History NeverTrustATrailer / Anime

* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'': Funimation decided to parody the hell out of this trope and for the first 1/3 of the [[http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=video&v=3535 trailer]] made it seem like some sort of old black and white historical anime with mild, believable violence that makes one wonder why it's rated TV-MA. Then cut to a film reel ending and some guys staring boredly, then the real trailer with blood, big booms, guns, cut off limbs, ect.

* When Creator/KidsWB was first promoting ''[[Manga/CardCaptorSakura Cardcaptors]]'', the commercials gave Li top billing despite Sakura being the main character. Then again, [[ExecutiveMeddling the series was also edited]] [[CulturalTranslation to give Li a bigger role and promote him as an equal partner to Sakura]] (and arguably, a mentor figure to her in the early episodes).

* Parodied in one after-credits trailer in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': Ed claims that the other cast members were all killed and next week the show will be replaced with The Adventures of Cowgirl Edward. Spike and Faye break in at the last moment and frantically try to convince the viewer that it's all a lie and there really is a next episode.

* The preview of the final episode of ''Manga/DeathNote'' has Yagami Light laughing triumphantly while saying that he is Kira, followed by the title "New World", implementing that Light has won and he is going to change the world at his own disposal. The actual story has him [[spoiler:beaten down to the bottom and every cop chasing him. The ending also reveals that he actually dies miserably having accomplished nothing at all.]]

* ''Anime/FirstSquad'' had this pretty badly. Early trailers advertised, among other things, ''Nazi mechas''. What we got were medieval people on horseback.
** In fact this isn't completely true. The trailers never shows the mechas, as the clips in it were straight from the movie. The mechas appeared in a russian [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbp5AJ63kEI Russian music video]], that was produced by parts of the same crew, that later made the film and that inspired them. Still it's not an official trailer.

%%* You can't forget ''Anime/MarvelAnimeIronMan''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Q7xgxDJh4 What happened guys?]] (Zero-Context: Weblinks are not examples)

* ''Ninja Resurrection : The Revenge of Jubei'' is one of the most infamous examples. ADV Films put together a rather deceptive trailer and marketing campaign that made it look like the series was a sequel to ''Anime/NinjaScroll''. In fact, the two works have nothing in common except that the main characters both happen to be named Jubei. The series wasn't even originally titled "Ninja Resurrection" in Japan! Despite this, ''Ninja Resurrection'' sold like hotcakes on the strength of the deception. In fact, it sold better than the ''actual'' sequel to ''Ninja Scroll''!
* The trailers for ''[[Literature/{{Bakemonogatari}} Nisemonogatari]]'' showed Suruga's big bare ass fully uncensored, but once the series proper aired, it was censored by a weird grey blur or books. Particularly bad because Creator/StudioSHAFT had never censored {{fanservice}} scenes before, in fact the first season was fine with showing Hitagi's bare butt.

** ''Rebuild'' finally paid up that fanservice Misato's been promising.

* The opening for ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'' makes it look like a happy, up-beat love story with lots of {{Fanservice}}. It begins that way, but rapidly turns into something much darker.

* 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.

* The back of the case for ''Anime/{{Digimon|Adventure}}: TheMovie'' mentions in the synopsis "a wayward digimon kidnaps the Digi-Destined". While this in fact ''does'' happen in the original movie, the North American version of the movie is a [[CompilationMovie mish-mash]] of the first three movies with an altered plot to link them together. So the kidnapping sub-plot of the third part of the movie never actually happens.

* ''Anime/MarvelAnimeWolverine'' had an infamously inaccurate trailer, showing, among other things, Wolverine with a Mullet, looking several years younger than he really should, and fighting ghosts. The trailer was bad enough for the hardcore Marvel fans to deem the entire anime the work of the devil, and secretly directed by Hitler himself. God help you if you confess to actually watching and *gasp* not hating it with a fiery passion.

