Line #108 Main/TheSeriesHasLeftReality


1	%%%
2	%%
3	%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
4	%%
5	%%%
6
7	[[quoteright:200:[[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imgonline_com_ua_twotoone_yphju9m5uondx.jpg]]]]
8
9	Some 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.
10
11	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.
12
13	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.
14
15	Subtrope of FantasyCreep, in that these examples will all have started on a plausible earthlike world only to then slowly depart, as opposed to potentially not even starting off plausible and earthlike.
16
17	----
18	!!Examples:
19
20	[[foldercontrol]]
21
22	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
23	* ''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.
24	* ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'' starts out as a high school drama about a socially anxious teenage wolf prone to fits of violent hunger who falls in love with a rabbit. The final arc has, among other things, SupernaturalMartialArts, a government conspiracy surrounding a whale that ended this world's equivalent of World War I, ghosts, and the protagonist tanking multiple point-blank grenade explosions ''at the same time'' without even flinching.
25	* ''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''.
26	* ''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.
27	* ''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.
28	* ''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.
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Comic Books]]
32	* 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.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
36	* ''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.
37	* ''ComicStrip/{{Crabgrass}}'' originally started as a fairly grounded in reality slice of life comic about two best friends living in a pre-2000 era and getting up in typical childish shenanigans. Then supernatural elements began to enter the comic, starting with Gene's subplot where he encounters a society of living mascot costumes during a September - November 2021 story arc. This was followed by an arc where Kevin becomes a mutant with telepathic powers and a class of superpowered students is brought in to defeat him, an arc where the boys encounter a sentient ice cream truck, and an arc where Kevin and Miles [[FreakyFridayFlip switch bodies]].
38	* ''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.
39	* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' was realistic until Charlie Brown taught Snoopy to walk upright in 1958.
40	* As documented by Website/PlatypusComix in [[http://www.platypuscomix.com/otherpeople/safehavens.html this article]], ''ComicStrip/SafeHavens'' started out as a relatively grounded strip about the antics of a group of preschoolers at the eponymous daycare center, where the kids acted WiseBeyondTheirYears and Roger was forever hiding inside a box but things stayed fairly within the realm of reality, even as the comic strip eventually broke ComicBookTime and allowed the children to age. The tipping point came in 1998 when Samantha met a mermaid on the beach, and from that point out the comic changed from a relatively realistic slice-of-life comic to a fantasy comic involving characters being able to shapeshift into merpeople and animals, animals and humans being able talk to each other, Samantha communicating with her late grandmother through a mirror and her time-travelling grandchild from the future...all of which started with a bunch of preschoolers in a daycare saying and doing precocious things.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
44	* ''WesternAnimation/AlphaAndOmega'': The first film in the series is the only movie in the franchise that started off even remotely grounded in reality before going off in wackier, more fantastical directions in later installments. Compare the ''Romeo & Juliet''-esque plot of the first movie where the most outlandish thing was the wolves being able to dance, to that of the fifth movie which involves dinosaurs waking up in the wolves' forest in the present day.
45	* Not unlike ''Alpha and Omega'', ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' in its first movie was fairly grounded in reality and ''much'' darker and sadder than its later installments. However, even as early as [[WesternAnimation/IceAgeTheMeltdown the second film]], the human characters were put OutOfFocus and the tone of the series was starting to become more like a zany cartoon compared to the first movie, eventually getting to the point that the plot of [[WesternAnimation/IceAgeCollisionCourse the fifth film]] revolves around the cast trying to save the world from an asteroid and makes magic canon to the series to boot.
46	* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'': In the first book. it seems like Mowgli just [[SpeaksFluentAnimal understands the animal languages]], but in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook2'' it's revealed that animals can communicate with all humans.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50	* ''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 drug kingpin's yacht, sowing the seeds for the over-the-top action the franchise is currently known for. By ''Film/FastX'', the tendency is lampshaded, with Aimes pointing out how Dom and his crew went from boosting trucks in LA to boosting ''[[spoiler:nuclear submarines]]'', breaking "every law of God and gravity" in the process.
