Mood Whiplash/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • In episode 12 of Cells at Work! White Bloodcell during a time of crisis enters an area that is just buildings (much of it in the form of rubble), except for an Oxygen box, a red blood cell hat, and a glove. He comments on him being the only blood cell in the area to himself. Then the wind blows the hat past him, followed by an emergency siren and an intercom announcement reminding the body (and the audience) of the situation. Then we get the, cheerful as ever, Closing Credits.
  • Now and Then, Here and There kicks off as a lighthearted show about Shu, a carefree, immature young boy straight out of a shonen anime geared at selling toys. (In fact, the creator later re-used him in Legendz). At the end of the first episode, after tussling with some bad guys over a mysterious girl, Shu gets sucked into a bizarre portal and transported to a fantastical far off land of mass drought, child soldiers, child SEX SLAVERY, never-ending warfare, and dead cats. GOTCHA!
  • A more recent example is Puella Magi Madoka Magica‍'‍s Episode 3. The first 2 episodes managed to set a fairly dark mood, but still pale in comparison with the end of episode 3.
    • During the episode itself was a spectacular Mood Whiplash. Halfway into the episode, you have Mami and Madoka sharing their sincerest feelings with each other, both of them feeling inspired after the conversation. Mami dies gruesomely five minutes after.
    • Fansubbers exclusive, but the "Morning Rescue" commercials in the Madoka Fansubbers tend to serve as this. We get dark, creepy magical girl show mood and suddenly, wacky commercial. Fans quickly latched onto it, seeing it as a refuge from the depressing and horrific nature of the show.
      • Example of some wacky person overdubbing the show perfectly. Warning: Some spoilers.
  • The Fruits Basket manga loves this. After a serious chapter or two, it'll switch to one that's light hearted. Those chapters usually involve the student council.
    • The anime manages it within a single episode (9) from comedy (Shigure's pranks on his long suffering editor) to loneliness (It is Tohru's first New Year without her mother) and finally friendship (Yuki and Kyo don't let her spend it alone).
  • The ultimate heavyweight champion: My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies were originally released as a double feature. (After watching Grave of the Fireflies, you need My Neighbor Totoro.)
    • My Neighbor Totoro has this on its own. Satsuki and Mei meeting their fun new next-door neighbors that live in the woods around the shrine, with ten minutes of Satsuki running around town trying to find Mei, who appears to have drowned in the river, before the end (which has more mostly-lighthearted fun).
  • Elfen Lied has a lot of similar whiplashes, intermixing light-hearted comedy, sweet romance, heart-wrenching drama, and sadistic carnage.
    • Hell, Elfen Lied even begins with severe whiplash, starting with a mildly vapid secretary-like woman which seems to suggest that the viewer is in for a lighthearted family romp...until she is brutally decapitated by the ACTUAL HEROINE's invisible powers, just because SHE GOT IN THE WAY.
    • Not to mention the J-pop ED played after said carnage
    • There's also the intro, especially in the first episode. Elfen Lied's intro, Lillium, can be seen as a calming, soothing, beautiful song, set to imagery that pays tribute to Gustav Klimt's artwork. What's the first thing the viewer sees after the intro? A twitching, bloodied, severed arm. Then the carnage only proceeds to get worse.
  • Saikano: The mood often switches radically on the same page. Repeatedly.
  • Same for Neon Genesis Evangelion, intermixing thrilling Humongous Mecha action with highly painful drama. And penguins.
    • And Fan Service. Don't forget the fanservice.
    • Many of the later episodes would finish with some amount of horror (Shinji's bloodcurdling scream at the sight of an injured Toji in episode eighteen; Asuka wailing that she "hates everyone" in twenty-two) that would be immediately followed by the light-hearted "Fly Me to the Moon". The ending theme for episode twenty-two is particularly unnerving.
    • The show is largely a run-of-the-mill Shonen series up until Episode 18, which was made around the time Hideaki Anno had a massive psychological crisis involving depression that he had to go into therapy for. Episodes after this "epoch" are noticeably darker, bloodier, and sadder than the previous episodes. Mood Whiplash? Ohhhhh yes.
  • All of Kodomo no Omocha deals with tears and laughter, usually in the same episode. Most consider it a well-done portrayal of growing up.
  • Martian Successor Nadesico TV Series and movie intentionally created Mood Whiplash, often to make fun of the audience for taking things seriously. Especially later, when the Writer on Board started sacrificing characters for their Aesops.
  • My-HiME had a humorous beach episode right after a female character's boyfriend disintegrated in her arms, and she went catatonic.
    • An even more drastic example in the same series is episode sixteen, where literally seconds after the HiMEs are declaring their eternal friendship, the Lovable Traitor Nagi tells them that they must fight each other in a Battle Royale, in which defeat causes the same disintegration to the person dearest to the loser.
    • The Post Episode Trailers are often humorous, in contrast to the dark tone of later episodes, often making light of the tragic and horrific events that happen in them. In the preview for Episode 25, Yuuichi asks Mai to repeat what she said to him as he was dying from Shiho's Child being destroyed, noting that he couldn't hear her and that he can't ascend to Heaven until he hears it, causing her to refuse to tell him out of annoyance.
  • Entire series Mood Whiplash include Gate Keepers and its sequel, Gate Keepers 21.
  • Also seen in Jinki Extend which was one series, but based on a manga and its sequel.
  • Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl whiplashes back and forth between sweet, thoughtful Love Triangle romance and over-the-top slapstick comedy.
  • Legendz: from slapstick, Cartoon Physics and random humor suddenly to horror, Tear Jerkers, suffering and heavy morality. Incredible achievement on behalf of the director and writers.
  • Naru in Love Hina is a champion (it is the lead in for her Megaton Punch), but Motoko is also well versed in it. Keitaro plummets into anguish with equal speed.
  • Clannad is guilty of this in the second half of the After Story series. To give an example, take the episode where Nagisa died. Heart wrenching, of course, with Tomoya quickly becoming a crying wreck while holding his newly born child Aaaaaaand cue the upbeat happy J-pop ED!
    • And then that same child dies in his arms 5 years later. Aaaaand cue the upbeat J-pop ED!
    • The main series is also this. You can spend a whole episode laughing, then switch to crying in the next, and then back to laughing in the following episode, thanks to the show actively switches between high school comedy and heavy drama.
    • It can also happen in the same episode, especially where Fuuko or Sunohara are involved. This troper has had moments where tears were still running down her cheeks from the previous scene, yet she was laughing at a comical moment.
  • Bleach takes this to a whole 'nother level. While it already had standard Mood Whiplash episodes following dramatic episodes (usually revolving around Kon, Ichigo's sisters, or Fake Ultimate Hero Don Kanonji), during the Filler arc a brief clip comic relief snippet, titled Shinigami Cup, was placed after the credits of each episode. The clip displayed various of Bleach's numerous characters doing all sorts of things, from managing their hair in the morning to attending club meetings.
