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| 4 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 7 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16822664890.73591800 |
| 8 | %% Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1590822488009377400 |
| 9 | %% Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:250:[[Manga/DragonBall https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5210f567_4d7d_48e4_a0ae_5988420afc09.png]]]] |
| 12 | [[caption-width-right:250:No, not Manga/{{Dragon|Ball}} ''[[Manga/DragonBall Ball]]'', Dragon ''Boy,'' silly.]] |
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| 14 | |
| 15 | Let us just say that there are ''a lot'' of [[WhatCouldHaveBeen "prototype"]] pilot episodes of famous manga whose ideas didn't make into the final product. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | ---- |
| 18 | !!Examples from specific titles: |
| 19 | |
| 20 | [[index]] |
| 21 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/{{Daimos}}'' |
| 22 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/DragonBall'' |
| 23 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/{{Gundam}}'' |
| 24 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' |
| 25 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' |
| 26 | ** ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/RebuildOfEvangelion'' |
| 27 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/OnePiece'' |
| 28 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/{{Pokemon}}'' |
| 29 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/SailorMoon'' |
| 30 | * ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/VoltesV'' |
| 31 | [[/index]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | !!Other examples |
| 34 | |
| 35 | * The ''Webcomic/AfganisuTan'' series was supposed to be longer, but its sequel was cut short when the mangaka's PC had a virus. |
| 36 | * ''Anime/AngelBeats'' was originally supposed to have 26 episodes, but [[ExecutiveMeddling it was cut down to 13 at the last second]]. As a result, 26 episodes of content had to be cut down to fit 13 episodes worth of screen time. By the end of the series, it was clear that many of the unresolved plot threads and development of only a fraction of the main cast were meant for a longer running series. |
| 37 | * According to research by Bandai, the ''Literature/{{Anpanman}}'' anime was originally going to premiere in 1987 and only last 24 episodes. |
| 38 | * ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': |
| 39 | ** Hajime Isayama first brought his pilot to Shueisha, with the hopes of having it published in ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shonen Jump]]'', but the editor who evaluated his work said that it was good, but not good enough for ''Jump'' standards[[note]]"This is manga, we want JUMP!" being his exact words[[/note]]; then, when Isayama gave his pilot to Kodansha, it was accepted in no time and published at ''Bessatsu Shounen Magazine'', a monthly offshoot of their ''Weekly Shonen Magazine''. The first two volumes sold ''more than a million copies combined''. As a result, Jump, and consequently Shueisha, lost a giant new hit to its biggest rival. |
| 40 | ** The pilot itself, now called ''Attack on Titan'': Volume 0, is [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness extremely different]] from the series that we know today. For starters, third-dimensional maneuver gear doesn't exist in the pilot, and humans are fully capable of [[InASingleBound "jumping 10 meters"]] while fighting Titans. |
| 41 | ** When [[spoiler:Annie is called out as the Female Titan in chapter 31]], Isayama originally drafted her reaction to be along the lines of a (disturbing) TearfulSmile, as a result of being "relieved" she'd been found out. He regretted his decision of changing it and requested that a similar reaction would be added to the anime. |
| 42 | ** Isayama had originally planned to kill off Sasha in chapter 36, but later abandoned that idea, it was apparently so brutal that the editor went to the bathroom and ''cried''. [[spoiler: She ''does'' end up dying later in the manga, but her death is significantly more poignant than brutal.]] In the same interview describing the initial plot of chapter 36, Isayama stated he originally had Eren knowing all along he could turn into a Titan, but later dropped the idea. |
| 43 | ** Isayama has also admitted in an interview that his original idea was to make ''Attack on Titan'' an EverybodyDiesEnding, but has also admitted to seriously reconsidering that. [[TrollingCreator Considering his reputation with "official" statements]] this has to be taken with a grain of salt though. However as of the events of Chapter 85 and 86, there's a good chance this claim is now true. |
| 44 | * Among the Avengers who appear at the end of ''Anime/AvengersConfidentialBlackWidowAndPunisher'' is [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Carol Danvers]] in her current identity as Captain Marvel. However, production art on the Blu-ray reveals that one design considered had her sporting her iconic one-piece black swimsuit costume she wore during her Ms. Marvel days. |
| 45 | * The original version of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' had Guts as a somewhat less cold character with an eyepatch (which he gives up before the prototype's end), had elements of a DeadpanSnarker and took up hunting demons after his mother was killed by one. The BigBad was to be a single demon lord by the name of Vana (instead of the four demons known as the Godhand that take up the role in the series proper), and the sacrificial mark was on the right side of his chest instead of on the back of his neck. The prototype was actually intended to be a {{Shonen}} story, but was changed to {{Seinen}} because the story was too dark. |
| 46 | * ''Anime/TheBigO'' was originally written as a standalone series that the writers did not know, but hoped would have a second season. Had the show not done so well in America it would've been likely that series wouldn't have been picked up by western producers meaning no second season. Likewise, the second season was written with the expectation that many of the unanswered plot points in it would be explored in a third season - but the show's audience limited to the late night slots of Creator/AdultSwim and poor DVD sales meant it was impossible to produce a third season. |
| 47 | * ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Many abandoned plot elements have been revealed by Creator/TiteKubo in databooks or interviews. |
| 48 | ** The unpublished pilot chapter was very different from "Death and Strawberry". |
| 49 | *** Rukia shrunk to about 15 cm tall when Ichigo took her powers. |
| 50 | *** Pilot Orihime was stalked by her hollowfied father rather than her brother, Ichigo reciprocated her affections, and she died at the end of the story arc. |
| 51 | *** Some of the rules are different, as souls have to be given tickets to get into the afterlife, and the Soul Reapers ''have'' to cut the chain of fate (doing so in the final manga results in the spirit becoming a hollow). |
| 52 | ** Kubo originally intended Mayuri to be Ishida's 'personal villain', with a series of escalating fights between them until Mayuri finally died and Ishida avenged his grandfather and race. This appears to have been de-emphasized when Kubo planned out the Arrancar and Blood War Arcs, at which point Mayuri became an over-the-top TokenEvilTeammate [[spoiler:and Yhwach became the real villain in Uryu's personal saga]]. |
| 53 | ** Kubo originally wanted the Shinigami standard weapon to be a firearm, while Rukia would be a bit of an anomaly by wielding a scythe. Rukia did end up wielding a scythe in ''Anime/BleachFadeToBlack''. |
| 54 | ** The final arc was supposed to be a bit longer, but a combination of Kubo's failing health, and pressure to end the series made him wrap it up rather quickly. Some notable plot points that were supposed to be part of the finale (Rukia being important in defeating Yhwach, Chad and Orihime's development and role in the finale, Ishida's motivations for joining the Vandenreich, Hisagi's Bankai..) to be dropped. |
| 55 | ** Kubo mentioned in a December 2008 interview for Jump Festa that he hadn't initially planned for Aizen to have been working in the shadows the whole time and only decided on him being a villain after he'd already been "killed". |
| 56 | * Bandai America at one point had the rights to ''Anime/BlueCometSPTLayzner'', but according to internal sources the master copies they got were old and faded[[note]]Funnily enough, they were said to have a blue tint to them[[/note]] which rendered them completely useless. Literally unable to do anything with it, Bandai just held onto the license for years until it finally expired. On a related note, any of the licenses Bandai had when they stopped producing new series in early 2012. Among them was ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which is one of the "Lost Four" ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series that fans never thought would get licensed. [[note]]The others being ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]'', ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam V Gundam]]'', and ''[[Anime/AfterWarGundamX Gundam X]]''.[[/note]] |
| 57 | * ''Manga/BocchiTheRock'' had the main character initially designed to be a more outgoing and happy character compared to the famous final version, but this was changed to avoid comparisons with ''Manga/KOn''. |
| 58 | * ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'': |
| 59 | ** In one of the {{omake}} of the manga, Moriyama discussed a few of these. For example, the tomboyish [[GenkiGirl Genki]] CatGirl Shader was originally supposed to be a ''man'' cross-dressing in elegant clothing. (You can see some remnants of this in earlier scenes of the manga, where a figure that represents her is shown as taller and appears to be wearing a long gown.) There's also a sketch of a figure that was supposed to be [[TheRival Chrono and Rosette's rival at the Order]]--his design seems to be recycled in a younger version of Remington shown in a flashback. |
| 60 | ** The story was originally going to be set in the 1800s but Moriyama changed it to the 1920s to take advantage of newer technology. |
| 61 | * Creator/{{CLAMP}}: |
| 62 | ** Less of a straight example than the others, but CLAMP mentioned during an interview after the conclusion of ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'' that Xiaolang/Sakura being a "normal" pairing (discounting Xiaolang still being a foreigner despite being a boy Sakura's age) was never really part of their considerations. Had Xiaolang been a girl, and/or older/younger than Sakura, they still would have ended up together. Several fans who were disappointed that Xiaolang and Sakura getting together prevented any yuri in the series were rather intrigued by this information. |
| 63 | ** According to Website/TheOtherWiki, ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' originally debuted in a set of doujinshi by Nanase Ohkawa. It contained the original three main characters (Subaru, Hokuto, and Seishiro), but was supposedly about hunting elves. Also, while Seishiro was still a veterinarian and still had a dark side, it's said that it wasn't as pronounced as it was in the final product, thus having him undergo the most character change between the doujinshi and the final manga. |
| 64 | ** Apparently, CLAMP originally made the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIO8YQnR5t8 storyboard]] for the second season opening of ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle''. But it got rejected by Creator/BeeTrain in place for the current second opening which is a slide show. Also, the second season would have been closer to the manga itself which divulged into the DarkerAndEdgier territory. However, [[ExecutiveMeddling NHK]] made the show more kid-friendly and lighter which resulted to [[CreatorBacklash much dissatisfaction from CLAMP]]. In the end, CLAMP pulled the plug for a possible third season and had Creator/ProductionIG continue it instead in the form of [=OVAs=]. |
| 65 | * Before the ExecutiveMeddling that turned the second season of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' into [[BrokenBase what it is today]] kicked in, the writing staff had originally planned for Lelouch to win the duel at the end of the first season. After that, there were several possible routes the story could have taken. One of the proposed scenarios involved Lelouch being imprisoned after being defeated by Emperor Charles, only to later break himself out of prison and run in a political election against Schneizel. The other scenario involved Jeremiah's sister Lilicia, [[DistaffCounterpart who would look like a female Lelouch]], becoming Zero and taking control of the Black Knights, [[UnsettlingGenderReveal confusing them greatly when they find out their leader's gender]]. Because of this, Lelouch is forced to join the Black Knights as himself, and gets picked on by [[TheFool Tamaki]], who has a crush on Girl!Zero. |