* ''LightNovel/OurHomesFoxDeity'' plays its next episode previews completely straight at first, but as the series goes on, the previews start to consist entirely of scenes that never happen in the next episode. Such as a {{kaiju}} battle between Kuugen and Byakki.

%%* You can't forget ''Anime/IronMan''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Q7xgxDJh4 What happened guys?]] (Zero-Context: Weblinks are not examples)

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''. Funimation decided to parody the hell out of this trope and for the first 1/3 of the [[http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=video&v=3535 trailer]] made it seem like some sort of old black and white historical anime with mild, believable violence that makes one wonder why it's rated TV-MA. Then cut to a film reel ending and some guys staring boredly, then the real trailer with blood, big booms, guns, cut off limbs, ect.

* The trailer for the fourth episode of ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' shows clips of the long-awaited fight between Sabi Hakuhei and Shichika (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.

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

* The trailers for ''[[LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}} Nisemonogatari]]'' showed Suruga's big bare ass fully uncensored, but once the series proper aired, it was censored by a weird grey blur or books. Particularly bad because Creator/StudioSHAFT had never censored {{fanservice}} scenes before, in fact the first season was fine with showing Hitagi's bare butt.
* The trailers for ''LightNovel/OkamiSan'' said main heroine Ryōko Ōkami was a new type of {{Tsundere}}. Actually she's quite typical (but still {{moe}}).

* ''Anime/{{Wolverine}}'' had an infamously inaccurate trailer, showing, among other things, Wolverine with a Mullet, looking several years younger than he really should, and fighting ghosts. The trailer was bad enough for the hardcore Marvel fans to deem the entire anime the work of the devil, and secretly directed by Hitler himself. God help you if you confess to actually watching and *gasp* not hating it with a fiery passion.

* In TheNineties, ''Anime/SailorMoon'' was marketed by the [[Creator/DiC dub company]] to US TV stations with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEXqoPgbH0c this tape]], informing potential business partners that "[[PeripheryDemographic Boys]] will love the non-stop action!" At one point, the editors use clips of a Sailor Moon impostor to get this point across.

* You can't forget ''Anime/IronMan''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Q7xgxDJh4 What happened guys?]]

* ''Anime/PrettyCure'':
** On the final episode of ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'', they show off the trailer introducing ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'', which shows off scenes of Tsubomi and Erika together as both civilians and as Cure Blossom and Marine, giving the impression that they'd be the first two-girl team since ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar''. [[spoiler:Erika doesn't become a Cure until episode 3, as the first two are spent beating Tsubomi over the head with the CallToAdventure.]]
** The trailer for episode 7 of ''Anime/TropicalRougePrettyCure'' shows off a scene in which the Cures have an attack sequence with a fish-shaped canon. [[spoiler: This actually turns out to be an ImagineSpot when the girls wonder what is inside a bag Kururun's carrying, which turns out to be snacks]].

* The [[https://youtu.be/HYrVKLBhitE original trailer]] for ''Anime/UmaMusume'' portrays the series as being heavier on fanservice than it is, and focuses less on individual characters than the anime does

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

* [[http://youtu.be/-PPSkZoAXU8 This dub trailer]] for ''Anime/RinneNoLagrange'', which portrays the "happy character interactions and friendship first, with some mecha action" series as a dark, dramatic, non-stop thrill ride with a bit of comedy on the side.

** The trailer for ''Zoroark: Master of Illusions'' first depicted an aerial battle between Lugia and Ho-Oh, possibly intended to be a [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold/SoulSilver]] tie-in, later cut. The recent trailer shows Zoroark transforming into an evil version of Ash, but while Zorua did transform into Ash in the final film, it was for fun and had no real effect on the plot.
** Taken to what may be the extreme for ''Genesect and the Legend Awakened'' - whatever you see in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpn6nibaTSE these]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUfPFQCpJwU two]] trailers (which were somewhat close to the film's release) either happens in a different way in the actual movie or just '''flat-out doesn't happen ever.''' Not helping matters was the trailers not clarifying who Mewtwo [[Main/SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute actually was...]]