    • There's also the ending credits song "Happy People" (as upbeat as it sounds) which premiered at the end of what is probably the least appropriate episode possible. The episode ends with Ichigo falling over in a puddle of his own blood after having been stabbed through the chest. "Happy people! Happy people!"
    • Another example is the bizarre amount of humor in 3-on-1 fights versus Aizen. In the original Soul Society arc, Ichigo and Renji are trying to protect Rukia from Aizen, Gin, and Tousen, and they insert a random laugh moment where Rukia berates Renji for holding his hand over her mouth. The most recent with Isshin, Urahara, and Yoruichi has Urahara and Yoruichi randomly fighting over the quality of Urahara's equipment. Isshin can only stand there annoyed. A bit explained in that Aizen even points out that Urahara's silliness in this particular fight is an act.
    • Also this. Spoiler alert!
    • The battle against Szayel takes the cake. It's about half wacky humour between Ishida, Renji, Pessche and Dondochakka, and half Renji and Ishida getting their organs destroyed. Later when Mayuri turns up to save the day, there is some Comic Relief between him and Ishida which quickly becomes Fridge Horror when you realize this is the guy who tortured his grandfather to death.
    • Yumichika and Charlotte's fight starts off looking like pure comedy filler between a narcissist and his Evil Counterpart. Cue Mood Whiplash when Yumichika's secret abilities are suddenly revealed and explained. Fridge Brilliance reveals Charlotte's stance (beauty=strength) is the 11th division's philosophy (albeit expressed a little more flamboyantly) and that Yumichika's objection actually means he's objecting to the 11th division philosophy. That promptly turns to Fridge Horror upon the realisation that this means the so-called narcissist's sacrificing himself for a philosophy he doesn't personally believe in because his true philosophy is about the importance of loyalty.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist often includes humorous moments in the middle of fights. The author has stated herself that manga is supposed to be entertaining, and thus wanted to minimize the focus on sad scenes (then again, this is the same manga that has Hughes' well-known Tear Jerker funeral scene).
    • The manga has gone so far as to actually throw in a humorous moment right after a character meets a gruesome fate, in the same scene, namely, Yoki charging in right after Heinkel rips Kimbley's throat out, or having characters crack jokes about political propaganda right next to Mrs Bradley breaking down when told her husband and child are apparently dead. In chapter 102 she also throws one in right before a Tearjerker moment, Edward comically pulls Roy over by the ankle when he mentions the Gate to check to see if he still has all his limbs TWO PANELS before it's revealed that Roy has lost his eyesight to the Gate. As the series progresses, things get darker and more serious, but instead of cutting the humor, it refuges in more extreme mood whiplashes and Gallows Humor.
    • It's not always the funny moments that do it, though—Chapter 107, for example, combines 3 or 4 ludicrously awesome moments with one of the series' most impressive Tear Jerkers. You'll feel like bawling your eyes out and squeeing at the same time.
    • In episode 56 of Brotherhood, It has been announced that the forces of good have taken over Central and everyone is cheering, complete with triumphant music, but is quickly turned around with just two words, "I'm back" (Fuhrer Bradly).
    • Best example is in Brotherhood episode 19 when the show shines a spotlight on Havoc during his Manly Tears moment about how he loves big boobs. Directly followed up in the rest of the episode with a mix of horror and Crowning Moments of Awesome, with a Heroic BSOD thrown in for good measure.
    • The 2003 anime version has plenty of Mood Whiplash as well. It'll be serious, serious—ten seconds of comedy that come out of nowhere—back to serious. There seems to be less of this in the latter portion of the series, which could probably be attributed to many things including the darker tone of the show overall and the anime having overtaken the manga.
  • In Inuyasha this is done routinely as Kagome balances fighting demons and going to school. Several episodes open with Kagome at school fretting about her grades, only to cut to the Big Bad plotting to kill her in his dark castle.
    • One weirdly funny moment occurs when Inuyasha's group is trying to solve a situation where two brothers are trying to kill each other and they're destroying all the villages around in their tussel. Inuyasha rants about the thoughtlessness of brothers warring with each other before realising his friends are staring incredulously. Inuyasha then argues with them about whether or not he's being hypocritical because of his feud with his own brother. Sango randomly wonders whether Sesshoumaru's sneezing as a result of people talking behind his back and the scene does a Sneeze Cut... to Jaken sneezing on Sesshoumaru's behalf. Comedy moment over, it returns to the very serious situation of the two feuding brothers that Inuyasha's group is trying to stop.
  • Brigadoon Marin and Melan. Don't let the cartoonish character design or silly gags found in this series fool you! This sci-fi fantasy anime is a rollercoaster of emotions that eat plucky girls, cyborg bodyguards, and the occasional Moe for breakfast only to be saved or doomed by Deus Ex Machina or Diabolus Ex Machina. Everything turns out alright in the end.
    • But what adds to this anime's bipolarity? Remember that infamous scene in Bambi when Bambi finds out his mother is dead and the next scene that follows is happy springtime? Brigadoon ends ALL of its episodes like that! Regardless of happy conclusions or a shocking Cliff Hanger at the end of each episode, the series ends each episode with a sugary-sweet ED.
  • Cowboy Bebop generally doesn't change moods in mid-episode, but episodes have been in every possible style—from romantic fairy-tales to moody Deconstruction to classic Heroic Bloodshed.
    • An in-episode example would be "Speak Like a Child." Most of the episode is lighthearted and silly as Spike and Jet attempt to find the right equipment to watch a mysterious videotape. When they finally succeed, they find out that the tape is a message which Faye made as a child and sent to herself in the future, telling her never to lose her younger self. She doesn't remember a thing. Ouch.
    • Used quite well in "Waltz for Venus". Towards the end of the episode, Spike and Roco, who Spike met in that episode, confront a gang that Roco stole a valuable plant from (to cure his sick sister). As the fight starts, it plays typical, upbeat fight music. Eventually a gang member comes after Roco, but he quickly defeats him by using a technique that Spike had tried to teach him earlier in the episode. He is so happy that he did the technique right that he gives Spike a thumbs up. Spike returns the thumbs up and immediately after, Roco is shot and the music stops. The Mood Whiplash makes Roco's death hit the viewer pretty hard, even though he was only introduced that episode.
    • And in contrast to the last two examples, the finale of "Ballad of Fallen Angels," the first of the Heroic Bloodshed episodes which featured Spike's first epic throwdown with his enemy Vicious. We're treated to a beautiful flashback of Spike and Julia, where Spike says to her, "Just like that...sing for me, please." And then we return to the present where Spike wakes up, all wrapped up in bandages due to all the crap he got put through during that fight, and Faye is singing quietly. Spike calls Faye over, motioning for her to lean close, and then..."You sing off key." And Faye goes into instant tsuntsun mode and lets him have it, ending the episode on a hilarious note.