| 66 | ** There were some potentially big ideas for the second season, including introducing Kallen's father, bringing her supposedly-dead brother back (foreshadowed in a first season audio commentary where the head writer teases that he might not be really dead, greatly surprising [[Creator/AmiKoshimizu Kallen's voice actress]]), an explanation about Suzaku's superhuman abilities and his relationship to Geass, and a greater exploration of C.C.'s past. All this had to be cut in the great reshuffling brought on by ExecutiveMeddling. |
| 67 | ** Even earlier than that, it was mentioned in passing that Lelouch and Suzaku's characters were derived from the first draft of the series, which would have been about a WideEyedIdealist fresh recruit in the army (Proto-Suzaku) and his ideological conflicts with Proto-Lelouch, his cynical commanding officer. |
| 68 | ** In a bonus feature for ''Manga/CodeGeassTalesOfAnAlternateShogunate'', Kallen sneaks into the studio and finds an early story idea. It describes the story as a "''Manga/LoneWolfAndCub'' type story", with Lelouch, Suzaku and Nunnally as the main characters (Nunnally ends up being DemotedToExtra), and Lelouch possibly having an eyepatch over his Geass eye. Kallen seems to like the idea until she sees the idea to put Nunnally in a cart with Hadron blasters equipped. |
| 69 | * ''Anime/DaiconIIIAndIV'': |
| 70 | ** ''IV'' was initially meant to be fifteen minutes long, something that quickly proved to be infeasible. In the end, the new animation amounts to three minutes total. |
| 71 | ** Gainax attempted to release the shorts in America, beginning to clear the many legal issues required to do so. However, Magazine/{{Playboy}} (which owns the trademark to the PlayboyBunny outfit in the country) denied them permission, putting an end to their plans. |
| 72 | * ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'' ends rather abruptly, with the final scene of the GrandFinale saying that what happened afterwards is up to the viewer's imagination. Why is that? Well, ''Daimos'' was originally supposed to be 50 episodes long. The remaining episodes after the 44th one would have the Baam-Seijin re-settle in Mars with the efforts of the humans and aliens, creating a new empire where Erika was to be their benevolent queen. It is rumoured that low ratings forced the board to finish the show at 44 episodes, hence the abrupt ending, but producer Takeyuki Suzuki directly denies that theory and states that it was because the station wanted to speed up the development of the Super Sentai series 3rd work Battle Fever J. It's speculated that if ''Daimos'' had been allowed to finish at 50 episodes like Creator/TadaoNagahama planned, many characters such as [[spoiler: Richter, Raiza, Balbas and Margarete]] would have survived. |
| 73 | * The ''Manga/DeathNote'' pilot manga had a young student named Taro finding a notebook that would kill anyone whose name was written in it... and ''also'' [[ResetButton an eraser that would resurrect those people if you erased their names]]! |
| 74 | ** In stark contrast to Light, Taro gets scared of the notebook and stops using it after his first two unintentional uses (although a classmate of his uses it to kill people and deflect suspicion from himself). This fits nicely with Near's statement late in the manga that if Light were an ordinary person, he would not have used the Death Note after the first time. |
| 75 | ** Taro's character design was later used as the inspiration for [[spoiler: the fourth Kira, Teru Mikami.]] |
| 76 | ** "Vol. 13: How to Read" implies that the creator had considered [[spoiler:having L win with Light dead]] and that an error between editor and artist [[spoiler:switched Mello and Near's character designs]]. It was also said that Naomi Misora was originally going to be a more major character, but since she wound up being too clever, [[spoiler:she had to be killed off fast]]. Also, Ohba had considered [[spoiler:having Mello be the one to win against Light, but since he was also too "smart", he had to be killed off to provide suspense]]. |
| 77 | ** Mogi was originally planned to have a larger role, but Ohba couldn't decide how to do it. |
| 78 | ** An early idea was to have Near and Mello be L's ''twin sons'', but this was eventually dropped because L is implied to be about 25 years old [[spoiler:when he dies]], when Near and Mello are both about 14 years old. Which would imply that L became a father [[PaedoHunt incredibly young]]. |
| 79 | ** Allegedly, early concepts for the Shinigami would have made Ryuk, Gelus, and Rem resemble attractive humans, but the decision was made that Gelus's brief appearance worked better if he looked somewhat pathetic and Ryuk and Rem being beautiful did raise concerns that [[DracoInLeatherPants fans might side with the team of killers just because of their looks]]. The designs were soon changed to give the Shinigami a more appropriately inhuman feel, not that it stopped anybody. Ryuk's original design can be seen [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120730160406if_/http://i27.tinypic.com/rw17o0.jpg here]]. |
| 80 | * ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': The one-shot chapter has the same premise as the main series, and the characters are mostly unchanged from their present incarnations. The biggest change of them all is Asebi was with the group before she actually joined the party later in the manga. She looks like a catgirl but is likely an early design version of the beastman kobold we see in the manga. She also has Marcille's aversion to eating dungeon monsters, and Senshi has been traveling with the party rather than joining up later. Considering the one-shot version of Marcille is a lot more sullen, it's likely the final Marcille is a combination of [[CompositeCharacter the catgirl and the one-shot Marcille.]] |
| 81 | * In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', the first Databook details the planning phases Gotouge Koyoharu and their editor went before the series was serialized; the original '''Kagarigari''' One-Shot chapter released in 2013 containing the foundation of what the final series turned out to be a few years later was denied the chance to become a serial due its serious horror mystery tone, the editor that evaluated Kagarigari at the time didn't have faith in that type of series running in Weekly Shounen Jump, with a lone, sour, completely scarred (missing limbs even) hunter going against the horrors of night; thus with another editor years later Gotouge went back and reworked Kagarigari in what was planned to become '''Kisatsu no Yaiba''' (Demon Killing Blade), introducing a demon sister to the once lone demon hunter, as a living dilemma to his search for a cure while killing demons on the way, and moments of levity and humor with more colorful characters making company to the now more hopeful and nice protagonist; the basis for what the final series became was set, the only thing left was changing ''Kisatsu no Yaiba'' to '''Kimetsu no Yaiba''' (Demon Destroyer Blade), with ''Kimetsu'' being a made-up word the editor felt japanese audiences would remember the uniqueness of it. The series as it became turned into a modest success in its first 2 years of publication, growing into a records-breaking behemoth after the anime adaptation had finished its first season during the series 3rd year of publication, on the way of ending serialization on the 4th year as one of the most successful manga series in Japanese history. |
| 82 | * ''Manga/DGrayMan'' had a prototype titled ''Zone'' which was more of an experiment of what the characters and plot would be like. Allen was originally a female character named Robin and General Cross's weapon was going to be what Allen's current weapon is. Lavi was also supposed be a character for another manga titled 'Bookman' but the idea was scratched and he was put into D. Gray Man. |
| 83 | * ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': |
| 84 | ** Hikari of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' wasn't originally intended to join the group, and it was only decided to add an 8th child around midway. |
| 85 | ** Likewise, according to [[http://jippy-kandi.tumblr.com/post/51900665766/digimon-creator-speaks-about-sorato-and-taiora-behind this interview]] with the series' director, the infamous 02 epilogue, in which Sora and Yamato ended up married, was originally planned to be the first series' finale. |
| 86 | ** Remember ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02''? Remember the Dark Ocean and how it only showed up in about 3 episodes? Well, originally it was supposed to be used as a plot point (perhaps as the next big arc after the Digimon Kaiser?) but it was completely ignored by the regular writers of the show. |
| 87 | ** In early discussions about the premise of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'''s sequel series, it was suggested that Tai and the others remain the main characters while [[TheLancer Matt]] had broken off from the group to join the enemy's side. Kaiser!Matt anyone? [[http://digitalscratch.pmsinfirm.org/?p=795 From the footnotes of this interview]]. |
| 88 | ** Way, way back in the planning stages of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', Impmon was originally supposed to be Takato's Digimon. When that fell through, they decided to make Beelzemon the BigBad of the series, but changed their minds and replaced him with the D-Reaper, so he became TheAtoner. Also, Renamon was originally supposed to be called Lunamon (which eventually became the name of a completely different Digimon). |
| 89 | ** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'''s Digidestined were originally going to have slightly different designs and color schemes. Also, Koji was originally planned to be female, an idea that was presumably discarded due to ''Tamers'' already having a female lone wolf character. |
| 90 | * ''Literature/DirtyPair'': The entire franchise has been dubbed into English... except for the main 26-episode series itself, which has been something of a gripe among not only fans, but North American anime distributors who would LOVE to produce one... apparently Nozomi Entertainment is the exception to this rule, and unfortunately for everybody else, they ended up being the ones to finally get the license to the series. David Williams from Sentai Filmworks did promptly offer to produce an English dub with Creator/SeraphimDigitalStudios (likely with the same cast from the movies and [=OVAs=]), but Nozomi declined, likely for budget. Still, some were hopeful that such a dub would be made for this anime classic for a collector's edition re-release or a Blu-ray reissue. Later averted when [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/160939828/lets-dub-the-dirty-pair-tv-series a Kickstarter project]] was announced for the franchise in 2021, |
| 91 | * ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'': |
| 92 | ** The 1979 anime had been attempted to be released in the US three times, however, none of them were successful. The first was in 1985 by Ted Turner, who acquired the US license to it and planned to air the first 50 episodes on Creator/{{TBS}}. The second was in the late 1990s by Creator/StreamlinePictures, who asked several TV producers, such as Fred Patten, to get them the anime. However, the TV producers rejected the request due to concerns about it being "too ethnically Japanese" and having content that would be inappropriate for American children. The third and final one was in the early 2000s by Unbound Creative Inc, who actually created a pilot episode and pitched it over to US networks. |
| 93 | ** According to [[http://www.nippon.com/en/nipponblog/m00034/ this article]], Matt Alt was originally considering changing Doraemon's name for the North American release of the manga to make his name "more accessible to English readers". Thankfully, this wasn't an option and Doraemon's name was retained. |
| 94 | ** The manga was originally supposed to end after the chapter "Goodbye Doraemon", due to the Fujiko Fujio duo being busy with other works. However, the series wouldn't leave their minds and they decided to resume it by making the chapter "The Return of Doraemon", that has [[spoiler:Doraemon returning from the future after Nobita stated to himself that Doraemon wouldn't ever come back. This was caused by a potion he drank earlier in the chapter that made everything he said true. The chapter then ends with both of them reuniting and tearing up in happiness]]. |
