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Fandom-Specific Plot examples from anime and manga.

A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. Examples shouldn't be added until one month after release, to avoid any knee-jerk reactions and allow time for fanfic to be written.

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Other works:

  • Most Akame ga Kill! fanfiction focus on keeping certain characters alive. In canon, it's a supposed rule that when two Imperial Arm wielders fight against each other, one of them is guaranteed death. Most fix fics of AGK work to prove that that rule is actually just a rumor to discourage fighting with Imperial Arms, since such battles are still extremely dangerous. Also, expect some of your favorite characters to be Spared by the Adaptation as a result. It helps that even though the rule exists, its only an Informed Attribute in canon.*
  • In Aldnoah.Zero fandom has Fix Fic where Inaho instead of shooting Slaine, takes him as a captive, reunites with Princess Asseylum and, depending on the writer, they either became good friends or something else. It's hinted that the Gainax Ending of the first season was a subtle Take That! against the sheer amount of these fics.
  • Attack on Titan:
    • Fanfic writers seems to be big on putting the characters in real-world (especially school-related) AUs where they face more mundane and lighthearted problems. This is likely a reaction to how bleak and brutal the original show is, so writers want to imagine the characters they love in happier times. The creators seem to have acknowledged this with the Attack on Titan: Junior High spin-off, an official middle-school AU.
    • A fairly popular story idea is an OC, who may or may not be a stand in for the author, going to boot camp with the rest of the characters in the 104th, falling in love with one of the canon characters (Usually Annie Leonhart), and then joining the Recon Corps so they can continue to be involved in the main characters adventures. Due to the fact that manga is both pretty long and, until recently, ongoing, these stories don't normally end, and often times just end up going on indefinite hiatus'.
  • Beastars:
    • Due to a particularly popular fanfic with that premise, there are a lot of stories that follow alternate take on the series where instead of tackling Haru, Legoshi tackles Louis at the beginning of the manga. These tend to be alternative versions of the manga events in which the main couple is now Louis/Legoshi.
    • Another popular What If? scenario is one where Gouhin adopts Melon and raises him properly, rather than letting him turn into the psychopathic villain of the manga. This was exacerbated when a chapter has Legosi musing about how they could have been friends in another life and describes him as "Melon of Class 1-C", thinking of him as another normal student, which prompted fan works of Melon raised by Gouhin and attending Cherryton.
    • Due to mobsters being a big part of the story, it's often that Mafia Alternate Universe Fics show up, with some repeating elements including Louis in the role of heir or leader of the Shishigumi, Legosi as the heir to Gosha, who would be ruling the Dokugumi, multiple characters being part of the gumis or running businesses on the Black Market, etc. They're very often also Louis/Legosi fics.
    • The manga ends with no character taking the role of Sublime Beastar, despite the implications that Louis and Legosi would unknowingly follow Yafya and Gosha's plan to become Beastars together. Therefore, the plot of an older Louis and Legosi taking up the role and leading society (often while in a relationship with each other) is also popular.
  • Numerous Berserk fan works try to avert Griffith's Face–Heel Turn. This can be done by either Guts staying with the Band of the Hawk, or Griffith not making any one of the decisions that led to him becoming the Godhand, Femto. Possibly his Crimson Behelit will end up with someone outside of the Hawks.
  • The ending of the first season of the Black Butler anime. Although it technically ends with an ambiguous Fade to Black, it's more than a little obvious what's about to happen. Fans have other ideas and love to share them in fic form. Of course, now that there's the second season, and seeing how that ended, it looks like the writers may have been reading fanfic themselves.
  • Several Blood+ stories fix Diva killing Riku. Whether it be changing her mind of "having him for herself forever" (read: killing him) by abducting him or Riku being able to fight her off by the transformation properties of chevalier finally manifesting, it fixes that bit.
  • There are a huge number of those in the Spanish-speaking parts of the Candy♡Candy fandom, the most common fics are the ones where Candy and Terry are reunited and they get married in the end, considering that there is a lot of backlash towards the series' ending among Latin American fans. There are also some fanfics where Anthony survives his accident.
  • Many Captain Tsubasa fanfics normally feature the Japanese team facing against an all-star team from the best soccer players from Earth, or facing against teams who didn't get mentioned in canon. Or sometimes all the named players from around the world, Tsubasa included, form an all-star team to play against alien soccer teams, sometimes in a Space Jam-esque plot or played in the same way like in canon, except the aliens tends to play dirty. The hilarious part of this is the Korean company Samsung did a short CG film named Galaxy 11 with a very similar premise, but using real soccer players.