  • Excel Saga, while mostly a parodic anime, does this later in the series, having moving moments almost directly followed by comedy. The biggest shock is when Il Palazzo shoots Excel at the end of episode 23, even though he did the same thing at the beginning of episode 1 as well as numerous other times throughout the series, and Excel dies so often that you lose count.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima - the first series went for a Gecko Ending when it killed Asuna on her 14th birthday. The very next episode sees Negi examining something on the headteacher's desk, then breaking down upon realizing that it's one of her bells, out of her ashes. Of course, by the end of the series, with help from Chao Lingshen and others in 3A, she gets better the moment Negi and company use the machine Lingshen invented to permanently terminate her deal with the demon king, but still...
    • The manga does this too, the most extreme one occurring when Ala Alba arrives in Magicus Mundus. Fate appears, impales Negi (who nearly dies of blood loss) with a stone spear, destroys the gateport, scatters the group across the world, and frames Negi as the person responsible for the whole incident. The next few chapters show that the various members of the group end up selling themselves into slavery, becoming horribly ill, and getting amnesia, among other things.
    • It also does this in reverse. After about 20 chapters of drama, fights, long-speculated-upon backstory, and a build up to The Reveal, we get a Fan Service-heavy Breather Episode / Furo Scene. It is very funny though.
    • And then slammed us all with Ako breaking down in secret.
    • The recent one is probably the funny and sweet "Kiss Kiss Carnival" chapters being immediately followed by a series of Wham Chapters.
      • The latest of which, 277, has involved the erasure from existence of Craig, Aisha, Tosaka, Bear-Lady, and Emily!
      • Although that's apparently reversible, so just forget that your new friend disintegrated! Like it never happened.
    • Chapter 304 of the Manga pulls this off with a great back-and-forth; when Negima prepares to start a big, climactic fight with the mysterious villain Dynamis, Dynamis announces he's going into his strongest form.... which involves him getting naked. Just as Negi's Nakama are recovering from the shock (some of them rather pleased) it goes back to serious when Dynamis starts beating the crap out of Negi and the previously-disposed of Five-Bad Band come back to fight some more. But then Ako announces she can give the group the strength buff they need to overcome the odds and beat their enemies.... by sticking a giant, magical needle in their butts.
    • Chapter 340 wields this trope like a blunt weapon. Asuna's back, and saved Negi: Awesome. Then they start hugging: Heartwarming. Then they get into one of their usual arguments, with what is essentially God standing RIGHT THERE: Funny. Then Asuna and Negi defeat the Big Bad, and just as the first cheer escapes from this Awesome moment, turns out God hijacked Nagi's body at some point and the only thing he could say after seeing his son for the first time in Six years? "Negi, come and kill me. Then everything will be over." OH look, here comes the tears.
    • Chapter 352, hoo boy... is a massive Ter Jearker. Asuna has woken up 30 years too late; everyone from 3A is dead including Negi. And at the very end, she sees Chao and Evangeline.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - slams very rapidly from sad to inspirational to very, very sad when Kamina is mortally wounded, but gets back up and destroys the remaining opposition in a stirring scene... then he dies. Later, during the first few post-Time Skip episodes, after a fast-paced rollercoaster ride of over-the-top badassitude, it seems like the show actually jumped off the same slippery slope that took Neon Genesis Evangelion. Fortunately, that was just to build up momentum to fly up even further Up to Eleven.
    • In Lagann-hen,this goes in reverse; when the Cathedral Lazengann has been activated and is about to punch out the Earth, things look bad and the mood is relatively dramatic... then Lordgenome hacks the Cathedral, in what is considered one of the funniest scenes in the movie.
    • If you're watching Gurren Lagann on the Sci-Fi channel, you get an additional whiplash if you stick around after the show's end to see... Now and Then, Here and There. Talk about mood whiplash!
  • Gravitation regularly flip-flops between comedy and angst, depending on how Shuichi reacts to the events happening to him. The most extreme example was after a slapstick sequence of Shuichi and Aizawa being chased by fangirls, then getting drunk together, when three other men hired by Aizawa come in, and they beat and rape Shuichi.
    • Schoolgirl cosplay directly post brutal assault, anyone?
    • How about the end of the anime when Eiri's suicide attempt is interrupted by Shuichi bursting through the ceiling in a dog costume.
    • Part of the problem was Executive Meddling; Maki Murakami wanted the series to be Darker and Edgier, but her editor convinced her to keep the story comedic. Mostly.
  • Zeta Gundam, the darkest entry in the Mobile Suit Gundam saga, was followed up by Gundam ZZ, a comedic hijinks series. Following negative reactions, ZZ shifted gears halfway through its run, focusing on drama and politics.
    • To be fair, Tomino had a history of following up epic tragedies with comedies, and depressions caused by Executive Meddling can be attributed to at least a few of his Kill'Em All endings anyways.
  • Mobile Suit Victory Gundam was a depressing series, held to be at least as dark and edgy as Zeta because even though it had some breather episodes and plenty of funny moments it also had a consistently high death count for named characters. It was then followed by G Gundam, which is as Super Robot as Gundam can ever get.
    • Speaking of Gundam, the ongoing story arcs from the parody manga Gundam-San are the absolute king of this. Best example would probably be Garma of the Space Island, a goofy Slice of Life story about the Zabi clan as a poor family living in a Japanese-style shack. Things take a turn for the worse after Zeon Deikun shows up, but the absolute biggest Wham! Episode comes when it turns out the whole thing was Kycilia reminiscing about her dead family, right when Char shows up to deliver her memorable death scene.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni generally starts each arc with someone dying horribly (or at least a mutilated corpse in plain sight). And then on the other side of the opening credits, lighthearted comedy. And then things go steadily downhill again.
    • The first season's ending theme provides this effect, especially with the ending of Meakashi-hen:After an episode of bloody carnage, the last shot we see is of Shion falling to her death, so taking Watanagashi-hen into account, the entire cast of main characters save for Rena and Oishi are now dead. The screen goes black, and we hear the splat of her body hitting the ground. Cut to the ending credits to a light, soothing piano piece.
    • There's probably at least one person who tuned in to the first episode right after the first scene and opening credits, knowing nothing about the show, and assumed the series was a comedy. It must be like playing Eversion blind.
    • The anime has two noticeable whip lashes. Right after Meakashi ends, the arc where Shion goes the a murder spree that ruined her reputation, we see her again in the next episode. Normal and happy, back to her Genki Girl self; it's more striking then with the other characters. Next is at the end of the first season. Everything seems happy and fine, until you notice this is another world, which is why everyone's happy and back to normal.