* The trailers for Creator/StudioGhibli's ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'' were widely interpreted by many fans as a movie of the sweet story about the [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship budding youthful romance between the two female leads]]. In the actual movie [[spoiler:Marnie turns out to be the ghost of Anna's grandmother, reaching out to her granddaughter to help her cope with her life issues]]. Let's just say that many {{yuri fan}}s were massively disappointed.

* Early promotion for the 13th ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' movie heavily involved a scene with the most prominent antagonist of the series shooting Conan at point-blank range after having discovered his true identity. It turns out to be AllJustADream ''before the opening credits''.

** ''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.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* Behold [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSkrKXp2Ces the trailer]] for ''Anime/TweenyWitches''. Look exciting? Not a single frame of it appears anywhere in the actual series.

* On the final episode of ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'', they show off the trailer introducing ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'', which shows off scenes of Tsubomi and Erika together as both civilians and as Cure Blossom and Marine, giving the impression that they'd be the first two-girl team since ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar''. [[spoiler:Erika doesn't become a Cure until episode 3, as the first two are spent beating Tsubomi over the head with the CallToAdventure.]]

* The trailers for ''LightNovel/OokamiSan'' said main heroine Ryouko Ookami was a new type of {{Tsundere}}. Actually she's quite typical (but still {{moe}}).

* On the final episode of ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'', they show off the trailer introducing ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'', which shows off scenes of Tsubomi and Erika together as both civilians and as Cure Blossom and Marine, giving the impression that they'd be the first two-girl team since ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar''. [[spoiler:Erika doesn't become a Cure until episode 3, as the first two is spent beating Tsubomi over the head with the CallToAdventure.]]