  • Some Cardcaptor Sakura crossovers do a rehash of recollecting the Clow Cards (or Sakura Cards), which is to be done this time by the crossover character. Of course, this is spiced up with whatever elements the other setting has, enabling for unexpected twists and things going differently.
  • Case Closed:
    • Ran finding out Conan is Shinichi is mostly done among fans.
      • A significant subset of these have her breaking it off with Shinichi as a result, usually so Shinichi can get together with either Kaito or Hattori. These are almost always written from Shinichi's perspective, and depending on the writer's individual taste, may portray Ran sympathetically (and possibly in a relationship with Sonoko, Sera, or Eisuke) or give her a full-on Ron the Death Eater treatment.
      • There’s another subset where Ran knew all along, but kept quiet for his safety.
    • Anyone else besides Conan gets shrunk by the APTX 4869. Ran is often picked on for this, as is KID.
    • Akemi Miyano having survived her death at Gin's hands. It's optional to have her shrink by the APTX 4869, which led to her being reunited with Shiho, now Ai Haibara, being shrunk by the same drug.
    • KID and Conan teaming up to take down the Black Org, who are usually written to be the same organization as Magic Kaito's crime syndicate.
  • A good 95 percent of The Cat Returns fanfiction has Haru remaining in/returning to the Cat Kingdom, becoming a cat, and marrying Baron, Comically Missing the Point of the original film. More often than not, these stories will pay little regard to Haru's single mother with no other children who is now alone in the world.
  • Cells at Work!: Multiple:
    • The "Black Blood Cell" AU, where the cast color-inverts and becomes either more sinister or merely their polar opposite as a result. Common results include a cruel or playful "black" U-1146, a Sugar and Ice "blue" AE 3803, and giant Platelets that are otherwise the same. A lot of the time it's an excuse to see the characters act more aggressive, plotwise or otherwise.
    • Dendritic Cell's Embarrassing Old Photo albums containing a picture of a favored ship, and one or both members of said ship discovering it. Inevitably, the photo will be of them doin' it in some private area.
  • Many A Certain Magical Index fans agree that Frenda Seivelun from ITEM was underutilized, underdeveloped, and killed off in an undeserving manner. Some fans actually went out of their way to make Fix Fic where she survives for much longer and legitimately contributes to the plot, usually by forming a duo with the local Team Normal Saten.
  • Many if not most Claymore fanfics are of the "What if Teresa hadn't died?" variety. Turns out Teresa is Not Quite Dead in the canon story...
  • Code Geass:
    • One type is the "Prepared Lelouch" fic, where Lelouch makes efforts towards rebellion before the fateful incident in Shinjuku. This often involves him learning martial arts and/or finding allies in Area 11. While some of these fics change a lot, in others, the only major differences are Lelouch winning the Battle of Saitama Ghetto and/or having one or more romantic relationships before or during the canon time period.
    • There are also fics in which Lelouch does not get exiled. These generally have somebody else take up the mantle of Zero, and will generally involve him leading troops against E.U forces. He will usually still have severe issues with his father, however.
    • Post Zero Requiem Peggy Sue fics involving Lelouch going back in time when his last plan doesn't work out into world peace are a common fanfic sub-genre.
  • Dirty Pair fanfic tends to blur the lines between the various Alternate Continuities of the series, like the '80s anime version or Adam Warren's Amerimanga.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Kakarot/Goku's pod ands somewhere else. This may be another location on Earth, like Capsule Corp or Kami's Lookout, or another planet entirely.
    • Raditz is sent to Earth with his younger brother. Since the age gap between the two brothers is ambiguous in canon, how old Raditz is varies widely.
  • Dragon Ball Z:
    • Fanfics centered around Gohan like to feature him in high school, where Videl tries to expose him as Saiyaman, and, through a bunch of events that never happen in canon, falls for him.
    • A subset of the Gohan/Videl fics includes Gohan's class being invited to Capsule Corp, at which point the universe conspires to expose Gohan's secrets as quickly as possible.
    • The fandom has also produced Gohan fics on the premise that "Gohan trained after the Cell Saga, and subsequently killed Buu." And there are equal amounts of fics that pair him with someone other than Videl.
    • It is common to see Bulma/Vegeta stories that expand upon the events at Capsule Corp during the three year Time Skip before the Android's arrival, in an attempt to pace and/or explain the circumstances of Trunks' eventual conception. Frequent tropes involved within these are the Florence Nightingale Effect, Angel/Devil Shipping, Opposites Attract, and a good bit of Break the Haughty. Most humor is often gathered from the grumpy Proud Warrior Race Guy Vegeta's Fish out of Water and Alien Among Us experiences. (Even Dragon Ball Abridged tackled that one. Slap-Slap-Kiss ensued.)
