Characterization Marches On / Anime & Manga

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• Keiichi in early chapters of Ah! My Goddess was highly interested in moving directly into a physical relationship with Belldandy. As the series progressed, this faded until even holding hands was enough to make him blush. Becomes a plot point when it's revealed his sexual urges were suppressed by the Ultimate Force.
• Throughout Assassination Classroom, Koro-sensei undergoes a subtle, important shift in personality. Formerly the exceedingly skilled human assassin known as the "God of Death", he slowly acclimates more to the responsibilities of a teacher and to empathy itself, only recently instilled in him by Aguri Yukimura, a gentle young teacher assigned to observe him during his confinement. This is justified, because the "tentacles" have an emotionally reciprocal relationship to their host, being affected by and feeding into the host's emotional state. In late chapters, Koro-sensei states that he wanted to be "full of weaknesses, easy to get along with" and able to "touch even the weakest of things, protect them, and guide them". This from a guy who responded to a reckless assassination attempt by threatening the students' families...
• Azumanga Daioh:
  • Osaka started out as a quiet girl who was deeply pensive to a fault, and was often made the butt of others' jokes (getting branded with the nickname "Osaka" was one such instance; her real name is Ayumu Kasuga). Within a few episodes though, she made the transition to full-on Cloud Cuckoo Lander.
  • Kaorin used to be content just to say that Sakaki was "really cool." But in the later episodes her feelings went quite a lot further.
  • In the earlier episodes, Koyomi was less uptight and even pulled a prank on Osaka. This is quite jarring, given that she was firmly cast as the show's Only Sane Man just a short time later.
• Berserk:
  • On the very first page of the very first chapter we are introduced to badass protagonist Guts in the boldest way possible: having sex with a hot demon woman. However, later chapters full of traumatic backstory reveal that Guts is not the type of man who is keen on being sexually adventurous with random women, for pleasure or otherwise like killing demonesses mid-coitus and is staunchly faithful to the one woman he has decided to share his heart with. Granted, that one would think that this behavior is only typical of the anti-heroic archetype that Guts represented at the time of Berserk's debut, only it's revealed no more than two chapters later that Guts has some serious hangups about being physically touched with a bonus hint of foreshadowing for what was going to be revealed in the flashback arc. So it goes without saying that a lot of fans find the first scene of the manga weird, to the point of disregarding it almost entirely.
  • Also, Femto's first appearance in the story at the climax of the Guardians of Desire chapter portrays him rather differently than when he's reincarnated into the physical world. In particular, he was originally much more dismissive and sneering towards Guts, while his reincarnation acts serene and emotionless towards his one-time best friend. There is no given reason for this change of attitude, as while he's regained his old body, Griffith is very much still Femto.
  • Casca in her introduction is a very different woman from who she is towards the end of Golden Age Arc and upon regaining her sanity. Most notably along with her initial hatred of Guts (her future lover) she was actively dismissive and uncaring to other members of the Band of Hawk with the sole exception of her saviour/idol Griffith, to the extent of threatening to kill the likes of Corkus over petty matters. Considering later chapters strongly highlight how much Casca treasures her teammates with their horrific deaths contributing to her mental breakdown and regression, her earlier cold Drill Sergeant Nasty behaviour is tricky to reconcile to say the least. Granted, this change in Casca is partially noted In-Universe by Judeau when Guts leaves the band, but only in relation to her being less devote to Griffith — not her just being a warmer person in general.
  • Farnese is a virtually different character from who she is in her introduction compared to who she is as one of Guts’s allies. In her debut she’s a deeply disturbed Rebellious Princess and Spoiled Brat who has a bad case of Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny over her piousness, to the point of masturbating over her encounter with Mr. Fanservice Guts on top of being a severe Pyromaniac who got off at burning heretics alive as well as whipping and biting her servant/half-brother Serpico. While some of some this behaviour can be Hand Waved due to her troubled childhood, it’s still bizarre that after getting her views changed by Guts Farnese becomes such a gentle person who is shocked at violence and disturbing events. It’s almost like her entire earlier characterisation ceases to exist.
• Bleach:
  • During the Soul Society arc, Mayuri was cold-blooded, murderous and evil. There may have been ham, but he wasn't played for comedy. In the Arrancar Arc, he became a Cloudcuckoolander Jerkass whose ham was Played for Laughs. This polarised the fan base between viewing him as a Karma Houdini that's escaped justice at Ishida's hand and viewing him as pure sociopathic comedy gold. In the Thousand-Year Blood-War Arc, Mayuri's cold-blooded evil and hammy comedy have combined into something that is played for either seriousness or black humour.
    • Several captains act in a weird way in their introduction. Hitsugaya is seen for the first time as a wry brat deriding the older captains when they start arguing. Kenpachi is introduced with Gin as if they are buddies as they come to provoke Byakuya. Gin carries Kenpachi away in a quick joke which is very strange when you see the current Kenpachi.
    • Renji was also introduced acting almost gleefully villainous, putting Rukia in a forceful choke-hold and even attacking her with his sword with lethal intent, to the point of drawing blood. This is in stark contrast to his later characterization, especially in regards to his feelings toward Rukia and fighting women. The anime adaptation significantly revised the scene to be more consistant with his later characterization.
  • Kon was introduced as a threatening character that was then revealed to be a Technical Pacifist (even putting himself in danger to protect some ants). However, once he was made Ichigo's 'substitute' 'soul candy' he was relegated to status of comic relief.
• Code Geass:
  • In his first appearance, Sir Jeremiah Gottwald was portrayed very negatively as an incompetent racist who was easily outwitted by Zero/Lelouch and was generally an unpleasant person. By his next appearance, however, he's managed to Take A Level In Badass and gain a sympathetic backstory as an imperial bodyguard who blames himself for Marianne's death. Moreover, his prior dislike of the Elevens is explained as being due to the mistaken belief that they had murdered Lelouch. He then proceeds to make a Heel–Face Turn, get Ship Teased with the series' resident Ninja Maid, and ends up as one of the few characters to receive an unambiguously happy ending.
  • The rest of Britannia to a lesser extent. In the first season, Britannia was completely ruthless and would kill people at the drop of a hat. During the second season this was toned down severely, in particular with Cornelia. Presumably this was because the ending would make even less sense than it already did if Britannia was kept the same, and that its previous portrayal made Lelouch seem too justified in all his actions against it, which counters the gray morality he's meant to have (his father and the main ones in charge naturally have to be evil, but to have the whole nation as such is rather ridiculous).
  • In the first season, Schneizel looks aghast and horrified when he sees his sister committing mass murder and attempted genocide. In the second season, Schneizel himself does things far, far worse without ever showing a twinge of regret or disgust. Unless something happened to make him much colder during the Time Skip, those depictions don't really mesh well. It's probably less that the Japanese were being slaughtered and more that he was aghast that it was Euphemia committing the genocide, as she was shown to be one of the kindest and most caring of the royal family.
  • Emperor Charles zi Britannia takes a drastic one in the two seasons, going from The Social Darwinist who is seemingly proud that his daughter has been killing Japanese in a brutal matter to the reveal that he's actually a Well-Intentioned Extremist who is orchestrating an Assimilation Plot to end wars, and does not even like wars to begin with.
• Crayon Shin-chan: Nene used to be scared of her mom when she vented her anger by punching her plush bunny, prompting Nene's Catchphrase "That's not my usual mom!". Not that you would imagine it now that she exemplifies the exact same behavior, though at least this was given a plot reason instead of randomly changing her character. Also, for some reason Nene's mom punched a teddy bear at first, instead of her iconic Happiness Bunny mentioned earlier.