* 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.]]
** Regular Naruto episodes do this from time to time, too -- early in ''Shippuuden'', one episode made Naruto's knowledge of the ending of an "Icha Icha" book a plot point. The OnTheNext consisted of Tsunade yelling at him for reading porn, and telling him he'd be cleaning the Academy's toilets as punishment. The actual next episode was the start of the Rescue Gaara arc.
*** It was more or less intentional, since the first few chapters of ''Shippudden'' all do that. There was another where Naruto and Sakura argue over why they got a D rank mission.
*** In fact, not only does that not happen, [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole the details discussed in the preview (namely that Naruto only read a couple pages of the book) would turn out to conflict the manga's canon]], and thus are likely to become non-canon.
** Much earlier, the trailer and title for one episode suggested [[SealedEvilInACan the seal on the nine-tailed fox]] was about to be broken... but it was only ''loosened'' when Naruto began using its chakra for the first time, and we eventually find out that's only like ''one-tenth'' broken.
** In the Three-Tails arc trailer, Naruto stands beside the other members of Team 7 and Team 8 on the foggy lake, apparently facing off against Deidara and Tobi, and Orochimaru and Kabuto. He says "I'll never let them take the Three Tails!" [[spoiler:The Akatsuki don't come for the beast until after the Leaf ninja have left, and Naruto doesn't meet Tobi until late in the next arc]], so this scene never happens, and he never says that line.
* 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.
* Similarly, a TV-guide description of ''Tenchi Muyo in Love'' was "Police officers chase an escaped convict." While technically true, this leaves out the fact that they're SpacePolice officers, that the convict is a evil alien, that they're chasing it ''back in time'', and that said officers are only two members of the group that goes back -- and the ones who get the least attention, at that.
* The trailer for the original ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}'' TV Series not only has almost nothing to do with the plot of the TV series, but also features a completely different style of music and higher quality/differently styled animation to that which occurs in the series. The problem is that the trailer is based mainly off a volume of the manga that never made it into the TV series.
** It also ends with a tease of the Major. Neither he or anything to do with Millennium end up in the series, as it OvertookTheManga ''just'' before the introduction of Millennium.
* In TheNineties, ''Anime/SailorMoon'' was marketed by the [[Creator/DiC dub company]] to US TV stations with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEXqoPgbH0c this tape]], informing potential business partners that "[[PeripheryDemographic Boys]] will love the non-stop action!"
* The back of some of the DVD boxes for ''Manga/{{Gravitation}}'' are very carefully worded in just how they summarize the series and its events. It's entirely possible for someone to pick it up without realizing that it's a BoysLove series.
* ''Anime/{{Planetes}}'' does this deliberately with its PostEpisodeTrailer. While they use clips from the next episode, all of them are stripped of context and out-of-order, making it completely impossible to accurately guess the next episode's contents.
* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' is also known for misleading {{Post Episode Trailer}}s. While the narration is usually fairly accurate, it's played over mostly random shots from the next episode, and is done by the characters themselves who have a tendency to exaggerate and/or go off topic. One notable instance includes 2 or 3 references to Jaken, Sesshomaru's minion who featured prominently in the next episode, but those references are drowned out by Kagome confusing his name for Jan-Ken-Pon, the Japanese name for Rock-Paper-Scissors, and trying to convince the others to let her teach them how to play it.
* 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 Chrono]].
* ''Anime/MyHime'' also has some very misleading {{Post Episode Trailer}}s. Most notably, after episode 15's cliffhanger ending leaving us in doubt as to whether [[spoiler:Mai is dead]], the trailer indicates that [[spoiler:she is]], which turns out to be untrue.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** For every movie, the early Japanese teasers and trailers [[MissingTrailerScene 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.
** Not to mention how a trailer for ''Destiny Deoxys'' depicted a badass space battle between Deoxys and Ash riding on the back of Rayquaza, which was nowhere to be seen in the final cut.
** 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. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot 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.]]
** The trailer for ''Zoroark: Master of Illusions'' first depicted an aerial battle between Lugia and Ho-Oh, possibly intended to be a [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold/SoulSilver]] tie-in, later cut. The recent trailer shows Zoroark transforming into an evil version of Ash, but while Zorua did transform into Ash in the final film, it was for fun and had no real effect on the plot.
** Taken to what may be the extreme for ''Genesect and the Legend Awakened'' - whatever you see in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpn6nibaTSE these]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUfPFQCpJwU two]] trailers (which were somewhat close to the film's release) either happens in a different way in the actual movie or just '''flat-out doesn't happen ever.''' Not helping matters was the trailers not clarifying who Mewtwo [[Main/SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute actually was...]]
** An early trailer for the first movie consisted almost entirely of scenes that never appeared in the actual film, most infamously ones featuring an adult Misty together with a suspiciously familiar-looking child.
* The ''Gakuen Utopia Manga/ManabiStraight'' trailer featured missiles destroying clocktowers and city-levelling explosions, absolutely none of which were featured in the show itself. This somewhat disappointed many viewers, who were hoping for a TwistEnding they had pre-emptively dubbed "The Lolicaust".
* ''LightNovel/OurHomesFoxDeity'' plays its next episode previews completely straight at first, but as the series goes on, the previews start to consist entirely of scenes that never happen in the next episode. Such as a {{kaiju}} battle between Kuugen and Byakki.
* Spoofed by ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' by having trailers which have the scenes edited so the show resembles a romantic comedy and an action show.
* Quite a lot of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' {{Post Episode Trailer}}s had Misato Katsuragi promising "more fanservice!" in a cheery voice. Not many episodes delivered, or at least not as much as was promised. One trailer promised that the series was a light-hearted mecha anime.
* ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'''s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-rjxQm_6Go American trailer]], which makes it seem like something Creator/MichaelBay would come up with, rather cleverly concealing all the angst.
** The preview of the second movie played at the end of the first turned out to have several scenes that didn't actually appear or did appear, but were radically different. This is due to the fact that the second movie was still just beginning production when the preview was called to be made. Also, the end-of-movie previews are a MythologyGag for the {{Post Episode Trailer}}s of the original series, including the promise of more fanservice.
** Repeated with the preview for the third movie attached to the ending of the second movie. It contained scenes that didn't appear at all in the final film or were radically different, and hinted at an adaptation of episode 24 despite the actual film [[spoiler: starting after a 14 year TimeSkip!]] It should be noted that it wasn't an intentional case, as the script of the third movie was radically altered during production.
** ''Rebuild'' finally paid up that fanservice Misato's been promising.

