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1You were a kid in TheEighties or TheNineties and grew up watching your favorite MerchandiseDriven cartoon but lost interest as you grew older. Suddenly it's either TheNineties, the TurnOfTheMillennium or TheNewTens and you are bored, flipping through the channels one day or using the Internet and what do you see? A DarkerAndEdgier (or UltimateUniverse-ish) revamp of the show you used to watch! It's good! You get sucked right into it! Fast forward to the TurnOfTheMillennium and to a lesser extent, TheNewTens and you hear news that this show is being adapted into a very beefed up, big budget LiveActionAdaptation. You go into the theaters, and what do you notice? All the other moviegoers are in their 20s like yourself and probably grew up watching the show like you did. This isn't a coincidence; whoever created the show made a decision to gradually increase the target audience's age as its fans grew older. This trope is one of the biggest sources of OldGuardVersusNewBlood trouble around. It's absolutely great for the old guard, but the new blood often feels it just isn't the same if they came in late.
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3For instance, when ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' aired, a lot of old-school Degrassi fans wished the show had stuck to the old characters (who were now adults), while the new ''Degrassi'' fans were annoyed that adult characters had their own storylines in a TeenDrama. Later, when the Next Generation cast got too old to stay in HighSchool, the producers were stuck either following them to college and on (which didn't really fit the format) or switching to a new bunch of kids (who nobody cared about). The producers did ''both'' and satisfied nobody.
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5Contrast FleetingDemographic, where the series/franchise switches to a younger audience as the former audience matures.
6----
7!!Examples:
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12[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
13* ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'' and ''Anime/DigimonAdventureLastEvolutionKizuna'': While ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' was aimed at kids, the films are geared teens and adults that grew up watching the original series, having more mature plotlines and themes.
14* While ''Franchise/DragonBall'' has always been a children's franchise in Japan, its English localization has grown with the audience (although that doesn't stop the franchise having a broad MultipleDemographicAppeal). This is due to Japan and America having [[ValuesDissonance very different ideas about what is and isn't appropriate for children in media]] and Funimation's localization attitude changing drastically a few years after ''Dragon Ball'' was launched. Originally, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Funimation heavily re-versioned the series to reflect western animation of the time]] and follow strict syndication rules. When syndication ended, the show was edited to be KinderAndCleaner and family-friendly on TV and VHS, but was uncut on DVD. The uncut release (with blood, violence and mild swearing) is now the only version of the series available. ''[[Anime/DragonBallZKai Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters]]'' and ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' both premiered on Creator/AdultSwim, with no family-friendly version (at least in the United States until Toonami in Asia became defunct) for now.
15* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' was and still is a series intended for the shonen audience, but its anime has been running for so long that the audience reading it in 2003 will have long become young adults by 2013, with its anime following suit. While earlier anime arcs aired at standard viewing hours for children's shows, the nastier, bloodier arcs like Rakuyo that came in its later years aired at OtakuOClock, knowing full well their audience would be able to see it despite the time shift.
16* While the original ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' anime was broadcast in a general audience timeslot in Japan (Mondays at 7 p.m.) with the primary target of preteens, ''Inuyasha: The Final Act'' aired in the OtakuOClock timeslot and is aimed at finally giving a manga-based conclusion to those original preteen fans.
17* ''Anime/PrettyCure'': ''Anime/PowerOfHopePrecureFullBloom'' is a sequel to ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' featuring the once preteen protagonists of that show (and of its immediate predecessor ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'') as adults, releasing 15 years after the current adult audience watched the original shows as toddlers.
18* When the first ''Anime/{{SailorMoon}}'' anime got a ContinuityReboot called ''Sailor Moon Crystal'' (what's more ironic is like the first anime, it's more LighterAndSofter than the Manga), the series had cases of this.
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21[[folder:Comic Books]]
22* The entire American comics industry has fallen into this over the past 20 years or so, with about 90% of titles out there right now focusing on the teen/twenty-something demographic.
23* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
24** ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' started out as a gag comic with elements taken from both cartoons (''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'', ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'') running when it premiered. It eventually started moving more into a serialized dramedy before fully making the leap to action the older its readers got. While there is still a bit of levity here and there, the arcs up to its cancellation were nowhere near as silly as when it started.
25** ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'' was made with those older readers in mind, so the reader who grew up with the Archie comics would expect to read something action-packed and dramatic from the get-go. True to form, the story immediately picks up from a war arc, and only gets darker from there.
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28[[folder:Fan Works]]
29* ''Fanfic/TokimekiPokeLiveAndTwinbee'':
30** The author of this fanfic series intends for it to be considered a ''Franchise/LoveLive'' equivalent to ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' media such as ''Anime/PokemonOrigins'' and ''WebAnimation/PokemonGenerations'', which are aimed more at adult fans of ''Pokémon'' who grew up playing the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova based games who are now adults, and like those [=OVAs=], ''PokéLive!'' can also get quite dark at times and the overall story has a more mature feel to it, including touching upon topics like the death of biological parents, adoption, global-level apocalypses, GlobalWarming, war (At least, through the mention of a small-scale nuclear war that happens in a possible future in which [[OriginalCharacter Aleena]] lives.), duty and becoming a hero or heroine for the greater good as well as a sequel saga that shows the various characters involved in specific pairings, such as Hilda and Shizuku, as married couples and who also have children in their adult years too!
31** There are multiple shoutouts/references to various media that fans of the franchises involved in the crossover are most likely familiar with as well as some that may well fly over their heads such as some references to old sitcoms like ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' and ''Series/SanfordAndSon'' as well as a couple of references to ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' as well as other old Hollywood movies and there is an attempt to give the series MultipleDemographicAppeal so there's something for everyone as well as meshing various continuities of the franchises involved to give it an UltimateUniverse feel! In addition to the aforenentioned PKMN fans, ''PokéLive!'' will most likely appeal to those who were younger teens, tweens or even children who first got into LL! through the ''[[Anime/LoveLive School Idol Project]]'' and ''[[Anime/LoveLiveSunshine Sunshine]]'' anime and/or the original ''[[VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestival School Idol Festival]]'' mobile game when those first came out who are most likely adults or older teens now at the very least, and who may also want a more darker, {{Shonen}}-like take on the legendary idol franchise!
32* This is the purpose of Thomas Vaccaro's [[WebVideo/UnicornOfWarWinxClubRewriteSeries rewrite of Seasons 5 and 6]] of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub''. He made the rewrite series with the intention of keeping to the more mature, complex tone of the series' first 3 canon seasons, which was abandoned in Season 4 and onward in favor of making a LighterAndSofter show in an attempt to appeal more to children. For one thing, the rewrite keeps the titular heroes as adults rather than rewriting them as teens. It also deals with a greater amount of adult themes than the canon series, including LGBT relationships, racism and discrimination, AbusiveParents, loss of one's culture, and miscarriage.
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36[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
37* The prequel to ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc1'', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', which focuses on Sulley's and Mike's college days, came out when the audience for the original movie were in college.
38* Part of the appeal of the ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' movies was that many children who saw the show when it first premiered in 2013 would be teens in 2021. Most likely, many thought that it would just be another series for children of preschool age. Nope. The increased presence of the PeripheryDemographic of adults and teens was also a likely factor.
39* ''Franchise/ToyStory'' has been growing with its initial audience throughout the entire franchise, most notably in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' where main-character Andy is set to go to college and most of the original Toy Story fans, at the time who are at their College/University years, related to him for that reason. ''Westernanimation/ToyStory4'' (a GrandFinale for Woody's Story Arc) had equally relatable themes for grown-ups, such as Bo Peep's change of life, and Woody's struggles with making Forky accept his nature.
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42[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
43* Part of the appeal of ''Film/{{Logan}}'', an even more DarkerAndEdgier [[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]] spin-off that's the GrandFinale to Wolverine's film appearances (and as well as the title that's very comparable to Manga/{{Berserk}}, of all things, in terms of tone, storytelling and themes), was that anyone who saw the original film as a child in 2000 would be in their twenties in 2017.
44* ''Film/ChristopherRobin'' contrasts with previous Disney's ''Franchise/{{Winnie The Pooh}}'' projects with this trope.
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47[[folder:Literature]]
48* Creator/JKRowling intentionally wrote the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series to encompass more mature and scarier themes as the young readers got a little older for each book. This is also reflected in the other media of the franchise: The film adaptations, from ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' (where Harry turns 14) onward, would receive 12A/PG-13 (with the odd exception of ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' in the U.S.) ratings instead of PG. Later on, both ''[[Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild Cursed Child]]'' and ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' have adult protagonists and adult conflicts (contrast the depiction of child neglect/abuse in ''Philosopher's Stone'' and ''Fantastic Beasts'').
