History CommonKnowledge / AnimeAndManga

* Meta example: Everyone knows ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff sold poorly in its home country yet became a phenomenon in America]]. Except half of that isn't true. While it didn't have the lasting staying power the series still has in the states, ''Bebop'' was very well-received in Japan and sold very well. In fact, of all anime released in 1998, it was the number one best selling anime on home video in that year. Even counting anime from previous years, the only two series that sold more in that year were the absolutely juggernauts ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' and the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. It's possible the misconception stems from confusion with fellow 1998 space western ''Anime/OutlawStar'', which did indeed tank in Japan but is a nostalgic favorite for an entire generation of anime fans in America.

** ''[=JoJo=]'' is so infamous for its high canine mortality rate that the fandom have long joked about Creator/HirohikoAraki having some kind of vendetta against dogs, so it can come as a shock to learn that only three of the series' nine Parts -- those being ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'', ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', and ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' -- feature any dog deaths whatsoever, or that the last chapter to do so was published in 1993, less than a decade into the manga's over 30-year run. This reputation likely stems from just how early and [[CruelAndUnusualDeath brutal]] the dog kills that do happen are; Dio locking Danny in the incinerator is one of the series' first big shocking moments, and ''Stardust Crusaders'', the FranchiseCodifier, is also the Part with the most dog deaths, with four seperate [[MonsterOfTheWeek villains of the week]] killing one onscreen, both of which give the impression that this is a common trend across the whole series as opposed to something Araki mostly dropped afterwards.

** Naru Osaka does not speak with an Osaka accent in the original anime, or any other version of ''Sailor Moon'', for that matter. She speaks in standard Tokyo dialect, as with virtually everyone else in the series. Yes, her surname is Osaka, but this is a common Japanese name, and does not mean she is from Osaka, any more than someone with the surname "London" must be from London. Furthermore, fan materials often state that the DiC dub gave Naru/Molly a Brooklyn accent to parallel her non-existent Osaka accent, even though the same dub gives other characters accents for no apparent reason (e.g., Luna sounding like an English grandmother.)

** The woman who was with Dario at carriage wreckage that took Mary Joestar's life is actually not Dio Brando's mother. Though the confusion is understandable, she's actually just a woman Dario met at a bar who was briefly acting as his partner in crime. Dio Brando's mother is actually TheGhost.

* With ''Creator/StudioGhibli'' films, a lot of people miscredit works done by other directors (Namely ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'', ''Anime/PomPoko'', ''Anime/TheCatReturns'') as being directed and/or written by Hayao Miyazaki. What hasn't helped, at least in North America, were Disney's marketing often used "Hayao Miyazaki" and "Studio Ghibli" borderline interchangeably, along with [[ImportFilter the fact his movies were the first ones distributed in English]] and the most popular, with the movies done by other directors coming later.

* ''Anime/GhostStories'': The commonly accepted story behind how the show's [[AnimatedShockComedy raunchy]] English GagDub came to be is that Creator/ADVFilms picked up the rights to some obscure children's anime on the cheap, and were told by the Japanese licence holders that since the show had flopped so badly domestically, they were free to do basically whatever they wanted with it, with only some minor restrictions.[[note]]They weren't allowed to [[DubNameChange change the names]] of the characters or ghosts or the [[DubInducedPlotlineChange general episode plots]], but everything else was fair game.[[/note]] However, as [[https://www.slashfilm.com/703353 this article]] explains, ''Ghost Stories'' [[PresumedFlop was anything but a failure]] in Japan -- the series was an entry in the popular and influential ''Franchise/GakkouNoKaidan'' franchise, and the average ratings of its initial televised run were so high that it [[https://twitter.com/MercuryFalcon/status/1406837089472331781 ranked among the top 10 most viewed anime of the 2000s]], with some of its episodes even [[https://twitter.com/gakkai20th/status/1226437387732996101 outperforming]] titans like ''Franchise/{{Doraemon}}'' and ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. The myth that the show was a failure seems to have started within ADV itself, as the dub's director Steven Foster mentions in his autobiography that he first heard it from a member of the studio's legal team who helped to secure the rights to the series. Hearing it from people who had actually worked on the dub was close enough to official confirmation for many people, which is likely why the misconception spread as far as it did.