* Behold [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSkrKXp2Ces the trailer]] for ''Anime/TweenyWitches''. Look exciting? Not a single frame of it appears anywhere in the actual series.
* The trailers for the anime adaptation of one TearJerker of a strip in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' showed the episode being in English (the strip concerns America and England, both being English speakers). Fans feared some very serious {{Narm}} since the {{Engrish}} was barely understandable. However, the actual episode turned out to be in Japanese.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' used extreme hyperbole in its next-episode previews, and was not above outright lying to the audience to hype up an episode. The most famous example is an episode called "Koji Kabuto Dies in Lava!"
** This one is so infamous it was endlessly mocked and parodied, culminating in one of the Mazinkaizer stage in ''Super Robot Wars J'' being called "Kouji Kabuto Dies in Lava!?"
** The second to last ''Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}}'' episode was also called "Kouji Kabuto Dies in Lava!" [[spoiler: He almost does, but the [[JetPack Kaiser Scrandrer]] pulls him out.]]
* Famously, some of the boxes for ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' described the series as a "sex comedy." Considering the lack of actual sex in the show, they probably meant "gender comedy."
* Done many, many times in Italian dub openings (see also SpoilerOpening). Examples:
** ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'': the opening says Kyōsuke (dubbed Johnny in Italy) is psychokinetic and can also read minds. Ok, he's psychokinetic, but he can't read minds. (Probably this is due to a misunderstanding: in an episode, Kyōsuke and his cousin Kazuya [[FreakyFriday switch bodies]], and Kazuya can read minds). Furthermore, the song focuses on Kyōsuke's powers, but the plot is actually focused on the LoveTriangle.
** ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'': the opening says Nadia and Jean are 13. But they're 14 !
** ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': the first time it was aired in Italy (by Odeon TV, in 1990), the opening depicted it as the story of some guys fighting each other in a tournament to win the Sagittarius golden armor - repeating obsessively "only one in the end will win". Actually, the tournament only lasts the first few episodes, it's abruptly interrupted when the bad guys show up, [[spoiler: and it's NEVER resumed, so that NOBODY wins the tournament]]. Oh, yes, [[spoiler:sometimes the main character wears the Sagittarius armor, but only because the armor is somewhat sentient and ''decides'' to protect him - after all, he's TheHero]].
*** Furthermore, the opening call the characters "Saints", but they are never called Saints in the Italian dub, only Knights.
*** Before it was broadcast, the Odeon TV spot announced it as a new cartoon coming "sulle ali della fantascienza più sfrenata" ("on the wings of the most unleashed science fiction"). But science fiction has little or no role in the plot.
*** In 1991 a new opening was aired: AGAIN, it focused around the tournament, around winning the golden armor as the only important thing, around "the stronger in the end will win". It included also nonsensical sentences such as "l'amicizia non ha più dignità" ("friendship has no longer dignity"): friendship among the main characters is a very important plot point, as in many similar stories.
* The opening for ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'' makes it look like a happy, up-beat love story with lots of {{Fanservice}}. It begins that way, but rapidly turns into something much darker.

