History Main / GenreShift

* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' gets a bit of a shift towards the end, from a feudal Japan mythical fantasy to a feudal Japan [[spoiler: Sci-Fi]] fantasy. [[spoiler: Near the end, you see Kaguya, a woman born from a Bamboo shoot in the myth, have a ''rocket that looks like a bamboo shoot'', and in the last part of the game, the eponymous Ark of Yamato turns out to be a ''fucking spaceship'', also implying that these monsters you've been facing... They're aliens...]]

* Parodied in ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', which changed to a new genre in nearly every episode (sci-fi, war drama, romantic comedy, horror, etc.), which it also parodied. And then the 2 penultimate episodes were straightforward drama/suspense/action eps. So the shift... metalooped? Is that a word?

* Happens fairly early on in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. The first chapter, and parts of the second, are very comical and whimsical, except for Gandalf's confrontation with Bilbo, whereas the rest is much more dark and grim. This has a lot to do with Tolkien trying to write a sequel to ''Literature/TheHobbit'' by [[ExecutiveMeddling editorial mandate]], but giving that up pretty early in favor of something connected to ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' (which said Editor rejected).
** Even then, after the Fellowship splits, each character's story is, in many ways, a different genre, ranging from modern stories concerning war and morality to epic tales in a more medieval vein. These changes were more intentional than the shift out of a children's story, as Tolkien toyed a lot with the difference between medieval and modern works.

* ''{{Rant}}'' by ChuckPalahniuk is a fictional oral biography of... well, that's just it. He's an interesting character, but what we're supposed to think is significant about Buster Casey changes rapidly. There's a brief mention early on of a rabies epidemic, but by the end it's revealed that he [[spoiler: is his own adopted father, and ''biological'' father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather, and ''the villain,'' via ''car accident induced time travel.'']]
** In addition, it's not until an offhand remark by a character about a third of the way into the book about ports in the back of peoples head that you realize it's a sci-fi story set in the future.

* Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Treasure Box'' turns out to be [[spoiler: one of his "tales of dread,"]] but you don't realize it's in that genre until well into the story, about the same time the main character does.
** Also, in his ''[[Literature/EndersGame Ender Saga]]'', the first novel (and the most famous one) ''Ender's Game'' is about a young boy who is taught to be a soldier in order to command humanity's fleet against the "[[BeePeople buggers]]". The sequel ''Speaker for the Dead'' is focused on Ender (who is now in his 30s) 3000 years later (he survives due to frequent relativistic travel), helping a dysfunctional family and studying a new alien race. The third and fourth novels (which was originally one novel split for publishing reasons), ''Xenocide'' and ''Children of the Mind'', continue the story of the second novel (after a 30-year TimeSkip) with Ender slowly moving out of focus as the protagonist. Additionally, they add ''tons'' of metaphysics into the mix, to the point where [[spoiler:FTL travel becomes reality because a powerful AI can ''imagine'' it]]. The difference between the first and the second novels is justified because Card had always wanted to write ''Speaker for the Dead'' but couldn't find a compelling protagonist. Then, a friend suggested that he use Ender from a novella he wrote once. Thus, ''Ender's Game'' was expanded into a full-fledged novel with a chapter added to transition into ''Speaker for the Dead'' in order to avoid starting ''Speaker'' with a lengthy introduction of the character.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' was initially presented as just a drama about people stranded on a desert island with only subtle supernatural occurrences, but increasingly became a sci-fi/fantasy show in disguise.
** The show was ''meant'' to be revealed as a sci-fi show at the start... but [[ExecutiveMeddling the network decided not to let the producers make it "too sci-fi" at the start]], so they cut references to how time works on the island among other things.
*** When all's said and done, the show went from being more subtle SF/F to full-blown science fiction in Season 3 when [[spoiler: Desmond started time-travelling]], and cemented that change in Season 4 with an episode written with the specific purpose of smacking the viewers around the head with the message "LOST IS SCIENCE FICTION."
** And then season six ditches the science fiction in favor of becoming a fantasy show.
** The shift from science fiction to fantasy is definitely the most clear cut example of genre shift in the show. The dramatic shift from (occasionally bonkers) sci-fi to straight up AWizardDidIt fantasy left a sour taste in the mouth of many longtime fans, to the point that season 6 more than any other season has been fanonically disregarded by many. Lost never really shifted into sci-fi to the same jarring degree, it was really grounded in it from the beginning, albeit far more subtly and with a greater emphasis on mystery than anything else.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' was always somewhat DarkerAndEdgier and handled more [[WarIsHell mature]] [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized subjects]] than earlier Franchise/StarTrek shows, but with the introduction of [[TheEmpire the Dominion]] [[CerebusSyndrome about halfway through the series]] it became a full-on war story.

* As lampshaded by the announcer, following the move from [=TechTV=] to G4, the video game review show ''Series/{{X-Play}}'' became less about reviewing games and more about employing successive [[GagSeries "lame vaudeville gags]]." At one point, the show was able to provide thorough reviews of at least five games in one single airing, but thanks to the space the gags took up, they were barely able to get through three. They later became less frequent, and ''X-Play'' now only has one or two sketches a week.
** Really it can be argued that the ''opposite'' then happened. It used to be a sketch comedy/video game review show, but now it's ''just'' about the reviews (and there's only about two an episode) and video game news (that are significantly less comical) as it's [[NetworkDecay the only thing on G4 still about video games]], and ''Series/X-Play'' has simply become a 22-minute distillation what G4 was 24 hours a day not even a few years before.

* Likewise, the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episodes "The Benders" and "Family Remains."
** The show's MythArc itself experienced a massive shift in the fourth season. Seasons 1-3 were a horror series focused on Sam and Dean fighting random monsters while also working to stop whatever BigBad was currently involved (Azazel in seasons 1-2; Lilith in season 3), and then with the fourth season the show transformed into an apocalyptic [[spoiler: angel and demon war]] with an ''occasional'' monster thrown in.

* On ''Series/{{Community}}'', most episodes are comedic in tone, following the study group and their antics on the Greendale campus. However there are some switchups. "[[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]]" keeps this up for the first five minutes, but as soon as things switch to the bar, things become more somber. The end of the episode isn't comedic, but poignant. Consuming alcohol doesn't make the characters do anything funny, but makes things ''sad'' (it's the [[LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek "Lifetime original movie of beverages"]] as Troy puts it).
** ''Community'' is renowned for managing all sorts of single-episode genre shifts perfectly. It's been an action movie ("Modern Warfare"), a Rankin-Bass style Christmas Special ("Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"), a spaghetti Western ("A Fistfull of Paintballs"), a single-camera documentary show ("Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking"), and a zombie movie ("Epidemiology"). The reason it can pull all of this off is because while each episode is great example of the genre it's shifted to, it's also a great episode of ''Community'' at the same time.

* Happens occasionally in HipHop. If a rapper is also a decent singer, there's a very high chance (that increases as they get older) that they'll abandon rapping completely in favor of singing. This isn't necessarily a ''bad'' move; the quality is still high and they're likely to appeal to a wider audience (especially if their career was beginning to stale), but fans of their older material might feel left out in the cold. See: Music/QueenLatifah, Music/KidRock, Music/LaurynHill, Cee-Lo, Andre3000, etc.
** Music/TheBlackEyedPeas. 'Nuff said. Those of you who only knew of them post-''Elephunk'', listen to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqoKEyvdjv8 "BEP Empire"]] and be utterly amazed.

* Music/{{Birdeatsbaby}} has gone from Dark Cabaret to Orchestral Rock. [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly Maybe]].

* OlderThanSteam: Creator/WilliamShakespeare [[JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples did it]].

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}: Combat Evolved'': Two words: The Flood. The game starts off as a fun little shooter where you fight aliens with multi-coloured blood and where marines shout at the fallen enemies. Then you get to "343 Guilty Spark" in which you [[spoiler: wander through a creepy fortress with no enemies, discover what happened to the squad before you then fight through a Flood infested forest. The Flood are like the Left 4 Dead infected, but they can fire weapons AND ROCKET LAUNCHERS. And they can sprint, too. The level afterwards isn't much fun to play either.]]
** The same goes for the Trigens in ''VideoGame/FarCry''.
** And the [[spoiler: cannibal mutants]] in ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}: Drake's Fortune''.
*** Seems to be toyed with in ''Uncharted 2'' when [[spoiler: you bump into what seems like a yeti-type monster while in the mountains. However, later on it turns out to be a bunch of apparently bullet resistant natives in suits. Which you then discover are actually mythical ape-like Guardians of Shangri-la, so everything is okay again.]]

** After a couple of hours in post-alien-invasion urban wasteland, the ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' level ''Ravenholm'' turns the game almost into a survival horror game similar to ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''. Once you reach the end of the level by climbing up an old mine shaft in the early hours of the morning, it's back to regular gameplay and atmosphere again.
* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Airborne'', after 5 missions of largely realistic gameplay based on actual historic UsefulNotes/WorldWarII campaigns, the final mission throws bulletproof, heavy-machinegun-wielding Nazi {{Super Soldier}}s at you, and takes place in, as [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] put it, "a giant concrete tower that can only be described as a '''Doom Fortress'''", [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_tower which is]] [[TruthInTelevision actually real]]. 8 were built, they were ridiculously sized, and they had more refuge in intimidation than use. I mean, come on, they're towers built to repel air attacks that are also made of concrete. Still true to this trope, however, the Allies never actually attempted an attack on one of them.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' shifts from a linear world to an openended one - the game begins in the World of Light, a bright, happy world with a linear plot and virtually no subquests. The second part of the game, the [[ApocalypseHow World of Ruin]], is a dark, dreary place and is entirely open for exploration, the player free to recruit allies and do subquests in any order before heading to the final dungeon.
** The Franchise/FinalFantasy series has toyed with adding in modern and [[ScienceFiction Sci Fi]] elements from time to time, starting with a race of moon people and a giant robot in VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV (or even earlier than that, with [[BonusBoss Warmech]] from the very first game.) and hitting full force by VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII, which went from straight up fantasy with the occasional Sci Fi element to UrbanFantasy.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' is ''shamelessly'' martini-flavored SpyFiction.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' is ''relatively'' gritty military science fiction.

