History Main / TheSeriesHasLeftReality

* Music/{{Eminem}}'s Slim Shady songs were always full of fantastical [[KayfabeMusic kayfabe]] elements, but was a LifeEmbellished version of his real life - full of bad behaviour, drugs and mistreatment of people. But after his CreatorRecovery in 2008, his life and personality improved dramatically and he became regretful of the MuseAbuse that he had wreaked on the women in his family in the name of art. Later songs tend to pit Slim Shady against fictional characters, often fictional girlfriends he's stuck in a DestructiveRomance with who are {{Allegorical Character}}s for drugs/his fans/the rap game, who range from [[BastardBoyfriend adoring punchbags]] to [[PsychoExGirlfriend completely insane women who make Shady look normal]].

* ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' started out as a relatively grounded crime drama where the only intense action the film had was the street racing scenes and a shootout towards the end. As soon as the [[Film/TwoFastTwoFurious second movie]], we have the cops using EMP harpoons and Brian jumping a Camaro onto a yacht, sowing the seeds for the series to become the over-the-top popcorn action franchise it's currently known for.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' started relatively grounded, with events taking place mostly in real-world locations and any outright fantastic things being explained by ClarkesThirdLaw. Starting with ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', things really started to delve further from any scientific base as the films began to use more of the crazier things from their source materials. ''[[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' was among the first to fully break away from that aesthetic and show the wacky and colorful galactic side of the universe. Then, ''[[Film/DoctorStrange2016 Doctor Strange]]'' spent its run time thoroughly DoingInTheScientist while confirming that magic is 100% real. All of those elements came crashing together in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', and the series has only become more and more rooted in ScienceFantasy (or outright fantasy) since.
** Perhaps one of the better examples of the switch to ScienceFantasy is from ''Film/IronMan1'' to ''Film/IronMan3''. In the first film, the main conflict was about a billionaire genius who built multiple super powerful suits, and had to fight the first suit he created but upgraded and used for evil. In ''Film/IronMan3'', the main conflict involved a man who made a serum that could regrow limbs and give people the power to superheat their bodies and throw fireballs, and it's implied that if it's used fast enough it can bring a person back to life if they died because their body was mangled.

* Music/{{Eminem}}'s Slim Shady songs were always full of fantastical [[KayfabeMusic kayfabe]] elements, but was a LifeEmbellished version of his real life - full of bad behaviour, drugs and mistreatment of people. But after his CreatorRecovery in 2008, his life and personality improved dramatically and he became regretful of the MuseAbuse that he had wreaked on the women in his family in the name of art. Later songs tend to pit Slim Shady against fictional characters, often fictional girlfriends he's stuck in a DestructiveRomance with who are [[Allegorical Character]]s for drugs/his fans/the rap game, who range from [[BastardBoyfriend adoring punchbags]] to [[PsychoExGirlfriend completely insane women who make Shady look normal]].

%% Examples on this page are in alphabetical order by the title of the work.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' started relatively grounded, with events taking place mostly in real-world locations and any outright fantastic things being explained by ClarkesThirdLaw. Starting with Film/TheAvengers2012, things really started to delve further from any scientific base as the films began to use more of the crazier things from their source materials. ''[[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' was among the first to fully break away from that aesthetic and show the wacky and colorful galactic side of the universe. Then, ''[[Film/DoctorStrange2016 Doctor Strange]]'' spent its run time thoroughly DoingInTheScientist while confirming that magic is 100% real. All of those elements came crashing together in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', and the series has only become more and more rooted in ScienceFantasy (or outright fantasy) since.
** Perhaps one of the better examples of the switch to ScienceFantasy is from Film/IronMan1 to Film/IronMan3. In the first film, the main conflict was about a billionaire genius who built multiple super powerful suits, and had to fight the first suit he created but upgraded and used for evil. In Film/IronMan3, the main conflict involved a man who made a serum that could regrow limbs and give people the power to superheat their bodies and throw fireballs, and it's implied that if it's used fast enough it can bring a person back to life if they died because their body was mangled.

