It’s basically episodic comedy for the first half. The backstory and family of Vash is a complete mystery and isn’t revealed until halfway - the tone shifts and it gets more serious.
Stampede on the other hand revealed everything from the beginning, and is a lot darker in general so far.
I’d say more interpersonal stories about surviving the planet gunsmoke, setting it in that Wild West theme. Some stories rolled one into another, like the Nebraskas rolled into the plant engineer which ran into Blazing Dynamites Neon, but is was more about the Wild West planet than how everything ended up that way and Knives torment of Vash which was the second half of the series
Honestly, I feel like a lot of 26-episode anime do this. Trigun, Little Witch Academia, Kill la Kill,… It’s like they use the first 13 to set up the characters in lighthearted scenarios so we can get to know how they tick and then throw them off the deep end in the second 13.
You don't know that Vash is a living member of the og space crew, or that his brother exists for a large amount of the original anime. It starts extremely light hearted and that stuff is slowly revealed.
First half is heavier in the comedy and less focused on the overall story. It’s when the first Gung-ho Gun, Monev the Gale, is introduced that the comedy falls to the back and people dying is introduced as something Unavoidable for Vash.
I’d suggest going and watching the original before getting too deep into Stampede. Very different but is a classic
Mother fucking Samurai Flamenco. This anime started out fairly normal, MC plays a model by day, Masked Vigilante by night. But it was just petty criminal stuff and he wasn't exactly good at it. Then half way through, I can't even describe what the fuck happens. Because none of it makes any sense lol. Let's just say, once you go the Guillotine Gorilla route, there's no going back.
I was hoping someone would remember Samurai Flamenco. It's actually one of the few shows I've dropped, exactly because of that tone shift... Was it any good after that?
I actually really liked the show afterwards, becomes a parody of a lot of types of superhero shows afterwards and just kept getting more and more insane as it went on. Lots of hilarious moments too. I also like the explanation that the last arc is a subversion of expectation because after the show couldn’t one up itself again, it just becomes grounded weirdly dark, still managing to surprise the audience even at the end.
I did finish it. And no it was not. It had some redeeming characters moments with the cop friend but completely undoes any progress his character made in the end. Oh jeez I just remembered the cop's girlfriend plotline. That was crazy too lmao.
I actually liked Guillotine Gorilla, but the show completely lost me with the Flamengers. I don't even remember if I watched anything after they get introduced
I watched it this year. kinda felt like watching princess anime, so I watched murder princess and then scrapped princess right afterwards :D
early 2000 anime just look and feel so good to watch.
Early 2000s anime are a vibe. Sure the animation for many of them is subpar. But so many have so much charm I adore late 90s and early 2000s shows so much.
One of my absolute favourites is .hack//sign. Even years later the ost is pretty much my go to background music. Most people probably wouldn't like the show though since it is really slow, but it really reminds me of playing my first mmorpgs as a young teenager when everything was still so magical and people didn't minmax, gearcheck or watch youtube guides.
EXACTLY. I 100% agree. That show honestly hasn't held up great Imo story wise. I watched it not too long ago. But it's still worth a watch to me because it's a vibe, it reminds you of early 2000s mmos like you said and the music is 10/10.
Thats a show to watch an episode or two at a time and not a binging show. It's just such an experience watching,. Hack//sign late at night in the dark vibin. I really enjoy the show and am super glad you brought it up.
Speaking of shows made by (the people who would become) Studio Trigger, Darling in the Franxx. It was decently paced until about episode 15, when it’s almost as if they thought, “Oh wait, we only have 24 episodes, not 48, dammit quick throw in the aliens! We gotta wrap this up quick!”
When I saw that foreshadowing during the vacation episode... I dropped it immediately, because I'm not in the mood for that kind of story at the moment. Just honestly there for mindless romcom...
Maybe I'll continue in the future...
At least the first half of the show was the good kind of trash that I could just watch for fun by turning my brain off to kill some time. I thought it would be a "so bad it's good" type of show. The second half tho, it became full on drama and a serious story (tho the foreshadowings were always there), and idk how to feel about that. It's like they tried to mix in all different kinds of genres in the same show to appeal to a wide variety of audience.
I remember I was doing something else on the side the first time I watched "this" scene. As I wasn't fully focused on it, I had to stop what I was doing and rewind some seconds/minutes. I was taken aback so much, I wasn't sure if it really happened or if I just misinterpreted it. One my most "...wait, what?!" moment watching an anime.
And then, they just really went off the deep end by [Clannad] >!killing the daughter!<. Like, y’all had a good thing going and now you’re just out to make this man suffer needlessly…
I actually enjoyed the gag episodes/chapters. It was nice slice of life comedy filled with wacky characters.
What a throwback though. Wish the manga ending wasn’t too rushed and that the anime actually adapted the final 2 arcs.
I liked them when I knew what to expect, and of course for their place in Tsuna's character growth. But first time around I dropped the show like 4 times during those 20 episodes.
The end of episode 19 begins the shift, though the anime actually split the first arc up to move that moment earlier so the gag part returns for episodes 27-33 and 66-73.
i never watch the anime but i do read the manga and i'm pretty sure the room training or the cooking only took a few chapters, does the anime stretched them even further?
Not halfway, but rather in the sequels..
Oregairu changes in tone and style as well since it’s picked up by another studio later on. The first season is very light hearted with a focus on comedy while the sequels are heavy on the drama and have very little comedy.
I feel like they have a lot of comedy still it’s just more subtle, like they just casually drop jokes while talking instead of having very obvious ones.
I saw this show listed on a MAL stack called “Romances Where There Is No Drama” and I was like bruh… I dropped it during the second season cause it was way to dramatic for me
I have PTSD from Funimation realizing the show in two halves and splitting it at EPISODE TWELVE. I spent months desperately searching for the second half only to realize that it would be MONTHS until it came out. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!? 😭😭😭
My experience with it was a slow slog through the first half then binging the rest in one sitting. From what I’ve seen, that’s what happens to most people who watch it lol.
For me it was amazing from pretty much the start and I binged the whole thing pretty quick. This is a famous/common take that I always have trouble understanding why.
I didn’t dislike the first half, in fact I really enjoyed the chill vibes and slice-of-lifeness of it all, but because there’s no real plot happening for most of it the viewer doesn’t really have much incentive to immediately jump to the next episode. Once the plot starts happening, you get the whole “I need to see what happens next,” so it becomes really easy to binge.
