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Non Serial Movie is related to The Movie.
Very popular anime series occasionally spawn not only OVAs, but also theatrical movies as well. One problem with this is sometimes the movie is being made while the series is still ongoing. While they generally have enough sense not to ignore anything that's happened up to that point, by the time the movie is released a show may have introduced very different facts into canon. This is an especially big concern with very long series which in turn spawn many short movies.
The easy way out of this is to make sure the movie is officially out of continuity. Nonetheless, fans sometimes establish a general sense of when a movie should logically take place, with various degrees of shoehorning. The only real rule is Non Serial Movies usually have a "feel" for whatever season they were closely released in, which also helps viewers who don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of a series.
There are a few bonuses to this technique. The movie is designed so those with only a basic sense of the series can still enjoy it. It also allows for creative One Shot characters into the story (especially a Filler Villain). The right director can put a creative spin on a series with an otherwise strict concept. And of course lots of gratuitous Big Budget Beef Up.
A major negative of not being in continuity is it is usually not referred to in the show’s later episodes to avoid plot conflicts, nor are they allowed to make major upheavals (e.g., Killed Off For Real) in characters. One way around this is to make the story a backstory, Flash Back, or prequel. Another is to do a plot that is stylistically similar to the ongoing one but clearly divorced (which may be a What If).
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Slayers has five movies, none of which really mesh into the TV series. The first one is The Movie (also known as "Slayers Perfect"), and is set during the time of the OA Vs, in which Lina is travelling with Naga. It covers the duo going to an island where a powerful wizard and ancestor of Gourry's ropes them into an adventure involving timetravel to defeat a demon named Joyrock. It's said that this adventure actually ensured the very existence of Gourry Gabriev. The next three movies are also set in the same time, but could come at any point before or after The Movie- to say nothing of where they might fit in between the OA Vs. "Slayers Return" has them being hired to free a village, only to accidentally unleash a titanic magic-immune golem called Rune Blast. "Slayers Great" has them visit a golem-producing city called Stona and getting involved in both the world domination plots of the local lords and a family fued between the father and son of a famous golem-making family. "Slayers Gorgeous" has them fighting on opposite sides of a battle between a king and his daughter, both of whom can communicate with dragons, over the princess's allowance. The fifth movie, "Slayers Premium" involves Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis and Xellos, but could be set at any point between NEXT and TRY, or between The Slayers and NEXT, or late into The Slayers.
- Ranma One Half got two of these, both based on anime exclusive storylines. The first one, which revolves around Akane being abducted by a Chinese martial artist who has mistaken her for his fiancee, could be set anywhen after the first five episodes of the 4th season (Ranma uses the Hiryu Shoten Ha to defeat the Big Bad Evil Guy, and all of the series main characters have been introduced). The second one, which has the crew shipwrecked on a tropical island and a bratty young noble kidnapping all of the women to pick a bride from their number, is definitely set after the late 7th season (Ranma and Ryoga use their Ki Attacks, the Shi-Shi Hokodan and the Moko Takabisha). It also got 9 OVAs, one of which was released in Japan as a third movie- of these, three were anime specific (one Christmas story, one two parter), and the other six were adaptations of manga stories that came out after the anime series was cancelled.
- In fact, official word for the order of episodes places "Big Trouble in Nekonron, China" as occuring between the season six episodes "Ryoga Inherits the Saotome School" and "Tendo Family Goes To The Amusement Park. "Nihao! My Concubine", likewise, occurs in the seventh season of the anime, between the episodes "Gosunkugi's Summer Affair" and "Bring It On! Love As A Cheerleader, Part 1".
- NONE of the Lupin III movies or specials feature any continuity with the any of the three TV series (who barely even bother with continuity with each other) or any other film in the series. It's part of the reason why they work so well though, as they can still feel pretty timeless even with outdated clothing and technology.
- Sailor Moon had its first major continuity issues when it's second movie was adapted from print instead of the television series. The movies also demand cameos of the entire current cast roster, despite the Outer Senshi being established in the show as generally avoiding team-ups (the fact one of them was technically ''dead'' during the offical timeline didn't help...) Although, the movie was based on a special chapter that doesn't quite fit into the manga storyline either (and was placed in one of the side stories compilation volumes in the manga re-release, suggesting it wasn't meant to be a part of continuity): while Pluto was still alive at this point in the manga, the Outer Senshi left the rest of the team to take care of Hotaru (who isn't present in the special/movie), and their return in the next arc surprised the team, even though they were seen in the special. Of course, the changes made to the anime plot up to this point only made this inconsistency worse.
- Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door (renamed Cowboy Bebop: The Movie in the US due to trademark issues) is set at some point in the timeline of the series. As intense as its events are, they seem to forget all about it, like just one more job. (Real reason: it was made after the series was done for a good long time, but they needed to set it during the original timeline in order to include a character who got Killed Off For Real in the last episode of the series.)
- Andy makes a cameo wearing the clothes he changed into at the end of the episode he appeared it, and the show "Big Shots" is still on, so that puts it inbetween episodes 22 and 23.
- The Digimon movies are hit and miss. The first 02 and the Frontier and Savers movies definitely fit this trope; the Adventure movies and first Tamers movie definitely do not; the second 02 takes place post-series, but went into production long beforehand, leading to minor inconsistencies; finally, the second Tamers movie received no input from head writer Chiaki J. Konaka, but Ruki's past was heavily featured and it seemed to fit in okay with the anime's ending... until the Original Story CD dramas retconned it.
- However, the American dub of the first 02 movie was squished in together with the two Adventure movies in order to make a full-length theatrical release. Needless to say, the movie team took some serious liberties that directly conflicted with later episodes of the TV series. This movie was also significantly longer than the other two, and was hacked apart and restitched into the others in a desperate effort to make it all fit together. The writer, Jeff Nimoy, noted in a fan-conducted interview
 that he originally wanted to leave the third movie for a later release, but the higher-ups said no. Adding to the confusion is that movie-only character Willis (Wallace in the Japanese version) is briefly mentioned by Izzy in the series dub (in place of an unnamed online friend), in order to help everything feel more cohesive.
- The first Cardcaptor Sakura movie between episodes 35 and 36, but featured the capture of the Arrow Card which is never seen before or after, and introduced a new character from the past who is also never mentioned again. However, the Arrow Card counts up among the 52 Clow Cards (along with four cards captured off-screen), so the movie is in continuity, just that its canonicity is not mentionned explicitly.
- One Piece has had several non-serial movies, starting with the OVA "Defeat The Pirate Ganzak!" (which actually predates the TV series), and going on to include eight feature films. At least one of these features a cast list that never existed in continuity.
- None of the Dragonball and Dragonball Z movies had any precise place in the manga's and TV show's Canon (especially The Tree of Life), but each of them effectively adapted a segment of the main story in somewhat general terms. However, there was an anime-only storyline in the TV series that aired between the Freeza and Android sagas which featured Garlic Jr. from Dead Zone as the main villain (it also featured Icarus/Haiya Dragon, Gohan's pet dragon from Tree of Might).
- The only exceptions are the Bardock and Future Trunks specials, which were TV specials that aired during the show's time slot in Japan. The Bardock special serves as a prequel to the entire series and Bardock's character was later canonized in a single panel appearance in the manga. The Trunks special on the other hand was adapted from a special chapter of the manga which told Future Trunks' backstory.
- The Bleach OVA, "The Sealed Sword Frenzy", is set between the Soul Society and Vizard/Bount arcs, despite the show stating there was all of one day between said arcs. The movie "Memories of Nobody" seems to be doing the same thing. These are both interesting because in the manga canon, after Ichigo's battle with Byakuya he was having trouble controlling his inner hollow, and his very next battle he almost went out of control, leaving him weak until his Vizard training. This plot point seems to be put off for as long as they are introducing filler, it seems.
- Diamond DustRebellion, the second movie, seems actually impossible; Ichigo has full use of his regular Hollow mask, but not the enhanced version; however, both upgrades happen during the Hueco Mundo arc, and Ichigo never goes back to the "real world" in between.
- Yu-Gi-Oh not only had two of these movies, but also a non serial season, called Capsule Monsters, which has little to no bearing (or continuity) with the main anime besides the characters. This is due to Executive Meddling on the part of 4Kids, to keep the original series going longer. There was even a non-serial manga spinoff of the original series, Yu-Gi-Oh R, taking place after Battle City.
