->''A previous episode of this show involved several thousand innocent people being violently murdered with machine guns. Just thought we should mention that.''
-->-- Description for the second FestivalEpisode of ''CodeGeass'' on AdultSwim.com

Fiction often has far extremes. They cover the gamut of emotion, from tragedy to comedy. Sometimes these two will be so close together that they make the viewer's head spin! Done well, the contrast in moods can make each emotion all the more poignant and effective. Done poorly, the contrast can jar the reader/viewer right out of the story.

Sometimes Mood Whiplash can extend to entire sequels, where the original was funny but its sequel is rather dark.
More often, however, a dark film will spawn a sequel that [[{{Sequelitis}} degenerates]] into self-parody and farce.

In episodic media, this trope will often take the form of a [[BreatherEpisode light-hearted stand-alone episode]] breaking up a darker StoryArc.

This trope often goes hand in hand with OutOfGenreExperience. Compare MoodDissonance, where the contrast is compressed into a single scene, and SoundtrackDissonance, the musical equivalent.

Not to be confused with DastardlyWhiplash.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* The ''FruitsBasket'' manga loves this. After a serious chapter or two, it'll switch to one that's light hearted. Those chapters usually involve the student council.
* The ultimate heavyweight champion: ''MyNeighborTotoro'' and ''GraveOfTheFireflies'' were originally released as a double feature.
** ''MyNeighborTotoro'' has this on its own. Satsuki and Mei meeting their fun new next-door neighbors that live in the woods around the shrine, with [[spoiler: ten minutes of Satsuki running around town trying to find Mei, who appears to have drowned in the river]], before the end (which has [[spoiler: more mostly-lighthearted fun]]).
* ''ElfenLied'' has a lot of similar whiplashes, intermixing light-hearted comedy, sweet romance, heart-wrenching drama, and sadistic carnage.
* ''{{SaiKano}}'': The mood often switches radically ''on the same page''. ''Repeatedly''.
* Same for ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'', intermixing thrilling HumongousMecha action with highly painful drama. And [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins]].
* All of ''KodomoNoOmocha'' deals with tears and laughter, usually in the same episode. Most consider it a well-done portrayal of growing up.
** WELL DONE POTRAYAL OF GROWING UP?! [[MemeticMutation DAMN YOU LOLICONS!!]]
* ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'' TV Series and movie intentionally created MoodWhiplash, often to make fun of the audience for taking things seriously. Especially later, when the WriterOnBoard started sacrificing characters for their [[AnAesop Aesops]].
*''{{Mai-HiME}}'' had a humorous beach episode right after a female character's boyfriend disintegrated in her arms, and she went catatonic.
** An even more drastic example in the same series is episode sixteen, where literally seconds after the [=HiMEs=] are declaring their eternal friendship, the LovableTraitor Nagi tells them that they must [[spoiler:fight each other in a BattleRoyale, in which defeat causes the same disintegration to the person dearest to the loser]].
* Entire series Mood Whiplash include ''{{Gatekeepers}}'' and its sequel, ''{{Gatekeepers 21}}''.
* Also seen in ''[[JinkiExtend Jinki:Extend]]'' which was one series, but based on a manga and its sequel.
*''KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'' whiplashes back and forth between sweet, thoughtful LoveTriangle romance and over-the-top slapstick comedy.
* Naru in ''LoveHina'' is a champion (it is the lead in for her ''MegatonPunch''), but Motoko is also well versed in it. Keitaro plummets into anguish with equal speed.
* ''{{Clannad}}'' is guilty of this in the second half of the After Story series. To give an example, take the episode where [[spoiler:Nagisa died. Heart wrenching, of course, with Tomoya quickly becoming a crying wreck while holding his newly born child]] Aaaaaaand cue the upbeat happy J-pop ED!
* ''{{Bleach}}'' takes this to a whole 'nother level. While it already had standard MoodWhiplash episodes following dramatic episodes (usually revolving around Kon, Ichigo's sisters, or FakeUltimateHero Don Kanonji), during the {{Filler}} arc a brief clip comic relief snippet, titled Shinigami Cup, was placed after the credits of each episode. The clip displayed various of ''Bleach'''s numerous characters doing all sorts of things, from managing their hair in the morning to attending club meetings.
** Something similar happened with {{Naruto}} after Shippuden started, although omakes weren't shown after some of the more serious episodes (especially around the time [[spoiler:Asuma]] died).
** There's also the ending credits song "Happy People" (as upbeat as it sounds) which premiered at the end of what is probably the least appropriate episode possible. The episode ends with [[spoiler: Ichigo falling over in a puddle of his own blood after having been stabbed through the chest.]] "Happy people! Happy people!"
* Some anime series make use of detached, noncanonical {{OVA}}s for the MoodWhiplash feel. For example, the Chibi Party OVA of ''FullMetalAlchemist''.
**Personally, I think the random comedy moments within the show itself count as well. It'll be serious, serious -- ten seconds of comedy that come out of nowhere -- back to serious. There seems to be less of this in the latter portion of the series, which could probably be attributed to many things including the darker tone of the show overall and the anime having overtaken the manga.
** The manga has significantly more humor than the anime, and often includes humorous moments in the middle of fights. The author herself stated that manga is supposed to be entertaining, and thus wanted to minimize the focus on sad scenes (then again, this is the same manga that has [[spoiler:Hughes' well-known TearJerker funeral scene]]).
** The manga has gone so far as to actually throw in a humorous moment right after a character meets a gruesome fate, in ''the same scene'', [[spoiler: namely, Yoki charging in right after Heinkel ''rips Kimbley's throat out'']], or having characters crack jokes about political propaganda right next to [[spoiler: Mrs Bradley]] breaking down when told her husband and child are apparently dead. As the series progresses, things get darker and more serious, but instead of [[CerebusSyndrome cutting the humor]], it refuges in more extreme [[MoodWhiplash mood whiplashes]] and GallowsHumor.
* ''CowboyBebop'' generally doesn't change moods in mid-episode, but episodes have been in every possible style -- from romantic fairy-tales to moody {{Deconstruction}} to classic HeroicBloodshed.
** An in-episode example would be "Speak Like a Child". Most of the episode is lighthearted and silly as Spike and Jet attempt to find the right equipment to watch a [[TheRing mysterious videotape]]. When they finally succeed, they find out that the tape is [[spoiler:a message which Faye made as a child and sent to herself in the future, telling her never to lose her younger self. She doesn't remember a thing.]] ''Ouch.''
** Used quite well in "Waltz for Venus". Towards the end of the episode, Spike and Roco, who Spike met in that episode, confront a gang that Roco stole a valuable plant from (to cure his sick sister). [[spoiler: As the fight starts, it plays typical, upbeat fight music. Eventually a gang member comes after Roco, but he quickly defeats him by using a technique that Spike had tried to teach him earlier in the episode. He is so happy that he did the technique right that he gives Spike a thumbs up. Spike returns the thumbs up and immediately after, Roco is shot and the music stops. The MoodWhiplash makes Roco's death hit the viewer pretty hard, even though he was only introduced that episode.]]
*''ExcelSaga'', while mostly a parodic anime, does this later in the series, having moving moments almost directly followed by comedy.
*''MahouSenseiNegima'' - the first series went for a GeckoEnding when it [[spoiler:killed Asuna on her 14th birthday]]. The very next episode sees Negi examining something on the headteacher's desk, then [[spoiler:breaking down upon realizing that it's one of her bells, out of her ashes. Of course, by the end of the series, with help from Chao Lingshen and others in 3A, [[IGotBetter she gets better]] the moment Negi and company use the machine Lingshen invented to permanently terminate her deal with the demon king]], but still...
** The manga does this too, the most extreme one occurring when [[spoiler: Ala Alba arrives in Magicus Mundus. Fate appears, impales Negi (who nearly dies of blood loss) with a stone spear, scatters the group across the world, and frames Negi as the person responsible for the whole incident. The next few chapters show that the various members of the group end up selling themselves into slavery, becoming horribly ill, and getting amnesia, among other things.]]
** It also does this in reverse. After about 20 chapters of drama, fights, long-speculated-upon backstory, and a build up to TheReveal, we get a FanService-heavy BreatherEpisode / FuroScene. It is [[CrowningMomentOfFunny very funny]] though.
** And then slammed us all with Ako breaking down in secret.
*''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' - slams very rapidly from sad to inspirational to very, very sad when [[spoiler:Kamina is mortally wounded, but gets back up and destroys the remaining opposition in a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesomeAnime stirring scene]]... ''then'' he dies]]. Later, during the first few post-TimeSkip episodes, after a fast-paced rollercoaster ride of over-the-top badassitude, it seems like the show actually jumped off the same slippery slope that took ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''. Fortunately, that was just to build up momentum to fly up even further BeyondTheImpossible.
** And it continues increasing the awesome up to previously unknown levels of epic, badassness, and screwing fate with sheer willpower. [[spoiler:[[BittersweetEnding Until the last episode's very last part (epilogue included), which left viewers across the globe with their mouths hanging open in disbelief, shock, and denial.]] Then came [[TearJerker the tears]]. And the screams of "[[WallBanger WHAAAAT?!]]" And [[{{Discontinuity}} more denial]].]]
** If you're watching ''Gurren Lagann'' on the Sci-Fi channel, you get an additional whiplash if you stick around after the show's end to see...''NowAndThenHereAndThere''. Talk about mood whiplash!
*** And after that's over we still have half of ''Gurren Lagann'' left, and it'll be followed by the [[{{Gorn}} ultra-violent]], [[ShootTheShaggyDog super-depressing]], [[SoBadItsHorrible often very-disliked]] ''MDGeist''.
* ''{{Gravitation}}'' regularly flip-flops between comedy and angst, depending on how Shuichi reacts to the events happening to him. The most extreme example was after a slapstick sequence of Shuichi and Aizawa being chased by fangirls, then getting drunk together, when [[spoiler:three other men hired by Aizawa come in, and they beat and rape Shuichi]].
** Schoolgirl cosplay directly post [[spoiler:brutal assault]], anyone?
** How about the end of the anime [[spoiler:when Eiri's suicide attempt is interrupted by Shuichi bursting through the ceiling in a dog costume.]]
* ''{{Zeta Gundam}}'', the darkest entry in the ''MobileSuitGundam'' saga, was followed up by ''{{Gundam ZZ}}'', a comedic hijinks series. Following negative reactions, ZZ shifted gears halfway through its run, focusing on drama and politics.
** To be fair, Tomino had a history of following up epic tragedies with comedies, and depressions caused by ExecutiveMeddling can be attributed to at least a few of his KillEmAll endings anyways.
** Speaking of Gundam, the ongoing story arcs from the parody manga ''Gundam-San'' are the absolute king of this. Best example would probably be ''Garma of the Space Island'', a goofy SliceOfLife story about the [[BigScrewedUpFamily Zabi clan]] as a poor family living in a Japanese-style shack. Things take a turn for the worse after Zeon Deikun shows up, but the absolute biggest AudienceSuckerPunch comes when [[spoiler:it turns out the whole thing was Kycilia reminiscing about her dead family, right when Char shows up to deliver her [[BoomHeadshot memorable death scene]].]]
* ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' generally starts each arc with someone dying horribly (or at least a mutilated corpse in plain sight). And then on the other side of the opening credits, lighthearted comedy. And then things go steadily downhill again.
** For ThisTroper, the first season's ending theme provides this effect, especially with the ending of Meakashi-hen:[[spoiler:After an episode of bloody carnage, the last shot we see is of Shion falling to her death, so taking Watanagashi-hen into account, the entire cast of main characters save for Rena and Oishi are now dead. The screen goes black, and we hear the splat of her body hitting the ground.]] Cut to a light, soothing piano piece.
** There's probably at least one person who tuned in to the first episode right after the first scene and opening credits, knowing nothing about the show, and assumed the series was a comedy. It must be like playing ''{{Eversion}}'' blind.
* Then there's ''TenshiNiNarumon'', which does the reverse: silly and random 90% of the time, but with the occasional WhamEpisode tossed in.
* ''PrinceOfTennis'' does this so violently (and very, very deliberately) that if you aren't ready for the MoodWhiplash between high-stakes tournament finales and alternate universe chibi adventures, you're liable to end up in a neck brace.
* Done near the end of ''LuckyStar'', when the normal sequence of slice-of-life gags is broken by a touching segment on why Konata's late mother chose her father.
* ''YuYuHakusho'' does this occasionally, interspersing their tense battles with weird and unexpected humor, such as [[spoiler: when Kuwabara is about to die in his fight with Risho, and Yukina's appearance suddenly makes him super strong; he knocks Risho out with one blow and then proceeds to do muscle-man poses to impress her.]] Another one of note was when [[spoiler: Chuu, in the middle of the power-up which will herald his ultimate technique, runs to the edge of the ring and starts throwing up.]]
* ''TheSlayers'' adores this and makes full use of it, including [[LampshadeHanging hanging lampshades]] on it at every opportunity. In a particularly memorable scene, [[spoiler: Lina has been put out of action and is possibly dead despite Sylphiel's efforts, the rest of the cast are facing the season's [[BigBad Big Bad]] with various injuries and no hope of winning -- and Amelia's overprotective father, the ridiculously over-the-top Prince Philionel, arrives from nowhere and makes a fool out of himself by challenging the enemy in the name of justice. Zelgadis [[FourthWall explains this]] by commenting, "Well, they can't let these episodes get ''too'' serious."]]
* ''SchoolDays'' starts as a charming romantic comedy and decays into an [[TrueArtIsAngsty angsty nightmare]].
* Arguably the entire point of the weird broadcast order of episodes in ''[[SuzumiyaHaruhi The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' is to recreate the mood whiplash that occurs in the novels, but on a TwelveEpisodeAnime timescale. More directly, though, the WhamEpisode probably qualifies as mood whiplash, as a series about the personal weirdness of its title character suddenly turns out to be about the very real dangers that puts the rest of the cast into.