    • A common theme is to have Pan/Bulla become Super Saiyans (with any of the remaining transformations). In fact, all the half-saiyans, and saiyans with unexplored aspects (Tarble, Gine, Bardock's team) are prone to fanfictions where they get to interact with the main characters/get their transformations.
    • Also very prominent are the "humans becoming useful" fics. Given Yamcha, Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu pretty much were unable to catch up due to The Worf Effect, some fics work to subvert that and give the characters new powers to somewhat or outright completely catch up. These fics tend to throw the usually looked down upon characters a bone and even get them hooked up. Like for instance, Tien finally gets with Launch, or Yamcha finds love in a girl who has flirted with him in the past, such as Maron, Hasky or Raven/Pasta.
    • Another common theme is Vegeta becoming the hero at Goku's expense. Sometimes Goku will simply stop training or become evil, or he'll be revealed as always being evil; either way, it gives Vegeta a chance to be in the spotlight.
    • Then there's craptons of "Planet Vegeta was never really destroyed/gets revived" fics.
    • After Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods it become common to see fan fics that explore the day to day operations supreme kai and gods of destruction have to go through.
    • If a fanfic features both Bardock and Turles, chances are they will be revealed to be twin brothers, explaining their strong resemblance.
  • The Familiar of Zero:
    • The show's basic premise, where Louise inadvertently summons a person from another universe during her school's Springtime Summoning Ritual, functions as an Obvious Crossover Method allowing her to summon anyone or anything in place of Saito. Or, alternatively, somehow send herself to the other universe: be it directly stranding herself in the new setting or being kidnapped/escorted by a resident deity or otherwise powerful entity from that world (usually as retribution for her previous attempts nearly taking someone from their world). In fact, this plot is so common that crossover fics using this framework form the majority of fanfic you'll find for the series in both its Western and Japanese fandoms.
    • In conjunction with the above, it isn't uncommon for Siesta to have her family's backstory — where one of her ancestors was from WWII-era Japan — rewritten to have said ancestor originate from the other universe in the crossover.
  • It's common in Fairy Tail to see a fanfic where Natsu gives Lucy the boot after Lisanna returns, in order to milk the angst of her being abandoned and realizing she'd only been a replacement as well as create an excuse for her to run off with anyone who isn't a member of the titular guild. Oddly, while this plot seems like it would clear the way for a Natsu/Lisanna pairing, that's usually not the point. Instead, it's used by Lucy fans either to set her up with someone outside the team or to circle back to NaLu after she proves herself. A common variant of the plot is to have Lisanna use some form of trickery, usually a Wounded Gazelle Gambit, to turn the rest of Team Natsu against Lucy.
  • Several Four Knights of the Apocalypse fans have created "Guinevere" OCs because they don't like canon's version of her (which is itself a new version of the Guinevere from Arthurian Legend). These OCs are typically older than the original, have a warmer relationship with Arthur, and a less abrasive personality.
  • Fruits Basket:
    • In the fandom there's the 'wolf of the zodiac' story. A new animal (usually a wolf, cheetah or other 'cool' animal) is added to the Eastern Zodiac. This is almost always a girl.
    • Getting Kyou High on Catnip is very popular.
  • It's a common belief that Fushigi Yuugi: Eikoden was a subtle jab against the sheer amount of "You get sucked into the book and becomes the new priestess" fics in the fandom.
  • Gate: Most fanfic writers would make fanfiction of different ideas for the series like:
    • What would happen if it was another nation that was attacked by the Empire instead of Japan?
    • What if Japan and the US (and possibly other nations) went into the Gate together rather than only Japan?
    • What if the Gate opened during a different time period (eg. During World War 1 or 2) or into a different universe?
  • Girls und Panzer:
    • Some fanfics involve males getting involved with tankery in some form or another. This is often the result of Oarai becoming coed, with the reasoning that even if it avoided getting shut down, it still needs financial help, and the boys often pilot World War II-era fighter planes alongside the girls in the tanks.
    • Some fanfics involve the Oarai students somehow getting involved in actual war, or ending up in an AU of some sort, possibly during World War II.
    • A few fanfics involve a character (usually Erwin or Yukari) having to leave Oarai for some reason and going to a new school, which may only be just getting started doing tankery.
    • Several fanfics involve Oarai going on to an international tournament.
    • Some fics have infantry fighting alongside the tanks, with various justifications for how they're supposed to be kept safe without the "carbon lining" the tanks have.
  • In Great Pretender fanfics, a common plot device used to pair up the Fan-Preferred Couple of Makoto and Laurent is to have their latest con require them to pose as a couple—with all of the attendant sexual tension.
  • Gundam fanfics tend to have some version of this.
