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1%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.
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3[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/SluggyFreelance https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cere_torg_4710.jpg]]]]
4[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/090205 These]] [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/090210 strips]] [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/090217 ran]] [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/090302 within]] a month of each-other.]]
5
6->''"This show literally starts with all of those darker underpinnings right alongside the zany humor, and all that really changes is what is at the forefront shifts."''
7-->-- '''Victor Mayboroda''' regarding ''Manga/ChronoCrusade''
8
9There are many reasons why the tone of a story may change. Sometimes [[CerebusSyndrome a happy, joke-based show goes into a much more serious and darker direction]]. Sometimes [[ReverseCerebusSyndrome a once dark and deadly serious series turns into a comedy]]. Sometimes the work [[GenreShift completely changes its genre]]. Sometimes [[JumpingTheShark writers run out of ideas and just try to put out anything they can]], or [[GrowingTheBeard find what they really want to do]]. Sometimes ExecutiveMeddling, CreatorBreakdown, or CreatorRecovery takes the story in a new direction and turns it into something completely unrecognizable from its source material.
10
11And sometimes all of it happens at the same time.
12
13Cerebus Rollercoaster is what happens when CerebusSyndrome gets [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zagged]] -- the series goes back and forth through different tones, jumps from genre to genre or dances on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism. If this ends well, the series can end up GrowingTheBeard by absorbing the best elements of all the phases it went through. If not, it may end up JumpingTheShark.
14
15This may occur for different reasons. Sometimes creators just plain don't know exactly what tone they want to give their work. Maybe the story went too far into CerebusSyndrome, and the writer is tired and horrified of the CrapsackWorld it has become, but while trying to reverse the process, he finds out that new, DarkerAndEdgier settings have a lot of fans, so he desperately tries to balance drama and comedy to keep both fanbases happy. Sometimes the new writer decides to take the series in a new direction, then into another direction, and so on, until fans who have grown to be writers themselves [[RunningTheAsylum take the series back to its original roots]]. Some people may just FollowTheLeader too much, and when the leader changes, so too does the direction of their story. And sometimes they just don't want to stick to one setting and are forced to discard all story ideas which are too dark or too light for basic settings. Administrivia/TropesAreTools -- when played right, it may give a series a unique, recognizable style and keep it fresh. If done badly, however, this will pretty much turn the story into a train wreck.
16
17Compare MoodWhiplash, which is a smaller version of this taking place within a single story rather than spaced out among multiple installments. DudeNotFunny may occur if one character is lagging between transitions.
18
19----
20!!Examples:
21
22[[foldercontrol]]
23
24[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' Has a tendency to be unable to keep up a serious tone during its darker story arcs, with characters making jokes and exaggerated expressions at each other even at times when things are looking extremely bleak for the heroes. Notably the beginning of the Deicide arc, where [[spoiler:Aizen's cocoon form is revealed]] is peppered with multiple instances of characters goofing around despite the fact that they're supposed to be [[spoiler:facing down the BigBad, multiple characters have died or been maimed, and Aizen is so powerful nobody can figure out how to even ''damage'' him, let alone kill him.]] While the overall storyline remains dark, it does undermine the seriousness of the situation when nobody can decide if they'd rather fight or crack wacky jokes in the face of peril. This is also not the same as making jokes in dire circumstances to improve morale, tending more towards the kind of gags you'd see in omakes right in the middle of tense confrontations.
26* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' uses a lot of BlackComedy to disguise its cynical tone. The series is set in a CrapsackWorld where thousands die each month due to the attacks of powerful devils where most of the important side characters drop like flies. However, the main protagonist usually gets into silly antics saving people from the devils, and usually those side characters are very colorful, so it doesn't get too dark.
27* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' varied wildly in tone, influenced by a lot of ExecutiveMeddling and behind-the-scenes stuff.
28* ''Manga/DontCryMaouChan'' is mostly wacky shenanigans broken up with some occasional drama... that is resolved by wacky shenanigans. Like the time the Western Hero turned out to be the head of a mafia family that kidnapped the title character's best friend and is defeated by criticizing her fashion choices (I swear ItMakesSenseInContext).
29* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
30** ''Manga/DragonBall'' started as a pastiche of ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. Then a few years in Piccolo Daimao became its KnightOfCerebus and comedic elements started to decrease in number. Stronger and crueler villains started to pop out and each next saga through ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' was darker than the previous one. Then the Buu Arc came, bringing back a lot of the off-the-wall humour and combining it with the epic fights and darkness, resulting in situations like Goten's mom getting killed by being turned into an egg and then stepped on. The anime version has also ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', which swapped from a goofy humour-based [[AdventureTowns Adventure Planets]] first half, to dark ultimate evil after ultimate evil second half.
31** The new series ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' also engages in this, thanks to its melding of classic ''DB'' humor with ''DBZ''-style fighting [[SerialEscalation amped-up to the next level]]. One episode had [[ItMakesSenseInContext Vegeta staving off death by sucking on a pacifier]], and then the last five minutes set up the next story arc by showing Future Trunks battling an OmnicidalManiac who just so happens to look like an EvilDoppelganger of Goku.
32* ''VideoGame/GateKeepers'' go up and down with this, in both humorous and dark elements.
33* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' exemplifies this trope, flipping from hilarious to heart-wrenching in moments.
34** Best exemplified by the [[spoiler:Yakuza Arc, which went from a story of trying to get a hikkimori heir to a Yakuza clan out to one of the more DownerEnding for an arc with most of their employers dead and ''nothing meaningful resolved''. And it took one scene to jump from Comedy to OhCrap.]]
35** The point, however, that the series became infamous for this is the [[spoiler:first Yoshiwara arc, which not only had the fewest comedy bits but also advanced the story and lore, especially with Kagura's brother.]]
36* The ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise as a whole goes through this, with series varying from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' to ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]'', to ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]]'' to ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]'', from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' to ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]'' to ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]''.
37** ''Zeta'' to ''ZZ'' is a miniature example in and of itself. Creator/YoshiyukiTomino himself [[WordOfGod said]] that ''Zeta'' was too dark and depressing, and thus made ''ZZ'' light-hearted because he felt that anime should make people happy. However, this seems to have resulted in over-correction, resulting in ''ZZ'' being very silly at the start before evening out later on, which has led some fans to apply FanonDiscontinuity to just the early episodes.
38*** Tomino himself has this as applied to his whole body of work; It's been a common observation of his fans that Tomino tends to alternate between [[LighterAndSofter lighter works]] and [[DarkerAndEdgier depressing character dramas]]. ''[[Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon Be Invoked]],'' for instance, was directly followed by ''Anime/{{Xabungle}},'' which was then followed by ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine.'' The tonal shift between Zeta and ZZ is a continuation of Tomino's established pattern, as ZZ was made directly after Zeta.
39* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', particularly the Anime, has this in spades, though it's all intentional. It starts out as a high-school harem comedy complete with fanservice shots, dips into some sci-fi, goes back to being silly, gets serious when we find out what Haruhi does to the world subconsciously and what it could mean if she ever got too upset... then someone pulls a KNIFE on the main character and comes within an inch of killing him before we're treated to some intense sci-fi fighting. And that's just the first five episodes! The rest of the series takes a light-hearted turn, but gets scary when someone or something stops Haruhi from having a good time or her imagination gets the best of her. We're treated to FridgeHorror with the Endless 8 arc, then the cast makes a funny (and terrible) movie... Then Haruhi Disappears, giving Kyon a mental breakdown, and just when everything looks like it's about to turn out fine... [[spoiler:He gets stabbed TWICE and nearly bleeds to death all over the road.]] This series couldn't be any more bipolar if it were a magnet!
40* ''Animation/TheHauntedHouseTheSecretOfTheGhostBall'' constantly switches between comedy, drama, NightmareFuel, and occasional heartwarming and heartbreaking moments.
41* ''Manga/{{Helck}}'' frequently goes into both ends of SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism and SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness in scenes or discussed topics. Though the overall tone remains optimistically comedic, many chapters can get extremely [[DarkAndTroubledPast depressing]] or [[TransformationHorror horrifying]].
42* ''[[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Higurashi]]'' has this in spades due to [[spoiler:the [[GroundhogDayLoop weird time shenanigans]]. Basically, most arcs start off as SliceOfLife comedy revolving around a handful of schoolchildren living carefree lives, but they reside in a TownWithADarkSecret, and each arc gradually spirals out of control, usually culminating in the death of [[AnyoneCanDie several main characters]], or even ''the entire town''. Then the ResetButton gets pressed by an unknown third party, and it's back to lighthearted comedy, and if any of the main cast are still aware that something's horribly wrong, [[StepfordSmiler they do a great job at hiding it]].]]
43* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' is guilty of this. It starts out with the fairly grim but still lighthearted Hunter Exam arc, which precedes the dramatic (unofficial) Zoldyck Arc. It's followed by the mostly cheery Heaven's Arena arc, only for the Yorknew Arc to show off its considerable amount of death and gore. The Greed Island arc is serious for the most part but still manages to reach a happy ending. Then of course we have [[GenreShift the infamous Chimera Ant Arc]] -- filled to the brim with Tear Jerkers and Nightmare Fuel, to the point that anyone who hasn't watched the show might confuse it as {{seinen}}... and now [[BreatherEpisode the Election Arc!]] which is by no means not dark, but much less miserable than the last arc with a fair amount of comedic and Heartwarming moments. This is followed by the [[spoiler:Dark Continent and Succession War]] arcs that manage to be more horrifying, gorier, and more political than the preceding arcs that the {{Kid Hero}}es have to be PutOnABus.
44* ''Manga/KarakuridoujiUltimo''. Starts off with the 16-year-old protagonist running into a cute little boy robot, who wants him to help save the world. A few chapters later, we found out, that said robot boy is a SociopathicHero at its worst. Then more comedy and action scenes, which lead up to the protagonist's best friend [[HoYay being in love with him]], and also being batshit insane. Then all the good guys are killed, and the world blows up. Which leads us right into part 2, with time restarted and everybody fine. They even threw in some more comedy just to reassure us that everybody is A-OK. [[CerebusSyndrome Until the end of part two]]. [[spoiler:Two of the original Good Doji masters are dead, and the others are out of commission.]] Part 3, managed to do this in single chapters alone. The only thing you can be sure of with the tone of this series is that by the end of each part, something bad is going to happen to somebody, if not everybody.
45* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' sometimes varies in tone quite noticeably from episode to episode. For instance, it's been known to jump from [[PieInTheFace an escalating pie fight]], to children being brainwashed by [[DemonicPossession possessed]] teachers, to King Dedede formulating a plan to eat the villager's food because he doesn't like the food his servants cook, and from there to a girl with a SwissArmyWeapon going after Meta Knight because he [[spoiler:([[PoorCommunicationKills supposedly]]) [[YouKilledMyFather left her mother to die]] fighting a horrible demon while he ran off with [[EmpathicWeapon the sword]] it had been guarding]]... over the course of four episodes.
46* This trope is one built-in feature of ''Manga/KotouraSan'' and can be said as omnipresent. The number of comedy/drama flip-flops can be numerous ''within a single episode''--and if it's not the case, the {{Stinger}} would be enough.
47* ''Manga/TheLegendaryHeroIsDead'' starts off being a light series where the protagonist has a fetish for knee socks, the legendary hero dies to the most unimaginative trap ever from the protagonist, and loads of hilarious hijinks ensue. However, the longer the series goes, the darker the series gets to where the trap that the legendary hero fell to [[spoiler:was him actually being DrivenToSuicide.]]
48* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' may be the ultimate example of this, even by LongRunner standards. It's a franchise that can shift from being a wacky family-friendly GagSeries to a dark, gritty {{Seinen}} drama with little to no humor. For instance, ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'', an extremely dark, violent, NightmareFuel-filled series, got followed up by ''Anime/LupinIIITheItalianAdventure'', a {{Shonen}} series with plenty of humor and a relatively light-hearted, adventurous plot. Then ''that'' got followed up with ''Anime/LupinIIIPart5'', which, while not to the same extent as ''Fujiko Mine'', had a much darker, grounded, and more ominous plot, and a lot more violence.
49* ''Anime/MagicalProjectS'' starts off as an over-the-top parody of {{Magical Girl}}s and stays that way for more than half the series. Then for about three episodes the plot suddenly abandons its silly and goofy elements in favor of a heart-wrenching story involving the DarkMagicalGirl. Then the comedy comes back in for the remainder of the series, but now it is [[IndecisiveParody the very genre that it was parodying]].
50* ''Manga/MusukoGaKawaikuteShikataganaiMazokuNoHahaoya'': The story repeatedly shifts between light-hearted comedy and serious drama, with when the shift will happen not always being obvious. The main system for it is having several light-hearted slice-of-life chapters, followed by a serious arc, followed by more slice-of-life chapters, so on and so forth. However, sometimes the seriousness will be intermingled with the comedy, such as the introduction and aftermath of the anti-demon mine in chapter 12. The chapters featured main character Lorem being seriously hurt after covering her baby son Gospel from the detonation of an anti-demon weapon she had hung on to for reasons even she can't explain. The following chapters are mostly comedic while interjecting scenes of Lorem being worried about her parenting abilities after the incident, with it only returning to full comedy after Chiharu and Merii help her work through her worries.
51* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' tends to zigzag tonally -- the initially lighthearted School Trip arc ends with a kidnapping and the dark Hideout Raid arc, which is followed by the lighthearted License Exam arc. This is then followed by the much darker Internship Arc, but that's eased off by the much lighter Culture Festival arc.