* The 8th volume of ''[=~D.Gray-Man~=]'' features this trope in a particularly jarring way. After the last page, when [[spoiler:everyone on the ship dies cheering on the main characters after Miranda deactivates her innocence, from the woman and her bodyguard that were set up to be main (or at least reoccuring) characters to the nameless crewmen celebrating for the last time belowdecks]], the very next page is an omake featuring the wacky hijinks of the creator and her assistants.
* ''TsukuyomiMoonphase'' flips from the light-hearted, daily life of a cute monster girl and her surrogate family, to dark, full-out battle sequences between the villains that almost look like they're from another show! The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoNNU1uawj0 main title sequence]] doesn't help any.
* ''{{Jubei-Chan}}'' uses this to great effect. One moment Jiyu's engaged in some heart warming highjinks the next she's plummeting down a cliff face with [[HighPressureBlood high velocity blood loss]].
* ''ViolinistOfHameln'' is the '''''king''''' of this trope. Accept no substitutes. The series flips from drama, tragedy, and angst to heartwarming romance and then to outright ludicrous gags pretty much with the turning of a page; to list every instance of MoodWhiplash would be to summarize every page and line of dialogue. The real kicker is that it's pulled off surprisingly well and the characters become very complex as a result. Note that this only applies to the manga, the {{Anime}} starts out horribly sad and pretty much stays that way.
* ''RozenMaiden'' much? The series mixes the daily antics of a group of immature, childish dolls trying to acclimate themselves to and enjoy their new life, with much [[HilarityEnsues hilarity ensuing]]...except that these same dolls are forced to compete in a Highlander-style fight, forced to kill their own sisters or be killed by them.
*''{{Kanon}}'' keeps bouncing between [[TearJerker Tear Jerkers]], SitCom- style humor, and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Crowning Moments Of Heartwarming]].
* ''NaruTaru'' starts out looking like a cute and perky {{Mons}} series, but then just a few episodes/chapters later, [[spoiler:the adorable mascot spears a boy through the chest with a big pointy object]]... and [[ItGotWorse it keeps getting darker and darker from there]].
* ''HoneyAndClover'' is a series that handles the whiplash from madcap comedy to rather dramatic introspection, then to near melodramatic romance quite well throughout the entire run, and even within the same episode.
* ''{{Gintama}}'' will often do this several times within a single episode.
* ''SoltyRei'' has some episodes where the transition between comedy and serious, somewhat-noirish action takes place in a matter of seconds.
* ''{{Strike Witches}}'' is, for the first eight episodes, a light {{fanservice}} show with [[{{Once An Episode}} regular]] Neuroi attacks, albeit with reference to the war going on in the background. The end of episode eight [[spoiler:shows the titular unit's commander pointing a gun at her second in command, demanding her resignation]]. [[ItGotWorse Things get even worse]] from then on, up to and including [[spoiler:a conspiracy to pull the Witches out of battle]].
* ''BusouRenkin'' starts with the main character getting stabbed right though the chest to the main character waking up and causing a mess in the dorms screaming that he was killed and that he will be avenged. The series flip-flops between the hilarious and the deathly serious fairly consistently.
* ''[[MahouTsukaiNiTaisetsuNaKotoNatsuNoSora Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~]]'' is a rather lighthearted {{slice of life}}-affair, until the reveal that [[spoiler:Sora has a terminal illness and will likely die soon]].
* Believe it or not, ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' has tons of examples of this. Mixed in with the GenreSavvy characters and banana-skin related tomfoolery, there are some pretty [[{{TearJerker}} tear jerking]] moments there.
** And MUCH moreso in the manga.
* ''CodeGeass'' often had this, either ending comic episodes on a jarring twist or following a BreatherEpisode with a tragic WhamEpisode. A fairly low key example early in the series was a humorous episode about trying to catch a stray cat that got Zero's mask stuck on its head, which ended with the Emperor delivering an unsettling Social Darwinist speech broadcast on every television in Britannia, talking about how evil equality is. The kicker was in the second season where the very last comic episode focuses on [[spoiler: Milly's graduation celebration, wherein boys wear blue hats and girls wear pink hats, and if someone steals someone else's hat and puts it on, those two have to become boyfriend/girlfriend. There had been a WillTheyOrWontThey looming over Shirley and Lelouch for the entire series until that point, when Lelouch essentially handed his hat over to Shirley, showing that he was finally willing to return her feelings]]. The episode ended with [[spoiler: Shirley regaining her memories, causing her to become aware of Japan's and Britannia's ThirtyXanatosPileup, leaving her with literally nobody to trust. ItGotWorse]].
* Even the various incredibly {{FanService}} heavy ''BurnUp'' series' have moments of this.
* The OVA of Johji Manabe's ''Capricorn'' has this in spades. One example: The {{Cute Monster Girl}} happily flies an {{Ordinary High School Student}} out of the {{Big Bad}}'s castle like they're close friends and nothing's wrong, but turns panicky when {{mooks}} start chasing after them, and then she gives same student the cold shoulder when he tries to talk to her soon afterward. And the [[ManBehindTheMan evil general]] the masses know is manipulating the king [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny still cheer for him at a massive rally]] as he takes control of the planet. As it's a 45-minute adaptation of an entire manga series, however, these kinds of issues are [[AdaptationDecay to be expected.]]
* ''{{Trigun}}'' marks the end of its comedic side with the introduction of Legato.
** A more straight-up case of whiplash comes in episode six, where after a series of largely comedic episodes, the mood shifts gears and actually ''shows'' the audience the consequences of Vash (somehow) having destroyed a city without killing anyone inside.
*''GakuenAlice'' jumps from a light hearted ten year old school girl life to [[spoiler:Someone is going to die in five second if you don't do something, someone is missing, probably death, someone is kidnapped and so on.]]
* ''{{Full Metal Panic}}'' did this in the first season, alternating between wacky high school hijinks and {{Real Robot}} action arcs that could get rather grim. The sequels compartmentalised the two halves with all comedic ''Fumoffu'' and more action/drama oriented ''The Second Raid'' having far few comedic moments though it wasn't entirely devoid of them, partly thanks to [[LargeHam Gates]].
* At first glance, ''The Noozles'' seems like an innocent, light-hearted anime about talking koala bears- until you get to it's surprisingly deep MythArc and it's apocalyptic NightmareFuel-laden final episode.
* ''AxisPowersHetalia'' is usually a cute and silly series, but occasional has strips that are very serious and very TearJerker (such as Russia's History and America Cleans the Storage). Interestingly, in a Japanese poll for the first volume, one of these serious strips ranked first.
* The various ''GetterRobo'' series are known to violently slam between mind-blowing HotBlooded SuperRobot badassery and pure NightmareFuel, bringing in themes of fatalism and the [[CosmicHorror cosmic horror]].
* ''{{Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle}}'' could be considered an example of this. Most of the first arc contained a light-hearted, action-y atmosphere, like what you'd generally expect from some Shounen manga. However, it takes a left turn when [[spoiler: the original Syaoran wakes up, and "Syaoran" is revealed to be a clone that suddenly falls into a trance-like state, in which he also takes Fai's eye for his own, and leaves the group]].
* In ''GhostHunt'' most episodes are strait-forward paranormal research/horror, except for those bits of romantic comedy that seem to pop out of nowhere.
* ''{{Shakugan No Shana}}''. The series tends to shift between a dark, supernatural action show, to a MoeMoe school-yard romantic comedy.
* ''{{Zombie Loan}}''. The manga more so than the anime, but in both cases, the series gravitates between slapstick and character-driven comedy to scenes of extreme violence and gore.
* ''SengokuBasara'' is full of this. The series shifts between HotBlooded action taken UpToEleven (with generous amounts of FoeYay and HoYay included) and scenes [[WarIsHell showing the bodies of countless fallen soldiers]]. And that's not even including the occasional dramatic death scenes.
* Amazingly, ''AzumangaDaioh''. Watch some episodes. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Laugh.]] Then watch [[TearJerker the ending]].
* Recently ''{{Naruto}}'' has the title character coming back to the village from a particularly arduous battle to find [[spoiler:[[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming the entire village congratulating him and recognizing him as a hero]]]]. This is then followed by a rather amusing scene of a squad of Cloud nin [[spoiler:coming the village to inform them ''their'' village plans to take care of Sasuke and Akatsuki]] while one of them talks about theoretical girlfriends he would get while traveling but upset when he leaves them. But ''then'' [[spoiler:we find out that Tsunade's attempt to save the villager's from Pain's attack didn't just render her unconscious, but ''put her in a coma'' so the village council decides she needs to be replace in the meantime and ''[[LawfulEvil Danzo]]'' successfully pushes his way into the becoming the acting Sixth Hokage]]. All of this in '''one chapter''' (which is called "[[IronicEpisodeTitle The Joyful Village]]").
* RanmaOneHalf has at least one moment of this. For most of the series, threats of death and massive destruction have been thrown around and treated comedically. Even though some characters have tried killing their enemies, they have never succeeded, and nobody seems to mind when the main characters level a house or smash through a wall. Then, we get the Ryuu Kumon story arc, where we get to see as a young boy is orphaned when his house collapses on his father, explictly crushing him to death and leaving him with nothing but the clothes on his back, his father's last words, and a scroll of martial arts techniques. Another mood whiplash, or a reaction of a different sort, may result when you realise the fact that the cause of the tragedy was stupidity of a Darwin Awards level. Seriously, what kind of idiot practices a move explicitly stated as a back-breaking bearhug on the central support pillar that happens to be the sole thing keeping the building from falling down on top of them?
* Two chapters in, and ''[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Magical War Chronicles Lyrical Nanoha Force]]'' is already using this. We open with the happy, fun travels of protagonists Tohma and Lily, and after the sequence ends with a cheerful PuniPlush panel of the two, we cut to another planet... where [[FairCop Enforcer Teana]] is investigating a devastated village while the [[TheFederation TSAB unit]] accompanying her assesses the damage and lays out rows and rows of the dead. As Teana questions the heavily injured survivors, it is then implied that Tohma and Lily were the ones responsible for this incident.
* Contrast episodes 33 and 34 of ''[[DigimonTamers Digimon Tamers]]''. Episode 33: [[CheerfulChild Shiuchon]] goes to the Digital World, happily running around, meeting her Digimon partner... everything's great. A baddie shows up, but he's easily driven away and no one really gets hurt. Episode 34: [[spoiler: Beelzebumon [[DeadSidekick kills Leomon]], triggering [[BreakTheCutie Juri's state of depression that lasts for most of the rest of the anime]], and [[DeadlyUpgrade Guilmon evolves the wrong way into a bringer of apocalypse-type creature]]]]. Are we even talking about the same anime here?
* [[DarkerThanBlack Darker Than Black]] pulls off a pretty hardcore case of whiplash by accident in episode 6. The episode features a BrokenBird Woobie girl who wants nothing more than to stop killing, and live a happy life by herself. [[spoiler: Of course, any GenreSavvy viewer knows that she dies tragically by the end of the episode. Which she does, courtesy of several large ice spears through the lungs, followed by the sad 'dying in the rain' scene.]] Quiet/Sad ending theme. Then the preview for the next episode is presented by a hyper-active Moe character with pink hair.
* The second season of ''BlackLagoon'' has the wisecracky Greenback Jane storyline sandwiched between the (tragically horrific) Vampire Twins and (horrifically tragic) Fujiyama Gangster Paradise storylines.
* The ''{{Kuroshitsuji}}'' ending themes. The first half has I'm ALIVE! which is an upbeat song that's accompanied by adorable, brightly colored animations of [[SuperDeformed chibi]] versions of all the characters. The second ending, Lacrimosa (which means "Tearful" or "Mourning" in Latin), has a much sadder tone and the animation features a regular Sebastian rowing a boat along a river with [[SpoilerOpening Ciel laying in a bed of white flowers]]; the colors of the whole image are rather muted, too.
* Parodied in NininGaShinobuden. The series is more or less entirely comic, but the ending of episode six is treated entirely dramatically, complete with hints at a dramatic backstory and overarcing plot line. The rest of the series completely ignores this scene until the last episode, when the characters realize that they forgot to follow up on that plot thread, and attempt to create a MagicalGirl storyline as a cover.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Pixar in recent years is the undisputed master of this trope, and are able to pull it off well, more importantly. Case in Point: ''{{Wall-e}}'' and ''{{Up}}''
* ''{{Mulan}}'' goes from a happy go lucky (if slightly misogynistic) Disney Song to the devastation of war in less than one second. The mood literally changes mid-verse.
** To be fair, that was entirely intentional. The contrast was emphasized in order to to make the destruction that much more [[TearJerker heartbreaking]].
* ''SavingPrivateRyan'' intermixes thrilling battle scenes with thoughtful scenes featuring rookie soldiers breaking down in tears after realizing the horror they've gotten themselves into, while the more veteran soldiers start [[ContemplateOurNavels pondering about the purpose of war.]]
** Don't forget the soldiers telling funny stories before the final battle.
*The 1960 movie ''WhereTheBoysAre'' starts out as a frothy Annette Funicello-style beach comedy and climaxes with the rape and attempted suicide of one of the leads.
*The [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney version]] of ''TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' yet. A dramatic sequence is immediately followed by the comic musical number "A Guy Like You", which undermines the effect of both scenes.
** And then it's promptly followed by another fairly serious scene (though ''far'' lower-key than the previous dramatic sequence).
** "Heaven's Light"/"Hellfire". That is all.
* ''TheGreatEscape'' starts off as a cheerful, fun escape romp. Until the part when [[spoiler:Ives commits suicide. Then it leads to having the entire cast except Charles Bronson and two other guys recaptured or killed off]]. Yikes.
**[[spoiler:Two other guys? One of them was fucking James Coburn! Plus both Steve [=McQueen=] and James Garner survive, albeit recaptured. Still though.]]