49* Creator/AlanGarner wrote two fantasy novels in the early [[TheSixties 1960s]], aimed at a readership of 12 or above. [[CreatorBacklash The fact he didn't like the books very much]] meant it took him a long time to get around to writing a concluding sequel, ''Literature/{{Boneland}}''. Fifty years, to be precise. ''Boneland'' is as far away as you can possibly get from the certainties and the linear plot of ''Literature/TheMoonOfGomrath''. The book has a dark, grey, quality to it and follows one of the child-characters from the earlier books into adulthood. Colin, the heroic child who entered Faerie at age twelve, is bewildered, disillusioned, on the brink of the male menopause and fighting mental health issues. He is, quite literally, wondering where the Magic went to. It isn't difficult to suspect Garner is writing an ironic postscript for all those children who devoured the magic of ''Brisingamen'' and ''Gomrath''. And then grew up into adults, thinking back to the magical excitement of reading Garner's adventures as kids, and who today....
50* The ''Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon'' books got progressively darker as the series went on, in lockstep with what the original readers were old enough to handle. It started as an unquestionably silly children's franchise and ended dealing with such subjects as slavery, torture, and genocide.
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53[[folder:Live Action TV]]
54* ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' was a ComingOfAge story centered around Cory Matthews, and over the course of the series softly modifies the issues and situations that the characters get involved with at the relative age they were supposed to be. The first season had Cory in the "girls are icky" phase, the second season shows him and Topanga getting together, graduates high school in the fifth season, in college in the sixth and married in the seventh. Some of this is tested out with his older brother Eric dealing with things Cory has to handle later on. The rather frankness in how the show dealt with complicated life problems (Cory and Topanga's intimacy is a subject of multiple episodes, Shawns' family life is very troubled) contributes to its lasting appeal. The SequelSeries ''Series/GirlMeetsWorld'' attempts to replicate the idea, but the change in network to Creator/DisneyChannel and three season run prevented them from having this kind of continuity.
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57[[folder:Multiple Media]]
58* Toys/{{BIONICLE}}, in its original run, went whole-hog with this, especially in the later years. It featured shades of CosmicHorrorStory, named characters dying, and thoughts of nihilism and hopelessness. The series even had the guile to have an ending where [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins, if only temporarily]]. The intent seemed to be to make stories more mature as the audience inevitably got mature.
59* At times compared to many {{Toku}} series, ''Franchise/KamenRider'' has many cases of this.
60* Creator/{{Toonami}} is an odd example, as it is a programming block that originally aired during daytime Creator/CartoonNetwork with a target audience of kids and preteens, was {{uncanceled}}, then received a new placement during the Creator/AdultSwim {{watershed}} hours with a new teenage and adult audience. That said, most of the programming for both incarnations of the block is Japanese anime that was targeted towards kids in their native Japan.
61* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' started as [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers a daily syndicated cartoon]] based on [[MerchandiseDriven a line of toys]] and meant to appeal to a young crowd.
62** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'' was rather infamous for ramping up the violence, including some language and featuring on-screen deaths of the most popular characters, which was partially due to the [[DarkerAndEdgier dramatic shift in tone]] so early in the franchises history. While the kids were not ready for it then, it's been somewhat VindicatedByHistory because older fans grew to love how insane that tonal shift was.
63** TheNineties brought in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', which was fairly kid friendly but aimed for a more all-ages approach alongside the occasional mature content that proved Transformers could cultivate an older audience.
64** The ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' by Creator/MichaelBay included some sophomoric humor but elevated the action and violence to a blockbuster level that had not been seen before, bringing in an audience that never realized they wanted something like it.
65** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' found a new mixture of goofy humor and mature storytelling that they could combine with ContinuityPorn, which came in contrast to the previous Anime/UnicronTrilogy that didn't appeal as much to older fans due to the more simplistic plot and StockFootage heavy show. After ''Animated'', ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' and its follow-up ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' would flex back and forth between which demographic it was aiming towards but still kept an eye towards keeping the MultipleDemographicAppeal.
66** Throughout all of these shows, Hasbro noted that sometimes they would skew a little too high and develop toys that were more advanced than the original age group was capable of handling. This made them create a two-stage process with one line of toys actually intended for 6 year olds and another meant to be appreciated by 10 and up.