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' - The next-episode previews have been full of blatant lies, characters acting incredibly out-of-character and inside-jokes. Likewise with a good number of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' Kai's previews.
* ''Ninja Resurrection : The Revenge of Jubei'' is one of the most infamous examples. ADV Films put together a rather deceptive trailer and marketing campaign that made it look like the series was a sequel to ''Anime/NinjaScroll''. In fact, the two works have nothing in common except that the main characters both happen to be named Jubei. The series wasn't even originally titled "Ninja Resurrection" in Japan! Despite this, ''Ninja Resurrection'' sold like hotcakes on the strength of the deception. In fact, it sold better than the ''actual'' sequel to ''Ninja Scroll''!
* ''Literature/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''.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''. Funimation decided to parody the hell out of this trope and for the first 1/3 of the [[http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=video&v=3535 trailer]] made it seem like some sort of old black and white historical anime with mild, believable violence that makes one wonder why it's rated TV-MA. Then cut to a film reel ending and some guys staring boredly, then the real trailer with blood, big booms, guns, cut off limbs, ect.

* ''Anime/FirstSquad'' had this pretty badly. Early trailers advertised, among other things, ''Nazi mechas''. What we got were medieval people on horseback.
** In fact this isn't completely true. The trailers never shows the mechas, as the clips in it were straight from the movie. The mechas appeared in a russian [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbp5AJ63kEI Russian music video]], that was produced by parts of the same crew, that later made the film and that inspired them. Still it's not an official trailer.

* The preview of the final episode of ''Manga/DeathNote'' has Yagami Light laughing triumphantly while saying that he is Kira, followed by the title "New World", implementing that Light has won and he is going to change the world at his own disposal. The actual story has him [[spoiler:beaten down to the bottom and every cop chasing him. The ending also reveals that he actually dies miserably having accomplished nothing at all.]]
* May also be a mixed example with CoversAlwaysLie, but in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Nel's [[spoiler:adult form]] is heavily and prominently featured in cover arts, anime openings, anime closings, video game trailers, and other media, despite the fact that it only appears for a couple chapters and plays almost no actual role in the story.
* The trailer for the 4th episode of ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' shows clips of the long-awaited fight between Sabi Hakuhei and Shichika (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.
* ''Anime/RoyalSpaceForceTheWingsOfHonneamise'' gave the impression of an action film to the North American audience. This slow-paced drama made people realise the trailer was for the last ten minutes (that includes credits).

* ''Anime/{{Wolverine}}'' had an infamously inaccurate trailer, showing, among other things, Wolverine with a Mullet, looking several years younger than he really should, and fighting ghosts. The trailer was bad enough for the hardcore Marvel fans to deem the entire anime the work of the devil, and secretly directed by Hitler himself. God help you if you confess to actually watching and *gasp* not hating it with a fiery passion.
* You can't forget ''Anime/IronMan''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Q7xgxDJh4 What happened guys?]]
* The back of the case for ''Anime/{{Digimon|Adventure}}: TheMovie'' mentions in the synopsis "a wayward digimon kidnaps the Digi-Destined". While this in fact ''does'' happen in the original movie, the North American version of the movie is a [[CompilationMovie mish-mash]] of the first three movies with an altered plot to link them together. So the kidnapping sub-plot of the third part of the movie never actually happens.
** In a case more or less played straight, ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' up to this day has never been aired in the UK. Between 2004-2005, Fox Kids aired a trailer for Digimon announcing new episodes which showed footage straight from ''Frontier''. However, the episodes that were aired were instead from ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and that little bit of footage from a 30 second long commercial was as much as any UK viewer got to see of ''Frontier''.
* The trailers for ''[[LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}} Nisemonogatari]]'' showed Suruga's big bare ass fully uncensored, but once the series proper aired, it was censored by a weird grey blur or books. Particularly bad because Creator/StudioSHAFT had never censored {{fanservice}} scenes before, in fact the first season was fine with showing Hitagi's bare butt.
* ''Anime/BlackRockShooter'' (2012 anime) emphasizes new character Chariot in the trailers and the promotional artwork. Meanwhile, Strength only appears on one poster [[DemotedToExtra and is in fact the least prominent character displayed in that poster.]] [[spoiler: Their importance in the series is completely inverted. Chariot is killed off in the second episode, while Strength turns out to be central to the plot. To an extent, this also applies to Chariot's other self Kagari (who diminishes in importance after the second episode), and Strength's other self Yuu (also central to the plot).]]