** The first arc of the sequel series, ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'', is a definite horror story [[GetOnWithItAlready once the murders start]]. However, while the later arcs have more {{gorn}}, the simple fact that there's a BigBad to be confronted and argued with shifts it over much more to a "mystery" feel.
*** There has also been a running joke in the fandom that, given the focus Umineko places into the various relationships between the characters (George and Shannon, Jessica and Kanon, and ESPECIALLY [[MindGameShip Beatrice and Battler)]], the series' true genre is in fact romance. [[spoiler:Which isn't actually far from the truth.]]

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' began as an atmospheric horror series. By [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 the fifth numerical installment]], the series had shifted to the point that it took place largely in broad daylight, replaced the slow, plodding (but frightening) zombies of the first three games with faster and more intelligent enemies that used firearms (and provided the player with enough guns and ammo to respond in kind), and featured a co-op focus. This was a progression from the fourth game, which shook up the series formula with the introduction of similar gameplay to the fifth, but still had a horror tone to it (as well as a pervasive element of campy self-parody in its story that wasn't present in the previous games and hasn't returned since). With the fifth [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 and now sixth]] games, the horror that the series was once based on has been substituted almost entirely by action.
** Within the aforementioned ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', the soundtrack undergoes a genre shift about two thirds of the way through. For the first three and-a-half chapters, the music is mainly {{drone|OfDread}} or dark ambient, but starting with the later part of Chapter 4, it becomes more action-oriented and orchestral. After that, the Mercenaries sub-game has a techno soundtrack, with two of its songs recycled from ''VideoGame/PN03''.

** Though to be fair, the game is pretty dark at the start when you look into their mental vaults, or after you complete the game.
*** Suffice to say the game is fairly darkly humorous throughout, but the darkness is a little more insidious during the first portion of the game, when it's bright and sunny outside and the game isn't rubbing it in your face that you're dealing with a bunch of crazy people (you are, in fact, dealing with a bunch of crazy people. But it's not as obvious as later).

** The shift from RTS to RPG started in ''Warcraft III''. Although it is definitely an RTS, you can recruit heroes that level up, learn new abilities, and carry items and equipment. The maps also contained many mooks that could be slain to level up heroes and earn treasure. The Frozen Throne pushed the concept further up to the point where the Orc campaign was a proof-of-concept prototype of VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: The campaign follows a single hero who traveling along Kalimdor, meeting quest givers and completing quests in instances.

* ''VideoGame/{{Eversion}}'' does this intentionally, as the game is based on [[PlayingThePlayer having things not exactly as they appear]]...

* ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest: SWAT'' started as a first-person InteractiveMovie, then changed to isometric overhead RTS, then to a ''VideoGame/RainbowSix''-style TacticalShooter.
** Going back further, ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest 1''-''4'' were all Creator/{{Sierra}} adventure games. The first game was a straightforward PoliceProcedural. The second game was mostly a police procedural with more of a ''Film/LethalWeapon'' flavor. The third game was a DarkerAndEdgier tale of revenge. And ''Police Quest: Open Season'' was an even darker AuthorTract about trying to hunt a [[DepravedHomosexual crossdressing serial killer]] despite the media's interference.

* There was a minor trend among game developers to turn established belt-scrolling franchises into competitive {{fighting game}}s as a result of the "fighting game boom" of the 90s.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' is an extensive RPG with dating sim elements and {{Mon}}s based on demons. The sequel ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' is a fighting game by ArcSystemWorks
** This has happened a lot with the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series. The main series tends towards dark, post-apocalyptic stories, the first two games and ''VideoGame/StrangeJourney'' having heavy sci-fi elements (you use some kind of technological device to summon your demons,) while ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne Nocturne]]'' does away with all the sci-fi elements. Meanwhile, the ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' series ditches the post-apocalyptic elements and introduces high-school life and Jungian psychology into the mix, with the demons becoming aspects of a person's psyche, and the enemy demons doing the same, turning into Shadows starting with ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}''. By ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', SliceOfLife and DatingSim elements are introduced, while ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' turns into a more [[LighterAndSofter light-hearted]] Franchise/ScoobyDoo-style murder mystery with [=MegaTen=] trappings. Meanwhile ''again'', the [[RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy Raidou]] [[VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon Kuzunoha]] games are AlternateHistory with more action elements and also more light-hearted, while ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' acts very much like a {{Deconstruction}} of the {{Mons}} genre in general. And that's only counting a ''few'' of the games in the franchise.

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' is known for being a sci-fi action game, but the latest game in the franchise, ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', is a sci-fi version of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil''.

** Not to say it's got CerebusSyndrome, Pete just likes to mix things around so much that [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPoA5qAHqFU people are starting to have difficulty explaining what the comic's even about these days]]

* Numerous webcomics have experienced CerebusSyndrome, which is somewhat similar, but not the same.
** ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'' is a good example of this. It began as a simple, four panel webcomic about two friends trapped in Japan, the focus being more on the two men playing off each other verbally and [[TwoGamersOnACouch talking about video games]]. As time went on, [[ContinuityDrift the comic drifted away from this]], and began to focus more on the relationships Piro and Largo were creating in Japan, and [[{{Deconstruction}} picking apart aspects of popular Japanese culture]].

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' veers all over the genre map as it progresses. Beginning as a mildly surreal, Halo-themed take on ''Series/{{Mash}}'', it quickly becomes more and more [[Creator/MontyPython Pythonesque]] until it's nearly crossed into slapstick, ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' territory. Then, beginning with side stories like ''Out of Mind'', it suddenly veers into serious science fiction, which spills over into the main series before settling into a very odd fusion of all the above genres. Which genre or combination of genres works best is definitely a matter of personal taste.
** As of its later seasons, it is firmly entrenched in SeriousBusiness, albeit with some gags.
* While many of the chapter reviews on the [[http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/ Mark Reads Twilight weblog]] follow the traditional "quote the source text, [[SnarkBait mock it ruthlessly]], add some funny {{Angrish}}" formula that's far too common in most {{MST}} blogs, reviewer [[MarkReadsHarryPotter Mark Oshiro]] often goes out of his way to mix up the structure of his posts.
** To list them all would take way too long, but just a handful of his best genre shifts include: Bella and Edward [[FourthWallMailSlot writing letters to Stephenie Meyer]] [[http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/4437901/ questioning their own character development;]] [[http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/4442971/mark-reads-twilight-chapter-9/ Mark's own autopsy report]] after the chapter's stupidity [[DrivenToSuicide drove him to "suicide";]] [[http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/4489601/ legendary announcer Vin Scully giving a play-by-play of the infamous "Vampire Baseball" scene]]; [[http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/4523531/mark-reads-twilight-chapter-24/ Charlie and Jacob staging an intervention to stop Bella from submitting to "Cullenism";]] and [[http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/4608661/mark-reads-new-moon-chapter/ Bella Tweeting away while she stalks Jacob Black.]]
** He also likes to change his targets, for example, mocking the hate mail he gets from ''Twilight'' fans, liveblogging the ''Twilight'' movie with his readers, [[http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/4839521/mark-reads-story-behind-writing/ (attempting to) read the "Making of New Moon" page on Meyer's website]], and [[http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com/user/journal/5259711/mark-reads-eclipse-chapter-10/ calling out a relationship counsellor who uses Edward Cullen to give boys advice on romance.]]
** Although he far preferred Literature/HarryPotter and Literature/TheHungerGames which he also reviewed at MarkReadsHarryPotter, he also mixed those ones up. He'd write the reviews as a script of the book, with characters commenting on plot developments, liveblog entries from various characters, and Hedwig-the-spy writing entries on her mission to guard the boy who lived.

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick talks about how ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' went from ABoyAndHisX to Buddy Comedy halfway through.
** Similarly, The Nostalgia Chick herself went through a major genre shift. Going from the linear nature of the Critic to doing analytical reviews with her friends doing sketches related to the movie. She also no longer reviews movies aimed toward women exclusively, reviewing different films like ''Film/CoolRunnings'' every once in a while.

* The two-part series premiere of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' was a MagicalGirl story that just happened to star ponies. Once the episode's villain was defeated and the world saved, the show immediately shifted to a SliceOfLife ensemble comedy featuring AnAesop at the end of (nearly) [[OncePerEpisode every episode]], though it switches back to the MagicalGirl elements combined with increasingly-prominent HighFantasy tropes on occasion, mostly in season premieres and finales. CerebusRollercoaster is in full effect when directly comparing the "normal" episodes to the "event" episodes, with a slight ongoing [[CerebusSyndrome shift toward seriousness]] overall.
** And then there are times where individual episodes shift to other genres, such as a Western or a Mystery.

* Naturally, ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' also surprised many fans ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids and parents]]) at its increasingly grimdark tone as the show went on. To be specific, it starts as a MonsterOfTheWeek [[RealRobotGenre giant robot series]] and ends up as a CosmicHorrorStory that is at the same time an extended philosophical and psychological treatise. It's so much of a genre shift that even the plot itself essentially fades away at the end, to the point where after the last two episodes, you're asking yourself "What did I just watch?" It doesn't help that after so many years, [[GainaxEnding people still can't tell you what was up with the last two episodes.]]
** And then comes the movie to rectify the ending and give you closure... where all hell breaks loose and cranks every last horrible aspect that the second half of the series adopted to a soul-crushing threshold. It's so violent and disturbing, you'd better be on morphine while watching it.

* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'''s long run is likewise affected by this. Keiichi and Belldandy's relationship is paradoxically so far along while also being stunted that most chapters are about their quirky slice-of-life adventures rather than a romantic manga.
** The series, in manga more than other forms, also has a tendency to dip into being a magical action show as opposed to a romantic comedy. Later manga story arcs have come to focus more on conflicts between the angels and the demons which tend to result in epic battles and intense situations wherein just a few chapters before, [[MoodWhiplash everyone was just fighting over what to watch on TV!]]
* ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' combines an initial genre subversion (a magical girl show pitched specifically at a male audience) with a genre shift halfway through the series.
** And then it goes from Shonen-Magical Girl to Military Action-Magical Girl with ''strategy'' in ''[[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS StrikerS]]''
*** The series has completely dropped the "Magical Girl" title in the latest manga. ''Magical Wars Lyrical Nanoha Force.''
*** Even Vivid, which superficially appears to be a return to the cute magical girl fodder of the first series, is filled to the brim with fighting and martial arts related tropes, making it something of a genre "bait and switch" that at times comes off more as a Shonen fighting series than a magical girl series.
* Parodied in ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', which changed to a new genre in nearly every episode (sci-fi, war drama, romantic comedy, horror, etc.), which it also parodied.
** And then the 2 penultimate episodes were straightforward drama/suspense/action eps. So the shift... metalooped? Is that a word?