    • The whole series is an expert in Mood Whiplash as it often turns a funny or cute scene into a surprising or even nightmare bringing scene. What is creepy in the anime is often scary or terrifying in the manga where you sometimes almost don't dare to turn to the next page. Like in Onikakushi-hen chapter 3 (in where there are no less than 4 changes in mood in just a few pages) when Keiichi confronts Rena about her and Mion keeping secrets from him only for Rena to turn the tables on him and instead accuse him of keeping secrets from his friends. It's all seems to be end peacefully when Rena calms down, until you turn the page and see this, complete in colour and all. It is without warning and you have to read carefully to even notice that the page before was also in colour. And now imagine a series full of similar things...
      • One notable scene in the manga is Shion's death. We see her falling, then are shown a diabetes inducing scene of "What if" that's very much like what happens in the Kai arcs, before we get a gory shot of her dead body.
    • The manga is bad about this, often using omakes at the end or beginning of a chapter. It's especially noticeable at the end of Minagoroshi. Right after a Downer Ending there are a bunch of omakes making fun of the depressing scenes, and lampshading Miyo's odd facial expressions.
  • Then there's Tenshi ni Narumon, which does the reverse: silly and random 90% of the time, but with the occasional Wham! Episode tossed in.
  • Prince of Tennis does this so violently (and very, very deliberately) that if you aren't ready for the Mood Whiplash between high-stakes tournament finales and alternate universe chibi adventures, you're liable to end up in a neck brace.
  • Done near the end of Lucky Star, when the normal sequence of slice-of-life gags is broken by a touching segment on why Konata's late mother chose her father.
  • Yu Yu Hakusho does this occasionally, interspersing their tense battles with weird and unexpected humor, such as when Kuwabara is about to die in his fight with Risho, and Yukina's appearance suddenly makes him super strong; he knocks Risho out with one blow and then proceeds to do muscle-man poses to impress her. Another one of note was when Chuu, in the middle of the power-up which will herald his ultimate technique, runs to the edge of the ring and starts throwing up.
  • The Slayers adores this and makes full use of it, including hanging lampshades on it at every opportunity. In a particularly memorable scene, Lina has been put out of action and is possibly dead despite Sylphiel's efforts, the rest of the cast are facing the season's Big Bad with various injuries and no hope of winning -- and Amelia's overprotective father, the ridiculously over-the-top Prince Philionel, arrives from nowhere and makes a fool out of himself by challenging the enemy in the name of justice. Zelgadis explains this by commenting, "Well, they can't let these episodes get too serious."
  • School Days starts as a charming romantic comedy and decays into an angsty nightmare.
  • Arguably the entire point of the weird broadcast order of episodes in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is to recreate the mood whiplash that occurs in the novels, but on a Twelve-Episode Anime timescale. More directly, though, the Wham! Episode probably qualifies as mood whiplash, as a series about the personal weirdness of its title character suddenly turns out to be about the very real dangers that puts the rest of the cast into.
    • In the Wham! Episode, Haruhi is ridiculously bored, and braids Mikuru's hair. Can't fault Mikuru for shivering in fear at what Haruhi might do to her. For the record, Haruhi used Mikuru to blackmail the Computer Club President on charges of sexual harassment, and forcefully stripped her several times, though not at the same time. Kyon goes home and soon sleeps. When he wakes up, it turns out they're in a separate universe, created by Haruhi herself, and they don't know how to get out.
  • The 8th volume of D.Gray-man features this trope in a particularly jarring way. After the last page, when everyone on the ship dies cheering on the main characters after Miranda deactivates her innocence, from the woman and her bodyguard that were set up to be main (or at least recurring) characters to the nameless crewmen celebrating for the last time belowdecks, the very next page is an omake featuring the wacky hijinks of the creator and her assistants.
    • Chapter 189 begins with someone surveying the carnage left after an attack by the Noah, then cuts to the fact that Allen just dropped out of the Ark straight onto the Earl's head. The goofiness then gives way to the Fourteenth being freaky as hell, and Allen starts thrashing around, clutching his head and screaming "No, no!"- then he headbutts the Earl across the room. It also features Kanda freaking out about his hair tie again. The sudden attack of silliness is really, really jarring, considering the lack of comedy in the preceding few installments and the fact that it seems like the weirdest possible place to put it.
    • Also in the anime, when everyone thinks Allen is dead and learn they can't even see him, after spending the last few episodes on some pretty heavy life and death stuff, suddenly Miranda appears and trips down the deck of the ship. Then again when it seems that Kanda's just died, next comes extended comedic scenes on the debt which Allen's master wracked up and what he made two of the Noahs do as they tried to find him. Very funny, but also very sudden given the extremely serious nature of the episodes before it.
  • Tsukuyomi Moon Phase flips from the light-hearted, daily life of a cute monster girl and her surrogate family, to dark, full-out battle sequences between the villains that almost look like they're from another show! The main title sequence doesn't help any.
  • Jubei-chan uses this to great effect. One moment Jiyu's engaged in some heartwarming highjinks the next she's plummeting down a cliff face with high velocity blood loss.
  • Violinist of Hameln is the king of this trope. Accept no substitutes. The series flips from drama, tragedy, and angst to heartwarming romance and then to outright ludicrous gags pretty much with the turning of a page; to list every instance of Mood Whiplash would be to summarize every page and line of dialogue. The real kicker is that it's pulled off surprisingly well and the characters become very complex as a result. Note that this only applies to the manga, the Anime starts out horribly sad and pretty much stays that way.
  • Rozen Maiden much? The series mixes the daily antics of a group of immature, childish dolls trying to acclimate themselves to and enjoy their new life, with much hilarity ensuing...except that these same dolls are forced to compete in a Highlander-style fight, forced to kill their own sisters or be killed by them.
  • Kanon keeps bouncing between Tear Jerkers, Sitcom- style humor, and Crowning Moments Of Heartwarming.
  • Narutaru starts out looking like a cute and perky Mons series, but then just a few episodes/chapters later, the adorable mascot spears a boy through the chest with a big pointy object... and it keeps getting darker and darker from there.
  • Honey and Clover is a series that handles the whiplash from madcap comedy to rather dramatic introspection, then to near melodramatic romance quite well throughout the entire run, and even within the same episode.
  • Gintama will often do this several times within a single episode.
  • Solty Rei has some episodes where the transition between comedy and serious, somewhat-noirish action takes place in a matter of seconds.
  • Strike Witches is, for the first eight episodes, a light Fan Service show with regular Neuroi attacks, albeit with reference to the war going on in the background. The end of episode eight shows the titular unit's commander pointing a gun at her second in command, demanding her resignation. Things get even worse from then on, up to and including a conspiracy to pull the Witches out of battle.
  • Busou Renkin starts with the main character getting stabbed right though the chest to the main character waking up and causing a mess in the dorms screaming that he was killed and that he will be avenged. The series flip-flops between the hilarious and the deathly serious fairly consistently.
  • [[Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora|Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto Natsu no Sora]] is a rather lighthearted Slice of Life-affair, until the reveal that Sora has a terminal illness and will likely die soon.