52* ''Manga/OnePiece'' should be called ''Cerebus Rollercoaster: The Series''. To put it simply, a given arc will typically start with lighthearted moments between the Straw Hats on the ship, which continues once they get on their current island, although there will be hints of darker action. Then trouble starts, and the Straw Hats are once again fighting for their lives against a gang of villains, who will typically be led by a JerkAss at best. Subjects such as [[WarIsHell war]], [[FantasticRacism racism]], [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slavery]] or the death of one's loved ones may become prominent. After the end of the struggle, things go back to being lighthearted, even with occasional jokes about the life-or-death experiences. Even fights can rapidly switch from serious to silly, such as when Zoro accidentally ends up handcuffed to Usopp, and the two of them and their opponents (who refuse to work together) argue over how to resolve the situation.
53* ''Anime/PlasticMemories'' seems to follow a trend where each episode consists of eighteen minutes of comedy followed by a massive tearjerker moment, sometimes bordering on SuddenDownerEnding. For example, Episode 2 mostly revolves around Tsukasa getting to know his zany co-workers and getting used to [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Isla]]'s [[BunnyEarsLawyer quirks]]; TheStinger then drops the massive revelation that [[spoiler:Isla has less than three months to live]].
54* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
55** ''Manga/PokemonAdventures''. The series' many arcs vary in intensity. The arcs of the first two generations are known to be pretty violent for kids' standards but future arcs tended to tone it down...but then [[spoiler:the BW arc ends with arguably the biggest, most painful tearjerker in the entire series and the XY arc ''starts'' with the protagonist ''already'' [[BreakTheCutie broken]] ''and'' his [[DoomedHometown hometown razed to the ground.]] Not to mention the bad guys are actively chasing and trying to kill him and his friends, further feeding into his massive trust and guilt issues.]]
56** To a lesser extent, this occurs in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' as well. Overall, it's more lighthearted and less serious than the games, never really going into the deeper themes and focusing on the innocent adventures of Ash and co.; however, the show frequently has some darker episodes, especially if a villain other than [[GoldfishPoopGang the Rocket trio]] is involved. While every sub-series undergoes this to an extent, most notably the ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'' tended to shift in tone dramatically on an episode-by-episode basis depending on who was on writing duty (mainly, anything Takeshi Shudo wrote had a good chance of being dramatic), so there are episodes where a Pokémon almost dies airing alongside ones filled to the brim with [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness the early anime's rather wacky, bizarre brand of comedy]], and ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite'' (aka ''Best Wishes'') had characters with rather exaggerated personality traits, and an Ash who had TookALevelInDumbass, but at the same time made the Team Rocket trio way more competent, made Team Rocket in general a looming ArcVillain, and later introduced Team Plasma and included N's tragic backstory. This also happened with entire generations of the show, with ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesXY'' and ''XYZ'' coming right off the heels of [[FillerArc the Decolora Islands arc]], and being noticeably more dramatic than previous series, especially a four-part series starring a teenage protagonist who [[spoiler:becomes an UnwittingPawn of the BigBad]], peaking towards the end of ''XYZ'' only to follow it up with the SliceOfLife format, DenserAndWackier ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon'', which also takes a turn for the dramatic when the mascot legendaries and Aether Foundation enters the picture. Another seasonal example can be seen within Generation 5 (Unova), with the aforementioned Decolora Islands season coming right after ''Best Wishes'', even returning Jessie, James, and Meowth to their old incompetent selves and reducing the competence of their Pokémon by several levels with no explanation. ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'' falls more in line with the original series, while far more lighthearted than every series prior? Still managed to those a few dramatic curveball episodes here and there.
57* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has the infamous case of [[SliceOfLife happy beginning]], [[DarkestHour heart-wrenching middle]] and a controversial BittersweetEnding. ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' manages to restore things to apparent SugarBowl again, only to deconstruct and partially reconstruct it again over the course of a single movie.
58* ''Manga/Reborn2004'' started as a comedy manga, but from the Kokuyo Arc onwards it turns into a battle manga, with quite some violent and bloody stuff while dipping right back into comedy for filler.
59* Compared to the consistently more dramatic manga, the ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime always keeps a good balance between comedy and drama (until things get serious for the finale of each arc, that is). Yet, the show becomes much DarkerAndEdgier in the S season, then dives into [[LighterAndSofter more whimsical, childish, fairytale-like]] territory in Super S before getting darker yet in Stars.
60* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'' switches from goofball comedy to world-threatening danger at the drop of a hat. A typical season of Slayers generally follows a formula of lighthearted adventures to introduce the characters, followed by a few more serious episodes to provide exposition for the plot, some silly filler episodes to lighten the mood, and an epic climax. Of course, even the more plot-oriented episodes still have plenty of comic relief.
61* ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie'' was an action-comedy for most of the movie. Just near the end, it gets a SuddenDownerEnding, with Metal Sonic sacrificing himself and Sonic being shaken up... only to return to wacky comedy within the last 4 minutes.
62* ''Manga/SunKenRock'', all over the place, there's so much comedy, but so it's a LOT of serious yakuza-styled drama.
63* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' in a way mirrors the rollercoaster ride taken by the entire mecha anime genre through its history. Episodes one to eight are very optimistic and often outright comedic, taking a lot from classic 70's SuperRobot anime like ''Anime/MazingerZ'' or ''Manga/GetterRobo''. The next episodes contain their share of angst and dark themes, and villains, while still evil, gain some depth. It mirrors the effect ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' had on the genre. Later episodes are post-''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' era, being much darker than before, with varying moral values. Yet in both parts, the anime remains pretty captivating and the last part is especially awesome and HotBlooded, mirroring the effects ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' and other {{reconstruction}}s had on the mecha genre. It seems that what ''Gurren Lagann'' is trying to say is that it doesn't matter what tone or message your mecha show has - if it doesn't have its share of [[RuleOfCool epicness]], you're doing it wrong.
64* ''Manga/UQHolder'' The series can go from murder attempts, to high-school hi-jinks, to a zombie apocalypse, to fanservice-heavy bathhouse antics in a single arc.
65* ''Literature/WanderingWitchTheJourneyOfElaina'' is primarily an episodic series consisting of standalone stories, and the tone of said stories varies between wholesome, disturbing, comedic, and depressing.
66* The fourth season of ''Anime/YuGiOh''. There are some funny moments in between, even after [[spoiler:Yugi sacrifices himself in the Pharaoh's place]]. But the humor dramatically lessens when [[spoiler:Jonouchi, the series' PluckyComicRelief, dies.]]
67* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' plays this trope to the hilt. It begins at first as a bit of a BlackComedy about a dead teenager hilariously doing anything to come back to life, ''anything''. Then he gets resurrected and has to hunt down criminals like a detective and the whole thing escalates with the Toguro Brothers and Yukina. Then comes the second season which although does have development, mostly is just shonen-style fighting,...then Genkai dies and it just keeps getting darker. That doesn't stop again until Yusuke proposes a tournament for the Three Kings.
68[[/folder]]
69
70[[folder:Comic Books]]
71* ''ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark'' is TropeNamer for both this and CerebusSyndrome; overall, the story fits the latter trope, but on a story arc by story arc basis, and many times on an issue by issue (or even page by page) basis, it fits this trope.
72* The {{superhero}} genre went through this. MediaNotes/{{The Golden Age|of Comic Books}} was pretty dark - Franchise/{{Batman}} was a gun-wielding VigilanteMan, Franchise/WonderWoman liked to have her enemies BoundAndGagged and a lot of heroes had no problem with killing criminals, especially ThoseWackyNazis. MediaNotes/{{The Silver Age|of Comic Books}} was a result of ReverseCerebusSyndrome when everything became LighterAndSofter, sometimes to ridiculous levels. MediaNotes/{{The Bronze Age|of Comic Books}} moved towards a more serious direction, which was taken way too far in MediaNotes/{{the Dark Age|of Comic Books}}. As a result, in MediaNotes/{{the Modern Age|of Comic Books}}, everybody said "screw it" and does whatever they want, so the same company can now publish the adventures of ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules and ComicBook/ThePunisher, or ComicBook/PowerGirl and ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice.
73** Since the late 2000s, DC and Marvel have fallen into a recognisable pattern. Since they believe that TrueArtIsAngsty, every few years their entire universe starts to become [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]], introducing more mature themes, increasingly flawed characters, and contrived conflict. This is divisive among fans but generally commercially successful and draws a lot of publicity and critical praise for the new, interesting direction. Inevitably they take it too far and the majority of fans turn on them or just [[TooBleakStoppedCaring stop caring]], usually following a particularly bleak CrisisCrossover or string of unpopular creative decisions. The publisher stubbornly digs their heels in for a little while as fan backlash becomes more vocal, meanwhile the LighterAndSofter spin-off media and adaptations gain dedicated fanbases and are hailed as a refreshing respite from the oppressively grim source material. Eventually the publisher relents and launches a whole load of new comics boasting a return to lighthearted adventure. This is divisive among fans but generally commercially successful and draws a lot of publicity and critical praise for the new, interesting direction. After a couple of years, writers feel like the heat is off and are comfortable enough to start writing “serious” stories again and the cycle begins anew. Since 2011 Marvel has had three company-wide relaunches following controversial storylines, while DC has rebooted their entire multiverse three times in the space of ten years.
74* ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' started as a black comedy, went serious in its fourth and fifth issue, and then jumped back to black comedy.
75* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The series became very dark during the ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' and ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' storylines, becoming ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]], but the following Creator/JephLoeb run was much LighterAndSofter. When ''Planet Hulk'''s writer Greg Pak returned, he tried to restore the previous tone. The result was the ''ComicBook/FallOfTheHulks'' storyline, where Pak and Loeb tried to combine their styles, which didn't end well. Following that we had an increased number of more optimistic stories by Pak and then Mark Waid (and Jason Aaron's run in-between leaning into pulp action as Hulk clashed with an antagonistic Banner), only for it to end on Gerry Duggan's run, where Hulk's new personality, Doc Green, was a clear VillainProtagonist.
76** And what followed that? Pak's ''ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'', where Amadeus Cho took the Hulk curse from Banner and tried to show the world a more optimistic, heroic Hulk in fun-loving stories...only for it to get dark when Banner was killed in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII''. The tone then went up for a few stories only to get progressively darker, until a BittersweetEnding. And then Banner returned in Al Ewing's ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', which is straight out a horror story.
77* ''ComicBook/LesLegendaires'' is a king in this art; take any album, you will most likely find both terrifying stuff and funny moments, sometimes right one after the other.
78* ''ComicBook/TransformersWingsOfHonor'': Goes back and forth between the text stories and comics:
79** The original comic was light-hearted and made fun of the UnreliableNarrator.
80** The Coming Storm was more action-packed, but more violent, and funny up until the SuddenDownerEnding which kills most of the cast.
81** The Flames of Yesterday takes place in the middle of The Coming Storm and, bar a few moments, is a lot funnier and ends for the best.
82** A Team Effort focuses on another team and contains no character death, it's a space-adventure turned mystery.
83** Battle Lines had a more dark tone, with the survivors going to fight the Decepticons, and losing several of their members. TheHeroDies and it shows that the story [[ShootTheShaggyDog did not really matter in the long run as the war sets in]].
84** Generation 2 Redux: had the series go back into more light-hearted territory, with the cast considerably younger and more optimistic, the villains are either funny or naive and it ends with most people on the good guy's side.
85** The Machine Wars continuation is foreshadowed as darker, but the comic itself could be anywhere on the rollercoaster when it comes out.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
89''Animation/ScissorSeven'' somehow manages to balance its comedy between serious moments of drama and development, within an [[WorldOfBadass insane world.]] An episode can be about a touching love story, another about a QuirkyMinibossSquad causing trouble, or getting into a character's DarkAndTroubledPast. For example: One episode goes from a series of stupid challenges that the [[IronButtMonkey hero]] [[HilarityEnsues gets destroyed at,]] to a TroubledBackstoryFlashback about a side character, the hero [[LetsGetDangerous getting serious]] and taking down the enemy in an epic action scene, ending with a SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments of the hero defending his [[FireForgedFriends friend's]] honor. And all of that in less than 12 minutes. And it's not even getting close to just how dark, or wacky the show is willing to get.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Fan Works]]
93* ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'': This story's mood and tone shift constantly due to the length of the chapters and the author's desire to blend waff and comedy with the darkness of canon. In a single episode, you can go from wacky teenager antics to mecha action to a character considering committing suicide to two children in love snuggling up on their bed.
94* ''Blog/AskKingSombra'' rapidly fluctuates between being comical and funny and serious and frightening. Sometimes within scenes of each other.
95* ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' downplays this quite a bit, though it's still kinda jarring.
96** Season 1 is quite peppy in tone, and the SeasonFinale isn't too bad.
97** Season 2 is a bit more adventure-focused but still ideal. The SeasonFinale, has a woman attempting to ''[[OffWithHisHead behead]]'' Calvin (though said woman is StupidEvil, so it's all good).
98** Season 3 is the same as the second (aside from "The Five Calvins", which [[BizarroEpisode came out of nowhere in the middle of the season and was rarely mentioned afterwards]]). Then [[WhamEpisode "Thunderstorm"]] comes, introducing two ''serious'' villains who actually manage to TakeOverTheWorld, [[spoiler:along with Hobbes finally getting over his CowardlyLion nature]]. Not even Calvin's [[spoiler:clever MindScrew BatmanGambit]] helps!