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69[[folder:Music]]
70* ''Music/ConfessionExecutiveCommittee'' never loses Music/HoneyWorks' overarching theme of "youth" over its run and still likes to make lighthearted high school romances and situations, but the older groups of the cast are shown going from inexperienced and clumsy teenagers to navigating their relationships through college, jobs, and other obstacles while they become adults. The story also starts branching out into adult worries and life outside the main cast, such as married life with the Narumi parents or the bittersweetness of a TeacherStudentRomance and bachelorhood with Saku Akechi. Given that most of the franchise's intended demographic was teenagers, they're subjected to seeing characters they grew up with go on to have a life and career of their own, while the franchise still secures younger viewers by making new generations of teens (albeit with different problems).
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73[[folder:Video Games]]
74* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series has become increasingly more mature and complex as it goes on, as have other JRPG franchises such as Nintendo's ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' and ''Franchise/FireEmblem'', SEGA's ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'', and Bandai-Namco's ''VideoGame/TalesSeries''. While Square-Enix's ''Final Fantasy''-related RPG series ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' is LighterAndSofter compared to its inspiration, it has been taking this route as well, to the point that the themes became more understandable to the now-grown-up fans who played them back in their younger years.
75* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' has many cases of this, whether depicting Link more as an adult man than a child or worlds more sprawling with more complex themes.
76* The ''Franchise/MegaMan'' franchise rose from humble beginnings as a [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic series]] about a robot defending the world from the jealous Dr. Wily. Then came the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series, which featured far more intense combat and mechanics on top of a more mature protagonist who just wants the fighting to stop, and as that series made the jump to the Platform/PlayStation, it explored the [[{{DeconReconSwitch}} dark implications while at the same time, solving them on certain cases]] of building an entire line of fully sentient robots. The ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series went even further by exploring the oppression of Reploids and how Zero and Ciel were working towards human-Reploid equality. And while ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' is LighterAndSofter, it still carries much of ''X'' and ''Zero''[='=]s mature themes.
77* Nintendo's ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' trilogy (despite being a QuirkyWork and as well as looking more like a Peanuts comic strip than other JRPG games) had cases of this, especially with the GrandFinale of the entire trilogy, ''VideoGame/Mother3''. While the first two games were rather standard {{Eastern RPG}}s in an UrbanFantasy setting, the final game deals with themes such as the loss of family members and the corrupting nature of capitalism.
78* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' video games have taken on more mature subjects in their storylines over the years as their original audience has now grown to adulthood. Later games deal with themes like whether or not capturing Pokemon counts as animal abuse, AbusiveParents, world overpopulation, alternate dimensions, broken families, over-worked employees, and more. The later villains are also far greater in threat and [[VileVillainSaccharineShow vileness]] than [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily Team Rocket]] from the earlier games. On another front, the games have slowly begun acknowledging the TournamentPlay scene in-universe, to cater to the younger players who got into competitive battling as they grew up. Later games add AntiFrustrationFeatures aimed specifically at competitive players.
79* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' had an irreverent air about itself. It leaned heavily into BlackComedy and while it doesn't go outright into [[InsaneEqualsViolent "all mentally ill people are dangerous psychos"]] territory, some of the portrayal of mentally ill characters could be considered offensive or uninformed by a modern viewer. ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'' takes itself more seriously than the first game and has mature portrayals of complex themes such as grief and PTSD. It mostly helps that the SequelGap of 16 years meant that there was a lot of time for the series to mature and for the people behind it to gain a more nuanced understanding of the human psyche.
80* The ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series has [[CyclicTrope cycled through this]].
81** The games' stories started out in a typical cartoony video game setting with the protagonist fighting Eggman and his army of robots. Then came ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', a DarkerAndEdgier installment with pointedly more mature themes than any previous game in the series, with much of the CharacterDevelopment of the cast being themed around not relying on others and becoming more independent. ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' took this even further, dealing with themes such as a corrupt military murdering innocent scientists and weapons of mass destruction.
82** When ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' took this to ludicrous extents and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' was slammed for its overly convoluted plot among other things, a growing backlash towards this trend forced Sega to go back and aim for a younger audience again, especially with ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' and beyond by going LighterAndSofter and undoing much of the character growth experienced in the previous games.