| 95 | * ''Manga/ElfenLied'' creator Lynn Okamoto has said he wished he'd given the residents of Maple House more slice-of-life stories, sort-of seen in the manga-format/anime-continuity bonus adventure included in the Japanese Blu-Ray release. The anime itself had a different ending than originally scripted. Among the differences is a kidnapping plot against Yuka, the Chief's manga plans coming out in the anime, more details about Mariko's mission, and the gate at the end actually opening, though the person behind it remains unseen. |
| 96 | ** Creator/AdultSwim looked into airing the anime, as programming director Kim Manning was a fan - in a post to a defunct official Adult Swim message board, she said they ultimately passed on trying to put it on air because the Standards and Practices department would have required significant edits for content and "it would have been cut to shreds". |
| 97 | * ''Manga/FairyTail'': |
| 98 | ** Mashima mentioned in Volume 10 that he once thought of Erza's entire adult life being AllJustADream of young Erza, but decided against it when he realized what that would mean for the entire ''rest'' of the series. Considering the problems she has as an adult (not the least of which is that the love interest she relied on so much as a child is BrainwashedAndCrazy), this would have some serious implications for her mental state if it were true. |
| 99 | ** Her friends also were supposed to be the QuirkyMinibossSquad of the arc, rather than have a BaitAndSwitch with Trinity Raven. When he was writing their backstories Mashima decided that he liked them too much to make them serious villains. |
| 100 | ** Wendy was supposed to be the Water Dragon Slayer. She was also intended to have a SuperPoweredEvilSide. |
| 101 | ** A very early design has Natsu as a HornedHumanoid, [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/fairy_tail/v01/c006.5/6.html seen here]]. |
| 102 | ** Erza's original character design had her as more of a NubileSavage than the MagicKnight we know her as. Mashima's idea for her character was simply "a woman badass enough to scare Natsu" and everything evolved from there. |
| 103 | ** Makarov was supposed to die during the Tenrou Island arc. |
| 104 | ** The anime was officially going to end after the Daphne filler arc, which is why most of the passing references to Gildarts were left out. It proved more popular than expected so it continued. |
| 105 | ** According to the Q&A section of volume 22, Erigor was supposed to appear during the Oracion Seis arc in the manga, but was ultimately cut out. The only bit that was left in was a brief mention at the start of the arc before Team Natsu's departure. However, he was added into the anime version of the arc. |
| 106 | ** The name Oración Seis was originally only used as a placeholder for another title Mashima was trying to come up with, but he ended up going with it when the deadline came too close for comfort. |
| 107 | ** Mashima always intended for Faust to be Makarov's Edolas counterpart, but was forced to exclude it from the manga for reasons unknown. He was glad to see that the anime included it, but complained that their shared actors (Shinpachi Tsuji and R. Bruce Elliott) made the connection too obvious. |
| 108 | ** Cosmos was originally named "Fione", but her name was changed because it sounded too similar to “Fiore". |
| 109 | ** Before TheReveal that Doranbalt is a council agent pretending to be a member of Fairy Tail, Mashima considered making him an actual member of Fairy Tail, Grimoire Heart, or even Tartarus. |
| 110 | ** Edolas Gajeel was intended to appear in the manga, but was forced out for unknown reasons. |
| 111 | ** A series of older [[http://i.imgur.com/3yk5IXm.png sketches]] Mashima released during a drafting phase for Volume 32 of the manga shows Lucy [[KneelBeforeZod kneeling]] before [[BigBad Zeref]] in the lower right-hand corner. |
| 112 | ** On the subject of Lucy, there are early sketches of her with a different hair style and wielding cards to summon the stellar spirits instead of keys, but Mashima decided that was too similar to [[Manga/YuGiOh another manga]]. |
| 113 | * ''Anime/FinalFantasyUnlimited'' was going to be fifty-two episodes, making two seasons, but it was canceled after its first season. The story continues [[ConclusionInAnotherMedium in other media]]. |
| 114 | * Tetsuo Hara's two-part pitch for ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' that he wrote and illustrated by himself bears little resemblance to the later serialized version he co-wrote with Buronson. In the pilot, Kenshiro (who originally bore the surname "Kasumi") is a teenager who leads a seemingly peaceful life in present-day Japan (the apocalypse hasn't happened yet) with his sweetheart Yuki (not Yuria) while learning the ways of Hokuto Shinken from his father (who is implied to be Kenshiro's own biological father). That is until [[StuffedInTheFridge his girlfriend is murdered]] by a rival martial arts clan (the Taizanji Kenpo school) for witnessing a crime and Ken himself is framed for her death. The pilot deals with Kenshiro hiding from authorities (who are secretly under the control of the Taizanji) while seeking to avenge his girlfriend's death. The major fights from both pilots ended up being used as template for filler fights in the anime and Hara would later revisit the concept of a Hokuto Shinken successor living in a civilized age with ''Manga/FistOfTheBlueSky'' (even reusing the "Kasumi" surname for Kenshiro's predecessor). |
| 115 | * In some drafts, ''Anime/{{Free}}'' had Nagisa as a cooler character who'd view Haru as more of a rival. |
| 116 | * In supplementary materials for ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', the author avatar first says that if Akito had [[spoiler:actually been a boy]], then she would have been tempted to pair [[spoiler:him]] with Tohru. Later, she says she had also been tempted to pair Tohru with Momiji. Kyo is very unhappy about hearing that. |
| 117 | * There are several differences between the ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa movie's]] original script and the final product. One major point is that [[spoiler:Izumi's]] death was on-screen. The script writer even apologized to her Japanese voice actress for giving her no lines. There was also meant to be a scene with a meaningful conversation between Winry and Colonel Mustang at [[spoiler:Hughes gravestone.]] Originally, there was a love triangle between Edward, Noah, and Alfons as well but that was scrapped in exchange for platonic relationships. |
| 118 | * Creator/MediaBlasters at one point was in extensive talks with Creator/DisneyXD to get ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' aired on their channel. Disney ultimately decided to pass on the show on the basis that they thought giant robots were "out" at the moment. As such, the series was direct-to-DVD in North America, and the lack of a TV deal likely highly influenced the second season being released as subtitled-only. |
| 119 | * ''Manga/GetterRobo'': |
| 120 | ** According to the ''Getter Robo Bible'', the prototype for Getter Robo was actually a ''racing manga'', which Ryouma, Hayato and Musashi riding old-fashion race cars and performing stunts with them. |
| 121 | ** The OVA series ''Shin Getter Robo Armageddon'' was going to be directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa all the way through, but he left the production for uncertain reasons only three episodes in and took his plans with them. This forced the rest of the crew to essentially make a new plot based on what Imagawa had set up. Surprisingly, it turned out rather well and is still one of the most successful pieces of media in the franchise, but many plot points [[AbortedArc just kind of vanish]]. Most notably, the scene where Shin Dragon causes the Earth to devolve is never really explained, and probably would have been explained in Imagawa's vision. |
| 122 | * ''Manga/GiantRobo'': |
| 123 | ** The series was overly long and over-budget, so a lot of stuff had to be cut to make way for the main plot. One the director himself mentioned as something he regretted was that Sally the Witch (the ORIGINAL magical girl) was going to have a fight with the BigBad ruling council, the Magnificent Ten (themselves famous cameos). The awesomeness of this scene can only be imagined but by the time the last episodes rolled around there was just nowhere to put it, and sadly she ended up as little more than a slightly confusing plot device. |
| 124 | ** You know how [[spoiler: the series ends with a teaser for a final battle between the Experts and Big Fire?]] That was supposed to be animated, as the climax of the series. And, in fact, Imagawa had plans for an entire saga spanning several OVA series, of which Giant Robo was the second to last chronologically. The others would have explained things like how Daisaku became an Expert and the origin of the Magnifacent Ten (along with a team-up between Giant Robo and [[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]) before it all culminating in the final series, "The Siege of Babel", which is [[spoiler: the story teased at the end of Giant Robo.]] Thanks to funding issues, none of these series will ever come to be. The sheer amount of potential awesomeness we have been denied almost boggles the mind. |
| 125 | * The director of ''Anime/GranblueFantasy'' wanted to use both Gran and Djeeta as co-protagonists in the animated adaptation, but Creator/{{Cygames}} pushed for a "boy meets girl" narrative with Gran and Lyria, so only Gran is in the anime until Djeeta takes over protagonist duties for Gran in the final bonus episode. |
| 126 | * As mentioned in the ''Manga/GunsmithCats'' article, the original incarnation of the story, ''Anime/RidingBean'', had Rally as Bean's triggerwoman. |
| 127 | * ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'''s second season had the infamous "Endless Eight" arc, where the characters are stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop. |
| 128 | ** The arc consisted of eight, most identical episodes, but was originally planned to be only a single episode (mirroring its single chapter status in the source material), as Creator/KyotoAnimation had planned to also do ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'' arc as part of the season. However, the scripts for the ''Disappearence'' episodes were too long and couldn't be reasonably trimmed down, so it was decided to make it a movie instead[[note]](it would end up being the second-longest animated film ever created, only losing the top spot by ''a single minute'')[[/note]]. Now found with seven episodes that they needed to do ''something'' with, the production team ultimately saw expanding Endless Eight into eight episodes as their best option. |
| 129 | ** On the English dub side of things, Creator/JohnnyYongBosch mentioned that, at first, many ideas were thrown around about what to do with the episodes, as no one was all that fond of their repetitive nature. Among the ideas were making different accents per episode and switching the roles among the voice actors for each episode. Bandai ultimately decided to go for a straight dub. |
| 130 | * Originally, ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' was going to be a one-shot about a teenage girl and her little sister who were in debt with the mob, and the things they had to do to pay them off without getting sucked in. These characters became Yukiji and Hinagiku. {{Word of God}} says the one-shot is part of ''Hayate'' continuity, and will be worked in as part of the series. |
| 131 | * ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'': |
| 132 | ** The character of Belarus is a scary blonde {{Yandere}}. [[http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-525.html She was actually supposed to be a brunette and quite more mellow]]. |
| 133 | ** A remnant of this original idea can be seen in Belarus's first color appearance in volume 1 of the published manga. Though she still wields a knife, her hair (and eyes) are colored brown and her expression seems to be a little less severe. |
| 134 | ** Also, South Korea was initially [[http://hetalia.wikia.com/wiki/File:FemaleKorea.PNG female]] and with aspirations of becoming an IdolSinger. The original designs would be re-used in Sena, the lead of Himaruya's web-manga ''Moe Kan''. |