* Of all places, ''ThePassionOfTheChrist''. During a flashback in between the movie's extended torture scenes, it shows Mary asking Jesus about a table he's building. She comments, with a smile, that ItWillNeverCatchOn.
* 95% of the first ''IndianaJones'' movie is a fairly light-hearted adventure with not too much of a body count. The last 5% features God [[NightmareFuelUnleaded melting the faces off of an island full of Nazis]]. Which would be bad if they weren't dirty, stinking Nazis.
** Er.....93% actually. You forgot about [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath the guy getting impaled at the beginning and the death of the giant mechanic]].
***And the Nazis threatening to torture the girl with a red-hot poker. "Light-hearted" indeed.
*** *Shudders* The airplane propeller scene... I'd say that was about when I fully realized where the movie was going. Still didn't prepare me for the infamous melting scene, of course...
*''Superman Returns'' is similar -- in the middle of a relatively light-hearted movie, there's the truly uncomfortable scene where Lex Luthor and his goons kick the ''crap'' out of Superman. And to top it off, Lex stabs Supes in the back with a Kryptonite shiv. Compared to the rest of the movie, it's unsettlingly brutal.
* ''KungFuHustle''. The scene that starts the whole Axe Gang versus the Tenants debacle begins with Sing getting his ass handed to him by the tenants and the landlady, accidentally attracting the attention of the Axe Gang with a misplaced flare ("Who threw that firecracker?"), and the Landlady comically fleeing at what got Sing's ass handed to him (calling the Landlady fat). There is a brutal fight scene, interspersed with [[BigBad Brother Sum]] hitting his [[TheChewToy Assistant]] comedically. A LooneyTunes tribute ends with a dramatic/funny scene of Sing (with his lips swollen from snake bites) in a fit of rage.
* ''ShaolinSoccer'' also contains a lot of silly slapstick comedy. One scene, however, dwells on a scrawny soccer player bursting into tears as maudlin music swells in the background.
* The Korean film ''SaveTheGreenPlanet'' can be described as "''MenInBlack'' meets ''{{Misery}}''," with all the mood dissonance that implies.
* The Serbian epic ''TheUnderground'' mixes a comic farce with the horrors of WorldWarTwo and the tragedy of Balkanization.
* ''The Last American Virgin'' starts off as a teen comedy with situations on par with ''AmericanPie''. In the last third of the movie, [[spoiler:the main character's best friend gets a girl pregnant and breaks up with her over the news. The main gets into a fight with his former best friend over this, and because the girl is his love interest, he helps her "take care" of the baby over Spring Break at great expense to him.]] The movie ends with a party after Spring Break where the main character sees his old friends after staying behind for the vacation. He walks into the party and sees [[spoiler:his former best friend got back together with the girl even after everything that happened.]] Considering the type of movie most thought it was, it had quite the DownerEnding in the form of a KickTheDog Moment.
* ''ShaunOfTheDead'' uses this trope, flipping between a mad-cap comedy and an earnest disaster movie with plenty of high tragedy played straight.
** Perfect example: [[spoiler: After it has been set up that Shaun's stepfather is a stodgy old man who despises rock, metal, and rap, Shaun's father becomes a zombie. The resulting, rather tense scene where Shaun attempts to explain to his mother that "there's nothing left of your husband in there" is punctuated by the old man promptly crawling into the front seat and turning off the metal playing on the radio, the exact same thing he would have done in life.]]
** Even Better Example: [[spoiler: In the previous TearJerker as Shaun's stepfather passes away just after giving his last words to Shaun - to the effect that "I've always loved you... look after your mother, Shaun..." - Shaun tearfully begs for Ed to stop the car. Ed obliges... by swerving off the road to ram (comedically) into a zombie, and then pulling a racing-car slide-stop. Shaun calls him out on this though.]]
** Even better example still: [[spoiler: Once they finally get refuge in the local pub, they are quickly beseiged by zombies. As Shaun and the others try to keep the zombies at bay with a shotgun, Shaun's mother admits to Liz (Shaun's ex, although his mother isn't aware of the breakup) that she was bitten by a zombie earlier in the movie, dooming her to death and resurrection. She dies in Shaun's arms as he begs her not to leave him. This is followed by a genuinely tense Mexican standoff over what to do with Shaun's mother - David reckons they have to shoot her, Shaun and Ed are hysterically protective - which is puncuated with some of the movie's funniest dialogue.]]
* The 1984 Chinese movie ''Fantasy Mission Force'', helpfully recapped [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Fantasy_Mission_Force_1984.aspx here]] by ''The Agony Booth'' crew. The movie starts out as crazy low-brow slapstick "humor", with plot twists that make no sense, and then suddenly there are people being bloodily massacred on-screen, including most of the main characters. ''What?'' You can't blame all that on the American dub, or on some cultural humor thing. But don't take my word for it.
* ''La Vita è bella'' (''Life is Beautiful''), starts out as a comedy in Mussolini's Italy, and ends up as a comedy in a concentration camp. See also GenreShift.
* And don't forget the comedy ''BurnAfterReading''. We start at casual, there are some laugh-out-loud moments, some tense scenes, followed by some shockingly funny scenes or shockingly sad scenes ([[spoiler:Like the scene where Richard Jenkins, who has the only sympathetic character is shot and has his skull split open by a crazed John Malkovich]]) or merely absurd scenes. After all, every single character is absurdly stupid.
** Except Tilda Swinton. She's a [[TypeCasting cold bitch]].
***And the two CIA officers. And the Russians.
** The scene where [[spoiler: Jenkins dies]] deserves a special mention for turning the most tragic part in the entire movie into one of the funniest in under a second with the scene change. I witnessed the entire cinema crack up in simultaneous laughter at this utterly genius transition.
* ''Click'' starts off as a typical Adam Sandler flick. Fart jokes, Rob Schneider cameos, and {{Jerkass}} moments ahoy! [[spoiler:And then, Henry Winkler dies. The whole film starts turning into a rather bleak overview on life.]]
* In the JamesBond film ''Quantum of Solace'', there is a genuine, touching TearJerker moment between [[spoiler:Mathis]] and Bond when [[spoiler:Mathis dies]]. Then, several seconds later, Bond dumps his body into a dumpster and loots his wallet, pointing that "he wouldn't care". The audience wasn't sure whether to laugh or not.
* Another Bond example: ''OnHerMajestysSecretService'' has newlyweds Bond and Tracy drive off happily. Bond pauses to get rid of the flowers and whatnot on the car. Then [[BigBad Blofeld]] and [[TheDragon Irma Bunt]] drive up to them and fire several shots at them. Bond survives. [[CartwrightCurse Guess who doesn't?]]
* And another Bond example: In ''ForYourEyesOnly'', Bond has a baddie trapped in a car slowly sliding off a cliff. Bond takes out a pin and says "You left this with Ferrara [one of Bond's allies, who the baddie murdered and left the pin of another (eventual) ally so as to frame him], I believe", tossing it over to the baddie. He can only stare at the pin as the car starts sliding off some more before Bond kicks the car off himself. This badass moment is immediately ruined by [[BondOneLiner Bond noting "He had no head for heights..."]].
* ''{{Serenity}}'': "I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I [[spoiler:die]]"
** Seriously, that and the [[spoiler:reaver attack]] were the only times in the entire movie that ThisTroper jumped.
* ''Bambi''. As TheNostalgiaCritic said in his list of saddest movie moments, the movie goes from Bambi finding out his mom is dead in the winter to SINGING BIRDS AND UPBEAT MUSIC IN THE SPRING!
* In ''Ghosts of the Abyss'', an IMAX film by James Cameron detailing his return to the Titanic, one of his two probes loses power while inside a stateroom. After almost losing the other probe in a rescue effort, Cameron's team gets both back outside the ship to the tune of "Just The Two Of Us." It's the CMOH of the film. Then, as the submersibles are returning to the surface, the camera cuts to a crewman in one of the submersibles who reports the time as [[spoiler:6 o'clock on September 11, 2001. The crew in the submersibles find out about the attacks on the World Trade Center as soon as they get back on board their ship.]]
* ''The Land Before Time'' goes from the death of Little Foot's mother to a scene in which a bunch of baby flying pterosaurs (including Petrie) fight over a cherry, complete with catchy music in the background. Of course it goes back to Little Foot and his sorrow soon enough, but still.
* ''The Graduate'' is a satirical comedy up until the scene where Elaine discovers the truth about her mother and Ben. Things get considerably heavier then.
* ''TheBoysInTheBand'' starts out as a comedy and ends as a {{tearjerker}}, with plenty of yoyoing between "hilarious" and "depressing" in the middle.
* Being a pitch black comedy, ''{{In Bruges}}'' does this expertly with some frequency.
* Tyler Perry. His most recent film, ''Madea Goes To Jail'', is the best example of this as the plot frequently switches focus from the comical, over-the-top Madea getting into trouble in amusing ways, to a young prostitute's trials and tribulations that are handled in a dead serious manner. It's enough to give you...oh, you know.
* Played brilliantly straight in ''The Fifth Element''. The opera scene jumps from a somber, classical mood to a fairly humorous fighting scene with pop/disco music in the background. The camera cuts repeatedly between the Diva singing in the opera house and her alter ego fighting the baddies.
* ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' was adverted as a wacky romp, which it was, except for the scenes where RobinWilliams and Sally Field were tearing each other apart, sometimes in front of their kids.
* The new Film/StarTrek movie has a killer instance of this. [[spoiler:Kirk has to prove that Spock, in the wake of his planet's destruction (and his mother's death), is not emotionally fit to be Acting Captain, so he goads Spock by mocking his apparent emotionlessness and saying it proves he [[BerserkButton never loved his mother.]] Cue Spock [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown almost beating Kirk to death]] before he recovers his wits and resigns.]] It's a tense, horrible scene that has everyone on the bridge in shock... except newly-arrived Scotty, who proclaims, "I LIKE THIS SHIP! It's ''exciting''!"
* ''JCVD'' varies between scenes of a police chief and a doctor being forced to walk through a crowd of onlookers cheering Jean-Claude Van Damme, who they believe to be in the process of robbing their post office (it was his home town, so he was still an icon), and court room scenes of his custody battle over his daughter.
* The Taiwanese horror film ''Re-Cycle'' hopscotches around moods like a meth-crazed grasshopper. Starting off as a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin suspense-driven horror film]], about midway through the horror gives way to dark fantasy followed by {{Squick}} in the form of [[spoiler: a cavern full of aborted fetuses]] and then a few genuinely touching moments, a brief return to horror, and then a BittersweetEnding sandwiched in between TWO separate [[MindScrew Mind Screws]]. Add a couple of [[AssPull AssPulls]]--because what else can you call [[spoiler: the helpful figures having been her previously unmentioned aborted daughter and Grandfather]]??--and you're there.
* The final third of ''{{North}}'' doesn't just involve the youthful hero trying to return to his parents -- another kid, his conniving, power-hungry friend from back home, has sent assassins out to kill him. The film has been a light fantasy up to this point, and indeed continues to be, but the plot development is so dark that it invokes this trope nevertheless.
* ''Incident at Loch Ness'' is a documentary [[spoiler: (...but not really)]] about director Werner Herzog attempting to film a project about the Loch Ness monster and the nature of folk tales. Herzog has to deal with the undercutting of assistant-director Zak Penn constantly. Penn is trying to stage things for dramatic effect, such as getting an animatronic Nessie to scare the crew members, much to Herzog's consternation. Then, after Zak Penn draws a gun, [[spoiler: the REAL Loch Ness monster attacks the crew]] and all hell breaks loose.
* ''{{Up}}'' has a cutesy MusicalMontage showing Carl and Ellie after their marriage, with the two doing heartwarming activities together, like building their house out of the abandoned one they met in and saving up to travel to Paradise Falls, but during this montage, we also see [[spoiler: Ellie crying at the doctor's because of either a miscarriage or learning she cannot have children, and Carl standing alone at her funeral.]]
** Then, for further whiplash, right after this tragic image fades away, we see another, purely comedic MusicalMontage set to Habanerna from ''{{Carmen}}'' of Carl getting up in the morning, complete with an OverlyLongGag involving a stairlift.
** Also, there's another scene that begins with Carl and Russel having dinner with [[spoiler: Charles Muntz, Carl's childhood hero, that was prepared by his dogs, who also eat the food they prepared off of Russel's plate when his back is turned]]. It ends with [[spoiler: Carl and Russel running for their lives from said dogs after Muntz showed them the skulls of his last visitors]]. Also, all of this is in a ''{{Disney}} movie.''
*** Technically, it's a ''{{Pixar}}'' movie...
*** And besides, I think Disney had already done it a few times.
* In the HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince book, the scene with Ron's humorous love potion antics already has an extreme case of this, but the movie takes it a step further by having Ron comically toppling out of frame first. The audience giggles. Cut immediately to him convulsing on the floor and foaming at the mouth.
* ''{{Jaws}}'' manages to successfully switch back and forth between comedy and horror, sometimes in the space of a single line: "Come down here and chum some of this shit!"
* ''[[{{Main/Ptitle1d5irnza}} 9]]'' example: the Fabrication Machine's factory has just exploded violently, the dolls are rejoicing, the twins are playing a recording of Over the Rainbow--and then [[spoiler: the Machine rises up from the wreckage and kills a screaming 5]] ''while Over the Rainbow continues to play''.
* Minor example in the 1946 Cole Porter biopic ''Night and Day'': at one point you get [[BusbyBerkeleyNumber Busby Berkeley-type numbers]] intercut with scenes of Porter on the operating table getting major leg surgery after his riding accident.
* ''VForVendetta'', Gordon's hysterically funny TV show and then BOOM [[spoiler: He gets beaten with a stick and Evey gets kidnapped.]]