* When Creator/KidsWB was first promoting ''[[Manga/CardCaptorSakura Cardcaptors]]'', the commercials gave Li top billing despite Sakura being the main character. Then again, [[ExecutiveMeddling the series was also edited]] [[CulturalTranslation to give Li a bigger role and promote him as an equal partner to Sakura]] (and arguably, a mentor figure to her in the early episodes).
* On the final episode of ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'', they show off the trailer introducing ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'', which shows off scenes of Tsubomi and Erika together as both civilians and as Cure Blossom and Marine, giving the impression that they'd be the first two-girl team since ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar''. [[spoiler:Erika doesn't become a Cure until episode 3, as the first two is spent beating Tsubomi over the head with the CallToAdventure.]]
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** ''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.
** For ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'', the previews for Episode 31 make it appear that Goku fights Recoome, Jeice, and Burter of the Ginyu Force all at the same time. Anyone who's actually watched the original ''Z'' cut or read the manga knows that Goku not only takes Recoome out first before ever fighting the others, but beats him [[OneHitKO with one hit]].
** 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 for about three minutes, and Zamasu is instead finished off by Trunks gathering the energy of everyone on earth.
** The first trailer for ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' features Broly, in his "Rage" state, attacking Frieza. [[spoiler:In the film proper, Broly has become a Super Saiyan by the time he attacks Frieza, which is in the tail end of the movie.]]
* In an English print advertisement for the ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' manga, the blurb itself is perfectly correct...but then it has a picture of [[MsFanservice Rin]] (who doesn't even show up until volume 9) instead of the actual main character, Tohru.

* Parodied in one after-credits trailer in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': Ed claims that the other cast members were all killed and next week the show will be replaced with The Adventures of Cowgirl Edward. Spike and Faye break in at the last moment and frantically try to convince the viewer that it's all a lie and there really is a next episode.
* Promotional material for ''Anime/HighSchoolFleet'' made a point of never mentioning that warships are involved. A particularly bizarre example since this meant they had to ''never use the show's title'' (consistently referred to as "[[OfficiallyShortenedTitle Hai-Furi]]") and create a new logo.
* ''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. The soundtrack for the trailer is also jazz despite the band playing classical.

* ''Anime/MaiHiME'' also has some very misleading {{Post Episode Trailer}}s. Most notably, after episode 15's cliffhanger ending leaving us in doubt as to whether [[spoiler:Mai is dead]], the trailer indicates that [[spoiler:she is]], which turns out to be untrue.

* The trailers for the anime adaptation of one TearJerker of a strip in ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' showed the episode being in English (the strip concerns America and England, both being English speakers). Fans feared some very serious {{Narm}} since the {{Engrish}} was barely understandable. However, the actual episode turned out to be in Japanese.

* The trailer for ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' paints the show as being a SurvivalHorror series where the main character must contend with a zombie apocalypse of some kind. But with all plot details being kept completely under wraps until its premiere date, no one ''really'' knew for sure. 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 not only are the heroine and other girls zombies themselves, but that the show's focus is lampooning IdolSinger anime and the Japanese idol industry as a whole.]]

** For ''Anime/DragonBallKai'', the previews for Episode 31 make it appear that Goku fights Recoome, Jeice, and Burter of the Ginyu Force all at the same time. Anyone who's actually watched the original ''Z'' cut or read the manga knows that Goku not only takes Recoome out first before ever fighting the others, but beats him [[OneHitKO with one hit]].

* ''LightNovel/WagayaNoOinariSama'' plays its next episode previews completely straight at first, but as the series goes on, the previews start to consist entirely of scenes that never happen in the next episode. Such as a {{kaiju}} battle between Kuugen and Byakki.