Bait and Switch Credits: Difference between revisions

** It's worth noting that if one freeze-frames a lot in the last bit of the intro, there are all sorts of hints about much later events in the show. An OCD person who wanted to take the OP apart frame-by-frame could probably guess a lot about the series even before watching it.

** Not to mention the song itself. While the upbeat, peppy melody isn't necessarily odd, as ''NGE'' is rather [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw5acgqIHQE notorious] for [[Lyrical Dissonance]], the [http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/eva/ngetnshi.htm lyrics themselves] ''also'' seem to point to a more upbeat, standard [[Humongous Mecha]] anime.

** Also, {{spoiler|despite being a main character, Claire goes unnamed in the intro to avoid spoiling the surprise -- though he's there for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment.}}

** Weirdly, the more sad sounding outro music is changed halfway through the season, just as [[It Got Worse]], for another song, but they didn't swap the opening, making it seem deliberate.

* Similarly, ''[[Mai-Otome]]'', despite already foreshadowing the darker themes in the first opening, carefully tries to avoid any implication of conflict between Arika, Nina and Mashiro -- instead, they are shown as happy with each other and enjoying their time together. Which is, of course, the exact opposite of their actual relationships.

** The 10th opening is similar, as it's essentially just a music video featuring Rukia, Orihime, and Rangiku dancing, with a few shots of the Shinigami and Ichigo just to remind us that we're watching the right show.

** The last opening shows Ichigo fighting Tsukishima and Shishigawara {{spoiler|alongside Ginjou}}. While it seems to be true considering how {{spoiler|Ginjou subjected Ichigo to a [[Training From Hell]] to fight Tsuki}}, we later find otu that {{spoiler|Ginjou was actually in a [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] with Tsukishima.}}

* ''[[Magical Pokaan]]'''s haunting OP implies something of [[Elegant Gothic Lolita|gothloli drama/horror]], despite it being a [[Gag Series]]. According to interviews, this was actually a ''mistake'' -- the songwriters were given a theme of soul-searching creatures of the night, but weren't told it was a comedy -- but they just went with it and created matching footage.

** The second ''Brotherhood'' opening shows {{spoiler|King Bradley}} fighting in a heated battle against Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu. However, not only is it a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] in the episodes that feature this fight, Lan Fan is unconscious from the word go and Fu doesn't even show up {{spoiler|due to helping Maria Ross in Xing}}!

** The fourth ''Brotherhood'' opening features Major Miles and a column of Briggs tanks going head to head with Sloth and Kimblee. This of course, doesn't happen, awesome as it would have been. There's also a brief shot of {{spoiler|Fu and Lan Fan}} fighting Envy, but that doesn't happen either, though it did spoil their return.

** The fifth and final ''Brotherhood'' opening features Winry turning into Truth, which has no relation to any event in canon and was probably a [[Red Herring]] to the ''real'' [[Spoiler Opening|spoiler]] of {{spoiler|Edward's Gate of Truth dissolving}}.

** In general, almost none of the fight scenes in Brotherhood's credits actually happen between those characters. About the only one that does, Ed vs Scar, happens at night in the credits and in broad daylight in the show!

*** The fourth opening of the 2003 series shows Ed and Al vs. Gluttony and Lust, and Ed and Al vs. Wrath, Envy and Sloth. {{spoiler|Ed and Al do fight Sloth and Wrath, but Lust is on their side in that fight and she and Sloth die in the fight while Wrath escapes. Envy abducts Al, preventing him from getting into any more fights, and Ed fights Envy in the finale, but loses, dies, gets better with Al's help and performs a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save Al at the cost of being brought to the real world}}.

*** The fourth ending of the 2003 series shows Ed facing off against Envy and the rest of the homunculi except Greed and Pride in a graveyard. See the above spoiler for why this is a case of bait and switch.

* The opening sequences of ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'' from the ''[[Gundam]]'' are mostly composed of scenes that never happen in the show. Also, the main characters taking their clothes off for no clear reason. A particularly noteworthy sequence shows the Freedom and Destiny Gundams joining forces to battle a Destroy Gundam -- when in fact, the Freedom and Destiny never once fought on the same side, even in "temporary truce for convenience" fashion.

