History NeverTrustATrailer / Anime

* ''LightNovel/MariaSamaGaMiteru's'' {{Post Episode Trailer}}s tend to be so random and goofy that they become this.

** ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' had a filler episode where Goku goes to Hell to help stop Freiza, King Cold, Cell, and the Ginyu Force from making a coup of the place. The next episode preview for the episode showed Goku transforming into his Super Saiyan form when confronting the Ginyu Force. In the actual episode though, Goku doesn't turn Super Saiyan at all! Notably the shot of Goku transforming in the preview was recolored so that he stayed in his normal form when he powered up.

** The preview of Episode 66 for ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' has Vegito fighting Fusion Zamasu making you believe that the entirety of the episode is him fighting against Zamasu in an all-out battle... Except those previews are all of his fight scenes because he very quickly defused after fighting him in like 3 minutes and Zamasu is instead finished off by Trunks gathering the energy of everyone on earth.

* The preview at the start of Episode 7 of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' shows Nanoha and Fate about to square off, seemingly in a climactic final battle. When the battle happens at the end of the episode, it's immediately interrupted by the arrival of [[SpacePolice Chr]][[TimePolice ono]].

** Pretty much every ad for the Waking the Dragons arc featured some variant of "THIS SEASON, THE MONSTERS ARE REAL!" This is sorta true, but the monsters materializing as a result of the Orichalcos's machinations are an extremely unimportant element of the actual arc.

** Many old promos for English version episodes when the series was dubbed by 4Kids did this as well. One in particular showed Ash being transformed into a Pikachu, which led many to believe that was the main focus of the episode. Turns out that it didn't happen until the end of the episode and the transformation was undone immediately at the beginning of the following episode. Needless to say, many fans were greatly disappointed.

* ''Anime/SentouYouseiYukikaze'' has a particularly cruel example: the UsefulNotes/BluRay edition features a trailer for a sequel with lots of new footage and even narration by one of the main characters. The only problem is that the sequel ''doesn't exist''.

* ''Franchise/SentouYouseiYukikaze'' has a particularly cruel example: the UsefulNotes/BluRay edition features a trailer for a sequel with lots of new footage and even narration by one of the main characters. The only problem is that the sequel ''doesn't exist''.

** One of the harsher examples of this trope within the franchise is the Kalos League Arc, which made it appear on every single ad that Ash would for once win the League and had Ash make it all the way to the finals. The fact that the episodes aired during the franchise's 20-year MilestoneCelebration just added to the hype. And on the episode titled "Kalos League Victory, Satoshi's Greatest Decisive Battle!"... nope, Ash lost. Again. And on the battle to determine the winner of the League, which was so close that people instantly claimed DiabolusExMachina. The episodes after that went a long way in giving Ash the moral victory over Alain (the actual winner of the tournament), but nevertheless fans were so angry about it pretty much being the same as many (if not all) other League arcs prior that even this Wiki was engulfed in the subsequent flame war.

** One of the harsher examples of this trope within the franchise is the Kalos League Arc, which made it appear on every single ad that Ash would for once win the League. The fact that the episodes aired during the franchise's 20-year MilestoneCelebration just added to the hype. And on the episode titled "Kalos League Victory, Satoshi's Greatest Decisive Battle!"... nope, Ash lost. Again. On a battle that was so close that people instantly claimed DiabolusExMachina. The episodes after that went a long way in giving Ash the moral victory, but nevertheless fans were so angry about it pretty much being the same as many (if not all) other League arcs prior that even this Wiki was engulfed in the subsequent flame war.

* When "Yu-Gi-Oh!" first aired on Kids WB, early commercials for it suggested that the story of the show involved the Duel Monsters actually coming to life when Yugi completes the Millennium Puzzle. But in actuality, the Puzzle was already completed at the start of the series (though the original Japanese version showed how he first completed it), and the monsters were simply holograms created by Kaiba's inventions. They even left little indication of him transforming into the Pharaoh in the early ads.

* The trailer for ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' paints the show as being a horror series where the main character must contend with a zombie apocalypse of some kind, with all plot details being kept completely under wraps until its premiere date. When the show finally aired, [[spoiler:the BMovie, shlocky tone of the trailer turned out to be a hint towards the show's nature as a HorrorComedy.]] But even if one somehow managed to predict that, [[spoiler:it still doesn't prepare them for the fact that the show's focus isn't lampooning horror tropes, but rather the ''Japanese idol industry'' of all things.]]

* The trailer for ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' paints the show as being a horror series where the main character must contend with a zombie apocalypse of some kind. When the show finally premiered, [[spoiler:the BMovie, shlocky tone of the trailer turned out to be a hint towards the show's nature as a HorrorComedy.]] But even if one somehow managed to predict that, [[spoiler:it still doesn't prepare them for the fact that the show's focus isn't lampooning horror tropes, but rather the ''Japanese idol industry'' of all things.]]

* The trailer for ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' paints the show as being a horror series where the main character must contend with a zombie apocalypse of some kind. When the show finally premiered, [[spoiler:the BMoive, shlocky tone of the trailer turned out to be a hint towards the show's nature as a HorrorComedy.]] But even if one somehow managed to predict that, [[spoiler:it still doesn't prepare them for the fact that the show's focus isn't lampooning horror tropes, but rather the ''Japanese idol industry'' of all things.]]