  • Believe it or not, Ouran High School Host Club has tons of examples of this. Mixed in with the Genre Savvy characters and banana-skin related tomfoolery, there are some pretty tear jerking moments there.
    • And MUCH moreso in the manga.
  • Code Geass often had this, either ending comic episodes on a jarring twist or following a Breather Episode with a tragic Wham! Episode. A fairly low key example early in the series was a humorous episode about trying to catch a stray cat that got Zero's mask stuck on its head, which ended with the Emperor delivering an unsettling Social Darwinist speech broadcast on every television in Britannia, talking about how evil equality is. The kicker was in the second season where the very last comic episode focuses on Milly's graduation celebration, where boys wear blue hats and girls wear pink hats, and if someone steals someone else's hat and puts it on, those two have to become boyfriend/girlfriend. There had been a Will They or Won't They? looming over Shirley and Lelouch for the entire series until that point, when Lelouch essentially handed his hat over to Shirley, showing that he was finally willing to return her feelings. The episode ended with Shirley regaining her memories, causing her to become aware of Japan's and Britannia's Gambit Pileup (and remember that she had tried to murder Lelouch after he killed her father the previous year), leaving her with literally nobody to trust. It Got Worse.
  • Even the various incredibly Fan Service heavy Burn Up series' have moments of this.
  • The OVA of Johji Manabe's Capricorn has this in spades. One example: The Cute Monster Girl happily flies an Ordinary High School Student out of the Big Bad's castle like they're close friends and nothing's wrong, but turns panicky when Mooks start chasing after them, and then she gives same student the cold shoulder when he tries to talk to her soon afterward. And the evil general the masses know is manipulating the king still cheer for him at a massive rally as he takes control of the planet. As it's a 45-minute adaptation of an entire manga series, however, these kinds of issues are to be expected.
  • Trigun marks the end of its comedic side with the introduction of Legato.
    • A more straight-up case of whiplash comes in episode six, where after a series of largely comedic episodes, the mood shifts gears and actually shows the audience the consequences of Vash (somehow) having destroyed a city without killing anyone inside.
    • Another example is when Wolfwood dies. The next episode starts just like the earlier onees with Vash doing some zany antics and eating donuts, giving us some hope that maybe what we saw last time wasn't absolute. Then in the middle of a "Donuts are awesome!" funny scene, Vash starts to cry, driving it home that yes, Wolfwood actually died. Oh, and this is also the episode when Vash kills Legato and goes into a Heroic BSOD about having to kill someone, so it just keeps getting worse.
  • Gakuen Alice jumps from a light hearted ten year old school girl life to Someone is going to die in five second if you don't do something, someone is missing, probably death, someone is kidnapped and so on.
  • Full Metal Panic! did this in the first season, alternating between wacky high school hijinks and Real Robot action arcs that could get rather grim. The sequels compartmentalised the two halves with all comedic Fumoffu and more action/drama oriented The Second Raid having far few comedic moments though it wasn't entirely devoid of them, partly thanks to Gates.
  • At first glance, The Noozles seems like an innocent, light-hearted anime about talking koala bears- until you get to it's surprisingly deep Myth Arc and its apocalyptic, horrific final episode.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia is usually a cute and silly series, but occasional has strips that are very serious and very Tear Jerker (such as Russia's History and America Cleans the Storage). Interestingly, in a Japanese poll for the first volume, one of these serious strips ranked first.
    • If you follow the anime- episode 45. The previous episode was the usual comedy (with Swirzerland trying to teach self defense to Liechtenstein, Canada's Butt Monkey episode an some cute America and Japan stuff), and then, bam!, you get a Tear Jerker flashback (of Liechtenstein almost Dying Alone in the rain after World War I pushes her close to the Despair Event Horizon) that is far more dramatic than it was in the manga at the start and by the end a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming (with Liech being saved by Switzerland, and then in the present, her thanking him) in an episode that is basically completely serious, though not dark.
    • Between the Tear Jerker parts of America cleans out the storage you have the episode with Rome's song andthe episode with Italy trying to spy on the Allies. Basicly you have light hearted episode 15 with Japan and Western Cultures, more serious episode 16 about China's and Japan's history, episode 17 which is about America remembering about his and England's past and makes you want to cry, episode 18 with Rome's song, episode 19 with Canada not being noticed then back to a Tear Jerker for the continuation of America's Cleaning Out the Storage.
    • The "While you were gone" comic strips seem like lighthearted fluff, with Italy and Poland pranking Lithuania, until Po walks in on him in the bath and sees his scars.

"So there's a side of Lithuania...I don't know..."

    • Many strips that feature Lithuania seems to devolve into Mood Whiplash, even if he is not the direct recipient given his presence in the aforementioned Cleaning out the Storage and Bloody Sunday strips in addition to those dealing with his own history.
  • The various Getter Robo series are known to violently slam between mind-blowing Hot-Blooded Super Robot badassery and pure horror, bringing in themes of fatalism and Cosmic Horror Story.
  • Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle could be considered an example of this. Most of the first arc contained a light-hearted, action-y atmosphere, like what you'd generally expect from some Shounen manga. However, it takes a left turn when the original Syaoran wakes up, and "Syaoran" is revealed to be a clone that suddenly falls into a trance-like state, in which he also takes Fai's eye for his own, and leaves the group.
  • In Ghost Hunt most episodes are strait-forward paranormal research/horror, except for those bits of romantic comedy that seem to pop out of nowhere.
  • Shakugan no Shana. The series tends to shift between a dark, supernatural action show, to a Moe Moe school-yard romantic comedy.
  • Zombie Loan. The manga more so than the anime, but in both cases, the series gravitates between slapstick and character-driven comedy to scenes of extreme violence and gore.
  • Sengoku Basara is full of this. The series shifts between Hot-Blooded action taken Up to Eleven (with generous amounts of Foe Yay and Ho Yay included) and scenes showing the bodies of countless fallen soldiers. And that's not even including the occasional dramatic death scenes.
  • Amazingly, Azumanga Daioh. Watch some episodes. Laugh. Then watch the ending.
  • Recently Naruto has the title character coming back to the village from a particularly arduous battle to find the entire village congratulating him and recognizing him as a hero. This is then followed by a rather amusing scene of a squad of Cloud nin coming the village to inform them their village plans to take care of Sasuke and Akatsuki while one of them talks about theoretical girlfriends he would get while traveling but upset when he leaves them. But then we find out that Tsunade's attempt to save the villager's from Pain's attack didn't just render her unconscious, but put her in a coma so the village council decides she needs to be replace in the meantime and Danzo successfully pushes his way into the becoming the acting Sixth Hokage. All of this in one chapter (which is called "The Joyful Village").