* The Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote series is purely realistic for most of the time -- it's an {{edutainment|show}} series for [[MiddleGradeLiterature tweens]], after all. However, Nanaki, introduced in the twentieth novel, claims [[ISeeDeadPeople he has the ability to see spirits]]; and since then there have been paranormal subplots for subsequent novels--but the main plot maintains realistic.

* The first season of ''Series/GilligansIsland'' has no supernatural elements (save for "Three to Get Ready" which had a gem which could supposedly grant wishes and of course the occasional dream sequence). Then a few elements get into season two: seeds which can grant psychic abilities, a robot, Dr. Balinkoff's [[FreakyFridayFlip mind swapping experiment]], and a meteor which accelerates aging. Season three features radioactive vegetables, a voodoo witch doctor, Balinkoff's mind control rings, Gilligan getting magnetized, and a jet pack.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' started out as a gang war simulator, got weirder as the series went on, then jumped the rails entirely when the fourth game began with aliens conquering Earth. The fifth game went outright supernatural as Satan himself claimed the protagonist... as his child-in-law.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' started relatively grounded, with events taking place mostly in real-world locations and any outright fantastic things being explained by ClarkesThirdLaw. Starting with Film/TheAvengers2012, things really started to delve further from any scientific base as the films began to use more of the crazier things from their source materials. ''[[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' was the among the first to fully break away from that aesthetic and show the wacky and colorful galactic side of the universe. Then, ''[[Film/DoctorStrange2016 Doctor Strange]]'' spent its run time thoroughly DoingInTheScientist while confirming that magic is 100% real. All of those elements came crashing together in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', and the series has only become more and more rooted in ScienceFantasy (or outright fantasy) since.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' started relatively grounded, with events taking place mostly in real-world locations and any outright fantastic things being explained by ClarkesThirdLaw. ''[[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' was the first to break away from that aesthetic and show the wacky and colourful galactic side of the universe. Then, ''[[Film/DoctorStrange2016 Doctor Strange]]'' spent its run time thoroughly DoingInTheScientist while confirming that magic is 100% real. All of those elements came crashing together in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', and the series has only become more and more rooted in ScienceFantasy (or outright fantasy) since.

* Superhero comics in general. At the very beginning of UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, they pretty much just fought average crooks, gangsters or (given the period) German/Japanese spies, with the superheroes themselves often being the only supernatural elements in an otherwise normal world. The fantasy and sci-fi elements took over pretty quickly, though. Part of the reason this happened was because, with UsefulNotes/WorldWarII over and Americans seeking escapism, Nazis and normal criminals no longer worked as comic book villains.

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%% Examples on this page are in alphabetical order by the title of the work.
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* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': In early strips Hobbes was a stuffed toy Calvin was just pretending was real, but in later strips is a real anthro tiger who is InvisibleToNormals.

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Preview
Top
Cancel/Back Upload Image Edit VideosSome works take place in a world that is [[LikeRealityUnlessNoted just like the real world]], and some take place in a world that clearly isn't. This trope is about works that start out in the real world but then very definitely leave it. Sometimes, it's because fantastical or science-fiction elements are introduced into a work that up until then had been "real world". Sometimes, the setting is revealed to have an AlternateHistory that distances it from reality.

These new elements might bring about a GenreShift if they change the focus of the work enough. Conversely, a BizarroEpisode, ParanormalEpisode, CryptidEpisode or AlienEpisode might take a brief vacation from reality, but doesn't affect the series' continuity.