** ''[=JoJo=]'' is so infamous for its high canine mortality rate that the fandom have long joked about Creator/HirohikoAraki having some kind of vendetta against dogs, so it can come as a shock to learn that only three of the series' nine Parts -- those being ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'', ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', and ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' -- feature any dog deaths whatsoever, or that the last chapter to do so was published in 1993, less than a decade into the manga's over 30-year run. This reputation likely stems from a mix of Danny's CruelAndUnusualDeath in ''Phantom Blood'' being one of the first things to happen in the series, and the fact that ''Stardust Crusaders'', the FranchiseCodifier, has four seperate [[MonsterOfTheWeek villains of the week]] who brutally kill a dog during their battles, both of which give the impression that this is a common trend across the whole series.

*** Stands are not "psychic projections". Stands are stated to merely be physical manifestations of the user's life energy. During Jotaro's introduction, he's even seen having books in his possession titled "ESP", "Occult", and "Mysteries and Magic", implying that this isn't the case.
*** It's often believed that [[spoiler:Muhammed Avdol's]] DisneyDeath in the first half of the Part was originally intended to have been permanent, and was changed after the fact due to the character being an EnsembleDarkhorse. In actuality, Araki confirmed in an interview that the fake-out was always planned and just done as a way to shake up the formula a bit while giving Polnareff some CharacterDevelopment, and [[spoiler:Avdol]] was always the least popular member of the Stardust Crusaders with readers anyway. The misconception likely stems from the explanation given in the manga [[AssPull not matching what is actually shown in the original scene]], something amended in the anime.

* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
** A good number of fans speak of the franchise as if it never does happy endings, often citing series creator Creator/YoshiyukiTomino's nickname of "Kill 'Em All Tomino" as proof of the franchise's prediliction towards the EverybodyDiesEnding (in fact, it was at one point the TropeNamer). The truth is, among projects made by Tomino, a number of shows (including the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'') have more or less completely happy endings or {{Bittersweet Ending}}s, and one--''Anime/TurnAGundam''--kills off ''[[EverybodyLives no]]'' major characters. Even endings often labeled as such are more complicated than they appear. ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' does kill off quite a few characters, but they still accomplish their goals, with the monstrous Titans having been obliterated, and it leads right into ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ''--as in, ''ZZ'' started airing the very next week--which has a fairly happy ending. ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'' kills off a lot of characters, including the two leads, but ends in Char's scheme having been completely foiled and his philosophy thoroughly proven wrong, and Amuro's death is a textbook HeroicSacrifice that entirely works. And this is just Tomino--aside from him, the vast majority of shows feature happy endings or endings that are at least fairly positive, even if (though not always) that ending is [[EarnYourHappyEnding reached with a heavy bodycount]]. In fact, only one TV series ever went so far as to [[TheHeroDies kill off the lead hero]], that being ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'', and the generally downbeat ending of that series [[AudienceAlienatingEnding was actually quite controversial among the fans]]. A chunk of this comes down to some of [[TrueArtIsAngsty the most popular projects among fans]] also being [[DownerEnding relative downers]], particularly ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam''--which has often led to the more zealous fans calling NoTrueScotsman on any series that doesn't kill off the whole cast and end in misery, ignoring that said endings are distantly the minority.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'': The ''Nazca'' carrying the Neutron Stampede is commonly assumed to be called the [[MeaningfulName ''Marie Curie'']]. Except that it's ''not''; no name is given in-series, and the origin of the name is from a fanfic called ''Fanfic/BirdsOfAFeather''.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'': More of a meta-example if anything, but the {{Narm}}tastic English dub is was oft considered to be an "American" dub. While Creator/TheOceanGroup ''is'' American in the geographic sense, the actor and the studio is actually Canadian.