• In Death Note, when Matsuda first appears, he's actually portrayed fairly seriously. He seems to have an Old Cop, Young Cop dynamic with Soichiro, and the very fact that he's at the ICPO conference as his number two certainly says something. It takes a few episodes for his comical Butt-Monkey characterization to kick in, although he does occasionally prove to still be competent despite this.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Zenitsu's attempts to charm girls get phased out as the series progresses, instead focusing the humor attempts on his jealousy of the mere prospect of someone having a girl while he doesn’t and freaking out over harsh demon slaying training sessions. It can be implied Zenitsu just sort of decided to make Nezuko his main goal, but the series doesn’t actually show him making the resolve of forsaking chasing after someone else, and even after meeting Nezuko he tried to charm the Butterfly Estate girls, Zenitsu isn’t seen trying to charm girls other than Nezuko ever again.
• Dragon Ball:
  • In the early series, Krillin started off as Goku's cowardly, perverted Smug Snake rival trainee under Master Roshi and was deemed unworthy of riding the Flying Nimbus. For people more familiar with the lovable dork of Dragon Ball Z who is very aware of how hopelessly out-matched he is but nonetheless keeps fighting, this can be hard to reconcile.
  • Chi-Chi in Dragon Ball is almost unrecognisable compared to who she is in Z. In the early manga and anime, she’s a Nice Girl very sweet and Moe as well as a bit of crybaby. Even when reappearing as a teenager her anger with Goku was understandable due to him forgetting who she was and the promise of marriage he made her (he thought marriage was a food). By the time of Z however Chi-Chi is a Wet Blanket Wife and Education Mama with a Hair-Trigger Temper towards her husband, the only explanation given for this change is that living in poverty in the mountains has given her a stricter and less patient personality.
  • Tien/Tenshinhan was a smug, Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy with a penchant for taunting his opponents and a rather cruel sense of humor when he first appeared, remaining that way until his Heel–Face Turn, where he became The Stoic, who at one point found it very difficult to even tell a joke.
  • Piccolo went from a cackling Card-Carrying Villain, prone to giving menacing grins, to being The Stoic and acting much more composed in general. ^note You might notice that he follows the trend set by Tien (which would later be continued to some extent by Vegeta after his long-term character development). To put it in more general terms, this is what happens when two characterization staples of the series (Defeat Means Friendship and Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor) come into conflict; evil characters may reform, but they'll lose their levity in the process.
  • When Vegeta was first introduced in Dragon Ball Z, he was a calculating, cold blooded killer who never emoted beyond a Psychotic Smirk and was perfectly willing to sit on the sidelines and let his underlings do all the fighting. When at a disadvantage, he's cunning and methodical, coming up with good plans on the fly to beat the heroes on Earth and one-up Frieza's more powerful minions on Namek. He was contrasted with prior villains by his ruthless pragmatism, being entirely willing to gang up on enemies, use sneak attacks, or even unceremoniously run away when he needed to. Reconciling the overly proud, overly intense, Berserker Blood Knight who curses like a truck driver and is always ready to fly off the handle for one reason or another that we see later on with that earlier version is a bit difficult.
  • Goku to an extent. Fans who may have seen Z first and know Goku in his adulthood as an All-Loving Hero who refuses to kill even the most monstrous of villains unless absolutely necessary (even though his reasons are occasionally selfish) will be surprised to watch the original Dragon Ball and see him as a kid with absolutely zero qualms about killing and rampaging through the Red Ribbon Army without a second thought. Especially with how much the anime-only material and the original English dub exaggerated his heroic qualities.
  • Future Trunks went from a confident Smug Smiler in the very first episode/chapter to prominently feature him to the deadly serious and occasionally awkward Nice Guy he was better known for being for the rest of the series.
  • Videl has her entire personality change upon marrying Gohan. In Z she’s a combative Tsundere Tomboy who while becoming significantly nicer after falling in love with Gohan is still pretty abrasive as further shown in the movies. In Dragon Ball Super however Videl has much more a Girly Girl personality being very nonchalant and patient which is very at odds with how temperamental she was in Z. That said, this is more an example of Depending on the Writer, as in the manga, which was written by Akira Toriyama and in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, which had heavy involvement of Toriyama, Videl is portrayed as a feisty, temperamental young woman, who is clearly embarrassed by Mr. Satan and at one point, angrily yells at him in public. In the anime version of Super, which is written by Toei Animation, she is portrayed as a soft-spoken lady, who rarely, if ever raises her voice against anyone and at one point, politely asks Goku not to say insensitive things about her unborn baby, instead of getting angry.
  • The characterisation of the entire Saiyan race has changed since their introduction. Originally they were prime case of Aliens Are Bastards being Always Chaotic Evil planet conquering brutes and Goku was only an exception due to the head injury he gained as a baby. Since then however numerous retellings and many specials, movies and videos game such as Dragon Ball Legends have made it clear Saiyans are Not Evil, Just Misunderstood having once been a more noble race that fell to their Blood Knight instincts with the good natured Saiyans being overrun by violent and cruel Saiyans, before being found by King Cold and folded into his evil Galactic Conquerer empire. Even Goku’s head injury being his excuse for not being evil was gently retconned with the introduction of Gine — his kind hearted mother whom it’s implied Goku inherited his better nature from.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Gray Fullbuster used to be The Rival to Natsu Dragneel, based on their Red Oni, Blue Oni interactions. Gray is now Natsu's Lancer, and they haven't been shown to have a fight for quite while until Natsu reverts to his demonic E.N.D. persona, and Gray, having sworn to defeat E.N.D. and vengeful over Juvia's apparent death, attacks him, with Natsu fighting back simply because Gray's in his way.
  • Similarly, Erza Scarlet was at first shown to scare everyone in the guild, and didn't even seem to treat Natsu and Gray as friends, though nowadays that seems to have mellowed. This is even lampshaded by Lucy at one point, when she says that Erza has changed from being completely intimidating to someone who is genuinely easy to get along with.
  • Erza mellowing out is actual development thanks to her coming to terms with her past. It's her obligatory quirk that changes. During her first appearance she has as poor a grasp on normalcy as Natsu. Later chapters just have her taking everything seriously, no matter how minor.
  • Erza was also initially suggested to be constantly out on difficult missions like most of the other S class mages and only returned briefly to pick out a new job. She's out on a mission for the first 4 episodes, and the terror everyone is in while she's around suggests she's not frequently around. Yet after this she's a regular fixture, either part of Natsu's team or hanging around the guild. In fact the next arc has a plot point that she's the only S class mage that's always on hand. Later on, this "always away on extremely difficult missions" trait was applied to Gildarts, who had been gone for several years as of the start of the story.
  • Several of the hero-turned-villains are like this as well, Gajeel Redfox and Pantherlily most notably. Gajeel started out as a completely sadistic nutcase who beat his Implied Love Interest the first time they met though it's revealed he later considers it his worst sin, and Pantherlily was OK with sacrificing a town at his king's whim. Compared to Gajeel's current status as Friendly Rival Sixth Ranger and Pantherlily's as the Only Sane Man, their early characterization can be a little jarring to look back on.
  • Jellal Fernandez was a smug, ruthless, Manipulative Bastard in the first few arcs. Thanks to Easy Amnesia after recovering from his apparent death, he spends the "Oracion Seis" arc in a confused state with none of his prior personality traits. Post Time Skip after he regains his memeroies, Jellal is depicted as somber and haunted by guilt for his previous actions. Justified in that he was revealed to have been Brainwashed and Crazy during his early appearances and his personality wasn't representative of his real self.