99** Season 4 mostly reverts back to comedy, albeit even more adventurous in tone, gets another [[WhamEpisode whopper]] with "Our Solemn Hour", [[spoiler:which cements Holographic Retro's status as a true villain and getting even ''more'' somber, ending on a fatal {{cliffhanger}}.]] Dang.
100** Aside from revealing [[spoiler:[[KilledOffForReal Retro didn't make it]]]], Season 5 is still comedic in tone.
101** In short: Most of the series is comedic, but the later {{Season Finale}}s are insane, and the series itself gets a little darker in tone over time.
102* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' starts off LighterAndSofter, then gets darker and much more serious with chapter 11. Then there are a few lighter chapters, interspersed with a lingering threat, until chapter 21, which is pure unbridled NightmareFuel.
103** After that, the horror takes a step back, and it gets lighter again... then there are several chapters in which it becomes very apparent that Harry's something of a StepfordSmiler, then he deals with his issues. Then he and some new friends get kidnapped by some utterly horrific creatures. Then Harry manages to IndyPloy his way out of trouble. Then it quietens down, with a little revelation or two about Harry's godmother of the ParentsAsPeople variety, looming threat mingled with Fudge having rings run around him and followed by the bad guys facing their first significant setback. Then we see London nearly overrun by an army of the undead, one of the secondary protagonists nearly eaten alive on screen, and [[spoiler: Sif]] has her heart ripped out and [[spoiler: Harry Dresden]] uses his Death Curse. Both get better courtesy of Doctor Strange.
104** Things calm down, we get to meet a couple of new characters and it's all a bit lighter... then we find out in Chapter 50 that Lucius Malfoy has executed a coup d'etat and gained control of the Winter Soldier, making HYDRA more dangerous than ever, before chapters 53-58 deal with milder Harry related sub-plots, then chapters 59 and 60 have the kids fighting for their lives and the Winter Soldier struggling for his soul.
105** Chapters 61 to 68 have some pretty heavy fallout, before chapter 69, a quite literal HopeSpot, before delving into the three darkest chapters in the story, then a light Christmas special, then a chapter quite literally entitled 'The DarkestHour', before a HopeSpot in chapters 75 and 76, things getting darker in chapter 77, then darkness is finally banished at the end of chapter 78, and the good guys all have a massive party and a fairly relaxed epilogue.
106** And then, in chapter 2 of the sequel, ''Ghosts of the Past'', [[spoiler:Voldemort]] turns up again and starts wreaking havoc. Then things quiet down as the fall-out is managed, until the end of chapter 7, when the long-anticipated [[spoiler: Sinister]]/Red Room arc, ''Forever Red'' kicks off, which promptly turns out to be ''the'' darkest in the series so far, being largely composed of an absolutely brutal 8 chapter TraumaCongaLine. The details are too long to get into, but Harry is left with a ''monumental'' case of [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]], leaving him - at the age of ''14'' - a semi-functional emotional wreck with a HairTriggerTemper. And that's not even starting on [[spoiler: the Dark Phoenix]], or [[spoiler: Maddie's]] story, which is arguably even worse (short version: [[spoiler: Jean's twin sister, stolen at birth,]] raised to believe she was artificial, never shown real kindness 'til she met [[spoiler: Gambit]], and believed she existed to be [[spoiler: Sinister's]] LivingWeapon.). However, interspersed with all the horror is [[spoiler: Maddie]] steadily shaking off the conditioning of a lifetime and pulling a HeelFaceTurn - underlining it by [[spoiler: briefly wielding Mjolnir]] - and meeting her family, as well as learning how to make a life of her own, while Lorna (another Red Room prisoner) gets to know her [[{{ComicBook/Magneto}} father]] and has her mother's memories of her restored, Harry coming out of his dark funk and dealing with his issues, and other such heartwarming things, and as of chapter 22, the roller coaster seems to be on an upward swing... but with ominous hints of further darkness to come.
107** In short, while it's rarely sudden, this is a series that ''specialises'' in MoodWhiplash.
108* ''Fanfic/ADifferentMedius'':
109** The first chapter's fairly lighthearted... Then Chapter 2 has [[spoiler:the revelation that Azurai murdered Buwaro's birth parents]], and [[DoomedHometown Thornwood's destruction]]. Then they visit Barracalo and have a great time... Until [[spoiler:Buwaro finds Azurai]]
110** A particularly harsh example is when Sam gets transported to canon!Medius, prevents loads of angst, and even convinces canon!Iratu to join canon!Rhea's party. [[spoiler:canon!Iratu's head is bitten off right in front of Sam, which she knows wouldn't have happened ''had she not been there'', and goes on to blame herself.]]
111* ''Fanfic/FireEmblemThreeHousesFifthPath'' will swing back and forth between comedy and somberness, sometimes within scenes of each other. Possibly the best examples are Chapters 18 and 19 which switch between sadness and humor often within the same scene.
112* In ''Fanfic/GenderConfusion'', the author outright states her intention to do this to the series, even [[InvokedTrope referencing the trope]], after the main couple finally gets together in Chapter 13:
113-->THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! But of course, the story isn't quite over yet. No, the romance was not the main point of the story. It was minor, a mere half-dozen chapters to whet your appetite for the true narrative. The humor is coming, and after that, the power, the pain, the sheer insanity that results from a grave loss, and the humor shall never leave even when the world seems ready to collapse. I'm taking you on a [[InvokedTrope rollercoaster]] called [[LampshadeHanging Cerebus]], and I'm not letting you get off.
114* ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'' has this in spades. Book one starts off with Naruto and Hinata getting to know each other better, with a few darker hints. Then it ends with a major, if short war, and some life-changing events therein. Book two returns to the light and fluffy, focusing at first on Naruto and Hinata's relationship now that they are officially a couple, and their growth as ninjas. Then in the second half [[spoiler:Naruto gets kidnapped, and his friends go AWOL to rescue him]]. Several major characters die, and other are irrevocably changed. Then the first novella of book three goes back to Naruto and Hinata's relationship, having them deal with some interference from her grandfather. The rest of the novellas in book three are much darker, killing more major characters and pushing others to their breaking point. Then book four is about [[spoiler:the Fourth Ninja War]]. Again there are a few lighter moments early on, but in general, the tone is the most serious, even if it is not quite as dark as the last two parts of book three. And then it has a happy, fluffy ending.
115* ''Fanfic/HalloweenUnspectacular'' is an anthology series that alternates between comedic stories (on even-numbered days) and darker action/drama/horror entries (on odd-numbered days). This pattern was apparently unintentional early on in the first HU collection, but once it was pointed out to the author E350, he decided to codify it.
116* ''Fanfic/ItsJustALightRainButTheStormsStillComin'', a ''VideoGame/Persona5'' fanfiction centering on the ButterflyOfDoom of Joker not entering the Metaverse with Ryuji on April 11, leans heavily on the CerebusSyndrome side of the roller coaster. The story starts with a DownerBeginning and time skips to when Kurusu Akira is discovered to develop a Palace where things are also taking a turn for worse with how tough the Phantom Thieves handle their heist without Joker in the helm and their attempt to solve Akira's palace only made things worse due to their mistaken first impression that Akira is just as evil as his fake criminal record makes him out to be due to being last seen speaking to Shiho, causing the group to assume the worst that Akira is somehow responsible for Shiho's suicide. While the story establishes a few hopeful moments to show that the situation might be looking up for Akira and the thieves, the story just as quickly takes that hope away in the following scenes. Though the story does away the light-hearted and comedic moments of ''VideoGame/Persona5'' in favor of focusing on the ButterflyOfDoom in effect, it still had its own hopeful and heartwarming moments that prevent the story from being considered a DarkFic.
117* ''Fanfic/MikesNewGhostlyFamily'' loops back-and-forth between being a lighthearted fluff story about the ghosts of Fazbear's tragedy victims finally being able to relive their lost childhoods thanks to the efforts of their new adoptive father Mike Schmidt, and, given that it's a ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' fanfic, being dark, dramatic, and even scary story, especially involving the ghost kids' personal tragedies and anything regarding [[SerialKiller William Afton]].
118* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'': {{Downplayed}}. The [[Recap/ParadoxusPrologo prologue]] has Altalune waking from a FlashbackNightmare from when she found her mother and Stella's corpses and her sister's unconscious body at the brink of death. She then promises herself she shall ScrewDestiny and save them and is comforted by a friend in a heart-warming moment. The next three chapters are more light-hearted and have their fair share of comedy -- Sylvanas is saved from the Jailer by Galadwen and later we follow Bloom's antics when she is forcefully teleported to Azeroth and befriends Sylvanas and Galadwen. Some chapters later, the narration jumps back to Altalune and the present and the signs of Magix not being a SugarBowl world get more nuanced. However, the reader is still sheltered from the worst of it because the characters travel to a time when there was still peace. The ugly truth is only thrown in the reader's face in all of its CrapsackWorld glory when [[spoiler: Altalune gets trapped into the past (she will eventually fade out) and]] the characters return to the present to fight a HopelessWar against the Burning Legion. From there onwards, the mood doesn't recover. The story hits its darkest point when [[spoiler: after being tortured by the Trix, Trisha gets an overdose of angst, [[TheDogBitesBack bites back]], and starts her RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].
119* ''Fanfic/ParenthesesAntiFluffDrabble'' is pretty inconsistent in tone. Although given its format, it's to be expected.
120* ''Fanfic/PokemonNovaAndAntica'': The fic generally maintains the lighthearted nature of its source material, which makes the deviations all the more evident. Generally speaking, you'll have all sorts of friendly battles and warm moments in one instance, and in another, allusions to death as well as personal drama and strife.
121* The ''Blog/ReadingRainbowverse'' has lots of relationship drama... interspersed with lots of ridiculous questions from the anons and Fluttershy getting drunk. Just as an example, After Lyra broke up with Bonbon, Bonbon proceeded to host a ludicrously {{Animesque}} food fight with Pinkie Pie in order to get her to teach her how to travel through the multiverse. And meet other Lyras.
122* ''Fanfic/RealityChecksNyxverse'' has done this consistently with each story so far in the series -- a few chapters of light and fluffy stuff, the development of a more serious plot (still intermixed with light stuff) that comes to dominate the story, and after the climax, a few more chapters of lighter material to tie everything off.
123* For the first half of ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverHell'' the tune of the chapter varies from chapter to chapter. You could get either a very sweet and fun outing of Loona & Octavia with some angst and the brief bits of horror, or it could be a Lovecraftian Horror chapter, filled with actions, scares, and nightmarish imagery, that will chill you to the bone. [[spoiler: This last until Chapter 25, when the Uproar happens, throwing all of Hell into chaos and causes the rest of the story to have much more of an Eldritch Apocalypse Horror with political drama and devastating angst, with a few moments of levity on occasion.]]
124* ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos'' starts out lighthearted like the original series. Starting with Episode 55, it slowly gets darker and darker until the lighthearted Episode 65. Then the gloves come off and it gets [[CrapsackWorld really]], ''[[CosmicHorrorStory REALLY]]'' dark. Although the tone is rather consistent from that point, Episodes 67 and 73 are easily the most violent and horrific chapters in the saga.
125* ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'' is this at least during the Part I timeframe. The story begins in a rather lighthearted tone, focusing on Jiraiya and Tsunade's relationship as they raise Naruto together. Then, the story dives into [[spoiler: the Uchiha's Coup d'etat]], shifting into a darker tone and with consequences that are still felt afterwards. The following arc follows Naruto and his peers at the Ninja Academy, culminating in their graduation. After this, Naruto and his team venture into the Land of Rice Fields, discovering that Orochimaru has taken it over and turned it into the Land of Sound. Next, the Chunin Exams, focused mostly on friendly competitions and romance. Part I then ends with the Konoha Invasion arc, spearheaded by Orochimaru.
126* ''Fanfic/TotalDramaDoOver'' started as an AlternateUniverseFic of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', with a few serious character moments, but generally very lighthearted like its source material. The fourth installment, ''All Stars Do Over,'' takes a shift for the dramatic about halfway through, largely due to the presence of Mal, who brutalizes and harasses contestants in a manner that is purely PlayedForDrama, capping off with a FreudianExcuse about his history of abuse and Dissociative Identity Disorder. ''Revenge Do Over'' swings back around to a wackier tone, introducing cartoonish characters from both canon (Max, Sugar, etc.) and fanon (Krystal, Adam, etc.). However, the end of that season becomes a high-stakes drama with more tragic backstories and explorations of morality. ''Pahkitew Do Over'' starts off a bit more seriously than its predecessors, with an early arc tackling emotional abuse and slut-shaming, but gets quite heavy near the final five, introducing both another high-stakes premise and a storyline themed around family drama, grief, and sexual assault -- though even these episodes are not without humor. Finally, ''Ridonculous Do Over'' returns to a tone closer to that of the canon series, with some slightly more serious arcs (such as [[spoiler:Alejandro and Heather's breakup]] near the finale), but nothing as heavy as ''All-Stars Do Over'' or ''Pahkitew Do Over''.
127* ''Webcomic/TotalTrauma'' alternates between comics that deconstruct the serious impact of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' on the characters' mental health, and comics where the characters just hang out and quote memes. While it shifts more towards the former around Volume 2, the author still frequently slips in comedic moments.
128* ''Fanfic/WeissReacts'' has entered this lately with the third volume. One can go from romantic drama to off-the-wall hijinks and pranks and back again within the space of a chapter, as one example.