*** Stands are not "psychic projections". Stands are stated to merely be physical manifestations of the user's life energy. During Jotaro's introduction, he's even seen having books in his possession title "ESP", "Occult", and "Mysteries and Magic", implying that this isn't the case.

*** Stands are not "psychic projections". Stands are stated to merely be physical manifestations of the user's life energy. During Jotaro's introduction, he's even seen having a books in his possession title "ESP", "Occult", and "Mysteries and Magic", implying that this isn't the case.

*** Stands are not "psychic projections". Stands are stated to merely be physical manifestations of the user's life energy. During Jotaro's introduction, he's even seen having a books in his possession title "ESP", "Occult", and "Mysteries and Magic" implying that this isn't the case.

* ''Anime/GhostStories'': The commonly accepted story behind how the show's [[AnimatedShockComedy raunchy]] English GagDub came to be is that Creator/ADVFilms picked up the rights to some obscure children's anime on the cheap, and were told by the Japanese licence holders that since the show had flopped so badly domestically, they were free to do basically whatever they wanted with it, with only some minor restrictions.[[note]]They weren't allowed to [[DubNameChange change the names]] of the characters or ghosts or the [[DubInducedPlotlineChange general episode plots]], but everything else was fair game.[[/note]] However, as [[https://www.slashfilm.com/703353 this article]] explains, ''Ghost Stories'' [[PresumedFlop was anything but a failure]] in Japan -- the series was an entry in the popular and influential ''Franchise/GakkouNoKaidan'' franchise, and the average ratings of its initial televised run were so high that it [[https://twitter.com/MercuryFalcon/status/1406837089472331781 ranked among the top 10 most viewed anime of the 2000s]], with some of its episodes even [[https://twitter.com/gakkai20th/status/1226437387732996101 outperforming]] titans like ''Franchise/{{Doraemon}}'' and ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. The myth that the show was a failure seems to have started within ADV itself, as the dub's director Steven Foster mentions in his autobiography that he first heard it from a member of the studio's legal team who helped to secure the rights to the series.

* ''Anime/GhostStories'' is remembered in the West as a show that was so unsuccessful and poorly-received in its native Japan that Creator/ADVFilms, the studio tasked with dubbing it into English, were essentially given free rein to do whatever the hell they wanted with it, resulting in a now-legendary GagDub loaded with BlackComedy and early [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]] pop culture references. However, [[https://www.slashfilm.com/703353 as this article explains,]] the original show was [[PresumedFlop anything but a failure]], being adapted from the highly influential ''Franchise/GakkouNoKaidan'' franchise, maintaining a high viewer count throughout its initial run to the point of beating out both ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' and ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' at its peak, and proving successful enough to be dubbed into multiple other languages, all of which used a far more faithful script. The idea that the series was a flop seems to have been an embellishment by its ADR director Steven Foster, someone who had a reputation for [[DubInducedPlotlineChange taking huge creative liberties]] in an effort to "fix" the shows he was localising even before ''Ghost Stories''.

** ''[=JoJo=]'' is so infamous for its high canine mortality rate that the fandom have long joked about Creator/HirohikoAraki having some kind of vendetta against dogs, so it can come as a shock to learn that only three of the series' nine Parts -- those being ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'', ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', and ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' -- feature any dog deaths whatsoever, or that the last chapter to do so was published in 1993, less than a decade into the manga's over 30-year run. This reputation likely stems from a mix of Danny's CruelAndUnusualDeath in ''Phantom Blood'' being one of the first things to happen in the series, and the fact that ''Stardust Crusaders'', the FranchiseCodifier, has four seperate [[MonsterOfTheWeek villains of the week]] who brutally kill a dog over the course of their battles, both of which give the impression that this is a common trend across the whole series.