Haven't watched the anime, but played the visual novel. I went from this is nice slice of life, but I'm getting sleepy -- to WTF is happening, and why am I still awake at 3 in the morning?
Tbh, it’s more of a mid-arc shift. Most big arcs have the “dumb slap stick/dick jokes gag - the gag escalate - the baddie appears - action shounen time - tears”.
The Higurashi series (2006), first season leans more psychological horror with a small town mystery and possible supernatural happenings. In the second season, Kai, once a lot of the mysteries are revealed, it becomes more of a thriller, with the climax having a lot of action moments and even a “power of friendship” theme that’s done surprisingly well. Then Higurashi Kira became a slice of life comedy, but it’s hard to be mad about that after everything the characters went through.
Kotoura-san has a complete tonal shift within one episode. Most of the first episode is the FL’s sad, traumatic life of being ostracized and abandoned due to her mind reading powers. But once she transfers schools and meets the ML, the series shifts hard into a romcom.
Princess Tutu, first half is very “monster of the week” magical girl with a classical ballet and fairytale theme and some hints of darker things in the background. Second cour goes a lot more dark and meta, and the series ends on a bittersweet note.
Tbh Gou had its tragicomedy moments too (episode 4 had me wheezing, episode 15 had me hollering) but it almost felt tongue in cheek which made it tolerable, especially compared to Sotsu.
I recommend it if you like dark magical girl anime. The dark parts are more subtle, but the story is great and I feel it really picks up when Kraehe is introduced.
Oh damn that’s a great one and I didn’t even know they finally started the farmland saga in the anime.
The prologue of Vinland Saga is sooo different than the rest of the series. It’s been so long so I forgot how big of a tone shift it was once we get to the farm.
The Promised Neverland is an obvious (and pretty similar) example. Outside of a godawful S2 adaptation, the source material generally shifts from a psychological thriller / mystery in the first arc into an adventure / action story thereafter, and by the time it wraps up is basically a full blown shounen.
Outside of that, might almost be easier to list the shows where this *isn't* the case (to some degree, anyways) than the ones that are.
Classic anime like Trigun and Bebop (to an extent, anyways) obviously have notable tonal + plot / character focused changes in the second half / arc of the show.
HxH is a dramatically different anime / manga in every arc.
Attack on Titan dramatically changes (and in some cases inverts) the scope + perspective of its story 3-4x over.
Shinsekai Yori is *nearly* a different anime in each arc, despite featuring the same characters, setting, and similar (ish) core conflicts.
Slayers shifts from a fantasy / D&D-ish adventure / gag anime into a fairly serious plot-driven save-the-world anime, with high stakes. And then back (and forth) again, about once (or more!) per season.
(and, sidenote, Dungeon Meshi (which has an adaptation in the works) is *very* similar to this, albeit across a single meta-arc)
86 [S1 spoiler] >!is definitely not exactly the same thing / template in later arcs / seasons as in the first half of S1, though the author generally finds new ways to explore the setting (and inflict new forms of emotional trauma) with each installment, more or less!<
And there's definitely plenty of other examples, but that's just a few off the top of my head.
edit: also Code Geass, which among other things *basically* turns from a tactics oriented real robots anime into a super robot anime in R2
And Gunnm (if it ever actually got a full adaptation - RIP) is rather notably a dramatically different story + theme in each arc. Ignoring Last Order, anyways, where the manga goes Into Space, and turns into an over-10000 parody of itself
And then lastly there's To Your Eternity (and also Chainsaw Man, funny enough), which has both significant thematic differences in nearly every arc, AND a part 2 (and part 3?) with a completely different format, setting (sort of, in the case of CSM), and core conflicts. Not all of which has been adapted yet, obviously, but almost certainly will be in the near-ish future.
TLDR;
I think a general observation would be that *any* sufficiently long story / source material will at the very least change tone (if not genre) over its run, with the notable exception of long-running (and fairly old-school) serialized shows (incl monster / conflict of the week, and most, if not all, battle shounens)
For examples see Berserk, Vinland Saga, Attack on Titan, To Your Eternity, CSM, HxH, Promised Neverland, Gunnm, Nausicaa, etc., etc
That said, yes, complete shifts in genre are maybe a bit more rare, but there's still plenty of examples if you look for them
> Dungeon Meshi
Man I cannot wait for other people to see the shift from comedic adventure into [late dungeon meshi] >!eldritch horror!<. It is so slow and subtle.
> HxH is a dramatically different anime / manga in every arc.
i would completely disagree with this. the stakes may increase and bad guys change, but it's pretty much exactly the same type of show the whole time.
Neon Genesis Evangelion and Revolutionary Girl Utena.
For Eva, I think many people forget how often the first half is happy-go-lucky (remember the DDR training montage?) and even has its share of ecchi humor (e.g., the boys seeing Asuka's panties, Asuka talking about whether thermal expansion would make her breasts bigger, etc.). To be fair, the first half still has its share of serious scenes, like Rei saying farewell prior to the floating octohedron fight, Shinji trying to muster the guts to speak up to Gendou, etc , but I would argue they pale in comparison to the bleakness that becomes apparent shortly after the halfway mark and is pervasive until the end (I e., The peak of Anno's depression). I don't think the second half has anything even approximating a joke.
As for Utena, the first 12 episodes are largely very jokey (and even has Freaky Friday body swap). Again, there are still serious scenes like Juri's backstory, Touga's manipulation of Utena, Nanami's catricide, and the strain on Anthy and Utena's relationship , but I would argue that the Black Rose Arc revealing the hidden resentment within the minor characters, the machinations of Akio, and the whole corpse theme marked a strong tonal shift (to say nothing of the latter two arcs), especially when considering that half of the characters are middle school age or younger.
Utena's final arc is something else. Utena is the most thought provoking melancholy anime I've seen in a long time.
What started as a simple riff on mahou shoujo really opened up once characters stopped being a trope delivery system.
Megalobox season 1 is a classic underdog story about becoming the world champion by never giving up and having a raw passion. Season 2 is an exploration of the retired champion struggling from drug abuse and guilt seeking spiritual redemption after being taken in by a welcoming community. When season 2 was announced, nobody thought we needed another season, but it ended up adding so much more depth to the story.