    • The most common one is having Zeon win the One Year War, thus preventing the rise of the Titans and all the subsequent wars in the Universal Century. Zeonquest is arguably a deconstruction of this, as more often than not, things have gotten worse.
    • Gundam 00 fans like Lockon the first to be alive in their fics...
    • Rewriting Gundam SEED Destiny is also very common.
    • Some Zeta Gundam fans tend to write stories where Four survives and joins the AEUG.
    • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Gender-flipping Kira is a very common trend in fanfics, even crossovers! Especially crossovers.
    • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is particularly prone to this, due to being one of the first to incorporate a Cast Full of Pretty Boys. Typically, these involve...
      • Heero and Duo getting together (sometimes with Trowa and Quatre as a Beta Couple)
      • Trowa and Quatre getting together (sometimes with Heero and Duo as a Beta Couple)
      • Some other less common yaoi combination of the five main characters
      • Lots of Relena-bashing
      • The G-boys sharing a home together as roommates (usually while on a Preventers mission, and often the house is said to be owned by Quatre). They put the mess in domestic and all chaos ensues.
      • Some way, somehow Duo gets pregnant. (Less commonly, one of the other G-boys will be subjected to this type of fic, but 99% of the time it's Duo.)
      • Trowa reunites with his ill-fated first love Midii Une when they are both adults or teens.
      • Lots of fighting between Wufei and Duo over literally everything.
      • The obligatory Road Trip Plot fic.
      • Someone gets captured by OZ, and often raped, and the others rescue him.
      • Lots of Wufei-bashing
      • A heroine (possibly one who's basically the Rule 63 version of one of the pilots) becomes a Gundam pilot and/or gets together with the Gundam pilot(s) of her choice.
      • Duo being driven to The Oldest Profession in order to survive on L2 in the past, and sometimes having to do it again in the present.
      • Trowa referring to Quatre as "Little One," even though he never does that in the series.
      • Characters in yaoi pairings switching personalities based on whether they're the seme or the uke. (For example, a fic labeled 1x2 will have grumpy Heero paired with bubbly Duo, where a fic labeled 2x1 will have a mean and bitter Duo paired with a heavily wimpified Heero.)
      • Trowa having been raped by either the mercenary troops he was part of or the man whose name he took (or both), or some other (male) character in the past, which causes problems for him in the present.
      • Relena is a crazy nutbag who stalks Heero and tries to break up Heero and Duo so she can have Heero all for herself, and often gets publicly humiliated in return.
      • Duo is (or gets Flanderized into) The Ditz, and derisively nicknamed "The Braided Baka."
      • Heero is talked to by another character, and responds only with a terse grunt. ("Hn.")
      • For some reason, this fandom seems to be quite fond of crossovers with Harry Potter, even though the world of HP and the world of GW couldn't be much more different from each other if they tried.
  • Many Hellsing fics leave Alucard and Walter quite alive in the aftermath of the invasion, sometimes Pip too. If Millennium is not ignored, they're defeated with relatively less horrific losses, with even Iscariot's membership surviving the ordeal.
  • High School D×D:
    • Fanfics love to give Starter Villain Raynere redeeming qualities, with her even getting a Heel–Face Turn in some stories. This isn't lost on the reviewers either.
    • If any crossover character replaces Issei, they will die the same way. Even if they realistically shouldn't be killed by someone like Raynare. Or are too smart to fall for such a ruse.
    • As is common with harem series, fics that replace Issei with a self-insert are not hard to find.
    • Crossover fics giving Issei a best friend in the form of a different character are quite commonplace. Usually the other character is a lot more chaste then Issei is, and usually reigns him in during his more perverted antics.
  • High School Of The Dead:
    • A lot of fics focus on Americans being stuck in post-apocalypse Japan, often meeting Takashi's team and joining forces.
    • Writers who prefer pairing Saeko with Takashi often focus/elaborate on the time when they were stuck in a shrine together.
    • Many have Misuzu and Toshimi Spared by the Adaptation and join Takashi's survival party.
  • Inuyasha has a great amount of hurt/comfort with Rin as the sick person and Sesshoumaru as the comforter.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • In quite a few fanfics, Dio ends up successfully bringing Jonathan back to life... somehow... and explores what happens after his revival.
    • There's a good number of fanfics showing the endless possibilities of a future where one of the major characters who had the misfortune of dying late into the narrative survived their encounters and kept in contact with their JoJo. This includes (but is not limited to): Caesar surviving his battle with Wamuu, Kakyoin not receiving the fatal shot DIO threw at him, Gyro not getting shot by President Valentine, etc. Depending on the Writer, this may or may not lead into shipping. For what it's worth, it's Ascended Fanon of a sort in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, where thanks to Jotaro resetting the timeline, Everyone Lives.