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131[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
132* Due to ExecutiveMeddling, the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' films became this way. Creator/TimBurton's take on the franchise was dark and gothic. There was a bit of cheese in [[Film/Batman1989 the 1989 film,]] but his follow-up, ''Film/BatmanReturns,'' was almost depressing. Later, Creator/WarnerBros had replaced Burton with Creator/JoelSchumacher to make the franchise more marketable. ''Film/BatmanForever'' and ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' each had greater camp value than the one before it, but ''Batman and Robin'' brought the franchise to a halt for the rest of TheNineties. Creator/ChristopherNolan restored the franchise with his consistently dark and realistic ContinuityReboot, ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy''.
133* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'', being [[LongRunners the longest-running film series in history]], is well acquainted with this trope. The darkest and most horrific film of the series was the original, a somber and intelligent allegorical parable about nuclear warfare. Over the next two decades, the series gradually shifted to more and more {{camp}}y, child-friendly fare, then took a sudden serious turn just in time for the series to take a ten-year hiatus. 1984's ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla'' set up a new continuity that, while not dealing with the previous themes of nuclear war nearly as extensively or didactically, still maintained a consistently serious tone. The third sub-series, in which every movie (save ''Film/GodzillaTokyoSOS'', a direct sequel to the movie preceding it) established its own continuity, ranged everywhere from outrageously campy and over-the-top to the most serious and frightening film since the original. More recent reboots have returned to a more serious tone [[RevisitingTheRoots similar to the original]].
134* The ''Film/JamesBond'' films have done this. Creator/SeanConnery and Creator/GeorgeLazenby's Bonds were quite serious, whereas Creator/RogerMoore's Bond was more lighthearted. Then, Creator/TimothyDalton's Bond took an even DarkerAndEdgier turn, more akin to Creator/IanFleming's original novels. Then, Creator/PierceBrosnan's Bond was lighter, taking a middle ground between Connery and Moore, before Creator/DanielCraig's Bond took a darker tone again ([[RevisitingTheRoots with his later 2 films emulating his predecessors a little more]]).
135* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse went through this in Phase 3.
136** The first two films, ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' and ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', were rather serious movies with the former having the Avengers being torn up and the latter dealing with existentialism. In contrast, the next three movies ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', ''Film/SpidermanHomecoming'' and ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' were lighthearted comedies with ''Ragnarok'' being a deliberate antithesis to ''Civil War'' (though the scenes with [[KnightOfCerebus Hela]] were definite cases of MoodWhiplash). ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' was a more mature fare than its predecessors yet still had a rather optimistic outlook. The following film, ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', is the darkest and most cynical MCU movie [[spoiler:that ended with the heroes failing and many comic relief characters dying horribly]]. Talk about MoodWhiplash.
137** ''Infinity War'' was of course followed by lighter affairs, the downright comedic ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' and the snarky ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019''. Then the seriousness picked up again ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', which managed to be a single installment case of this trope: the first act, following up on the DownerEnding, was gloomy, but then the second act revolving around reversing things back to normal has much more humor (aside from [[spoiler:Black Widow having to sacrifice herself]]), until a third act consisting of a huge battle for the fate of the universe.
138* The ''Franchise/StarTrek'' film series has varied quite a bit in tone over the years, ranging from a fairly serious drama in which one of the main characters died (''Film/{{Star Trek II|The Wrath of Khan}}'') to a lighthearted comedy set on Earth with a SpaceWhaleAesop (''Film/{{Star Trek IV|The Voyage Home}}''). The [[Film/StarTrek2009 2009 film]] was more of a comedy-drama but ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' turned the darkness back up with a truly dangerous villain and a [[spoiler:temporary]] major character death.
139* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogies do this. The first trilogy starts off as lighthearted in ''Film/ANewHope'', turns dark in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', and mingles light and dark in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' (just compare the scenes with TheEmperor to the scenes with the Ewoks). In the prequels, [[Film/ThePhantomMenace the first film]] was very light-hearted, then the ''[[Film/AttackOfTheClones latter]]'' ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith two]]'' takes a nosedive into dark and serious territory. For the sequel trilogy, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' has dark moments but it's otherwise upbeat, while ''Film/TheLastJedi'' and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' are much darker.
140* Creator/MartinMcDonagh's ''Film/ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri'' is an example done quite successfully, where the sharp-witted barbs, one-liners, and pitch-BlackComedy never get in the way of how tragic, sad and disturbing the characters and their lives really are.
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143[[folder:Literature]]
144* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' as a result of being both very long, and highly episodic. Besides a serious run between books 15 and 23, and the increasingly bleak last arc, the series would have an over-the-top LiteralSplitPersonality plot followed by "book-length torture scene", and plot-heavy or dark books alongside ones where the climax involves morphing an annoying poodle, a FantasticVoyagePlot, or those [[{{Filler}} infuriating]] [[LilliputianWarriors Helmacrons]].
145* The ''Literature/AuntDimity'' series as a whole can be characterized this way. The novels have many elements of comedy and {{Farce}}, and some of the solutions to the mysteries are simple and largely non-threatening. In other portions, tragic and horrific elements appear, and the answers (e.g. terrorism, suicide, survivor's guilt, murder) are far more grim. Interestingly, the opposites tend to reinforce one another: Characters can take things so seriously that they jump to dire conclusions that are dispelled by relatively innocuous explanations, and everyone has a good laugh afterwards. Alternatively, they can go blithely forward in a misplaced confidence that nothing bad will happen until something does. There are additional benefits in avoiding saccharine extremes and keeping the audience guessing.
146* ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'' can veer into this; ''Elven Star'', the second volume, has a particular tendency to veer sharply between downright farce (any of [[CloudCuckooLander Zifnab's]] interactions with [[BigScrewedUpFamily the Quindiniars]]) and a bleak HopelessWar against the [[OurTitansAreDifferent tytans]], though the two plotlines end up converging together. Zifnab's presence still keeps much of the book relatively lighthearted - but the next volume is ''Fire Sea'', which is utterly and relentlessly bleak, culminating in a ZombieApocalypse.
147* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has been going through this in later books, starting with the book-long tearjerker ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'' and cynical ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', but the next book, ''Literature/GoingPostal'', introduces us to a LovableRogue and a lighter tone. Next is the Nightmarish ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', followed by ''Literature/MakingMoney'' and ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', both of which are a ''lot'' more fun. This is then followed by the pitch-black ''Literature/IShallWearMidnight''. ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' is somewhere in the middle being darkish but basically optimistic and heartwarming, and ''Literature/RaisingSteam'' is another Lipwig romp. Note that all the "dark" books are still comedies, and all the "light" books have moments of darkness and serious villains.
148* ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror.'' The book has a ton of light-hearted humor and all of the main characters can be distinctly juvenile at times, as Daylen himself admits. It's also an unrelentingly dark WorldOfHam that addresses topics like [[FinalSolution genocide]], [[RapeAsDrama rape]], [[TraumaButton trauma]], [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regret]], and self-hatred.
149* The ''Literature/ATwistedTale'' series is often inconsistent with the violence levels among its installments. In general, most of the books are varying degrees of DarkerAndEdgier compared to the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon movies they are based on. The violence reaches its peak in the books ''A Whole New World'' and ''Once Upon a Dream'', featuring gruesome deaths, blood, and ruthless villains. ''Part of Your World'' is near the middle, with a more serious tone and darker themes than its [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 base movie]], but not outright gruesome. At the opposite end of the scale, ''Conceal, Don't Feel'' is LighterAndSofter, a stark outlier from the other dark Twisted Tales. It is the only Twisted Tale that does not show any blood whatsoever. what little violence in this installment never exceeds what is already in the [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 movie]] it is based on.
150* The ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' series. The first book is a straightforward, dragon-centric adventure story, with a fairly dark plot, a villain who's [[LaughingMad actively insane]], and serious CharacterDevelopment moments. The second book is a much more lighthearted romp, with a less serious plot, a goofier antagonist (who is, at heart, an overprotective mother), [[HormoneAddledTeenager fluffy relationship drama]], and its hero is the fairly stubborn Tsunami (who doesn't change much). The third book swings back around to having Glory as its protagonist, who may have one of the ''darkest'' psyches ever explored in a children's book (a [[AbusiveParents highly abused]] dragon girl with deeply ingrained {{Boomerang Bigot}}ry), as well as the series' most unsettling plot yet. The fourth book brings back the relationship fluff and introduces a new PluckyComicRelief in the form of Fatespeaker while keeping the dramatic plot. And the fifth book stars Sunny, the local [[TheCutie cutie]] and eternal optimist--so naturally [[BreakTheCutie it has some of the heaviest character moments yet]].
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153[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
154* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' began as a relatively gritty spy-adjacent crime series before the second series added Creator/HonorBlackman and moved firmly into SpyFiction. When Creator/DianaRigg was added as the legendary Emma Peel, the supra-realistic settings, whimsy, and comedy were dialed up even more... in ''most'' episodes.
155* ''Series/Charmed1998'' had a pretty dark first season. Season 2 was LighterAndSofter, downplaying most of the magic and focusing more on a LoveTriangle and {{Melodrama}} in the sisters' love lives. Season 3 became more action-packed, with Season 4 getting ''really'' dark (involving a character being KilledOffForReal and a subsequent FaceHeelTurn for another character). Seasons 5 and 6 became LighterAndSofter, with more fantasy-themed standalone episodes. Seasons 7 and 8 are closer to Season 1's level of tone.
156* ''Series/DoctorWho'' does this all the time, both within the context of individual seasons and on a larger level.
157** The classic series had a lot of wild shifts in tone, particularly whenever new people took over behind the scenes. The best example might be the tenure of Creator/TomBaker as the [[TheNthDoctor Fourth Doctor]] since it lasted so long. It began with the comical "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]", which established Four as much sillier and more alien than his predecessor. Soon it was doing far darker stories like "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars Pyramids of Mars]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]". MoralGuardians complained, so we got a RobotBuddy and much more comedy with serials like "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]" (written by comedic author Creator/DouglasAdams). Baker's final season, however, was comparatively grim, and death and decay was a recurring theme.
158** Due to the production difficulties of the time (several producers, tortured budgets, and plots that had to be written around [[RealLifeWritesThePlot the lead actor's failing mental health]]), Season 3 (with the First Doctor) definitely qualifies. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissionToTheUnknown Mission to the Unknown]]", a BottleEpisode without the Doctor in it where a bunch of people get miserably slaughtered by Daleks, is followed by "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E3TheMythMakers The Myth Makers]]", a lighthearted {{Bathos}}-based social comedy set in Troy which suddenly becomes very dark and bloody when the Greeks invade in the final episode. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]]" is a SpaceOpera {{Arc}} combining an extreme body count (including the deaths of ''two'' companions) and brutal violence with the [[AffablyEvil intentionally goofy]] villain the Monk and a ridiculous comedy episode halfway through where they get stuck on a 1920s film set and then go off to celebrate Christmas. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre The Massacre]]" is another unusually dark episode with a DownerEnding where the Doctor is forced to ignore a genocide and has a HeroicBSOD, interrupted in the last five minutes by a giggly CloudCuckooLander ManicPixieDreamGirl companion accidentally breaking into the TARDIS. Then we get the [[AngstWhatAngst somewhat less relentlessly negative]] "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E6TheArk The Ark]]", the absolutely ridiculous "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker The Celestial Toymaker]]", a comedy MusicalEpisode ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]") which again has a suddenly dark and bloody ending, and it's only by "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E9TheSavages The Savages]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E10TheWarMachines The War Machines]]" that the series settles back down into monster-based adventure serials.
159** Series 2 of the revival era alternates between [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion an invasion which the Doctor can't help stop and he may be dying]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E1NewEarth to a madcap body-snatcher romp]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen to a tale about humans]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel losing their humanity to cold steel shells]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern to a somewhat tongue-in-cheek 50's piece with a hammy villain]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E8TheImpossiblePlanet to demonic possession]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit on board a lonely Sanctuary Base]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters to an offbeat episode commenting on ''Doctor Who'' fandom itself]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday to all-out war]] between [[spoiler:the Daleks and the Cybermen]].
160** Series 5 and 6: Creator/MattSmith was originally a much more [[CloudCuckoolander madcap and alien]] Doctor, who met a girl and took her away to see the universe. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E9ColdBlood In the middle of the season,]] [[spoiler:Rory gets erased from time]]. However, two episodes after this, [[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger the Doctor is passing off as a human and playing football]]. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The episode after that has the Doctor]] [[spoiler:trapped in the Pandorica; Rory returning, albeit as an Auton and shooting Amy, while River is inside the TARDIS and it's exploding]]! And then the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang finale]] has this in spades in one episode. Music/ChameleonCircuit summed it up quite nicely in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f0xBe0kq3E this song]].
161** As for Series 6? It begins with [[spoiler:The Doctor being KilledOffForReal]] and [[FromBadToWorse only gets worse from there.]] Other episodes in the season include [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseOfTheBlackSpot a madcap pirate romp]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E5TheRebelFlesh a sinister]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E6TheAlmostPeople clone saga]], a horrifying WhatDoTheyFearEpisode and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E12ClosingTime a buddy comedy]]. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]" is as much of this as possible squeezed into one episode: it includes a sweet, whimsical, romantic main plot about the series' origin story, a gruesomely dark and depressing subplot about the dead Time Lords, quirky CargoShip-riddled bantering and shenanigans between the Doctor and the TARDIS, and a sadistic voice trapping and psychologically torturing Amy and Rory ForTheEvulz.