| 135 | ** Hell, Korea in general, speaking only for the anime. He was going to be in it, but protest from South Koreans forced Korea off the show. The series would have been broadcasted on Kid's Station in 2009, but was cancelled after the protests Kid's Station apparently had no knowledge of. South Korean protesters claimed he was an offensive sterotype because his clothing and birthday are incorrect, his behaviour perverted and "not understandable", and the fact that he obsesses over Japan, even though [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Occupation_of_Korea this usually is World War II we're talking about]]. |
| 136 | *** More fun with gender changes! Hungary was to be a male crossdresser (while Poland would be a female character), but Himaruya switched him to an actual female and made Poland the WholesomeCrossdresser. [[http://hetalia.wikia.com/wiki/Hungary#Trivia For added fun]], Hungary was supposed to be more of a "witchy" character, with a shorter fuse and the habit of shooting arrows at whoever thought of her as a male. |
| 137 | *** Also, before settling on [[{{Moe}} a sweet-looking teenage girl]], Himaruya had [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/hetalia/images/9/9b/Taiwandesigns.gif several designs for Taiwan:]] a cute little girl, an old bald man, a short-haired {{Bokukko}}, a young boy with a staff, an older boy with BigOlEyebrows, a DragonLady, etc. |
| 138 | *** Himaruya has noted that he once considered making Switzerland a female, with her true gender only being realized by Germany when he'd see her out of uniform. This idea did later get recycled with Hungary (who was a massive {{Tomboy}} when she was younger) and [[BoisterousBruiser Prussia]], with the latter only realising that the former is female when her uniform gets ripped. |
| 139 | ** In the third volume of the manga, a special pamphlet revealed various designs that could have been (including the witchy Hungary): Cuba as a cute little boy instead of a gruff JerkWithAHeartOfGold, Italy with no IdiotHair, Russia as a dark-haired drunken uncle kind of man, Greece with sleek hair and glasses, England with normal eyebrows, a meaner-looking Liechtenstein, and China with short hair and glasses. |
| 140 | ** Before what we now know as ''Hetalia Axis Powers'' was formulated, Himaruya was originally intending on writing a manga set in New York City with a cast of characters that were "useless heroes". Since he wanted the characters to be of different ethnicities, he did an online search of ethnic traits. Instead, he got pages of ethnic jokes, one of which went something like, "The only weapon the Italians had during WWII was a white flag." That was how Italy's character came to be. From then on, he retooled the whole series by giving it a historical/geographical angle and making the characters into allegorical portrayals of nations. Oh, and in the end, Italy was the only character who was a "useless hero." |
| 141 | ** For the dub, Creator/ToddHaberkorn was originally cast as England, with an unnamed voice actor cast as Italy. Said unnamed voice actor dropped out, and Todd had to drop England to try out for Italy (owing to the fact that the voices were too similar for scenes the characters shared). England was taken over by Scott Freeman. And before Todd was finalized for the voice of Italy, he was in competition with Creator/VicMignogna, who later was cast as Greece. Also mentioned was that Todd auditioned for Germany, using a voice not unlike what was later used for Prussia. (The story can be heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzIKIKveL8g here]]) |
| 142 | * ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' was at one point considered for airing on daytime Creator/{{Toonami}} rather than Adult Swim in America, but the Standards and Practices were alarmed by a plot-important scene of impalement in the first episode. (The show ''did'' air on Toonami in Latin America.) |
| 143 | * ''Toys/{{Jewelpet}}'': |
| 144 | ** The protagonist Ruby was originally going to be the amber Jewelpet instead of the ruby one, so she would have been Kohaku. HilariousInHindsight, as the Kohaku of the finished product is a pretty minor character. |
| 145 | ** The first personality type proposed for Ruby was very different from the final one: she was going to be a polite and modest character; she wound up a HotBlooded ditz instead. |
| 146 | ** ''Anime/LadyJewelpet'': Momona's hair ribbon was going to have a different color scheme. |
| 147 | * ''Kanzen Shouri Daiteioh'' was the fourth entry in the Eldran series. The series featured a new Eldran robot defending earth from a new threat. The main characters from the previous series also made appearances suggesting that the show would have been a BatFamilyCrossover. Despite the series never have been made, Daiteioh has appeared in two VideoGame/SuperRobotWars games. |
| 148 | * ''King of Braves Anime/GaoGaiGar: Project Z'', the continuation of the ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' story. The story would have had Mamoru and Ikumi joining the hero group from ''Anime/{{Betterman}}'' after the disappearance of 3G. Because Allouette, the AllThereInTheManual tyke genius who built [=GaoFighGar=], lost her intelligence after falling into a coma, rebuilding said mech was impossible. Instead, that would have used Stealth Gao II (the component for Star [=GaoGaiGar=]) and the Liner Gao II and Drill Gao II (components from [=GaoFighGar=]) and using a new Nendroid known as [=GaiGo=], they would have created a new King of Braves, [=GaoGaiGo=]. Pictures also showed that Genesic [=GaoGaiGar=] would have returned, seemingly bursting ''through the sun'', possibly meaning Guy Shishioh, the original protagonist, might have become an antagonist somehow. However, for unknown reasons, the idea was shelved, though figurines of [=GaoGaiGo=] were made. Eventually plot elements from Project Z were used in the light novel called ''Literature/KingOfKingsGaoGaiGarVsBetterman'' |
| 149 | * ''Manga/LandOfTheLustrous'': A promotional video for the release of the first volume of the manga was entirely in 2D animation, giving a glimpse of how the series may have looked like it wasn't animated in 3D. |
| 150 | * ''Manga/LoveHina'': |
| 151 | ** In the prototype version, Naru was named Midori and instead of being a hot-headed {{Tsundere}}, she was to have been a CuteClumsyGirl, even in the cafe where she worked. Shinobu was to have been the Tsundere, as well as having a ponytail similar to [[Manga/AILoveYou Forty's]]. Also, Naru was already in a relationship with another guy, while Keitaro was much less of a pushover: right after the first hot spring incident with Naru and the subsequent beating up from the girls, he severely considered kicking them out of the boarding house. (He is the new manager, after all.) Also, the girls's original reason to befriend him was just to get on his good side and avoid being kicked out. (Naru was supposed to take the bullet for them.) |
| 152 | ** During the manga's run, the girl who was supposed to end up with Keitaro wasn't Naru but Motoko Aoyama instead. Constant setups for this can be seen on the manga, with both Keitaro and Motoko seriously considering it at least twice. The fact that both Keitaro and Motoko are the characters with the biggest changes and character development of the entire cast also says a lot, but according to Ken Akamatsu himself, he was running out of ideas near the end so he decided to drop that option and quickly finish the manga with a typical finale instead. |
| 153 | * ''Manga/TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer'': According to a [[http://yaraon-blog.com/archives/229586 deleted tweet]] from Mizukami, an executive staff member wanted to add several anime original elements to the adaptation, such as making Yuuhi a former assassin and his mother a murderer. None of those ideas panned out. |
| 154 | * ''Anime/LucyMayOfTheSouthernRainbow'': Lucy-May was suppose to be an older sister to Kate based on [[https://i.ibb.co/wWfYVm1/FB-IMG-1702136773911.jpg the show's concept art]]. Their roles were later reversed in the final product. |
| 155 | * As can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_RBghAfiW8 in this video]] of the ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' mini-scenario that was included in the ''VisualNovel/TriangleHeart3SweetSongsForever'' fandisc, ''Nanoha'' was originally meant to be a more typical MagicalGirl anime. [[WaveMotionGun Raising Heart]] as a heart-shaped wand, Lindy as a FairyCompanion, Chrono as a villain, pre-existing [[{{Obake}} kitsune]] character Kuon [[MentorMascot in the place of Yuuno]], no [[DarkMagicalGirl Fate]], no HumongousMecha inspired weaponry, and no StuffBlowingUp. Then, during the production of the [[TheAnimeOfTheGame anime]], someone noted how the GiantPoofySleeves on Nanoha's new MagicalGirl outfit made her look like a Franchise/{{Gundam}}, and [[GenreMashup the rest was history]]. |
| 156 | * The first 52 episodes of ''Anime/MagicalPrincessMinkyMomo'' were translated by Harmony Gold for a dub called "The Magical World of Gigi". However, the project failed to take off in the US due to Harmony Gold being unable to get a TV deal (similar to the cases of their Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump dubs). The scripts for this adaptation were recycled for a few overseas adaptations, such as ones aired in Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Mexico. The only piece of the Momo series that managed to be officially widely released in English was the first OVA, which was re-titled "Gigi and the Fountain of Youth". The English dub of the series however, did briefly make it onto Melbourne's [=ATV10=] channel, where it aired in a morning cartoon block on weekdays throughout the later half of the '80s. |
| 157 | ** There was also to be a third Minky Momo anime for the new millennium, titled "Miracle Dream Minky Momo", but it never got off the ground and only a manga adaptation was made. The third Momo would have hailed from a land-based kingdom, rather than one in the sea or in the sky. |
| 158 | ** Harmony Gold had also produced adaptations for ''Demetan Croaker'' (retitled "Adventures on Rainbow Pond") and ''Temple the Balloonist'' (retitled "Sabrina's Journey") , which they intended to market as part of a TV package with ''Gigi''. While the first dub didn't make it to airwaves, [[http://www.harmonygold.com/catalog_adventuresrainbow.htm an old catalog entry]] shows that at least 26 episodes had been translated for it. It is unknown how far Harmony Gold got with their adaptation of ''Temple'', though its scripts were also recycled for overseas dubbing. |
| 159 | * ''[[Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico Martian Successor Nadesico: Prince of Darkness]]'' was planned to be the first movie in a trilogy. |
| 160 | * Sayaka Yumi from ''Anime/MazingerZ'' was one of the first {{Action Girl}}s and {{Tsundere}} with a lead role in Anime, and she and Kouji did the BelligerentSexualTension bit before no one else. However, she was PutOnABus at the end of the series. TheBusCameBack again at the end of ''Anime/GreatMazinger'', but after the end of the series she was PutOnABus again. She was to become the 4th spazer pilot in ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'', but character developer and co-plotter of the series, Shingo Araki, opposed Creator/GoNagai and designed a new character that did not appear in the Grendizer manga: Maria Grace Fleed, younger sister to Grendizer main character Duke Fleed. Maria soon became a fan-favourite in the latter part of the series. What might have happened had Sayaka and Maria, two hot-tempered, {{Hotblooded}} {{Tsundere}}s liking the same boy, shown up in the same series? Fans have made plenty of fanfics and doujins about the topic and it ended up in the scripts of many ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games. |
| 161 | ** Kouji Kabuto wore a ScarfOfAsskicking and used a bike to dock on ''Anime/MazingerZ'' in the Creator/GoNagai's early designs. However, ''Series/KamenRider'' premiered before ''Anime/MazingerZ'', and Go Nagai removed and changed those elements because he did not want people thought he was ripping off another show. The idea would return in ''Anime/ShinMazinger'' as a literal prototype for ''Mazinger Z''. |
| 162 | ** Originally there was a recurrent the idea about giving Minerva X as a replacement mecha for Sayaka (in fact, it's was somehow created for that purpose, as the true Mazinger Z partner, but not as a pilotable mecha, according to the original story), but it's was latter decanted to the TearJerker side [[spoiler: (Minerva's "death" in episode 38)]](and probably for having Sayaka always with a "breaking easy" mecha, in the misogynous Nagai's style...) Funny enough, there is an alternative universe manga called ''Manga/MazingerAngels'' with Maria Fleed piloting it, and ''finally'' [[spoiler: you can get Minerva X alive and playable for the good guys team in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAdvance'' and ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars64'', letting you put Sayaka in it as her pilot, making combinations attacks with Mazinger as her true partner, and having original attacks quotes, all as it was intended/could been in the original series...]] |