Compare and contrast the {{Masquerade}}, which hides the fantastical elements of the setting from {{Muggles}} (but not necessarily the viewer), and TheUnmasquedWorld, when the Masquerade breaks down. See also MundaneFantastic when the viewer is surprised by the reveal but characters see it as normal; DenserAndWackier, where the work gets ''crazier'' as it goes on; LaterInstallmentWeirdness, where later story elements, format, and/or tone deviate from those of the earlier parts of a series; and EarthDrift, where the series starts off in the real world but then elements are introduced that makes it taking place in the real world not possible.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/AoiHouse'': Despite no prior supernatural elements other than hints of sentience in the pets and Alex's bewitching hair, the gang spend the last few chapters before the epilogue trapped in Franchise/SilentHill, tying the book to TheUnmasquedWorld of its later sister series. A later bonus story has [[Webcomic/VampireCheerleaders Steph]] take them back there, after analyzing Alex's hair and Sandy's apparently psychic [bad] luck.
* ''Anime/CardfightVanguard'' started off as a completely realistic series about Sendou Aichi learning how to play the titular card game, which is presented as being reasonably popular for a card game, and slowly gaining friends and confidence along the way. It slowly starts becoming increasingly unrealistic once nationally televised tournaments and hologram technology get involved - mind you, that's about one third in the first season without any previous hints about how weird things were going to get - and completely gets off the "realism" rails once it's revealed that the game's lore was real about halfway through. The Link Joker arc does attempt initially to reign things in a bit by making it clear that despite its popularity not everyone has heard of the game -- Aichi attends an elite college prep school where everyone is too concerned with their studies for hobbies -- but that quickly gets off the rails too between the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil and the ''alien invasion''.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'': The manga starts as a somewhat hammy but otherwise realistic Victorian period drama, featuring the rivalry of adopter brothers Jonathan and Dio. And one GenreShift later, there's an ancient war between vampires created by Aztec masks and sunlight-powered kung-fu artists.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'': While the story seems realistic at first, it slowly develops into magic realism, with a sharp swerve into it with the introduction of Mai's demons.
* ''Anime/SamuraiFlamenco'' starts as a series about a street vigilante who is a model by day and fights crime (mainly public smoking and littering) at night, inspired by his love for {{Toku}} heroes. After the infamous Episode 7, where [[spoiler:a drug addict turns into a gorilla-like monster, and King Torture reveals the existence of his evil organization]], the fantastic elements quickly take over the setting.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Superhero comics in general. At the very beginning of UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, they pretty much just fought average crooks, gangsters or (given the period) German/Japanese spies, with the superheroes themselves often being the only supernatural elements in an otherwise normal world. The fantasy and sci-fi elements took over pretty quickly, though. Part of the reason this happened was because, with UsefulNotes/WorldWarII over and Americans seeking escapism, Nazis and normal criminals no longer worked as comic book villains.
* Creator/AlejandroJodorowsky and Milo Manara's comic ''Borgia'' starts as a historical work, albeit one that takes the more sensationalist aspects of the Borgias' lives as fact (notably Lucrezia's incestuous relationships) and, given the artist, large amounts of ExplicitContent. At the end, Cesare Borgia is leading a mercenary army equipped with Creator/LeonardoDaVinci's inventions, including an air force made of his flying machines.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': In early strips Hobbes was a stuffed toy Calvin was just pretending was real, but in later strips is a real anthro tiger who is InvisibleToNormals.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Candorville}}'' was originally a combination of {{Anvilicious}} political gags and SliceOfLife stories, many of which revolved the main character and his annoying baby-mama, Roxanne. Then it turns out that Roxanne is an evil [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] who [[EitherOrProphecy might be destined to rule the Earth]]. Since then the comic keeps switching back and forth between urban humor and UrbanFantasy.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' was originally about a man and his completely normal cat with the age old "What does your cat ''really'' think?" humor. Garfield [[AnthropomorphicShift started developing human-like qualities]] such as liking lasagna, [[ThoughtBubbleSpeech being able to read character's thought bubbles]], and eventually walking on his hind legs.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' was realistic until Charlie Brown taught Snoopy to walk upright in 1958.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In the first ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'' it seems like Mowgli just [[SpeaksFluentAnimal understands the animal languages]], but in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook2'' it's revealed that animals can communicate with all humans.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' started out as a relatively grounded crime drama where the only intense action the film had was the street racing scenes and a shootout towards the end. As soon as the [[Film/TwoFastTwoFurious second movie]], we have the cops using EMP harpoons and Brian jumping a Camaro onto a yacht, sowing the seeds for the series to become the over-the-top popcorn action franchise it's currently known for.
* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' started relatively grounded, with events taking place mostly in real-world locations and any outright fantastic things being explained by ClarkesThirdLaw. ''[[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' was the first to break away from that aesthetic and show the wacky and colourful galactic side of the universe. Then, ''[[Film/DoctorStrange2016 Doctor Strange]]'' spent its run time thoroughly DoingInTheScientist while confirming that magic is 100% real. All of those elements came crashing together in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', and the series has only become more and more rooted in ScienceFantasy (or outright fantasy) since.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* The ''Literature/{{Dexter}}'' book series leaves reality in ''Dexter in the Dark'' when Dexter's "Dark Passenger", as he refers to his homicidal urges, is revealed to be a demonic spirit [[SymbioticPossession inhabiting his body]].
* The Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote series is purely realistic for most of the time -- it's an {{edutainment|show}} series for [[MiddleGradeLiterature tweens]], after all. However, Nanaki, introduced in the twentieth novel, claims [[ISeeDeadPeople he has the ability to see spirits]]; and since then there have been paranormal subplots for subsequent novels--but the main plot maintains realistic.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Alias}}'' starts off as a relatively cut-and-dry TuxedoAndMartini-style spy drama with some of your usual unrealistic {{Shoe Phone}}s and PlotTechnology, but otherwise realistic. Gradually, over the course of five seasons, the show introduces more and more science fiction elements until eventually you've got prophecies, immortality, city-sized balls of {{Synthetic|Plague}} HatePlague (or something), [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking special bees that are incredibly venomous and totally docile]], and more.
* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' takes place firmly in the real world in its early seasons, but after Steve Urkel is introduced, has a number of science-fiction plots revolving around his inventions.
* The first season of ''Series/GilligansIsland'' has no supernatural elements (save for "Three to Get Ready" which had a gem which could supposedly grant wishes and of course the occasional dream sequence). Then a few elements get into season two: seeds which can grant psychic abilities, a robot, Dr. Balinkoff's [[FreakyFridayFlip mind swapping experiment]], and a meteor which accelerates aging. Season three features radioactive vegetables, a voodoo witch doctor, Balinkoff's mind control rings, Gilligan getting magnetized, and a jet pack.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' starts with an idea that could exist today, a computer program that analyzes mass surveillance to predict crime, and slowly evolves to a story of all-out war between two rival AIs.
* ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'' is set in the real world, even if some of A's tricks defy belief. Spinoff ''Series/{{Ravenswood}}'' has overt supernatural elements, and one of its major characters is a psychic with ties to the parent show; most notably, her visions helped her [[spoiler:save Alison's life the night she disappeared]].
* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' leaves reality when they travel to a parallel dimension in an episode that does ''not'' have an AllJustADream ending. Its sequel series, ''The Suite Life on Deck'', introduces a GroundhogDayLoop, a mummy's curse, and other increasingly strange plots that [[MundaneFantastic become part of the characters' daily lives]]. That's not getting into the crossovers with ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'' and ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace''.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* For almost two full games, the ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' series hews even closer to real-life than most video games do, aside from Ryo's occasional dreams about a mysterious young woman he's never met before. In the last few minutes of the second game, after he's finally met that same girl, the plot suddenly begins to take a turn for the fantastic, with the Phoenix and Dragon Mirrors apparently having mystical properties, and the girl revealing that Ryo and his quest are apparently part of an ancient prophecy handed down in her village. WordOfGod is that the [[SequelGap long-awaited]] third installment still emphasizes realism, but that explicitly supernatural elements will be part of the story going forward.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' started out as a gang war simulator, got weirder as the series went on, then jumped the rails entirely when the fourth game began with aliens conquering Earth. The fifth game went outright supernatural as Satan himself claimed the protagonist... as his child-in-law.
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[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Multiple webcomics start out in a near-realistic setting (with some cartoon jokes and anime faces seasoning the comedy), only to branch out into a supernatural context.
* [[WhatCouldHaveBeen The original plan]] for ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' was to present a realistic setting at first, and several months into its run, it would slowly reveal itself as a superhero comic all along. Unfortunately, when the intended ''Franchise/MegaMan'' SpriteComic {{filler}} was wrapped up and the intended real comic began, the author couldn't hold back, and the superhero elements were revealed after only one week of strips.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* ''WebVideo/MarioPartyDSAntiPiracy'': The series starts out with recordings of fictional anti-piracy measures in ''VideoGame/MarioPartyDS'' that are convincingly edited to look like they could have actually been in the game. The finale has a character from the game [[RefugeeFromTVLand coming into the real world]] to chase down the main character.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' original series starts out pretty grounded in reality but in some of the sequel series they meet actual supernatural creatures instead of just [[ScoobyDooHoax a guy in a mask]], and Scooby is able to communicate with humans on a sapient level instead of just being able to say a few words.
** ''Mystery Incorporated'' takes this further as the series features a MythArc involving Mystery Inc's predecessors that culminates in the gang fighting an EldritchAbomination who's of the same race as Scooby's ancestors, thus explaining how he can talk, who's death causes a CosmicRetcon.
[[/folder]]