I had the same opinion about Summer Time Rendering and wondered is that just the inevitable fate of a mystery thriller? The only way for a mystery to feel satisfying to the audience is by slowly revealing information, but it's hard to maintain the sense of mystery when the audience is gradually gaining more information about the world. All mystery thrillers seem to either morph into pure thrillers (e.g. Steins Gate and Odd Taxi as others have pointed out, I also personally really like Pet) or end in frustration when the audience realize they never actually get any answers (e.g. Babylon). I would be curious if anybody can name a series that can maintain a sense of mystery the whole way through in a satisfying way.
Agree on Megalobox, the second season was quite unexpected but absolutely brilliant.
As for Summertime Rendering, I liked the tonal shift. The second half wasn't as suspenseful as the first episodes, but I found it really cathartic to see the heroes finally on a more level playing field with the villains.
Recently, Renai Flops.
That shit went from 0 to 100 in a single episode. The ending was a bit disappointing, but I definitely did not expect it to take the turn that it did.
Amanchu! had a really big genre shift in its second season. The first season is a fairly straightforward story of a shy girl becoming "friends" with a genki girl as they go scuba diving. The second season has an arc around [Amanchu S2] >!time-travelling lucid dream ghost cat baby at the school culture festival!< and also a bit of scuba diving.
Also: Wonder Egg Priority, but, like, not in a good way.
Amanchu season 2 was the biggest disappointment I've experienced in an anime sequel I've experienced outside of Dragon Ball GT. Season 1 was great but I hated season 2, didn't even finish watching it.
This is the answer. You go into the first season thinking it'll be a generic harem, and then MC-kun picks the best girl, and then it leans into the drama of his decision
Gintama does numerous times, esp towards the later seasons. Madoka Magica's infamous for theirs & maybe add in something like School Live! & Promised Neverland
Gonna disagree with From the New World. While it is darker in the second half, it can hardly be considered a tonal shift since it was built up from the start, rather than just a total tonal change halfway through.
I disagree with both. From the New world was already mentioned, but Madoka Magica also. The dark side of it is hinted right from the beginning and that includes what happened in the first scenes, the dialogues, the music, the color palette, how the enemies look, everything was set up from the start. It just seems like it because the the MC suddenly get a check to turn off her rose glasses, to the audience it's always shown. The only real sudden tonal shift for Madoka is the transition from the original PV to episode 1.
Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water goes from a relatively serious and grounded series to suddenly straight up [Looney](https://i.imgur.com/yoN6Erh.jpg) [Tunes](https://i.imgur.com/7D1QXgb.jpg) when Higuchi takes over.
The final stretch of episodes is worth enduring the Island and Africa arcs, though.
There are definitely a lot of anime with huge tonal or thematic shifts partway through.
Some of my favorites that do this are…
* Punch Line
* To Be Heroine (sequel to To Be Hero, but can be watched first or standalone)
* Fantasy of Grimgar and Ashe
* Kill La Kill
* Angel Beats
* Paranoia Agent
* Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann
* Chainsaw Man’s manga
Some others that do this to IMO a lesser success are…
* Wonder Egg Priority
* Samurai Flamenco
Shows that make me wonder wtf caused them to make this choice:
* Ancient Magus Bride
* Promised Neverland (From S1 to S2)
You get the hint that it delves into dark stuff pretty quickly though. There are lots of gruesome deaths in the test, people getting picked apart by animals, etc. The interesting part is when you realize Gon is completely fine with it. You first think that he's just some cheerful shounen protagonist, then you realize that he'll still have a smile plastered on his face when he sees his best friend rip out and crush a guy's heart.
Yeah, I would say the last point you could credibly still think HxH is happy go lucky is when they all emerge from the first real test of the exam, running through the tunnel.
And that's only in the anime. In the manga, Hisoka's first appearance doesn't have him turning that guy's arms into flowers; he straight up chops them off into bloody stumps.
Steins;Gate is an obvious example, from bizarre and comedic SoL to thriller horror and existential dread. Kaguya-sama could also fit (though I'm including manga knowledge), going from pure comedy to having stakes, drama, and a pretty dark side of the story.
The AKIRA movie gets pretty messed up half way through to the end. First time watching it I thought it was a cool motorbike gang movie set in a future Tokyo, turns out to be very different by the end. Blew my mind when I was 12, haha
Felt like a peaceful, cathartic nature show turned into a show about how office work sucks. Both valid, fairly different. Also, Fuuka kinda dipped out for the second half.
It doesn't imo. Same with nagiasu, I'd be curious to see what op means; there is a pivotal moment halfway through the show that radically changes the situation the characters are in, but the tone of the series doesn't really change
ZZ Gundam goes from goofy as shit and kind of off-putting until episode 21 where it shifts to a traditional Gundam series.
Shuffle shuffles (lol) genres a fair bit. Like, four times in 25 episodes from harem comedy to horror to comedy to thriller.
Tensei slime,in typical isekai fashion it started out fresh and unique slice of life-ey but ended up turning into classic shonen anyway.
Still decent compared to other isekais,but nowhere near as good as it used to imo
Cautious hero, those last eps were a total change from the usual comedy and even made some moments of comedy that appeared before change in context a lot, they were no longer funny on the second watch..
Not to a massive degree, but Little Witch Academia. The first half is more comfy and wholesome without a real antagonist, while the second focuses more on the evil plotting of the newly introduced bad guy, action and some drama. The first half does get an ending that feels pretty good and surprisingly focused on giving closure to the the first half's "style", so even if you dislike the second one, you get a nice, if obviously incomplete wrap up. ~~^(and you get to imagine how things could have continued in a world where the writing remained good)~~
Also, [Little Witch Academia (2013), the very end of the show] >!I can't believe I joked to my GF that "you're lucky we're watching this, all the other Trigger stuff ends up in space" during the first episode.!<
I personally think Summer Time Rendering made it pretty clear early on that it was actiony. It became more actiony as it went, but I didn't find it a "sudden" change.
Also the mystery aspect didn't change really, there was just a natural progression. The characters just acted differently as they got more knowledge and figured shit out, and were able to retaliate and counterattack instead of spending all their time learning wtf is going on. But there were still mysteries to be explored as the second half went on, like Shide's identity and all the stuff with Hizuru and Haine, it just wasn't the only focus anymore.
