History TheArtifact / AnimeAndManga

** Beerus in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' served to introduce the concepts of Gods and the multiverse, as well as providing an AlwaysSomeoneBetter role for Goku. By the midpoint of the series, though, it was kind of evident that he didn't have much purpose anymore, which was especially pronounced because, unlike most Artifact characters in the franchise, Beerus is extremely strong to StoryBreakerPower levels, and should be able to crush just about any threat to the protagonists with ease. It was especially pronounced because, unlike most rivals in the franchise, his whole narrative function is that Goku can never really surpass him, so having the cast and their threats catch up to him couldn't be done. At the same time, he couldn't be written out of the series, because he was a package deal with his attendant Whis, who slotted into the role of being Goku and Vegeta's mentor and MrExposition. Consequently, in the majority of story arcs, Beerus [[AllPowerfulBystander does nothing of importance]], and when he does try to do something, [[YouCantThwartStageOne it usually fails]]--probably best punctuated by his appearance in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', where his only appearance is a minor subplot about him taking care of baby Bulla.

** Vegito's design is meant to be a [[FusionDance fusion]] of Vegeta and Goku's. However, when he reappeared in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', his design there was the same as his design in the Buu Saga, which includes the singlet Vegeta was wearing then, despite Vegeta wearing grey spandex armor in ''Super''. This was due to the fact that redesigning him to include Vegeta's actual ''Super'' outfit would make his design less recognizable (and, it's often theorized, would mean [[MerchandiseDriven already-existing Vegito toys]] [[PaletteSwap couldn't be recolored]]).

** Beerus in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' served to introduce the concepts of Gods and the multiverse, as well as providing an AlwaysSomeoneBetter role for Goku. By the midpoint of the series, though, it was kind of evident that he didn't have much purpose anymore, which was especially pronounced because, unlike most Artifact characters in the franchise, Beerus is extremely strong to StoryBreakerPower levels, and should be able to crush just about any threat to the protagonists with ease. It was especially pronounced because, unlike most rivals in the franchise, his whole narrative function is that Goku can never really surpass him, so having the cast and their threats catch up to him couldn't be done. At the same time, he couldn't be written out of the series, because he was a package deal with his attendant Whis, who slotted into the role of being Goku and Vegeta's mentor and MrExposition. Consequently, in the majority of story arcs, Beerus [[AllPowerfulBystander does nothing of importance]], and when he does try to do something, [[YouCantThwartStageOne it usually fails]]--probably best punctuated by his appearance in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', where his only appearance is a minor subplot about him taking care of baby Pan.

** The Super Saiyan 2 transformation has fallen into this in most modern versions of the franchise, especially by the time of ''Super''. Aside from the SoLastSeason problems that afflict a lot of older transformations, it provides no utility over standard Super Saiyan aside from an ambiguously high increase in power, meaning characters with the form active don't fight any differently, and even ''looks'' almost identical on most characters (particularly Goku and Vegeta), turning it into little more than a placeholder to fill out the RuleOfThree. There's really only one fight in ''Super'' where it actually has a significant effect on the fight's outcome--that being, Caulifla's fight with Goku. Tellingly, Toriyama claimed in an interview that he ''forgot the form existed'' until he was reminded during his work on ''Battle of Gods.'' But the mere fact that Gohan's initial transformation and subsequent battle remain an iconic moment in the series has guaranteed that the form will continue to crop up.

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' had Hiroto Honda/Tristan Taylor. In the early [[Manga/YuGiOh manga]], he was a mainstay of the cast, helping out a lot in Death-T and Monster World and often acting as TheBigGuy. By the time of ''Duelist'' and the second series anime, the series became more cardgame-focused, and Honda spends most of his time just kinda standing on the sidelines cheering on his friends because he isn’t much of a duelist. That being said, he does on occasion take action outside of duels, particularly near the end of Duelist Kingdom and before the Battle City Finals. The anime ended up doing its best to add stuff for him to do, but [[TrappedByMountainLions very little of it was consequential.]]

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' had Hiroto Honda/Tristan Taylor. In the early [[Manga/YuGiOh manga]], he was a mainstay of the cast, helping out a lot in Death-T and Monster World and often acting as TheBigGuy. By the time of ''Duelist'' and the second series anime, the series became more cardgame-focused, and Honda spends most of his time just kinda standing on the sidelines because he can't just punch most of the gang's opponents and he sucks at the card game. The anime ended up doing its best to add stuff for him to do, but [[TrappedByMountainLions very little of it was consequential.]]