    • Jolyne, the incredibly unlucky protagonist of Stone Ocean, was about seven years old at the time of Diamond is Unbreakable, which is both one of the most optimistic parts and one where her father was a main character. She's never even mentioned in the latter (since she hadn't been created yet), and spends its run on the other side of the world. Consequently, "Little Jolyne Goes To Morioh" is practically a subgenre of JoJo fan work, usually involving Jolyne hanging out with her great-uncle, being at odds with her dad, and having slice-of-life adventures in a small Japanese town. Like the above, it becomes Ascended Fanon in Eyes of Heaven where because of Jotaro's Character Development, he chooses to bring Jolyne to Morioh.
    • Shizuka Joestar, the invisible baby Joseph adopts at the end of Diamond is Unbreakable, never appears again after the end of that part. As a result, fans have taken to creating possible adventures for the character, most notably by inserting her into the events of Stone Ocean or in an Alternate Universe Fic where the events of Part 6 end differently from the way they actually did.
    • An original Stand user joining the main cast of a Part, usually the Stardust Crusaders or Passione. Original Hamon users and antagonists (with the exception of La Squadra di Esecuzione members) are much rarer. (And if the original character is joining Passione, they will always have a food-themed Italian name to match the Theme Naming of the part.)
    • "Villain House," a popular comedic Alternate Universe where all the Big Bads live together in Kira's house (the house is generally agreed to be Kira's because he's the only one responsible enough to pay rent) for some reason (quite possibly relating to Kira's eternal torment) and drive each other crazy. No relation to Meme House despite that series having Dio and Kira in it.
    • Fluffy slice-of-life stories where Bruno and Abbacchio are a married couple and the adoptive parents of Fugo, Narancia, Giorno, Mista and Trish, no gang activity needed.
    • For many fics where Jonathan Joestar was born a girl, it can be expected that his antagonist brother Dio will fall in love for her... often to an extremely possessive degree. Additionally, Jonathan's canon Love Interest, Erina Pendleton, will be male as well, and some stories up the drama by having Dio as the father of female Jonathan's first child.
  • Kill la Kill:
    • The fandom loves to retell the series with Ryuko and Satsuki swapped, sometimes along with their supporting casts (i.e. Mako is on the Student Council and the Four Devas are rebels against it). The actual show whetted fans' appetites for this when Ryuko was mind-controlled, leading to a fight where the two sisters wore each other's Kamui/ Godrobes.
    • A popular fanfic idea is "What if Ragyo wasn't a crazy abusive bitch of a mother to Satsuki and Ryuko?". Just a lovely WAFF/ Slice of Life Fic about Satsuki and Ryuko growing up in a normal family, going to a normal school, all that good stuff.
    • Hurt/Comfort fics Satsuki/Ryuko (romantic or platonic) fics where Satsuki is traumatized by her mother's physical, emotional, and sexual abuse instead of seeming apathetic are common.
  • K-On!:
    • A common plot in ero-doujinshi is one or more band members having sex in the club room, and somebody else spying and/or walking in on them.
    • The school becomes co-ed so that a male OC (frequently an Author Avatar) can join the cast.
    • Ritsu becomes sexually irresistible when she takes her headband off.
    • One or more characters' parents disapproves of them being lesbians. (Nobody seems to want to write a scene that actually depicts the characters coming out to disapproving parents: it either happens offscreen, in backstory, or the fic dies before getting to that point.)
  • Love Hina:
    • In the fandom, it's not unusual to find a fic in which Su permanently changes into her older form to become a viable love interest for Keitaro.
    • Deconstruction Fics and Revenge Fics targeting the Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male are also common. Typically, either Keitaro or the girl he is paired with gets sick of Naru and the other girls beating the crap out of him for little reason, and decides to strike back somehow. Other times, the girls will realize they were wrong on their own and try to make amends.
  • Lyrical Nanoha fanfics sometimes include elements from the Triangle Heart 3: Sweet Songs Forever continuity, such as Kyouya and Miyuki being talented sword fighters, Shirou's hospitalization being the result of a terrorist attack (but unlike in Triangle Heart 3, he usually lives), Arisa being a ghost, and Shinobu being a vampire (making her sister Suzuka one by extension) among others.
  • Monster Rancher:
    • Many stories have Genki returning to Pangaea to face a whole new slew of enemies. These stories often replace the third season entirely, though some are set afterwards.
      • A particularly common feature of the above is using this to age Genki up by having more time pass for him on Earth than it does on Pangaea. This frequently leaves him closer to Holly's age, if not older, which helps them hook up. Occasionally, he gets shipped with Pixie or Granity instead. Ironically, in the show itself, the opposite occurs in the third season — the game disc that lets him return to Pangaea starts off revealing that a year has passed since the events of the first two series.