*** 2nd OP: The intro shows a [[Battle Royale With Cheese]] between Celestial Being and the combined military forces of all 3 prominent nations using their respective mobile suits, with almost each Gundam Meister squaring off against a rival mobile suit. The last part of the intro also shows the presence of three ominous-looking Gundams that the original Gundams from Celestial Being fight in space. In the actual show, {{spoiler|each Gundam Meister instead falls into a trap, are separated from one another by each nation that focused on targeting one of them at a time, and the three nations, despite cooperating with one another, were still opposed to working as one lumbering force. As for the three new Gundams that appear in the intro, not only did Celestial being not face them in space (or in Allelujah's case, ''[[Demoted to Extra|at all]]''), but they were not even the true antagonists for either the first season or second. The true antagonists were absent from the intro.}}

*** 3rd OP: This OP shows the mobile suits Arios and Cherudim engaging Louise on Earth, Seravee against Ali and Patrick in space, and Setsuna clashing blades with Mr. Bushido in space. In the actual show, {{spoiler|Arios and Cherudim never directly faced off against Louise (while Louise does a real bait and switch herself; she's eventually piloting the stronger mecha in the same scene). When Mr. Bushido finally encounters Setsuna in space its not until after the 4th OP premiered and he's piloting a different (superior) suit to the one seen here. No one has yet to engage Ali in space, and Seravee's weird red beams from his backpack are yet to be shown.}}

* The opening to ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'' consists of brightly lit shots of most of the ensemble cast laughing insanely as they [[No Fourth Wall|look directly at the "camera"]], and even as things like mushroom clouds (in direct defiance of the [[Nuclear Weapons Taboo]]) appear in the background. Throughout the series, said characters rarely if ever smile, much less ''laugh'', and the song that plays over the credits is also loud, tribal, and cheerful, albeit with [[Lyrical Dissonance|lyrics that mix cheerful and apocalyptic themes]] -- the combination is surreal and twisted, more so once you've seen enough of the series to realize just how ''wrong'' it really is.

** According to an interview with the director, [[Satoshi Kon]], the tone of the opening theme was because the show was to appear on an unusually late time slot. He wanted a theme that was loud and bombastic so that it would wake the viewers' brains up a little bit.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Original Generation Divine Wars'' shows Latooni battling in her [[Elegant Gothic Lolita]] outfit. She only uses that outfit for two episodes (and only one battle) and most of the time is given a regular uniform and [[Meganekko|glasses]].

** This is a shout-out to the original game series, where Latooni in fact wears said outfit the entire second game. Of course, in the remake that the TV show borrows from or vice versa, she always wears a normal uniform.

* ''[[Neko Kawaigari]]'' is probably the ultimate example of this trope. It promises a light-hearted fun atmosphere involving [[Catgirl|catgirls]], and while it delivers... it completely hides the home stretch of the story, which is extremely dark and depressing.

* In the second season of ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'', Hanon is shown with Nagisa, Rina with Hamasaki and Lucia with Rihito. The first two couples get together, but Rihito shows little interest in Lucia and, in fact, supports her reunion with loving [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|amnesiac]] boyfriend Kaito.

* ''[[Trinity Blood]]'': The ending credits hint at {{spoiler|a romance between Abel and Esther, which never happens}}. Also, the opening credits seem to give the Crusnik way more screen time than he gets in most episodes.

* Both openings to ''[[Akahori Gedou Hour Rabuge]]'', fitting to the [[Widget Series]] nature of the program, are really only true in the protagonists' minds. Kaoruko and Aimi never destroy anything that poses an actual threat to the city, and the Gedou Otome Tai never summon an army of demons to wreak havoc on the city.

*** Also, it shows {{spoiler|the Ganymede armed with the same kind of nuclear sakuradite weapon from the end of the first season and the Sutherland Sieg in what seems to be space (?) shooting a barrage of missiles. These, of course, never happen.}}

*** Then there's [[wikipedia:File:Code Geass group2.JPG|this pic]] showing C.C. hanging with Lelouch's friends, though Nina, Milly and Shirley never meet her.

** Heck, Ash didn't even aquire Pidgeot until the episode the opening * changed* in Japan.

** A worse offender is the tenth opening, which starts off with a group shot of just about every Pokemon Ash has ever owned -- more than half of which don't appear again in the show. It goes on to show a series of battles of which only one (Pikachu vs. Aipom) actually happen in the show. This all makes sense when you realize it was made to celebrate the franchise's 10th anniversary.

* The opening of ''[[Pretty Sammy|Magical Project S]]'' makes the show look like a fairly standard [[Cute Witch]] style of [[Magical Girl]] show, with Sasami actually appearing happy about her powers and Misao being in on the secret. Then you get to the actual show, which is a [[Magical Warrior]] show with Sasami not caring for her role and Misao most definitely not in on the secret. Since the show is meant as a parody of the [[Magical Girl]] genre, this was intentional.

* The opening of ''[[Kannagi]]'' depicts Nagi [[Dancing Theme|dancing on stage]] as an [[Idol Singer]]. While somewhat thematically appropriate -- she does need [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|to be loved by the people]] -- she is not actually a singer nor is the supporting cast her managers, makeup artists, directors, etc.

** [[Stealth Pun|It's also a pun.]] Kannagi is a wooden IDOL come to life, the opening portrays her as a different kind of idol.

* Some shots in the opening of the ''[[Getter Robo|Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo]]'' OVA series suggest that it will live up to its title and the two Getters will fight each other, or at least side-by-side, at some point. [[Mid-Season Upgrade|No such luck]], unfortunately.

