History Main / OutOfGenreExperience

* ''FromDuskTillDawn'' switches genres three quarters of the way through the film from bandit/modern western to [[spoiler: a slasher vampire flick]].

This trope is often paired with MoodWhiplash. For a permanent genre change, see GenreShift, HalfwayPlotSwitch is when the plot starts out as something unreleated leading up to the switch. See GenreRoulette for a more extreme version, and CourtroomEpisode for a common subtrope. For the same principle applied to video game genres, see UnexpectedGameplayChange, {{Mundanger}}.

* {{Berserk}}, for one arc, becomes a grim and gritty midevial story devoid of any demons, aside from the Zodd fight. After the arc, shit starts hitting the fan and we return to the CrapsackWorld that is the world of Berserk.
* In HajimeNoIppo, a ([[LongRunner long]]) series about the harsh world of boxing, the main characters take part in an light-hearted baseball match for a few chapters. [[MoodWhiplash Just after the bloodiest, dirtiest and least funny fight of the series]].

* SinCity is mostly a crime-noir comic series set in a somewhat realistic world (for a comicbook anyway). Despite this, we've had a few departures.

* Some scenes from TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly can be mistaken for a war film.
* FromDuskTillDawn switches genres three quarters of the way through the film from bandit/modern western to [[spoiler: a slasher vampire flick]].

* MassEffect2 is pretty much a straight Bioware RPG SpaceOpera. Commander Shepard wanders around the galaxy performing quests and beating up bad guys. Then there are two quests worth of downloadable content which turn the game temporarily into a heist movie and a detective movie respectively, with the appropriate mood, camera work and tropes.
* KingdomHeartsCoded does this in several chapters, taking an action-RPG game and twisting it into a 2D platformer, a hall-running railshooter, and even a turn-based RPG at times.

* MassEffect is pretty much a straight Bioware RPG SpaceOpera. Commander Shepard wanders around the galaxy performing quests and beating up bad guys. Then there are two quests worth of downloadable content which turn the game temporarily into a heist movie and a detective movie respectively, with the appropriate mood, camera work and tropes.

* The ThursdayNext books are... [[GenreBusting sort of]] an urban fantasy mystery series about nineteenth century literature and the {{Metafiction}} thereof. Once per book, there's a chapter wherein Thursday teams up with Spike [[MeaningfulName Stoker]] to fight vampires, ghosts, demons or what have you, usually just so she can pay the rent. The narration shifts to a style that would not be out of place in {{Dracula}} or the more serious modern horror novel. And then things are back to normal next chapter.

* FromDuskTilDawn switches genres three quarters of the way through the film from bandit/modern western to [[spoiler: a slasher vampire flick]].

This trope is often paired with MoodWhiplash. For a permanent genre change, see Genre Shift, HalfwayPlotSwitch is when the plot starts out as something unreleated leading up to the switch. See GenreRoulette for a more extreme version, and CourtroomEpisode for a common subtrope. For the same principle applied to video game genres, see UnexpectedGameplayChange, {{Mundanger}}.

** Ben and Sayid had a {{James Bond}}/{{Jason Bourne}} episode.

* ''"The Rescue Mission"'', a mid-season episode of PowerRangersLostGalaxy, features Terra Venture answering a distress signal left by an alien spaceship - as a result, there are no Zords, [[SuperSentai Sentai]] footage or regular villains, and most of the fight scenes are unmorphed.
* The flashbacks in TheSarahConnorChronicles episode "The last voyage of the Jimmy Carter" look more like scenes from a DarkerAndEdgier version of SeaQuest.

* ''{{Metal Gear Solid}} 3'' has an interesting experience with this trope. [[spoiler:While in prison, Big Boss/Naked Snake can fall asleep [[NoFourthWall if you save and quit]]. When you load it back, a hack-and-slash minigame starts. After a few minutes of slicing up [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot giant mutant prison guard monsters]], Snake wakes up from his nightmare, evoking a hilarious radio conversation from Para-Medic when called.]]

This trope can be glaringly obvious or just a subtle genre that doesn't fit into the rest of the series. Medical drama is used as an example because it is difficult to hide.

* In ''Mists of Everness'', the second book [[JohnCWright War of the Dreaming]], there is a chapter or two which features a switch from the present-day High Fantasy to Beatrix-Potteresque TalkingAnimal interlude. It's interesting and funny, and ties into the plot later on, but the unexpected change can be jarring.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* GrantMorrison's run on ''New Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' was a succession of these instead of the routine superhero stuff: high school drama, sci-fi, murder mystery...
** Interestingly, Morrison fled from this genre bending as far as he could after a certain point in his run, making the good guys and bad guys as unambiguously traditionally super-hero/super-villain in their morals and adventures, despite still keeping the more exotic outward trappings introduced earlier.
* SinCity is mostly a crime-noir comic series set in a somewhat realistic world (for a comicbook anyway). Despite this, we've had a few departures.
** Shlubb and Klump had their own short story which was a wacky little story featuring ThoseTwoBadGuys and an ending gag straight out of a LooneyTunes episode.
** The story ''Hell and Back'' features genetic tampering, espionage, a guild of assassins with high tech weapons, and a [[http://images.darkhorse.com/covers/300/s/schab9.jpg villainess]] who could easily be mistaken as a straight up supervillain due to her costume and gadgets. It seemed like a TomClancy novel, mixed with MetalGear.
** The Yellow Bastard was operated on by genetic scientists and even [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment voodoo witchdoctors]] who turned him into what could be mistaken for a yellow StarTrek alien.
** The Farm is often described as effecting the characters mentally. Everytime anyone goes there, they always feel something in the pit of their stomachs and think the exact same thing, "People have died here." It's also believed to be haunted, giving it a weird horror vibe even though we don't see anything.
[[/folder]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]
* The ''ExcelSaga'' anime is, for the most part, the epitome of a GagSeries. So naturally one of the last episodes was played completely straight, as if it were a drama.
* Halfway through ''MayoiNekoOverrun'', the viewer gets an entire episode about {{mecha}} and later about a simple game that was made so [[SeriousBusiness dramatic]] it goes on par with [[{{Saki}} a certain mahjong anime]].
* The SliceOfLife alternate reality scene in episode 26 of ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''.
* {{Berserk}}, for one arc, becomes a grim and gritty midevial story devoid of any demons, aside from the Zodd fight. After the arc, shit starts hitting the fan and we return to the CrapsackWorld that is the world of Berserk.

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]

[[AC: Video Games]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

** Similarly, ''ChamberOfSecrets'' is kind of a horror story and ''OrderOfThePhoenix'' is kind of a political drama/satire. Also, anything with the Dursleys leans on something of a StepfordSuburbia BlackComedy.

** Similarly, ''ChamberOfSecrets'' is kind of a horror story and ''OrderOfThePhoenix'' is kind of a political drama/satire. Also, the scenes where Harry is with the Dursleys lean on something of a StepfordSuburbia BlackComedy.

** Similarly, ''ChamberOfSecrets'' is kind of a horror story and ''OrderOfThePhoenix'' is kind of a political drama/satire.