon Ball'', and certainly the initiator of the series' gradual shift from comedy toward action and drama that would culminate in ''Dragon Ball Z''.

** General Rilldo in ''Anime/DragonBallGT''; until he showed up, ''GT'' was a throwback to the comedy of early DB. Rilldo is the first villain to actually give the heroes a significent challenge. He also paves the way for Baby, who is far more of a threat both in terms of power and his goals.

* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Despite the premise of the story having a spy and a professional killer forming a Family Of Convenience, the series is overall rather lighthearted and even comedic. Until the target of Operation Strix, Donovan Desmond, comes into the focus or has a more direct influence on the current arc. It's still unclear [[AmbiguouslyEvil how evil]] he is, but the tone shifts drastically. During his first, and currently only, physical appearance, the atmosphere becomes tense and even Twilight, much as an experienced spy he is, remains extra careful with his words and notes that he has to use all of his cunning to not make a single mistake when interacting directly with Desmond.