162** Series 7 had "standalone adventure" style episodes, many of them with an at-face-value goofy, funny or gimmicky plot idea. And though there is a lot of comedy and charming moments throughout the series, it also deals with war-weariness (the Doctor and Kahler Jex), moral ambiguity (the Doctor's confrontations with certain antagonists and his inner demons rearing their ugly head), loss (the Doctor having to part with River and losing his companions in a traumatic manner), grief and depression (the Doctor retreating into himself and noting that "the universe doesn't care", though he eventually gets better), ''death'' (the deaths of Amy and Rory, the deaths of Clara's echoes, the Doctor's eventual revelation that he's out of regenerations and will probably die on Trenzalore, the death of Clara's mother hanging like a shadow over her future, Kahler Jex's bitter self-sacrifice), issues of trust (between the Doctor and Clara, due to the odd mystery surrounding her), and facing one's past (the Eleventh showing his darker side more often, and eventually [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor revealing the existence of the War Doctor]]). Though the two different halves of the series prove a pretty big comedy-drama rollercoaster in virtually every episode, [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor the 50th anniversary special]] that follows on from the finale is one of the most optimistic episodes in years: Even if the Doctor has to acknowledge and face some of the sadder moments of his past and legacy, there is always room for redemption, as long as one doesn't give up on hope, mercy, kindness, and the courage to set right what once went wrong.
163** The Twelfth Doctor's tenure continues this trend. Series 8 is mostly standalone stories while Series 9 prefers multi-parters, but it's common for light adventures to suddenly swerve into tragic territory and dark ones to indulge in whimsy as the much-changed Doctor's relationship with Clara is tested again and again. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E6TheCaretaker The Caretaker]]" has Clara trying to hide her two relationships with Danny and the Doctor from each other when the latter poses as a human at her school... but it also addresses Danny's concern that Clara will come to a bad end traveling with the alien. "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]" has brain-eating, DreamWithinADream-weaving aliens...but SantaClaus himself helps our heroes escape them. ItMakesSenseInContext. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied The Girl Who Died]]" has the Doctor help a village of Viking farmers defeat hammy aliens... but when the cost of victory is too high to bear, he makes a rash decision that haunts him for the rest of the season. The intense "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E7TheZygonInvasion The Zygon Invasion]]"[=/=]"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E8TheZygonInversion The Zygon Inversion]]" has cheeky comic relief and a SurprisinglyHappyEnding. The tragic, massively-scaled three-part Series 9 finale starts with what ''could'' be a whimsical adventure, but certain villains are out to get the Doctor ''and'' Clara makes a well-meant choice... After that saga's BittersweetEnding comes "[[Recap/DoctorWho2015CSTheHusbandsOfRiverSong The Husbands of River Song]]", a ChristmasEpisode that outstrips just about every other revival episode for wackiness '''''then''''' becomes a tender romance that has its own BittersweetEnding -- albeit one more sweet than bitter. Series 10 starts out episodic by way of introducing lighthearted companion Bill Potts to him, but it has a dark undercurrent in the background that moves to the forefront in episode five, "Oxygen", which ends with the Doctor [[spoiler: blinded]], leading into the Monks Trilogy mini-arc that fully reveals the season's StoryArc ([[spoiler: the attempted redemption of Missy]]). The happy ending of the trilogy leads into two lighter episodes, but the arc still holds sway and the two-part SeasonFinale sees sweet Bill [[spoiler: converted into perhaps the first true Cyberman]] and ends with the Doctor nearly being KilledOffForReal with all his hopes for those he cared about in tatters. AND THEN a RayOfHopeEnding leads directly into his GrandFinale "Twice Upon a Time". Conceived ''only'' because a ChristmasEpisode for 2017 was needed and the incoming showrunner didn't want it to be Thirteen's debut, it's a '''much''' LighterAndSofter team-up with the First Doctor in which [[spoiler:there's NoAntagonist, EverybodyLives, and he gets positive resolution to lingering issues regarding Bill ''and'' Clara]], ending Twelve's MythArc on a note of hope just before the traditional regeneration {{Cliffhanger}}.
164** In the Creator/ChrisChibnall era of the show, the stories seem to alternate between rather lowkey stories in his first season, to an epic myth arc in his second. Yet even the epic myth arc has more lighthearted fare sandwiched in it, and though the lowkey stories had no world-ending stakes, the story's subject matter often spoke of racism, corporate greed, and misogyny in appropriate severity. Flux goes full serialized MythArc, and the two specials after that are more lighthearted than the GrandFinale seems to be.
165** All of the ''Short Trips'' books do this due to their anthology structure. ''Short Trips and Sidesteps'' follows up the first part of a traumatically dark story where the Doctor has no powers and is just an old man abusing his granddaughter and Barbara is struggling with schizophrenia with a short story about the Fourth Doctor and Romana landing on a planet made of sweets and having a conversation with a talking cake.
166* In "Series/DonMatteo "a dark Moment(like a dying child) can be shown in the same episode with a goofy moment(like Checchini's wacky antics).
167* As with many tropes it played with, ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' took this and ran with it for all it was worth. Not only would it alternate between highly dramatic and comedic episodes (for example, a drama-heavy two-parter that ended with the death of one of the main characters, being followed by an episode that was largely animated as an homage to Creator/ChuckJones, and then was followed once again by an episode dealing with the aftermath of that character's death) but would have heavy MoodWhiplash within the individual episodes, especially as Crichton's mental state was variably played for laughs and drama. This even extends from season to season, as the series gets progressively darker over the course of seasons 1 and 2, before taking the plunge outright in season 3. Season 4 then backpedals into a somewhat lighter tone, before things get pitch black in ''The Peacekeeper Wars''.
168* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' for sure. Often episodes can start off with an upbeat cover of some top 40 hit, but by the end of the episode can have dealt with, among others, attempted suicide, almost death and temporary paralysis of a teenager, unwanted pregnancy, a bully assaulting another teen verbally, physically, and eventually sexually - all this between episodes surrounding choosing between Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, weddings, and puppets. Especially notable is the start of season five when we jump from a Beatles tribute to the Cory Monteith memorial - the writers wanted to start the season on a positive note.
169* ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' frequently alternated between dark and tragic storylines, and character-based comedy and BlackComedy. Even singular episodes alternated between the two, often starting with lighthearted comedy and ending on a deeply gut-wrenching note.
170* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', with its dedication to showing both the ugly and delightful sides of life in equal measure, has been a mild version of this trope ever since season 1. Often combined with MoodWhiplash.
171* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' as a franchise also alternates a lot between silly and serious. You have darker series like ''[[Series/KamenRiderAmazon Amazon]]'', ''[[Series/KamenRider555 555]]'', and ''[[Series/KamenRiderBlade Blade]]'', and less serious ones like ''[[Series/KamenRiderBlackRX Black RX]]'' and ''[[Series/KamenRiderDenO Den-O]]''. Within each series, most start as being comedic and episodic, and then eventually focusing around mid-season into something more serious, while still having several gags and enemies like [[Series/KamenRiderX Starfish Hitler]] and [[Series/KamenRiderOOO a muay-thai boxing chicken who constantly dances in the background]].
172** ''[[Series/KamenRiderFourze Fourze]]'' has to take the cake when it comes to the rollercoaster. We can have our LargeHam protagonist kicking ass and then go to [[spoiler:finding out the school board are creating this year's monsters]] before going to a Christmas-based episode and then [[spoiler:it brings out one of the worst monsters in the show]] and then we have the HighSchoolDance. ''Then'' we get [[spoiler:our hero dying at the hands of the Second Rider]] and that's when it takes corkscrews and loop-de-loops around this thing.
173** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' is an even bigger rollercoaster than ''Fourze''. While the main plot is overall very dark [[spoiler:AlienKudzu is threatening to devour the planet, and the MegaCorp that has the means to fight it is led by power-hungry backstabbers who don't give a damn about saving humanity]], there's still plenty of humor to be found both in the premise (the Riders' armor is fruit-themed) or the cast (which includes ThoseTwoGuys and a [[AgentPeacock Badass]] CampGay pastry chef). This gets {{Lampshaded}} late in the series during a dark portion when the chef and one of the two guys [[spoiler:the other having been killed much earlier]] lament that it feels like they have nothing to do anymore.
174** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' is a zany medical drama about a pediatrician battling a computer virus that brings video game characters to life, with one of the most [[LargeHam over the top]] scene-chewing and crazy villains in the franchise. It also has some serious themes revolving around the importance and value of life, particularly once said villain [[KnightOfCerebus shows how deadly and dangerous he is]].
175** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' is half a gritty and dramatic story about the [[WarIsHell horrors of war]] [[spoiler:and later, a CosmicHorrorStory about the heroes trying to stop an OmnicidalManiac from destroying the worl]], half a wacky sitcom about the eccentric personalities of its six protagonists bouncing off each other and the other characters around them. [[TropesAreTools It isn't a bad thing though]] as it means [[spoiler:you'll care a lot more when [[DwindlingParty they start dying]].]]
176%%* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' was prone to this, particularly in its later seasons.
177* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' rolls with this; the show starts off with some gruesome murder, then it kickstarts with the crew's antics (mostly Tony's), then in between and at the end, it can go either light and humorous or dark and dramatic depending on how the plot goes.
178* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' always has been, and always will be, a franchise nobody can take without a lot of WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. It's campy and awesome in its own way, but the tone of each season varies. Back in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', Lord Zedd was its KnightOfCerebus and set a much more epic arc than the original Rita arc. Both ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' and ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' were a step down from serious towards lighter tones, only for the series to turn into epic space opera during ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' and ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy''. The tone of the series can vary from dark, like ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'', to completely comedic, like ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm''. Even checking out the ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' source material isn't any indication of which route the next series will take, as proven by the darkest series of all, ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', which was based on a ''[[Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger self-parody]]'' of ''Super Sentai'' -- but even then ''RPM'' is one of the ''funnier'' seasons, relying on humor from TheComicallySerious and the MetaGuy in the cast instead of going through the requisite HilarityEnsues.
179* ''Series/PrimevalNewWorld'' always fluctuated with its tone. The series started off being DarkerAndEdgier than its [[Series/{{Primeval}} predecessor]] but started to lighten up, until [[WhamEpisode "Undone"]] aired. From that point on, the series flip-flopped between being dark, to being light-hearted (and even humorous at times) until the show ended the same way it started: dark and grim.
180* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' has this to some extent. Many episodes were quirky and surreal and filled with 60s sci-fi elements, while others were darker, more realistic, and often psychologically unsettling. It became even more noticeable in the last few episodes: the most lighthearted episode of the whole series ("The Girl Who Was Death") came right before the strikingly dark "Once Upon a Time" and the infamously bizarre [[GainaxEnding "Fall Out"]].
181* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' used this to its advantage for a multi-season story arc. By keeping the show episodic and lighthearted during most of each season the Yin and Yang episodes they used for the finales seemed much darker in comparison.
182* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' is best described as a collision between a medical drama and a slapstick comedy with great big dollops of tragedy, GallowsHumor, surrealism, and LemonyNarrator thrown in for good measure, and it's a complete toss-up as to what each episode will give the viewer. And it's not just across the show or across seasons, it can be across a single episode: one storyline might be a ZanyScheme filled with sex jokes, pratfalls, and wacky shenanigans, while another storyline might be a gut-wrenching, savagely dark tragedy about the death of patients and the psychological fallout from one or more of the doctors, while the camera merrily {{Whip Pan}}s between the two.
183* Franchise/StarTrek:
184** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' could be bad for this within some individual episodes, starting with lighthearted humour, then going into the dramatic main plot, but still ending on a joke and a whimsical woodwind solo on the soundtrack, even in episodes where multiple crew members had been violently killed or entire starships destroyed.
185** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' took the cake however, especially in season six which had all-out war for the Federation's existence, Ben Sisko injured and at the mercy of a major antagonist having a complete mental breakdown, and an episode implying the entire show is being dreamed/hallucinated by a Black sci-fi author battling systemic racism in the Fifties — interspersed with Bashir befriending a quirky gang of (autistic-coded) genetically engineered folks, a Ferengi spin on ''Film/WeekendAtBernies'', and a runabout being shrunk to the size of a Hot Wheels toy. Yes, folks, the same season that introduced [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans Section 31]] also has Quark forced to dress in drag.
186** ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' has been dealing with this in its second season. It is noticeable from the fourth episode onward. The tonal shifts have gone from harrowing memory loss, a comedic episode where Spock becomes fully human, a horror-themed episode where Uhura suffers from hallucinations, a {{Crossover}} with the comedy ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', an UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode involving M'Benga suffering PTSD from the Klingon War, complete with a DownerEnding, but that's okay because the episode after that is a '''''MusicalEpisode'''''. And, finally, the '''''[[TheDreaded Gorn]]''''' return, and ''Enterprise'' goes into battle with hundreds of innocent lives and potentially the fate of TheFederation at stake. '''ToBeContinued...'''
187* ''Series/{{Skins}}'' appears to be falling into a pattern of letting things get lighter with the premiere of each new generation, then taking a turn for the DarkerAndEdgier in that generation's second season.
188* ''Series/ZNation'': The show varies a lot between comedy and drama, and you're often not entirely sure how seriously you're supposed to take some parts of the show (ie the characters react realistically to [[PowerGlows glowing radioactive zombie]]).
