History CommonKnowledge / AnimeAndManga

*** Not in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''; Ideon snuffs out all life save for Keisar Ephes.

* Guts from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' was not based on the real-life UsefulNotes/GotzVonBerlichingen. While the similarities are uncanny (both are medieval mercenary captains with prosthetic hands, and both even have similar names), Miura has stated that he was unaware of Gotz until the connection was brought to his attention, and it's simply a very improbable coincidence.

* A commonly-stated fact about ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' is that the character of Crow Hogan was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen rewritten from a primary antagonist to a tritagonist]] due to strong sales of his cards, against the wishes of the creators. This is basically impossible, since Crow had already debuted as a heroic character before his archetype ever hit the stands. It's true that he was rewritten from an early concept (Takahashi's character design envisioned him as a minor recurring antagonist who makes a HeelFaceTurn), and that many of his plot points seem to have been rushed or altered in some manner, but it can't have been because of card sales. Crow also reappeared in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', which had the same director, and he had a basically identical personality there, implying that the creators had no problem with making Crow a good guy - if anything, he seems to be something of a CreatorsPet.

** Many fans will let you know that most duels are won by the protagonist pulling a card out of their ass that conveniently defeats the opponent and is never seen again...only, this is really not the case. While the cards are often extremely convenient, they tend to be foreshadowed or ChekhovsGunman affairs just as often, and crop up a lot more. It's zigzagged depending on the media; on one hand, the wonky rulings for certain cards in comparison to the TCG/OCG mean that reappearances of manga cards are replaced[[note]]Magic Cylinder's second appearance being changed to Magician's Selection for example, along with several examples in Yugi vs Bakura Battle City[[/note]], while the longer length of the anime allowed certain cards to show up again. Later installments of the franchise ''do'' play this straighter though.

* Everyone knows that Edward from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' is an atheist... Except he's not, especially in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 version]]. He's an agnostic theist. Edward makes several references that heavily imply he believes in a God, he just doesn't show any interest in praising/worshipping it, seeing as it took away his limbs and little brother.

** Many people think that genin are all beginner ninja. That is not true. A ninja could theoretically never become a chunin. The chunin exams even showed a lot of adults taking exam.

* Every ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fan knows that Zelda transformed into a male in the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' [[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda manga]]. It is constantly used as "proof" that Sheik is a GenderBender instead of a SweetPollyOliver. Despite this belief, it is not true. The only "proof" is that Ruto called Sheik a man. The manga implies that Sheik is mainly a case of crossdressing, with magic changes being limited to aesthetics like hair length and eye color. Sheik wears a {{sarashi}}, she covers up her face, she keeps her distance from others, and she keeps her encounters with Link limited. When Link carries her in one scene he notes that she's surprisingly light. Ruto calling Sheik male is simply due to Ruto not realizing otherwise.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': anyone who watches anime [[ItWasHisSled generally knows by now]] that its cutesy appearance is a facade, concealing ridiculously traumatizing PsychologicalHorror. This is only half right; its actual genre is {{tragedy}}, not horror. Characters die in dramatic and/or ironic ways, but it has no graphic violence or anything else that one would expect from the general perception of it. Its most infamous violent scene [[GoryDiscretionShot happens mostly offscreen]] (though the manga shows quite a bit more detail). [[spoiler:There's a SatanicArchetype who likes to screw around with souls, but that's nothing new.]] Much of the overreaction comes from the heavy thematic content played out with [[DoubleStandard an all-female cast]]--many viewers seemingly interpreted it as an {{Utsuge}} that lacks a [[DamselInDistress damsel-rescuing]] male viewpoint character, instead of a self-contained story. [[spoiler:And they do get semi-rescued in the end--just not by a guy. Madoka herself becomes the guardian deity of all magical girls, but vanishes from the mortal world, making for a BittersweetEnding instead of the expected DownerEnding or KillEmAll ending.]]

** By a similar token, many fans will tell you that "[[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries Season Zero]]", the Toei adaptation, is far more faithful to the manga than the more famous anime adaptation. It's not; it just adapted a different part of the series (which has also given rise to the CommonKnowledge that it's canon to the other anime, hence the name). Among other things, a lot of plots were given new scenes or added padding, an entire story arc that wasn't present in the manga was added, and a character who was originally a one-off [[AscendedExtra got moved to the main cast]]. It's also often regarded as incredibly dark and violent when it was actually mostly {{Bowdlerized}} compared to the manga - for instance, the aforementioned serial killer ended up SparedByTheAdaptation. Another common claim is that it wasn't MerchandiseDriven, unlike its successor series. It was; there are multiple one-off episodes added just to show off the cards, and even a NonSerialMovie dedicated entirely to Red-Eyes Black Dragon. It's just that [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_Bandai%27s_Official_Card_Game the game]] based on it wasn't nearly as successful as the one that would follow.

