History TomatoSurprise / AnimeAndManga

* Pulled not once, but ''three times'' in ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'', each time proving our OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent protagonists to be [[BewareTheNiceOnes not quite so ordinary]]: first, shy, naive Mikado turns out to be the founder and leader of the Dollars, then ShrinkingViolet Anri is not only in possession of the original Saika, but she's been keeping it under control for the past ''five years'', and ''then'' easy-going, bad-joke-cracking Masaomi is the ex-general of the Yellow Scarves. Whew! Made even better when you watch the anime back through again, and realize that ''all the clues are there'' for you to figure it out yourself.

* [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It was once planned]] for ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' to eventually reveal that the boring old town of Mabase is actually on Mars. This got RefittedForSequel, sort of, since ''Anime/FLCLAlternative'' was originally designed as a StealthPrequel and ends in a way that could set this twist up.

* ''[[VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo ef: A Tale Of Memories]]'' pulled an awesome example, revealed in the second season of the anime. Revealed at the very end of the game). Hiro, Miyako, and Yuuko are not in the same city as Renji, Chihiro, and Yuu. The two cities are both named Otowa, both have churches and schools. But one is located in Japan, the other is located in Australia.
%%* ''Manga/{{Sola}}'': The whole cast doesn't seem quite right from the beginning.
* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaInTheWanNyanSpacetimeOdyssey'' have the revelation of Hachi, a young andromorphic dog-boy, who turns out to be Ichi - the first president of the Wan-Nyan country 1,000 years ago, after being hit by a time warp during a botched TimeTravel that [[FountainOfYouth regresses him to an infant]] and losing his past memory. He gets a RegainedMemoriesSequence near the end after hitting his head when Nobita saves him from drowning.
* Pulled not once, but ''three times'' in ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'', each time proving our OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent protagonists to be [[BewareTheNiceOnes not quite so ordinary]]: first, shy, naive Mikado turns out to be the founder and leader of the Dollars, then ShrinkingViolet Anri is not only in possession of the original Saika, but she's been keeping it under control for the past ''five years'', and ''then'' easy-going, bad-joke-cracking Masaomi is the ex-general of the Yellow Scarves. Whew! Made even better when you watch the anime back through again, and realize that ''all the clues are there'' for you to figure it out yourself.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has the revelation that Portgas D. Ace is not Luffy's biological brother, but actually the son of the Pirate King, Gold Roger. While this is treated as a heart-stopping revelation by both the audience ''and'' most of the ''One Piece'' world (and rightfully so), those closest to him were perfectly aware of it and honestly didn't care. Hell, Luffy knew about it ever since they first met, and the only reason he never told anyone is that ''[[YouDidntAsk nobody bothered to ask]]''.

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' had Subaru and Ginga being Combat Cyborgs. Everyone knew from the beginning with the exception of Erio, Caro, and possibly a few minor members of Riot Force Six (yes, even the antagonists knew).
* [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It was once planned]] for ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' eventually reveal that the boring old town of Mabase is actually on Mars. This got RefittedForSequel, sort of, since ''Anime/FLCLAlternative'' was originally designed as a StealthPrequel and ends in a way that could set this twist up.
* ''Manga/{{i tell c}}'' opens with the news of the murder of an actress at the hands of a stalker, while her actor friend is also stalked by a mysterious woman who may or may not be the actress's murderer. As it turns out, the actor is the murderer, and his stalker is a police detective who is employing the same stalking technique to find evidence of the actor's guilt.
* When ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' introduces Soga's sister Haya, she pretends she's her brother [[GenderBender turned into a girl]] like Matsuri was. This audience is led to believe this is true by starting the chapter as Soga and Ponosuke are attacked by an unseen assailant, then cutting to Ponosuke claiming Haya is Soga. Later it turns out Soga was MuggedForDisguise and Ponosuke was threatened into supporting the ruse.
* ''Manga/GetterRobo Devolution'' eventually reveals that the whole setting is actually a virtual world, a simulation that the Getter Team had started running after their battles against the Hundred Demon Empire. All of Ryoma, Hayato's, and Musashi's trials had been meant to gather data to create the ultimate Getter.

* ''Manga/AstraLostInSpace'' runs into this for the final leg of its story. When the crew of the ''Astra'' rescue the sole survivor of a space expedition, the rescue, Polina, wants to know that happened to Earth while she was put in cryogenic sleep. The crew's leader Kanata then asks her what "Planet Earth" even ''is'', revealing that much more time than Polina thought had passed and that the characters the narrative has been following aren't space-stranded Earthlings as was implied. It also puts into context the GreatOffscreenWar that occurred some years prior to the main story; that war was actually what led to the destruction of Earth and the creation of Astra, the main characters' actual home planet.

* When ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' introduces Soga's sister Haya, she pretends she's her brother [[GenderBender turned into a girl]] like Matsuri was. This audience is lead to believe this is true by starting the chapter as Soga and Ponosuke are attacked by an unseen assailant, then cutting to Ponosuke claiming Haya is Soga. Later it turns out Soga was MuggedForDisguise and Ponosuke was threatened into supporting the ruse.