* In the first few episodes (both in the Anime and Manga) of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', a reluctant teen fights ghosts (Hollows) [[MonsterOfTheWeek in a series of unconnected locations.]] However, once Ichigo travels to the Shinigami world, the series completely abandons ghostbusting in favor of high-power duels between [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil progressively more powerful rivals.]] Additionally, the series replaces its largely simplistic good spirit/bad spirit dichotomy with increasingly complicated plots, intrigue, and a much larger cast.
** The first movie, ''Memories of Nobody'' ended up being somewhat of a [[WhamEpisode Wham Movie]] to those used to the dragging plot lines of the series, with a much different tone still.

** Creator/{{CLAMP}} seems rather fond of doing this, actually. It's happening also to ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'' in a rather similar way.
*** That's not too surprising considering ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'' is Tsubasa's sister series. Lord help you if you read one and not the other.
* Oh God, ''Manga/NaruTaru''. It initially shows signs of being a lighthearted, female version of ABoyAndHisX... only to suddenly change into a dark, depressing series with lots of horrible things.

** As mentioned above Creator/{{CLAMP}} enjoys doing this with their series.

* ''Manga/MedakaBox'' underwent a shift not unlike that of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', except far more sudden. It was a quirky series talking about the adventures of a GodModeSue and her harem, with just a bit of fighting here and there, for about 14 chapters. Then (probably as was planned from the beginning, considering swiftness of the change), [[KnightOfCerebus the first character with superpowers to match said Sue appeared]], and heralded a very swift change into a bloody, DarkerAndEdgier fighting series, with swiftly escalating power levels.
** As the series nears it's end ([[DangerouslyGenreSavvy if the villain is to be believed]]), this would indeed appear to have been the point, as it's now come full circle back to the original plotline, except much changed from all the fighting and genre savviness that arose from the first shift.

* The ''Manga/TriGun'' anime started as a humorous, lighthearted western with sci-fi elements, with a bit of mystery sprinkled throughout (courtesy of Vash, the show's protagonist). That all changed with the episode "Diablo." Suddenly, Trigun became DarkerAndEdgier, the comedic moments were few and far between, and the show was much more plot oriented. In this case, the shift worked very well, since the second half fleshed out details that were only teased in the first half.
** That's happened because the anime took all the lighthearted and comedic parts of the manga, and used them in the first part. The manga version was a dramedy from the beginning - it became increasingly darker towards the end, but not to the point of complete mood shift.
* The ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' WhenTheyCry series starts off as a bloody horror show, much like a slasher flick, each arc unconnected from the others. The Second season, Higurashi Kai, turns it into a supernatural suspense with traces of an even an ''action'' series by the end, with the gorn of the first season all but gone, and focused now on conspiracies. Then there was Higurashi Rei, which goes from comedy to drama and then back to comedy.
** The series was always a mystery from the get-go, but DEEN didn't translate that part well. The newest {{O|riginalVideoAnimation}}VA, Higurashi Kira, seems to be comedy-fanservice. It makes sense since it's probably post-Kai [[spoiler:and thus none of the murder and mystery are in play anymore, since the everlasting June finished]].

** ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'' changes genres each arc. They start as quirky adventures then turn more violent and team based.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. Although the shift happens very early and there is heavy {{Foreshadowing}}.
** That was only the FIRST shift. It does several very casually when the elements are progressively revealed. [[spoiler:Kyubey also adds in an element of ScienceFiction and CosmicHorrorStory when he revealed that the Incubators are logical [[ClarkesThirdLaw aliens whose capabilities come from sufficiently advanced technology]], and are [[PoweredByAForsakenChild harvesting Magical Girls in an attempt to delay the death of the universe via Second Law of Thermodynamics]]. And then it decides to {{Reconstruct}} itself with a DeconReconSwitch of a GainaxEnding.]]

* Collectively, ''Manga/DragonBall'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' gradually shift from a light-hearted comedic, sometimes tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure series to a far more serious sci-fi martial arts series (with some fantasy elements thrown back in for the final arc).

*** When the franchise was revived ''again'' in the 60's, SteveDitko killed off the original BlueBeetle and introduced his [[LegacyCharacter successor]], Ted Kord, who was more in line with the popular superheroes of the era like Comicbook/SpiderMan and Series/{{Batman}}.

** Likewise, fellow Marvel girl comic ''PatsyWalker'' went the romance-adventure route during the same time period. Amusingly, her books were cancelled around the time Millie's books shifted back.
** Oddly enough, the character herself went through a genre shift when she became a superheroine and member of both Comicbook/TheDefenders and ComicBook/TheAvengers. She no longer had a series at this point but the contrast was jarring.

* Even though ComicBook/{{WITCH}} was a fantasy magical girl comic series for young girls, it was supposed to be a ''lot'' darker. However, after the 2nd issue, Disney drastically altered the story and turned it into a really girly "happy fairy tale magical girl fantasy" comic.
** A snippet from Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa's interview:

* ''Creator/DreamWorksAnimation'': Originally, Dreamworks focused on sweeping epics, and more serious stories such as ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''. These unfortunately fell under the umbrella of ''AllAnimationIsDisney''. Now, barring some of their more [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda recent]] [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon efforts]], it can be hard to remember when their films weren't based primarily on pop-culture references and heavily marketed celebrity voice-acting.
** As alluded to above, however, Dreamworks has shifted once again, with its movies once more taking themselves seriously while remaining healthily comedic. While still not quite as serious as ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', the tone generally leans towards what was seen in ''WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado''.

** In all fairness, there's also a strong moral about not conforming to the expectations of others (as the musical puts it: "Back to the game | Back to the trial | But I'm going back in my style!")
* The original ''Film/{{Alien}}'' was a haunted house movie in space. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', while retaining much of the horror elements of the previous film, is otherwise straight out [[ActionizedSequel sci-fi action]]... and it works perfectly.
** And then ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'' shows a return to the haunted house style of the first film. And then another shift with ''Film/AlienResurrection'', which is actionized like ''Aliens''.
** And then ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' tones down both the horror and the action and instead becomes an intriguing, thought-provoking story about mankind's place in the universe and the eternal search for God, which is related somewhat tangentially to the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' films.

* ''Film/{{Adaptation}}'', starring Creator/NicolasCage, starts as an amusing dramedy about a scriptwriter suffering from a writer's block, but slowly turns darker and darker, with elements of a thriller, until in the climax [[spoiler: the protagonist's comical twin dies]]. It still tries to [[BittersweetEnding end things]] [[EarnYourHappyEnding on a high note]], though.
** The really key shift is when [[spoiler:Charlie asks Donald for help on his screenplay]]; due to the highly self-referential nature of the movie, it's implied that [[spoiler:everything after that, all the drugs/guns/sex, is [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis being written]] by or on the advice of Donald]]. The thing to remember is that [[spoiler:Donald's the only character in the movie who isn't [[RealLife a real person]]]].
* Every ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' movie starts with Mystery Inc solving a mystery, and ends with Mystery Inc fighting an army of the undead/[[spoiler: cat monsters]]/ [[spoiler: ancient samurai ghost]] / [[spoiler: ancient witch ghost]].
** Not ''every'' ''Scooby Doo'' movie, but, you have some merit to that, in ''Zombie Island'', which could also count as a {{Deconstruction}}, in a way, starts off with the Gang getting together to solve a few mysteries, matching the typical comedic feel of the original show, but, in the middle, it becomes a supernatural horror mystery movie with very little comedy that gives you some very brief clues as to what's going on at Moon Scar island, in a way that arguably, believably worked.

** Well, with all the driving around ([[Podcast/RiffTrax and parking, and pulling safely out into traffic]]) they do...
* Due to its episodic nature, and a rotating set of writers and directors, the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' movies tend to shift dramatically from one genre to another with each film. The first movie was intended as a slow, philosophical ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]''-style epic, but critics and audiences simply found it boring, and completely at odds with the feel of the television series. The franchise was dramatically reworked as more of a naval adventure in space, and the next film, ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan The Wrath of Khan]]'', was a huge success. The third, fifth, seventh and ninth movies aimed more for mysticism and a quasi-fantasy feel (and, perhaps not coincidentally, the odd-numbered Trek movies were all considered to be cursed by inferiority before the latest movie came out), the fourth one broke the pattern as a FishOutOfTemporalWater comedy, the sixth movie features a Creator/TomClancy-style political adventure paralleling the end of the ColdWar, and the eighth movie involves BodyHorror and the crew caught in a SurvivalHorror situation. The reboot movie combines a CosmicRetcon with another shift in tone, unfolding as a more lighthearted, fast paced action-adventure story than the previous movies.
** The last movie also has a subtle shift. The first part of it is about the beginnings of Kirk and Co., so while we expect trouble, it feel like a typical NegativeSpaceWedgie plot. Then [[spoiler: Vulcan is blown up]], and everything becomes a horror story

** The Creator/TimBurton Batman movies were FilmNoir '''[[RecycledInSpace IN TIGHTS!]]'''

** Creator/ChristopherNolan took the same approach to the Creator/JoelSchumacher movies that Creator/TimBurton took to the TV series, and turned into an action/crime movie with [[TheChessmaster multiple chessmasters]] and some {{Horror}} elements... [[RecycledInSpace in tights]].
*** There's even a shift within [[Film/TheDarkKnightSaga the Nolanverse]]. ''Film/BatmanBegins'' was equal parts crime drama and adventure film, with elements of mysticism figuring heavily into the plot. Its sequel, ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', was a much more straightforward crime thriller set completely in an urban environment. For the GrandFinale, ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' dropped the elements of crime drama and became a large-scale action epic/DisasterMovie, boasting a plot that wouldn't seem out of place in a Film/JamesBond film.

* Naturally, ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' also surprised many fans ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids and parents]]) at its increasingly grimdark tone as the show went on. To be specific, it starts as a MonsterOfTheWeek [[RealRobotGenre giant robot series]] and ends up as a CosmicHorrorStory that is at the same time an extended philosophical and psychological treatise. It's so much of a genre shift that even the plot itself essentially fades away at the end, to the point where after the last two episodes, you're asking yourself "What did I just watch?" It doesn't help that after so many years, [[GainaxEnding people still can't tell you what was up with the last two episodes.]]
** And then comes the movie to rectify the ending and give you closure... where all hell breaks loose and cranks every last horrible aspect that the second half of the series adopted to a soul-crushing threshold. It's so violent and disturbing, you'd better be on morphine while watching it.

* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'''s long run is likewise affected by this. Keiichi and Belldandy's relationship is paradoxically so far along while also being stunted that most chapters are about their quirky slice-of-life adventures rather than a romantic manga.
** The series, in manga more than other forms, also has a tendency to dip into being a magical action show as opposed to a romantic comedy. Later manga story arcs have come to focus more on conflicts between the angels and the demons which tend to result in epic battles and intense situations wherein just a few chapters before, [[MoodWhiplash everyone was just fighting over what to watch on TV!]]
* ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' combines an initial genre subversion (a magical girl show pitched specifically at a male audience) with a genre shift halfway through the series.
** And then it goes from Shonen-Magical Girl to Military Action-Magical Girl with ''strategy'' in ''[[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS StrikerS]]''
*** The series has completely dropped the "Magical Girl" title in the latest manga. ''Magical Wars Lyrical Nanoha Force.''
*** Even Vivid, which superficially appears to be a return to the cute magical girl fodder of the first series, is filled to the brim with fighting and martial arts related tropes, making it something of a genre "bait and switch" that at times comes off more as a Shonen fighting series than a magical girl series.
* Parodied in ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', which changed to a new genre in nearly every episode (sci-fi, war drama, romantic comedy, horror, etc.), which it also parodied.
** And then the 2 penultimate episodes were straightforward drama/suspense/action eps. So the shift... metalooped? Is that a word?

* In the first few episodes (both in the Anime and Manga) of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', a reluctant teen fights ghosts (Hollows) [[MonsterOfTheWeek in a series of unconnected locations.]] However, once Ichigo travels to the Shinigami world, the series completely abandons ghostbusting in favor of high-power duels between [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil progressively more powerful rivals.]] Additionally, the series replaces its largely simplistic good spirit/bad spirit dichotomy with increasingly complicated plots, intrigue, and a much larger cast.
** The first movie, ''Memories of Nobody'' ended up being somewhat of a [[WhamEpisode Wham Movie]] to those used to the dragging plot lines of the series, with a much different tone still.

** Creator/{{CLAMP}} seems rather fond of doing this, actually. It's happening also to ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'' in a rather similar way.
*** That's not too surprising considering ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'' is Tsubasa's sister series. Lord help you if you read one and not the other.
* Oh God, ''Manga/NaruTaru''. It initially shows signs of being a lighthearted, female version of ABoyAndHisX... only to suddenly change into a dark, depressing series with lots of horrible things.

** As mentioned above Creator/{{CLAMP}} enjoys doing this with their series.

* ''Manga/MedakaBox'' underwent a shift not unlike that of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', except far more sudden. It was a quirky series talking about the adventures of a GodModeSue and her harem, with just a bit of fighting here and there, for about 14 chapters. Then (probably as was planned from the beginning, considering swiftness of the change), [[KnightOfCerebus the first character with superpowers to match said Sue appeared]], and heralded a very swift change into a bloody, DarkerAndEdgier fighting series, with swiftly escalating power levels.
** As the series nears it's end ([[DangerouslyGenreSavvy if the villain is to be believed]]), this would indeed appear to have been the point, as it's now come full circle back to the original plotline, except much changed from all the fighting and genre savviness that arose from the first shift.

* The ''Manga/TriGun'' anime started as a humorous, lighthearted western with sci-fi elements, with a bit of mystery sprinkled throughout (courtesy of Vash, the show's protagonist). That all changed with the episode "Diablo." Suddenly, Trigun became DarkerAndEdgier, the comedic moments were few and far between, and the show was much more plot oriented. In this case, the shift worked very well, since the second half fleshed out details that were only teased in the first half.
** That's happened because the anime took all the lighthearted and comedic parts of the manga, and used them in the first part. The manga version was a dramedy from the beginning - it became increasingly darker towards the end, but not to the point of complete mood shift.
* The ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' WhenTheyCry series starts off as a bloody horror show, much like a slasher flick, each arc unconnected from the others. The Second season, Higurashi Kai, turns it into a supernatural suspense with traces of an even an ''action'' series by the end, with the gorn of the first season all but gone, and focused now on conspiracies. Then there was Higurashi Rei, which goes from comedy to drama and then back to comedy.
** The series was always a mystery from the get-go, but DEEN didn't translate that part well. The newest {{O|riginalVideoAnimation}}VA, Higurashi Kira, seems to be comedy-fanservice. It makes sense since it's probably post-Kai [[spoiler:and thus none of the murder and mystery are in play anymore, since the everlasting June finished]].

** ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'' changes genres each arc. They start as quirky adventures then turn more violent and team based.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. Although the shift happens very early and there is heavy {{Foreshadowing}}.
** That was only the FIRST shift. It does several very casually when the elements are progressively revealed. [[spoiler:Kyubey also adds in an element of ScienceFiction and CosmicHorrorStory when he revealed that the Incubators are logical [[ClarkesThirdLaw aliens whose capabilities come from sufficiently advanced technology]], and are [[PoweredByAForsakenChild harvesting Magical Girls in an attempt to delay the death of the universe via Second Law of Thermodynamics]]. And then it decides to {{Reconstruct}} itself with a DeconReconSwitch of a GainaxEnding.]]

* Collectively, ''Manga/DragonBall'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' gradually shift from a light-hearted comedic, sometimes tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure series to a far more serious sci-fi martial arts series (with some fantasy elements thrown back in for the final arc).

*** When the franchise was revived ''again'' in the 60's, SteveDitko killed off the original BlueBeetle and introduced his [[LegacyCharacter successor]], Ted Kord, who was more in line with the popular superheroes of the era like Comicbook/SpiderMan and Series/{{Batman}}.

** Likewise, fellow Marvel girl comic ''PatsyWalker'' went the romance-adventure route during the same time period. Amusingly, her books were cancelled around the time Millie's books shifted back.
** Oddly enough, the character herself went through a genre shift when she became a superheroine and member of both Comicbook/TheDefenders and ComicBook/TheAvengers. She no longer had a series at this point but the contrast was jarring.

* Even though ComicBook/{{WITCH}} was a fantasy magical girl comic series for young girls, it was supposed to be a ''lot'' darker. However, after the 2nd issue, Disney drastically altered the story and turned it into a really girly "happy fairy tale magical girl fantasy" comic.
** A snippet from Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa's interview:

* ''Creator/DreamWorksAnimation'': Originally, Dreamworks focused on sweeping epics, and more serious stories such as ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''. These unfortunately fell under the umbrella of ''AllAnimationIsDisney''. Now, barring some of their more [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda recent]] [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon efforts]], it can be hard to remember when their films weren't based primarily on pop-culture references and heavily marketed celebrity voice-acting.
** As alluded to above, however, Dreamworks has shifted once again, with its movies once more taking themselves seriously while remaining healthily comedic. While still not quite as serious as ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', the tone generally leans towards what was seen in ''WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado''.

** In all fairness, there's also a strong moral about not conforming to the expectations of others (as the musical puts it: "Back to the game | Back to the trial | But I'm going back in my style!")
* The original ''Film/{{Alien}}'' was a haunted house movie in space. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', while retaining much of the horror elements of the previous film, is otherwise straight out [[ActionizedSequel sci-fi action]]... and it works perfectly.
** And then ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'' shows a return to the haunted house style of the first film. And then another shift with ''Film/AlienResurrection'', which is actionized like ''Aliens''.
** And then ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' tones down both the horror and the action and instead becomes an intriguing, thought-provoking story about mankind's place in the universe and the eternal search for God, which is related somewhat tangentially to the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' films.

* ''Film/{{Adaptation}}'', starring Creator/NicolasCage, starts as an amusing dramedy about a scriptwriter suffering from a writer's block, but slowly turns darker and darker, with elements of a thriller, until in the climax [[spoiler: the protagonist's comical twin dies]]. It still tries to [[BittersweetEnding end things]] [[EarnYourHappyEnding on a high note]], though.
** The really key shift is when [[spoiler:Charlie asks Donald for help on his screenplay]]; due to the highly self-referential nature of the movie, it's implied that [[spoiler:everything after that, all the drugs/guns/sex, is [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis being written]] by or on the advice of Donald]]. The thing to remember is that [[spoiler:Donald's the only character in the movie who isn't [[RealLife a real person]]]].
* Every ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' movie starts with Mystery Inc solving a mystery, and ends with Mystery Inc fighting an army of the undead/[[spoiler: cat monsters]]/ [[spoiler: ancient samurai ghost]] / [[spoiler: ancient witch ghost]].
** Not ''every'' ''Scooby Doo'' movie, but, you have some merit to that, in ''Zombie Island'', which could also count as a {{Deconstruction}}, in a way, starts off with the Gang getting together to solve a few mysteries, matching the typical comedic feel of the original show, but, in the middle, it becomes a supernatural horror mystery movie with very little comedy that gives you some very brief clues as to what's going on at Moon Scar island, in a way that arguably, believably worked.

** Well, with all the driving around ([[Podcast/RiffTrax and parking, and pulling safely out into traffic]]) they do...
* Due to its episodic nature, and a rotating set of writers and directors, the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' movies tend to shift dramatically from one genre to another with each film. The first movie was intended as a slow, philosophical ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]''-style epic, but critics and audiences simply found it boring, and completely at odds with the feel of the television series. The franchise was dramatically reworked as more of a naval adventure in space, and the next film, ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan The Wrath of Khan]]'', was a huge success. The third, fifth, seventh and ninth movies aimed more for mysticism and a quasi-fantasy feel (and, perhaps not coincidentally, the odd-numbered Trek movies were all considered to be cursed by inferiority before the latest movie came out), the fourth one broke the pattern as a FishOutOfTemporalWater comedy, the sixth movie features a Creator/TomClancy-style political adventure paralleling the end of the ColdWar, and the eighth movie involves BodyHorror and the crew caught in a SurvivalHorror situation. The reboot movie combines a CosmicRetcon with another shift in tone, unfolding as a more lighthearted, fast paced action-adventure story than the previous movies.
** The last movie also has a subtle shift. The first part of it is about the beginnings of Kirk and Co., so while we expect trouble, it feel like a typical NegativeSpaceWedgie plot. Then [[spoiler: Vulcan is blown up]], and everything becomes a horror story

** The Creator/TimBurton Batman movies were FilmNoir '''[[RecycledInSpace IN TIGHTS!]]'''

** Creator/ChristopherNolan took the same approach to the Creator/JoelSchumacher movies that Creator/TimBurton took to the TV series, and turned into an action/crime movie with [[TheChessmaster multiple chessmasters]] and some {{Horror}} elements... [[RecycledInSpace in tights]].
*** There's even a shift within [[Film/TheDarkKnightSaga the Nolanverse]]. ''Film/BatmanBegins'' was equal parts crime drama and adventure film, with elements of mysticism figuring heavily into the plot. Its sequel, ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', was a much more straightforward crime thriller set completely in an urban environment. For the GrandFinale, ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' dropped the elements of crime drama and became a large-scale action epic/DisasterMovie, boasting a plot that wouldn't seem out of place in a Film/JamesBond film.