** By a similar token, many fans will tell you that "[[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries Season Zero]]", the Toei adaptation, is far more faithful to the manga than the more famous anime adaptation. It's not; it just adapted a different part of the series (which has also given rise to the CommonKnowledge that it's canon to the other anime, hence the name). Among other things, a lot of plots were given new scenes or added padding, an entire story arc that wasn't present in the manga was added, and a character who was originally a one-off [[AscendedExtra got moved to the main cast]]. It's also often regarded as incredibly dark and violent when it was actually mostly {{Bowdlerized}} compared to the manga - for instance, the aforementioned serial killer ended up SparedByTheAdaptation. Another common claim is that it wasn't MerchandiseDriven, unlike its successor series. It was; there are multiple one-off episodes added just to show off the cards, and even a NonSerialMovie dedicated entirely to Red-Eyes Black Dragon. It's just that [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_Bandai%27s_Official_Card_Game the games]] based on it wasn't nearly as successful as the one that would follow.

** By a similar token, many fans will tell you that "[[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries Season Zero]]", the Toei adaptation, is far more faithful to the manga than the more famous anime adaptation. It's not; it just adapted a different part of the series (which has also given rise to the CommonKnowledge that it's canon). Among other things, a lot of plots were given new scenes or added padding, an entire story arc that wasn't present in the manga was added, and a character who was originally a one-off [[AscendedExtra got moved to the main cast]]. It's also often regarded as incredibly dark and violent when it was actually mostly {{Bowdlerized}} compared to the manga - for instance, the aforementioned serial killer ended up SparedByTheAdaptation.

** By a similar token, many fans will tell you that "Season Zero", the Toei adaptation, is far more faithful to the manga than the more famous anime adaptation. It's not; it just adapted a different part of the series (which has also given rise to the CommonKnowledge that it's canon). Among other things, a lot of plots were given new scenes or added padding, an entire story arc that wasn't present in the manga was added, and a character who was originally a one-off [[AscendedExtra got moved to the main cast]]. It's also often regarded as incredibly dark and violent when it was actually mostly {{Bowdlerized}} compared to the manga - for instance, the aforementioned serial killer ended up SparedByTheAdaptation.

** Yamcha from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' is known for being an utterly useless weakling who is constantly getting killed off. Actually, he only dies twice (the same number of times as Goku), was the first person to use a ki technique, and ends up saving everyone from Goku's Great Ape form in the original series. However, it is true that he has never won at the Tenka'Ichi Budoukai and he was the first to die in the battles with the Saiyans and the Androids (though [[HealingHerb he got better]] before actually dying in the latter case).

** Many of the comments left on videos of the anime, both on Website/YouTube and Crunchyroll, state that the original broadcast order is the only way to properly enjoy the series and that those who are watching the episodes in chronological order are missing out, implying that the directors of the anime chose to broadcast the first season in anachronic order in order to be artsy. In reality, this is not the case. Those making this claim are [[AdaptationDisplacement unaware of the novels]] which existed first, which do not have anything ''significantly'' out of order.[[note]]The third novel takes place before the second, and the fifth takes place before the fourth, but since the odd-numbered "novels" were merely collections of short stories with little bearing on the plot, this can easily be overlooked. And of course, the short stories are never told in between the novel-length stories, like in the anime.[[/note]] Obviously, the original fans who were only familiar with the light novels did not have the experience "ruined" for them. The actual reason for the anime's strange order is because of how the industry works-- the studio demanded at least a TwelveEpisodeAnime (and when the anime-only episode and [[ShowWithinAShow "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina"]] are included, they wound up with fourteen) and the first novel only has enough material for six episodes. Standard practice when adapting light novels is therefore to adapt the first two, but the second novel's ending doesn't compare at all to the ending of the first, and so would have resulted in an {{anticlimax}}. Skipping it and adapting the third novel would have been even worse, because of the third novel consisting of a bunch of disconnected stories, and so would be the equivalent of having the second half of the season be nothing but {{filler}}. And of course, they couldn't skip straight to the fourth novel because those stories from the third are necessary to understand the plot. Therefore, the only way that the series could be animated without massive AdaptationExplanationExtrication, anticlimax, or hours of {{padding}} was to disperse the later stories amongst the first arc. It wasn't done for the art at all.