51	* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'': The [[Film/FridayThe13th1980 first film]] was about a [[MamaBear grieving mother]] taking revenge on the summer camp counselors whose negligence she blamed for her son's death, then returning to the camp to kill again decades later when it is slated to reopen. Barring the OrWasItADream ending, its story was firmly grounded in reality. The [[Film/FridayThe13thPart2 second film]] reveals that the son in question, Jason Voorhees, was [[{{Retcon}} actually still alive]] and had been living as a hermit in the woods the whole time, and he takes up his mother's machete and stalks the camp for three movies. A little over-the-top, but not outside the realm of possibility. But then he keeps getting harder to kill to the point where an ''axe to the skull'' only temporarily slows him down. After he was KilledOffForReal at the end of the [[Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter fourth film]], the [[Film/FridayThe13thPartVANewBeginning fifth]] tried to go back to realism [[spoiler:by having a JackTheRipoff of Jason as the villain]], but that proved so unpopular that the [[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives sixth film]] brought Jason BackFromTheDead as a RevenantZombie, the first of many supernatural or sci-fi gimmicks that later film would employ.
52	* ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'': The [[Film/Halloween1978 first film]] was about the escaped, murderous mental patient Michael Myers returning to his hometown to kill again, and while the [[Film/HalloweenII1981 second film]] added the twist that he and the FinalGirl were [[LongLostRelative long-lost siblings]], it remained grounded in reality. (The [[Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch third film]] was a supernatural horror story, but that was an expressly non-canon side story made in an attempt to turn ''Halloween'' into a GenreAnthology series.) Then came the "Thorn Trilogy" continuity of the [[Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers fourth]], [[Film/Halloween5TheRevengeOfMichaelMyers fifth]], and [[Film/HalloweenTheCurseOfMichaelMyers sixth]] films, where Michael was tied to an ancient Celtic curse that compelled him to kill with help from an [[ReligionOfEvil evil druidic cult]]. Fans rolled their eyes, as did the first film's director Creator/JohnCarpenter, and [[AlternateContinuity all later continuities]] would expunge any supernatural elements from the series, or at most go the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane route.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Literature]]
56	* 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]].
57	* ''Literature/TheGiver'' starts out in a futuristic dystopian society in which all aspects of life are controlled. However, once the concept of the transmission of memory is introduced, it becomes clear that this world involves supernatural elements. This is further evidenced in [[Literature/TheGiverQuartet the later novels]] that include a malevolent forest and a demon trader.
58	* ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'' starts in reality, until the title character is provoked into such terrible anger that she gains telekinetic powers. Matilda and Miss Honey try to analyse these scientifically. [[spoiler: Later, Matilda loses her powers, and again, she and Miss Honey talk about why this happened.]]
59	* 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.
60	* Creator/StephenKing's Bill Hodges trilogy starts as a crime series before veering off from reality in the third entry ''Literature/EndOfWatch'', which provides a pseudo-scientific explanation for the killer's supernatural powers. The spinoff ''Literature/TheOutsider2018'' departs completely and has a [[spoiler:shape-shifting]] monster as its antagonist.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
64	* ''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.
65	* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' takes place firmly in the real world in its early seasons. But when Steve Urkel's inventions proved a popular plot point, they started getting increasingly fantastical, going from a functioning jetpack to a robot with artificial intelligence, to a machine that turns him into a suave ladies' man, to fusing his DNA with Elvis and finally up to shrink rays and time travel.
66	* ''Series/GilligansIsland'': The first season 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 2: seeds which can grant psychic abilities, a robot, Dr. Balinkoff's [[FreakyFridayFlip mind swapping experiment]], and a meteor which accelerates aging. Season 3 features radioactive vegetables, a voodoo witch doctor, Balinkoff's mind control rings, Gilligan getting magnetized, and a jet pack.
67	* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': Perhaps a mild example, since the series wasn't especially grounded in reality to begin with, but the first season was a relatively normal sitcom about a dysfunctional family that continuously snarked at each other, while the second season gradually ramped up the cheesecake until it became what it is remembered as; a raunchy sex comedy with a cat-calling audience. The second season began introducing more cartoonish elements that just got crazier as the series went on. Including:
68	** Al went from a guy with lousy luck to a being under an apparently real "Bundy Curse" meaning nothing would ever work out for him. He complained a few times in the first season about his marriage and family (hence the title) but it wasn't until the episode "Al Loses His Cherry" that his life turned into a series of temptations to cheat on Peg with hot, willing, chesty bimbos who were played by Playboy Bunnies. The episode was meant to be a one-off, but it began to happen so often that you wondered what sort of brain injuries made these women want the schlubby, balding Al. This was also portrayed as part of the Bundy Curse; he would forever be reminded of what he was missing out on by marrying Peg, even though he didn't have the strength to actually break his marriage vows. One episode (how's this for reality) had a past lover of Al's return...wanting to ''buy Al as her personal sex slave''! A final note about Al; he worked as a shoe salesman, and was shown to be poor at it. Poor salesmen earn very little, and he was the only breadwinner in the house, and yet not only did he own the home, but it was a fairly large, spacious home, and their lack of money was often blamed on Peg and the kids demanding it from him for their own selfish purposes (as the opening credits depicted). He shouldn't have had nearly enough money to hand out to them all.