* Pulled not once, but ''three times'' in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', each time proving our OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent protagonists to be [[BewareTheNiceOnes not quite so ordinary]]: first, shy, naive Mikado turns out to be the founder and leader of the Dollars, then ShrinkingViolet Anri is not only in possession of the original Saika, but she's been keeping it under control for the past ''five years'', and ''then'' easy-going, bad-joke-cracking Masaomi is the ex-general of the Yellow Scarves. Whew! Made even better when you watch the anime back through again, and realize that ''all the clues are there'' for you to figure it out yourself.

* ''i tell c'' opens with the news of the murder of an actress at the hands of a stalker, while her actor friend is also stalked by a mysterious woman who may or may not be the actress's murderer. As it turns out, the actor is the murderer, and his stalker is a police detective who is employing the same stalking technique to find evidence of the actor's guilt.

* ''[[VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo ef: A Tale Of Memories]]'' pulled an awesome example, revealed in the second season of the anime. Revealed at the very end of the game). [[spoiler:Hiro, Miyako, and Yuuko are not in the same city as Renji, Chihiro, and Yuu. The two cities are both named Otowa, both have churches and schools. But one is located in Japan, the other is located in Australia.]]

* Pulled not once, but ''three times'' in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', each time proving our OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent protagonists to be [[BewareTheNiceOnes not quite so ordinary]]: [[spoiler:first, shy, naive Mikado turns out to be the founder and leader of the Dollars, then ShrinkingViolet Anri is not only in possession of the original Saika, but she's been keeping it under control for the past ''five years'', and ''then'' easy-going, bad-joke-cracking Masaomi is the ex-general of the Yellow Scarves.]] Whew! Made even better when you watch the anime back through again, and realize that ''all the clues are there'' for you to figure it out yourself.
* ''Literature/{{Another}}'': The fact that [[spoiler:his aunt Reiko and his assistant homeroom teacher Ms. Mikami are the same person]] is not a secret to the protagonist Kouichi, but the anime hides it from the audience until the final episode, making it harder to connect the dots leading to [[spoiler:the identity of the DeadAllAlong person in his homeroom class]].
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has the revelation that [[spoiler:Portgas D. Ace is not Luffy's biological brother, but actually the son of the Pirate King, Gold Roger]]. While this is treated as a heart-stopping revelation by both the audience ''and'' most of the ''One Piece'' world (and rightfully so), those closest to him were perfectly aware of it and honestly didn't care. Hell, Luffy knew about it ever since they first met, and the only reason he never told anyone is that ''[[YouDidntAsk nobody bothered to ask]]''.

** ''The Land Of Mirrors'' has the protagonist think that the land inside of mirrors is real and humans are being replaced by their reflections, the only noticeable difference being that their appearance is, well, mirror-reversed. The real revelation is that the land of mirrors ''does'' exist... but that it is ''our'' 'real world' that is the mirrored land and our reflections are the actual real world.

** ''The Family Of Five'' has the strange occurrence of the youngest daughter always being with her family: her father, mother, brother, and sister. Yet nobody ever thought it was a strange thing, not even that the whole family was going to school with her! Sick and tired of this, especially when a crush of hers confesses and realizing she'll never be left alone by them, she starts brandishing a knife... We suddenly cut to a home economics classroom, where a student accidentally cut her smallest finger off. The family of five was actually a 'family' of fingers on one hand.

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' had [[spoiler:Subaru and Ginga being Combat Cyborgs]]. Everyone knew from the beginning with the exception of Erio, Caro, and possibly a few minor members of Riot Force Six (yes, even the antagonists knew).
* [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It was once planned]] for ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' eventually reveal that the boring old town of Mabase is actually [[spoiler:on Mars]]. This got RefittedForSequel, sort of, since ''Anime/FLCLAlternative'' was originally designed as a StealthPrequel and ends in a way that could set this twist up.
* ''i tell c'' opens with the news of the murder of an actress at the hands of a stalker, while her actor friend is also stalked by a mysterious woman who may or may not be the actress's murderer. As it turns out, [[spoiler:the actor is the murderer, and his stalker is a police detective who is employing the same stalking technique to find evidence of the actor's guilt.]]

* A short manga[[labelnote:*]]'This Father and Son Will Cross the Line in 10 days'[[/labelnote]] depicts a father and his son who crossdresses as his late wife, and slowly develops into a {{Squick}}-tastic ParentalIncest story, culminating with a visit to a love hotel to spend their night together. But the final chapters twist the whole thing on its head: [[spoiler:The crossdressing 'son' is actually the man's own legitimate wife, who breaks down after their son dies in an accident and has been imagining herself as their late son ever since.]]

* A short manga[[labelnote:*]]'This Father and Son Will Cross the Line in 10 days'[[/labelnote]] depicts a father and his son who crossdresses as his late wife, and slowly developing into a {{Squick}}-tastic ParentalIncest story, culminating with a visit to a love hotel to spend their night together. But the final chapters twisted the whole thing on its head: [[spoiler:The crossdressing 'son' is actually the man's own legitimate wife, who breaks down after their son dies in an accident and has been imagining herself as their late son ever since.]]

* A short Pixiv manga[[labelnote:*]]'This Father and Son Will Cross the Line in 10 days'[[/labelnote]] depicts a father and his son who crossdresses as his late wife, and slowly developing into a {{Squick}}-tastic ParentalIncest story, culminating with a visit to a love hotel to spend their night together. But the final chapters twisted the whole thing on its head: [[spoiler:The crossdressing 'son' is actually the man's own legitimate wife, who breaks down after their son dies in an accident and imagines herself as their late son as a result.]]