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* ''Literature/LifeOfPi'' is realistic for the most part, but during the last part, Pi discovers an "island" covered in meerkats, ''floating'' in the middle of the Pacific. Then he discovers that [[spoiler:the island is one gigantic carnivorous plant. He finds a human tooth from a former victim in its leaves]]. This is basically {{Handwaved}} as "well, who's to say something like this ''can't'' exist in the real world?"
* For the first half of the first ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' book, the reader is led to think the conflict is a mundane (though [[ExaggeratedTrope comically exaggerated]]) story about how two trouble-making kids get revenge on their [[SadistTeacher mean school principal]]--though [[HypnoFool hypnotism does not work that way]], it is [[AnthropicPrinciple accepted for the genre]]. Then as soon as George and Harold lose track of Captain Underpants, they witness a bank robbery committed by robots, and follow them to the robots' base where it turns out they work for a DiabolicalMastermind who [[ToiletHumor still wears diapers]] and who wants to [[DetonationMoon blow up the Moon]]. This comes so out of left field compared to what had gone before that George and Harold break the fourth wall to {{lampshade}} it, saying, "Did we just see two robots get into a van?!" and "Up until now, [[BreakingTheFourthWall this story was almost believable]]!" All later installments start out in a SciFiKitchenSink, with things like {{Omnidisciplinary Scientist}}s, {{TV Genius}}es with ludicrously futuristic inventions, literal space aliens, TimeTravel, and actual superpowers.

* ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'' starts out with a pair of fugitives hijacking a family's motorhome and taking it to Mexico. Reality abruptly leaves the building when they're drinking in a roadside cantina and night falls, and the cantina workers [[spoiler: become vampires]].
* ''Film/HudsonHawk'' is realistic up to the point where Eddie and Tommy Five-Tone jump off the building and Eddie ends up falling into a chair in the Mario Brothers' apartment (Tommy ends up back at the bar), with no explanation whatsoever. The movie has a number of reality-defying scenes after that.
* ''Film/ThreeAmigos''. While the Amigos are traveling to El Guapo's lair, they camp at night in the desert. They start singing, which attracts several desert animals... ''who suddenly start singing along!'' Then, as they go to sleep, they bid goodnight to each other, and a tortoise says "Goodnight, Ned." There is nothing prior to this in the movie that couldn't happen in reality (unlikely, yes, but not impossible). After this, many weird things start to happen, such as the appearance of the Singing Bush, the summoning of the Invisible Swordsman, and the impossible landing of the biplane in Santo Poco.
* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''. If you've watched the movie, you probably think that the first fantastic event occurs inside Willy Wonka's factory, but you'd be wrong. Each time a Golden Ticket is discovered, Mr. Slugworth shows up to talk to the lucky child. At the end of the movie, we find out that he isn't Mr. Slugworth and actually works for Willy Wonka, which is how he knows where a ticket will be found. However, when Charlie finds his Golden Ticket and takes off for home, "Mr. Slugworth" only appears to him after Charlie has been running for a while. The only way he can be where Charlie will go is if he (a) has some kind of supernatural way of knowing ''who'' will get the ticket and where they will go after finding it and (b) is able to teleport to a location on the target's route.

* Multiple webcomics start out in an near-realistic setting (with some cartoon jokes and anime faces seasoning the comedy), only to branch out into a supernatural context.

* The ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' original series starts out pretty grounded in reality but in some of the sequel series they meet actual supernatural creatures instead of just [[ScoobyDooHoax a guy in a mask]].