189[[/folder]]
190
191[[folder:Music]]
192* Music/HectorBerlioz pulled off an instrumental one with his Music/SymphonieFantastique, which started off melancholically, going through all kinds of extreme love-related emotions, and concluding with an Ending that combines DownerEnding, GainaxEnding and ''DancePartyEnding''.
193* Music/JoeDiffie started out primarily singing ballads on his first two albums, and his early up-tempo releases such as "New Way (To Light Up an Old Flame)" still had mostly serious content. Starting with his third and fourth albums ''Honky Tonk Attitude'' and ''Third Rock from the Sun'', the novelty factor pushed to the forefront, giving him big hits in lighthearted, silly fare such as both albums' title tracks, "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)", and "Pickup Man", with "So Help Me Girl" being the lone ballad success from either. Once the novelty wore off, he began releasing more serious material again, culminating in 1999's ''A Night to Remember'', which was praised for its serious tone.
194* Music/{{Eminem}}'s music veers between three settings: Goofy SubvertedKidsShow [[PissTakeRap novelty songs]] riddled with {{Take That}}s at various pop cultural figures and [[VulgarHumor offensive shock content]]; earnest BoastfulRap where he expresses pride and anguish about his success and skills, often with comedic wordplay or [[{{Poetry}} beautiful]] ConstrainedWriting; and hyper-earnest songs documenting his personal issues, or expressing unironic sentimentality about his children or love for his fans. Often, he switches from one mood to another within the same verse. Within Eminem's mythology, this is the result of his [[KayfabeMusic trio of personas]] - Slim Shady for {{Heroic Comedic Sociopath}}y, Eminem for bragging and storytelling, and Marshall for confessionals - which he switches between with subtle changes in voice, lyrical style and content.
195** A notable feature of Eminem's album ''Music/{{Encore}}'' is that, instead of integrating the comedic songs and the serious songs, the album starts off wry and semi-serious, gets increasingly dark over the first five tracks, then breaks for eight ''incredibly goofy'' comedy songs incorporating ToiletHumor, stream-of-consciousness rapping and silly voices and accents. Then it snaps back to serious ballads, slowly lightening until it ends with LightmareFuel {{Horrorcore}}. The idea had been to think about it as a vinyl double album where each 'disc' would be split between Eminem (on one side) and Slim Shady (on the other), with both personas getting a Side A and a Side B to themselves each. (Annoyingly, when ''Encore'' was released on vinyl, the sides didn't end up split this way.)
196** Parodied in ''The Key Of Awesome'''s spoof of "Not Afraid", in which 'Eminem' says, "my rapping is hilarious or completely serious" as clips play on a TV screen showing recreations of the music videos for "My Name Is" ('hilarious') and "Lose Yourself" ('completely serious').
197* Music/GreenDay's career is frequent with NewSoundAlbum shifts to either "DarkerAndEdgier" or "back to snarky". After breakout ''Dookie'', came the heavier ''Insomniac'' (partly due to CreatorBreakdown), followed by two lighter albums, then two Punk-RockOpera albums, and then a trilogy that tried to go back to the old sound.
198* Musical duo Music/TroutFishingInAmerica recorded two albums of children's songs in their earliest years. Then they did an album of mostly dead-serious folk-rock. Ever since then, they've gone back and forth between the two, even splitting the difference with sillier folk-rock songs and albums that contain a little of both.
199* Music/{{Weezer}} began as a radio-friendly power-pop band with hits like "Buddy Holly" and "Undone -- The Sweater Song" until they took a DarkerAndEdgier approach for their follow-up ''Music/{{Pinkerton}}'' which featured harsher production and lyrics that explore isolation and sexual frustration. When ''Pinkerton'' was bashed by critics, ''The Green Album'' which came afterwards was a LighterAndSofter "return to roots" album that went back to the radio-friendly power-pop sound with simpler lyrical themes. Then they followed ''that'' up with ''Maladroit'' which while maintaining the lyrical simplicity of the Green Album returned to the harsher, heavier sound of ''Pinkerton''. Then the next album ''Make Believe'' returned to the emotionally vulnerable lyrics that defined ''Pinkerton''. The tone of their music continued to fluxuate with ''[[TotallyRadical Raditude]]'', ''Everything Will Be Alright in the End'', and ''Pacific Daydream''.
200[[/folder]]
201
202[[folder:Podcasts]]
203* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZone: Balance'' has a sort of ''fractal'' CerebusSyndrome, in which each individual story arc starts out extremely light and ends dark and dramatic. The very first arc, ''Here There Be Gerblins'', starts with three guys making dick jokes and fighting a LaughablyEvil villain that poses little threat and ends with said three guys accidentally nuking an entire city and killing thousands of people. The arcs progress in this manner (''Eleventh Hour'' starts with a goofy shopping montage and ends with a main character [[TomatoInTheMirror finding out he's a brainwashed villain]] that created an ArtifactOfDoom, ''Stolen Century'' starts with an easily-won bar fight in which two of the heroes con some drunk guys out of their shoes and ends with the entire cast being either killed off or brutally {{Mind Rape}}d, et cetera). Even the finale is largely funny and lighthearted interspersed with a few truly disturbing moments.
204[[/folder]]
205
206[[folder:Radio]]
207* Open-themed live call-in shows with a wide thematic tolerance become this, for example ''Series/{{Domian}}'' in Germany.
208[[/folder]]
209
210[[folder:Theatre]]
211* ''Vanities'' is happy and idealistic in the first two acts, then becomes grim and cynical in the third, [[DownerEnding where the original play ended]]. The [[DistantFinale epilogue]] of the musical version returns to LighterAndSofter territory.
212[[/folder]]
213
214[[folder:Toys]]
215* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'''s story went pretty steadily into the dark, but some of the franchise's later additions make it into an example. For instance, the book ''Raid on Vulcanus'' is one of the darkest and most violent entries in the entire franchise, with its many gray-morality protagonists, brief discussion of complicated moral questions, and graphic, sword-to-flesh violence (and yes, this is still a Franchise/{{LEGO}} franchise we're talking about) and tragic war stories. Its direct sequel, the animated feature ''The Legend Reborn'' is meanwhile a fairly light-hearted action-adventure film with moments of {{slapstick}} and goofy cartoon sound effects. The novelization, however, averts this completely and more or less keeps the previous book's tone. Which then clashes with the purposely light and tame stories of the easy-level reading children's books.
216* The ''Franchise/TransformersAlignedUniverse'' has this big time, when you take into account the works set in the universe include VideoGame/{{t|ransformersWarForCybertron}}hree VideoGame/{{T|ransformersFallOfCybertron}}-rated [[VideoGame/TransformersRiseOfTheDarkSpark video games]], WesternAnimation/{{t|ransformersPrime}}wo [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise TV-Y7 cartoons]], and [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots two more cartoon aimed]] [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBotsAcademy at pre-schoolers]].
217[[/folder]]
218
219[[folder:Video Games]]
220* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' contains moments that switch from silly and humorous to dark and back again. For example, at one moment Tiny Tina was singing an adorably creepy song or making a cute attempt at street slang. The next moment, [[spoiler:she's torturing a psycho for ratting out her parents and getting them killed]]. Tina continues the trend in her DLC campaign, which is a wacky parody of RPG and fantasy tropes for the most part only to veer into the revelation that [[spoiler:the whole campaign is her way of coping with the trauma of Roland's death in the main story]].
221* The ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series seems to be riding on this.
222** Despite its immense popularity, ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' was sometimes derided for [[LighterAndSofter not being as dark and edgy]] as [[VideoGame/Diablo1997 the first game]].
223** In the books as well, the mood can range from as dark and edgy as the first game to surprisingly goofy. On the other hand, whatever funny moments the series has [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools can prevent it from getting]] ''[[Administrivia/TropesAreTools too]]'' [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools dark]].
224** ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' regions start out at the mid-fantasy level, troubled but beautiful, and grow progressively grim-dark until you're slaughtering abominations in burning torture chambers or walking on the flayed skin of giants. Some fans derided the bleakness water-down, others liked the progression of Cerebus with grace periods for contrast. But ultimately, this is a game where you unlock a bonus level full of rainbows and unicorns after your MissionControl is brutally murdered.
225* ''VideoGame/{{IMGCM}}'' starts as a normal MagicalGirlWarrior genre with comedic and vivid DemonSlaying adventure. [[spoiler:Then it escalates into DarkerAndEdgier ScienceFantasy, {{Multiverse}} and [[MindScrew mind-screw]] after Kaori's death and her [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie subsequent corruption into a demon]]. Don't worry, [[DeathIsCheap the heroines get better]] and [[StatusQuoIsGod their status quo is maintained]] as Chapter 7 Episode 2 reveals that Omnis' ability is to create new realities/universes and merge the old universes where he previously screwed-up with universes he recently created (depending on his wishes and intentions), which means both alive and dead heroines (except ones who are corrupted into demons, who are replaced by copies from new universes instead of being merged) are merged with new ones from those new universes, resulting all of them alive. Despite the desperate situations in some battles against sexy demon {{Eldritch abomination}}s, they managed to win their battles and end them in a much positive manner, after Tobio learns that his ability has a risk of creating more demons from his slain heroines. Tobio and the heroines also encounter their various alternate selves from alternate universes]]. Despite the dark aspects, some hilarities and {{mood whiplash}}es ensue. Some event scenarios tend to have LighterAndSofter than the main story.
226* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', being a massive {{crossover}} between loads of Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon properties and ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', jumps around in tone like crazy. You can go from fighting an intense battle against [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]] to hanging out with [[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Winnie the Pooh]]. You can summon [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Genie]] or [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch Stitch]] or even WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle to fight against a horrible EldritchAbomination. You can go from walking through the [[FieldOfBlades Keyblade Graveyard]] with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoCbMsVWvT4 this music]] to walking through Disney Town and playing a mini-game involving [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Huey, Dewey, and Louie]], an ice cream cannon, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fzJKGIDzwI It's a Small World]].
227* The universe of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' is this. One moment you meet a serious character in anime style who tells you about your sacred quest to save the world, and the next you run into some eccentric caricature that looks like something out of a really zany cartoon rambling about random stuff. Sometimes ''the characters themselves'' are Cerebus Rollercoasters, as exemplified by [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Zant]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Ghirahim]].
228* ''VideoGame/MadWorld'' and ''VideoGame/AnarchyReigns'' each do this purposely. The gameplay is insanely violent to a comedic degree, but all the cutscenes are usually deadly serious and deal with tragic subject matter. It's done a bit less in Anarchy, but the story present is actually much more personal and tragic [[spoiler:since Jack is trying to kill someone who failed to rescue his daughter and has gone mad because of it.]]
229* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
230** The games bounce all over the place between serious, funny, and action movie camp. The ''Metal Gear Solid'' sub-series in particular has gone from [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid "Save the world" action with a twist]] to [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty nonsensical mind screw]] to [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater break the most badass cutie ever]] to [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots utter depression with a bittersweet ending]] to [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain an opening that is straight out of a horror movie]], all of which bounce all over the place and can go straight from a horrifying scene of Meryl getting shot by a sniper to a ButtMonkey guard trying not to crap his pants or Snake being tortured so badly he pisses himself to him chastising MissionControl for mentioning vampires ''because it will give him scary dreams''. And that's not even going into spinoffs like ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Metal Gear Rising]]''...
231** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' ups the ante with the rollercoaster madness of an open world. You unlock wacky costumes and joke items between missions involving war crimes and institutionalized mass genocide. Sometimes you'll gross out your underlings by not showering for weeks, only to discover that a virulent plague has begun killing off specific ethnicities. You might find and adopt a puppy just in time to land a contract on murdering child soldiers. Fanservice with Quiet will eventually grow gruesome and disturbing, ending with an attempted rape scene.
232* The ''VideoGame/DeadIsland'' series had seemingly had a miscommunication between programmers Techland and developers Deep Silver in that when it was first revealed in 2007 it was basically a zombie outbreak on a tropical island. Then when the game was revived in 2011 it went a much different route that seemed to want to outdarken ''Franchise/TheWalkingDead'' based on the trailers and some of the in-game content. Titles such as ''Riptide'' or ''Escape'' play up the horror or psychological themes, but at the same time, there is humor in the game if you look for it, goofy elements and the games can very much be an action-filled case of PlayTheGameSkipTheStory for those who aren't interested.
233* The entire ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' series does this beautifully, but especially [[VideoGame/Mother3 the third entry]]. Quirky party members, clever pop-culture references, bright comic-book style colors, potty humor, goofy aliens, dancing monkeys, birthday presents filled with [[MindScrew music]] for no particular reason, [[spoiler:your mother being brutally murdered, the apocalypse, a villain that represents humanity's sins, acid trips, animal abuse, and your brother killing himself before your very eyes]]. Not necessarily in that order.
234* ''VideoGame/NiNoKuni,'' for great justice. The game ''begins'' with [[MissingMom Oliver's mother tragically dying,]] and then segues almost immediately into Drippy being brought to life, who [[BlackComedy actively berates Oliver and by extension the player for crying over his mother's death.]] Things are roughly lighthearted from there on out... until [[MoodWhiplash Hamelin,]] which, especially in the [=PS3=] version, contains the most actively tragic scene in the game since the mother's death. And then it's back to cuteness and happiness until the ''next'' DramaBomb comes along...
235* The ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' series does this constantly and completely on purpose. Mixed in with all the self-awareness and wacky villains are played straight moments of the main character foaming mad over his best friend's death and scenes that slowly reveal just what a dark hole you got yourself into.