    • An even worse example happened much earlier: the same chapter included Hayate being brutally murdered for learning about the planned invasion of the Leaf Village by the Sound and Sand Villages then goes to Naruto making a summoning contract but only being able to summon a tadpole, then it goes back to Hayate's corpse on the same page.
    • Something similar to Bleach's omake happened with Naruto after Shippuden started, although omakes weren't shown after some of the more serious episodes (especially around the time Asuma died).
    • Anyone who reads the manga saw this one coming in Shippuden: the seventh season's ending is a saccharine cheery feature of a certain character. This same season also happens to be the one in which the main characters' hometown is flattened, and several characters die. Episode 165's omake calls attention to this out of place and mostly ridiculous ending just before it is used again. Episode 166 has the same featured character make what is intended to be a heroic sacrifice, get thrown around like a ragdoll, and stabbed. Naruto goes into a rage greater than he's ever been in before, unleashing the fox's six-tailed form. Cue the same ending!
  • Ranma ½ has at least one moment of this. For most of the series, threats of death and massive destruction have been thrown around and treated comedically. Even though some characters have tried killing their enemies, they have never succeeded, and nobody seems to mind when the main characters level a house or smash through a wall. Then, we get the Ryuu Kumon story arc, where we get to see as a young boy is orphaned when his house collapses on his father, explicitly crushing him to death and leaving him with nothing but the clothes on his back, his father's last words, and a scroll of martial arts techniques. Another mood whiplash, or a reaction of a different sort, may result when you realise the fact that the cause of the tragedy was stupidity of a Darwin Awards level. Seriously, what kind of idiot practices a move explicitly stated as a back-breaking bearhug on the central support pillar that happens to be the sole thing keeping the building from falling down on top of them?
  • Two chapters in, and Magical War Chronicles Lyrical Nanoha Force is already using this. We open with the happy, fun travels of protagonists Tohma and Lily, and after the sequence ends with a cheerful Puni Plush panel of the two, we cut to another planet... where Enforcer Teana is investigating a devastated village while the TSAB unit accompanying her assesses the damage and lays out rows and rows of the dead. As Teana questions the heavily injured survivors, it is then implied that Tohma and Lily were the ones responsible for this incident.
  • Contrast episodes 33 and 34 of Digimon Tamers. Episode 33: Suzie goes to the Digital World, happily running around, meeting her Digimon partner... everything's great. A baddie shows up, but he's easily driven away and no one really gets hurt. Episode 34: Beelzemon kills Leomon, triggering Jeri's state of depression that lasts for most of the rest of the anime, and Guilmon e digivolves the wrong way into a bringer of apocalypse-type creature. Are we even talking about the same anime here?
    • The train scene in episode 41 of Tamers is probably the most extreme example of this trope in the entire franchise. It goes from funny (Takato facing the troubles of having Guilimon on the train and tripping over his feelings about Jeri), to sad (Takato reduced to tears by Jeri's lifeless state), to creepy (Jeri, actually the D-Reaper's agent, reading the ingredients off the back of an energy bar in a cold monotone) all in one scene.
  • Darker than Black pulls off a pretty hardcore case of whiplash by accident in episode 6. The episode features a Broken Bird Woobie girl who wants nothing more than to stop killing, and live a happy life by herself. Of course, any Genre Savvy viewer knows that she dies tragically by the end of the episode. Which she does, courtesy of several large ice spears through the lungs, followed by the sad 'dying in the rain' scene. Quiet/Sad ending theme. Then the preview for the next episode is presented by a hyper-active Moe character with pink hair.
  • The second season of Black Lagoon has the wisecracky Greenback Jane storyline sandwiched between the (tragically horrific) Vampire Twins and (horrifically tragic) Fujiyama Gangster Paradise storylines.
  • The Black Butler ending themes. The first half has I'm ALIVE! which is an upbeat song that's accompanied by adorable, brightly colored animations of chibi versions of all the characters. The second ending, Lacrimosa (which means "Tearful" or "Mourning" in Latin), has a much sadder tone and the animation features a regular Sebastian rowing a boat along a river with Ciel laying in a bed of white flowers; the colors of the whole image are rather muted, too.
    • This happens in the manga, too; one chapter featured The Hero ordering his butler to burn down a building full of hostages. The next chapter has an eccentric tailor come to fit him with some new clothes and running-around-half-naked hijinks ensue.
    • If you want to talk about Kuro, please see the very first five minutes of the very first episode of the second season. This episode introduces Alois Trancy, who, in the first minute of the episode is sitting on a bed, covered in bruises next to a much older man, while he repeats the word 'darkness' over and over again. Then he suddenly switches from his solemn state and yells "I WANT THIS! I WANT YOU!". Then, after the theme song, the kid switches from Ax Crazy to adorable and quirky to melancholic to incredibly flamboyant so much that your neck will be broken by the time the eyecatch plays.
    • A particularly drastic mood shift happens when in the Green Witch Arc the manga goes from sex comedy that is some of the funniest stuff in the entire series to serious horror that is some of the scariest stuff in the entire series and shakes even the nigh-invincible Sebastian, with only a few pages between.
  • Rust Blaster, by the same author as Black Butler, manages to flip flop between high school hijinks and screaming horror several times, despite only being six chapters long. As an example, the local eccentric Teen Genius kidnaps Strange Boy Kei and straps him to an operating table to "experiment on him." Played for Laughs, but it segues directly into Kei flashing back to his childhood.

Kei: Even if I scream and beg, the results are the same.

  • Parodied in Ninin ga Shinobuden. The series is more or less entirely comic, but the ending of episode six is treated entirely dramatically, complete with hints at a dramatic backstory and overarcing plot line. The rest of the series completely ignores this scene until the last episode, when the characters realize that they forgot to follow up on that plot thread, and attempt to create a Magical Girl storyline as a cover.
  • Keroro Gunsou veers into this whenever it goes into its more serious arcs. Even when an installment is played for mostly seriousness, jokes are still spattered throughout... and naturally such chapters are bookended by lighthearted comedy chapters. A tad jarring when Zoruru's return and deadly duel with Dororo in Volume 17 is filled with lighthearted jokes at their expense and startling half-reveals about their history...
  • The Fairy Tail anime overlays the beginning of the upbeat, cheery, teeth-meltingly sweet ending theme over the final scene in the episode. Regardless of what that scene might be. Comedy often results.
    • In fact, this is arguably one of the series's main sources of humor; even during some of the most dramatic moments of the series, some humorous occurrence may occur when least expected. One of many classic examples includes when Erza is in the middle of a serious discussion, walking around with her eyes closed in a manner typical of one deep in thought, when she carelessly falls into a pitfall trap that had been laid out by Lucy, and then climbs out and resumes her discussion as if nothing happened. The characters even take a moment to reflect on the cute, high-pitched scream she makes when she falls.