  • The very first job Natsu and Lucy take is breaking into a rich man's house to steal a book and destroy it during which they beat him and his staff up and destroy his house (although they don't actually destroy the book). A blatantly illegal act though the noble in question is guilty of a couple of crimes himself. It would later be established that Fairy Tail, and Natsu in particular look down on guilds that deliberately commit crimes, such as Phantom Lord trying to kidnap Lucy and Trinity Raven's assasinations, and such work is usually done by Dark Guilds. Instead most of their work is "good" like saving people from monsters and such.
  • Elfman was initially portrayed as almost as much of The Rival to Natsu and Gray as the two were to each other (see above), but because he could only do a Partial Transformation, they and everyone else treated him as a joke who couldn't live up to his obsession with manliness (which changed when he mastered Take Over). Elfman has fewer interactions, much less fights, with Natsu and Gray as time goes on, spending most of his time with his sisters and his Love Interest Evergreen, the latter of whom brings out his argumentative side.
• The Familiar of Zero:
  • You have Saito's Love Interest Siesta who in the first anime season is a good-natured classy women; seen as the complete opposite Saito's main Tsundere Love Interest, Louise. Later seasons however, Siesta's character takes a complete 180 and acts more like a desperate slut trying to force her way into the relationship. Some fans say that her desperation was just a change in tactics after realizing near the start of Season 2 that she's failed to win Saito by way of her normal persona. The kicker however, is that you never see the same loveable Siesta from Season 1 again after deciding to change her actions.
  • Even Saito went through an unexplained change between seasons. Season 1, he always stayed calm whenever he ended up in embarrassing situations with the women. Season 2 and on however, he clearly shows a perverted side of himself anytime a women tries to seduce him in some form.
• Fate Series:
  • The majority of the Fate/stay night cast has stayed mostly consistent in future entries, with the very noticeable exception of Gilgamesh. In the original, he came in relatively late into the story and was pretty much just an egomaniacal Hate Sink whose entire personality boiled down to being, in Type-Moon's own words, "mankind's oldest bully". Stories released later would actually try to flesh him out, with his portrayal only properly solidifying itself with Fate/EXTRA CCC, a whooping nine years after stay night, and also the first entry to actually use The Epic of Gilgamesh as a proper backstory rather than just window dressing. While he does remain an egomaniacal douchebag (wouldn't be Gil if he wasn't) his CCC-onwards portrayal is presented as considerably wiser and less aggressively cruel than his earliest showing.
  • Looking back at Carnival Phantasm in a post-Fate/Grand Order world, some of the characterization can seem a little strange as things have gone forward.
    • The biggest one for sure is Lancer and his joke about dying all the time... since Lancer himself and his very popular Alter Berserker version are incredibly famous in Grand Order for being unbelievably hard to kill and carrying teams to victory. Now, that's probably part of the franchise-wise, decade-plus-long gag, but Grand Order is just so much more popular and well-known than any other Nasuverse work that Lancer dying all the time can just feel weird to newer fans. Episode 11 is the one that would more match Lancer's future mechanics characterization.
    • A little more seriously, Sakura as a yandere-ish stalker. In the wake of the animated Fate/Zero (earlier episodes of which aired in tandem with CP releases), the animated Unlimited Blade Works, Fate/EXTRA CCC in general (even though that's not quite the same Sakura), and the entire Heaven's Feel trilogy, this interpretation of Sakura's character has fallen sharply out of favor with the fanbase, even as a joke. These days it just comes across as the writers being mean and forcing Sakura to be out of character.
    • Illya also gets a little bit... since she's based mostly on her Fate route self with a bit of Zero thrown in for flavor. Nowadays, the complete lack of any Prisma Illya content for her, or even much in the way of UBW or Heaven's Feel route refs, feels perplexing (especially since Prillya had been running for a couple years when the main body of CP episodes came out, though the real explosion of Prillya popularity was a few years out yet).
• Food Wars!: In early chapters and particularly in the pilot chapter, the titular Souma is notably callous and full of himself, in fact he derides Erina far before she shows any sort of hostility towards him. It takes a few chapters for him to settle down in a more quirky though more lovable and kind-natured personality he would go on to show for the rest of the story.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: The first few chapters portray Edward and Alphonse Elric as bitter, cynical Anti-Heroes. It’s jarring to see Al being a reserved and quiet Deadpan Snarker who beats people with little hesitation, but it’s even more stunning to see Ed acting like a callous Jerkass who doesn’t really seem to care about anyone but Al. He’s also a lot calmer, lacking his Hair-Trigger Temper (though his hatred of being called short is intact) and acting more like a mischievous trickster. Their personalities crystallize around the time they get to Central and meet Shou Tucker, solidifying Ed as a temperamental Jerk with a Heart of Gold and Al as a compassionate, out-going Nice Guy.
• Futaba-kun Change! has a reverse Nabiki example with Negiri, she starts off as a out and out Barnum with a serious Money Fetish who is quite willing to risk burning to death in a blazing building for a cheap deal but quickly changes into a pretty nice (although still financially shrewd), helpful, and friendly character.
• In Future Diary, Minene Uryu is introduced as an Ax-Crazy Blood Knight utterly lacking in humanity and willing to blow up a school full of children with unabashed glee. But by the time she made her third appearance, she had mellowed out into a more pragmatic and honorable, snarky anti-heroine who gradually develops a Cool Big Sis relationship to the main character she was gung-ho about killing earlier, and a romance with a law officer.
• For most of Fushigi Yuugi, Nuriko is a brave, funny and extremely likeable warrior. So it's really strange to look back at the early episodes where he acted like a psychotic, possessive yandere about Hotohori, even going so far as to nearly drown his rival Miaka.
• Ghost in the Shell:
  • Major Motoko Kusanagi has changed significantly over time; in the early run of Shirow Masamune's graphic novel, she was professional but prone to violent anger, greed, and laziness (when it's funny), but as the series got more serious, became more introspective and solemn. In Oshii's film, she's an independent, solipsist Emotionless Girl, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex balances between the two with a stone-faced stoic professional who has occasional bouts of emotion or poignant introspection. All three versions each take place in Alternate Continuities though, so there's nothing saying that her characterization had to reflect upon her previous incarnations over time.
  • Batou goes through a similar treatment over the various versions. In the manga, he is often used as a Butt-Monkey of sorts when the series exposits various details about the world it takes place in- mainly in regards to how prosthetic bodies work- but he also had his own sense of humor, not above making a wise-crack here or then, even in the middle of combat. He keeps this for the most part, even when the story turns serious. His relationship with Motoko pretty much stays as a purely platonic friendship. The movies turn him totally straight-laced serious and professional with his career, though he still shows concern for Motoko's well-being, which becomes a form of unrequited love towards her, and itself causing him to lose focus on his job in the 2nd movie because Motoko had pretty much disappeared from his life. Stand Alone Complex balance out the two. Batou still has his sense of humor, but he stays completely focused on his job. His humor is toned down a bit over the course of the first season. He becomes a bit more jaded after what happened with his personal hero, the Tachikomas, and the importance of the plot. The dire seriousness of the plot in the second season pretty much forces him to fore-go it altogether. His unrequited love towards Motoko also becomes far more pronounced, but Motoko is aware of it, and shows many signs that she does appreciate it.
• Golgo 13 used to be more expressive and sloppy in early stories, before becoming the meticulous Cold Sniper he's better known as.
• Hellsing, Alucard at the beginning was business-like and had strong "humane" morale beliefs, thus it's very jarring to see him being the Ax-Crazy sociopathic Nominal Hero that we best know him as later on.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • Who was the first character we met that was likely to use the word "fantabulous" in regular speech? No, not Poland. Lithuania.
  • England also changes drastically, as he was far more Tsundere for America than he is now.