| 163 | ** Another Creator/GoNagai series, ''Anime/GodMazinger'', has nothing to do with the original series. However, it was meant to be the sequel from ''Anime/MazingerZ''. However the idea got rejected, ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'' were made instead of, and years later a ''Anime/GodMazinger'' anime was made, but removing any connection to the original series. |
| 164 | ** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' was actually set to appear in the US back in The80s. As part of the ''Force Five'' series, it would have complimented ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'', ''Manga/GetterRobo G'', ''Anime/{{Gaiking}}'' and ''[[Anime/PlanetRoboDanguardAce DanguardAce]]'', but the plan fell through and they replaced it with ''Anime/{{Starzinger}}''. |
| 165 | ** Back in the early '00s, AD Vision had plans to release some of the original Creator/GoNagai series to compliment releases such as ''Getter Robo Armageddon'' and ''Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}}'', but that plan obviously fell through. It wouldn't be until late 2012 when Discotek revealed that it would release the original Mazinger series. |
| 166 | * ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', in its original short story format, was going to be set in a mystical coast town in Ye Nonspecific Pirate Days. Yes, Kaito was a {{pirate}}. Lucia, who was named Lyre at the time, had a much skimpier outfit and her full team consisted of herself, Hanon and Rina, with no {{Sixth Ranger}}s. There were only three villains, too -- Izuuru, Gackto and Sara -- and they were all merpeople; the [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent rule]] that all mermaids were female hadn't been invented yet. |
| 167 | * Two of Rumiko Takahashi's ''Manga/MermaidSaga'' stories were made into OVA's back in the early 90s. These [=OVAs=] (Mermaid Forest and Mermaid's Scar) were extremely well-made and considered legendary among North American anime fans. However the two stories of the manga which are arguably the best (Mermaid's Promise and The Village of Fighting Fish) never got the OVA treatment. They eventually got made into anime much later as part of the Tokyo Movie Shinsha TV series; but those were of far inferior quality. One can only imagine what those two [=OVAs=] would have been like. |
| 168 | * In the original concept of ''Anime/MiracleShojoLimitChan'', Limit was given a time limit of one year to live after her accident, and the story was going to focus on the days until her death. Toei retooled the series as a traditional MagicalGirl SliceOfLife story with a cyborg heroine when they decided that this idea was too grim. |
| 169 | * ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': |
| 170 | ** Bakugo was actually going to be Izuku's ''best friend,'' if you can believe it. He was originally pictured as a nice guy with a tendency to be InnocentlyInsensitive; this wasn't very funny, though, so he got reworked into a JerkAss [[TheBully bully]] with some HiddenDepths. |
| 171 | ** Toru was originally going to be a male character, hence the [[GenderBlenderName traditionally male name]]. The creator decided that [[InvisibleStreaker her gimmick]] was more amusing for a girl. [[CuteMonsterGirl Tsuyu Asui]] and [[GadgeteerGenius Mei Hatsume]] got the same treatment, as Horikoshi realized there were very few female characters at that point of the story's creation. |
| 172 | ** Izuku Midoriya went through a lot of changes. In the ''MHA'' prototype ''My Hero'', he was a sickly adult salaryman named ''Jack'' Midoriya who wore a costume similar to Iida's. When he was redesigned as Izuku, he had bushier hair that covered his eyes, his costume was similar to his modern day Beta Costume but more menacing and set to be a BadassNormal quirkless person like the prototype. The sickness Jack had was passed over to All Might. The decision to use a school setting led to him being made younger, and the author decided that if he remained quirkless, it would get too hard for him to keep up with quirked classmates and villains and came up with the story of being All Might’s successor. |
| 173 | ** Ochaco was originally Mt. Lady, but Hoshikori thought a main hero with that set of powers would be too troublesome, so he transferred the civilian name, superhero name and Quirk to the Mt. Lady we know now. |
| 174 | ** Denki originally had a more villainous look, complete with wildly spiky hair. He was also nameless, just a random electric Quirk user. |
| 175 | ** Iida had two different designs. The first was an older, scraggly man. When the school setting was decided on, the second design resembled his current design, but without his trademark HeroicBuild. His costume was also vastly different, resembling a dinosaur of some sort. |
| 176 | ** The announcer for the entry exam was originally an unimportant older fat guy, and then it was decided to make him more memorable and recurring and Present Mic was born. |
| 177 | * ''Anime/MyHime'' has two [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxHVe2SO1Xk prototype]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZjAeWS7Eac videos]]. Several characters have different hair colors and uniforms, some of the Elements and Childs are different (Natsuki has two double-barreled pistols and a golden Duran). |
| 178 | * ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has several differences towards the main series. See the [[Manga/Naruto1997 prototype here.]] |
| 179 | ** It has ''no ninjas'', as the titular boy was a Fox Demon in human form on a quest to learn how to make friends in the Human world. Naruto's personality was even ''more'' mischievous and [[BrattyHalfPint bratty]]. The Sexy Technique was still around there, but it was comparatively more clothed than its official manga counterpart (a minimal top and daisy dukes, [[GlamourFailure showing the fox tails)]]. There were still equivalent characters for the Third Hokage and the Nine-Tailed Fox (the latter of which was ''Naruto's father''), but no other characters. The one-shot story was actually published, and takes place in the modern world -- much of the SchizoTech in the series may result from this. Also, the original Naruto wore goggles on his head from riding his motorbike, and the mangaka says that he loved the visual, but found it too complicated to draw constantly -- hence the whole business with the forehead protectors. |
| 180 | ** Outside of the pilot, the Akatsuki was originally supposed to be composed entirely of inhuman monsters. This is probably why the majority of them are humans but with massively altered bodies[[note]]Orochimaru has snakes and/or is a snake, Deidara has mouths in strange places and is a bomb, Sasori is a puppet, Hidan's appearance and abilities were meant to show him as a {{Shinigami}}, Kakuzu has multiple hearts and is an optical fiber cable network, Zetsu is a plant, Kisame has sharks and ''is'' a shark.[[/note]]. In the third databook, Kishimoto mentioned Hidan's scythe was supposed to have a bunch more special abilities that he didn't have time to show. |
| 181 | ** Hinata wasn't originally a ninja. Kishimoto's original sketch of her can be found [[http://images.manga2.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/RlWZJwoKCpEAAHU0@1I1/hinata.jpg?et=Sdq54MtnMjisFeRdxXsSxQ&nmid=43476570 here.]] |
| 182 | * ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': |
| 183 | ** The series had numerous character redesigns before the final product: Negi was supposed to be named ''Negi T. Silverberg'' and be older looking, Nodoka was to be named ''Meiko Miyazaki'', Ako was to be named ''Ayu Izumi'', who had a large scar across her chest instead of her back, Makie Sasaki was originally going to be a different person entirely named ''Kozue Migara'', who was best friends with the lead girl (a role filled by Konoka) and who played on the lacrosse team (an idea which lead to the creation of Sakurako Shiina), Yuna and Chizuru had several connections in their designs, starting with the character of ''Yuko Akashi'', an [[GenkiGirl energetic]], [[CloudCuckoolander random girl]], who worked part-time at the academy's daycare, while the character of ''Tsutsumi Nadai'' was a character with a strong [[DaddysGirl father complex]] who was good at cooking and housework. These various traits went to both Yuna and Chizuru. [[ActionGirl Kaede]] was at first intended to be a clumsy and incompetent ninja. Not to mention the school itself possibly being a giant tower reaching to the sky, or a large island in the sea of Japan. These are given as notes in the back of the manga volumes, along with other characterization notes that, at least unless/until the manga contradicts them, are considered {{fanon}} for the series. |
| 184 | ** For the [=OADs=], Website/AnimeNewsNetwork has listed Negi (adult) being voiced by Creator/HiroshiKamiya. Seems to be good considering the fact that he won the Third Annual Seiyuu awards. Cue the third OAD and it's still Creator/RinaSato who voiced Negi in his adult form. Not that bad all things considering, but it would have been nice if Hiroshi Kamiya did the job (then again, at this point, he [[Anime/AngelBeats was]] [[Manga/ArakawaUnderTheBridge voicing]] [[Literature/{{Durarara}} four]] [[Manga/{{Wagnaria}} major]] roles). |
| 185 | * The author of ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' was instructed to extend the first chapter of the manga by seven pages, and in order to fill the space decided to add in an additional host - that would be Ohtori Kyouya, who would go on to become TheChessmaster and the cool half of a RedOniBlueOni pair with the male lead. |
| 186 | * ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' was originally a short story drawn in the author's early career, featuring an early-design of Liam as the main character, a priest named Harris Watson, Oz as a kid who had his sister killed by the {{Serial Killer}} B-Rabbit whom the main character was pursuing for no other reason but because of his [[WordOfGod 'God']] [[spoiler:Or Was It]], and Old!Gilbert whose face was hidden in the shadow (only recognized by the viewer because of his BadassLongcoat and hat). And despite having B-Rabbit in the story, Alice was Oz's sister instead. |
| 187 | * ''Manga/PopTeamEpic'': [[https://boards.fireden.net/a/search/image/1cUtepQ_vsiuz_J7bj4Rwg/ The anime was originally planned to stream online as a 15-minute show]]. |
| 188 | * ''Anime/PowerPuffGirlsZ'': |
| 189 | ** Initial artwork gave the girls hairstyles similar to [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls their American counterparts]], and they had different weapons (Blossom had a pair of hula hoops, Buttercup had a pair of juggling clubs and Bubbles had a skipping rope). |
| 190 | ** Likewise, the pilot trailer that was revealed on [[SincerityMode April Fool's Day]] had Ken serve ''in place'' of Professor Utonium, had the girls' transform with their weapons instead of their henshin belts and using their weapons in melee combat closer to the originals. Rolling Bubbles was long-ranged, with bubbles that ''disintegrated'' Mojo's machines and Hyper Blossom and Powered Buttercup were mid-range and point blank respectively, but far more violent in their handling. |
| 191 | * ''Anime/PrettyCure'' |
| 192 | ** ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars New Stage'' had a few teaser pictures released that had shown OriginalGeneration character Ayumi with [[Anime/SuitePrettyCure Hibiki]], [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure Tsubomi]] and [[Anime/FreshPrettyCure Love]] along with them in their Cure forms fighting [[BigBad Fusion]]. Instead, the movie focuses more on Ayumi and the characters from ''Anime/SuitePrettyCure'' and ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'', relegating those from ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'' and ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' to be nothing more than StealthHiBye material. |
| 193 | ** Many Cure fans are pretty thankful that ''4Kids'' never dubbed the [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure first series]] as they intended. Changed openings, names and cultural references aside, the Toei/Blue Water dub turned out for the better. |