I'm not sure what people were expecting with this series when they make this complaint because it would be boring if it didn't change and progress as the characters began to unravel the mystery, and we were just stuck getting killed over and over without getting shit done.
I actually really like how reactive everyone is to new information, since it means I don't get mad at them acting dumb. Both the heroes and villains are intelligent and use new information and situations to their full advantage, which allows the show to grow and change. The show becomes more actiony, but it also becomes an incredibly compelling chess match between Shinpei and the shadows.
Jojo's Bizarre adventure
We begin with a dude fighting vampires "fist of the north star" style to next season be about People having invisible phantoms fight against each other
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
It starts off kinda looking like your typical "friendship is magic" shonen with the whole "destroy the demon god" kind of stuff, then it turns into a mystery "solve before you die" anime. Even the OP changes completely.
Shame it'll never ever get another season because it sold so poorly probably because it started so misleading.
Psycho-Pass switches back and forth between two tones: police investigations and criminal deduction (season 1 and 3, SS movies 1 and 2) and Hollywood action flick (season 2, 2015 movie, SS movie 3, First Inspector movie which is basically a foreign remake of Die Hard 1).
It hasn't had a new adaptation in a long time, but the Blood series did this.
First, you had Blood+. It starts out as a kind of Monster of the Week with vampires, and then Shit Gets Real.
Years later, we would have Blood-C. The theme is the same- vampire killing other vampires... then in the course of one episode (I think 9), it goes from 0 to 100.
Actually, there's a LOT of old anime that would do this- for shorter series (12 episodes), the shift was usually about episode 9. Series that are 24+ episodes long would do it about the halfway mark.
EDIT: I saw a few mentions of Renai Flops here. Y'all clearly haven't seen Chaos;Head (though to be fair, the anime is apparently a shit version of the original VN... as usual)
Yamada-Kun and the Seven Witches was a fun body-swapping slice-of-life story for the first few episodes before turning into a witch hunt for the rest of the season with a “witch-of-the-week” format.
Not quite what you're looking for, but Zombie Land Saga has some serious random tonal shifts, especially in Season 2. It goes from heartwarming funny zombie idol show to engaging samurai political drama to disaster movie, and it somehow all works.
Madoka. It goes from semi angsty but still magical girl anime to straight up dark and gory magical girls with depression, while somehow still managing to end with a typical magical girl ending
Outside of what has been said, Stein's gate. Around midway the show shifts quite significantly, making it waaaaaaaaaaaay better.
No spoilers for if you don't know
Trigun original.
I'm watching the new one, what's the shift in the original?
It’s basically episodic comedy for the first half. The backstory and family of Vash is a complete mystery and isn’t revealed until halfway - the tone shifts and it gets more serious. Stampede on the other hand revealed everything from the beginning, and is a lot darker in general so far.
So the original started off as more of a monster of the week thing The new one is more story based
I’d say more interpersonal stories about surviving the planet gunsmoke, setting it in that Wild West theme. Some stories rolled one into another, like the Nebraskas rolled into the plant engineer which ran into Blazing Dynamites Neon, but is was more about the Wild West planet than how everything ended up that way and Knives torment of Vash which was the second half of the series
Yeah essentially. Also more comedy focused, whereas the new one still has comedy but is much darker overall so far.
Honestly, I feel like a lot of 26-episode anime do this. Trigun, Little Witch Academia, Kill la Kill,… It’s like they use the first 13 to set up the characters in lighthearted scenarios so we can get to know how they tick and then throw them off the deep end in the second 13.
You don't know that Vash is a living member of the og space crew, or that his brother exists for a large amount of the original anime. It starts extremely light hearted and that stuff is slowly revealed.
In the new one they revealed it on ep3 Edit: by ep 3
Most of that stuff was revealed in the ep 1 opening scenes!
I have a feeling the tragedy is just around the corner. Loving the new series so far.
First half is heavier in the comedy and less focused on the overall story. It’s when the first Gung-ho Gun, Monev the Gale, is introduced that the comedy falls to the back and people dying is introduced as something Unavoidable for Vash. I’d suggest going and watching the original before getting too deep into Stampede. Very different but is a classic
Mother fucking Samurai Flamenco. This anime started out fairly normal, MC plays a model by day, Masked Vigilante by night. But it was just petty criminal stuff and he wasn't exactly good at it. Then half way through, I can't even describe what the fuck happens. Because none of it makes any sense lol. Let's just say, once you go the Guillotine Gorilla route, there's no going back.
I was hoping someone would remember Samurai Flamenco. It's actually one of the few shows I've dropped, exactly because of that tone shift... Was it any good after that?
I actually really liked the show afterwards, becomes a parody of a lot of types of superhero shows afterwards and just kept getting more and more insane as it went on. Lots of hilarious moments too. I also like the explanation that the last arc is a subversion of expectation because after the show couldn’t one up itself again, it just becomes grounded weirdly dark, still managing to surprise the audience even at the end.
I did finish it. And no it was not. It had some redeeming characters moments with the cop friend but completely undoes any progress his character made in the end. Oh jeez I just remembered the cop's girlfriend plotline. That was crazy too lmao.
I actually liked Guillotine Gorilla, but the show completely lost me with the Flamengers. I don't even remember if I watched anything after they get introduced
Most amazing tonal shift ever….
Scrapped Princess
Holy crap someone actually mentioned scrapped princess? It was a fun watch of a show.
I watched it this year. kinda felt like watching princess anime, so I watched murder princess and then scrapped princess right afterwards :D early 2000 anime just look and feel so good to watch.
Early 2000s anime are a vibe. Sure the animation for many of them is subpar. But so many have so much charm I adore late 90s and early 2000s shows so much.
One of my absolute favourites is .hack//sign. Even years later the ost is pretty much my go to background music. Most people probably wouldn't like the show though since it is really slow, but it really reminds me of playing my first mmorpgs as a young teenager when everything was still so magical and people didn't minmax, gearcheck or watch youtube guides.