69	** Peggy went from a lazy housewife who didn't like cooking or cleaning to an outright neglectful mother who literally never cleaned, cooked or even bought food, to the point where the family had to find other means to survive. Then there was her seeming indifference to whether the kids had their needs met. Later episodes showed that she spent all the family's money on impulse buys, some of them fairly extravagant, despite the fact that Al worked a job that paid poorly (see above).
70	** Peg's family was established as white trash, but when we began meeting them in later seasons, they were crazy, literally inbred hillbilly stereotypes
71	** This is to say nothing of her mother, who, when her shape was seen in the first season, seemed to be an obese woman of perhaps 300 lbs. This was [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into her becoming so fat that the ground would shake when she walked, her rolling over in bed made the below ceiling crumble, she apparently once wrapped her dog in bacon and ate it in one sitting, uses a pitchfork as an eating utensil, and might very well have eaten one of Peg's other family members. She was never seen in full on camera because no human could have done her justice.
72	** Bud in the first and second season didn't spend much time, if any, pursuing girls. Gradually he grew into being a lonely, dorky pervert, which eventually morphed into his becoming so sex-obsessed (yet unable to get any) that he openly dated rubber women and masturbated constantly. Eventually, he developed a similar situation to Al, where unbelievably hot girls would use him sexually in various ways, either to make their boyfriends jealous, didn't realize it was him, were about to be sent to a convent or other forms of "last flings", etc. and yet he was still constantly made fun of by Kelly for being a lonely virgin.
73	** Kelly was perhaps the most [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness different in the first season]] from how she is usually remembered. She had a lot of boyfriends, but we never actually saw most of them, nor was there any hint of her being [[ReallyGetsAround the school slut]]. She did poorly in school, but mostly out of indifference rather than a lack of brain power, and her typical outfit was jeans and a t-shirt, with the first season's finale being the first time we saw what would become her normal fashion sense, and in that episode she was going to a party. The second season was when her outfits started to get gradually more revealing, an early episode implied she had just come back from having sex, one of her friends was apparently pregnant, and late in the season, she fell for an obvious prank from Bud (and a second similar one), and it was that moment that the Kelly we all remember was born; a blonde bimbo with only occasional GeniusDitz moments, who dressed like a [[{{Stripperiffic}} stripper]] and had a long list of lovers, including many of her friends' boyfriends, fathers and other grown, married men, most of them utter scumbags that Al took great pleasure in throwing out of the house. She was also increasingly portrayed as some sort of sex goddess; her mere presence would arouse the men around her and when she performed a dance in her school auditorium, it caused an orgy. Once, doing her "signature move" indoors, with the door closed, caused a firefighter to immediately rush in, ignoring a fire he had been called to so he could make time with Kelly. In keeping with her unrealistic portrayal, the subject of unwanted pregnancies (for her, anyway) or STI's was ever brought up, and Al seemed to believe that she was an innocent virgin.
74	** In general, none of the adults on this show behaved in anything like a realistic manner. They were one and all so self-centered, immature, graspy, over-the-top weird or excessively horny that it was as if the series took place in an alternate reality where no one matured past high school and {{Flanderization}} was the norm.
75	* ''Series/{{Oz}}'': The first few seasons are quirky, but gritty and brutally realistic. Later seasons began introducing increasingly bizarre elements, such as a storyline about "aging drugs" straight out of a sci-fi story and a character seemingly developing magical powers before mysteriously disappearing ([[DoingInTheWizard though this was later]] {{retcon}}ned [[DoingInTheWizard to him being killed and entombed in the walls of the prison]]) to a character who claimed to be possessed by the Devil, and might actually have been, considering that he can speak in VoiceOfTheLegion.
76	* ''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=].
77	* ''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]].
78	* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' began as a DarkerAndEdgier TeenDrama adaptation of the Creator/ArchieComics characters, and while its plotlines started with a murder mystery and a TeacherStudentRomance and later included organized crime, serial killers, and drug rings, these were still within the bounds of possibility on a show that was supposed to be grounded in reality. Later seasons started incorporating more explicitly supernatural and sci-fi elements, including superpowers, an AlternateUniverse, TimeTravel, and a crossover with ''Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina'', which was always a more overtly fantastical show.
