* AcceptableLifestyleTargets: Helen Morgendorffer is the breadwinner of the family, and she's shown as being ''incredibly'' out of touch with her family (Though more in touch than [[CloudCuckoolander Jake]]) and microwaves frozen lasagna for the family to eat every night. Jake meanwhile is often the one who is shown cooking and acting like the traditional mother, and likewise has quite a few quirks.
** Averted in which Daria and Jane seem unbothered by their flatness.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Sandi a complete AlphaBitch who thinks Quinn is just another girl to socially dominate, or does she actually view the members of the fashion club as friends, despite being a domineering Libby? There's proof of both sides.
** It might be both; by the GrandFinale, she seems to be the latter, but for a lot of the series she was the former, with this slipping out.
** Tom's potentially ending the relationship between Daria and Jane, and effectively sealing the fate of the flirtation between Daria and Trent Lane, caused Tom to be a very controversial character and his portrayls are all over the map. The fact that what Tom represented shifted during the course of the ''show'' leads to him coming off as very different in works written before the show ended, and his status as hero, villain, or neither are entirely based on where the author fell during the show's run. And that's just regarding his relationship to Daria, which was largely his only storyline in the entire show.
*** Outside of his relationship with Daria, Tom's portrayal still varies. A number of writers show him being a good person and/or an ally of Daria's. One notable writer, The Angst Guy, has usually shown Tom as being weak, attempting to do the right thing but backing out or getting it wrong; on the Daria Fandom Blog, he also once remarked Tom had been punished for The Kiss by having to date Daria, which he viewed as being a source of pain and frustration for Tom.
* BizarroEpisode:
** There are fans who refuse to consider "Depth Takes A Holiday" as a canon episode. You should see how the fans treat that episode in FanFic... "Daria!" may also count.
** "Murder, She Snored" and "The Lawndale File" as well, though one is AllJustADream and the other is just the town's collective idiocy biting it in the back door.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: "Freakin' Friends." It sounds ''just'' shitty enough for us to believe it's a Mystic Spiral song, and no more.
* EarWorm: ''La la LA la la...''
* GirlShowGhetto: This show managed ''[[AvertedTrope not]]'' to fall into it.
* HarsherInHindsight: In episode 4 or Season 4, Kevin and the football team (except Mack) are suspected of cheating, because they all got 100% on their test and teacher, Mr. [=DeMartino=], noticed his file cabinet was broken into the night before. When he asked Kevin to name the people responsible for the Teapot Dome Scandal - which was a question on the test - he first named the [[ScandalGate New Orleans Saints. When [=DeMartino=] didn't buy it, he named the New England Patriots]]. Both teams were found guilty of illegally surveilling their opponents in 2012 and 2007 respectively.
* HilariousInHindsight: During the final episode of Season 1, we find out that Mack's full name is Michael Jordan Mackenzie. He explains that his original name was Michael James, but after his father saw Michael Jordan in a playoff game, he changed James to Jordan. Of course, the episode was created over a decade before a Lebron ''James'' became a professional basketball player with the same super-stardom as Michael Jordan.
* JerkassWoobie: Mr. [=DeMartino=], Mr. O'Neill, and Ms. Barch (emphasis on the "{{Jerkass}}" part for Barch and [=DeMartino=]), but these three do have their moments where the viewer can't help but feel sorry for them.
** Mr. [=DeMartino=] grew up with a mother who sent him to live with his strange, twisted neighbors because she didn't want her dates to know she was a single mother (and later, his best friend married said mom), although not proven if he was actually serious in this line, because at that time he was drunk. He lost his love of teaching because of idiot students like Brittany and Kevin.
** Ms. Barch: Abandoned by her husband after 22 years of a bad marriage and now blames all males for being just as bad as her husband (until Mr. O'Neill comes along). Watch that scene in "The Daria Hunter" when she finds out that Mr. O'Neill actually cares about her plight. When she says, "You're sensitive, yet you're a male," she sounds like she's about to cry.
** Mr. O'Neill isn't as much of an overt {{Jerkass}} as the other two, but Daria's mom does consider him creepy and he does push his pie-eyed beliefs on others without thinking that others will disagree with what he believes. The Woobie parts are obvious: Mr. [=DeMartino=] is his friend, Ms. Barch roped him into a PitbullDatesPuppy relationship which scared O'Neill (at first), and, much like [=DeMartino=], he has to deal with students who aren't as bright as Daria.