  • America himself started out as a tactless, arrogant Glory Hound whose obsession with being a hero was often implied to be self-serving. Later episodes made him more of a ditzy, laid back, teddy bear-ish Manchild who genuinely does want to help people out but does a bad job of it because he's just so overzealous about it. Even when his lack of tact shows up, it's done more as Innocently Insensitive then him being intentionally mean.
  • Russia becomes much Lighter and Softer over the series run, with his Manchild qualities being played up over his Psychopathic Manchild ones. ^note Though he still has his moments in the present as well. May be justified, considering that after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has been getting steadily less dystopian.
  • Poland has become less selfish and childish. Considering that at one point in the past, Poland promised Lithuania that he'd try to be less selfish, it may instead count as Character Development.^note Though the aforementioned scene may have been a dream that Lithuania had.
  • There was also no trace of Belarus' Lady Swears-a-Lot personality and she didn't show as much emotion as she does now.
  • France's original personality and hobbies pretty much consisted of perving on other nations, annoying England and annoying England by perving on him. Later his most lecherous qualities were toned down, he was given Hidden Depths, and his Large Ham Drama Queen traits were more emphasized.
  • Both Hong Kong and Monaco were depicted as Perpetual Frowners in their early appearances, but became much more expressive in their subsequent ones.
  • Himaruya mentioned that this happened with Prussia, who started out as a more villainous, threatening character, but became more comedic and pitiful with each appearance.
• Chapter 7 of Horimiya introduces Sengoku as something of a cool, levelheaded, and commanding figure (capable of bossing around and mouthing off Hori in front of everybody), while Remi is something of an lazy and stupid Alpha Bitch. Later chapters paint Sengoku as far more of a Cowardly Lion in regards to Hori (who mercilessly bullied him as a kid, as revealed in the beginning of the very next chapter), and Remi as far more friendly and compassionate (something that takes quite a few chapters to make apparent). Also he was more afraid of Miyamura in the end of the chapter, rather then Hori, and refers to Hori by her surname instead of "Kyo-chan".
• Inuyasha:
  • Most fans know Inuyasha's Aloof Big Brother Sesshomaru as a Stoic Perpetual Frowner. In his first appearance in the manga, however, he was smug, cruel, sneered a lot, and enjoyed openly mocking and insulting Inuyasha rather than simply treating him with dismissive disdain.
  • Tie to this is Jaken who is much more competent in his initial appearance, helping Sesshomaru find his father's grave and even killing off a group of bandits. It takes until his later appearance when he becomes the Butt-Monkey comic relief of Sesshomaru's group.
  • This is the only explanation for Koga. He starts out as a straight up villain, setting his wolves on Rin's village and killing her, kidnapping Kagome and threatening to kill Shippou. After a brief arc, he mellows out into an Anti-Hero rival to the main character and no mention of this previous deeds is ever made. It's rather jarring that Inuyasha or Sesshomaru haven't hunted him down and killed him, seeing as how he'd hit their Berserk Button and they've killed demons for less.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • In Part 1, "Phantom Blood", Dio Brando is a trigger-happy Large Ham sadist who jumps at every opportunity for glory he can find. By his reappearance 100 years later in Part 3, "Stardust Crusaders", DIO has become a wise, philosophical, and calculating villain who only takes direct action when absolutely necessary. Though that doesn't stop him from being incredibly shouty in battle.
  • In Part 2, "Battle Tendency", Joseph Joestar is very Hot-Blooded with a knack for pissing off anyone who gets on his bad side in the most thought-out ways possible, and is willing to charge into battle regardless of his chances. In "Stardust Crusaders", he becomes far calmer and acts as more of a mentor figure to the rest of the protagonists, having become Older and Wiser. In Part 4, "Diamond is Unbreakable" however, time has gotten the best of him, reducing poor Joseph to a gentle-but-senile old geezer who spends most of his time sitting on the sidelines.
  • In "Stardust Crusaders", Jotaro is a stoic tough guy who's willing to excessively beat up anyone who pisses him off, though still cares for his friends and holds anyone who harms them against it. By "Diamond is Unbreakable", Jotaro becomes more of a big brother figure to the protagonists, and relies more on research and analysis to figure out who his foes are and where they're hiding.
  • In "Diamond Is Unbreakable" , initially Rohan Kishibe is portrayed as being reclusive, extremely rude, and possibly even mentally unstable. As time went on, those traits got toned down considerably to where he seemed more eccentric than anything else. He almost seems like a different character in the one-shots compared to how he seemed at his first appearance.
  • In Part 5, "Vento Aureo", Bruno Buccellati was first seen with a relaxed and sadistic attitude (possibly to lower Giorno's guard and intimidate him) only in his debut arc when he was investigating Giorno for the death of Leaky-Eye Luca. Afterwards he had a very serious and unflinching demeanor throughout the story.
• For a good while in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, Kenichi's masters were eccentric men (and one woman) who often causally talked about teaching Kenichi various lethal techniques and easily suggesting that he just slaughter his opponents. Then, just before Yami entered the picture, Kenichi's masters suddenly switched to Martial Pacifist experts in Katsujin Ken, just so that they could have an ideological divide that would set them apart from the future bad guys. Right from the very start, Kenichi himself had honorable intentions to learn martial arts, and never considered to or wished to use it for lethal purposes, so the characterization his masters were given to set them apart from the antagonists wasn't a big deal.
• Konata Izumi of Lucky Star was originally portrayed as a cooler Gamer Chick who plays dumb, not the full-blown Otaku Surrogate we usually associate her with. Her early dialogue was even altered in the volume release to be consistent with her later image.
• Lupin III: An enforced example of this trope. Pop Culture has established a certain view of Lupin the Third that is radically different from his original presence. Adaptations of the series with Origins Episodes make it a feature of everyone's Character Development to move from their manga counterpart to their Pop-Culture counterpart:
  • Were one to read the original Lupin III manga, they'd probably collapse from the shock of seeing how different Lupin was. The original portrayal of Lupin made him a cold-hearted bastard and the goofy demeanor was mainly an act; he'd be more likely to seduce a woman and then kill her after he had his way with her. The subsequent anime adaptation transitioned into a Lighter and Softer approach and turned him into a lovable goofball with a heart of gold, and that portrayal has pretty much stuck since for the most part.
  • Part of the reason why The Woman Called Fujiko Mine was so controversial was because it was an Origins Series for the entire gang, and had a tone closer to the original manga. Audiences who were more used to the iconic anime depictions of the characters were shocked to see how violent and borderline sociopathic they were in the new show, even though that's more or less how they were in the original manga.
• In Magi: Labyrinth of Magic, a lot of people tend to forget that Ren Kougyoku had a completely different characterization in her introduction where she was portrayed as an Alpha Bitch that looked down on anyone that she saw as disgusting; even to the point of brutally beating down Ugo until he was forced to leave Aladdin's side forever. It wasn't until Sinbad stepped in that her more "likable" side took over, and became the Shrinking Violet / Tsundere mix that everyone views her as nowadays.
• In Mission: Yozakura Family, Taiyo is initially depicted as cripplingly withdrawn and dour out of fear of getting close to anyone again after losing his family. He loses this completely a few chapters later, and the story shifts to focus on his Determinator mindset, his Nice Guy tendencies, and the humor that comes with becoming Properly Paranoid.
• Early on in Mitsudomoe, Futaba is just as resentful of her father as her other two sisters. Later chapters show that she's the only one who will openly say that she loves her dad and means it, perhaps too strongly. The anime actually brought Futaba's first onscreen moment with her father in line with her later characterization.