    • Some stories replace Genki with somebody else, having them win their own copy of MR200X and get pulled into the game world for their own adventure.
    • Stories often expand on Hare's Backstory, in ways that may or may not be compatible with what little was revealed of his past in the third season.
  • My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!:
    • Catarina's friends and family learning about her past life/the otome game Fortune Lover, often ending with them reassuring Catarina that they would never kill or exile her.
    • Catarina becoming homesick for her past life, becoming melancholic, and sometimes includes her having an emotional crisis over forgetting her past self's name.
    • Catarina meeting herself or her friends from the game universe is also somewhat common within the community's fanfics.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Seeing as Ken Akamatsu decided to offer No Romantic Resolution with regard to Negi's love life (most likely to avoid incurring fan wrath from those disappointed he didn't end up with their preferred ship), epilogue and sequel fics in which the writer's preferred pairing became reality were inevitable.
  • Multiple crossover fics for Oshi no Ko feature Ai having triplets instead of twins, with the third child being the reincarnation of a character from a different series. As a result, characters that died in their series’s canon are usually target for this, but there’s also a few Death by Adaptation examples.
  • Osomatsu-san:
    • Fanfics in which Ichimatsu is suicidal/cutting himself are alarmingly common. As usual with stories like this, this is usually the foundation for hurt/comfort fics in which at least one of Ichimatsu's brothers decides to help him (usually Karamatsu or Jyushimatsu, though it's not unheard of to have all five of the other Matsuno brothers trying to save their suicidal sibling) and occasionally incest shipping, but it's just as common for these stories to veer into Dark Fic territory. Less common but still present is to have Karamatsu be the suicidal one.
    • The brothers running into aged-up versions of other Fujio Akatsuka characters, fitting the old spirit of their constant crossovers. This often includes a scene with them commenting on how much has changed since they were kids.
  • It is incredibly common in Overlord (2012) fanfics to see an AU where Momonga wasn't the only Player member of Ainz Ooal Gown present in YGGDRASIL when it was shut down, and thus transported to the New World. Sometimes it will be one or more of the established canon members, but more often than not it'll be an OC/Author Avatar/self-insert instead. And in the case of the latter, they'll also usually have some more OCs in the form of their own NPCs with them.
    • There are also characters from another franchise that ends up siding with Momonga and the rest of Nazarick, usually already having met them as players in YGGDRASIL and serving as a Morality Chain to everyone within the tomb.
    • On the opposite end, there are characters in a different franchise that have been dropped off in the New World who eventually builds up enough of an influence and power that can combat Ainz and the tomb of Nazarick, which can be admittedly satisfying for those who are tired of Nazarick constantly outclassing the opposition in every fight and getting huge doses of Karma Houdini.
  • In Petshop Of Horrors, due to the sad ending, 90% of the fanfics have Leon finding D after the latter casts him off his boat, and this time D lets him stay.
  • Princess Tutu: Multiple:
    • Princess Tutu ends on a bittersweet note, with Ahiru remaining a duck because it's her true self. Lots of fans were unhappy with that, and that means 90% of fanfiction out there for the series is Fakir turning her back into a girl with story-spinning.
    • A less common but still popular variation is to have Fakir use story-spinning to turn himself into a duck instead.
  • Queen's Blade:
    • Many fanfics includes male characters participating in the titular tournament, despise the rules forbid men on participating, albeit it's heavily implied that rule is not set in stone, as the ruling queen (or the gods) can change the rules depending of their taste. This is more evident in the animated adaptation, as Aldra, the ruling queen, alter the rules of the tournament just to allow team-battles in the tournament, more specifically between Echidna and Irma vs Alleyne and Nowa.
    • Including a male crossover character (Naruto or the Elric brothers are the usual main targets) to participate on the Queen's Blade tournament or just to pick a fight against a named character. In the case of Fullmetal Alchemist, it's normally Melona making fun of Ed about his height.
    • While this is almost exclusive in fanart or fan-made gamebooks, Lina Inverse participating is a popular choice. Due to the fact in the Queen's Blade universe magic is seem as a taboo subject for everyone who is not an angel or a demon and the fact many of Lina's magic spells are too powerful, she's normally depowered or refuse to use her powers for the sake of balance.