| 194 | *** Speaking of the first series, Nagisa's goofy ponytail she wears while playing lacrosse almost became her default style. Some other concept art showed her with little pigtails |
| 195 | *** Another interesting tidbit about ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'': the Card Commune was originally designed as a new virtual pet toy for Bandai before being changed to a TransformationTrinket for an all-new magical girl series. |
| 196 | ** In the very early stages of the Italian dub for ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'', the dub company was planning to make Saki and Mai Nagisa and Honoka and make it a continuation of the first two series, despite all of the continuity problems it would have had. |
| 197 | ** Nao/Cure March of ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'' was originally meant to be purple-themed, not green. |
| 198 | *** Similar to what happened with ''Film/KaizokuSentaiGokaigerVsSpaceSheriffGavanTheMovie'', notes for the Smile movie list that Akaoni was a big fan of the storybook villain Aoioni (Blue Demon). However, like most movies, the series villains are only namedropped and nothing is mentioned of this fanboyism. |
| 199 | *** Before going with the official name "Glitter Force", ''Smile'''s working dub name was "Gangnam Girls". |
| 200 | *** During the period where Saban was working on ''Glitter Force'', there was a Facebook page claiming that they were working on a dub of the ''Smile'' movie. Sadly, this never came to pass. |
| 201 | ** Designs of the ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' cast were vastly different than their finalized states. Komachi was shown with neck-length hair with no ponytail, Karen was actually much more colder in design, Rin looked more like [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure Nagisa]] and Urara had braided pigtails. As well, their school uniforms would have been normal Japanese schoolgirl uniforms. Other differences include variations of their costumes (at one point, their costumes resembled the usual uniforms worn by the previous teams and another had Cure Mint and Cure Aqua with more elegant costumes), a baton that would have granted the girls a different ability when used (for instance, Cure Dream spinning it would entrance a monster, yet Cure Rouge could end up getting a power boost from it when set a different position) and Natts was, at one point, set to be a flying squirrel. |
| 202 | ** ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'': Setsuna's Cure Passion costume was originally meant to be a copy of Love's Cure Peach costume, but with the longer hair of Passion instead of the twintails and more armored areas. |
| 203 | ** Many people noticed how quickly things changed in ''Anime/SuitePrettyCure'' after the infamous 2011 earthquake and tsunami, especially with the fact that, compared to ''Heartcatch'', it was decisively much more on the LighterAndSofter side. It's unknown, though, how much was changed from the original story. |
| 204 | ** ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'' had a ''lot'' lopped out. |
| 205 | *** Originally, Alice was supposed to have an older brother who would have been more of a globe hopper. He was the previous Student Council President before Mana and it was his advice that would lead to Mana becoming Cure Heart. |
| 206 | *** Mana also had two crushes, the aforementioned brother and another unidentified male, but were dropped because they said it interfered with her "charity" character personality. She was also supposed to have a relationship with Joe, but was stopped by the female producers. On that note, they also tried to pair up Alice and Makoto, but opted not to because of silly reasons (they felt Alice's perfect person should be a prince. and Makoto wouldn't be in a position to fall in love) before settling on Rikka. |
| 207 | *** There were plans for Makoto to join the team permanently at the halfway point, but was scuttled due to ''Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage 2''. She was also supposed to take the fairies and leave at the end of the series. |
| 208 | *** There were plans to show off Alice's school, but were scuttled due to the creators fearing that if they didn't show Makoto more, fans wouldn't like her. |
| 209 | *** Ira was supposed to die, not just... run off. |
| 210 | *** Because they had so much story, the producers actually hoped to have a sequel series focusing on Slice of Life things. |
| 211 | *** Rie Kugimiya [[CastTheRunnerUp had auditioned for the main four Cures]] before becoming the infamous SixthRanger Cure Ace. |
| 212 | ** ''Anime/HealinGoodPrettyCure'' would have had a normal season had the COVID-19 pandemic not ended up stopping production partway through. This also includes a few episodes devoted to Hinata. |
| 213 | ** The main characters of ''Anime/TropicalRougePrettyCure'' had a bunch of beta designs prior to their final designs: |
| 214 | *** Manatsu had a different design with a simpler shirt and a braided back ponytail. She also was almost tanned or dark-skinned, nearly making her the first dark-skinned leader type. Her Cure Summer design uses her final normal hair color with streaks of pink and blue on her bangs instead of on top of her head. Her costume also had a lot of red, blue and yellow with the white, giving her Sailor Moon-like vibes. |
| 215 | *** Laura's hair was almost like her mother's. |
| 216 | *** Cure Coral's design was much more subdued, lacking a lot of the frills and ribbons the final design had. |
| 217 | *** Cure Papaya's design was equally subdued, her skirt not as flared as the final design and lacking the iconic papaya slice earrings. |
| 218 | *** Cure Flamingo leaned a lot more red than her final design. Her hair was all red without the blue streaks in her bangs nor the hair decoration, the hankerchef was open, exposing a CleavageWindow, her boots were shorter and more elaborate and she lacked the fishnet stockings her final design had. |
| 219 | *** Even Kururun had a different design, looking a little more alienish than seal with multiple flippers and antenna. |
| 220 | * An extra released in the ''Anime/PrincessTutu'' [=DVDs=] says that originally the concept for Fakir was called the "black prince", and he was a 'crazy' young man babbling stories that only Ahiru believed. |
| 221 | * ''Anime/ProjectAKo'' was supposed to be a part of the ''Cream Lemon'' {{hentai}} anthology. Then the director decided that the comedy bits A) were strong enough to work on their own and B) worked better without being broken up with sex scenes. |
| 222 | * The opening of ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' features Anthy and Utena riding upon pegasi in armor. This was an idea for the plot that wound up falling through as the series developed further. |
| 223 | ** The remastered Utena releases feature a character booklet with many unused design concepts: Touga was drafted as having short blond hair, while Saionji would have short hair and wear glasses. Utena was to originally keep the blonde hair she had in the early manga illustrations by Chiho Saito, although Ikuhara had trouble deciding on her exact uniform color (he had already vetoed the pink uniform, as explained in a manga omake). At one point, Anthy was considered as having light skin and blue hair, Miki was to have black hair, and Juri would also have her hair be a shade of blue. There is even a draft design for Utena herself that depicts her hair blue. |
| 224 | ** Plans for a heavily edited dub known as ''Ursula's Kiss'' were made, with Americanized names and even ''new characters'' mentioned on the website at one point that weren't present in the original anime. However, this dub never came to be, despite being at one point announced for broadcast on Australian television. |
| 225 | * ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' was originally planned only as an English dub of ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''. The other two series (''Anime/SuperDimensionCavalrySouthernCross'' and ''Anime/GenesisClimberMospeada'') were added in because more episodes were needed for syndication. Had they not been forced to mix the stories, Harmony Gold may have been able to continue translating and airing subsequent ''Macross'' installments. Of course, whether or not that would have been a ''good'' thing is best left to the reader... |
| 226 | ** Outside of the name changes, the ''Robotech'' adaptation of ''Macross'' is actually considered to be pretty faithful (up until they change the last few episodes to hook into the other two shows), ''especially'' considering the [[MediaWatchdog Standards & Practices]] of the era. Even the death of Roy Fokker was kept in, which was unthinkable for an American cartoon at the time. Given the care of the adaptation and the zest Harmony Gold's people usually show for ''Anime/{{Macross}}'', not many people doubt they would've done a good job with the rest of the franchise and do bemoan the fact that the various legal hurdles from the way ''Robotech'' went down prevent us from watching ''[[Anime/MacrossPlus Robotech Plus]]'', ''[[Anime/{{Macross 7}} Robotech Seven]]'', ''[[Anime/MacrossZero Robotech Zero]]'', ''[[Anime/MacrossFrontier Robotech Frontier]]'', and ''[[Anime/MacrossDelta Robotech Delta]]'' instead of, well, [[WesternAnimation/RobotechTheShadowChronicles what we got]]. |
| 227 | ** The original dub would have kept a more international dimension, with Hikaru Ichijyo being called "Rick Yamada", averting the RaceLift that often happened in dubbing shows at the time by instead acknowledging the original character's Japanese ethnicity. |
| 228 | ** The ''Robotech'' franchise has a few more What Could Have Been moments on its own. A sequel series with all-new animation, ''Robotech II: The Sentinels'', died after the major American sponsor pulled out due to disappointing toy revenues and a jump in the yen/US dollar exchange rate, leaving only enough material for a direct-to-video movie which barely started the main plot. Its follow-up, ''Robotech III: The Odyssey'' never got beyond a vague outline. [[TheMovie The first movie]] (not to be confused with the more recent ''The Shadow Chronicles'') suffered from ExecutiveMeddling, and never saw wide release. ''Robotech 3000'' never got beyond a CGI trailer. |
| 229 | * ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': |
| 230 | ** The series had two prototypes, both called Meiji Romantic Swordsman Story. The first one revolved around Kenshin saving Chizuru, the daughter of a merchant, from a jealous former samurai, and had none of the characters from the final version apart from Kenshin (whose name wasn't given). The second prototype had Kaoru, Megumi and Yahiko, but all three were siblings and Megumi's personality was completely different (being [[ShrinkingViolet shy and submissive]]), and their father had been a comrade of Kenshin's. The main plot was about a former student of the Kamiya dojo taking it over and trying to marry Megumi in order to obtain it legally so that he could use the dojo as a gambling hall. Kenshin's name wasn't given in either. Also of note is that a minor mook character from the two prototypes eventually became the basis of Anji's design. If you count the author's first published work, Crescent Moon in the Warring States, then ''Rurouni Kenshin'' had ''three'' prototypes. It does include some elements of the final story, but takes place in the Sengoku (Warring States) era of Japan and focused on Hiko Seijuro, a master of Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu (Kenshin's style) and Isshinta, a cowardly boy. |
| 231 | ** Watsuki originally planned for it to be revealed that Hannya had been stepped on in the womb like Film/TheElephantMan, explaining his featureless death-mask of a face. Luckily, he realized the UnfortunateImplications of that idea and changed it to reveal that Hannya had intentionally mutilated his face so that he could easily disguise himself as just about anything. |
| 232 | * ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'' is full of these. The first series was originally supposed to focus mainly on Ken, Jun, and Jinpei out of the team, but after Joe became more popular, he gained more screentime in the anime. Jun was also originally intended to be second-in-command, but after the team numbers got shuffled about in production, Joe gained that position instead. Early plans for the series also put more emphasis on the relationship between Ken and Jun, possibly making them a romantic couple. |
| 233 | ** Katse's initial design was much different, with a long mane on the cowl and the uniform being primarily green. This design was eventually assigned to a Galactor boss when the first two episodes were made. Katse was also initially intended to be THE BigBad [[spoiler: and secretly a woman, rather than a GenderBender made from fusing twins]] with X as only a consultant. These ideas did not make it very far, and it was decided that X being the one in charge would make for a more interesting story. |