• Gundam:
  • Char Aznable: In most of Mobile Suit Gundam, he desires vengeance against the Zabi family, coupled with a Zeonic victory in the war, because of the memory of his father, Zeon Deikun. However, he never seems to take his dad's ideology too seriously. The experienced Gundam lover will search the original series in vain for Char's trademark ideology: that human life on the Earth is parasitic and an abomination to our holy mother, and that the Earth should be rendered uninhabitable to force people into space and further evolution into Newtypes. Almost from the start of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Char begins preaching this ideology of his dad's like he's believed it all his life.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing's Heero Yuy started out the series as a guy who would laugh like a maniac when shooting down his enemies, and was also suggested to be some kind of superhuman. All of this was quietly forgotten after a few episodes, and Heero switches to The Stoic Hitman with a Heart who is highly trained and tough, yes, but to much more believable levels.
    • The laughing while slaughtering enemies comes off as even more unusual when you get to Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz and see his accidentally killing a little girl and how it drove him to attempt suicide in penance, as well as his overall war weariness that leads him to declare, in his last line in the movie, "I never have to kill again..."
    • Though Endless Waltz actually provides an explanation for this. After he accidentally killed that little girl, Dekim Barton, the architect of Operation Meteor, was furious that one of his "weapons" was showing signs of weakness, believing that Gundam pilots do not need emotions. He demanded Doctor J to retrain Heero and eradicate his kindness and humanity. The novelization goes a step further by suggesting that laughing at his enemies was his only way of coping with his guilt.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Bakugou was considerably more evil in his introduction, and would happily tell Midoriya to go kill himself so that he might reincarnate with a Quirk after burning his things. He never gets that low again. Somewhat as a corollary to this, Midoriya is somewhat more resentful of Bakugou (albeit not to the extent that he wouldn't save him from the Sludge Villain), angrily wondering whether Bakugou even considered the possibility that Midoriya would actually be Driven to Suicide.
  • All Might as Midoriya's personal trainer first shows no sign of the father/son like relationship that they show in the rest of the manga. He also would show several signs of being a jerk, such as letting Midoriya drown while he talks with some lady fans and standing atop a fridge he forces Midoriya to move. All of this seems wildly out of character for All Might later in the plot, who is acknowledged as an unskilled but well-intentioned mentor.
  • Momo Yaoyorozu is a bit more outspoken and brutally honest early on, as she's exasperated that the rest of the class believed that Aizawa would expel anyone on the first day, and bluntly points out all the mistakes that Midoriya, Bakugo and Uraraka made in the Heroes vs. Villains training match. Later on, she usually only offends people due to being Innocently Insensitive.
• My Monster Secret has this happen to a number of characters:
  • Asahi's defining point in the early chapters was his inability to keep a secret, a trait which eventually got phased out in favor of treating him as the Only Sane Man. In fact, several of the other characters are worse liars than he is.
  • Early on, Mikan was a major Jerkass who went out of her way to make Asahi's life miserable, but morphs into something of an Unlucky Childhood Friend as the story progresses. The shift is so extreme that it can't entirely be attributed to Character Development.
  • Akari started out as something of a generic teacher with no real quirks other than being rather acerbic. Later chapters gave her a love of alcohol and a major complex about her status as an Old Maid. Her relationship with Asahi in particular undergoes an overhaul: for the first few chapters she views him as the class idiot and mocks him for it, but later on she's constantly shown sympathizing with him because he's one of the few characters who isn't a moron.
  • Shimada was largely a normal (if somewhat jerkish) guy at the beginning the series before eventually being turned into a Jerkass Casanova Wannabe who's such a pervert that there's a Running Gag about him getting arrested.
• Naruto:
  • A minor one regarding Rock Lee. His first appearances, he's clearly crushing on Sakura as he attempts to ask her out. While he's rejected, he earnestly makes clear his intent to one day win her over, and Sakura actually gain a certain level of respect for him after he saves her. This plotline gradually fades over time, although Lee is by far the most shocked about Sakura's fake Love Confession to Naruto, taking it at face value.
  • Another minor example is Shikamaru Nara. His first appearances in Chuunin Exam arc, he clearly dislike Naruto to the point that he suggests to his teammates that the only team they should target in the second phase of the exam is the team with Naruto in it. He is also reluctant to help Sakura against the Sound ninja trio, and only decides to step in because Ino (who is Sakura's acquintance) is unable to see Sakura getting tortured any longer, not because of camaraderie toward his fellow Leaf or something like that. After the third phase of Chuunin Exam is cancelled due to an invasion, Shikamaru works together with Naruto and Sakura, and eventually he gets along with them much better than before, his early jerkassness toward them seemingly swept under the rug.
  • The First Hokage. From his reputation and appearance the first time Orochimaru revives him, he seems like a stoic, serious warrior. When he is later revived (along with the 2nd-4th Hokages), it's revealed that Orochimaru had been suppressing his personality and he's actually a rather jovial, enthusiastic, even somewhat goofy guy akin to an older Naruto, albeit someone who can be serious when necessary (the circumstances behind his first resurrection would count).
  • The Kyuubi/Kurama of all things, has become a Brilliant, but Lazy, Tsundere Troll, which is jarring to when he was as monstrous in personality as he was in appearance, trying to leading Naruto down the Despair Event Horizon in order to one day be set free to cause more chaos.
  • Before the start of the Final Arc, Black Zetsu is shown to be a loyal servant of Obito Uchiha as shown in several scenes before along with him apologizing to Obito when he is forced to use Rinne Tensei on Madara. But once the Final Arc kicks in, he is shown to as callous as Madara and berates Obito for ever daring to betray Madara's plans. This even culminates in him betraying Madara and Retcon him from a will of him into a will of Kaguya.
  • When Chocho appeared in the epilogue she was unapologetically Fat and Proud. Come Naruto Gaiden and now she's slightly more sensitive about her weight (though nowhere near Choji's level) and into the idea of dieting.
• Many characters from Negima! Magister Negi Magi gets this as part of the series' transformation from a goofy harem series to an action-packed adventure story. Let's see:
  • The main character Negi changed from a bumbling wizard-in-training to a badass hardworking combat mage. Some of his early goofiness was explained as his spells being jammed by the Anti-Magic powers of his target.
  • The first time we see her, depowered vampire Evangeline A.K. McDowell is a powerful but somewhat squishy sorceress who requires Chachamaru to guard her. She is also apparently incapable of flight, as her first crush on Nagi happened after he saved her from falling of a cliff. In contrast, later appearances (her combat training of Negi, her illusionary duel with Setsuna, Negi's Magia Erebea admission test) shows her as an uber-powerful all-round combat vampire lady who can still massacre her opponents without magic, and one of the most powerful characters in the series, prompting Chamo to theorize that she was just screwing around when she was fighting Negi.
    • While a lot of the changes were planned well before the first manga episode was published, to ease into the intended story, the author's notes show some characters were significantly altered during the planning process. While Evangeline was always intended to become Negi's teacher, she wasn't originally a vampire or older than Negi - just a trained magic-using assassin with a family grudge. Evidently she got carried along with the scope of the plot.
• One Piece:
  • Minor villain Hatchan was so dumb that he would catch the seat of his own pants while fishing and failed to recognize Zoro as a prisoner or realize that he had just defeated the rest of the guards. In the Sabaody Archipelago arc, he's significantly more intelligent, understanding much about the island and helping the Straw Hats to learn what to do while they are there. While in the Arlong arc, he showed no remorse for his or his crew's actions, when he reappears, he regrets what he's done, dreads the prospect of Nami recognizing him, and wants to make up for his past actions as best as he can. Although the cover story focusing on him shows this was a gradual change; at first, Hatchan is very quick to abandon Camie in exchange for a map leading to a Takoyaki recipe.