* The first ''Dune'' game was an AdventureGame. ''DuneII'' established the RealTimeStrategy genre.
** The first game did have some strategy elements. In fact, you had to set up consistent spice production using the Fremen tribes you find and befriend (which takes some doing), while training other Fremen tribes to fight and arming them in order to defeat the Harkonnen. The game is clearly based more on David Lynch's film than the book, even though Duncan Idaho looks like a [[Series/BabylonFive Centauri]], for some reason.

* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Airborne'', after 5 missions of largely realistic gameplay based on actual historic UsefulNotes/WorldWarII campaigns, the final mission throws bulletproof, heavy-machinegun-wielding Nazi {{Super Soldier}}s at you, and takes place in, as [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] put it, "a giant concrete tower that can only be described as a '''Doom Fortress'''."
** Those "doom fortresses" are actually real. 8 were built, they were ridiculously sized, and they had more refuge in intimidation than use. I mean, come on, they're towers built to repel air attacks that are also made of concrete. Still true to this trope, however, the Allies never actually attempted an attack on one of them.

Genre Shifts sometimes occur at the ends of a series when the writers finally get around to [[WriterOnBoard soapboxing their opinions]]. Many fluffy, over-the-top comedies will suddenly find their last episode making an attempt at drama. On the other hand, some cutesy or romance-based stories can experience GenreShift simply because they start running so long the writer figured if they have to derail the original plot, they might as well do it with something creative.

It ''is'' possible for this to work, as long as the creators know what they're doing, and it can pay off quite well at times. Usually, however, this requires planning it from the start, allowing the writers to [[{{Foreshadowing}} set up the genre shift]] ahead of time so it doesn't feel like it comes [[AssPull out of nowhere]]. Because of their sudden onset, {{Genre Shift}}s motivated by ExecutiveMeddling are likely doomed.

* ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'' the anime only covered the first half of the manga, which was a mystery comedy. In the 2ed half of the manga, a new bad guy shows up, an important character dies, & suddenly it's a gory horror survival.

** The series, in manga more than other forms, also has a tendency to dip into being a magical action show as opposed to a romantic comedy. More recent manga story arcs have come to focus more on conflicts between the angels and the demons which tend to result in epic battles and intense situations wherein just a few chapters before, [[MoodWhiplash everyone was just fighting over what to watch on TV!]]

* ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' went through most of the {{anime}} as an over-the-top [[TheParody parody]] of {{Shojo}} drama, but in the last few episodes became more of a shojo drama with jokes added.

* ''RockmanEXE''[=/=]''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'' shifted from computer-based Mons to some kind of weird Sentai variant right around season 3, and completely gave up on its computer origins in season 4, with the advent of Cross Fusion. It forced the human protagonists to merge with their partners and fight themselves, at which point the Mons were rarely seen again. This is one of the reasons season 4 is disliked among the fanbase. Then, in season 5, it switched from computer {{Mon}}s to normal Mons when an AlternateUniverse setting made it impossible to Cross Fusion but forced Navis to be summoned into material space instead.

* While [[JojosBizarreAdventure JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]] generally keeps to being an action series with elements of horror and mystery, each of the shorter "Parts" which make up the whole of the series is of different genre. From earliest to latest these are classic horror, Indiana Jones style adventure around the world, a travel story, a small-town murder mystery, a mobster story, a prison drama, a western and finally another mystery story, this time woth elements of a conspiracy story.

* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' had a ''major'' GenreShift after 9 volumes of seemingly unrelated, silly fluff. It changes from a slapstick comedy to a SaveTheWorld Shonen series exactly from the point that Tsuna meets [[NietzscheWannabe Rokudo Mukuro]] onwards. From that instance on, Tsuna becomes much more serious and less of a ButtMonkey - this seems to have pleased the fangirls.

* ''Manga/MedakaBox'' underwent a GenreShift not unlike that of ''MahouSenseiNegima'', except far more sudden. It was a quirky series talking about the adventures of a GodModeSue and her harem, with just a bit of fighting here and there, for about 14 chapters. Then (probably as was planned from the beginning, considering swiftness of the change), [[KnightOfCerebus the first character with superpowers to match said Sue appeared]], and heralded a very swift change into a bloody, DarkerAndEdgier fighting series, with swiftly escalating power levels.

* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'' shifts back and forth between action/supernatural and typical high school love story, though it stop shifting genre and generally gets worse in the recent light novel version.

* The second half of the 2nd OVA for ''MyBrideIsAMermaid'' switches from comedy/action into straight horror, borrowing elements from ''Literature/TheRing'', then suddenly switches back to comedy at the end.
* The first half of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' is ComingOfAge with {{Mon}}s. The latter half is CosmicHorrorStory...with {{Mons}}.

* ''ChirinnoSuzu'' starts off as a cute kid's movie about a baby lamb, but halfway through the film it turns into a dark tale of revenge.
* Collectively, ''Manga/DragonBall'' and ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' gradually shift from a light-hearted comedic, sometimes tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure series to a far more serious sci-fi martial arts series (with some fantasy elements thrown back in for the final arc).

* The first half of ''ZetsuenNoTempest'' is extremely bleak and serious, with a GrayAndGreyMorality plot involving TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The second half abruptly becomes LighterAndSofter, with RomanticComedy elements. [[spoiler:Actually an InvokedTrope: the Tree of Genesis conquers the world during a TimeSkip and outlaws violent conflict.]] It drifts back into dark angstyness near the end, but [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks a lot of people stop watching before they get that far]].

** The Crimson Avenger and Wing started off as [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of Franchise/TheGreenHornet and Kato, complete with Wing wearing a [[BattleButler chauffeur's uniform]] and a DominoMask. When Franchise/{{Batman}} and Comicbook/{{Robin}} started becoming more popular, the two became more traditional superheroes and started wearing proper costumes.

*** When the franchise was revived ''again'' in the 60's, SteveDitko killed off the original BlueBeetle and introduced his [[LegacyCharacter successor]], Ted Kord, who was more in line with the popular superheroes of the era like Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}} and Series/{{Batman}}.

** Oddly enough, the character herself went through a genre shift when she became a superheroine and member of both TheDefenders and ComicBook/TheAvengers. She no longer had a series at this point but the contrast was jarring.

* ''AmeliaRules'' shifted from wacky comedy about a girl moving to a new town and making quirky friends to an emotional SliceOfLife ComingOfAgeStory about halfway through its run.

* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/404359/1/Gaijin Gaijin]]'' started as a darkly comic SelfInsertFic in which the SI character was essentially Murphy's Law incarnate (''despite'' being more powerful than he had any right to be). Then he started disguising himself as Franchise/SpiderMan. Then more analogues of Marvel characters started appearing, the most recent as of this writing being the Fantastic Four and "Tako-sama" (DoctorOctopus)...
* ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'' starts off as a fairly generic, albeit a little over-the-top, ''HarryPotter'' badfic with a typical MarySue protagonist and the [[MostFanficWritersAreGirls usual focus on relationships, clothing and teen popular culture]]. Then it gradually turns into a surrealistic mish-mash of fanfic clichés and confused plot points involving such things as TimeTravel -- sort of like a badfic version of ''Series/{{Lost}}''.
* ''UndocumentedFeatures'' started off as a joke, a corny self-insert fic in which college students launch part of their dormitory into space to fight anime villains. It quickly went GrimDark with the "Exile" plot, stabilized into an odd mash-up of science-fiction adventure, has intermittently gone SongFic, and has dipped into romantic fantasy with the "Symphony of the Sword" plot.
* The Spanish-language ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' fic called, unoriginally [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5125713/1/El_de_Haruhi_Suzumiya El ... de Haruhi Suzumiya]] starts out as your ordinary OC-with-[[SailorEarth new-powers]]-joins-the-SOS-Brigade fare, albeit with the twist that the OC's powers are rarely used. Then, the characters all graduate and join the [[AuthorAppeal military]] [[spoiler: [[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE!]] At that point, the genre shifts to war story and then to SpaceOpera, with the characters fighting [[HordeofAlienLocusts insectoid aliens]] who destroy one of Earth's cities. Might I add that the OC from earlier reappears with a [[HollywoodCyborg bionic arm]], and that their [[CasualInterstellarTravel faster-than-light]] spacecraft is so luxurious it has a ''[[SerialEscalation miniature shopping mall]]'' inside?]] The author expects his reviewers to understand what's going on, but he still has not provided a convincing explanation for the sudden shift in tone.

* The ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8896096/1/ The Biggest Fan]]'' starts as a parody of SelfInsert fics with a passionated but [[NiceGuy kind]] fan of the game wakes up in the body of Conrad Verner. [[spoiler:Then in the second chapter, the fic jumps into a full deconstruction with Conrad mourning the fact that he will never see his wife and this continues in the third chapter, with him becoming the CassandraTruth about the Reapers and starts to lose the memories of his life on the real word]].

* Similarly ''Film/PitchBlack'' was a Horror-action-adventure film with very Franchise/{{Alien}}s-esque creatures and a [[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]]-esque Serial Killer who could see in the dark. The sequel, ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' is a fantasy story, making the serial killer (who now is no longer harmed by light whatsoever) the LastOfHisKind ProudWarriorRaceGuy being sought to protect the world from a Horrible Death Army, which has [[TheStarscream Uncertain members of its own ranks]], by a magical race of elementals and ending up on a fiery PrisonPlanet like the one in 'Film/{{Alien 3}}''.