* ''Gold Diggers of 1933'' ends with a happy scene of all the lovers finally ending up together, followed by a somber Depression-themed musical number that closes the film. (Had it not been for ExecutiveMeddling, the film would have ended with a happier song, which instead got pushed to the middle of the film.)
* ''{{Zombieland}}''. The [[spoiler: Bill Murray scene]] crosses the line between funny and sad so many times it uses said line as a jump-rope.
* Though the use of this trope is a longtime staple in Coen brothers films (see ''BurnAfterReading'' above), probably the most extreme example is in ''{{Fargo}}'', in which hilarious deadpan comedy is interspersed with graphic killings, brutal violence, and a surprisingly haunting [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4NCC0dUXks musical theme]]. The sheer extremity of the film's Mood Whiplash is personified in the character of Gaear (played by Peter Stormare), who rarely speaks except to nag Steve Buscemi's character (repeatedly) about going to "the pancakes house", tears up over TV soap operas - and is a terrifying, cold-blooded killer who murders anyone and everyone who gets in his way (including [[spoiler: his own partner]]) without a moment's hesitation.
* An intentional use: the beginning of ''Lemony Snicket's ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' features an animated short called "The Littlest Elf"... followed by Jude Law's grim narration.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''TheKalevala'' is Finland's national epic, compiled in the mid-19th century from oral traditions that in turn date all over the previous centuries/millennia. At one point, it features the Eternal Sage, in search of words of power, descending into the Netherworld until he stands before its black river and meets the daughter of Death itself. She's short and fat, and washing clothes in the local equivalent of Styx. Yeah, that's right. At least to a modern audience, the prehistoric sagas subvert themselves when they start getting too serious.
** An EpilepticTree: this was the inspiration for the {{Discworld}} character of Ysabell, Death's adoptive daughter, who, yes, is short and fat.
* Done deliberately in the novel ''Nuklear Age'' by Brian Clevinger of ''[[EightBitTheater 8-bit Theater]]''. In a nod to CerebusSyndrome, the enemies Nuklear Man fights suddenly go from the usual comedic supervillains that never accomplish anything to one who gets some seriously horrible moments, including [[DeadSerious killing off major characters]] and firmly establishes that [[KnightOfCerebus things aren't funny any more]].
* Many of the short stories of Sholom Aleichem have a weird combination of humor and depressing reality. For example, in the short story ''Two Dead Men'', we leave two of the main characters, one of which is so drunk he can't even remember the holiday it is, clumsily trying to get themselves out of the mud and look at his wife, who is worried her alcoholic husband's going to be found dead in a ditch.
* The {{Discworld}} series is usually billed as 'uproariously hilarious' or the like, and in many places it is. However, there are many parts that range from dramatic and moving to outright NightmareFuel--for instance, the torture rooms of the Particulars in ''Night Watch''.
** Pratchett also manages to do utterly hilarious and tear-jerkingly dramatic at the exact same moment. I'll only say: "THAT! IS! NOT! MY! COW!"
* ''[[TheTimeTravelersWife The Time Traveler's Wife]]'' has moments like this. Towards the end of the book, there are some fairly depressing scenes, such as [[spoiler: Henry discovering he will die in several years, or Charisse acknowledging Gomez's feeling towards Clare]]. This is followed by a fairly comical scene where Henry travels a few months into the future and ends up locked inside the library, which forces him to reveal his time traveling nature to the entire library staff. A few pages later, [[spoiler: Henry almost freezes to death in another time traveling incident, and ends up losing his feet. And lets not mention his death scenes...]].
** That was ''not'' PlayedForLaughs. One of the worst scenes in the book up to that point, in light of the ForeShadowing.
* ''Fools Crow'' by Richard Welch has a very strange ending: in the penultimate chapter, the main character Fools Crow (A Pikuni Blackfoot) finds a village of another band of Pikunis that had been slaughtered by white men. He reflects on the essential hopelessness of the Pikunis' situation with the white men. Previous chapters dealt with the ravaging of the Pikunis by smallpox. In the last chapter, Fools Crow and his tribe celebrate joyously a Blackfoot ceremony, the buffalo return, and everything is put back in equilibrium. Huh?
* George Pelecanos' novel ''King Suckerman'' does a meta twist on Mood Whiplash: The book starts out as a light-hearted take on '70s exploitation films with a strong hint of Quentin Tarantino, with pop-culture riffs and catchphrase-spouting badass drug dealers and ex-cons. About halfway in, some of the characters go see a hotly anticipated blaxploitation flick (the titular ''King Suckerman'') which abruptly ends on a depressing note. From that point on, the novel itself takes on a darker, more menacing shift of its own; the previously cool-seeming criminal characters turn out to be rather monstrously evil.
* T. H. White's ''{{The Once and Future King}}'' started as a light hearted parody of [[KingArthur Arthurian Legends]], with anachronism, Merlin as a bumbling magician, Arthur turned into various animals, and Pellinore's ineffectual quest for the Questing Beast. Slowly each following chapter got less and less humor and got darker and darker, until the tragic last chapter that ended just before King Arthur's fight against his son Mordred as he reminisces the good old days.
* MarkTwain's works often suffer from this, the most notable example occuring in ''{{The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn}}'' where we are treated to a humorous drunk, a cold blooded murder, an attempted lynching, and then a circus, all literally in the same chapter.
* One of JimButcher's [[DresdenFiles signature]] [[CodexAlera tropes.]]
* ''Bridge to Terabithia'': The book (and by extension, the movie) starts out relatively lighthearted and without drastic conflict...[[spoiler:and ends up becoming completely tragic and melancholic following the revealing of Leslie's death.]]
* ''{{Catch22}}'' practically runs of this trope. The author seems to have taken a particular liking to ending chapters by revealing critical bits of information that cause the reader to re-evaluate the events of the chapter, which had up till then been PlayedForLaughs, in a much more sinister light.
* Book five of Virgil's ''[[TheAeneid Aeneid]]''. The first half describes the funeral games for Anchises, in a generally light-hearted and sometimes humourous manner, ending with a running race in which the contestants start tripping each other up and get into an argument about who really won, which Aeneas cheerfully settles by bringing out extra prizes for those who feel cheated. He then gets the news the Trojan woman have become so disallusioned and tired of the constant travelling that they have set fire to his fleet, leading to his emotional low point - even his own people have now turned against him - and the realisation that he must now descend into the world of the dead.
* Kids' novel ''Jennifer the Jerk is Missing''. Starts out very suspenseful, with an 8 year old boy who has a reputation for telling tall tales and being a brat, trying his best to convince his 13 year old babysitter that he did in fact witness the kidnapping of his 8 year old classmate, bratty Jennifer "the Jerk". Played totally for suspense for the first half of the story, but things start to get silly when Jennifer is encountered. Bound to a chair and gagged, she actually lets out a muffled bratty "ha ha" under her gag when her rescuers mess up, and things just mostly get sillier from there. One of the kidnappers even merely pretends to have a gun by pointing his finger through his pocket (and Jennifer can even tell). Totally shoots the suspense in the first half of the book to pieces. (Then later, it starts taking itself seriously again)

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* Many of {{Shakespeare}}'s plays do this.
** ''Othello'' starts as an apparent domestic comedy - a couple marrying despite the intentions of the bride's parents, a hopeless young suitor to said woman, and the dock / drinking scenes in Act 2 are all staples of comedy.
** ''A Winter's Tale'' turns from tragedy, to comedy, to uneasy reconciliation.
** ''Twelfth Night'' does this, too: Malvolio's treatment transforms from simple humiliation to something far less easy-going, as Feste takes an increasingly sadistic pleasure in his imprisonment (and 'treatments') as a supposed 'madman'. Malvolio ends the play planning his revenge on his peers.
** [[MacBeth The Scottish Play]], Act II: Scene III Starts off with an [[RuleOfFunny amusingly]] drunk porter [[LargeHam hamming it up]] while Macduff and Lennox knock to be let in, and ends with Macduff finding King Duncan's dead body, Lady Macbeth passing out "from shock," and the Crown Prince and his brother deciding to flee the country out of fear for their lives.
** ''RomeoAndJuliet'' actually starts off pretty light, despite the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets and the brief mention in the introduction about 'young lovers did take their life'. But then the previously comic Mercutio is mortally wounded, and dies cursing the two families, and Romeo ends up killing Tybalt and being exiled and ... well, [[ItWasHisSled you probably know what happens next]].
* The radio play ''All Is Calm'', being about the Christmas Truce of 1914 during WorldWarOne, feels like nothing ''but'' this trope. It goes from some painful parts to some ''hilarious'' parts at breakneck speed and right back 'round again. High points include a {{tearjerker}} Christmas radio broadcast that's propaganda, supposedly a singalong from the soldiers in the trenches telling their family that they're all just glad to be there doing their noble duty, being drowned out by a hilarious LastMinuteWordSwitch BawdySong, and a scandalised-sounding German officer's account of playing a game of football against Scottish soldiers and discovering exactly what was being worn under their kilts being read in much too close proximity to another reader talking about everyone heading off into No-Man's-Land to bury their dead friends from back in November. The worst part of it is, all the material is real.
* In ''The King And I'', the King becomes closer than ever to Anna when he learns to dance with her. He is eagerly leading an encore of "Shall We Dance?" when Kralahome bursts in and announces the arrest of Tuptim. Anna's sympathies obviously lie with the fugitive, and so the King is "now miles away from her" (according to the stage direction). The confrontation that follows is the most serious part of the play.
*''The Vagina Monologues'' consists of, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a series of monologues about vaginas.]] They range in mood from "My Angry Vagina," a humorous rant about tampons and OB/GYN tools, to "My Vagina Was My Village" and "Say It," which are about the experiences of women in serial rape camps, and boldly straddle the line between TearJerker and NightmareFuel. Now imagine if your local production decided to arrange the monologues so that "My Angry Vagina" was between the other two...
*''The Wedding Singer'' musical goes from "A Note From Linda" (sad), to "Pop" (perky) and back to "Somebody Kill Me" (pretty self-explanatory).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* ''XenaWarriorPrincess'' and ''TheXFiles'' both tended to have [[BreatherEpisode goofy/stupid episodes]] in the middle of serious, depressing {{arc}}s.
* ''{{Supernatural}}'' had goofy, self-referential episodes right in the middle of incredibly dark and bleak {{arc}}s. Season Two and Three are the guiltiest of this.
** Forgetting certain episodes for a second, the basic premise and the actual tone jar together so much that it makes the show the western king of {{Mood Whiplash}}. Because, honestly, would you believe that a show that has the premise of two brothers hunting down demons with rock salt could be one of the most unbelievably downerish shows around?
** ''{{Supernatural}}'' also had a case of internal MoodWhiplash in the episode "Mystery Spot." The episode starts out like a normal GroundhogDayLoop episode where everyday Dean dies a different hilarious death (piano falls on him, hit by a car, accidentally axed by his brother) until Sam figures out the Trickster is behind it and Dean ''dies for real''. Then the episode goes into a months-long journey with Sam hunting the Trickster until he finally finds him. In the end, everything is reversed, but Sam is just a little more unstable.
** ''Simon Said'' had this ''in spades''. It starts with Sam having one of his painful death!visions, then Ash comes in for some comic relief and Dean sings REO Speedwagon, then Sam angsts some more and someone gets killed, then they find Andy's "Moby Dick Bong", then Dean gets mind-fucked (for the second time) into admitting he's scared for Sam and Sam has another death!vision, then Evil!Twin humor and then full-blown angst with Tracy's MindRape, seriously-painful-in-hindsight {{foreshadowing}} of Dean's wish for death (he gets forced by Webber to put a gun to his head), more Sam!Angst and a not-so-nice twist in the "psychic-kids" storyline. Oh, ''show'', you're a manic-depressive but we love you anyway.
* ''{{Scrubs}}'' features this rather prominently, being a comedy set in a hospital where people have a tendency to die occasionally.
*** The most egregious example must surely be: a pregnant couple find out that it is likely either the mother will die and their baby will live or vice versa, when the show suddenly cuts to J.D.'s fantasy [[spoiler:that they are on Candid Camera, complete with laughter and [[NoFourthWall pointing at the show's actual camera]]]] before cutting back to dealing with the dilemma. MoodWhiplash so strong you'll be massaging your neck for hours.
** And as a comedy set in war-torn Korea, ''[[{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'' is even worse (or better, considering your point of view). You could be laughing hysterically one minute and within seconds, you could be left like you've just been punched in the gut.
*** This was parodied in ''{{Futurama}}''; one episode had a robot surgeon clearly based on Alan Alda's character, which had an actual ''switch'' that it would flip to jump between jovial goofing around and war-weary angst (labelled Irreverant and Maudlin respectively).
* JossWhedon does this All. The. Time:
** ''{{Firefly}}'' has a tendency to quickly and unexpectedly shift from intense action to engaging drama to heart-wrenching sadness to laugh-out-loud hilarity to warm and fuzzy, within the space of a single episode.
*** It's even got an example of a character getting the brunt of the whiplash. River is dancing, actually ''happy'' for once, while the others [[SoundtrackDissonance are having a wild west shootout]], unbeknownst to her. Then Shepherd Book is wounded, and both the audience and River have the same reaction.
** On ''{{Angel}}'', the writers would frequently place an amusing or lighter-hearted episode before starting a dark story arc. More memorable episodes include the ballet episode that aired before the "Father will kill the Son" arc and the seriously amusing "Angel is a Puppet" which aired before the Fred/Illyria episode.
*** The start of the Fred/Illyria episode also qualifies. It starts off on a light note - Wesley and Fred are [[OfficialCouple together]], while Angel and Spike are arguing over [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny whether cavemen or astronauts would win in a fight]]. Then Fred starts coughing up blood...