| 234 | ** There would have been a SixthRanger in Gatchaman II, known as "Jack the Hawk" (G6). [[spoiler: He was to be Joe's never-mentioned younger brother, while Joe would have been resurrected and brainwashed into being a Galactor operative under the name of the "Space Joker". Joe would eventually be freed of his brainwashing, although the planning notes did not specify if he'd rejoin the team or act as an ally.]] This idea lasted as far as a 1976 outline for the series (when it was called "Gatchaman 2" without Roman numerals). A later outline for the sequel, titled "New Gatchaman", had a different concept: [[spoiler: Joe was back on the team, with no Jack to be found. However, this "Joe" would be revealed to be an android copy, who only was under the delusion that he was the actual deceased Joe Asakura. The android would have then performed a HeroicSacrifice at the end of the series.]] By the time the sequel went into production as Gatchaman II, it was decided that Joe should remain part of the team and the plans for him were heavily reworked: [[spoiler: Rather than there being an android Joe replacing the original, the Joe on the team ''would'' be the original, having narrowly survived his death by being modified into a cyborg. He does attempt to sacrifice himself at the end of the series, but it's averted and he continues to live.]] |
| 235 | ** Had the 1997 remake of ''[[Anime/SpeedRacer Mach Go Go Go]]'' not failed, [[Creator/TatsunokoProduction Tatsunoko]] would have released a remake of Gatchaman (tentatively titled "Gatchaman '98") for the following year, which would have featured all three major villains from the old series under the rule of X. The Red Impulse squadron would have also had female members, and both Ken and Jun would have been in search of lost family members. [[http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=18574#entry391686 Concept art by Tatsunoko artist Roberto Ferrari could be seen floating around on the net for the series at one point]]. |
| 236 | ** Another failed remake idea by [[Creator/TatsunokoProduction Tatsunoko]] was an ''SD Gatchaman'' series slated for 1996, which would have had the team reimagined in the super-deformed format and with an extra female member, operating from a floating platform. Unfortunately, concept art for this version has yet to surface. |
| 237 | ** Early plans for the Gatchaman series (tentatively titled "Birdman", among other working names) had the lead character named Ken Hayabusa, with his birdstyle being the Great Hawk, rather than the Eagle. His teammates would be named Jun Shiratori, Joe Takano, Ryu Washio, and Jinpei Tsubakurou. Jun was to carry a fencing sword as her weapon, rather than a yo-yo. At some point in the planning, Joe was to be into gardening rather than racing, and this detail visually carried through to his model sheet, where he was depicted with a flower hanging out of his mouth. |
| 238 | ** Sandy Frank Entertainment had originally considered doing all-new "original" stories for their ''Anime/BattleOfThePlanets'' adaptation, but due to expense concerns and already fulfilling their syndication quota, the ideas didn't get very far. They also attempted to get a redubbed and remastered version off of the ground in 2004, but it never got any further than an unaired pitch pilot and the idea died off fast. Sandy Frank had also considered doing an all-new American animated series with different designs in an attempt to not pay [[Creator/TatsunokoProduction Tatsunoko]] royalties for the Gatchaman characters, but this got no further than a mere wish. |
| 239 | * ''Manga/SeiyusLife'' has an in-universe example. Futaba was supposed to cover the bit part of a little boy in the first episode of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Buddha Fighter Bodhisattvon]]''. She couldn't do it due to nervousness and Rin covered the part instead. We do get to hear what she would have done at the end of episode 3 though. |
| 240 | * ''Manga/SgtFrog'': A large example from the English version due to its DevelopmentHell. Keroro was originally going to be voiced by Creator/VicMignogna when ADV had the series (and Creator/JessicaBoone was to voice Natsumi). However, when Funimation picked up the show, everyone was recast. Keroro was played by Chris Cason in the test dub of Episode 12B, but was changed again in the final release to Creator/ToddHaberkorn, who in the test dub voiced Kululu, whose voice actor changed to Creator/ChuckHuber. Chris Cason still does make an appearance in the dub as Taruru, however. In fact, the only voices from the test dub that ''weren't'' changed for the final cut were Giroro and Tamama (Creator/ChristopherSabat and Creator/BrinaPalencia respectively). Hell, even most of their ''lines'' were unchanged from the test dub. |
| 241 | ** The dub was also going to have some [[DubNameChange name changes]], such as changing Natsumi to Natalie[[note]] This one actually happened in most non-Asian countries to air ''Frog'', so Funimation wasn't exactly pulling a 4Kids here,[[/note]] and removing the third syllable of the frogs' names (Keroro became Kero, Tamama became Tama, etc). This was changed due to negative reception, and they instead went with the original names for the characters. |
| 242 | ** Had the English distribution rights remained to ADV, the show would've aired on television in the United States. Creator/CartoonNetwork liked a mass-media pilot and Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} liked a kids' pilot (in fact, Nick said they would air the show if ADV got merchandising rights). To this date, the Funimation dub has never aired on television in the United States outside of their own channel, and no network has picked it up. |
| 243 | * According to art books ''Anime/SherlockHound'' was supposed to be a floppy-eared dog instead of a fox. It also seems they were originally going for a darker, more true to the original story with Sherlock being a drug addict among other things. |
| 244 | * When Hajime Kanzaka was beginning to pen the ''{{Literature/Slayers}}'' light novels, Lina was conceived as a ten year old (she starts out at fifteen in the first book), and the setting would've been either modern or slightly futuristic, as he penned her as being obsessed with technology (the setting is actually a MedievalEuropeanFantasy, and her obsession shifted from technology to [[{{Greed}} money and treasure.]]). Also, [[spoiler:Naga the Serpent]] was originally slated to appear in the fourth novel, which is set in [[spoiler:her home kingdom of]] Saillune, but Kanzaka, in an interview, was reportedly too lazy to explain her appearance, so he gave her a little sister, Amelia, instead. Finally, Kanzaka mentioned that the BadassNormal swordsman, Gourry, has a lot of hidden magical potential, but so far, it's never been acted upon. |
| 245 | * ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie'' was supposed to be an entire series. However, ''Sonic'' is not nearly as popular in Japan as in other countries so it never took off. The "movie" is simply two episodes put together. |
| 246 | * ''Anime/SonicX'': |
| 247 | ** As evidenced by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7AqlIp5evA its original pilot]] created circa 2001, the show was supposed to include a cast of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans, as well as what appears to be a new [[SuperMode Super form]] affectionately dubbed "Nazo" by the fanbase (a reference to the title of his image on the long-gone Japanese ''Sonic X'' site). |
| 248 | ** Judging by the pilot video, there were originally going to be a few more differences. For one, the show would have been titled "The Sonic Adventure", and the plot would have revolved around Dr. Eggman searching for something called the Crystal Rainbow Star (though apparently the Chaos Emeralds would have also played a role). Cheese would have been named "[[ADogNamedDog Chao]]", and Knuckles would have had his "treasure hunter" role from ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie''. |
| 249 | * ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'''s third television series (called "The Bolar Wars" in ''Star Blazers'') was originally meant to be a 52 episode extravaganza, over twice the length of the first two series. It was truncated to the usual 26 episodes only because the producers were starting to feel that the melodramatic SpaceOpera style of ''Yamato'' was starting to become less relevant to audiences in the wake of newer, [[DarkerAndEdgier grittier]] shows such as the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise. So West Cape Corporation considered the low initial viewer ratings of the show and elected to truncate the series. It shows in the final work. Numerous subplots were removed. Also, the premise of Yamato III was to focus on the Next Generation characters with the original Yamato crew hanging around as mentors. The newer characters got little development and were quietly pushed back into the background. The 1980 film ''Be Forever Yamato'' proved successful in its use of subplots, character development, and focus on newer characters, so these concepts were to fare into a 52 episode TV series where these elements could be used to even more potential. Among the things that we would have seen in Yamato III are 1) An outer space version of Aushwitz 2) A baby born on the Yamato 3) Tension between Yamato and Dessler as Yamato now seeks a new home planet much like Dessler did in the original series 4) A touching story focusing on the Space Battleship Arizona (included as a tip to perhaps the most famous of the American ships sunk at Pearl Harbor) 5) An interstellar empire based on America 5) An overdue LoveInterests for Sanada (Sandor), 6) Much more character development for Captain Dan Hammer whose role was cut short after his brief appearance and 6) More exploration of the Shalabart religion. The loss of all of this caused Yamato III to be a weak point in the saga, even to ''Star Blazers'' fans. |
| 250 | ** An adaption of the cut material can be found in comic form on [[http://ourstarblazers.com/vault/382/ Cosmo DNA]]. |
| 251 | ** The original season, the trip to Iscandar, was also cut down to 26 episodes. Amongst the material that got cut was Derek Wildstar's brother, Captain Harlock (or at least an early version that would go on to be the character we know as Harlock). |
| 252 | * With ''Anime/SpiderRiders'', an original press release shown on the Canadian network Teletoon's site and later pulled revealed plans for an older version of the show. Some notable differences include Aqune being the reincarnated Spirit Oracle, exploration of her past (she was exiled from her home [[ForgottenFirstMeeting for helping Buguese, who was injured]]), Buguese's origins as an artificially created Insector, Corona seemingly being [[RagsToRoyalty the daughter of Queen Elma/Illuma]], Hunter getting a chance to return home, ([[IChooseToStay yet choosing to stay]]), Mantid [[spoiler: actually being defeated]], and possible resolution to Hunter and Corona's romantic relationship. |
| 253 | ** The Directors Book, which came with the Japanese DVD release, also showed some cut ideas. Most interestingly, Sparkle had a very boyish appearance, and the writers admitted to changing her age around quite a bit. She went from being an infant, to mature and beautiful, to her current 8-year-old self. The book also stated that they considered rendering the Spiders in CG, but ultimately chose to use traditional animation. |
| 254 | ** Initially, Magma and Igneous' names were to be switched. |
| 255 | * ''[[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse Star Trek]]'' manga by Creator/{{Tokyopop}} was going to include at least five more stories based on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', including one titled ''Skin Deep''. |
| 256 | * ''Manga/SummerTimeRendering'': The original oneshot, titled ''Jamais Vu'', was a pure sci-fi action conflict rather than a supernatural mystery. The shapeshifters were aliens whose true forms were geometric shapes with multiple appendages instead of amorphous shadow creatures, and Haine was a friendly balloon shaped alien who helped the protagonist fight off the shapeshifter who killed and replaced his best friend. |