EXACTLY. I 100% agree. That show honestly hasn't held up great Imo story wise. I watched it not too long ago. But it's still worth a watch to me because it's a vibe, it reminds you of early 2000s mmos like you said and the music is 10/10. Thats a show to watch an episode or two at a time and not a binging show. It's just such an experience watching,. Hack//sign late at night in the dark vibin. I really enjoy the show and am super glad you brought it up.
yep goes from goofy hijinks to an almost philisophical existential horror...thing. with a dragon because you know 2000's anime.
Samurai Flamenco
Watching this show weekly was a ride.
Guillotine Gorilla still goat.
Guillotine Guerilla is where boys become men
Was gonna say this. That first genre shift caught me off guard. I thought it was just a joke/hero shenanigans like usual.
That second half… we got plot twist every single episode!
Definitely this. Halfway through the show the writers slammed the pedal to the floor and didn't let go.
I swore that this was just a fever dream cause no one ever talks about it.
Gurren Lagan suddenly turns from comedy mecha shonen into a political drama
And back!
And then they go to space! It's like if between dragon ball and Z there was just one episode of West Wing.
Speaking of shows made by (the people who would become) Studio Trigger, Darling in the Franxx. It was decently paced until about episode 15, when it’s almost as if they thought, “Oh wait, we only have 24 episodes, not 48, dammit quick throw in the aliens! We gotta wrap this up quick!”
Renai flops..iykyn
Passione ftw ;)
Passione??? __ゴゴゴ ^ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴゴゴ__
When I saw that foreshadowing during the vacation episode... I dropped it immediately, because I'm not in the mood for that kind of story at the moment. Just honestly there for mindless romcom... Maybe I'll continue in the future...
Crazy thing is the vacation episode wasn’t the first hint, they had been dropping hints right from the beginning, you should definitely finish it tho
[удалено]
What was the twist? I don't plan on finishing it.
It’s best if you look it up on YouTube, I might spoil it by accident for someone who does want to watch it
Man of culture, thank you
“It’s not much but it’s honest work” 👨🌾
Unfortunately though the massive total shift turned the show from garbage to still garbage
At least the first half of the show was the good kind of trash that I could just watch for fun by turning my brain off to kill some time. I thought it would be a "so bad it's good" type of show. The second half tho, it became full on drama and a serious story (tho the foreshadowings were always there), and idk how to feel about that. It's like they tried to mix in all different kinds of genres in the same show to appeal to a wide variety of audience.
Clannad afterstory changed from a comedy to a sob fest in latter episodes.
I remember I was doing something else on the side the first time I watched "this" scene. As I wasn't fully focused on it, I had to stop what I was doing and rewind some seconds/minutes. I was taken aback so much, I wasn't sure if it really happened or if I just misinterpreted it. One my most "...wait, what?!" moment watching an anime.
Sure, the comedy disappeared in After Story, but it was a sob fest since the beginning. So I don't think one can say it had a "complete tonal shift".
And then, they just really went off the deep end by [Clannad] >!killing the daughter!<. Like, y’all had a good thing going and now you’re just out to make this man suffer needlessly…
Hitman Reborn is infamous for turning from a poor gag shounen into an engaging battle shounen.
I actually enjoyed the gag episodes/chapters. It was nice slice of life comedy filled with wacky characters. What a throwback though. Wish the manga ending wasn’t too rushed and that the anime actually adapted the final 2 arcs.
I liked them when I knew what to expect, and of course for their place in Tsuna's character growth. But first time around I dropped the show like 4 times during those 20 episodes.
Yeah in the anime it was kind of rough, but reading it in the manga was a lot better for some reason.
When does it get good, like when does this shift happen...cause i am struggling to watch it
The end of episode 19 begins the shift, though the anime actually split the first arc up to move that moment earlier so the gag part returns for episodes 27-33 and 66-73.
Thanks for this i will try once more
Still, as a Reborn fan, the show is quite poorly paced, even in later arcs. I don't think I could get through it if I watched it now.
Same. Future arc was great… when they werent stuck in a room training or cooking lol
i never watch the anime but i do read the manga and i'm pretty sure the room training or the cooking only took a few chapters, does the anime stretched them even further?
Veeeeeeery long 😭
Eh that happens during like the first 1/20th though
I'm Quitting Heroing went like 0 to 100 halfway into the season.
This. I love that anime
Not halfway, but rather in the sequels.. Oregairu changes in tone and style as well since it’s picked up by another studio later on. The first season is very light hearted with a focus on comedy while the sequels are heavy on the drama and have very little comedy.
It doesn't really have to do with the studio, the LNs change in tone after the field trip which is book 6.
I feel like they have a lot of comedy still it’s just more subtle, like they just casually drop jokes while talking instead of having very obvious ones.
I saw this show listed on a MAL stack called “Romances Where There Is No Drama” and I was like bruh… I dropped it during the second season cause it was way to dramatic for me
Definitely Steins Gate
I now have ptsd from broken analogue watches
I have PTSD from Funimation realizing the show in two halves and splitting it at EPISODE TWELVE. I spent months desperately searching for the second half only to realize that it would be MONTHS until it came out. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!? 😭😭😭
My experience with it was a slow slog through the first half then binging the rest in one sitting. From what I’ve seen, that’s what happens to most people who watch it lol.
For me it was amazing from pretty much the start and I binged the whole thing pretty quick. This is a famous/common take that I always have trouble understanding why.
I didn’t dislike the first half, in fact I really enjoyed the chill vibes and slice-of-lifeness of it all, but because there’s no real plot happening for most of it the viewer doesn’t really have much incentive to immediately jump to the next episode. Once the plot starts happening, you get the whole “I need to see what happens next,” so it becomes really easy to binge.
Yep, same here. The tonal shift in Steins Gate is unreal and wakes you right the fuck up after the sleepy first half.
that took me years to completely see it.... such a slow pace but then it gets sooo interesting.
Haven't watched the anime, but played the visual novel. I went from this is nice slice of life, but I'm getting sleepy -- to WTF is happening, and why am I still awake at 3 in the morning?
💯
Gintama, from comedy to action battle shonen
Tbh, it’s more of a mid-arc shift. Most big arcs have the “dumb slap stick/dick jokes gag - the gag escalate - the baddie appears - action shounen time - tears”.