* A pronounced GenreShift occurs between the original ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' film, a parody of vampire horror flicks, and the [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer subsequent TV series]] which, though it had its share of witty banter, was from the start a much darker and more dramatic effort with strong {{trag|edy}}ic elements. Creator/JossWhedon's original movie pitch was in fact more in keeping with the tone of the series, but ended up a comedy thanks to ExecutiveMeddling. In contrast, both the WB and the UPN networks allowed Whedon the creative freedom to realize his intended dramatic treatment. While the movie is not what Whedeon originally intended, the movie was still quite good, and is one of the few cases where the ExecutiveMeddling didn't hurt the movie, and some fans think it actually helped.

* Due to its episodic nature, and a rotating set of writers and directors, the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' movies tend to shift dramatically from one genre to another with each film. The first movie was intended as a slow, philosophical ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]''-style epic, but critics and audiences simply found it boring, and completely at odds with the feel of the television series. The franchise was dramatically reworked as more of a naval adventure in space, and the next film, ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan The Wrath of Khan]]'', was a huge success. The third, fifth, seventh and ninth movies aimed more for mysticism and a quasi-fantasy feel (and, perhaps not coincidentally, the odd-numbered Trek movies were all considered to be cursed by inferiority before the latest movie came out), the fourth one broke the pattern as a FishOutOfTemporalWater comedy, the sixth movie features a Creator/TomClancy-style political adventure paralleling the end of the ColdWar, and the eighth movie involves BodyHorror and the crew caught in a SurvivalHorror situation. The most recent movie combines a CosmicRetcon with another shift in tone, unfolding as a more lighthearted, fast paced action-adventure story than the previous movies.

* ''Film/LordOfWar'' starts out as a politically-minded dark comedy, but slowly turns into a straight (and very depressing) drama as it goes on. Which makes for a really cool metashift as the audience realizes the real cost of the glitz and glamor of gun-running along with Nick Cage's character.

* The Creator/JohnWoo movie ''Bullet In The Head'' starts as your typical HeroicBloodshed movie involving three triad gangsters looking to make a big score. But then they go to Vietnam, where [[TheVietnamWar The War]] is in full swing, and the movie becomes a psychological war drama akin to Film/ApocalypseNow and Film/TheDeerHunter that tears apart the bond between BloodBrothers which in Woo's other movies was all but unbreakable, before going into something combining the two for the finale as [[spoiler:one of the surviving protagonists goes after the other in revenge for killing the other one]]. The movie is by far Woo's grimmest and most emotionally devastating movie.

* Kevin Feige has stated that this is the goal of the Phase 2 MarvelCinematicUniverse movies, as Marvel wishes to diversify the content of their films. To that end, he stated that ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' will be a DarkerAndEdgier political thriller, while ''IronMan3'' will be more of a ScienceFiction story than an outright superhero movie.

* ''{{Rant}}'' by Chuck Palahniuk is a fictional oral biography of... well, that's just it. He's an interesting character, but what we're supposed to think is significant about Buster Casey changes rapidly. There's a brief mention early on of a rabies epidemic, but by the end it's revealed that he [[spoiler: is his own adopted father, and ''biological'' father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather, and ''the villain,'' via ''car accident induced time travel.'']]

* P.C. Hodgell's ''ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'' series starts out in LowFantasy territory in the first book, ''God Stalk''; while there's foreshadowing there, the wider HighFantasy plot doesn't really emerge until the second book, ''Dark of the Moon''. The shift alienated some readers, who wanted more of the same style of book as the first.

* ''RangersApprentice'' begins in classic fantasy style - a young orphaned hero has to fight against an evil sorcerer controlling an army of monsters. However, in later books there's not a shred of the fantastic to be seen; indeed, one story deals with an old man using primitive science to fake magic.

* ''{{Passions}}'' started out as a typical soap opera and quickly mutated into a supernatural weird-fest. Ditto for ''Series/DarkShadows'' and ''GeneralHospital'''s SpinOff ''Port Charles''.
* The early episodes of ''{{lonelygirl15}}'' were in the style of a realistic video blog. Over time, it turned into a sort of soap opera/drama/thriller hybrid with evil cults, conspiracies, guns and laser beams. For an example of just how different the show has become, compare classic episode "Proving Science Wrong!"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQEBobE9XZs]] to one of the early season 2 episodes, "Home Invasion."[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnVvMzQpGUo]]

* As lampshaded by the announcer, following the move from [=TechTV=] to G4, the video game review show ''XPlay'' became less about reviewing games and more about employing successive [[GagSeries "lame vaudeville gags]]." At one point, the show was able to provide thorough reviews of at least five games in one single airing, but thanks to the space the gags took up, they were barely able to get through three. They have become less frequent recently, and ''XPlay'' now only has one or two sketches a week.
** Really it can be argued that the ''opposite'' then happened. It used to be a sketch comedy/video game review show, but now it's ''just'' about the reviews (and there's only about two an episode) and video game news (that are significantly less comical) as it's [[NetworkDecay the only thing on G4 still about video games]], and ''XPlay'' has simply become a 22-minute distillation what G4 was 24 hours a day not even a few years before.

* ''ThePractice'' started as a gritty legal show focused on a firm that struggled to make the rent and convince clients to pay for traffic court. By the time the show was over, the firm was representing increasingly bizarre clients, getting cases related to [[AuthorTract current events]], winning impossible cases, and having endless episodes about the lawyers' personal lives. ''BostonLegal'' completed the transition and added comedic elements. The universe therefore shifted from legal procedural/drama, to a soap opera/drama, and then finally to a soap opera/dramedy. Watching an early episode of the first show and a late episode of the second show is highly jarring.

* The TV film ''Reichenbach Falls'', based on an idea by IanRankin, shifts genres in a rather [[MindScrew Mind Screwy]] way, reflecting the central character's growing GenreSavvy.

** There's also the aptly titled "Country Song" by {{Seether}} (though still much closer to rock overall).

* CountryMusic singer Music/KennyChesney started out as a fairly typical mainstream country artist, but over the last few years his interest in boating and island living have caused him to incorporate Caribbean influences into his music and lyrics about laid-back beach life. Some people have even speculated that he is attempting to become this generation's JimmyBuffett.

** Adventure S3 ''Expedition to the Barrier Peaks'' starts off as a standard "clean out the monster filled dungeon" scenario. After the {{PC}}s enter, they discover that the dungeon is actually part of a derelict spacecraft and they're fighting alien monsters armed with high tech weapons.
** The 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide had advice for sending a party of {{PC}}s (whose players were playing a fantasy RPG) to TheWildWest, an AfterTheEnd setting or adventuring on a derelict starship. Each possibility used one of TSR's other games as the basis for the new setting (''Boot Hill'', ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' and ''Metamorphosis Alpha'', respectively.

* OlderThanSteam: Creator/WilliamShakespeare [[ZerothLaw did it]].

* VideoGame/{{Half-Life|1}} started as a deconstruction of IJustWantToBeBadass, and still stands as one of its most shining examples.
** After a couple of hours in post-alien-invasion urban wasteland, the ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'' level ''Ravenholm'' turns the game almost into a survival horror game similar to SilentHill2. Once you reach the end of the level by climbing up an old mine shaft in the early hours of the morning, it's back to regular gameplay and atmosphere again.
* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Airborne'', after 5 missions of largely realistic gameplay based on actual historic WorldWarII campaigns, the final mission throws bulletproof, heavy-machinegun-wielding Nazi {{Super Soldier}}s at you, and takes place in, as [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] put it, "a giant concrete tower that can only be described as a '''Doom Fortress'''."

* Similarily, ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' starts off as pure humour, then goes to sci-fi at the Cave of the Past, then shifts to horror at the end of said cave.

** The FinalFantasy series has toyed with adding in modern and [[ScienceFiction Sci Fi]] elements from time to time, starting with a race of moon people and a giant robot in VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV (or even earlier than that, with [[BonusBoss Warmech]] from the very first game.) and hitting full force by VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII, which went from straight up fantasy with the occasional Sci Fi element to UrbanFantasy.

* ''Franchise/WonderBoy'' went from ''SuperMarioBros''-style platformer to linear ActionRPG to ShootEmUp to {{Metroidvania}} in the span of four games.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'' GameMod ''[[http://www.planetphillip.com/posts/day-hard-complete-half-life-2/ Day-Hard]]'', usually a straightforward parody FPS, has a part where you need to enter a HellHotel sans weapons for a FetchQuest. What follows is ''Franchise/SilentHill''-esque SurrealHorror. It doesn't last too long, but it's very out-of-place nonetheless.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' is an extensive RPG with dating sim elements and {{Mons}} based on demons. The sequel ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' is a fighting game by ArcSystemWorks
** This has happened a lot with the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series. The main series tends towards dark, post-apocalyptic stories, the first two games and ''VideoGame/StrangeJourney'' having heavy sci-fi elements (you use some kind of technological device to summon your demons,) while ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne Nocturne]]'' does away with all the sci-fi elements. Meanwhile, the ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' series ditches the post-apocalyptic elements and introduces high-school life and Jungian psychology into the mix, with the demons becoming aspects of a person's psyche, and the enemy demons doing the same, turning into Shadows starting with ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}''. By ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', SliceOfLife and DatingSim elements are introduced, while ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' turns into a more [[LighterAndSofter light-hearted]] Franchise/ScoobyDoo-style murder mystery with [=MegaTen=] trappings. Meanwhile ''again'', the [[RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy Raidou]] [[RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon Kuzunoha]] games are AlternateHistory with more action elements and also more light-hearted, while ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' acts very much like a {{Deconstruction}} of the {{Mons}} genre in general. And that's only counting a ''few'' of the games in the franchise.

* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' is known for being a sci-fi action game, but the latest game in the franchise, ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', is a sci-fi version of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil''.

* ''SilentStorm'' starts out as a fairly realistic SpyFiction set during WorldWarTwo where you command a squad of Allied or Axis commandos and tasked with finding traitors and following clues. Then [[PoweredArmor Panzerkleins]] are introduced, followed by EnergyWeapons and a shadowy organization straight out of ''JamesBond'' that seeks to get both sides of the war to obliterate each other, so that they can pick up the pieces. The change was so jarring, a mod was created shortly after release to remove Panzerkleins from the game (although that makes the plot a little nonsensical).
** The stand-alone ExpansionPack ''Silent Storm Sentinels'' takes place a few years after the war, with the game going back to its SpyFiction roots, and the titular organization (made up of some of the commandos from both sides) trying to stop the formerly-defeated organization from going back to its old tricks. Then (sigh) the Panzerkleins are re-introduced (apparently, everyone forgot about them, and none were left in the Sentinels' stocks), and (with TheReveal that [[spoiler:the Sentinels' commander is the head of the villanous organization]]) it goes right back into ''James Bond'' territory with Panzerkleins and energy weapons.
** ''Hammer & Sickle'', surprisingly, averts this, as the developers have finally listened to the players and did their best to stick to the SpyFiction genre. This time, since the events take place during the ColdWar, the fiction is of this flavor. The PlayerCharacter is a Soviet soldier sent across the Iron Curtain to form a spy network and subvert the Allies without starting WorldWarThree (an actual [[NonStandardGameOver possibility]])... The the Sentinels and the organization (that just won't die) show up... but without their high-tech toys.