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' seemed to struggle with handling certain characters as the series drifted away from its episodic school-slice-of-life origin, generally having them serve as {{Combat Commentator}}s at best. Asuka's main hook (finding the fate of her brother) got resolved about two-thirds of the way into the first season, and consequently left her with very little to do in the rest of the series aside from chasing off suitors, getting brainwashed, and briefly dying. Kenzan no longer had much purpose once the Society of Light arc ended, as his deal of being ImmuneToMindControl came up only once afterward. Misawa was meant as a rival but quickly got displaced by better ones, and his later character arc was basically one long LampshadeHanging on how he had no real purpose anymore and had fallen OutOfFocus, before he was written out completely.

** Though the series was never [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything all that wholehearted]] about the idea of being about pirates, most characters early on were still identifiably working as such (mostly villains). Later arcs feature no piracy whatsoever; even the villains often aren't "pirates" to any degree other than that they sometimes go by that name.

** Beerus in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' served to introduce the concepts of Gods and the multiverse, as well as providing an AlwaysSomeoneBetter role for Goku. By the midpoint of the series, though, it was kind of evident that he didn't have much purpose anymore, which was especially pronounced because, unlike most Artifact characters in the franchise, Beerus is extremely strong to StoryBreakerPower levels, and should be able to crush just about any threat to the protagonists with ease. It was especially pronounced because, unlike most rivals in the franchise, his whole narrative function is that Goku can never really surpass him, so having the cast and their threats catch up to him couldn't be done. At the same time, he couldn't be written out of the series, because he was a package deal with his attendant Whis, who slotted into the role of being Goku and Vegeta's mentor and MrExposition. Consequently, in the majority of story arcs, Beerus [[AllPowerfulBystander does nothing of importance]]--probably best punctuated by his appearance in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', where his only appearance is a minor subplot about him taking care of baby Pan.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' has Puck, Guts's original companion. Very early on, his purpose was to be a MoralityPet for Guts, act as the WhiteMage, and [[PluckyComicRelief liven up the incredibly miserable atmosphere]], and he managed to play a major part in the Lost Children arc. However, as Guts's [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits cast of hanger-ons]] grew, Puck's role mostly started to slip into irrelevance. A particularly big case is CuteWitch Schierke, who does essentially everything Puck did and does it better, down to being able to act as Guts's conscience by [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind literally going inside his head]]. It's often remarked by fans that Puck's SuperDeformed state used to be brought out only in particularly wacky moments, but now essentially makes up ''all'' his appearances because [[{{Flanderization}} those wacky moments are really the only thing he provides anymore]]--and it's not like he's the only character in the series capable of providing comic relief or lightening the tone.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' has Puck, Guts's original companion. Very early on, his purpose was to be a MoralityPet for Guts, act as the WhiteMage, and [[PluckyComicRelief liven up the incredibly miserable atmosphere]], and he managed to play a major part in the Lost Children arc. However, as Guts's [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits cast of hanger-ons]] grew, Puck's role mostly started to slip into irrelevance. A particularly big case is CuteWitch Schierke, who does essentially everything Puck did and does it better, down to being able to act as Guts's conscience by [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind literally going inside his head]]. It's often remarked by fans that Puck's SuperDeformed state used to be brought out only in particularly wacky moments, but now essentially makes up ''all'' his appearances because [[{{Flanderization}} those wacky moments are really the only thing he provides anymore]]--and it's not like he's the only character in the series capable of providing comic relief or lightening the tone anymore.

** Beerus in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' served to introduce the concepts of Gods and the multiverse, as well as providing an AlwaysSomeoneBetter role for Goku. By the midpoint of the series, though, it was kind of evident that he didn't have much purpose anymore, which was especially pronounced because, unlike most Artifact characters in the franchise, Beerus is extremely powerful to StoryBreaker levels, and should be able to crush just about any threat to the protagonists with ease. It was especially pronounced because, unlike most rivals in the franchise, his whole narrative function is that Goku can never really surpass him, so having the cast and their threats catch up to him couldn't be done. At the same time, he couldn't be written out of the series, because he was a package deal with his attendant Whis, who slotted into the role of being Goku and Vegeta's mentor and MrExposition. Consequently, in the majority of story arcs, Beerus [[AllPowerfulBystander does nothing of importance]]--probably best punctuated by his appearance in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', where his only appearance is a minor subplot about him taking care of baby Pan.

** Slayers Revolution-R dealt with this a little better than the 90s series (where she was easily a B-Cup going towards C), as her character design in the 2000s series is noticeably pretty flat - not a complete UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}}, but definitely an A-Cup.

** Vegito's design in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' is the same as his design in the Buu Saga, which includes the singlet Vegeta was wearing at the time, despite Vegeta not wearing it in ''Super.'' This was due to the fact that redesigning him to include Vegeta's actual ''Super'' outfit would make his design less recognizable (and, it's often theorized, would mean [[MerchandiseDriven already-existing Vegito toys]] [[PaletteSwap couldn't be recolored]]).