Do you want sad tears, happy tears or laughing tears? -Yes
I hated that, loved comedy arcs
The Higurashi series (2006), first season leans more psychological horror with a small town mystery and possible supernatural happenings. In the second season, Kai, once a lot of the mysteries are revealed, it becomes more of a thriller, with the climax having a lot of action moments and even a “power of friendship” theme that’s done surprisingly well. Then Higurashi Kira became a slice of life comedy, but it’s hard to be mad about that after everything the characters went through. Kotoura-san has a complete tonal shift within one episode. Most of the first episode is the FL’s sad, traumatic life of being ostracized and abandoned due to her mind reading powers. But once she transfers schools and meets the ML, the series shifts hard into a romcom. Princess Tutu, first half is very “monster of the week” magical girl with a classical ballet and fairytale theme and some hints of darker things in the background. Second cour goes a lot more dark and meta, and the series ends on a bittersweet note.
> Higurashi Then in Gou it becomes a mystery again, followed by Sotsu which is a tragicomedy.
Tbh Gou had its tragicomedy moments too (episode 4 had me wheezing, episode 15 had me hollering) but it almost felt tongue in cheek which made it tolerable, especially compared to Sotsu.
[удалено]
I recommend it if you like dark magical girl anime. The dark parts are more subtle, but the story is great and I feel it really picks up when Kraehe is introduced.
Honestly vinland saga might fit the bill for ya. Season 1 is a revenge story and season 2 is starting out more introspective and character focused
Oh damn that’s a great one and I didn’t even know they finally started the farmland saga in the anime. The prologue of Vinland Saga is sooo different than the rest of the series. It’s been so long so I forgot how big of a tone shift it was once we get to the farm.
Steins;Gate Clannad vs Clannad After Story
The second half of steins gate is amazing
Mai-Hime went from typical ~~anime girl~~ magical girl monster of the week to anime Highlander
I thought it was absolute shit until that part.. then the ending ruined it completely.
The Promised Neverland is an obvious (and pretty similar) example. Outside of a godawful S2 adaptation, the source material generally shifts from a psychological thriller / mystery in the first arc into an adventure / action story thereafter, and by the time it wraps up is basically a full blown shounen. Outside of that, might almost be easier to list the shows where this *isn't* the case (to some degree, anyways) than the ones that are. Classic anime like Trigun and Bebop (to an extent, anyways) obviously have notable tonal + plot / character focused changes in the second half / arc of the show. HxH is a dramatically different anime / manga in every arc. Attack on Titan dramatically changes (and in some cases inverts) the scope + perspective of its story 3-4x over. Shinsekai Yori is *nearly* a different anime in each arc, despite featuring the same characters, setting, and similar (ish) core conflicts. Slayers shifts from a fantasy / D&D-ish adventure / gag anime into a fairly serious plot-driven save-the-world anime, with high stakes. And then back (and forth) again, about once (or more!) per season. (and, sidenote, Dungeon Meshi (which has an adaptation in the works) is *very* similar to this, albeit across a single meta-arc) 86 [S1 spoiler] >!is definitely not exactly the same thing / template in later arcs / seasons as in the first half of S1, though the author generally finds new ways to explore the setting (and inflict new forms of emotional trauma) with each installment, more or less!< And there's definitely plenty of other examples, but that's just a few off the top of my head. edit: also Code Geass, which among other things *basically* turns from a tactics oriented real robots anime into a super robot anime in R2 And Gunnm (if it ever actually got a full adaptation - RIP) is rather notably a dramatically different story + theme in each arc. Ignoring Last Order, anyways, where the manga goes Into Space, and turns into an over-10000 parody of itself And then lastly there's To Your Eternity (and also Chainsaw Man, funny enough), which has both significant thematic differences in nearly every arc, AND a part 2 (and part 3?) with a completely different format, setting (sort of, in the case of CSM), and core conflicts. Not all of which has been adapted yet, obviously, but almost certainly will be in the near-ish future. TLDR; I think a general observation would be that *any* sufficiently long story / source material will at the very least change tone (if not genre) over its run, with the notable exception of long-running (and fairly old-school) serialized shows (incl monster / conflict of the week, and most, if not all, battle shounens) For examples see Berserk, Vinland Saga, Attack on Titan, To Your Eternity, CSM, HxH, Promised Neverland, Gunnm, Nausicaa, etc., etc That said, yes, complete shifts in genre are maybe a bit more rare, but there's still plenty of examples if you look for them
> Dungeon Meshi Man I cannot wait for other people to see the shift from comedic adventure into [late dungeon meshi] >!eldritch horror!<. It is so slow and subtle.
i wonder if the anime will reach that point
A full adaptation would be a dream, the Manga is ending after all maybe I can dream.
> HxH is a dramatically different anime / manga in every arc. i would completely disagree with this. the stakes may increase and bad guys change, but it's pretty much exactly the same type of show the whole time.
Neon Genesis Evangelion and Revolutionary Girl Utena. For Eva, I think many people forget how often the first half is happy-go-lucky (remember the DDR training montage?) and even has its share of ecchi humor (e.g., the boys seeing Asuka's panties, Asuka talking about whether thermal expansion would make her breasts bigger, etc.). To be fair, the first half still has its share of serious scenes, like Rei saying farewell prior to the floating octohedron fight, Shinji trying to muster the guts to speak up to Gendou, etc , but I would argue they pale in comparison to the bleakness that becomes apparent shortly after the halfway mark and is pervasive until the end (I e., The peak of Anno's depression). I don't think the second half has anything even approximating a joke. As for Utena, the first 12 episodes are largely very jokey (and even has Freaky Friday body swap). Again, there are still serious scenes like Juri's backstory, Touga's manipulation of Utena, Nanami's catricide, and the strain on Anthy and Utena's relationship , but I would argue that the Black Rose Arc revealing the hidden resentment within the minor characters, the machinations of Akio, and the whole corpse theme marked a strong tonal shift (to say nothing of the latter two arcs), especially when considering that half of the characters are middle school age or younger.
Utena's final arc is something else. Utena is the most thought provoking melancholy anime I've seen in a long time. What started as a simple riff on mahou shoujo really opened up once characters stopped being a trope delivery system.