** Also, Link from the episode "Is It Fall Yet?".
* LesYay: Heavily implied in Stacy's semi-obsessive relationship with Sandi and Quinn. In one episode, she changes her clothes several times (while Quinn is still in the room) before finally dressing like Quinn. Quinn understandably gets freaked out by this, and she replies "How do you want me to dress?"
* MisaimedFandom: A lot of people think Daria is an appropriate role model and is smart because she thinks she's SurroundedByIdiots and views herself and Jane as being the only level-headed people in school -- never mind that there are several episodes in the later seasons where others (including Jane) call her out for being anti-social and the last regular episode even revealed that concerns about her having some sort of social disorder have spanned as far back as her childhood. These same fans have criticized Daria for such horrible out-of-character moments like...being insecure about her appearance ("Through a Lens Darkly") and having a dating life (all the episodes where she ends up dating Tom).
** A fair part of this is that a lot of the fandom can relate, since they ''were'' (or still ''are'') Daria. And Daria's at least a minimum to which they can hold themselves.
* MoralEventHorizon: Ms. Angela Li probably crossed this when forced Daria to sell anyway chocolate to a woman with obesity problems, implying that she was not even interested in someone's life.
** Jake's father, despite never appearing on screen, the cruel treatment to his son until being somewhat neurotic as is the man of today, is enough to qualify.
* RecycledScript: "Fair Enough," "Just Add Water," and -- to a lesser extent, "Anti-Social Climbers" are just "The Daria Hunter" at a school-run Renaissance fair, a dingy casino cruise, and in the woods. There are some changes, but the following gags/scenes are the same for most or all the episodes:
** "The Daria Hunter," "Fair Enough," and "Just Add Water" had Miss Barch making out with Mr. O'Neill ("Anti-Social Climbers" had a FullyAutomaticClipShow of the three times Barch and O'Neill made out when Ms. Barch thinks back to when she vowed never to pull another man's weight again).
** "The Daria Hunter" and "Just Add Water" both had scenes of Jake and Helen fighting near the end of the episode.
** "The Daria Hunter" and "Just Add Water" had scenes where it's established that Ms. Li and Helen hate each other.
** "The Daria Hunter" and "Anti-Social Climbers" took place during a field trip in the woods.
** "The Daria Hunter," "Just Add Water," and "Fair Enough" had Daria and Jane trying to get out of whatever social function they were in (Daria and Jane skipped the paintballing trip to go to the Great White Shark museum in "The Daria Hunter," Daria and Jane were trying to get some sleep after staying up all night watching a marathon of "SickSadWorld" on "Just Add Water," and Daria and Jane tried to run from Upchuck by getting on a Ferris wheel, only to end up sharing the ride with a sobbing Stacy in "Fair Enough")
** "The Daria Hunter" and "Anti-Social Climbers" ended with someone getting left behind (Sandi after she finally found a hidden bathroom and Jake and Helen after Ms. Li took their distributor cap in "The Daria Hunter"/Kevin in "Anti-Social Climbers")
** "Fair Enough" and "Just Add Water" both end with Kevin and Brittany stranded somewhere (Brittany continues driving despite that she is miles away from the school in "Fair Enough"/Kevin and Brittany are stuck on the casino cruise's only lifeboat in "Just Add Water")
** "The Daria Hunter" and "Just Add Water" had scenes with Jake and Mr. [=DeMartino=] together (though in "Just Add Water," Jake doesn't remember Mr. [=DeMartino=] as the guy who shared his flask of whiskey with him and traded stories about their {{HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood}}s)
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: ''Daria's Inferno'' was not well received, and ''Daria's Sick Sad Life Planner'' was criticized by the MoralGuardians for molding journal entries to Daria's viewpoint.
* TheWoobie: Sometimes, Stacy. Despite being one of the minor characters, she's especially noticeable during the episode "Fat Like Me".
** Daria has also managed these moments, special mention deserves in episodes like "Boxing Daria", and some episodes focused on her relationship with Tom.
** For some in the fandom, Tom himself can be seen as this, agree to an alternative interpretation. Note that many think that Daria never appreciated him at all, and he seemed to get a genuine kick out in crawl in her, for love.