79	* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'': Originally a comedy about a struggling blue-collar family, the last season takes a major (and infamous) turn for the bizarre. The Conners win millions of dollars in the lottery, revamp the house into a mansion, and begin overturning high society with their lowbrow ways. Roseanne and Jackie attend a party that spoofs ''Film/RosemarysBaby'', Jackie is romanced by a European prince, Roseanne thwarts terrorists on a train, and the rest of the family are mostly DemotedToExtra until Darlene gives birth (which ends with the miraculous healing of her premature newborn). In the finale, it all turns out to be the plot of a book Roseanne writes after Dan's death from a heart attack... and then the revival series retcons said book and death immediately.
80	* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' leaves reality when a room at a hotel appears to be ''actually'' haunted (after the cast tricks Zack into believing it was haunted, the real ghost makes herself known), and keeps going from there; 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''.
81	* ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'' might have been science fiction, but it began as an attempt to show a future that could actually happen; technology and science was based on actual research and the first half of the first season stayed firmly grounded in reality. Then aliens show up. Then giant fire-breathing worms. Then the aliens transport the characters to their planet. Then they send them back, a decade later, having not aged. That's to say nothing of genetically engineered people being commonplace, starting with Season 2.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Music]]
85	* 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 [[FetishizedAbuser adoring punchbags]] to [[PsychoExGirlfriend completely insane women who make Shady look normal]].
86	* "Alive" by Music/PearlJam is part of a musical trilogy that continues with "Once" and concludes with "Footsteps" [[note]]The first two appeared out of sequence on the band's debut, while "Footsteps" was released as a b-side.[[/note]]. "Alive" begins with the narrator's mother telling him that the man he believed to be his father is in fact not, and that his real father has been dead for some time, which actually happened to Eddie Vedder. The song departs from real life after that when he grows up to be the spitting image of his father and is molested by his mother. "Once" sees the now mentally disturbed narrator become a spree shooter, and in "Footsteps", he contemplates his life choices while awaiting execution.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Video Games]]
90	* ''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.
91	* 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.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Web Comics]]
95	%% * 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.
96	* [[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.
97	* ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'' was relatively restrained when it first started with its primary bit of unreality being Woo able to speak human languages. Later developments would see all animals able to communicate with each other along with having human-level intelligence and a functioning society. This was then followed with the inclusion of actual deities and Larisa making a DealWithTheDevil to rule in Hell as a succubus when she dies.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Web Video]]
101	* ''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.
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Western Animation]]
105	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' started off as a quirky but still relatively grounded series about what life is like for the only boy among 11 siblings, with the more fantastical elements and episodes usually turning out to be AllJustADream or an ImagineSpot Lincoln or someone else is having. Over time, however, the more outlandish and silly elements slowly began to bleed into reality until things like time travel, ghosts, and magic became an everyday occurrence for Royal Woods instead of being confined to the kids' imagination.
106	** Its spin-off ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'' throws Mesoamerican gods into the mix, in both [[Recap/TheCasagrandesS3E10SkateyCatWeatherBeaten the series]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandesMovie the movie]].
107	* The 2018 ''WesternAnimation/PollyPocket'' series started out mostly grounded in reality, with some sci-fi elements like Polly's locket being powered by an in-universe element called pockite, as well as [[BigBad Griselle Grande]]'s inventions. But following the first season they started introducing less realistic elements, from intelligent insects in the second season to mermaids in the fourth season. The ''Sparkle Cove Adventure'' special introduces other forms of pockite with different powers, some being more magical in nature.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' started out very grounded, with the only unrealistic element being the babies talking to each other, which was an AcceptableBreakFromReality so the series could work. Then ''WesternAnimation/RugratsGoWild'' established that ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys'', a series in which magic exists, takes place in the same universe. Then the series left reality even further with ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'', which introduced aliens and ghosts.
109	* 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.
110	** ''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, whose death causes a CosmicRetcon.
111	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The series started out largely as a working class family dealing with every day life issues. As the show went on, more and more fantastical plot elements began to creep in, eventually hitting what many consider its zenith with the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E13SaddlesoreGalactica Saddlesore Galactica]]" which featured a plotline where Bart and Homer found out that all horse jockeys are actually elves that live under the earth in disguise. Since then, it has tried to avoid outright fantasy elements outside of brief gags, Treehouse of Horror specials, or non-canon one offs, but the plots can still verge on the unrealistic side at times.
112	[[/folder]]
113

Context Main / TheSeriesHasLeftReality