** ''[=JoJo=]'' is so infamous for its high canine mortality rate that the fandom have long joked about Creator/HirohikoAraki having some kind of vendetta against dogs, so it can come as a shock to learn that only three of the series' nine Parts -- those being ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'', ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', and ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' -- have killed off even a single dog, or that the last chapter to do so was published in 1993, less than a decade into the manga's over 30-year run. This reputation likely stems from a mix of Danny's CruelAndUnusualDeath in ''Phantom Blood'' being one of the first things to happen in the series, and the fact that ''Stardust Crusaders'', the FranchiseCodifier, has four seperate [[MonsterOfTheWeek villains of the week]] who brutally kill a dog over the course of their battles, both of which give the impression that this is a common trend across the whole series.

** On a related note, the ADV dub's loose, comedic style led to a common belief that it was done through {{improv}}. This is not the case, as Foster has confirmed in interviews that he scripted the episodes himself.

** A fair number of fans believe that ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'' takes place [[spoiler:within a new timeline created by Made in Heaven at the end of ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'']]. To the contrary, [[spoiler:Made in Heaven explicitly backfires, resetting the ''Stone Ocean'' timeline to a state in which [[EarnYourHappyEnding Jolyne was never imprisoned, Jotaro was a better father to her]], the Joestars/Kujos are implied to be a less dysfunctional and mostly happy family, and Enrico Pucci has never even existed at all]]. To top it off, Araki (the series' creator) has directly spoken against this theory, stating that [[spoiler:''Steel Ball Run'' takes place in an already existent AlternateUniverse among TheMultiverse]].

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': Many people will refer to fanfics that are supposed to be a sequel to ''02'' (or sometimes even ''[[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]]'') as "Digimon (Adventure) 03". While technically correct, it's not right for the reason people think it is: "02" in "''Anime/DigimonAdventure02''" refers to the ''year'' in which the story takes place (2002; ''[[Anime/DigimonAdventure Adventure]]'' took place in 1999, three years before); thus "03" would actually be a story in 2003. Interestingly, the English dub increases the TimeSkip between ''Adventure'' and ''02'' to four years, so in the dub continuity, the second season took place in 2003.
** This goes for referring to season one as 01. Again, 02 takes place 3-4 years later; a scene in S1 would not take place in '01. However, referring to the seasons as 01, 02, 03, 04, etc. isn't going anywhere, to the point that the DVD release (at least in America) do it, in part due to the fact that the first four seasons were all under the umbrella title of ''Digimon: Digital Monsters'' in the U.S., so they needed a way to differentiate them. So now it's at least an official way to refer to the seasons.

** This goes for referring to season one as 01. Again, 02 takes place 3-4 years later; a scene in S1 would not take place in '01. However, referring to the seasons as 01, 02, 03, 04, etc. isn't going anywhere, to the point that the DVD release (at least in America) do it, in part due to the fact that the first four seasons were all under the umbrella title of ''Digimon: Digital Monsters'' in the U.S. So now it's at least an official way to refer to the seasons.

** Anyone who specifically thinks/says "Haruhi is God", when all the audience or any of the characters in the story ''know'' is that she's ''some'' sort of RealityWarper, and being "{{God}}" is just one theory which is stated to not be particularly likely. In fact it's Koizumi who makes the God claim, and we know that a lot of what he says is a lie. He also says that he's working under that assumption mostly because it's the worst-case scenario.

*** Likewise, you'll see a lot of people [[FranchiseKiller blaming Endless Eight for the decline in popularity the franchise suffered]] in the 2010s. The truth is that people stopped talking about ''Haruhi'' because there simply wasn't anything new coming out; Kyoto Animation stopped producing the anime after the ''Disappearance'' movie as part of a pivot away from adapting outside works in favour of creating original ones in-house, while the light novels went through a nine-year SequelGap between ''Surprise'' in 2011 and ''Intuition'' in 2020. Endless Eight certainly didn't help matters, but it was far from the biggest culprit.