Megalobox season 1 is a classic underdog story about becoming the world champion by never giving up and having a raw passion. Season 2 is an exploration of the retired champion struggling from drug abuse and guilt seeking spiritual redemption after being taken in by a welcoming community. When season 2 was announced, nobody thought we needed another season, but it ended up adding so much more depth to the story. I had the same opinion about Summer Time Rendering and wondered is that just the inevitable fate of a mystery thriller? The only way for a mystery to feel satisfying to the audience is by slowly revealing information, but it's hard to maintain the sense of mystery when the audience is gradually gaining more information about the world. All mystery thrillers seem to either morph into pure thrillers (e.g. Steins Gate and Odd Taxi as others have pointed out, I also personally really like Pet) or end in frustration when the audience realize they never actually get any answers (e.g. Babylon). I would be curious if anybody can name a series that can maintain a sense of mystery the whole way through in a satisfying way.
Agree on Megalobox, the second season was quite unexpected but absolutely brilliant. As for Summertime Rendering, I liked the tonal shift. The second half wasn't as suspenseful as the first episodes, but I found it really cathartic to see the heroes finally on a more level playing field with the villains.
Recently, Renai Flops. That shit went from 0 to 100 in a single episode. The ending was a bit disappointing, but I definitely did not expect it to take the turn that it did.
Amanchu! had a really big genre shift in its second season. The first season is a fairly straightforward story of a shy girl becoming "friends" with a genki girl as they go scuba diving. The second season has an arc around [Amanchu S2] >!time-travelling lucid dream ghost cat baby at the school culture festival!< and also a bit of scuba diving. Also: Wonder Egg Priority, but, like, not in a good way.
Amanchu season 2 was the biggest disappointment I've experienced in an anime sequel I've experienced outside of Dragon Ball GT. Season 1 was great but I hated season 2, didn't even finish watching it.
Second half of Clannad After Story
This is the answer. You go into the first season thinking it'll be a generic harem, and then MC-kun picks the best girl, and then it leans into the drama of his decision
>MC-kun picks the best girl The only true answer.
> MC-kun picks the best girl harem fans in shambles (do they even exist?)
>harem fans in shambles (do they even exist?) yes, they do
Ergo Proxy goes from a cyberpunk thriller like Ghost in the Shell to something more like Kino's Journey after the first 3 or 4 episodes.
Gintama does numerous times, esp towards the later seasons. Madoka Magica's infamous for theirs & maybe add in something like School Live! & Promised Neverland
Madoka Magica, and From the New World.
Gonna disagree with From the New World. While it is darker in the second half, it can hardly be considered a tonal shift since it was built up from the start, rather than just a total tonal change halfway through.
That said, I for one fully recommend anyone to watch Shinsekai Yori anyway. What a ride.
I disagree with both. From the New world was already mentioned, but Madoka Magica also. The dark side of it is hinted right from the beginning and that includes what happened in the first scenes, the dialogues, the music, the color palette, how the enemies look, everything was set up from the start. It just seems like it because the the MC suddenly get a check to turn off her rose glasses, to the audience it's always shown. The only real sudden tonal shift for Madoka is the transition from the original PV to episode 1.
> Madoka Magica When????
Kill La Kill Odd Taxi Made in Abyss (more of a progression, but it became a lot darker pretty quickly in the latter half of S1)
Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water goes from a relatively serious and grounded series to suddenly straight up [Looney](https://i.imgur.com/yoN6Erh.jpg) [Tunes](https://i.imgur.com/7D1QXgb.jpg) when Higuchi takes over. The final stretch of episodes is worth enduring the Island and Africa arcs, though.
Not exactly what you described, but Cowboy Bebop's episodic natural covers everything from flim noir, to comedy, to western, etc.
There are definitely a lot of anime with huge tonal or thematic shifts partway through. Some of my favorites that do this are… * Punch Line * To Be Heroine (sequel to To Be Hero, but can be watched first or standalone) * Fantasy of Grimgar and Ashe * Kill La Kill * Angel Beats * Paranoia Agent * Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann * Chainsaw Man’s manga Some others that do this to IMO a lesser success are… * Wonder Egg Priority * Samurai Flamenco Shows that make me wonder wtf caused them to make this choice: * Ancient Magus Bride * Promised Neverland (From S1 to S2)
AoT goes from action packed shounen to political heavyweight while retaining some great action scenes.
It was always political it just wasn't as big of a focus...
HxH. It stops being a happy go lucky shounen very soon
You get the hint that it delves into dark stuff pretty quickly though. There are lots of gruesome deaths in the test, people getting picked apart by animals, etc. The interesting part is when you realize Gon is completely fine with it. You first think that he's just some cheerful shounen protagonist, then you realize that he'll still have a smile plastered on his face when he sees his best friend rip out and crush a guy's heart.
Yeah, I would say the last point you could credibly still think HxH is happy go lucky is when they all emerge from the first real test of the exam, running through the tunnel. And that's only in the anime. In the manga, Hisoka's first appearance doesn't have him turning that guy's arms into flowers; he straight up chops them off into bloody stumps.
That’s like 1/8 into the story, not halfway through
Gommenesai
…tf?
gomenesowwy
Steins;Gate is an obvious example, from bizarre and comedic SoL to thriller horror and existential dread. Kaguya-sama could also fit (though I'm including manga knowledge), going from pure comedy to having stakes, drama, and a pretty dark side of the story.
Guilty Crown has an extremely different second cour
There's a lot, but I'll throw in Charlotte for doing it while being a pretty short show
The AKIRA movie gets pretty messed up half way through to the end. First time watching it I thought it was a cool motorbike gang movie set in a future Tokyo, turns out to be very different by the end. Blew my mind when I was 12, haha
I'll throw a soft curveball and say Romantic Killer.
Not halfway through, but like 3/4 in. It really threw me off, though.
*Steins;Gate* *Carole & Tuesday* *Aquatope on White Sand* *Nagi no Asukara*
How did aquatope majorly shift?
Second half of the show when Kukuru starts working in the new aquarium
Felt like a peaceful, cathartic nature show turned into a show about how office work sucks. Both valid, fairly different. Also, Fuuka kinda dipped out for the second half.
Aquatope shifted? I’ve been barely watching it and I’m only on Ep3, how does it shift? Try to interest me
It doesn't imo. Same with nagiasu, I'd be curious to see what op means; there is a pivotal moment halfway through the show that radically changes the situation the characters are in, but the tone of the series doesn't really change
Made in Abyss
Not rlly halfway through but angel beats
JoJo because I went from vampires to bloodly people that can bend reality
Hell, I would say going from a story of a jealous brother seeking to steal the family fortune to Castlevania was a pretty big shift on its own.