  • Similarly, Ace was introduced as being polite and cheerful, even when facing off against Marines, and to an extent, Blackbeard. The Impel Down and Marineford arcs, as well as Luffy's flashback on the two meeting each other paint him as having picked fights with people who spoke ill of his father, Roger and questioning the value of his life, which would potentially suggest that the way he was shown acting before was a facade.
    • His hotheaded nature was foreshadowed during his cover story, when he blows his cover in a Marine base by punching out a Marine who talked smack about Whitebeard.
  • Rob Lucci from the CP9 arc went from a shallow government agent who tolerates no failures in his mission which is summed in his quote "This is a confidential matter that could affect the entire world" to a bloodthirsty Psycho for Hire.
  • Considering his legendary ability to get lost, it's a little odd during the Captain Kuro arc that Luffy's the one who gets lost on the way to the battle, while Zoro's only delayed by a slippery hill. It's even more odd in an earlier arc, where the anime adds a joke where he points Luffy in the right direction to charge in. Let that sink in: Zoro is telling someone else they're going the wrong way.
  • Shortly after being introduced, Sanji manages to woo some nameless girls at the Baratie, including Fullbody's date. Later appearances show that most girls aren’t interested in Sanji’s advances unless they're planning on using him for one reason or another, although after the Time Skip Sanji is able to charm the mermaids, the women of Wano and especially Pudding.
    • In Zoro's case, this trope is invoked due to greater diversity in the crew. When it was a two-man outfit, he was the Only Sane Man, very much so in comparison to Luffy, but as the crew has gained a greater balance of sanity (namely through Nami and Robin, as well as Chopper and Usopp when the situation calls for it), he started becoming quirkier. Much the same goes for Sanji, who has not lost his original competencies, but has had less need to use them as more down-to-earth crewmates were added.
  • Trafalgar Law was initially introduced as a Perpetual Smiler who was generally laid-back unless people tried to order him around or attack him, though he did have a creepy edge. He's a little more focused in his next appearence, though he was doing emergency surgery for that so it's justified. After the timeskip, he's incredibly serious and almost a Perpetual Frowner, smiling only when he's got an opponent where he wants them.
  • In the beginning, Luffy was more of a Book Dumb Lovable Rogue with strange tendencies than an outright Idiot Hero.
  • Capone "Gang" Bege is a likely example of this. In his introduction, he forks one of his men in the eye for questioning an order, while much later on, in the Whole Cake Island arc, he acts as more of a Benevolent Boss, being willing to sacrifice himself for them. Some fans have speculated that becoming a father during the time-skip mellowed him out, though the series never confirms or denies this.
  • In the manga version of the scene in which Sengoku and Tsuru call the Warlords in for a meeting after Crocodile's defeat, Bartholomew Kuma makes a "target"-related pun, a reference to the target motifs on his clothing. This aspect of his personality is never shown again once he reappears on Thriller Bark, hundreds of chapters later.
• PandoraHearts has some, although pretty much all of it is justified:
  • Oz Vessalius is a big example. Goes from being a peppy, flirtatious, self-centered, playfully sadistic, rich Jerk with a Heart of Gold to a brutally depressed Stepford Smiler, Martyr Without a Cause, and Lonely Rich Kid with a serious case of self-loathing. If you were to skip from one of the first few volumes to one of the volumes after the halfway point, you would see an almost vicious increase in Oz's melancholic traits. Many people claim this doesn't make sense and that it's a case of Early-Installment Weirdness, but paying close enough attention and seeing everything in context with later reveals shows that Oz's first personality was just a facade to prevent people from worrying about the intensely emotionally damaged part of him.
  • Extreme Character Development caused Alice to go from being an overbearing, selfish, and physically aggressive Bratty Half-Pint to a somewhat naive Little Miss Badass who genuinely cares about her friends and will defend them to the end.
• Pokémon: The Series
  • Ash Ketchum has gone through quite a bit of change, as well as quite a bit of reversion, since his start in Kanto:
    • Although Ash is quite clearly either asexual or a Chaste Hero in most later seasons, in the early Kanto episode "The School of Hard Knocks", Ash had a small crush on a girl and found her attractive... until she began talking down to him, after which his interest faded.
    • Even said obliviousness to love was a later addition; back in Kanto, he knew enough about mating and love that when Butterfree wanted to leave the group to mate, Ash understood why; compare that to Advanced Generation, where he thought his lovesick Grovyle was suffering from a fever.
    • Ash in Kanto was a stubborn, sometimes bratty kid that got into arguments with Misty often. Somewhere between Johto and Hoenn, he lost his edge and became the All-Loving Hero he is known for. Flashbacks almost always portray him with his newer personality, even those that take place pre-series.
    • Ash also used to be lazy and irresponsible, coming up with excuses to get out of training. Nowadays, he spends nearly every free moment in training.
    • In general Ash became less petulent and snarky with each series in favour of a more serious and mature personality (the exception is Black and White where he temporarily had a more dim witted personality, though even there he is more earnest and nice than earlier). XY developed him into a more enigmatic type of character due to his Simple-Minded Wisdom and escalated experience, while series after branched this further by turning him into an outright Cloud Cuckoo Lander, balancing his earlier comedic personality with his later more laid back and competent one.
  • While Pikachu eventually came around, he initially thought that Ash would get him killed. Pikachu would shock Ash deliberately when upset, until at least Celadon City. Now, they're inseparable. Pikachu was also much more of a Jerkass and even thought of killing Meowth once. Now, he's very much a Nice Guy who rarely ever attacks anyone out of anger or malice. This could be seen as Character Development. However, when Pikachu lost his memory in a Hoenn episode, he didn't revert back to his old personality, implying it is instead this.
  • In his first appearance, Brock was the calm, mature (if not somewhat cocky) gym leader of Pewter City who took care of his younger siblings and who recognized Ash as an inexperienced but eventually worthy opponent and wished him well on his journey. Soon enough after deciding to join Ash, while some of his past characteristics remained, for the most part, he was more of a love-sick dork who would drop what he's doing to flirt with a beautiful woman.
  • In the first few episodes of Black & White, Iris was seen to be very extreme and rude. But this would prove very grating if continued, thus after Cilan joined up, she suddenly became rather behaved, and her wild tendencies were suppressed to focus on the humorous Small Name, Big Ego/Cloud Cuckoo Lander aspects of her personality, and while a Deadpan Snarker, she mostly kept the quips at her friends' expense to herself rather than be openly rude or antagonize them. Her Cuteness Proximity habit also faded almost entirely and transferred to Bianca instead.
  • In the earliest episodes Meowth acted very cat-like, walked with a cat-like gait when on two legs, and sometimes walked on four legs. In the English dub, he also had a more cat-like voice before switching actors, with his meowing Verbal Tic from the Japanese version also adapted for a short while. While still not exactly a formidable fighter, Meowth has also become slightly braver and more cunning towards physical combat. He usually cowered before Ash's Pokémon when it came to actual battle. In one XY episode, he is so incensed with being outdone that he demands a fight from Pikachu, even getting in a small bit of damage.
  • James started off more suave, pompous and mean spirited, something of a gender swap of Jessie. As part of their Divergent Character Evolution when Team Rocket became more comical, James slowly became more a bungling nebbish and calmer foil to Jessie's bratty temper, as well as slowly becoming the Token Good Teammate of the trio. In earlier episodes of the first series, James would sometimes be seen mistreating his Pokemon (even expelling his just captured Magikarp for being useless), or siding with Jessie in attempts to backstab Meowth, things later James would often disuade from doing or have to be forced into.
  • Jasmine was originally more like her game counterpart - meek and quiet - but by her second appearance, she became quite headstrong and confident.