236* ''VideoGame/Persona4'' plays out this way, compared to the rest of the games in the series being consistently dark throughout. The game begins with two murders, one of them being a teenager, and a generally unsettling atmosphere as a serial killer is on the loose and the police are useless at dealing with their supernatural methods. Your first venture into a dungeon results in the comic relief best friend's hidden fears and insecurities manifesting themselves as a Shadow and trying to kill you. From that point on though, you're able to rescue the killers' other targets in advance, the Shadow bosses gradually become more comedic, and by mid-game, the story has shifted to light-hearted high school SliceOfLife. Until the last months of the year, where the murder/kidnapping plot comes back in full force, [[spoiler: the latest victim being the protagonist's 7-year-old cousin, who comes very close to dying, and the protagonists (who are teenagers) come ''dangerously'' close to [[VigilanteExecution murdering the guy responsible]], and if you get the Bad Ending they ''succeed'' and Nanako dies for real]]. This is followed by the reveal of the true killer. [[spoiler: Turns out the goofy detective you've met all game was a sadistic, misogynistic attempted rapist who had no motives for doing what he did]]. After their capture, the story goes back to being lighthearted with Christmas and Valentine's Day, especially in the UpdatedRerelease, before lapsing back into darkness with the TrueFinalBoss before ending on an unambiguously happy note.
237* The ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' series tends to run on this trope, though whether it plays it straight, downplays it, or outright goes into CerebusSyndrome territory depends on the game in question. But mostly it tends to shift between being a light-hearted space opera with humor not unlike something you'd see in a [[Creator/DreamWorksAnimation Dreamworks movie]], to clashing with villains that have a history of destroying planets, committing galactic genocide, or enslaving other galactic heroes into becoming gladiators... then moves back to the light-hearted stuff again.
238* ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'' has an issue with this. The constant bouncing back and forth between {{Fanservice}}-heavy SliceOfLife between cute, busty girls, and the [[GreyAndGrayMorality morally gray]] world of Shinobi work where characters are frequently trying to kill each other leads to a very inconsistent tone. The developers have acknowledged this, and plan to have individual titles focus more on one tone or the other in future.
239* ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'' gets into this pretty heavily. In one scene, you'll help a flamboyantly gay French tailor find softcore porn so that he'll make dresses for one of your party member's [[LivingToys animated doll.]] Then there'll be a quiet scene in which the protagonist reflects on his time with his now-dead girlfriend, and tries to come to terms with his own impending death. Then another of your party members will demonstrate his 'found art' approach to fighting by wielding an inexplicably miniaturized nuclear submarine as a bludgeon. Then you run into the PluckyComicRelief from the last game, who has developed from a klutzy goofball sergeant into a grim and ominous ColonelBadass after the woman he loved was assassinated in front of him immediately after he finally worked up the courage to tell her how he felt.
240* Due to the relaxed nature of its story progression, ''VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter'' can feel all over the place in terms of tone. We have the main plot, which goes from light-hearted, if somewhat dramatic adventure story to sudden talks about human nature, WorldWarIII, who deserves life, and mass genocide in the second half alone, all of which are broken up by unlockable sidequests that involve Red rushing to deliver a pie, getting hit on (and creeped out) by a DragQueen, collecting fish to make stew, or [[ItMakesSenseInContext having to publicly admit to wetting the bed as a child without actually admitting it]].
241* [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 The first]] ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' game was lighthearted and cartoony with some shonen elements. Then the sequels increasingly [[SequelEscalation upped the stakes and expanded on the shonen elements]]. This eventually led to the ''Sonic Adventure'' duology, with [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure the first installment]] culminating in an ancient god of destruction flooding a city [[AutobotsRockOut while a dramatic rock song plays]], and the [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 the sequel]] involving the murder of a terminally ill child whose grandfather was forced to make weapons for the military. ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' briefly went back to a more cartoony tone ([[MoodWhiplash apart from the Last Story]], the game was largely a lighthearted romp with heavy emphasis on ThePowerOfFriendship), only for the series to reach the epitome of its CerebusSyndrome with ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' (which expands on the aforementioned murder backstory) and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' (where Sonic is [[TheHeroDies temporarily killed off]], among [[KudzuPlot other things]]). Due to complaints about this, Sega decided to [[ReverseCerebusSyndrome go in a more lighthearted direction]], starting with ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' (despite still taking itself somewhat seriously, there's still a decent amount of silliness to be had), and culminating in [[DenserAndWackier the comedic and trippy]] ''VideoGame/SonicColors''. This eventually led to complaints about Sega going too far in the opposite direction. Possibly as a response, the series started to wander back in a more serious direction, with ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' having some dark moments sandwiched by comical moments. ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' further toned down the comedy and upped the stakes, resulting in one of the darkest installments in the series. And then we have VideoGame/SonicFrontiers, who is even darker than the previous game, especially thanks to its main villain: [[spoiler: THE END, an OmnicidalManiac EldritchAbomination who is basically [[GreaterScopeVillain responsible for all the bad stuff that happened in the Sonic Universe.]]]]
242* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games are generally light and comedic but there will be times when the series will take an unexpectedly dark turn. In ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', all the worlds are colorful and mystical but then you have Big Boo's Haunt which has a dark atmosphere, eerie music, coffins that smash you, and a killer piano with razor-sharp teeth. The DS remake adds a maze-like level where maniacal laughter by King Boo can be heard throughout the area. Another example is the Crumbleden in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey''. Contrary to other kingdoms in the game, this one is dark and lifeless with destroyed buildings and no survivor in sight. The possible cause of this? The boss of this world, which is a gigantic purple dragon sporting a design one would expect from ''Dark Souls''.
243** The ''Mario'' [[RolePlayingGame [=RPG=]s]] are also often like this. The ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series goes from light-hearted and comedic to dark at almost a moment's notice (just compare the somewhat cheery Petal Meadows, Excess Express and Fort Francis sections of their respective games to the rather morbid Twilight Town, Palace of Shadow, and Sammer's Kingdom return ones). And the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series? Same. ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Superstar Saga]]'' was mostly comedic, ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime Partners in Time]]'' was arguably the darkest Mario game ever released, and ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Bowser's Inside Story]]'' went back to being somewhat comedic again. Although they all do have their dark moments (like the Hooniversity in the first game, Dark Bowser/Dark Star in ''Bowser's Inside Story'', or Bowser's Dream in ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam Dream Team]]'').
244* This trope is what makes the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' series so effective at what it does. On one hand, you have a main story with several layers of traditional crime drama tropes full of betrayals, conspiracies, death, and the like, but once you're let out in the world you can forget about all that and indulge in some of the silliest side-content in gaming. One example in ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza0 0]]'': One minute you're beating your way through an entire building just to prove your innocence and [[spoiler: your best friend is forced to kill you for your sake only to break down before he can do it]]. Immediately after, you could win a chicken in a bowling game, who somehow has a 3 star rating as a real estate manager. There's a reason why "Yakuza is a serious crime drama" is said both as a straight and ironic descriptor for the series.
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248* ''WebAnimation/DarkSecretsOfGarrysMod'' was originally a GagSeries with varying degrees of {{surreal|Humor}} and DarkComedy. But it slowly started to introduce many arcs with darker tones, at the same time it always came back to its original comedic form.
249* ''WebAnimation/TheMisadventuresOfR2AndMiku'' has a rare example of this occurring with a single installment of a series. While most of the series is a surreal BlackComedy concerning the titular two characters (one of whom is a [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist callous]] [[TheDitz ditz]] and the other being a straight man), "Miku Hits R2 with a Chair" opens with exactly that happening, followed by R2 chewing out Miku to such an extreme that the mood turns genuinely serious. This leads into a scene where a very hurt Miku has a heart-to-heart with her mother that's tinged with BlackComedy (because her mother is [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} GLaDOS]], and she's quite reticent to say she loves her daughter), followed by Miku tearfully attempting to make amends with R2 in a completely serious manner. After they reconcile, it switches back to comedy when Miku falls for a trap and ends up getting the two of them killed... before the episode concludes with a deadly serious PSA about suicide prevention.
250* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' eventually became filled with this, at times with comedy and drama following each other in the same episodes. For instance, there were three miniseries that established plot for the upcoming season: the first, Out of Mind, was serious but clearly still set in the series' WorldOfSnark; the second, Recovery, was played really straight and bridged the point where the show became plot-heavy instead of just a zany comedy; and then the third, Relocation, was wacky and humorous, showing the following season would mostly be the same way. Two more miniseries were done connected to the humorous part of Season 9 - that was half throwback to the show's early military comedy, half dramatic flashbacks that were made with an ArtShift.
251* ''WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers'' practically have this down to a science. Some days, Mario's adventures are mundane but chaotic events like "Mario goes to subway and purchases 1 tuna sub with extra mayo", and other days he's involved in a StoryArc where the fate of the universe rests in the hands of him and his friends, such as ''WebAnimation/SMG4MovieRevelations''.
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255* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'' has done this as well, going from gag-a-day strips to marriage to [[spoiler:miscarriage, loss, and death]]. It eventually goes through this cycle again with new characters. Gag a day, then story arc, then gag a day again with a promise of another drama arc.
256* ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'' oscillates wildly between cute and funny and dark and emotional, though this is an intentional part of the comic's tone. [[spoiler: The Nightmare Knight, the main villain of the series, is shown baking shortbread cookies, lamenting the fact that since his powers come from fear he has to pretend to be evil in order to keep his children alive, breaking into a television studio where live-action children's shows are filmed, and visiting Mistmaster, who was reduced to a constantly weeping shell of a person.]] This does blend with CerebusSyndrome, as most of the darker elements are introduced later in the comic, but the tone still can be very light and comedic even in later chapters.
257* ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' effortlessly jumps between cutesy comedy and incredibly depressing drama, though most of the time it spends somewhere in between.
258* ''Webcomic/ElectricWonderland'' takes place in a {{Cyberspace}} world where literally anything can happen, allowing ample opportunities for both comedy ({{April Fools|Day}} can disregard rhyme and reason more easily than ever before!) and drama (What should you do if a friend you made on the Internet stops logging in?)
259* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' has this problem - when it went through CerebusSyndrome, it ended up being too dark in ''Painted Black'' arc, so the author took it back to being silly and fun, but decided to introduce serious elements from a completely different angle, adding a lot of relationship-driven plot points, teenage angst, and SliceOfLife elements. Ultimately the series evolved into a combination of comedy and teen drama.
260* ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'': The main villain is a dog with sunglasses...who thinks only of killing everything in sight...and occasionally dog treats and is unable to kill the cutie of the group thanks to loyalty...but then ends up in a universe where he quickly finds other cuties to kill. And it all began as a young boy playing a game with his friends. The creator has picked up on this and the comedic elements now are usually situational or background events to the overarching drama.
261* ''Webcomic/IDontWantThisKindOfHero'': The series basically lives the MoodWhiplash life 24/7. One can expect humorous (or, at the very least, light-hearted) moments in between all the gruesome and depressing events that occur, or vice versa—casual moments of darkness in between the humour.
262* ''Webcomic/{{Morphe}}'': is already hitting the rollercoaster by chapter 2. An extreme example is that [[http://morphe.thewebcomic.com/comics/1790280/chapter-2-page-19-sweet-dreams/ these]] [[http://morphe.thewebcomic.com/comics/1801592/chapter-2-page-21-a-ray-of-sunshine/ two]] comics were released 5 days away from one another. Going from a gagged character screaming out in terror upon seeing his [[{{Fingore}} dismembered hands]] to a klutzy character rambling nonsensically out of sheer nervousness is certainly a shift in tone.
263* ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' uses a premise where fictional characters are "real" and know their fictional nature. So what's free will? How binding is their {{Canon}}? What happens when too many storytellers mess with you? In practice, this goes like: The dramatic arc which dealt with Javert's dark past (canon) was followed by the Jareth vs. Misto story that was purely comedy, after that came a dramatic and romantic arc about Erik finding a new girlfriend (and giving the impression to have a crush on Music/SarahBrightman), intersected with a meta and hilarious outtake about the "[[TropaholicsAnonymous Killed for canon meeting]]", which results in a carefully calculated and deviously executed MoodWhiplash "What does FriendsWithBenefits mean anyway?" and so forth.
264* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' began as a {{Gag Per Day|Webcomics}} FantasyKitchenSink comic, then gradually went through CerebusSyndrome, at first with combination light comedy/dramatic arcs, and then with full-blown dramatic storylines such as "Fire and Rain" and "That Which Redeems," featuring CharacterDevelopment, [[CanNotSpitItOut relationship]] [[LoveHurts angst]], [[QuestForIdentity quests for identity]], and [[{{Tragedy}} tragic]] elements. Since then, the comic has alternated between such storylines and light, goofy ones such as a lengthy ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' parody. Sometimes, the tone will [[MoodWhiplash switch abruptly]] from comic to dramatic even within the same chapter.
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268* ''Literature/TheKindnessOfDevils'' flip-flops in tone depending on the story. ''Literature/SangueSerenissima'' and ''Literature/OnlyALonelyHeart'' are two of the darkest stories in the series--the latter of which nearly has a DownerEnding. Both of these stories are wedged between ''Literature/AndToAllAGoodNight'' and ''Literature/LovesLostAndFound'', both of which are two of the most ''lighthearted'' stories in the series.
269* ''Literature/{{Legatum}}'' consists of standalone novels -- all of which have a different theme, and therefore a different tone. ''Literature/SmirvlaksStone'' focuses mostly on world-building; ''Literature/HelpNotWanted'' is mostly a dark dramedy; ''Literature/TheRoadToHell'' is the darkest story in the series focusing on realistic themes about revolution.