83** After the lighter direction would receive a backlash itself, Creator/SonicTeam went for a second attempt at this. First came ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', which earned a very mixed reaction due to audiences feeling it failed to commit to its promise as a return to a darker story. This would lead to ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'', which committed harder to a mature direction by taking on a more contemplative, melancholy atmosphere compared to previous games and reinstated much of the CharacterDevelopment from the ''Adventure'' games.
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86[[folder:Western Animation]]
87* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': Whereas its first season was full of one-off comedic adventure stories, by its final season over eight years later, episodes would showcase [[ContinuityLockOut heavy continuity]], regularly tackle mature themes, and be seeped in metaphor and existentialist ideas as main character Finn matured from a child into a young adult while the older supporting cast also began to receive more focus. Both its [[SequelSeries sequel miniseries]], ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventureTimeDistantLands Distant Lands]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventureTimeFionnaAndCake Fionna and Cake]]'', would continue on this track, with the latter (which premiered thirteen years after the start of the franchise) being explicitly targeted at a young adult audience.
88* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' did this for its "classic" continuity, at least narratively, as it followed and expanding on the same plotlines and characters for nine years. In terms of tone, however, only ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' and ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' can be said to be DarkerAndEdgier than the original series. Diminishing popularity overseas would result in that continuity's final entry being DenserAndWackier to better appeal to its target demographic, before the [[ContinuityReboot series was rebooted entirely]].
89* The ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'' fluctuates with this process, with different shows taking a different approach to things. That said, the movies did tend to be more adult than normal, especially ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker''. ''WebAnimation/LoboWebseries'' is the only installment to get a TV-MA rating. Years after the franchise concluded, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndHarleyQuinn'' was released that including more overt swearing, sexual situations and ToiletHumor, which came to a more mixed response.
90* Creator/WarrenEllis wrote a DarkerAndEdgier treatment of ''Franchise/GIJoe'' called ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'', which premiered first as a WebOriginal series. While hardcore current fans [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks did not really appreciate the changes]], It did receive positive reviews from casual fans who had grown up with the series.
91* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' with respect to ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. This example is a bit more literal than most. If a 12-year-old kid watched ''A:TLA'' when it was first broadcast in 2005, they would start the first series at the same age as its kid protagonist, and finish ''LOK'' in 2014 at the same age as ''its'' 21-year-old adult protagonist.
92* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' does this from a meta-perspective throughout the series. The first three (and to a lesser extent four) seasons had each episode end with Twilight or one of the other Mane Six [[LessonOfTheDaySpeech spelling out to the audience the moral learned that episode]] in the form of writing letters to Celestia or writing in their Friendship Journal. By season five, the concept was completely dropped, as the writers felt that any children who had been watching the show for that long would have matured enough to understand the lessons without needing them spoon-fed at the end of each episode. The increased presence of the adult PeripheryDemographic was also a likely factor.
93* Creator/JohnKricfalusi tried this with ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon'', amping up the violence and grossout humor, incorporating blatant sexual themes and making the HomoeroticSubtext between Ren and Stimpy less ambiguous. It ended up getting panned.
94* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' fits this trope because when it first aired it was a children's show that focused on the exploits of toddlers. However when the show passed the ten-year mark, it was revamped into ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'', aging the protagonists to the status of pre-teens to appeal to the aging original audience of Rugrats.
95* The first four seasons of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' (which originally aired from 2001 to 2004), while generally more ambitious in style and serious in tone than other shows from Creator/CartoonNetwork at the time, were still rated TV-Y7. The fifth season, made 16 years later, is rated TV-PG and TV-14 for a good reason, dealing with BloodierAndGorier levels of violence and DarkerAndEdgier themes (such as the main character contemplating [[DespairEventHorizon the possibility of suicide]]).
96* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' started out light-hearted yet becoming more plot-driven and mature over the years. However, it still successfully manages to stay child-friendly enough so as not to exclude new audiences.
97* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' was already pretty mature for a show that aired on Cartoon Network for kids, resulting it having a strong PeripheryDemographic of teens and adults until it was cancelled in 2013. After it was {{uncancelled}} a few years later for streaming services, the show bumped up from a TV-PG to TV-14 rating, exploring more mature themes and occasionally dabbling in more gory and violent content, with this trope being the reason given for the demographic shift.
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