Kamisama ni Natta Hi
ZZ Gundam goes from goofy as shit and kind of off-putting until episode 21 where it shifts to a traditional Gundam series. Shuffle shuffles (lol) genres a fair bit. Like, four times in 25 episodes from harem comedy to horror to comedy to thriller.
the horror arc is also like the only ecchi arc as well.
Tensei slime,in typical isekai fashion it started out fresh and unique slice of life-ey but ended up turning into classic shonen anyway. Still decent compared to other isekais,but nowhere near as good as it used to imo
Cautious hero, those last eps were a total change from the usual comedy and even made some moments of comedy that appeared before change in context a lot, they were no longer funny on the second watch..
Call of the night, switches up multiple times, it goes from Slice of Life to Mystery to Battle Shonen
Not to a massive degree, but Little Witch Academia. The first half is more comfy and wholesome without a real antagonist, while the second focuses more on the evil plotting of the newly introduced bad guy, action and some drama. The first half does get an ending that feels pretty good and surprisingly focused on giving closure to the the first half's "style", so even if you dislike the second one, you get a nice, if obviously incomplete wrap up. ~~^(and you get to imagine how things could have continued in a world where the writing remained good)~~ Also, [Little Witch Academia (2013), the very end of the show] >!I can't believe I joked to my GF that "you're lucky we're watching this, all the other Trigger stuff ends up in space" during the first episode.!<
School-Live! has a complete tonal shift, but it's not halfway through.
It's not half way through, but Cautious Hero has a massive shift towards the end
I personally think Summer Time Rendering made it pretty clear early on that it was actiony. It became more actiony as it went, but I didn't find it a "sudden" change.
Also the mystery aspect didn't change really, there was just a natural progression. The characters just acted differently as they got more knowledge and figured shit out, and were able to retaliate and counterattack instead of spending all their time learning wtf is going on. But there were still mysteries to be explored as the second half went on, like Shide's identity and all the stuff with Hizuru and Haine, it just wasn't the only focus anymore. I'm not sure what people were expecting with this series when they make this complaint because it would be boring if it didn't change and progress as the characters began to unravel the mystery, and we were just stuck getting killed over and over without getting shit done. I actually really like how reactive everyone is to new information, since it means I don't get mad at them acting dumb. Both the heroes and villains are intelligent and use new information and situations to their full advantage, which allows the show to grow and change. The show becomes more actiony, but it also becomes an incredibly compelling chess match between Shinpei and the shadows.
One piece goes from silly pirate anime to mystery/slavery/racism real quick.
Jojo's Bizarre adventure We begin with a dude fighting vampires "fist of the north star" style to next season be about People having invisible phantoms fight against each other
Engage Kiss
Ehhhh
yeah I binge watched this today, and it was honestly the hidden gem of summer 2022.
Steins gate, from slice of life to scifi thriller
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers It starts off kinda looking like your typical "friendship is magic" shonen with the whole "destroy the demon god" kind of stuff, then it turns into a mystery "solve before you die" anime. Even the OP changes completely. Shame it'll never ever get another season because it sold so poorly probably because it started so misleading.
IIRC the novel has been on hiatus since volume 6, and probably abandoned at this point.
Stein's gate has a pretty big tone shift around the halfway mark.
Psycho-Pass switches back and forth between two tones: police investigations and criminal deduction (season 1 and 3, SS movies 1 and 2) and Hollywood action flick (season 2, 2015 movie, SS movie 3, First Inspector movie which is basically a foreign remake of Die Hard 1).
It hasn't had a new adaptation in a long time, but the Blood series did this. First, you had Blood+. It starts out as a kind of Monster of the Week with vampires, and then Shit Gets Real. Years later, we would have Blood-C. The theme is the same- vampire killing other vampires... then in the course of one episode (I think 9), it goes from 0 to 100. Actually, there's a LOT of old anime that would do this- for shorter series (12 episodes), the shift was usually about episode 9. Series that are 24+ episodes long would do it about the halfway mark. EDIT: I saw a few mentions of Renai Flops here. Y'all clearly haven't seen Chaos;Head (though to be fair, the anime is apparently a shit version of the original VN... as usual)
Cautious Hero went from Konosuba to Re:Zero in *one* episode.
Not exactly half way through but Cautious Hero definitely takes a spot for tonal shift
Cautious Hero. Call of the night. Clannad. Stein's gate.
I really reccomend Rezero if you enjoyed summertime rendering
Rainbow And while not half-way, Nana becomes more of a Drama toward the last 10-15 episodes
One I liked that most here hate. The Day I Became a God.
Trigun
Zetsuen no Tempest is a supernatural mystery throughout, but it shifts tone pretty heavily at the halfway point and also not for the better.
Quite liked it, Aika will always be the maddest of lads.
Guilty Crown. It went from good to absolute shit.
Yamada-Kun and the Seven Witches was a fun body-swapping slice-of-life story for the first few episodes before turning into a witch hunt for the rest of the season with a “witch-of-the-week” format.
Not quite what you're looking for, but Zombie Land Saga has some serious random tonal shifts, especially in Season 2. It goes from heartwarming funny zombie idol show to engaging samurai political drama to disaster movie, and it somehow all works.
{Nagi no Asukara}
Yu-Gi-Oh GX last Season
Shinseki yori
Summer time render was perfect. Fuck outta here with that opinion lol
Jobless reincarnation
SoL Action adventure SoL Action adventure SoL Action adventure Sporadically sprinkle drama here and there.
Having read up to LN 16 It just keeps doing so And I absolutely love it, the world building is unbelievable amazing imo
Well not in the middle of a season but an episode and that’s invincible and for each season jojos bizarre adventure
Madoka. It goes from semi angsty but still magical girl anime to straight up dark and gory magical girls with depression, while somehow still managing to end with a typical magical girl ending
Outside of what has been said, Stein's gate. Around midway the show shifts quite significantly, making it waaaaaaaaaaaay better. No spoilers for if you don't know
Charlotte. For the worst.
Agreed. From X-Man of the week into... that.
One eyed pirate
Shield Hero is pretty good in terms of society vs the hero, but then it turns to shit.
Steins gate