* ''DragonBallZ'':

* Fans of ''Pokemon'' largely like to act as if ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' and ''Manga/TheElectricTaleOfPikachu'' are the only manga adaptations of the series. This is incredibly wrong as there are [[Manga/{{Pokemon}} 40 manga]] and [[AdaptationOverdosed counting]]. Despite ''Adventures'' frequently being called "the" Pokemon manga it's not even the the longest running (that title goes to the above-mentioned ''Pocket Monsters''). The confusion is probably due to how those two manga are readily available in several languages besides Japanese, unlike [[NoExportForYou most others]].

** Many fans will let you know that most duels are won by the protagonist pulling a card out of their ass that conveniently defeats the opponent and is never seen again...only, this is really not the case. While the cards are often extremely convenient, they tend to be foreshadowed or ChekovsGunman affairs just as often, and crop up a lot more. It's zigzagged depending on the media; on one hand, the wonky rulings for certain cards in comparison to the TCG/OCG mean that reappearances of manga cards are replaced[[note]]Magic Cylinder's second appearance being changed to Magician's Selection for example, along with several examples in Yugi vs Bakura Battle City[[/note]], while the longer length of the anime allowed certain cards to show up again. Later installments of the franchise ''do'' play this straighter though.

** Many fans and especially detractors have brought up the series' [[StrictlyFormula formulaic]] nature of Goku constantly coming up against a big threat, losing, either training or finding some other Macguffin in order to get stronger, and finishing off the threat in a rematch. In all of the fights in DBZ's run, this has ''never'' happened to Goku once. Through all the fights he's had, he's often defeated an opponent on the first try with little difficulty[[note]](Nappa, Recoome, Burter and Jeice, Yakon)[[/note]], had a great amount of difficulty but ultimately brought the opponent down, often with assistance from others[[note]](Raditz, Freiza, Super[=/=]Kid Buu)[[/note]], the fight ultimately ended inconclusively[[note]](Majin Vegeta, Fat Majin Buu)[[/note]], or Goku outright lost and someone else ended up defeating the opponent[[note]](Vegeta, Captain Ginyu, Android 19, Cell)[[/note]]. In fact, the only times the theme of Goku losing a fight, finding a way to get stronger, and then defeating his enemy in a rematch is during the ''original'' ''Anime/DragonBall'', primarily with his battles against Mercenary Tao and King Piccolo.

** Many fans and especially detractors have brought up the series' [[Strictly formulaic]] nature of Goku constantly coming up against a big threat, losing, either training or finding some other Macguffin in order to get stronger, and finishing off the threat in a rematch. In all of the fights in DBZ's run, this has ''never'' happened to Goku once. Through all the fights he's had, he's often defeated an opponent on the first try with little difficulty[[note]](Nappa, Recoome, Burter and Jeice, Yakon)[[/note]], had a great amount of difficulty but ultimately brought the opponent down, often with assistance from others[[note]](Raditz, Freiza, Super[=/=]Kid Buu)[[/note]], the fight ultimately ended inconclusively[[note]](Majin Vegeta, Fat Majin Buu)[[/note]], or Goku outright lost and someone else ended up defeating the opponent[[note]](Vegeta, Captain Ginyu, Android 19, Cell)[[/note]]. In fact, the only times the theme of Goku losing a fight, finding a way to get stronger, and then defeating his enemy in a rematch is during the ''original'' ''Anime/DragonBall'', primarily with his battles against Mercenary Tao and King Piccolo

* Yamcha from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' is known for being an utterly useless weakling who is constantly getting killed off. Actually, he only dies twice (the same number of times as Goku), was the first person to use a ki technique, and ends up saving everyone from Goku's Great Ape form in the original series. However, it is true that he has never won at the Tenka'Ichi Budoukai and he was the first to die in the battles with the Saiyans and the Androids (though [[HealingHerb he got better]] before actually dying in the latter case).

** Iwa is claimed to hate Minato and will kill anytime even related to him despite the fact that he's dead. It's usually the reason why Naruto's parentage is hidden. The Fourth Hokage has never even been mentioned by any Iwa Shinobi. What Iwa had was a "flee on sight" order regarding Minato during the last Shinobi War (when Iwa and Konoha were on opposing sides), because [[PersonOfMassDestruction Minato was too powerful for any of them to stand a chance against]], with the possible exception of [[OldMaster the Tsuchikage]]. This doesn't indicate any grudge against him, just a tactical judgement that it's never wise to fight the OneManArmy on his own terms.