| 257 | * In Manga/SunKenRock, the final arc of the series would be the end result of Ken's journey to avenge his dead parents, taking on the Yakuza syndicate that ruined his life prior the series' beginning; it starts in a very serious and committed tone, to the point it shows Ken and his companions outright killing some of the goons, whereas before they never took a single life, settling Ken was all-in for the revenge path. However, the final chapters follows with a string of twists and turns, with [[spoiler:someone Ken loved very much turning on him, and he basically purges all feelings of revenge he ever had, wanting to quit a live of violence altogether]]. The sudden turn of events turned out to be on purpose, Boichi says it in the final volume's extras that the France, Paris 2015 terrorist attacks in which one of the fallen victim's family open letter about refusing to let hatred and revenge consume his heart touched Boichi deeply, to the point he reconsidered Sun-Ken Rock being a series where revenge is the end goal. |
| 258 | * Back when ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' was on pre-production as ''Battle City Megaroad'', Lynn Minmay was a delivery girl who worked in her parents' Chinese restaurant aboard the ship and who usually delivered Chinese food to the main bridge. The staff liked her so much that when the series evolved into ''Macross'', she ended up expanded into not only a vertex in the main love triangle, but probably the most important character in the entire ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise. |
| 259 | ** According to Creator/ShojiKawamori himself, the earliest concept for ''Macross'' was an all-female crew, with Misa Hayase as the captain. Makes you wonder how that would have played out... |
| 260 | ** ''Macross'' was also initially envisioned as a parody of the mecha genre (i.e., the ship itself being a TransformingMecha). Early drafts of the story included a trip around the world, with a landmark or city getting destroyed at pretty much every stop. |
| 261 | * ''Anime/{{Tekkaman}}'' |
| 262 | ** The anime was to have more episodes dubbed past the thirteenth story, but William Winckler Productions ran into trouble when they were unable to get TV stations to pick it up, due to it having to have a toy line in order to air. Ted Turner apparently considered picking the dub up for TBS, but then balked as he considered it too violent for childrens' television. |
| 263 | ** Had the ''Tekkaman'' dub not flopped, WWP was thinking to also license ''Anime/NeoHumanCasshern'' and ''Anime/HurricanePolymar''. Casshern's original TV series would not see any release until Sentai Filmworks announced it as part of their deal with [[Creator/TatsunokoProduction Tatsunoko]] in 2013. |
| 264 | * There are storyboards out there from the third ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' OVA series that expanded the sixth episode. In it, it shows Tenchi being flung 10,000+ years into the future and on planet Jurai. There, [[spoiler:he meets Queen Misaki, now as the Counteractor, revealed that she became that after Emperor Azusa and Queen Funaho died long ago. The Juraian Empire constantly attack her, which explains her odd shadings on her body - that's her rebuilt self.]] |
| 265 | ** Originally, Washu was supposed to have been the true BigBad of the first OVA series, with Kagato as a disguise. However, the creators enjoyed her craziness too much and decided to make her part of the main group instead. |
| 266 | ** Original designs for the characters had Ryoko with purple hair, Emperor Azusa and Kagato with red hair and Sasami with curly cotton candy pink hair. |
| 267 | ** Episode 2 of the OVA would have had the first kiss between Tenchi and Ryoko, done as Ryu-Oh and Ryo-Ohki are plummeting to Earth, with Sasami watching curiously and Ayeka getting incensed by it all. |
| 268 | * The [[ActionPrologue opening scene]] of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' originally was an accurate display of what they planned the final storyline to be like, but it went through some massive re-writes. Additionally, Yoko's identity as the [[HotTeacher schoolteacher Yomako]] was originally supposed to have a plot about there being a teacher there that looked a lot like Kamina. |
| 269 | ** The concept art for the second movie included, among the other Tengen Toppa Gunmen, designs for a Tengen Toppa King Kittan. [[spoiler: It's unclear, but this could have meant that the movie was at one point going to spare Kittan along with all the other secondary members of the team.]] |
| 270 | ** AD Vision was once set to dub the series, but their financial troubles forced Gainax to pull the license and give it to Bandai. They revealed that they would have solved Simon the Digger's name pronunciation by just calling him "SIGH-mon." |
| 271 | ** Creator/SteveBlum originally intended to audition for the role of Kamina. When he saw a picture of [[CampGay Leeron]], however, he ''begged'' the producers to let him try out for him instead. |
| 272 | * Ikumi Mia, as one may have noticed from her constantly adding things that premiered in the anime adaptations of her works back into the manga, is a go-with-the-flow revisionist. What you may not know is that she never intended for ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' in its current incarnation to exist at all. She had been commissioned to draft up a horror manga, and thought it would be cute if a {{catgirl}} with a pink and black motif were added into the cast. The executives at Nakayoshi were immediately smitten with the character and wanted more, which she soon added. Then they decided that the horror story was too dark for a kids' magazine, but they couldn't just leave those characters there. After many, many revisions, the mysterious, chilling pink-and-black catgirl became the cute, easily flustered pink-and-red catgirl Momomiya Ichigo, and she and her friends were {{Magical Girl}}s in modern-day Tokyo. |
| 273 | * A one-episode ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' anime remains unpublished, based on the Famicom port of ''VideoGame/UltimaIII'', with some footage of the anime featured in a game commercial. Tapes of the anime were found in a warehouse and sold off, but the entire episode remains [[MissingEpisode missing]]. |
| 274 | * At the end of ''Manga/VenusVersusVirus'''s first volume you get to read the original oneshot and see the original character designs. The art style [[ArtEvolution changed]] between the oneshot and final version, plus several details about the character designs changed as well. The plot is different as Sumire came to Lucia without them previously meeting, [[TheHeartless Viruses]] are simply demons, and Lucia intentionally shot Sumire wuth a special bullet to make her go Berserk. |
| 275 | * ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' was originally going to be a straight up {{Shonen}} mecha series directed by [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Yasuhiro]] [[Anime/GiantRobo Imagawa]]. Whether this would have been a bad thing or still completely awesome is a question that will never be answered though: Imagawa left pre-production to channel his energies into the pinnacle of NarmCharm that is ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]''. ''Escaflowne'' was put on the shelf for a year or two before Kazuki Akane wound up with the series and decided to go for MultipleDemographicAppeal. The biggest changes were probably are the {{Bishonen}} and a complete redo of Hitomi's character from MsFanservice to the {{Shorttank}} OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent we know today. |
| 276 | * On a related note to ''Robotech'' mentioned above, the success of ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'' in the United States was nearly a ''total accident''. World Events Productions previewed a show called ''Anime/FutureRobotDaltanious'', somewhat liked what they saw, and told Toei that they wanted "to go with the [[Anime/DairuggerXV vehicle one]], and the one with the lion" (they were referring to the prominent lion emblem on the chest of Daltanious). This communication goof confused the Toei execs, and instead of ''Daltanious'' (which they were shopping around due to it having been a decent success at home), they sent over a far-less-successful-in-Japan show called ''Beast King Anime/GoLion'' with a shrug of "whatever, silly foreigners"... and the crew at World Events fell in love with ''[=GoLion=]'' '''immediately''' and proceeded to make it the headliner of the ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'' run, scrapping all ''Daltanious''-related plans on the spot. [[CashCowFranchise The rest, of course, is history.]] Had the world not gotten "Lion Anime/{{Voltron}}" as we know it, who knows what would have been different, or if the frankly very different ''Daltanious'' would have appealed to Americans at all. |
| 277 | * ''Manga/WanderingSon'' was originally going to be about a HighSchool [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} girl that yearned to be a boy]], but the author realized that a boy who wants to become a girl before entering into puberty would have a lot of worries related to growing up and decided to go for it, changing the plot accordingly. The original idea was used with the secondary protagonist though, Takatsuki Yoshino (albeit she was in elementary at the start of the series). |
| 278 | * ''Manga/WorldTrigger'': |
| 279 | ** In the ''Border Briefing File'', Ashihara reveals that he was initially going to write a sports manga before his editor encouraged him to come up with something more creative. He came up with a battle shonen where powers were freely transferrable between anybody the same way skills could be learned by any player in a sports manga, and the sci-fi "Triggers" were devised to support this concept. |
| 280 | ** Ken Satori was originally intended to be a beautiful guy that ladies would swoon over for, but it ended up as a Comedic Relief since Arashiyama already covered that role. |
| 281 | ** Mitsuru Tokieda was also meant to be more conventionally attractive, but Ashihara grew fond of his sleepy eyes look. |
| 282 | * In ''Manga/YamadaKunAndTheSevenWitches'', at one point, the writer Miki Yoshikawa planned for one of the witch powers to be a literal GenderBender power (unlike the [[FreakyFridayFlip body-swap power]] which merely allows you to swap bodies with the opposite sex), but dropped the idea. Probably because changing your sex would be a power of physical change, while all other witch powers are mental and only changes the mind of the witch or their victims. |
| 283 | * While nothing definite has been revealed, one has to wonder WhatCouldHaveBeen with ''Franchise/YuGiOh'', had the [[TabletopGame/YuGiOh card game]] PlotTumor been nipped in the bud as was planned. Kazuki Takahashi, the [[Manga/YuGiOh manga's creator]], never intended the card game story to last more than a few chapters, putting it on a rotating list of children's games to base stories on. He also based the Millennium Puzzle and the spirit of Yami Yugi within on ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'s'' puzzle box and Pinhead, playing the Shadow Games in a similar manner. Had the card game not garnered such popularity and forced him to rewrite the rest of the series LighterAndSofter, who knows how DarkerAndEdgier it could've been? |
| 284 | ** In the manga, Mr. Takahashi mentioned the premise of Yu-Gi-Oh was about "the mysterious" in every day life before it morphed into a story of games and the supernatural connotations of them (and later Duel Monsters specifically). Paranormal Magnet Yugi Muto, anyone? |
| 285 | ** Originally, Seto Kaiba was meant to be a one-shot villain for the manga. However, Takahashi decided to add more to his character, including a tragic backstory for his present-day character and ancestor, give him a little brother, and make him somewhat appealing. Never knew that, did you, Kaiba fans? |
| 286 | ** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' was going to have a movie called ''Yu-Gi-Oh! vs. GX''. The plot would have been about Judai and his classmates going on a field trip to Domino City and meeting Yugi and Jonouchi. Despite the movie not being made, elements of it were used in the second season of the show. |
| 287 | * ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' was originally going to be brought to the States by Creator/AnimEigo before Creator/{{FUNimation}} showed interest, and Creator/AnimEigo pretty much decided not to pick up the series. Imagine if Yu Yu Hakusho had been dubbed by Coastal Carolina Studios and given Creator/AnimEigo, who doesn't license ANY anime anymore, a mainstream hit! In addition, Media Blasters had dubbed the first movie (which has since been redubbed by Creator/{{FUNimation}}), imagine if the series had been dubbed by Animaze instead of Creator/{{FUNimation}}! |
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