  • The not-quite-yaoi Yami no Matsuei manga seesaws between gory horror with gratuitous rape, murder and dismemberment, and a light supernatural detective story with talking animal-spirits and slapstick comedy. Partially due to Executive Meddling; Yoko Matsushita likes doing Darker and Edgier material, but her editors wanted something more commercial.
  • Ghost Sweeper Mikami refuses to let go of its original comic qualities, even when Cerebus Syndrome manifests. As a result, even individual reports can shift between serious/tense/somber and comedic multiple times.
  • A number of Hentai series will have light-hearted fanservice in one scene and girls getting raped to death or psychological breakdown by evil men, demons or unholy cthulhoid abominations in the next, or vice-versa.
  • Akumetsu interperses serious violence and talk with cuts to the cute chibi mascot Ametsu-kun.
  • God only knows if Kaori Yuki means to jerk us around as much a she does. Angel Sanctuary will abruptly jump from cute and sweet to dismemberment via cybernetic tentacles and back in almost every volume. For bonus weirdness, her eerily lighthearted commentary would be more aptly suited to any given Romance Comedy...
  • In the first episode of Brigadoon Marin and Melan, a killer robot is targeting a little middle school girl. Now, this sounds like a serious situation, but this whole scene is played out like an elaborate Elmer Fudd vs Bugs Bunny chase. While the series does maintain some level of comedy from there on out, this first episode does very little to prepare the viewer for the very serious and sometimes tragic storyline that follows.
  • Osamu Tezuka did this all the time. Whether it was random insertion of himself into the procedings, an inappropriate appearance by Hyoutan-Tsugi (aka "Gourdski"), a bit of over the top anachronism, or just some plain slapstick, you could rely on Tezuka to insert a bit of humour in all but his most serious stories. To quote a review of Buddha:

"In Tezuka's world, the exquisite collapses into the goofy in a New York minute, the goofy into the melodramatic, the melodramatic into the brutal, and the brutal into the sincerely touching. The surprising result is a work wholly unique and downright fun."

    • The first episode of Kimba the White Lion also counts. It literally goes from tragedy to comedy and back every minute or so.
  • Witchblade, episode 13. Masane has to essentially break Rihoko's heart, and her own by forcing Riho to leave. It ends with a new and bouncy end theme, featuring a group shot of smiling cast members.
  • Special A's extremely perky second ending theme causes a lot of this - the first one is more restrained and so dramatic ending notes are left be, but the second is just so insanely cheerful it can really throw you for a loop on darker episodes.
  • This Ugly Yet Beautiful World: What self-advertises as a Fanservice series of light-hearted and silly stories turns shockingly serious by episode 8.
  • Happens several times in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. The most notable example would probably be episode 13, where a cartoony chase scene suddenly turns into an actual matter of life and death when the bad guy gets out of his wacky robot and pulls a gun. To Nadia's horror, Captain Nemo simply shoots him dead. After a tense silence, we cut to the ending credits.
  • The CP 9/Water 7 arc of One Piece practically set this as the main tone of the series. In a matter of roughly five or six episode, Usopp goes from a serious fighter, going head-to-head with Luffy in one of THE most emotional battles in shounen, returns as Sogeking. With a Sogeking theme song.
    • The CP 9 personify this. Great swordsman and second most powerful person on the squad Kaku has giraffe inspired super powers. Mind-raper and corrupt government official Spandam spills coffee over himself and has an elephant sword. And oh-ho-ho, let's not forget the Buster Call. A device capable of clearing an island off the entire world is accidentally used by Spandam when trying to talk to someone over a similar-looking telephone. He destroys an entire island and brings up horrible memories to his captive because he is so incompetent.
    • The tenth movie Strong World is filled to the brim with Mood Whiplash, from Funny to Awesome to Tear Jerker to Heartwarming to Dispair, and criss crossing between them all. It has to be seen to be believed.
    • The Sixth movie should be called "Mood Whiplash The Movie". It starts as a trip to a festival island with funny residents and games such as Goldfish Catching, Ring Toss, and the Shooting Gallery. Halfway through it devolves into a mix of mystery and horror.
  • My Lovely Ghost Kana dashes suddenly between Genki Girl Magical Girlfriend, a beautiful love story and Tear Jerking heartwarming, tragic or even dark segments. For example, Kana is floating along, experiencing the world and wondering if there is anything she can do as a sort of "job" when she sees father walking with his young son, who is carrying a box. The boy is talking to the box, telling what is apparently a puppy inside that he is "going home" with the pair. Kana thinks how nice, then the ghost of the dead puppy floats out of the box, licks the boy on the face, and fades away.
    • Don't forget Ai-Ren: after the day where everyone goes to the beach, Ai peacefully dies in her sleep. Author Tanaka Yutaka is patron saint of this trope.
  • Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure often switches between comedy and drama in the span of a few pages.
  • Galaxy Angel, usually utterly silly, and a parody of serious anime in general, will throw in a sad, heartfelt, or action-oriented episode once in a while.
  • Soul Eater It doesn't happen all the time, but there are a few points in Soul Eater where the mood will do a complete 180 at the drop of a hat. sometimes even less
    • The second ending song can cause this as well: a sweet and rather bubbly tune about not wanting to grow up... which concludes, among others, all the episodes of the Kishin Revival arc. Including the one that ends with the newly-revived Kishin showing off a Slasher Smile.
    • The series first Cerebus moment came when Soul got cut across the chest by Ragnarok. It's followed up by the fight between Crona and Stein and Death Scythe, which flips between the brutal and the comedic. Contrast Spirit stabbing Crona so that they are hanging from the blade or Stein blowing a hole through Crona's chest, with Crona and Ragnarok nonsensical mid-battle arguments and the bit where they wonder what to do with the stars circling Crona's head after being kicked by Stein.
  • Kaze Hikaru is both a hilarious Romantic Comedy and a blood-soaked Jidai Geki.
  • The first 7 or so episodes of Sukisho make it seem like a cute, funny, Slice of Life anime. It comes as a complete surprise when the next 4 turn into horror. And then switches back to adorable for the OVA.
  • Sailor Moon mixes action, romance, and lots of comedy, so this isn't surprising. Super-Deformed slapstick in the middle of serious scenes, as well as shameless pantyshots could be Narm or Narm Charm.
  • There's a five-episode OVA called Master of Martial Hearts. The first four are fanservicey breasts-and-panties fighting anime stuff. The last episode is a neck-breakingly-fast shift into hard drama. It's as though someone called for a deconstruction in the planning stages and they didn't get to it until the end (though there are minor hints in that direction early on).
  • Sonic X, the original version, at least, has a fairly emotionally heavy ending to the second season, what with Sonic explaining to Chris why he stayed behind and Chris's reaction. Following into the dub-only season 3, which starts with... a really bad pun.