* Numerous webcomics have experienced CerebusSyndrome, which is somewhat similar to, but not the same as, GenreShift.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' started out as a simple SpiritualSuccessor to ''ProblemSleuth'', but in time became a riff on epic stories and creation mythos, which made the series much more popular. Later, When [[EnsembleDarkHorse the trolls]] [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent were introduced]], the entire comic shifted to have RomanticComedy elements and took a turn for the darker.

** Although he far preferred HarryPotter and Literature/TheHungerGames which he also reviewed at MarkReadsHarryPotter, he also mixed those ones up. He'd write the reviews as a script of the book, with characters commenting on plot developments, liveblog entries from various characters, and Hedwig-the-spy writing entries on her mission to guard the boy who lived.

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' shifted from an action-comedy spoof of superhero shows to a downright ''bizzare'' GagSeries late in its run. It was unsurprisingly not well received.
* ''ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' starts as a MonsterOfTheWeek comedy with [[ScoobyDooHoax guys in]] [[PeopleInRubberSuits costumes]] with silly back stories and motives. As time goes by, the [[CerebusSyndrome mysteries get darker]], the [[EvilGenius villains]] [[AxCrazy get more dangerous,]] and [[spoiler:the [[CosmicHorrorStory monsters are real]].]]
* ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'' shifted from action-comedy to action-drama with a few comedic elements.

----

* When atmospheric (and occasionally supernatural) western title JonahHex ended it's eight-year run in 1985, DC published a followup series called Hex, about the gunfighter getting sucked into a time rift and stranded in the post-apocalyptic 2050s.

* Naturally, ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' also surprised many fans ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids and parents]]) at its increasingly dark tone as the show went on. To be specific, it starts as a MonsterOfTheWeek [[RealRobotGenre giant robot series]] and ends up as an extended philosophical and psychological treatise. It's so much of a genre shift that even the plot itself essentially fades away at the end, to the point where after the last two episodes, you're asking yourself "What did I just watch?" It doesn't help that after so many years, [[GainaxEnding people still can't tell you what was up with the last two episodes.]]

* The ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series (both the original light novels and the anime) begins as a comedy series that, while featuring a very eccentric protagonist in GenkiGirl Haruhi, was still a fairly realistic SliceOfLife comedy. Then the aliens, time travelers, and psychics start turning up, and we get the big reveal that [[spoiler:Haruhi is God (or at least the next best thing), and her subconscious desires can warp reality, or even destroy the universe if she becomes bored enough. And then the STABBING and sci-fi battles begin...]] It actually remains a SliceOfLife comedy for the most part, but it's slices of much weirder lives than we originally thought.

** That was only the FIRST shift. [[MindScrew It does several very casually]] when the elements are progressively revealed. [[spoiler:And then it decides to {{Reconstruct}} itself with a DeconReconSwitch of a GainaxEnding.]]

* Naturally, ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' also surprised many fans ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids and parents]]) at its increasingly dark tone as the show went on. To be specific, it starts as a MonsterOfTheWeek [[RealRobotGenre giant robot series]] and ends up as an extended philosophical and psychological treatise. It's so much of a genre shift that even the plot itself essentially fades away at the end, to the point where after the last two episodes, you're asking yourself "What the hell did I just watch?" It doesn't help that after so many years, [[GainaxEnding people still can't tell you what was up with the last two episodes.]]

* Genre shift is pretty much the entire point behind ''Anime/AbenobashiMahouShoutengai''.

* ''RockmanEXE''[=/=]''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'' shifted from computer-based Mons to some kind of weird Sentai variant right around the third season, and completely gave up on its computer origins in the fourth, with the advent of Cross Fusion. Basically, it forced the human protagonists to merge with their partners and fight themselves, at which point the Mons were rarely seen again. This is one of the reasons the fourth season is disliked among the fanbase. Then, in the fifth season, it switched from computer {{Mon}}s to normal Mons when an AlternateUniverse setting made it impossible to Cross Fusion but forced Navis to be summoned into material space instead.

* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' had a ''major'' GenreShift after 9 volumes of seemingly unrelated, silly fluff. It changes from a slapstick comedy to a SaveTheWorld Shonen series pretty much exactly from the point that Tsuna meets [[NietzscheWannabe Rokudo Mukuro]] onwards. From that instance on, Tsuna becomes much more serious and less of a ButtMonkey - this seems to have pleased the fangirls.
* ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays''. It starts out as a typical romantic comedy, then slowly takes a turn for the worse, going into pretty much horror at the end.

** That's happened because the anime basically took all the lighthearted and comedic parts of the manga, and used them in the first part. The manga version was a dramedy from the beginning - it became increasingly darker towards the end, but not to the point of complete mood shift.

** The Crimson Avenger and Wing started off as [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of Franchise/TheGreenHornet and Kato, complete with Wing wearing a [[BattleButler chauffeur's uniform]] and a DominoMask. When Comicbook/{{Batman}} and {{Robin}} started becoming more popular, the two became more traditional superheroes and started wearing proper costumes.

* Comicbook/CerebusTheAardvark, which went from adventure-parody to straight-adventure, to... well, no one's quite sure ''what'' the hell it ended up as.

* ''Disney/TheLionKing'' has a particularly famous example of this trope. The first third or so focuses mainly on Simba's lighthearted escapades around his father's domain, with a tone and style typical of pretty much any Disney-made comedy. [[MoodWhiplash Then Scar kills Mufasa]] [[GutPunch and makes Simba think it was his own fault]]. The rest of the film becomes a practical drama that deals with Simba's guilt and his need to fulfill his destiny by kicking Scar off the throne of Pride Rock. [[HakunaMatata Though lighthearted elements are still present, of course]].

* The Oscar-winning film ''La Vita è bella'' (In English, ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'') begins as a very charming, but rather generic romantic comedy, except that it happens to be set in Mussolini's Italy, and the characters are Jewish. Now, flash forward three years. The male and female leads are now married, have a son, and the Holocaust is about to start. Amazingly, it ''remains a comedy'', only with an entirely different premise: the father starts telling his three-year-old son wild stories to protect him from the truth of what is happening.
* One of the classic examples is, of course, ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'', which begins as a dark crime drama about crooks on the lam kidnapping a dysfunctional family, but abruptly turns into a slapstick action movie with vampires over the course of a striptease.

* A pronounced GenreShift occurs between the original ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' film, a parody of vampire horror flicks, and the [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer subsequent TV series]] which, though it had its share of witty banter, was from the start a much darker and more dramatic effort with strong {{trag|edy}}ic elements. Creator/JossWhedon's original movie pitch was in fact more in keeping with the tone of the series, but ended up a comedy thanks to ExecutiveMeddling. In contrast, both the WB and the UPN networks allowed Whedon the creative freedom to realize his intended dramatic treatment. Note that while the movie is not what Whedeon originally intended, the movie was still quite good, and is one of the few cases where the ExecutiveMeddling didn't hurt the movie, and some fans think it actually helped.

* Pretty much every ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' movie starts with Mystery Inc solving a mystery, and ends with Mystery Inc fighting an army of the undead/[[spoiler: cat monsters]]/ [[spoiler: ancient samurai ghost]] / [[spoiler: ancient witch ghost]].

** The last movie also has a subtle shift. The first part of it is basically about the beginnings of Kirk and Co., so while we expect trouble, it feel like a typical NegativeSpaceWedgie plot. Then [[spoiler: Vulcan is blown up]], and everything becomes a horror story

** The Creator/TimBurton Batman movies were basically FilmNoir '''[[RecycledInSpace IN TIGHTS!]]'''

** Creator/ChristopherNolan basically took the same approach to the Creator/JoelSchumacher movies that Creator/TimBurton took to the TV series, and turned into an action/crime movie with [[TheChessmaster multiple chessmasters]] and some {{Horror}} elements... [[RecycledInSpace in tights]].
*** There's even a shift within [[Film/TheDarkKnightSaga the Nolanverse]]. ''Film/BatmanBegins'' was equal parts crime drama and adventure film, with elements of mysticism figuring heavily into the plot. Its sequel, ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', was a much more straightforward crime thriller set completely in an urban environment. For the GrandFinale, ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' pretty much dropped the elements of crime drama and became a large-scale action epic/DisasterMovie, boasting a plot that wouldn't seem entirely out of place in a Film/JamesBond film.

** The Millenium series: ''Film/{{Godzilla 2000}}'' and the movies following it (with the exception of ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack'', which returned the series back to its original roots once again via the most violent and horrific interpretation of Godzilla's character of the entire franchise, with fantasy elements replacing most of the science fiction that usually forms the basis for each movie) have been primarily based in general sci-fi action. The last movie to date, ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', deserves special note in that it was a bizarre, crazed tribute to the campiness of the Showa series. It took the plot of the classic ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'' and turned everything in it UpToEleven while simultaneously injecting seemingly-random [[ShoutOut references to contemporary sci-fi action movies]] (most obviously ''Film/TheMatrix'') [[ReferenceOverdosed left and right]] and doing much to give itself a unique tone through the replacement of the orchestral score traditional to the series in favor of rock and techno music.

* ''Literature/TheBoyWhoCouldntSleepAndNeverHadTo'' turns from a coming-of-age tale to a frenzied escape from TheMan (literally) about two-thirds through.