- Pokémon tends to be inconsistent in regards to this. The first movie made the most effort by having Mewtwo wipe everyone's memories of the events but also putting clips from the start of the movie in episodes that aired later. Since then, characters sometimes appear to have also forgotten the events of later movies, usually by not remembering seeing the focal Pokemon of that movie. Conversely, in one episode Brock remembers the movie he wasn't in. Later on thought the series gotten better on how to handle movie references so to establish them in continuity. The main location of movie 7 was made the hometown of Drew, a recurring rival of May. A model of the Time-Space Tower in movie 10 was seen in a museum in an episode that aired before movie's 10 Japanese release. More recently, movie 8 raised a plot point that has been brought back in later episodes. Also, the movies are always consistent with the current teams at the time of the Japanese cinema release, even with Pokémon only captured a couple of weeks before the movie.
- Although characters never seem to remember meeting Pokemon in the main series either. Hell, iirc in the Battle Frontier arc there were multiple instances where Ash didn't recognize Pokemon he'd encountered the first time he went through Kanto (including a few he'd owned himself)...
- Note though that most of the "broken canon" scenes in the series were dub-only references or mistakes (although there are a few genuine movie-related errors in the original version), and the biggest reason fans have determined the movies of variable, partial, or not canon is that they are barely ever referenced in the series, and the few references that actually do occur are usually claimed to make the events only partial canon.
- Detective Conan generally doesn't have any issues as most of the stories are self-contained anyway but they do consistently have Kaitou Kid knowing Conan's real identity; a fact that doesn't appear to be true for the rest of the anime and manga.
- Two more point is also disputed by the fandom: should the backstory between Kogoro and Eri in the second movie be considered canon? Or should Noah's Ark be listed under the people who knew the truth?
- Maison Ikkoku: The Movie takes place pretty much in the space of time covered by the commercial break in the last episode of the TV anime series, and has all the voice actors from the TV anime — except that it takes place in the Alternate Continuity of the manga instead of the anime.
- Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie gave some mild character introduction and didn't have any impact on the main plot. Which was a good thing for anime fans outside Japan, the movie was licensed a few years before the actual series.
- Naruto featured a few movies (five so far I think) which fit good enough into the story. The first must have happened somewhere before Chu-Nin exam, the next two somewhere in the fillers. The first Shipuudden is around the time of the San-nin filler arc (probably).
Television
- The Babylon 5 movie, Thirdspace, aired partway through the fifth season, is set during the fourth season after the end of the Shadow War arc but before the beginning of the civil war arc. However, if the movie is assumed to be part of the continuity, then the movie can only occur in between two scenes of one particular episode, because it's the only point at which the right characters are on the station and wearing the correct uniforms. Still, there is absolutely no indication in that episode that the events of the movie — including mass rioting aboard the station and a massive space battle right outside concluding with the detonation of a half-gigaton nuclear bomb — have happened at all, and everything aboard the station is going as normal.
- Given that it wasn't very good and fans ignored it anyway, this was probably for the best.
- Legend of the Rangers is also full of plot holes and continuity breaks.
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie was an example of a Non Serial Movie with a Big Budget Beef Up to go along with it; specifically, all of the cheap sets and spandex costumes (not to mention the stock footage) were replaced with expensive, high quality sets and plasticized, form-fitting body armor, respectively. The film's plot was also (in this editor's opinion) a refreshing change from the series' norm at the time. The movie's lead villain, Ivan Ooze, was never seen in the series either. The movie is not part of the series canon, since it basically tells the same story as the third-season premiere multiparter (Rangers lose old powers, must earn new ninja-based powers), but with major changes (for instance, the Rangers get their ninja powers from the scantily clad Dulcea of the planet Phaedos rather than the robotic Ninjor, and the new villain is Ivan Ooze rather than Master Vile).
- Most Heisei era Kamen Rider series have had a Non Serial Movie providing an Alternate Ending. Although a few of them (Agito, Den-O, Decade) had a movie that was actually in continuity.
- Kamen Rider Kiva's movie is a special case. It doesn't provide an alternate ending to the series, but it outright contradicts the show's continuity in so many ways that it's impossible for it to be placed in the show's timeline. Den-O's second and third movies arguably fall into this category as well, due to the unexplained presence of Zeronos.
- Also, note that while Agito's movie and Den-O's first movie both avert this trope, Den-O's aversion is unique in that the show actually incorporates its first movie into the storyline such that the movie forms the third part of a four-part arc.
- Decade's second film will serve as its Grand Finale. The show itself ends on an extremely abrupt cliffhanger, so....
Western Animation
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