  • In the first few episodes of the Sun & Moon anime, Kiawe is initially portrayed as being more stoic and no-nonsense than his game counterpart, almost playing a role expected from Gladion in later episodes of the series. From about his first limelight episode, Kiawe develops Not So Stoic habits, eventually becoming much more jovial and goofy, and turning into the Hot-Blooded Large Ham of the group.
  • The first episode featuring Ditto, a Pokémon capable of transforming into other Pokémon, established that some of them can't replicate a Pokémon fully. The main Ditto featured in this particular episode couldn't change its black beady eyes and mouth into the proper shape, unlike the other Ditto that had no trouble with this. This was very important to the plot of this episode, and was resolved when this Ditto eventually learned to transform its eyes and mouth properly. Come the Sun & Moon anime, this problem with the eyes was extended to apply to all Ditto and is something they can't learn to overcome, and is said to be a way to tell Ditto apart from the Pokémon they transform into. This is actually reflecting the canon of the games more accurately, as the Pokédex says they can't transform perfectly. The whole discrepancy was anime only.
• Subtle instances from Pokémon Adventures:
  • Green (Blue in the US version) changed in personality early on. Originally, he was arrogant and aggressive like his game counterpart. Though after an appearance or two, he mellowed down into more of The Stoic.
  • Much like Ash's Pikachu, Red's Pikachu (Pika) was a Jerkass who hated Red at first. Aside from his first chapter, his aggressive side is never referenced and he became a generically nice Pokemon and one of Red's favorites.
  • When Red met Misty, he blushed at her and there was some Ship Tease between them. After a few chapters, Red becomes a Chaste Hero who is Oblivious to Love. Misty is presented as having unrequited feelings towards him.
• In early Ranma ½, Kasumi is a largely typical but slightly snarkier Yamato Nadeshiko rather than the over-the-top parody example she would later become, and Nabiki is a normal teenage girl and it is even commented on that she is boy crazy before her misanthropic Money Fetish takes over.
• Rosario + Vampire:
  • Ginei Morioka is a total pervert and annoying, but he's genuinely kindhearted, a trusted friend and values those close to him more than anything to the point where risking his life is nothing....which is why seeing him as a manipulative Jerkass who outwardly threatens to make the heroine his 'woman by force' can be really, really strange.
  • Kurumu Kurono is known among fans as The Heart of the Newspaper Club, and a Chivalrous Pervert who refuses to use her charm powers to take advantage of Tsukune. But in her first appearance, not only is she perfectly fine with charming people by the score, when Tsukune rejects her, she outright tries to murder him. Likewise, Mizore is more murderous in her introduction than she is later on.
• Rurouni Kenshin's Hajime Saito is well known as the cold, sarcastic anti-hero who views himself as a (very sharp) instrument of justice. But when he first arrives on the scene he's portrayed as a blade-licking psychopath who can barely keep his murderous urges under control.
• Minako from Sailor Moon is unusual in that she actually goes through two different personalities before hitting on her final one: In her original manga Codename: Sailor V, she was a ditzy, emotional heroine type character based on the author herself. However, when the publishers asked Naoko Takeuchi to make Sailor Moon, she gave Usagi that same basic personality as well. This would've been fine if Sailor Moon was a re-telling or alternate universe to Sailor V, but later episodes had Minako enter as part of the Sailor Senshi. This created a difficult problem: how to write Minako to distinguish her from Usagi? At first, the show sort of played on her competent veteran nature, playing her as more quiet, mature, and cool than the others. However, they never really took it that far, and by Season 2 when Usagi had another angst sub-arc to herself, she'd fizzled down into a blank slate with not much more to her than a weird Running Gag about her quoting phrases wrongly. Finally, partway through R they came up with the personality she'd stay with for the rest of the series: a ramped-up version of her original personality that took her ditziness up to outright Cloud Cuckoo Lander levels. Note that this applies mainly to the first anime. The manga keeps her cool-headed leader traits intact, blending them with only a touch of Cloud Cuckoolander that often felt deliberate.
• In Saki, at the end of Episode 20 of the first anime, Saki's older sister Teru coldly says that her opponents weren't anything special, and denies having a sister. Later chapters reveal that Teru isn't as callous as she comes off in that scene, particularly when she shows concern when Toki collapses after the vanguard match of the semifinals. She also later admits to Awai that Saki is her sister, and while she can't bring herself to talk to Saki, it's because she doesn't know what to say, rather than out of hatred or hard feelings. To a lesser extent, Sumire comes off as fairly cold during that scene, whereas later appearances show that while she's not the most emotionally open person, she's friends with Teru.
• In Sekirei, Mikogami Hayato is significantly different between his first appearance and all later appearances. In his first appearance, he's a sinister Classic Villain that tries to kill Takami and capture Kusano by force. When the Sekirei he sent to retrieve Kusano is defeated, he declares her "useless". Since then, he's been consistently portrayed as a Cloud Cuckoo Lander Fair Play Anti-Villain that lacks in standard morality, but genuinely cares for his Sekirei. This can make comparing his later sympathetic portrayals to his portrayal in the "Green Girl" arc fairly jarring.
• In the Sgt. Frog Funimation dub, Angol Mois' usage of Gratuitous Spanish was eventually dropped as the show went on.
• Slayers:
  • As time passes in the anime version of the story, either this or Flanderization occurs to virtually all main characters to some degree for the sake of comedic effect. Poor Gourry the swordsman is a pretty notable case because he began, in the anime, as a somewhat dim-witted and tactless yet competent swordsman who could point out the less obvious details in certain situations. Unfortunately as the story went on, he didn't change characterization so much as he became nearly completely defined by his poor memory, swordsman skills, and role as Lina's "guardian"/occasional Living Emotional Crutch. It doesn't help that of all the characters, despite being the second most prominent, he has the least explored backstory, and the only information about it has been given through Word of God and a single novel released only in Japan. By comparison, novel!Gourry, while still tactless and selective in what he chooses to remember, is clearly in certain situations merely Obfuscating Stupidity to mess with people.
  • Lina Inverse is known for having a Hair-Trigger Temper, insulting others, and a penchant for Greed. If one goes back to the first anime season (or reads the novels for that matter), they would be surprised that Lina's temper is no where near as short as it had become, that she was something of a businesswoman (as opposed to resorting to bribery), and showed signs of sarcasm and sharp wit.
• Soul Eater:
  • It can be a little odd going back to episode 2 of Soul Eater, where Tsubaki is not only frustrated with Black Star but snarks at him and throws ninja stars at him, considering her rather... large amount of patience with him in the rest of the show.
  • Between Soul Eater and its later established prequel Soul Eater Not!, there are quite notable differences between Jacqueline's personalities. In Soul Eater, she was introduced as being the least quirky of the secondary cast, and can be easily described as The Stoic. In NOT, she's quickly established as being a good yet strict student, easily embarrassed, and is heavily implied to be attracted to her meister, Kim. Note that even though NOT is a prequel, it was written long after her first introduction and she's never shown to have these characteristics in the original series.
  • Kim is also this in NOT, though to a lesser extent. She was always portrayed as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but according to NOT she used to be a Tom Boy and an Ineffectual Loner. This aspect of her past was never mentioned, or even hinted at, in Soul Eater.
• Chief technician Shiro Sanada in Space Battleship Yamato (called Sandor in Star Blazers) was originally just The Smart Guy of the Yamato. Sanada rose in status to being the elder spokesperson of the crew, especially after the deaths of Captain Okita (Avatar) and Chief Engineer Tokugawa (Orion), and someone who could be a captain in his own right. In Yamato Rebirth, Sanada actually becomes the head commander of the EDF, now outranking his old captain, Kodai (Wildstar).