** Really it can be argued that the ''opposite'' then happened. It used to be a sketch comedy/video game review show, but now it's ''just'' about the reviews (and even then, there's only about two an episode) and video game news (that are significantly less comical) as it's [[NetworkDecay the only thing on G4 still about video games]], and ''XPlay'' has simply become a 22-minute distillation what G4 was 24 hours a day not even a few years before.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' has had a number of shifts throughout its run. The show was pitched as, and started out as, a SliceOfLife situation comedy with a spaceship as the setting, that morphed into a more action-oriented Sci-Fi Comedy in its third series, eventually morphing into more of an Action Comedy by its sixth Series, then more of a Sci-fi Dramedy in Series 7, and then, of all things, a Prison Comedy in Series 8. The shifts in tone were relatively subtle, but if it weren't for the consistent characters, episodes from different series would appear to be from completely different programs.

* ''Series/{{Jonas}}'''s first season was your average sitcom, featuring the Jonas Brothers in the title role of course. Its second season, ''Jonas L.A.'', has a stronger plot and is a borderline soap-opera, complete with PreviouslyOn and OnTheNext segments.
* The first season of ''Series/PrisonBreak'' revolves around [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an honest-to-god prison break]] with a cast composed almost entirely of stock characters ripped from classic prison movies, and the second season continues it with the escaped inmates on the run from the FBI. By the end of the second season, the escapees have all successfully evaded the law [[spoiler: (the few that survived, at least...)]] but the writers manage to justify the title by having the main characters all [[AssPull rounded up for random reasons]] and [[FromBadToWorse a new, even worse prison in Panama]]. Then the final season rolls around, and the whole series morphs into some weird cross between ''MacGyver'' and ''Film/TheBourneSeries'' about the main cast trying to take down some [[TheSyndicate evil shadow corporation]] using zany schemes whipped together with loot from the Dollar Store.

** ''Community'' is renowned for managing all sorts of single-episode genre shifts perfectly. It's been an action movie ("Modern Warfare"), a Rankin-Bass style Christmas Special ("Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"), a spaghetti Western ("A Fistfull of Paintballs"), a single-camera documentary show ("Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking"), and even a zombie movie ("Epidemiology"). The reason it can pull all of this off is because while each episode is great example of the genre it's shifted to, it's also a great episode of ''Community'' at the same time.

* Jesse [=McCartney=] started out singing chaste love songs aimed at tweens, then kept the style for the second album, but with slightly more sexual lyrics to match his aging audience. Then REALLY did this trope for his latest stuff. Switching to a more techno/hip hop style with ''much'' more sexual lyrics. One single is basically 3 minutes of him telling any female listeners to shake their ass.
* The Cult started out as a heavily-produced, effect-laden musical experience that inspired modern Goth rock for their first two albums. On their third album, Electric, however, they had finished recording the entire thing when they realized that they didn't really like the way it sounded, so they found a new producer with whom they re-recorded the entire album as a straight-up hard rocker that sounded quite a bit like AC/DC and other heavy rock bands of the time. The resulting schism in their fanbase makes them seem like they became an entirely new band.

* Music/DavidBowie built an entire career on this trope, switching between psychedelic folk-rock, glam rock, Philly soul, and Krautrock within an entire decade alone. This resulted in a NewSoundAlbum every time he stepped into a recording studio.

* Nachtmystium used to be a standard spikes-and-corpsepaint BlackMetal band for their first couple albums, then in 2006 they started incorporating elements of PsychedelicRock with ''Instinct:Decay''. With their two ''Black Meddle'' albums ([[Music/PinkFloyd note the misspelling]]) they've almost entirely abandoned their black metal sound, mixing extreme metal with post-rock, psychedelic rock, and even IndustrialMetal.

* Lesser Shades Of Evil -- the book quite literally ''begins'' with a disclaimer telling would-be [=PCs=] not to read any further, which is setting them up to make blessed champions of the gods in a high fantasy setting, then face all of the following in ''the very first session'': that was all centuries ago, their powers are all genetic engineering and nanomachines, the intervening time has moved the setting AfterTheEnd... and even the idyllic fintasy setting was after a separate, ''earlier'', end. Also, their main superpower is creating multiple bodies for themselves. After this exposition-heavy first session (which fast-forwards the [=PCs=] through their actions over these hundreds of years), one assumes the players are meant to go home and contemplate why any of that was kept secret if it were just going to be revealed as soon as they made their characters, anyway.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}: Combat Evolved'': Two words: The Flood. The game starts off as a fun little shooter where you fight aliens with multi-coloured blood and where marines shout at the fallen enemies. Then you get to "343 Guilty Spark" in which you [[spoiler: wander through a creepy as hell fortress with no enemies, discover what happened to the squad before you then fight through a Flood infested forest. The Flood are like the Left 4 Dead infected, but they can fire weapons AND ROCKET LAUNCHERS. And they can sprint, too. The level afterwards isn't much fun to play either.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' gets a bit of a shift towards the end, from a feudal Japan mythical fantasy to a feudal Japan [[spoiler: Sci-Fi]] fantasy.
** To Elaborate: [[spoiler: Near the end, you see Kaguya, a woman born from a Bamboo shoot in the myth, have a ''rocket that looks like a bamboo shoot'', and in the last part of the game, the eponymous Ark of Yamato turns out to be a ''fucking spaceship'', also implying that these monsters you've been facing... They're aliens...]]

** The FinalFantasy series has toyed with adding in modern and even [[ScienceFiction Sci Fi]] elements from time to time, starting with an entire race of moon people and a giant robot in VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV (or even earlier than that, with [[BonusBoss Warmech]] from the very first game.) and hitting full force by VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII, which went from straight up fantasy with the occasional Sci Fi element to UrbanFantasy.

* ''VideoGame/UltimaI'' begins as a more-or-less typical fantasy RPG and then gets to the point where you have to use a time machine and go into outer space to defeat twenty spaceships to gain the title of "Space Ace." All this in 1980, mind you.

* The original ''VideoGame/SaturdayNightSlamMasters'', along with its upgraded edition ''Muscle Bomber Duo'', played pretty much as one would expect from an arcade-style WrestlingGame. The sequel, ''Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II'', plays like a wrestling-themed version of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' (i.e. multiple punch and kick buttons, command-based special moves, [=2D=] playing field, victory by KO, round-based matches).
* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' started out as a tribute to martial arts cinema. Apart from the MultiArmedAndDangerous monster dude Goro, pretty much nothing out of the game was too out of the ordinary for those who've seen martial arts movies, and its main claim to fame was being the first major "bloody" fighting game. Then ''VideoGame/MortalKombat2'' came around, and the main plot of the series -- a dimension-wide conflict for people's souls -- took center stage. Then ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' turned things in a post-apocalyptic direction, with some sci-fi elements added in the form of the Lin Kuei cyborg ninja program. And so on and so forth.

* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' is known for being a sci-fi action game, but the latest game in the franchise, ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', is pretty much a sci-fi version of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil''.

* The entire first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' is pretty much just slapstick comedy in a parody setting; season 2 downplays the raw slapstick and up-plays the parody/satire/{{Deconstruction}} elements of the show, culminating in a funny but fairly serious season finale. Seasons 3 & 4 still feature a lot of humor, and it's definitely still a comedy show, but there's been a significant shift from it being a parody of sci-fi/action/everything to now being a genuine example of those genres.

* The game system in the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' series remains mostly unaltered, but the story and style subtly shift between games.

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' shifted from an action-comedy spoof of superhero shows to a downright ''bizzare'' GagSeries late in its run.
* ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated starts as a MonsterOfTheWeek comedy with [[ScoobyDooHoax guys in]] [[PeopleInRubberSuits costumes]] with silly back stories and motives. As time goes by, the [[CerebusSyndrome mysteries get darker]], the [[EvilGenius villains]] [[AxCrazy get more dangerous,]] and [[spoiler:the [[CosmicHorrorStory monsters are real]].]]

* Nina Gordon, one of the two singer/songwriters for 90's alt-rockers Veruca Salt went adult contemporary pop for her debut solo album ''Tonight and the Rest of My Life''.

* Many rockers have found success by shifting to country after losing touch with the rock audience. Examples: Music/JerryLeeLewis, Music/ConwayTwitty, Music/KennyRogers, and, to some extent, Music/ElvisPresley.

* ''AmeliaRules'': shifted from wacky school comedy to emotional SliceOfLife about halfway through its run.

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' shifted from action-comedy to GagSeries late in its run.

* ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated starts as a MonsterOfTheWeek comedy with guys in suits with silly back stories and motives. As time goes by, the [[CerebusSyndrome mysteries get darker]], the [[EvilGenius villains]] [[AxCrazy get more dangerous,]] and [[spoiler:the [[CosmicHorrorStory monsters are real]].]]

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls went from action-comedy to GagSeries late in its run.

* This trope was probably the single biggest problem with ''Comicbook/NovasAventurasDeMegaMan'', an infamous Brazilian comic that [[ExecutiveMeddling Capcom actually authorized]] because TheyJustDidntCare, and that's saying quite a lot. The writers have actually ''admitted'' to changing the genre nearly every issue, because they wanted to see which sort of storylines the readers liked best. As such, one comic could be a flashback to a [[NightmareFuel horrifying]] backstory about Roll's mind being taken from a young girl whom an evil scientist murdered for his mad robotics experiment, while another could be an anything goes, LargeHam comedy with NoFourthWall. By the time it settled into the action-adventure style of plot, most readers had probably dropped it in frustration.

* In-story example: in ''[[Film/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family Values]]'', Wednesday, in CrowningMomentOfAwesome, transforms a cheesy Pocahontas musical into a NightmareFuel action play.

* "The Review Must Go On" to both WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic and WebVideo/DemoReel. Both had their moments of NightmareFuel, but the former was a character-driven review show and the latter was a {{dramedy}}. The only genre that can describe "The Review Must Go On" is PsychologicalHorror.

* ''FanFic/RacerAndTheGeek'' is currently undergoing a transition from romcom to drama.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' were mostly similar in setup. Yes, the Atlantis team was initially cut off from Earth, but subsequent seasons eliminated this problem. ''Series/StargateUniverse'' goes with the "cut off from Earth" part and sticks with it (mostly), although the crew of the ''[[CoolShip Destiny]]'' is capable of communicating with Earth. Also, unlike ''SG-1'' and ''Atlantis'', ''Universe'' takes a page out of the reimagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' series and focuses more on individuals struggling to survive to the point where even the musical score is completely different from the "typical" Stargate music. There is an overall story arc, and the show sticks with it much more strongly than the other two shows. Unfortunately, it was TooGoodToLast, being cancelled after a cliffhanger.

* ''Series/{{Touch}}'' becomes a more actionized thriller in the second season, as Martin is faced with more dangerous tasks which involve him running into really dangerous people.

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