*** After the {{Darker and edgier}} second season plot arc of "Darla and Angel", the creative team indulged in a whimsical 3-part season ender, set in a fairytale kingdom, to deliberately offset the grimness of preceding episodes. This troper firmly believes that they misjudged the timing however- ''Angel'' is ''supposed'' to be edgy, and the clashing styles just didn't pay off.
**** And then at the end of that arc, Angel returns to earth and gets the news that ''Buffy died'' while he was away.
** ''{{Buffy}}'' is rife with examples. Oh, where to start....could it be with [[spoiler: the part in Innocence where it goes from passionate love story to "zomg, Angel is EVIL!"? Or how about season six, where it went from a musical episode to a magical addiction fueled angst-fest?]]
*** Or Tabula Rasa, with its 37 minutes of madcap memory-loss hilarity (including a kiss between Anya and Giles) followed by [[spoiler: Giles going back to England and Tara leaving Willow.]] Only episode of television that has EVER had me literally laughing one minute and crying the next. Very well done, though.
*** Or how about the zany madcap jaunt about a geek and his robot girlfriend that ends with [[spoiler: Buffy finding her mother's ''dead body''?]] And then, of course, the geek turns out to be the bastard son of Lex Luthor and Max Cady.
*** ''Storyteller'' is pretty much pure comedy... Then they get to the seal, and Buffy threatens to kill Andrew:
--->'''Buffy:''' When your blood pours, it might save the whole world. What do you think about that? Does it buy it all back? Are you redeemed?
--->'''Andrew:''' No. Because... I killed him. Because I listened to Warren and I wanted to believe it was him, but I knew it wasn't. So I killed him, and now you're gonna kill me, and... this is what Jonathan felt. ''(he starts to cry)''
*** "End Of Days" has a serious dialogue where Buffy and Faith contemplate the loneliness of being a Slayer ending with the following line:
----> '''Faith:''' Thank God we're hot chicks with superpowers.
** Even ''{{Dollhouse}}'' has some:
*** In "Omega", Echo's line upon arriving at Alpha's lair:
----> '''Echo:''' Say, you got a bathroom?
* ''AshesToAshes''. Just... ''Ashes to Ashes''. The season 1 finale goes from farcical to heartwarming to OH SHIT in the space of about fifteen minutes.
* The last 10 minutes of the Season 1 finale of ''QueerAsFolk'' (US). Wow.
* In a bizarre case where it's used for comedic effect, (and I may be wrong about the exact show, but I think I'm right) the old UK sketch show ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' where two politicians are in a shouting match until one of them drops dead on the stage, resulting in a line to the effect of: "How can you believe these lies! This man... *URK* ...will be sadly missed, and our condolences to his family."
* ''DoctorWho'' embraces this trope wholeheartedly whenever it would cause the Doctor the most angst. The most recent example (as of 2008) is "Journey's End", which has triumph, reunion and celebration followed by [[spoiler:the Doctor being forced to ''MindRape one of his companions'' to prevent her from dying and being all alone again as a result]]. The whiplash actually occurs in mid-scene, as [[spoiler: Donna is babbling her newfound Time Lord knowledge in a rapidfire manner and just generally being hilarious as the Doctor starts to look sadder and sadder, and then, in mid babble, Donna starts to repeat the same word over and over in a stuck-record fashion and you start to realize that something is very very ''not right.'']]
** This also applies if you compare the show and its two spinoffs - ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' is incredibly [[LighterAndSofter light hearted and optimistic]], ''{{Torchwood}}'' is [[DarkerAndEdgier incredibly depressing and cynical]], and ''DoctorWho'' itself strikes a balance between the two.
** It's not limited to the New Series, either. In "The Green Death", after the menace has been destroyed, the Doctor companion annouces [[spoiler: she is going to leave the Doctor and UNIT to get married and explore the Amazon. There are smiles and congratulations all round, even from the Doctor. But when the companion walks away to talk to someone else, the Doctor sadly downs his drink, leaves quietly, and drives off alone]]
* ''Tonight, on a very special episode of "{{Popular}}," Harrison must resolve his mixed feelings about his mother when his friends discover that she's gay...''
**''...and Mary Cherry chains Gwyneth Paltrow's personal shopper to a pipe in the school boiler room.''
* ''BattlestarGalactica'' - "Sometimes a Great Notion": after discovering [[spoiler:that Earth is a radioactive wasteland]] Duala cheerfully reconciles with her estranged husband [[spoiler:then puts a bullet in her brain.]]
* ''{{Blackadder}}'' - The finale of the fourth series suddenly takes an abrupt swerve out of comedy territory in the final five minutes. The entire final episode features Blackadder once again attempting to get out of "The Big Push", that is, everyone in the trenches entering No-Man's Land assaulting the German front. In previous episodes, he and the other characters have gotten out of these assualts, but at the end of this episode [[spoiler: he realises that there's no way to get out of it this time, and he, George, Baldrick and unexpectedly Darling, end up going over the top with everyone else, Blackadder's last words before going over being "Good luck, everyone". All of them are killed within seconds of going over, and the final, silent shot of the series is of an empty field of poppies in spring. ]] There are no jokes in these last few minutes whatsover, it's entirely dramatic, and in a comedy series, this comes as being a very unexpected {{Tearjerker}}.
** A specific example of a beautifully-executed mid-sentence MoodWhiplash in this episode comes when Captain Darling, [[spoiler: about to go "over the top" to his likely death,]] is listing all the things he'd hoped to do when the war ended. "Go back to work at Pratt and Sons" gets an audience laugh, but is followed by a brief pause and a wistful "Marry Doris". A character who'd been portrayed as just a petty comic foil to Blackadder up to that point suddenly gets humanised.
* The ''HogansHeroes'' episode "Operation Briefcase" was surprisingly dark, featuring an agent actually dying (offscreen) while in Hogan's care, when most involved escapes by the skins of their teeth. Even more unpleasantly, this episode dealt with an attempt to assassinate Hitler--an attempt, as everyone should know, that failed.
*''{{Stargate SG-1}}'''s most prominent comedy episode "Window Of Opportunity" ends with one of these. The episodes all wacky time-loop fun until we find out ''why'' the archeologist is looping time; he's trying to bring his dead wife back to life, which of course leads to an outburst from the usually jovial O'Neill
----> '''Malachai:''' You don't understand...
----> '''O'Neill:''' I lost '''my son!'''
* ''PowerRangersRPM''. Jesus. For a season that has unquestionably the darkest plot Power Rangers has ever done, this series also seems to have some of the most off the wall humour. Highlights include Ranger Green attempting to use his teleportation ability, only to teleport his suit, leaving him in his helmet and underwear, Ranger Green getting a wedgie from a disembodied robot hand, Ranger Green fumbling his one liners, Ranger Green...y'know what? I think you [[ButtMonkey get the idea.]]
** Likewise with Dr K. At first she just seems a little strange and kinda funny, being protective about the ranger tech and even wearing bunny slippers in one episode. Though all urges to laugh at her behaviour suddenly go away when you think of her back story...
* ''Night Court'' did this from time to time, often going all the way around back to funny in the same scene. In "Leon, We Hadly Knew Ye" Judge Hary's foster son (and recurring character) Leon successfully runs away when he can't stand his nice, but prudish new adoptive parents. He's not seen again for the rest of the season. "The Hurricane: part 2" goes all the way back around to funny again. After helping deliver the babies of four couples during a thunderstorm and blackouts Harry slips away to have a deep and emotional talk with God in front of a cross someone left in the courtroom.
---> '''Harry:''' (speaking to God) You remember that one guy? Of course you do, you remember everything. I tell ya, that one shook my faith to the CORE. Then you drop this brand new life, right into my hands... But if I could just have the answers to a couple of questions, like if you've always been here than where did you come from? And does man have the capacity to rid himself of his own evil? And why IS the sky blue anyway? Well, maybe I can look that one up. But all this baby stuff... that's no accident, after all you gave us Mozart, Van gough, Confusius, and LARRY BIRD!" *pulls a basketball from under his robes and tosses it through a hoop nailed on the cross*
* ''DeadLikeMe'' lives and breathes this trope... Ahem.
* SesameStreet, Mister Hooper.
* ''TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' had one episode where the Blue Ranger had to kill his girlfriend's little brother because he was killing women to cure his sister's fatal disease... Which she was already getting better from in the first place. The scene ends with him watching his girl cry over her brother (in a rubber monster costume) in the rain with this sad whistling song... And then you get a neck sprain from the series' usual jazzy nightclub-ish end theme.
* ''BandOfBrothers'' did this with episode to episode continuity. The last two episodes go from finding a Nazi concentration camp to them going into Hitler's summer home and hilariously looting it of everything of value (up to and including the photo album of his summer vacations).
* Common in ''PushingDaisies'', as it takes place in an extremely [[SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty bright]], [[SugarBowl beautiful universe]] and has some hilarious dialogue, but all the main characters [[DysfunctionJunction have pasts that vary from the merely sad to the downright traumatic]].
* The "Polar Special" on ''TopGear'', in which the three presenters attempt to reach the North Pole, two by truck and one with a dogsled, is out of tone with the light and rather silly stunts the gang usually pulls, sometimes jarringly. The danger involved and the fear and discomfort of the presenters is simply too real to be played for humor.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* This was one of the reasons that Beethoven's 6th (The Pastoral) was not well received in its day, as while the 5th (which was very popular even then) was firey and passionate the 6th was decidedly not, and instead switched to a more lighthearted mood. His 3rd, however, was popular precisely because of this, as it evoked an immense range of varying emotions on its own.
* Parodied in the Bill Bailey mini-rock opera song 'Insect Nation', which opens as a paranoid hard-rock track declaring how insects will one day overthrow and subjugate humanity, suddenly switches into a tender, gentle ballad wistfully bemoaning the breakdown of human-insect relations, before then instantly switching ''back'' to paranoid hard-rock ranting once more.
** And again in his 'Proper Ballad', which starts as a man bitterly bemoaning his lonely way of life with a bit of lightly angst rock, becomes a sweet ballad once he finds the girl of his dreams, and then turns into a hard-rock nightmare detailing the man's almost psychopathic reaction to his girlfriend cheating on him.
*** And yet again in 'Beautiful Ladies'. The song starts as a parody of Chris de Burgh, then switches to a growled chorus of "Kill kill kill kill kill the trolls! Hunt them down, there shall be no clemency!" and then straight back to pop. Or when he added an upbeat cockney piano riff into [[{{LudwigVanBeethoven}} Beethoven's]] Moonlight Sonata. Or his black metal segment of ''TheMagicRoundabout''. In fact, just Bill Bailey period.
* The track listing of volume 2 of ''The Wedding Singer'' soundtrack is interesting. "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode is followed by "Love Stinks" by TheJGeilsBand... which is '''then''' followed by "You Make My Dreams" by Hall & Oates. Sheesh!
* Straight to Hell by Hank Williams III. The first disc: "Outlaw country! Hell yeah!" The second disc (barring the first very first track): "Disturbing aural collage! What the hell!?"
* The album Coming Up to Breathe by Mercy Me has "I Would Die for You" as its last track, followed by the hidden track "Have Fun". And the contrast is obvious even without the song names.
* TheBeatles' White Album: The end of LP/CD 1 - "Julia" a tearful ballad written by Lennon for his deceased mother. Beginning of LP/CD 2 - "Birthday", an uproarious cheery rocking tune that's about, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well...yeah.]]
* Magic by Mick Smiley. For the first 2 minutes or so, it's an upbeat early 80s pop ballad, then...well, you may recognize what it turns into from Ghost Busters ...you know, the sequence where all the ghosts break out of the containment unit?
* ''Blue'' by TheBirthdayMassacre. One minute the song's all light-hearted, next minute the sweet-sounding words turn into deep growling and the music changes to match.
* ''Sweet Child O' Mine'' by GunsNRoses is all sweet and euphoric in the first part (which developed out of an "circus melody" the band made while fooling around), until the ending kicks in and it gets all angsty. No, not {{Wangst}}, but genuine and convincing angst.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
*''ThisAmericanLife'': One episode ("Fall Guy", aired June 28, 2009) jumps from a comedian talking about his beatdown-filled freshman year of high school as part of his routine, to a sobering story about Lynndie England and the Abu-Ghraib prison scandal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''Quintessence - The Blighted Venom'' - When scenes abruptly change from a Vikon (might or might not be with Salory) comic relief moment to something dead serious.
* ''{{Final Fantasy X-2}}'' veered sharply away from the angst and tragedy of its predecessor, going for a more lighthearted, fun experience. The game itself slides up and down from drama to comedy, though the switching points are rather clearly marked.
* The tragic yet inevitable ending of ''FinalFantasyVII: Crisis Core'' in which [[spoiler: Zack]] dies is rather jarringly offset by the peppy Jpop playing over the game credits.
** The song is called "Why", nothing about it sounds happy. At all.
* ''{{Tales of the Abyss}}'' has whiplashing as optional. In the in-between moments of all the cutscenes of the game, there are some skits of random talk between the party that can be heard by pressing "Select". While the talk sometimes ''is'' serious, it is mostly comments about trivial subjects (the characters outfits, for example), plot commentaries, shipping, and so on. It helps to get the players head out of the whole apocalypsing storyline, altough there are too many damn skits.
* ''{{Kingdom Hearts}}'' fails in this, specially ''Kingdom Hearts II''. In some worlds, serious conversations are interrupted by some "humorous" moments between the heroes' party. They are not out-of-place (after all, this IS a Disney game), but some of them just don't make sense (for example, there is a moment in the {{Pirates of the Caribbean}} world where Sora and Goofy comment that they are surprised that Donald didn't give up to the treasure's curse (implying that Donald is greedy, altough Donald never showed signs of being greedy in that world). And please, do I even have to mention Atlantica in ''Kingdom Hearts II''? "Let's forget about our mission and... SING!!".