• The Prince of Tennis: Atobe in the beginning is seen as quite the smug Jerkass when he tries woo An Tachibana. While he does retain some over-the-top arrogance. subsequent scenes establish him as someone who cares very much for his teammates and his rivals.
• While the titular character of Toriko has always shown to be rather self-centered, the downright callousness he shows Komatsu is an early arc is jarring. Komatsu gets killed because Toriko forgot to warn him that the crackers he gave him were in fact bombs. Komatsu only lives because of a friendly old man Toriko earlier gave booze to (and the old man would've had his own to begin with if Toriko hadn't bought it all for himself), and afterward Toriko is all, "You died? Oh well, good thing you're alive again!" The anime fixes this by Komatsu being given the earplugs right away along with the firecrackers (though he accidentally drops them at a critical moment, forcing him to use one without them). Toriko also shows more relief that Komatsu is safe when he and Coco find him.
• In the Trigun manga Vash initially acts a bit more like a Stock Shōnen Hero, and is noticeably more hotheaded. It isn't until Maximum that he acts more like a gentle, sensitive Stepford Smiler. Also in the pilot chapter he acted like a Chivalrous Pervert, which was used as the basis for his anime personality, but aside from the Dominique fight early on he never acts like this again in the manga, being much closer to a Celibate Hero.
• Urusei Yatsura:
  • Ataru didn't start out hated by all girls and Shinobu, Benten, and a one-shot named Oniko showed some attraction to him. He was genuinely interested in being faithful to Shinobu, and was excited to marry her, in contrast to his later fear of commitment.
  • Oyuki also expressed interest in Ataru when she first appeared and seemed to hate him less afterward. Ataru, while still very much a pervert, was less stupid and a bit more on the cynical side in early Urusei Yatsura, more Book Dumb than just dumb.
  • Shinobu's fiery temper and super-strength were not very significant in early Urusei Yatsura chapters, while the anime changed these appearances to bring her up to date with her later characterization.
  • Megane, leader of Lum's fanclub was willing to chase after other girls, but later on was show to freak out when he was attracted to someone other then Lum.
• Wandering Son:
  • Wandering Son has a justified version. Chiba was originally a normal, if a bit odd, girl. She was sweet and cute girl, who liked cute things and feminine boys. Chiba wasn't that unusual from rest of other cast in early chapters. She changed after a stream of bad things happening to her, such as a rejected Love Confession, an argument with her friend Takatsuki that made them hate each other for a while, and generally feeling she was putting pressure on her friends. She became a bitter, depressed pre-teen with a sarcastic streak, her appearance became more mature, and she became generally angry. In high school she mellowed down and became more like her original personality.
  • Less justified in Sasa's case. In the first few chapters she didn't have a concrete character or even a name, so she's taller than she should be and lacks her cloudcuckoolander The Cutie personality.
  • Thanks to character development this happened to Takatsuki and Nitori. Introduced as a confident boy and a quiet, sensitive girl, by the end of the manga they had changed a lot. Roughly 8 or 9 years have passed, with Takatsuki's confidence being more fickle and Nitori being the more decisive of the two.
• We Never Learn:
  • Ogata, Fumino, and Nariyuki all seem like wildly different characters than how they were introduced. Fumino's more blunt and sarcastic personality became more internalized after befriending the study group, Nariyuki has a lot more "off guard" and vulnerable moments, and Ogata is much more expressive.
  • Kirisu Mafuyu's sternness upon introduction was actually Played for Drama, with her being more antagonistic to the main cast. After her Hidden Heart of Gold reveal, she gradually became more Comically Serious.
• Rin of Yes! Pretty Cure 5 was originally supposed to be a shopaholic despite her tomboyish personality. This was completely phased out. She does, however, retain the jewelry design dream that goes against the same stereotype.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yugi initially is a bit more irritable than he later goes on to be. He also has some Covert Pervert tendencies, such as being excited to get a porn tape from Jounouchi in an early chapter, that largely go away as the series goes on (though the porn tape comes up as a Brick Joke in the final arc of the series).
  • Yami Yugi used to be a brutal vigilante in the original manga. It's a little jarring when one reads the first manga series and sees Dark Yugi — the wise father figure to Yugi with an honor code when it came to card games — burn/electrocute/inflict divine punishments on villains (while wearing a psychotic grin) after challenging them to deadly games.
  • Jounouchi and Tristan/Honda were less goofy, bullied Yugi (before befriending him), and would get into fights somewhat regularly in the manga.
  • Seto Kaiba in his first manga appearance is borderline unrecognizable. He's wealthy, but "rich kid" wealthy, not "billionaire" wealthy. His character design is significantly different, being of average height and gaunt rather than tall and handsome. While he is apparently a player of some repute in the world of the card game, that's about it for his actual notability; there's no indication that Kaibacorp is a thing, and Yugi introduces him to his grandpa as "this guy in my class" rather than "internationally famous billionaire." It's also one of the only times in the franchise where we see Kaiba going to school or wearing the uniform; in future stories, the idea that Kaiba goes to a regular school with Yugi would be laughable. He explicitly does not own a single copy of Blue-Eyes, and had never even seen a copy in-person. Rather than genuinely skilled, he's shown to attempt to cheat to win. And the climax of the story has Blue-Eyes turning on him because its heart is more aligned with Yugi's grandfather, something inconceivable to a later incarnation of Kaiba, where Blue-Eyes is shown to have a deep spiritual importance to him. Funnily enough, this is reflected somewhat in spinoffs: it's fairly common to have two Suspiciously Similar Substitutes of Kaiba, with one being the Smug Snake that he started out as (Manjoume, Shark, Sawatari) and one being the hypercompetent archrival that he evolved into (Kaiser, Kaito, Reiji).
  • Mokuba, like his brother, is initially just a Smug Snake who tries to beat Yugi and his friends in deadly games - he's introduced challenging Yugi to a game where he'll cut off his finger if he loses. He loses his sadistic tendencies after the Death-T arc and becomes Kaiba's Morality Pet at around Duelist Kingdom, where he's a bit bratty at worst.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: In his first appearance, Rex Godwin nearly strangles Mikage for failing to properly keep Jack Atlas in check, which is a level of anger and violence at odds with his portrayal with The Stoic Affably Evil Hidden Agenda Villain Rex is portrayed as for the rest of the show. The dub cuts the scene, keeping his characterization much more consistent.
• Yuri is My Job!
  • Downplayed with Hime in. During the first chapter, Hime states that the real reason for her acting like the Fake Cutie and getting everyone to love her is to become the trophy wife of a billionaire, which is why she's uninterested in the boys in her class (who are never seen again after the first chapter) unless they are the heirs to great fortunes. This goal is never mentioned again after the first chapter, and Hime is later shown to compulsively want everyone's approval.
  • For the first two volumes, Kanoko gets along reasonably well with Mitsuki Yano; the two girls weren't exactly friends, but had a decent professional relationship as coworkers. Even after learning that Mitsuki is Hime's former friend, she doesn't immediately become jealous of Mitsuki, albeit because Mitsuki and Hime hate each other at this point. Later on in the story, Kanoko is shown to be intensely jealous of Mitsuki, even if she tries to keep those feelings under wraps, and is so bothered by her presence that she refuses to spend time with Hime if Mitsuki is the only other person present.
• When he was a villain, Hiei from YuYu Hakusho was outright psychotic, with Nobuyuki Hiyama hamming it up in voicing him. When he makes his Heel–Face Turn, he's a Deadpan Snarker Perpetual Frowner Aloof Ally, and the way he's voiced naturally changes along with the characterization.
• In YuruYuri, Ayano hits her assistant Chitose a number of times in the second episode. Never Again. She is much sweeter and more gentle the next time she appears, though still tsundere toward Kyoko.

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