270* The signature tone of the WebVideo/{{Hatchetfield}} stories is one of very rapid MoodWhiplash between the two poles of the HorrorComedy genre.
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274* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'', while is always a deeply comedic series, has plot arcs toned to fit the main villain -- funny villains are just for additional jokes, while serious ones tend to have other plans going on in the background. Comedic and incompetent [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Doctor Insano]] was replaced by the scary [[KnightOfCerebus Mechakara]]. After Mechakara's defeat, his place was taken by HarmlessVillain Doctor Linksano, to let fans catch a break. Linksano has been replaced by the far more menacing Lord Vyce. Each arc is full of episodes completely unrelated to its plot, which helps in keeping the main purpose of the show straight.
275** It's gone from ''ComicBook/SilentHill: Dead/Alive'' (one of the most depressing arcs in the series, giving a nightmarish origin to the "Magic Gun") to "Secret Origins Month", where even the ''reviews'' are light-hearted and playful.
276** And again - from "The Entity" arc, that worked well to give the series more horrors for another "Secret Origins Month".
277* ''WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID'' starts out as a lighthearted fitness series/parody of Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos, before some hints show up that the ''real'' Slendy might be getting involved, then there's a WhamEpisode where he appears to the group in Evan's home...but in their next few videos and Ustreams they blow it off and take a step back into lighthearted territory, though Slendy still shows up if you look hard enough...until "Joke's Over", where all pretenses of fitness or hijinks are abandoned and the series takes a full step into CosmicHorrorStory territory.
278* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic does this a little differently to Linkara, as his show never has any battles or villains, and the only problems he has are of the "inner demon" kind. But he'll give you a long, easy road of funny, then exhausts everyone with CloseToHome things like child abuse, domestic abuse, self-worth problems, feeling like a failure, etc., and after a while goes back to "hehe, just a funny review show". And so on and so on.
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282* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' just loves to do this. As it underwent CerebusSyndrome, the episodes started getting [[GrowingTheBeard more mature and character-oriented]], but the show is still mostly a bizarre comedy. So, one episode we'll have [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids nuclear warfare and a thinly-veiled Alzheimer's metaphor]]; the next, we'll have [[MoodWhiplash Finn and Jake treating a children's book like a]] TomeOfEldritchLore [[MoodWhiplash and BMO talking to himself in a mirror.]]
283* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', a normally upbeat and wild cartoon, unexpectedly took a turn for the dramatic with "The Treasure" which gave an explanation for the Watterson's financial troubles and featured a rather dramatic and perilous climax (With the Watterson kids going into an unfamiliar area and nearly getting badly injured in the process). The series then went back to normal light-hearted fare...then came [[SeriesFauxnale The Finale]] where the series NegativeContinuity is deconstructed and the Wattersons discover that their various whimsical misadventures have left long-term effects on Elmore, ultimately resulting in the family [[DownerEnding getting lynched by just about the entire town]].
284** The third season goes back and forth between sillier episodes and...some less sillier episodes that can go from Gumball and Darwin dealing with an obsessed fan and ADayInTheLimelight for various background characters, to fighting an evil pet turtle, Mr. Robinson needing a life-saving operation (in way that isn't quite as played for laughs as usual), and the fact that the world Gumball lives in can just spirit you away to a nightmarish parallel universe if it deems you a "mistake". The season has both DenserAndWackier episodes, along with [[CerebusSyndrome Serious-er]] and [[WhamEpisode Wham-ier]] episodes.
285* The "Rita & Runt" segments of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' often have the typical humor of the show, but sometimes there will be some dark stuff. The best example would be the mostly serious "Puttin' On The Blitz", where Rita and Runt help a little girl reunite with her father on a train during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
286* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' shifted its tones frequently. Season 1 was an episodic and fairly balanced series of semi-serious and humorous stories, while season 2 was serious-toned all the way through (with some amusing moments sprinkled throughout its run). Season 3, on the other hand, went from being serious, to half-serious and jovial, back to being dark again, but with some truly over-the-top comedic moments, which made not only the season but also episode tones shift wildly.
287* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' went through this. Later episodes had the main trio [[spoiler:being ''murdered'' (but revived later) and the return of an old villain who starts killing people in cold blood.]] So, the next episode was a fun romp with Dr. Animo and teradactyl people.
288** The whole franchise is a Cerebus Rollercoaster, from the light and fluffy original, to two Dark and Edgy sequels, finally going LighterAndSofter again for ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse''.
289* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' started using this since the introduction of [[KnightOfCerebus Chip Whistler]], interspersing a largely family-oriented comedy with dramatic and serious moments now and then, and the occasional dark episodes tend to occur when least expected. "Chipwrecked" and "Chipocalypse Now" (especially the latter) completely dive away from the show's usual formula.
290* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' regularly ventures between lighthearted comic-relief episodes and dark, depressing ones. Like ''Rick and Morty'' it tends to switch between both sides within one episode. Occasionally it depends where you're looking on the screen, since even the dark scenes have the odd FunnyBackgroundEvent. The show also loves to use the comedy to either set up the drama or deconstruct the comedy itself. Frequently the show will set up a standard comedy plot, only for it to be deconstructed in such a way as to highlight just how screwed up the characters are. In most comedies, a wild drug and alcohol binge by the protagonist might get them into a crazy situation that ultimately will have no long-term impact. In this show however [[spoiler:one of Bojack's only true friends, one of the only people just like him, [[IntergenerationalFriendship Sarah Lynn]] dies of a drug overdose because of it.]] Bojack impulsively uproots his life to join TheOneThatGotAway? She's married with kids, but still lets him live in a boat in their yard as a member of the family, parodying the "weird character in a sitcom that's not technically part of the family but is anyways and lives a weird bachelor life". Then he tries to [[spoiler:bang her 17-year-old daughter after getting her friends drunk because he has no idea how to act like an adult.]]
291* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has been doing this in its later years. Take season 10 for example. In order there was 1) The Griffins win the lottery; 2) Brian has a terrifying drug trip and Meg chews out her family for years of harassment; 3) a VerySpecialEpisode where DomesticAbuse was PlayedForDrama; 4) Stewie takes Brian's car for a joyride.
292* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is one of the few successful examples of a comedic series trying this. For example, four consecutive episodes of the fourth season involve 1) an elaborate ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parody/homage; 2) global warming played for laughs (and guest-starring Al Gore's Head); 3) Fry's thousand-years-dead past tragically resurfacing; 4) a wacky escalating war involving paper routes. Gleesh.
293* Good Lord, ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex''. The ongoing story is incredibly dark, and just keeps getting darker... but the breather episodes are crazy funny.
294* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' tends to do this frequently throughout its run. One moment, you have several lighthearted episodes that detail the kids' adventures such as one episode where they are trying to break a world record and another episode where Helga accidentally leaves her declaration of love for Arnold on his answering machine. Then the next moment, you have some pretty depressing episodes such as the Pigeon Man episode and the episode "Helga on the Couch" where it explains about how Helga was neglected by her parents in favor of her older sister Olga.
295* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' is quite guilty of this. Whereas it is mostly a soap opera (and therefore leaning moreso towards drama in spite of it being a [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids Saturday Morning Cartoon]]), the FiveEpisodePilot were among the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] of the series and involved mature situations such as multiple counts of kidnapping and attempted murder and a scene of male-on-female violence. However, there were several light-hearted episodes once it became a regular series, like "The Rock Fashion Book", "Hot Time in Hawaii" and "In Search of the Stolen Album". By the time of the third and final season, it came back to being this given the inclusion of The Stingers, who unlike the Holograms' other rival band The Misfits, qualified as {{No Nonsense Villain}}s (particularly the bassist Rapture, who antics and attitude towards most of the characters veer dangerously close to sociopathy) and "Out of the Past" and "A Change of Heart" (which feature a vital PosthumousCharacter dying in a plane crash and another current character nearly being DrivenToSuicide) once again showcasing how serious the show's subject matter can be.
296* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is this by design, combining high-stakes adventure episodes (which have surprisingly dark points for a TV-Y show) mostly in the season premieres and finales, with lighthearted comedy and everyday life lessons in between. It should be noted that it still doesn't skimp on the jokes and lightheartedness in the 2-part adventure episodes, however, so it's not THAT big of a shift. With the exception of the first season, each of the others' BookEnds with darker or story-changing episodes.
297* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' loves to do this as of the episode "What Goes Up..." One episode might have the light-hearted plot of the kids trying to build a tower on the moon, the next might be bleaker and focus on the kids struggling to prevent the local Deep Space Array from not getting funded.
298* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' was mostly comical during season 1, but the season ended with a somewhat darker two-part episode. Season two went back to comical for half of the season, but kicked off a plot for the second half that ended with a WhamEpisode. Season 3 got darker every four episodes, before spending the last ten minutes with a MusicalEpisode. Season 4 goes to the point of ''Cyberspace Annihilation'', then swings back into comedy. ''THEN'' a previous villain returns, '''[[TheBadGuyWins WINS]]''', and we get a {{Cliffhanger}}. This series is a freakin' mood yoyo.
299* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' is pretty much always dark. Whether the dark is utterly hilarious or depressingly serious is another matter. Race of man-made people taking a restaurant hostage, being held on trial for the death of a giant, or getting ready to bring Armageddon to start another Adam and Eve situation? Hilarious. Marital troubles, other versions of you from other dimensions causing trouble, and [[spoiler:replacing yourself in another universe seconds after the you from that one died]]? Disturbing. And it's not uncommon to switch between the two sides several times in the same episode (e.g. what happens when you create a universe solely to provide you with power).
300* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' uses this trope as darker and more serious episodes are interspersed with jarringly comedic ones. Because most episodes are in their own little bubble, there is no overall story to interrupt and in most cases, the darkest and grimmest episodes have the exact same impact on the show as the ones about absurd nonsense - that is, [[StatusQuoIsGod none]].
301* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' alternates between its largely-humorous episode stories and its [[{{Angst}} very]] [[DarkerAndEdgier different]] story arc.
302* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' jumps between fairly grounded stories with low-key humor and dramatic stakes and completely off-the-wall cartoon anarchy at the tip of a hat. Watching "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E11HomersTripleBypass Homer's Triple Bypass]]", the plot of which revolves around Homer nearly dying from a heart attack and not being able to afford a transplant, then following it up with the completely wacky and surreal "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail Marge Vs. The Monorail]]" can be a hell of a whiplash.
303* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has plenty of episodes that deal with both lighthearted and serious themes, even at once. For instance, "Raisins" has a main plot of Stan being depressed after a breakup with Wendy, and a much more comedy-focused subplot of Butters thinking a Hooters-type waitress is actually his girlfriend. "Marjorine", a mostly silly episode about Butters going undercover as a girl to steal a fortune teller, has a ''very'' disturbing opening of him faking his death and his parents' subsequent grief.
304* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' is very fond of this, with its MythArc concerning the possible re-ignition of an interstellar war regularly being tempered by lighthearted episodes where the main character forms a band or hangs out at an amusement park. Some of these lighter episodes still manage to take 90-degree turns into dramatic and heartwrenching scenes, however. One notable episode from the show's first season has two characters role act out a children's book before transitioning into a reveal that one of them was ''literally'' grown to be a soldier on the opposing side of the war that her current family fought and that she constantly agonizes about this fact, worrying that the others see her as a lesser being because of it.
305* This is increasingly true of the 2012 ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series. It's a lot goofier than its 2003 predecessor, with the addition of a lot of Japanese visual humor. Despite that, the show can get ''very'' dark when it wants to, featuring, among other things, [[spoiler:the Shredder beating the turtles to a pulp in a fight that almost completely lacks dialog, the horribly burned Rat King almost forcing Splinter to kill his sons, and a goofy heroic wannabe acquaintance of the turtles being painfully transformed into a feral blob monster.]]
306* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', especially in later seasons (season 1 was fairly tonally constant), bouncing back and forth from lighthearted action-comedy, to [[BizarroEpisode utter random goofiness]], to some surprisingly intense darkness. Honestly, when you've got an episode centered around ''sentient [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] [[AliensStealCattle cow abducting]] space tofu'' that comes shortly after an episode where the local {{Woobie}} gets tortured by being shown a vision of the apocalypse at her hands in a scene strongly choreographed to suggest ''rape'', your show has officially become the embodiment of this.
307* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' (much like ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' and ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse''), is mostly a lighthearted, wacky action-adventure show with a gazillion silly in-jokes, but it took every chance it got to dive into darker waters: Ratchet's recollections of the past war, Optimus' backstory, [[spoiler:Omega Supreme's purpose, and especially Blurr's death]] are fully serious and dramatic. Even Waspinator, who retains some of his comedic persona from ''Beast Wars'', has a dark origin and constantly switches from his goofy self to a horrifying, tragic re-imagining of himself.
308* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' is a black comedy that can veer into this when one considers the implications of what is happening. This is the series that in its relatively more lighthearted first season still was the {{Trope Namer|s}} for PoweredByAForsakenChild, based on the orphan's heart used for the LotusEaterMachine, and while that heart is implied to be only one of the morally questionable parts Dr. Venture used, it is also the only one he is willing to reveal.
309* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' takes the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' road. While it is LighterAndSofter and DenserAndWackier than the usual Spidey fare, its main arc plot is much darker than the comedic episodes. Season 2 seems to be going for a more mature arc plot too, while still maintaining humour.
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