  • Angel Beats! frequently uses this. For instance, most of Episode Two involves the SSS members getting temporarily killed in increasingly bizarre and amusing ways (for the most part, no one can really die in Angel Beats! due to the fact that they're already dead, so this is Played for Laughs), but eventually, when it's just Yuri and Onatashi, Yuri starts talking about how when she was a little girl, her three younger siblings were killed by robbers right in front of her, one by one, because she couldn't find any valuables to give them.
  • Rurouni Kenshin, similar to Fullmetal Alchemist, tends to have abrupt moments of comic relief interspersed with heavy drama and/or intense fight scenes. Compared to the manga, the anime adaptations have taken opposite approaches to this: the TV series significantly ups the comic relief, while the OVAs practically eliminate it.
  • There are plenty of scenes in Highschool of the Dead where really serious and dramatic scenes will inexplicably cut to a panel of unleaded Fan Service. Occasionally, horror and fanservice will be shown in the same panel.
    • A perfect example is at the beginning of chapter 6, which starts off with a radio broadcast about statistics about the infection spreading, which immediately cuts to the four main girls bathing together... with the very serious broadcast still playing over this.
  • The Jack and the Beanstalk anime film does this from time to time, it starts out rather cheery and upbeat, once Jack gets to the beanstalk the mood changes after he meets Princess Margaret, after she sings a love song she introduces him to her "mother" a witch named Madame Hecuba who kidnaps children and feeds them to her ogre son Tulip, she has also taken over the kingdom of the clouds, murdered Margaret's parents, turned most of the servants into mice, and put Margaret under a hypnotic spell to which she will marry Tulip and inherit the castle.
  • The "On the Next..." segments of Tiger and Bunny feature one of the titular duo cheerfully teasing the next episode while dropping in silly fandom nods, like how Kotetsu puts mayonnaise on everything and Barnaby saves his favourite food for last. Thus, there is a good amount of whiplash when we hear Barnaby saying, "Hi, I'm Barnaby - the member of Tiger & Bunny who always uses two tissues!" over shots of Kotetsu holding on to dear life in the ICU after being beaten into a coma during the episode proper.
    • And the show itself likes to switch between random silly humour, plot-less drama and dark, mysterious moments in consecutive episodes—sometimes even in the same episode.
  • The Future GPX Cyber Formula series does this often between the comedy/light-hearted moments and the dramatic/intense racing moments. The 3 OVAs also have these, although less than the TV series had. But by the time the final OVA SIN was released, there was almost all drama with little to no comedy left in it.
  • Mawaru Penguindrum, episode 1: The opening is vaguely dark, then comes the Slice of Life, then comes the drama, then the Slice of Life returns, then Himari dies, then she's revived, then the penguins come and the show returns to Slice of Life. And then, uh, this happens. And then, incest. The second episode seems to be more comedic, but nothing good has ever come from trusting Kunihiko Ikuhara.
  • Kamisama Dolls pulls the whiplashes many times per episode, with the situation changing from comedic to serious (and vice-versa) at the drop of a hat. From the first episode alone, the expectations for what the anime actually is gets turned over enough times that you'll just learn not to take anything for granted.
  • The Master of Martial Hearts is at first your typical ecchi, fighting show. Then episode 5 appears and... HO... LY, SHITTTTTT!!!!!!!
  • Afganisu-tan can be this at points, particularly when you compare the childish pranks of the Nations as People with the real-life history that they're portraying.
  • Wandering Son thrives on this. You get a few moments of comedy before you go back to the melancholy feel of it.
  • Tokyo Mew Mew, surprisingly. Starts off a typical magical girl anime, then all episodes leading to the finale are much darker and gloomier. Even more so in the manga, almost the whole of the 6th and 7th volumes were fairly depressing.
  • In Tamayura, the carefree adventures of the main characters are often offset by Fuu's feelings of grief over her father's death, which is even more prevalent in the TV series than in the OVA.
  • The manga Shinigami-sama ni Saigo no Onegai wo leaps between comedy and drama at breakneck speeds.
  • Despite being a light hearted yaoi comedy with drama, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi gets rather depressing especially around episode 16 where the aspect of the oblivious Uke gets taken very seriously when you see what happens when you constantly try to show said oblivious friend that you're very serious with your feelings and get punished as a result.
  • Silver Spoon is filled with low key versions of this - every moment after an animal is introduced and fawned over by Hachiken, light-hearted talk of butchering and eating it ensue.
  • Black★Rock Shooter is full of Mood Whiplash.[context?]
  • The fourth Hellsing OVA ends with the utterly horrific death of Rip Van Winkle and the invasion of London by Millennium. The credits then roll over a bizarre and utterly hilarious animated sequence of Schrodinger marching over the globe with Das Englandlied playing.
    • In the 8th episode, Alucard and Seras share a tender moment where he finally calls her by her name, indicating how proud he is that she's become a full-fledged vampiress and avenged Pip...and the scene immediatly afterward has Anderson screaming like a lunatic.
  • So Ra No Wo To, unlike most anime, has a slow Opening and upbeat Ending theme. Cue episodes with horrible flashbacks near the end of the episode, followed by AIJOU YUUJOU
  • Where do we even begin with Heaven's Lost Property? In some instances going from a girl fretting about the boy she likes in one frame, and getting hit by a truck in another. Then you can go from a major battle, to a suicide attack, to this. Make sure you're wearing a neck brace when reading the manga.
    • Chapter 47 and 54 take the proverbial cake and eat it whole.
  • Life has a habit of having its few lighthearted moments followed directly by tragic ones. For example in one later chapter, Miki gets drunk at a festival. The next few pages are lighthearted until Miki and Ayumu fall down a cliff. Nothing bad happens, but they have a serious talk.. Then right after Miki barfs.
  • Hoshi no Kaabii has an example of this. Episode 15 is about a toy dog that Kirby starts treating like his own child. The episode ends with the dog exploding and Kirby left devastated and mourning the dog. The next episode is a lighthearted episode about a fish who falls in love with Fumu.
  • The Idolmaster - Episode 19 ends with quite a predicament for Chihaya, but the ending theme, sung by Takane, is strangely cheerful.
  • Loveless has a habit of throwing in the occasional comic relief scene into what is otherwise a very dark series, though the anime does it more than the manga, and as of around Volume 6 onwards, these lighthearted moments have been getting further apart. It's Loveless after all, did you really expect the fluff to last?
  • The anime movie Chirin no Suzu starts out fluffy and cute - the protagonist is a naive little lamb with lots of energy - however it quickly turns into a dark revenge story.
  • Episode 2 of Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! introduces some of the main bad guys, and their scenes are very much more serious in tone than the relatively light hearted aspects of the school life stuff.
  • The very first episode of Zombie Land Saga has this in the first two minutes. It starts with a lighthearted scene where Sakura is bright and cheerful, looking forward to her idol audition. She cheerfully races out of her house, only to be hit by a van. She is sent flying through the air, and the visuals darken, accompanied by a death metal soundtrack.


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