** Repeating history, it was blatantly evident that past the Baby arc of ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', the creators had no idea what to do with Pan. Pan's explicit function, according to the writers, was to be TheMillstone and provide an objective for Goku to rescue. Annoying, sure, but not too out of place when Goku was fighting wimps like the Para Para Brothers, and it made sense as a reference to Bulma's role in the original series (which much of early ''GT'' was meant to invoke). She also managed to at least contribute a ''little'' in the battle against Baby. After that point, though, there was essentially no meaningful reason for her to stick around or be Goku's companion: pretty much anyone could have done her job, and she actively hindered Goku multiple times, which was far more egregious against villains that were supposed to be actual threats. It didn't help that the writers seemed to have an allergy to making Pan actually useful, which left her sitting on the sidelines during the show's final battle sequence while Vegeta and the four-star dragon do the actual legwork at Goku's side. Trunks suffered as well, to a lesser degree, but he at least stopped appearing once it was obvious he had no purpose anymore.

*** Minako and Naru wearing ribbons in their hair. When the manga was first published it was fashionable for a schoolgirl to wear a ribbon in the hair (and in fact the manga has Minako started to wear one in an effort to conquer a boy. She continued because it looked good), but nowadays it's not it anymore. Still, it's such a part of their characters' images they still wear it in ''Crystal'', and Minako does it as Sailor V and Sailor Venus in the live action (the live action was able to drop it with Minako's civilian identity and Naru because, for a real-life girl, it would have just been weird).

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'''s Performapal Hip Hippo featured very prominently in early advertising and the opening theme, and when it showed up in the first episode and was used quite a bit, it seemed like a long career would await the distinctive little cutie. One problem: Hippo's effect is one that makes Tribute Summons easier. Main character Yuya, by the third episode, specializes in a mechanic that renders Tribute Summoning completely unnecessary. Consequently, Hippo ends up showing up far less in Duels than outside of them.

** For the first three seasons, the Monsters-of-the-Day actually did something relevant to the {{plot}}, but in the fourth and fifth seasons, their only purpose was to give the girls something to fight before the end of the episode. It became especially bad in the last season; the targets were supposed to be potential Sailor Senshi (hence why they're attacked very early in the original comic) but no attempt is ever made to target those that ''show up to every single fight, in costume''.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'''s Entermate Discover Hippo featured very prominently in early advertising and the opening theme, and when it showed up in the first episode and was used prominently, it seemed like a long career would await the distinctive little cutie. One problem: Discover Hippo's effect is one that makes Tribute Summons easier. Main character Yuya, by the third episode, specializes in a mechanic that renders Tribute Summoning completely unnecessary. Consequently, Discover Hippo ends up only showing up in the very rare situations where Yuya can't Pendulum Summon right away.

** ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' features many characters from the earlier ''Manga/DragonBall'' series (such as {{Talking Animal}}s Puar the cat and Oolong the pig) that do not mesh well with the less cartoony and more science-fiction style of characters in DBZ.
*** Despite the series DoingInTheWizard to a degree, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu remained being called "humans" despite their unusual features (although some sources state Tien as being descended from an ancient three-eyed alien race).

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** [[TheLancer Brock]] became this during "The Johto Journeys" and stayed that way for a ''loooooong'' time. The writers seemed to have forgotten all about his stated goal of breeding Pokémon, and its likely the only reason he wasn't PutOnABus with Misty at the beginning of ''Advanced Generation'' was because of the backlash the writers got when they tried to do that to him during the Orange Islands season. It seems the writers took notice eventually as he finally left the show in ''Best Wishes''/''Black and White''. This is surprisingly {{Lampshaded}} in the last three episodes of "Diamond and Pearl" where Brock realizes that while Ash and Dawn are advancing towards their goals he has made no progress with his. It is also in these episodes that he learns he can put the skills he does have to good use by becoming a Pokémon Doctor, leading to his departure.
** [[TerribleTrio Team Rocket]] have been this for just as long, as the organization they belong to have ceased to be the villains of the main games the anime is promoting after [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Generation II]]. The ''Best Wishes''/''Black and White'' series attempted to rectify this by [[ReimaginingTheArtifact giving them actual purpose in the plot]] and then [[PutOnABus attempting to write them out]], but it didn't stick and they returned to TheArtifact status in the ''Pokemon XY'' series. Their high popularity in Japan contributes to why they're series mainstays. That said, there has been in an increase in episodes where Team Rocket only make brief appearances or don't appear at all, so they aren't quite as bad a case of this as they used to be.