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Basic Trope: A work with a darker tone is retooled to be more light-hearted.

  • Straight: A work with dark and gritty elements has a softer and kinder sequel made for fans to like it again.
  • Exaggerated:
    • The original work is of an "adults only" kind, with every other word being a swear, blood and gore everywhere, and a regular use of sex scenes. The retool is a saccharine show with the cast consisting of Ridiculously Cute Critters living together in a Sugar Bowl.
    • Denser and Wackier
  • Downplayed:
    • The show incorporates more comedic elements, yet still retains many dark elements, making it of a Black Comedy style.
    • While the show still features plenty of violence and dark elements, things are not as hopeless as they once were.
    • The sequel is just as dark as the first show, but unlike its predecessor it has a straightforward Happy Ending, whereas the first show ended with a Downer Ending.
    • The sequel is still overall quite dark and serious, and things are overall still pretty hopeless, but it nonetheless tones down the language and violence the original was known for.
    • Defanged Horrors
  • Justified:
    • The world of the work is getting progressively better than the Crapsack World it was previously, meaning that the characters and plots don't need to be as dark as they were before.
    • The installments before and/or after it were pretty dark, so it's very much a breath of fresh air when an installment has much less tension.
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted: The show appears to have elements of light and softness of a kids' show, but it isn't.
  • Double Subverted: But then, it turns out it is by later episodes.
  • Parodied: The show remains the same, but suddenly, the characters act like morons and do a lot of things commonly associated with media aimed at children.
  • Zig Zagged:
    • The show has episodes that either have a darker or lighter overtone.
    • Mood Whiplash
  • Averted:
    • The retool has the same tone of the previous work.
    • No retool is made at all.
  • Enforced:
    • "We need to make a sequel to this game, but it won't be as dark as the last one."
    • The writers didn't want the darker show scare off its audience, so they made a light-hearted sequel to bring its old fans back.
    • The sequel was meant to be a parody of its predecessor.
  • Lampshaded: "Hey, this movie doesn't seem so dreary and drab, like the last one."
  • Invoked: A test audience watches a movie and some of them complain that the movie needs some humor.
  • Exploited: ???
  • Defied: "Let's not make the movie too comical or too dramatic."
  • Discussed: "I didn't like this older show. It was too emotional and depressing..."
  • Conversed: "Oh, man, that guy just fell face-first on a pie! Ha-ha!"
  • Deconstructed:
    • The show is not light-hearted enough for the newer audience to forget about the darker predecessor and many old fans actually liked or loved it and bash on the sequel for being so childish.
    • Sweetness Aversion
  • Reconstructed: The show manages to appease both the newer audience and the older fans, despite (or because of) being lighter in tone.

Now, let's go back to Lighter and Softer and have some cookies and milk!

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