  • Pick a Ranma fanfic, any Ranma fanfic. Any one of them that isn't set after continuity will attempt to fix one of four problems: Ranma being cursed, Ranma being engaged to Akane Tendo (or their relationship getting off to such a rocky start), Ranma being a Jerkass, and Ranma being raised by Genma. Ranma might still be a cursed Jerkass who has No Social Skills, but he'll invariably wind up stuck with a suddenly-caring Nabiki or Kasumi. Or someone else raised him, he's still cursed and engaged to Akane, and still a Jerkass. Or suddenly he's not cursed, and he's a jerk raised by Genma, but it's okay that he's engaged to Akane now because she's not pissed he turns into a girl! Seriously. It's always one of those four. The method by which this happens might change. It might be time travel, changing the curse, derailing Kasumi and/or Nabiki into wanting the pigtailed wonder, but if it travels the canon road, one of those four issues will quickly become noticeable.
    • There are some that focus on "merely" shrinking down the Love Dodecahedron. These are split between the ones that consider the Harem members removed as problems or operate on the assumption that They Can Do So Much Better.
    • And then there are the "Ranma decides to stay a girl forever/some period of time, which magically fixes everything" subgenre.
    • Mike Rhea is infamous for his series of Fix Fics where Ranma marries Ukyou and lives happily ever after in Kyoto with his curse cured, while Akane settles as one of Ryouga's two concubines.
  • A common The Rising of the Shield Hero crossover plot is to have Naofumi replaced by an already experienced hero from the other series, hero that is of course more awesome than he is thanks to his previous combat experience and having no decent opponent in Melromarc.
    • If it isn't Naofumi getting swapped, it's typically one of the other heroes on the chopping block. Ren is often the one who gets replaced since he's already least antagonistic towards Naofumi. Expect this hero to have instantly sussed out Malty's true nature and for them to be in Naofumi's corner when he gets framed by Malty.
  • A number of Robotech RPG fan groups tend to perform Canon Welding with Macross (usually the AU Macross II, but in at least one case it was both, with Macross II following Robotech and the other series following Macross II), with some Macross fanfics reciprocating by involving elements from Robotech.
  • Many Saint Seiya fanfics, especially Spanish-language ones, tends to include Saints or gods from other mythologies besides the Greek or Norse ones, being the main targets the Aztec or Mayan gods, aliens or other gods who didn't get mentioned in the original canon, and sometime the Bronze Saints have to fight against them or with them.
  • Saki fanfiction often has Saki going to a school other than Kiyosumi. Like the example described on the Naruto page in which Naruto gets another team, this is often done when she's shipped with someone from that new school. In a few of those variations, she and her sister Teru are not on bad terms, although their parents may still be separated.
  • The Jigokiller episodes of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman inspired a lot of "let's explore Ken's feelings for Jun" fic.
  • In the Shugo Chara! fandom, a LOT of fan fics are "Ikuto is the school playboy and has kissed every girl in the school, until the new girl Amu arrives and resists his romantic advances, will they fall in love or not?" and they also usually are roommates.
  • Many Slam Dunk fanfics tends to put Hanamichi or any other named player getting drafted for the NBA, even if in Real Life it's very difficult for a Japanese basketball player to get noticed by many professional basketball leagues.
  • Sonic X: Post-series Tails finds a seed that Cosmo left behind, plants it, and raises the child as his daughter. An alternate is that it just grows into a normal tree.
  • Sound! Euphonium:
    • The norm is to write around or just ignore Reina's unrequited crush on Taki and have her straight up pine for Kumiko. Kumiko is Oblivious to Love despite the huge amounts of Unresolved Sexual Tension between her and Reina and ends up blind-sighted when Reina casually confesses.
    • Kumiko and Reina go their separate ways after high school. Reina becomes a professional trumpeter (usually in an orchestra) while Kumiko quits music. The two end up meeting in their 20s and hook up.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Fix Fic in which Kamina and/or Nia aren't dead is incredibly common. Justifications tend to be that the series is based on punching physics in the face via sheer manliness anyway, so why not?
  • Many Transformers fans are discontent with the Unicron Trilogy, and try to rewrite the entire series to make it better fit with their sensibilities. This usually results in a fanverse that, but for the names of the characters, is absolutely nothing like the original shows. Keep an eye out for Darker and Edgier, elimination of perceived Scrappies, and the Decepticons as Always Chaotic Evil.
  • In The Vision of Escaflowne fandom it sometimes feels as if every third Escaflowne fanfic written Retcons the ending to push Hitomi back into Van's arms regardless of whether or not it makes the slightest bit of sense.
  • Wandering Son: A few fan-works hook up Takatsuki and Saori, the preferred Beta Couple to Nitori and Anna. In canon, Takatsuki ends on an unrequited crush Nitori while Saori is with Fumiya and has a Maybe Ever After with Doi.