** Even though it does seem to play it straight in ''[[DownerEnding 358/2 Days]]''.
*** The original scenarios generally play MoodWhiplash for drama, even in ''Kingdom Hearts II,'' like [[spoiler: Sora dancing around with Donald and Goofy right after Roxas disappears]]. ''358/2 Days,'' however, thrives on this trope, even using its platform of choice to create ''dual-screened'' MoodWhiplash by [[spoiler: simultaneously playing a scene where Axel, Roxas, and Xion are messing around over ice-cream and Riku's capture of Roxas]].
* The ''Kirby'' franchise follows the adventures of the titular bright pink, insanely cute fluffball through a primarily SugarBowl world. The FinalBosses of many Kirby games, however, are significantly darker than the rest of the game. 0 and 0^2, two of the final bosses in the series, even attack Kirby by [[BloodyMurder squirting blood]].
* ''ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'', for the past seven chapters, has been very non-serious and lighthearted; everything's played for laughs. Just last chapter, for example, your workshop leader recruited an adorable pink blob alien thing that may or may not be intent on taking over the world. Aww. But wait, what's this? "This was the last time I really enjoyed being at school..." in the end of chapter summary? Well, crap. On entry into chapter 8, cue descent into more serious grounds, like [[spoiler: a close friend's ailing physical health, learning some slightly offsetting facts about the history of alchemy, a teacher murdering one of your {{Nakama}}, and watching the mental stability of the PosthumousCharacter decline in the beginning chapter flashbacks. Oh, by the way. [[TomatoInTheMirror The main character isn't]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman human.]] Watch as everyone in the school but your friends reject/accuse/fear one of the most timid/nice characters in the game. Oh, did we mention that PosthumousCharacter? Yeaah... turns out he committed suicide by having the main character kill him because he was guilty of an act he did. And at the very end, attempted (and possibly successful [[MultipleEndings depending on what ending you got]]) suicide because he'd thought it'd be better for everyone!]] Curse you, chapters 11 and 12.
* ''.hack//G.U.''. After some 2 or 3 missions regarding the plot, you can be sure one of your friends (who, probably, was already thrown out of the main plot) will call you to play some random quest. While in the first game this is optional, in the other two it isn't. It doesn't help that the quests are not ''even'' a little bit fun.
** There are other examples, for example, the flowers and lace addition to the camera when Saku gushes over Endrance, and the flying friendship glomp that Haseo is subjected to by Silabus and Gaspard, in contrast to some of the more intense moments (someone becoming comatose or realizing how badly you're being manipulated).
* The [[WidgetSeries violently Japanese]] ''{{Chulip}}'' is based around a young boy trying to kiss as many people as possible in order to win the heart of his crush. He's lucky if the characters are human rather than animals, eggplant-headed boys, or people with telephone poles for bodies. The game is unapologetically nonsensical. However, there's a section of the game where he encounters the spirit of a very sweet girl who was in a car accident, but prayed that she would live no matter what. Over the course of several visits it becomes clear she's stuck between life and death in a body that's slowly falling apart and a mind that's beginning to fade. You eventually set her free by helping her remember who she was [[spoiler: by bringing her tea to her boyfriend, the stone lion who runs the bathhouse, with her eye in your pocket and drinking her tea where she can see him.]] It's very touching. ...and then you're right back to kissing men in gimp suits and small Godzilla parodies.
* Part of the reason for ''BeyondGoodAndEvil'''s poor sales reception may lie in its mixture of FunnyAnimal characters and silly gags straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon with a number of touching and intensely emotional scenes. Then again, most of it works pretty well, since the funny generally [[ShooOutTheClowns stays far away]] from the most poignant scenes, and if it doesn't, it works to enforce the [[FriendshipMoment friendship between the characters.]]
* ''SuperMarioRPG'': After defeating the [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Giant Bipolar Medieval Knight From Nowhere]] Boomer, you're treated to an [[LargeHam overly dramatic]], somewhat depressing cutscene featuring Boomer effectively committing suicide, accompanied by the game's "Mallow is sad" theme. The ''next second'', your party is doing a goofy dance to the happy, bouncy Midas River music as you ride a Shy Guy-powered chandelier up to the roof of Bowser's Castle. [[{{Understatement}} Kind of]] jarring.
** It's Mario, the same guy who was (much later) overjoyed at the sight of Bowser being [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath horrifically burned]] into Dry Bowser in ''New Super Mario Bros.'' SoYeah, he could care less about traumatic deaths.
** Also Chapter 8 of PaperMario: TTYD does this. Up until now, it was a pretty lighthearted, funny game. Then you enter the door and things get DANGEROUS. Mario even [[DemonicPossession pulls something that would only be seen in The Exorcist.]]
** And what about it's sequel ''Super Paper Mario''? It's like a giant, continual mood-whiplash, including [[spoiler:Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser getting '''''killed'''''. Yeah, that's right. Whereas Peach goes to the Mario equivlent of heaven, Mario, Bowser and Luigi get chucked down to the game's version of Hades]]. [[SoYeah Great]].
* While the seemingly mandatory slapstick quotient in point-’n‘-click [[AdventureGame Adventure Games]] makes Mood Whiplash pretty common to the genre, [[EricDVH this editor]] feels that ''BeneathASteelSky'' takes the cake:\\
Your mother dies when you're stranded in a chopper crash, you're named after a Foster's beer label by the feral garbage gatherer tribe that adopts you and build a cute robot pal, your entire tribe is murdered by stormtroopers sent to kidnap you, funny shinanigans with a mechanic and your snarky robot buddy, [[spoiler:[[NightmareFuel a man is brutally sawn in half by a beam from one of the omnipresent and previously innocuous security cameras]]]], funny shenanigans with an upper class nitwit boss and a cute girl, [[spoiler:you discover that the city is being taken over by biomechanical clones of the citizenry as part of a scheme by an [[AIIsACrapshoot Evil Computer]] (oh, and the cute girl? [[StuffedIntoTheFridge You find her corpse LITERALLY stuffed in a locker like garbage after she dies offscreen]]… Due to radiation poisoning from the thoughtless orders of her boss, totally unrelated to the BigBad's conspiracy!)]], more funny shenanigans, You descend into [[spoiler:a WombLevel full of BodyHorror and your once snarky and wisecracking robot buddy is forced into a new body that leaves him incapable of expressing any emotions]], funny shenanigans with a RalphWiggum clone, [[spoiler:you upload your robot buddy into a monstrous half-formed human clone body, discover that the [[AIIsACrapshoot Evil Computer]] corrupting the city is in fact the EnemyWithin of the computer's unfortunate creator, who accidentally turned the computer homicidally insane after attaching a neural interface and exposing it to the evil lurking in his own unconscious mind. Said creator is revealed to be your now emaciated father, who dies at your feet begging forgiveness after having been trapped in the interface chair for the last two decades. The evil computer disconnects him from life support and demands that you take his place, which will result in a horrifying NonstandardGameOver]]. After you figure out the solution? Funny shinanigans with the mechanic from the start of the game and the cute girl's boss. Seriously Revolution, what were you thinking!?
* The game ''GrimGrimoire'' starts off seemingly as a relatively light-hearted Magic School drama... but towards the end of Lillet's five days there, it rapidly turns dark, with the SealedEvilInACan escaping, culminating in [[EverybodysDeadDave everyone but the main character dying]]. The player actually knows this is coming in advance, but it's still shocking in its suddenness and intensity--and the fact that, afterwards, the first GroundhogDayLoop unexpectedly and suddenly turns the mood back to merely serious doesn't help matters.
* The bizarre way ''NoMoreHeroes'' operates simultaneously on RuleOfCool, RuleOfFunny, and RuleOfFun inevitably leads to this. The most jarring example is a moment when it goes from Travis whining comically about how his entrance fee to fight Dr. Peace went to giving him a fine night on the town... to a serious discussion of how Dr. Peace's life as an assassin and dirty Private Investigator has estranged him from ex-wife and daughter, and how both he and Travis are ruthless sociopaths "addicted to blood".
* The endings of both ''PokemonMysteryDungeon'' titles are really sad, complete with the really emotional music and copious amounts of crying. And then the credits start rolling and a cheerful rendition of the theme music starts playing. It's kind of funny, really.
* ''EliteBeatAgents'': You play the game for a while and the tone of the game sets itself fairly clearly, it's downright whacky with Automobile CEO heirs playing Ninja, a speed freak taxi driver outruning the law to get an expecting mother to the hostpital et al, and then you get to Mission 12: A Christmas Gift. The opening FMV looks simple enough, a father heads out to a job and his young daughter asks for a girl teddy bear to go with her male one for Christmas. No problem there, will probably be some hillarious level dealing with geting the bear in question. The FMV jumps to a few months on, the mother states that the father's [[NeverSayDie "had an accident" and "will not be able to come home"]]. Wait, ''what?''
** This is a once-a-game tradition for the ''OsuTatakaeOuendan'' series of which EBA is an American counterpart. All three are considered [[TearJerker extremely effective]], at that.
** [[http://threepanelsoul.com/view.php?date=2007-02-16 Three Panel Soul nails it]].
** The notable part is that in the final song for both EBA/Ouendan 2 had the young daughter and the sister of a figure skater who died after she had an argument with earlier participating in the final song in a hot-blooded fashion, neither Tetsu (the deceased husband of a widow whom they had an argument with) or his wife was in the final song (they do appear in the credits, also the song maintained a sadder tone then the other tear jerkers (For example, no Ouedan style OMG moment when you get 50s in that song, rather it was Tetsu being even more distant from his wife as he tries to say he loves her but wouldn't listen.)
* ''{{Painkiller}}'' was a straightforward first-person shooter until the Asylum level, which was almost completely devoid of lights and filled with invulnerable ghosts that could damage Daniel. It was like a light version of Shalebridge Cradle from ''{{Thief}}''. After that, the game went back to its normal intense tone.
** Don't forget [[NightmareFuel the amputees.]] ''*shudder*''
** The Orphanage anyone? Decapitated children, schoolgirls that burst into flame and scream in agony while attacking you, a giant butcher who devours the childrens' souls and cooks their bodies, children wrapped in bedsheets that explode into gorey mist...to say absolutely nothing of the iron maidens and other torture implements in the environment. One of the squickiest is the giant teddy bear in one room whose stomach has been split vertically, with a gore patch underneath it...
* Used to bewildering effect in the Great Bay area of ''The LegendOfZelda : Majora's Mask''. You've pushed poor Mikau to the shore, but you've come too late, and he's dying! His last words will surely be dramatic and plot-important, right? If by dramatic, you mean "Hopping up and pulling out a guitar and singing about how his girlfriend got pregnant and won't talk anymore, before collapsing and asking you to 'heal his soul'" then yes. It is very "dramatic".
* ''{{Mother 3}}'' begins with the usual ''{{Earthbound}}''-style humor, even amid the search for Flint's missing family in the first chapter, right up to the moment [[spoiler:when an NPC tells you he's got good news and bad news: the good news is that he found a Drago's tooth which could be used as a weapon. The bad news is that it was found ''pierced through the heart of Flint's wife.'']]
***The endgame could also count as well. You arrive in the bustling, amusement park-like [[spoiler:New Pork City]], go up the strange and whimsical [[spoiler:Empire Porky Building]] and are even shown a welcome bit of nostalgia from EarthBound in the form of a ''boat ride''. Then, suddenly you encounter the sinister[[spoiler: [[BigBad Big Bad]], Porky (who was The Dragon in the last game and abused time travel, causing him to age unnaturally until he became the bed-mech ridden manchild we see in this). After a battle with Porky's 'bots a trapdoor opens causing the party and Flint to fall, Tower of Terror-style, 100 stories down into an underground cave. Battles commence and eventually we see Claus, Flint's son and Lucas' twin, finally come to his senses, but commits suicide right after.]]
**''{{Earthbound}}'' itself had its moments. The generally happy-go-lucky nature of the game made the abrupt switch to CosmicHorror at the end all the more terrifying.
*** To elaborate, the game is bright, happy, goofy, and random for the most part, until an abrupt shift near the end where [[spoiler:your heroes find out that organic matter cannot withstand time travel and have to be turned into robots to fight Giygas, who has gone mad and lost his body and mind. Even worse, Giygas' lines are inspired by what the creator remembered as a rape scene from an R-rated movie that scarred him as a little kid.]]
*** Heck, we can probably pin this trope down as the ''entire point'' of the Mother/Earthbound series. It looks cute and cuddly, with this undercurrent of dissonant weirdness, then you get to the ending and suddenly it's pure psychological horror and NightmareFuel. This is probably the cause of it's small, yet super-devoted fanbase - if it were either pure cuteness or pure horror, it would have been much more forgettable.
* In Episode 4 of ''PhoenixWright: Trials and Tribulations'', the case seems to be building up to a triumph as Mia is on the verge of proving her defendent innocent and the lying witness guilty. Victory is at hand. [[spoiler: Then the defendent begins coughing up blood. He reveals that he'd promised Dahlia that if they ever couldn't trust each other, he would drink the poison hidden in a bottle in her necklace. This is in the courtroom. On the witness stand. ''Right in front of you''.]] While the game does depict corpses due to most of the cases being murders, this scene is particularly horrific.
** The ''PhoenixWright'' games as a whole invoke this trope often. The overall tone of the games is fairly light and satirical; but remember that all cases are framed around often horrible, grisly murders. The fact that the games typically jump right into the snappy comedic dialogue the series is known for mere moments after a corpse is found can be rather jarring.
*Shadow of the Colossus. You finally took down that HUGE Colossus that took half an hour just to climb. Yeah, good job asshole.
* The ''JakAndDaxter'' series pulls this off to an almost masterful degree, with the two most notable back-and-forths being the change of mood from "Jak and Daxter" to "Jak 2," and two scenes in "Jak 3" that happen within [[NintendoHard 5 to 60 minutes]] of each other depicting a [[ItsBeenAnHonor major character death]] and revealing[[CrowningMomentOfFunny what the precursors really are.]] Going into a CMoF angry is rarely satisfying, but it works with these scenes.
