History Main / NonIndicativeFirstEpisode

* ''[[SuzumiyaHaruhi The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' starts with "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina", a painfully low-budget student film that combines StylisticSuck with as many clichéd anime genres it can think of (MagicalGirl shows, HighSchool comedy, {{Shojo}} romance, etc). However, it's actually {{foreshadowing}} several key plot points in the ''real'' story (which starts with the next episode), with the brief lapses in the {{Masquerade}} serving as plot hooks.

* The first episode of the ''{{Berserk}}'' anime is chronologically set ''after'' the events of the rest of the series, in which Guts has already become the one-eyed/one-armed wandering mercenary he is known to be. The rest of the series covers how he got to be that way.

* Because it had to actually bring together the ragtag group of [[Impossible Thie|f]]ves, the pilot of ''Series/{{Leverage}} is missing several of the hallmarks of later episodes. The crew initially get together for a fairly simple heist in exchange for money, rather than for their later-standard Robin Hood motives. The more philanthropic reasoning behind their jobs doesn't factor in until the second episode.

* A similar example to ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Star Trek: TNG]]'' occurred on ''Series/BlakesSeven'', though for different reasons. The first episode, "The Way Back", blew the entire budget for the season because it would be competing with the release of ''Star Wars''. [[http://www.michaelbriant.com/blake%27s_7.htm Because this is 70s BBC sci-fi we're talking about]], that budget was so small that the effects are still bad, but it still had a sizeable cast and more studio sets than most other Series One episodes, which were mainly set on the ''Liberator'', industrial buildings and the BBCQuarry.

* A similar example to ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Star Trek: TNG]]'' occurred on ''Series/BlakesSeven'', though for different reasons. The first episode, "The Way Back", blew the entire budget for the season because it would be competing with the release of ''Star Wars: Film/ANewHope''. Because this is 70s BBC sci-fi we're talking about, that budget was so small that the effects are still bad, but it still had a sizeable cast and more studio sets than most other Series One episodes, which were mainly set on the ''Liberator'', industrial buildings and the BBCQuarry.
%% On second thoughts, I'm not sure B7 was competing with Star Wars specifically. I know I read something along those lines, but can't find the source...

* A similar example to ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Star Trek: TNG]]'' occurred on ''Series/BlakesSeven'', though for different reasons. The first episode, "The Way Back", blew the entire budget for the season because it would be competing with the release of ''Star Wars: Film/ANewHope''. Because this is 70s BBC sci-fi we're talking about, that budget was so small that the effects are still bad, but it still had a sizeable cast and more studio sets than most other Series One episodes, which were mainly set on the ''Liberator'', industrial buildings and the BBCQuarry.

* The opening of the premiere episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' begins with a flashback to one of the biggest battles in franchise lore (indeed, the most detailed canon depiction yet) and then promptly goes...to a broken-down space station the Federation recently inherited. It then looks like that the series is going to be about the Federation dealing with cooperation with the relatively primitive Bajorans, who were just liberated from occupation by another alien race. But then near the end of the episode, all of a sudden this wormhole starts to open up ''literally'' right next door....

* More of a case of First ''Season'' rather than First Episode on ''Series/TheListener''. Everything the first season set up, including a main character, secondary characters, character development, series set up and the entire subplot of the series, is dropped completely in favor of a basic Crime Procedural. To make matters worse, the first season ended in several cliffhangers that were never even remotely addressed by the time the series finale came around.

* Even better examples in the ''Star Trek'' spin-offs:
** The opening of the premiere episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' begins with a flashback to one of the biggest battles in franchise lore (indeed, the most detailed canon depiction yet) and then promptly goes...to a broken-down space station the Federation recently inherited. It then looks like that the series is going to be about the Federation dealing with cooperation with the relatively primitive Bajorans, who were just liberated from occupation by another alien race. But then near the end of the episode, all of a sudden this wormhole starts to open up ''literally'' right next door....
*** To make the surprise even more complete, the episode originally aired with an opening sequence sans the [[ItWasHisSled now famous]] wormhole
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' begins with scrolling text about the state of the Maquis, a group of rebels fighting the Federation. The USS ''Voyager'' gets ready to track down a particular group of these bandits and retrieve a Federation officer working undercover. Then both the ''Voyager'' and the bandits get suddenly transported to the literal other end of the galaxy....