  • Weiß Kreuz fanfiction mostly ignores everything after the end of the first anime season. Given what happens next, this isn't entirely surprising. More deliberate examples can be seen in the sheer number of fanfics out there where Aya cures Youji's amnesia and 'saves' him from the horrible fate of marriage to a girl through the Power of Love.
  • Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun has grounding fics, based on the headcanon that tearing off a demon's wings, known as grounding in the Netherworld, is one of the worst forms of harm that can be inflicted, doubly so when done to a child. Because Iruma is wingless due to being a human, when Balam shows the teachers his back (in a universe where Ali didn't manifest or was too slow to give Iruma fake wings when he was being checked) and they see how scarred it is (from Iruma's many dangerous jobs in the human world), they assume that he was grounded and try to find out who did it to him. Grounding fics also include the headcanon that demons have a lower fertility rate than humans, so children are considered precious and harming them is inconcievable; therefore, the idea that Iruma might have lost his wings in such a gruesome way pushes the teachers' (particularly Kalego's) berserk buttons.
  • The most common sort of fics for X/1999's Seishirou and Subaru seems to try to find a way for Seishirou to not die/not be a bastard.
  • A large chunk of Yo-kai Watch fanfics are about an Alternate Universe where Katie got the yo-kai watch instead of Nate. If not that, then they take place in a 'verse where a second watch appears and Katie obtains it.
  • A significant number of Your Lie in April fanfics have Kaori Miyazono survive her surgery or come Back from the Dead, the latter usually through supernatural means.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • A huge amount of Kaiba/Jonouchi fanfiction seems to be about how the mighty Kaiba rescues poor, defenseless Jonouchi from his abusive father, often finding him beaten half to death in a dark alley. He then offers him to live with him "temporarily". You can probably imagine how this one ends. Expect Jonouchi's True Companions to be suspiciously absent.
    • It's rather popular to bring Atem back from the dead or just have him never leave to begin with, usually for shipping purposes with Yugi, Kaiba, or sometimes Anzu. This became Hilarious in Hindsight, as Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions' plot is about Kaiba trying to find a way to bring him back post-series.
    • For fics set before the end of the series, normally the "yamis" (dark alternate personalities of Yugi, Marik, and Bakura—two of them are undead Egyptian spirits, while one is actually the result of a mental disorder) are given their own bodies in order to freely interact with other characters. Sometimes this will be explained, but often, no one even acknowledges that it is odd. In the same vein, the original personalities are each called "hikari" as a contrast to their yami, since the words mean light and dark, respectively, in Japanese. "Yami" is used in official translations of the original series, but "hikari" is never used.
    • A common plotline involves the Ryou Bakura/Yami Bakura relationship, nicknamed "tendershipping." The relationship is almost always abusive to the extreme, both physically and emotionally, with Yami Bakura being the perpetrator and Ryou Bakura being a helpless, self-sacrificial victim. It's debatable whether there are hints of this in the original, as Yami Bakura does injure Ryou at several points in the manga/anime, but others have criticized the plot, since it would be counterintuitive for Yami Bakura to hurt his own host body to such a degree.
    • Fanfics that have Yami Bakura or Yami Marik come back and turn good are fairly common, as are ones where they come back to cause trouble.
    • In shipping fics, Anzu is usually a victim of Derailing Love Interests so Yugi can get together with whoever the author prefers.
    • "Anzu-bashing" fics are extremely common.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds:
    • One common plotline involves Akiza/Aki running away to the Satellite after discovering her powers and meeting Yusei and the rest of his friends there. This is usually meant to setup the Childhood Romance between the two. Depending on the author, it usually winds up with Akiza/Aki somehow returning to Neo/New Domino against her will. Either because she's arrested by Sector Security, or captured by the Arcadia Movement, or a combination of both.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V:
    • Most authors prefer to just rewrite or overhaul the entire story, mainly due to the unavoidable in hindsight Gainax Ending. A common thread usually involves the counterparts all regaining their bodies and living Happily Ever After, as opposed to the canon where they all eventually reunite as one.
    • Some stories do explore the canon end result of the counterparts sharing bodies usually with the intention of showing how that can create problems.
    • While the introduction and execution of legacy characters (Jack Atlas, Crow, Alexis, Kite, and Aster Phoenix) is divisive, it is not hard to find stories that add more of them (generally adding original series characters into the Standard Dimension and adding other beloved legacy characters like Akiza into their respective dimensions). The general consensus is that the idea itself isn't bad as much as how it was executed, and fans frequently seek to better the execution.
  • The Yuri!!! on Ice fandom seems to have an odd fixation on dark alternate universes, with a particularly strong love of Mafia AUs and Omegaverse. This could be an inverse of the Attack on Titan example mentioned above; YOI is a relentlessly optimistic show, and fans want to experiment with a tonal shift.


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