* Liable to happen often due to players in ''WorldOfWarcraft'', but one jarring example where the game itself presents this is the death knight starting sequence. From the get-go, the player and his/her npc allies happily slaughter screaming and pleading innocent peasants, torture crusaders to death, and wreak havoc and destruction across the land. It's cruel, it's evil, it's fun. Then comes the execution quest...
**Then, immediately AFTER the execution quest, you hide behind a [[PaperThinDisguise hilariously obvious cardboard tree]] to ambush a courier.
* ''Call of Duty'' 4 has a amazingly brutal and tragic ending. Then during the end credits, it then switches to a ''rap song'' by Griggs. Then there is the epilogue which is a ''Time Crisis'' style mission on a plane that starts off with an ''Airplane'' quip. Seeing those two moments after the ending you have just witnessed is just so ''jarring''.
* ''{{Persona 4}}'' gives us two examples. First of all, the game loves to alternate between a suspenseful supernatural murder mystery and a SliceOfLife/high school comedy. In addition, for a ShinMegamiTensei game, a series known for it's dark tones and [[DownerEnding depressing]] [[BittersweetEnding endings]], Persona 4 is extremely [[LighterAndSofter idealistic and upbeat]].
** Parodied in a [[http://hiimdaisy.livejournal.com/26044.html fan webcomic]]:
-->''"Mayumi Yamano was found dead on a TV antenna and that's why you're eating dinner alone tonight. In other news, Junes commercial!"''
-->''"You became friends with Yosuke. >Yosuke will now die for you."''
* ''Uncharted: Drake's Fortune'' plays as a mix of ''Gears of "War'' and ''Prince of Persia'' for most of its length (its mix of run-and-gun and exploration with a male protagonist led some to dub it "Dude Raider"). About the 80% mark it makes a sudden left turn into the [[spoiler: survival horror]] genre, when the protagonist discovers that the MacGuffin is not just a rather large slab of gold, but is also a [[spoiler: sarcophagus containing what apperars to be an ancient South American mummy and some kind of airborne virus or fungus that turns people into mindless killers within seconds of exposure]]. The upshot of this is that the gun-toting pirates and mercenaries of most of the game are suddenly replaced with [[spoiler: screeching grey super-zombies]]. YourMileageMayVary.
* ''{{Eversion}}''. To explain why would spoil things, but suffice to say that there's a reason that warning is on the game's opening.
**Just in case those who haven't played the game need a further hint, said warning shares the screen with a quote from ''HPLovecraft''.
* At the end of ''Gokujou {{Parodius}}'', you find a cartoon bomb that proceeds to blow up the place; nothing out of the ordinary, considering [[WidgetSeries every other bizarre thing you just witnessed]]... and then you are treated to a slow pan across the wreckage, and see your character's lifeless body float by, all accompanied with depressing music.
* ''GrandTheftAutoIV'': The serious story and dramatic moments clash somewhat with the goofy radio stations and ads.
** So does every other damn ''GrandTheftAuto''.
* ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'' has a pretty big swing. The game is ridiculously non serious and comical, until just before the final battle, when [[spoiler: Conker's girlfriend Berri is fatally shot by The Puma King's right hand man (although the act itself is actually pretty funny because she is riddled with machine gun bullets for a good 30 seconds straight). After Conker defeats the Alien, the game ends with him becoming king of the land the game takes place in, surrounded by his new subjects (characters he met throughout the game). Instead of being happy, he's incredibly depressed because he's stuck in his new position ruling over people he doesn't like, along with his girlfriend being dead. The credits music adds to it by being incredibly somber.]]
** The original ending was even worse, with [[spoiler: Conker walking into the bar's bathroom, walking up to the mirror, and breaking down in tears. We would then see him raise a gun to his head, and the screen would fade to black, followed by a gunshot.]] If that doesn't completely contrast the game's funny moments I don't know what would!
* ''MegaManStarForce'' 2. One of the villains is a ReplacementGoldfish who sacrifices himself because he loves the woman the man he replaced loved, but he knows he can never take his place. Another one of the villains, for comparison, threatens to ''tickle'' the main character's friends.
* Both ''Secret Files'' game has a serious story, and very humorous ending.
* FateStayNight, and quite frequently too. Example, in Heavens Feel first we have Sakura, Shirou and Rider in a goofy fight based on Sakura's jealousy - [[FunnyAneurysmMoment which is less amusing a few days later]] - before Shirou goes off to get Ilya's help. Berserker gets eaten (and its a bad thing this time) and we have the return of [[spoiler:Saber, and now she's all evil and stuff.]] Plus, Shirou's arm gets disintegrated or something and Archer uses his arm to save Shirou, then ''he'' dies. Oh, and the arm will kill Shirou if he uses it. Plus Kotomine points out it's even worse for Sakura. And then Ilya and Tohsaka start arguing about which one of them owns Shirou based on how many times they either saved him or avoided killing him when they could have while light music plays in the background. All in the space of about 6 game hours and significantly less reading.
** Two Words: [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojo]].
* In {{Trace Memory}} after you find out that [[spoiler:Ashley's mom is dead]], eat the candies you got at the start and she makes a joyful comment of "I love candy!"
* {{Psychonauts}} is a game that can be mildly disturbing or depressing at times, but is also very funny and enjoyable. Then, you get to the final level. [[spoiler: Suddenly, you're in a circus made entirely out of meat. You must help save a small child from mutilated bunny monsters (that come out of meat grinders) and eventually fight his dad, a gigantic butcher with meat cleavers. Then, you must deal with an evil version of your own dad, who throws flaming clubs at you while you navigate a very difficult obstacle course in a circus tent which is quickly filling up with instant-death water. Then, the butcher and your evil dad get tossed into a meat grinder and come out as a gigantic, mutilated, two-headed monster. But, hey, the game has a happy ending.]]
** There's also a level taking place in the mind of a very happy camp counselor named Milla Vodello. The level is a very upbeat dance party/ levitation training session. However, if you happen to find a hidden room in Milla's mind, you can find a memory that shows [[spoiler: her working at an orphanage, which eventually burns down with the children inside. Then, you can ignore Milla's advice not to mess around in that room and enter another room that contains her nightmares about that incident. It's pretty creepy.]]
** There's also a level inside the mind of a woman suffering from bipolar disorder. You can manipulate a spotlight to literally switch the mood of the level from happy and carefree to depressing and dangerous.
* In ''[[LEGOCrossoverGame LEGO Star Wars]]'', Vader's death is treated seriously, while most of the rest of the cutscenes verge on parody. (Even [[MoralEventHorizon the destruction of Alderaan]] is PlayedForLaughs.) Well... seriously until Luke closes the shuttle's ramp, and Vader slides into the shuttle headfirst.
* ''BrutalLegend'' alternates between [[ThePowerOfRock rock-fueled]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesomeness]] and tragedy. The MoodWhiplash hits first after the final epic battle with Lionwhyte and his hair-metal army, [[spoiler:when the demon Doviculus appears, thanks his spy among the heroes, kills Lars, and summons dozens of Bleeding Deaths to destroy the palace, after which Eddie abandons Ophelia and the heroes spend three months in hiding while Doviculus takes over the world and Ophelia throws herself into the Sea of Black Tears and becomes TheDragon]]. Then the game goes back to heavy-metal awesomeness for a while, at least until [[spoiler:Doviculus tears Ophelia's heart out]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebComics]]
* ''GunnerkriggCourt'' did this in one chapter, with the mood shifting from lighthearted to sad in a single page. The author even commented on it:
-->That's right, it's the end of the chapter! I hope I successfully tricked you all into thinking something weird and wacky was going to happen, but in the end, it was just about a girl crying for her mum.
**Similarly, chapter 19 gets intensely creepy, which makes the sudden CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming all the more effective. Which in turn makes Annie getting the rug yanked out from under her--on the very next page--all the more shocking.
** [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=284 See Also:]]
* ''CollegeRoomiesFromHell''. It began when a MushroomSamba turned into an all-out battle with {{Satan}} that nearly ended with a main character sucked into Hell, [[CerebusSyndrome and just kept getting more extreme from there]].
* Doubling as a WhamEpisode, the wedding of Brent and Jade in the webcomic ''[=PvP=]'', which featured Jade's RichBitch mother nearly ruining the entire occasion on a whim (by cancelling all their reservations because she hadn't been consulted on any of it), Skull's abrupt departure from the cast (complete with Brent nearly getting murdered by one of the Gods sent to fetch Skull), and [[spoiler:Francis and Marcie losing their virginity to each other]].
*[[http://www.sincomics.com/phpAlbum/main.php?cmd=imageview&var1=DDG%2FDDG20.jpg&var2=2 This]] ''{{DDG}}'' strip features the [[GenderBender standard]] ManIFeelLikeAWoman moment and moves swiftly on to Zip's reaction to finding out his funeral wasn't well attended. To be honest the comic itself does tend to swing between the wacky hi-jinks in the afterlife and sudden angst filled strips which are slowly revealing how Zip got there.
*SluggyFreelance is the drunken master of Mood Whiplash, still mostly light hearted both during and after events that would cause others to go down as having CerebusSyndrome. http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060612 is one of many that features a sudden mood shift within the same comic.
*''PennyAndAggie''. One strip has the GirlPosse being [[SmugSnake farcically evaile]] as they plan to use a target's unannounced homosexuality against her. In the next strip the psychotic one is making a false ''lesbian rape accusation'' when the worst the posse had done before was a PartySchedulingGambit. In the next strip she turns out to have no idea of how people speak as she gives her assailant lines that would be at home in a 1950s ScareEmStraight flick. In the ''next'' strip the accusation snaps back into plausibility, and she implies [[FreudianExcuse body parts that women don't have]] before starting to tear up...
* ''[[WalkyVerse It's Walky!]]'' '''Every. Last. Storyline.''' The other WalkyVerse comics tend toward this as well, but ''Walky'' is indisputably the gold standard. One week - tortured angst. The next - week long ToiletHumor!
* ''{{Minus}}'' is a story about a young girl with godlike power. What makes it so [[NightmareFuel creepy]] is how often her (ab)use of it switchs between whimsical, mischevious, [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant accidentally creepy]], and flat-out evil. For instance, [[http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus3.html early on]] she pops all the balloons a vendor was selling, and when he yells at her for it she casually ''[[DisproportionateRetribution kills him]]''.
** And then there's [[http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus14.html this]] one.
* '' El Goonish Shive''... From the comedy of Gender Bending to the drama of Ellen's creation, to the comedy of the following strips, back to the drama, this time starting with [[spoiler: Elliot's capture]], and the revelation of Grace's background...it goes all over the mood spectrum, and is currently see-sawing between the two, all part of the author's tug-of-war against CerebusSyndrome.
* In ''LookingForGroup'', some characters occasionally sing in battles, particularly against large mobs. These battles tend to get particularly bloody, but the songs chosen are generally happy themes, such as ''Lean on Me'' and ''Some Say Love''.
** And then there's [[http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/230 Richard...]]
** "Some Say Love"? ...Oh, you mean ''[[RefrainFromAssuming The Rose]]''...
* ''SomethingPositive'' has a very evil tendency to do this. It's quite possible that no long-run storyline has ever quite gone without banging up the readers' emotions at least to ''some'' extent.
** Three words, the catgirl arc... *shudder*
* ''RPGWorld'' both used this straight and parodied this. The dramatic death of one character was followed in-comic by Jim (the player) reacting and posting about the game on a message board. While within the game itself, the death is followed by a butterfly-catching minigame, prompting the characters to [[LampshadeHanging complain about not getting sufficient time to mourn]].
* ''OrderOfTheStick'' #640 brings us the genocide of [[spoiler:25% of the Black Dragon race]]. And a [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0640.html college basketball gag.]]
**With a [[spoiler: Black Dragons]] being quite [[AlwaysChaoticEvil unpleasant]] [[CompleteMonster creatures]] it's rather [[YourMileageMayVary unclear]] if reader should consider their [[DeathIsNotPermanent departure to another Plane]] all that tragic. After all [[spoiler:[[StuffedIntoTheFridge permanent imprisonment for his children souls]]]] is something to make protagonist's [[FreakOut reaction]] [[DrivenToMadness justifiable]]
* [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0312.html This]] strip of ''DarthsAndDroids'' shows the scene of Shmi dies and Annie as Anakin makes her character filled with rage and go on killing Sand People...the punchline?
-->'''Sand Person:''' Ow!! [[IrregularWebcomic My]] [[ShoutOut splanch!]]
* Done frequently in Mountain Time, as shown [[http://mountaincomics.com/2009/08/20/ here]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
*[[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1746/ This]] Cyanide&Happiness short does this over the course of 30 Seconds
* Doctor. '''Flipping. ''Horrible.''''' Not only does the tone do a complete 180 from lighthearted comedy to straight-up tragedy in the space of 45 minutes, during the most heartbreaking moment of the entire series, [[spoiler:the ReallyDeadMontage shortly after Penny dies, one of the newspaper headlines which flash across the screen says, "COMMUNITY MOURNS DEATH OF WHAT'S-HER-FACE". And this is during ''a dramatic scene.'']]
** In that same [[spoiler:ReallyDeadMontage, we have "CAPTAIN HAMMER DEFEATED: Hero 'Unavailable for Comment' For First Time Ever."]]
** Not that the earlier parts of the series are immune to this: the Act II song "My Eyes" features Dr. Horrible spying on Penny and Captain Hammer's dates via some extremely transparent disguises (including one use of MobileShrubbery). Pretty funny...and then you [[LyricalDissonance hear what he's singing]]:
----> Anyone with half a brain\\
Could spend their whole life howling in pain\\
Cause the dark is everywhere\\
And Penny doesn't seem to care\\
That [[{{Foreshadowing}} soon the dark in me is all that will remain...]]