* The trailer for ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' has an odd BMovie feel that paints the show as being a horror series where the main character must contend with a zombie apocalypse of some kind. When the show finally premiered, the shlocky tone of the trailer turned out to be a hint towards the show's nature as a HorrorComedy. [[spoiler:But even if one somehow managed to predict that, it still doesn't prepare them for the fact that the show's focus isn't lampooning horror tropes, but rather the ''Japanese idol industry'' of all things.]]

* The trailer for ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' has an odd BMovie feel that paints the show as being a horror series where the main character must contend with a zombie apocalypse of some kind. When the show finally premiered, [[spoiler:the shlocky tone of the trailer turned out to be a hint towards the show's nature as a HorrorComedy. But even if one somehow managed to predict that, it still doesn't prepare them for the fact that the show's focus isn't lampooning horror tropes, but rather the ''Japanese idol industry'' of all things.]]

* The trailer for ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' has an odd BMovie feel that paints the series as being a horror series where the main character must contend with a zombie apocalypse of some kind. When the show finally premiered, the shlocky tone of the trailer turned out to be a hint towards the show's nature as a HorrorComedy. But even if one somehow managed to predict that, it still doesn't prepare them for the fact that the show's focus isn't lampooning horror tropes, but rather the ''Japanese idol industry'' of all things.

* In TheNineties, ''Anime/SailorMoon'' was marketed by the dub company to US TV stations with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEXqoPgbH0c this tape]], informing potential business partners that "[[PeripheryDemographic Boys]] will love the non-stop action!"

* The trailer for the fourth ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' overall movie seems to strongly have this going. For those interested, the tagline is [[spoiler: "Naruto Dies"]]. This turns out to be true, but it's a really weird situation. [[spoiler:Naruto is bodyguarding a priestess who has the power to see her own death and usually puts someone else in that place so she can survive. So there ''is'' a continuity where Naruto dies, in fact this happens in the beginning of the movie,but it's not the main one.]]

* Before the second season of ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' came out, many a fan whined over the fact that the [[http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a209/HarukoDear4Life/Darker%20Than%20Black/?action=view¤t=DTBFirstApprouchNewCharacters.jpg promos]] suggested it would be much LighterAndSofter than the first season. Turns out that StudioBONES was fucking with us.

* When "Anime/Yu-Gi-Oh!" first aired on Kids WB, early commercials for it suggested that the story of the show involved the Duel Monsters actually coming to life when Yugi completes the Millennium Puzzle. But in actuality, the Puzzle was already completed at the start of the series (though the original Japanese version showed how he first completed it), and the monsters were simply holograms created by Kaiba's inventions. They even left little indication of him transforming into the Pharaoh in the early ads.

* Spoofed in the fan-made flick, AMVHell. At the end of the first AMV Hell, there is a trailer for AMV Hell 2, with several scenes set to epic music, with the note "Featuring none of the scenes shown here." Nothing is sacred, indeed.

* Cartoon Network's advertisements for ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' were infamous in this regard. Thanks to the Toonami-style editing that the trailers underwent, ''Tenchi Muyo'' was made to appear as an exciting, action-oriented anime full of guns and stuff. While the show does have some action sequences, it is certainly not action-oriented in any way, and the disappointment was reflected in the show's ratings. Note also that the trailers combined clips from all three of the series' incarnations (Toonami showed all three series' one after the other).
** This might be a double example, as the trailer for the show also played up the show's steamier side (complete with an out-of-context clip of Sasami saying "You're a naughty boy, aren't you, Tenchi?") While the uncut show does have quite a bit of this, the version broadcast on Toonami cut out any and all sexual references. In fact, the line used by Sasami in the trailer was toned down when the show actually aired.

* ''Literature/SoundEuphonium'''s season 2 trailer plays this for laughs. It's a parody of action film trailers, complete with a dramatic English voice, while the anime is a very non-actiony series about a school band

* For every ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' movie, the early Japanese teasers and trailers contain scenes not in the released film. The most noted one, a silhouette of Mewtwo in the first trailer of the third movie, given that Mewtwo already had a focal movie, the first one. Naturally, Mewtwo did not appear in the final film.
** Some of the trailers for the eighth Pokémon movie (''Lucario and the Mystery of Mew'' or ''Mew and the Wave-Guiding Hero, Lucario'' depict scenes like Kid's van being caught in the middle of a geyser field, Lucario dodging falling rocks, Lucario apparently ''dead'' of unknown causes, and various other scenes, none of which are seen in either the Japanese or English versions of the film.

* The trailer for the 4th episode of ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' shows clips of the long-awaited fight between Sabi Hakuhei and Shichika ([[{{Badass}} in which, among other things, a shark is bisected]]). Instead the episode is about Shichika's sister and concludes with Shichika and Togame talking about the fight with Hakuhei while eating dango. Apparently the fight was over 11 shades of awesome and would have been too much to show the viewers.