* It's widely believed that the main plot of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' started off reasonably paced, and only became [[ArcFatigue infamously dragged out]] over time as the manga grew in popularity and became a CashCowFranchise. Except the truth is actually the other way around; the manga early on was almost completely episodic with the overarching MythArc being touched on very rarely, and it was only after the introduction of [[BreakoutCharacter Haibara]] that this begins to change, with cases that don't contain some form of plot and character development being increasingly rare as it goes on. It is just that the main plot is ''very'' slow-paced and [[JigsawPuzzlePlot increasingly complex]], making it look incredibly stretched-out paired with the series sheer length.

* The ending of ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' reveals that the Observer from ''Danganronpa 2'' assumed the form of Chiaki Nanami because she was the person her classmates stuck on the New World Program missed the most. This is true to a extend, but the main reason the Observer took her form was because the students they saw Chiaki as the ideal administrator, since she was their class rep. Plus, Chiaki was the best friend the 15 students had in common, not the person each one of them loved the most in the entire world.

** A good number of fans speak of the franchise as if it never does happy endings, often citing series creator Creator/YoshiyukiTomino's nickname of "Kill 'Em All Tomino" as proof of the franchise's prediliction towards the EverybodyDiesEnding (in fact, it was at one point the TropeNamer). The truth is, among projects made by Tomino, a number of shows (including the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'') have more or less completely happy endings or {{Bittersweet Ending}}s, and one--''Anime/TurnAGundam''--kills off ''[[EverybodyLives no]]'' major characters. Even endings often labeled as such are more complicated than they appear. ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' does kill off quite a few characters, but they still accomplish their goals, with the monstrous Titans having been obliterated, and it leads right into ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ''--as in, ''ZZ'' started airing the very next week--which has a fairly happy ending. ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'' kills off a lot of characters, including the two leads, but ends in Char's scheme having been completely foiled and his philosophy thoroughly proven wrong, and Amuro's death is a textbook HeroicSacrifice that entirely works. And this is just Tomino--aside from him, the vast majority of shows feature happy endings or endings that are at least fairly positive, even if (though not always) that ending is [[EarnYourHappyEnding reached with a heavy bodycount]]. In fact, only one TV series ever went so far as to [[TheHeroDies kill off the lead hero]], that being ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans''. A chunk of this comes down to some of [[TrueArtIsAngsty the most popular projects among fans]] also being [[DownerEnding relative downers]], particularly ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam''--which has often led to the more zealous fans calling NoTrueScotsman on any series that doesn't kill off the whole cast and end in misery, ignoring that said endings are distantly the minority.

* Any longtime anime fan has heard of ''Anime/GhostStories'', a show that was so unsuccessful and poorly-received in its native Japan that Creator/ADVFilms, the studio tasked with dubbing it into English, were essentially given free rein to do whatever the hell they wanted with it, resulting in a now-legendary GagDub loaded with BlackComedy and early [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]] pop culture references. However, [[https://www.slashfilm.com/703353 as this article explains,]] the original show was [[PresumedFlop anything but a failure]], being adapted from the [[LongRunners long-running]] ''Franchise/GakkouNoKaidan'' franchise, maintaining a high viewer count throughout its initial run to the point of beating out both ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' and ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' at its peak, and proving successful enough to be dubbed into multiple other languages, all of which used a far more faithful script. The idea that the series was a flop seems to have been an embellishment by its ADR director Steven Foster, someone who had a reputation for [[DubInducedPlotlineChange taking huge creative liberties]] in an effort to "fix" the shows he was localising even before ''Ghost Stories''.

* Many people assume that the first ''Anime/{{Devilman}}'' anime was a LighterAndSofter adaptation of the manga. This is incorrect: the ''Devilman'' anime was made as a LighterAndSofter adaptation of another Creator/GoNagai manga, ''Manga/DemonLordDante'', while the manga was made concurrently as a tie-in for the anime and ended up to become a DarkerAndEdgier take on the same story.