* Discussed and lampshaded in ''CrossAnge'', where during the next-episode preview of Episode 1, the characters [[BreakingTheFourthWall remark about]] how the series is supposed to be a {{shojo}} mecha anime, but didn't seem like it, with one asking [[JustHereForGodzilla where the mecha were]]. In reality, only the first half of the episode (the game of lacrosse-on-hoverbikes) is really non-indicative; the rest is a DownerBeginning that sets things up for the rest of the show.

* ''[[SuzumiyaHaruhi The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' starts with "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina", a painfully low-budget student film that combines StylisticSuck with as many clichéd anime genres it can think of (MagicalGirl shows, HighSchool comedy, {{Shojo}} romance, etc.). However, it's actually {{foreshadowing}} several key plot points in the ''real'' story (which starts with the next episode), with the brief lapses in the {{Masquerade}} serving as plot hooks.

* Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion starts out just like any other SuperRobot series before turning out to be a GenreDeconstruction. The series' creator, Creator/HideakiAnno, should reportedly have complained about how it was out of tune with the rest. Apparently he was trying to create an atmosphere of total despair and felt he failed in this aspect.

* Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion starts out just like any other SuperRobot series before turning out to be a GenreDeconstruction.

* The English dub of 1990's ''Anime/SailorMoon'' did this by pulling stuff from toward the end of the first season into the first episode and creating a monologue telling the story of the downfall of the Moon Kingdom and the Princess and the Sailors being sent to the future on earth. Because the original Japanese version doesn't have this and doesn't start getting grander in scope until toward the end of the first half, the dub goes back to being a normal action-adventure series until it becomes important to the plot.

* If you only read the first Chapter of {{Saikano}} you will think the Manga is over. When you begin the second chapter you will think it's an Anthology of happy little feel good Shojo oneshots [[spoiler: instead of the most horrible and depressing [[WarIsHell War Drama]] ever.]] In the End [[spoiler: the Heroine has to watch her boyfriend starve to death.]] And it's all her fault. You want to read the first chapter again and pretend the whole rest of the series was just a bad dream.

* The English dub of BishoujoSenshiSailorMoon did this by pulling stuff from toward the end of the first season into the first episode and creating a monologue telling the story of the downfall of the Moon Kingdom and the Princess and the Sailors being sent to the future on earth. Because the original Japanese version doesn't have this and doesn't start getting grander in scope until toward the end of the first half, the dub goes back to being a normal action-adventure series until it becomes important to the plot.

* ''FromEroicaWithLove'' at first appears to be a typical shoujo manga, about a PowerTrio with PsychicPowers, one of whom is accused of being the GentlemanThief Eroica. But it's really an action packed JamesBond Spoof, with the two leads being Eroica and "Iron Klaus".

Should hopefully not be coupled with a following OffModel episode. Contrast with InnocuouslyImportantEpisode. See also EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, where the oddities (in light of what follows) extend past the pilot.

* In the ''UpstairsDownstairs'' pilot, a lot of things go just as they go in the show - but Alfred is a creepy, biblically-speaking maid-harassing implied perv. In the actual show he didn't speak any too funnily, and turned out to be gay.

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' seems like this until it's revealed that [[spoiler:the guy who appears in the start is Simon]].

** While the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime adaptation]] also starts with this story, ''[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Brotherhood]]'' doesn't visit this story until its third episode, after the backstory has been delved into somewhat. Instead, it begins with a [[spoiler: seemingly]] filler story which is basically pure action, involving an evil ice-using alchemist, which makes it seem like a straight-on action {{shounen}}, which is also not entirely true.

** While the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime adaptation]] also starts with this story, ''[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Brotherhood]]'' doesn't visit this story until its third episode, after the backstory has been delved into somewhat. Instead, it begins with a filler story which is basically pure action, involving an evil ice-using alchemist, which makes it seem like a straight-on action {{shounen}}, which is also not entirely true.