** JossWhedon: your one-stop shop for MoodWhiplash.
*** Dr. Horrible? Mood whiplash? This troper disagrees. The whole point to the story is to make us feel for the bad guy and despise the hero. Superheroes should be caring individuals fighting for the common good, but Captain Hammer is a vain, self-centered creep. On the other hand, for Dr. Horrible, it was rags to riches. He wanted to become a supervillain, but he was just a bit too sensitive and caring in order to be one. After the whole ordeal with Penny getting taken by Captain Hammer [[spoiler:and her eventual death, he had become the perfect supervillain and was accepted into the Evil League Of Evil. He got everything he had ever wanted!]]
**** Yes, but only at the expense of [[spoiler:the only thing he ever REALLY wanted.]]
* ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'', being an RP board, can have this happen with someone barging in during a dramatic moment.
* ''ThereSheIs!'' from http://www.sambakza.net/. The first three episodes are pretty light-hearted, but the fourth episode, "Step 4 - Paradise" takes on a darker mood. This shift was likely alluded to at the end of "Step 3 - Doki and Nabi" when [[spoiler: a rock gets thrown through Nabi's window]].
** Specifically, in the fourth episode, [[spoiler: Doki and Nabi are subjected to constant persecution because of their, erm, mixed dating.]] Doki gets [[spoiler: injured by an angry mob, and one of her pets is actually ''killed'', though it was probably an accident]].
** Then, in this series' second instance of mood whiplash, the fifth and final episode goes back to being cheerful and action-oriented, but is still more serious in tone than the first three. Incidentally, if you've seen the whole series, then the street-punk rabbit [[spoiler:handing Nabi the plane ticket]] probably qualifies for a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.
* The D&D PHB PSA series on Youtube does this, interspersing the comedic interviews with D&D characters with the lonelymal69 subseries, where VillainProtagonist Malcanthet the Succubus Queen attempts to avoid being executed by [[ChurchMilitant Order of Saint Cuthbert]]. And the lonelymal series itself does this, mixing scenes of drama with ones where the demon lord of the air Pazuzu attempts to prove to Mal that chickens are the deadliest creatures on Earth
* Happens in Alexander Leon's [[http://www.alxlen.com/mariobrothers.html Mario Brothers]], especially the last one, where [[spoiler:Mario effectivly kills himself by letting a flowing pool of lava burn him to death, after nearly everyone else and their mothers were already dead...]] and then cut to the happy underwater level music for the credits.
*''[[FanFic/TiberiumWars Tiberium Wars]]''. Annual [[ChurchMilitant Black Hand]] Taco Fiesta.
* Monstro_draw brings us "[[http://monstro-draw.livejournal.com/9779.html Cat Rackham and the Comforts of Life]]", a lighthearted, [=NSF56K=] story about a cat who wants some coffee and [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel AHH! AHHHH!]]
*AVeryPotterMusical is mostly a light-hearted parody of HarryPotter but there is the occasional moment where-based on it following the series's plot of all things-you will get serious whiplash.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''Moral Orel'', once a lighthearted farce of small-town America, has now fully transformed into a dark character study of its characters' depressing lives.
** Which is made even worst with the occasional heartwarming episode. This trooper isn't sure if it'll end with them all killing themselves or finding some kind of redemption...
* ''TeenTitans'' was fond of these, although fans eventually picked up that any ThemeTune switches meant the episode could be much darker.
** On the flip side, if the intro song was in Japanese, that meant the episode would be wacky (featuring Mad Mod, Larry, etc.)
* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' follows an episode that reveals the largest city in the entire Earth Kingdom is ruled by a GovernmentConspiracy that has no intention of helping them win the war with an episode about [[DayInTheLife the various everyday activities of the characters]] in ''that same city''.
** And one of the shorts in that DayInTheLife episode has [[BadassGrandpa Iroh]] cheerfully dancing and singing through the city on a shopping errand, with the short ending on him, ''still singing that happy song'', [[TearJerker breaking down sobbing]] over a small memorial shrine for his dead son; ending with a dedication to Iroh's deceased voice actor.
** Season 3 has the ninth episode. It's a BreatherEpisode after one with a slight DownerEnding and before an event the show had been leading up to for a full 20 episodes. The episode also contains ''internal'' MoodWhiplash: Aang has some weird dreams, then a ''[[NightmareDreams freakish and creepy]]'' one, then a bunch of '''[[MushroomSamba crazy hallucinations]]'''!
** The last episode before the GrandFinale is "The Ember Island Players"; a BreatherEpisode where the Gaang watch a ([[StylisticSuck very poor]]) [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs play based on their adventures]]. Most of it is hilarious {{Flanderization}} of the main cast, but during the intermission, it [[MoodWhiplash whiplashes]] when the Gaang considers the mistakes they've made and their regrets. Then it goes back up, and then, [[spoiler:appropriately enough, it has another MoodWhiplash at the end when the play ends with all of their characters dying and Ozai conquering the world, the crowd cheering, and the Gaang severely disturbed]].
* ''Ben10AlienForce'' has a couple of episodes of this. The sixth episode, "Max Out", is very serious, with the kids discovering that the DNAliens are actually [[TheVirus people infected by an alien xenocite]] and ends with [[spoiler: Grandpa Max [[HeroicSacrifice blowing up himself and the Highbreed Overlord]]]]. The seventh, "Pier Pressure", is very upbeat - it's about Ben's date with Julie, and is only minorly inconvenienced by the alien Ship's antics; there's no real villain. The eighth episode, "What Are Little Girls Made Of", is fairly serious, and gives a nod to the ending of episode six with Gwen moping a bit at the beginning. The sad thing is, by production numbers, "Pier Pressure" should have been aired ''sixth'', and then "Max Out" seventh; as it is, Gwen spends an entire episode happily encouraging her cousin to ask his crush out, and then bantering with Kevin on why he's slow to ask ''her'' out, before suddenly snapping back into grief.
* ''{{Garfield}}: His Nine Lives'' goes from standard Garfield humour, to a surreal take on the Garden of Eden story, to a [[TearJerker sad story]] about a pianist's first cat, to a [[NightmareFuel nightmare inducing scenario]] involving a lab cat, to a tribute to KrazyKat. And at the end Garfield meets God.
** You think that's bad, try to find the graphic novel it was based on. Most of the stories made it into the animated special, but not the one that ends with Garfield, drawn as a realistic orange tabby that's [[MindScrew either driven crazy by time travel or possessed by evil spirits,]] leaping with fangs bared and claws outstretched right into the face of his owner, an elderly woman. (who's not even looking at him, and saying "come play with maw maw" right as he's pouncing.)
* ''TransformersAnimated'' does this a lot during the third season. The first two seasons were relatively light-hearted, with most every death being an OrIsIt. "Transwarped" rolls around and we have [[spoiler: Blurr crushed into a cube, Sari nearly killing Bumblebee after accidentally overupgrading herself, and Omega Supreme begging Ratchet to shut him down after he's possessed by Starscream.]] Then it's on to "Three's A Crowd", featuring the wacky antics of Bulkhead and the Constructicons. Then it's on to "Five Servos of Doom" where [[spoiler: Prowl's ninja mentor Master Yoketron [[DeathByOriginStory dies in Prowl's arms]] during a flashback.]]
* ''CourageTheCowardlyDog'', Last of the Starmakers, that is all.
* ''{{Futurama}}'' is notorious for sudden mood whiplashes, and for doing it numerous times within an episode, not just the show's infamous tear-jerker endings. "The Sting" is probably the best example -- you could be severely depressed, sniffling, and in agonizing pain as a guilt-consumed Leela descends into madness, her hopes dashed for the THIRD time, yet laugh your ass off as her warped mind imagines the entire crew launching into a broadway-style musical number, complete with flashing lights, and then be knocked into a shivering, sobbing mess by the following scene.
** Let's not forget the episode with Fry's dog. The entire episode, you're built up to expect that he'll get his dog back, wacky hijinks ensue, and then Fry discovers that his dog lived for twelve more years after he was frozen, so he had a full life, it's not right to bring him back, and the dog probably wouldn't even remember Fry anyway. Then we discover that ''the dog spent those twelve years waiting faithfully for Fry to come back, only to die of old age.'' Good God, I'm tearing up right now. Damn you, {{Futurama}}! [[spoiler: That ending was so unpopular with fans that they eventually went so far as to give the dog's story a happy ending in ''Bender's Big Score'', revealing that it ended up living with a time-shifted Fry who went back to the 20th century.]]
*** Or the episode where the protagonist Phillip J. Fry begins lamenting for a seven leaf clover he had that used to bring him luck. Flips continuously from past (1970's-1990's) to present (the year 3000), detailing both the search for the clover, and how Fry got on with his older brother Yancy. After finding out that the first man on Mars (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Fry's brother) was pictured with Fry's seven leafed clover, Fry, Leela, and Bender go grave robbing, only to learn that it's not Yancy's grave, but that of Yancy's son, who was named Phillip J. Fry in Fry's honor. The episode then ends with a song from the Breakfast Club soundtrack, an IronicEcho to a line Yancy said earlier, regarding emptying out a wedding reception.
* ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' did this on occasion, one notable example being the episode "Kid Stuff," which manages it with one line of dialog. After a relatively lighthearted adventure featuring magically pre-teen versions of WonderWoman, GreenLantern, {{Superman}}, and {{Batman}}, Wonder Woman comments that it was nice being a kid again. Batman responds with, "I haven't been a kid since I was [[DeathByOriginStory eight years old]]".
** And it's followed almost immediately with the scene of Mordred, a shriveled old man, being taken care of by his mother. In contrast to how he was in the entire episode as a kid, it's kind of a shock.
* BatmanTheAnimatedSeries does this from time to time. Robin's constant puns and one-liners can be a bit distracting in serious fights or chases. It also may have been intentionally invoked with Baby Doll and her rapid switching back and forth between her real voice and her [[TastesLikeDiabetes disgustingly cute]] persona.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:RealLife]]
* Happens often in American Football commentary. A player will hit another one really quite hard, and the commentators will hoot and holler about it, with phrases like 'Wow, what a great hit!' 'he almost took his head clean off!' till they realise that the player who was hit ''isn't moving, and the medics are coming on to the field''. Suddenly, they start speaking quietly, with phrases such as 'of course our thoughts are with (Player X) and his family at this time'
** Interestingly, soccer and rugby commentators don't go to either extreme: we get "well, that was a messy tackle", followed by "well, I hope he'll be OK" as the messy tackle's recipient gets stretchered off and "I think he deserved that" as its perpetrator gets sent off.
* {{Overheard}} has a number of examples.
** "[[http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/006988.html Wow! This shirt is only $19!]]"
** [[http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/008469.html Whoopi Goldberg can cure anything]].
** [[http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/012572.html Don't touch me, you faggot! So where are you from?]]
* [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=107674&title=Squirrelly-Situation This]] news clip. Aww, lookit the cute squirrel! - Now, [[KentBrockmanNews on a serious note]]...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:ComicBook]]
* It's been said that the [[{{Batman}} Joker]], written properly, should frighten you one minute, have you laughing the next, then hating yourself once you realize just what you're laughing at.
* One of the better known issues of ''FantasticFour'' featured Sue Storm having complications during her pregnancy. They decide to engage Doc Ock, appealing to his intelligence and so forth, and have a typical superhero-on-supervillain battle at one point, only to return to find that they were too late, and Susan already miscarried.
* [[{{watchmen}} Nite Owl]]'s snow suit. The story in general is [[{{crapsackworld}} depressing as hell]], but....when he puts on that ridiculous fluffy white coat, it's hard to take it seriously.
** The best part? It's (of course) an owl-suit.
* ''[[DoubleHappiness Double]] freakin' [[DoubleHappiness Happiness]]''. Starts off as a light FishOutOfWater SliceOfLife story. Then, just as the protagonist starts to fit in and gets a date with a cute girl, [[spoiler:he gets cornered in an alley and gets beaten to a bloody pulp by hoodlems. Worse, he realizes why this happened: ''all his new friends are [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Tongs]]''--rivals of the gang that beat him up.]]
* Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis' ''Justice League International'' was a very good example, where a comedic quip, a DeadpanSnarker, or a hilariously drawn expression by Kevin Maguire would come out of nowhere in a dramatic scene. Issues ranged from pure comedy to action/drama at will.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* There are two things that Ken Matsudaira is well-known for. One of them is starring as a tough samurai in the Japanese TV series ''The Violent Shogun'', in which he saves village after village from different menaces like corrupt officials. He occasionally did stage shows where the first act involved samurai dramas along a similar line. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PdIrUfe4qo The second act of his show]] quickly became the other thing Matsudaira is famous for.
*This happens all the time with television commercials. One minute, you're nearly bawling at the sad, dying animals, and then "HAVE YOU GOT DIARRHEA?!?!?!" Cue upbeat music. Yes, you can go crawl in a hole and die now.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNlJIKzlCnU Many of you feel bad for this lamp]]...
** This troper would like to see the aforementioned "HAVE YOU GOT DIARRHEA?!!?!?!" commercial.
*** Happens during TV movies too. This lurker and her family were watching Full Monty, and it cut to commercial right after the scene with the gnomes and the job interview. '3000 children will die tonight...' complete with sad piano music.
*[[http://www.onesentence.org/ One Sentence]] splashes itself all over the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, with one entry providing definitive proof that HumansAreBastards, and the next stating unequivocally that RousseauWasRight. Read down the front page, and you will find yourself [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome punching your fist in the air]], [[DownerEnding weeping]] [[TearJerker uncontrollably]], [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming awwwwwing]] and [[CrowningMomentOfFunny laughing hysterically]]. Often at the same time.
* Can happen to you easily if you have a wide variety of songs on your mp3 player and have it set on random.
* The Post Secret books. One page will be a hysterically funny postcard, and the next will be about someone purposefuly miscarrying their baby.

[[/folder]]
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