* Virtually every opening for ''[[Naruto]]'' features activities of characters who really aren't doing anything at the time.

** Especially during the filler seasons, when almost all the openings featured Sasuke and Orochimaru, despite neither of them making any appearance besides cameos.

* Subverted in ''[[Gate Keepers]]''. The OP depicts [[Meganekko|Megumi Kurogane]] apparently firing an [[Kamehame Hadoken|energy blast]] from her hand. This is supposed to be impossible in-universe, as her power is to [[Barrier Warrior|create walls]]... then you notice that Megumi ''was'' using her barriers - to ''block'' said blast.

* Looking at the OP for ''[[Full Metal Panic]]? Fumoffu'' you'd think that it'd be a cute, romantic high school [[Shoujo]] in the vein of ''[[Kare Kano]]'' or ''[[Marmalade Boy]].'' If you hadn't first watched season one, you might even think that it ''was'' one ...for about thirty seconds. At that point, the guy that you've pinned as the [[The Stoic|stoic]], romantic male lead nonchalantly [[Stuff Blowing Up|blows up the locker room]] with plastic explosive.

** The opening credits show ''a lot'' of characters from the original manga that do not appear in the OVA. This includes Banpei the robot, Yoko the ghost, etc.

** They also show [[Brainwashed and Crazy|Demon Belldandy]] spreading dark wings over the city, while her friends watch below. That never happens. Instead, Belldandy's pureness turns the demon into an angel within minutes.

* ''[[Mega Man Star Force|Ryuusei no Rockman]] Tribe''. Fans were disappointed in the lack of Ninja and Dinosaur transformations.

* The girls from ''[[Diamond Daydreams]]'' are shown in the opening credits as if they form a group of close friends. Although this would have offered some interesting possibilities, only some of them meet up shortly in the last episode.

* The opening credits of ''[[Venus Versus Virus]]'' present the two female leads Lucia and Sumire lying in a field wearing pretty dresses, their [[Intertwined Fingers|fingers intertwined]] as they throw meaningful glances. It's very sweet and romantic -- and also [[Bait and Switch Lesbians|occurs nowhere in the anime itself]].

** It's [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|symbolic]].

** The eleventh opening becomes a bit of a retroactive bait and switch, since {{spoiler|the Straw Hats don't even appear or take part in the current storyline after the [[Wham! Episode]], save for Luffy.}}

*** However, ''in the anime'' {{spoiler|we still see them a lot because of [[Filler]] episodes adapted from covers showing what the Strawhats besides Luffy where doing}}.

* ''[[Sonic X]]'' is guilty of this. The second opening shows Super Sonic and Super Shadow fighting. They do fight midway into the Metarex saga, but it's nowhere near as spectacular.

** Also, though Shadow is featured decently prominently in the first opening, he doesn't even appear until after the second opening has appeared. And I don't remember the ARK exploding...

* [[Sentai]]-flavored fanservice series ''[[Ryuusei Sentai Musumet]]'' featured a giant robot in the opening credits which never appeared in the actual episodes.

* Until the Kyoto Arc, the opening sequence to ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' made it seem like some kind of [[Rom Com]] (the peppy theme song in which the female singer waxes poetic about an unrequited love don't help).

** There was [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]] there. Not much, what with here being really young (15?), but there was definitely subtext.

** The intro in general makes Robin seem like a depressed person in total despair, and the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raSnXXBtCbc lyrics to the opening song] support this, but nothing in Robin's backstory is ever revealed to be anything close to this and she seems to always have at least one person she can rely on throughout the show.

** All Gintama OP qualified. How many times did it showed Gin engaged in epic battles? All the time. Does it ever happen? No. Then again, it's a [[Gag Series]] with a [[Trolling Creator]], so is it a surprise?

* Two openings of ''[[Neo Ranga]]'' features all three female protagonists in white [[Stripperiffic]] outfits, having mysterious symbols painted/tatooed on their bodies and wielding stone weapons. None of this happens.

* In the (rather lovely) opening sequence of ''[[Aoi Hana]]'', Fumi and Akira are depicted as a cheery, loving couple, complete with full nudity. Sure, the girls are extremely close, but never get this far in the series.

* ''[[Hikaru no Go]]'' has a scene at the end of its last ending sequence which shows Hikaru and Sai playing against each other as equals, implying that someday Hikaru will reach Sai's level and be able to play against him in a fair match. Though Hikaru ''wants'' to do this, it never happens, and he's nowhere near Sai's level when {{spoiler|Sai disappears permanently.}}

* ''[[Red Garden]]'' has an opening that would make you think it's basically Sex and the City. The show's content goes in a [[Mind Screw|different direction]] however. The ending falls under this as well; it's an upbeat rap song with the characters having fun at a concert.

* The opening for ''[[Welcome to The NHK]]'' features a cheery sounding duet for the theme, with pastel-colored, brightly lit scenes of cute girls frolicking, which gives the impression of a lighthearted romantic comedy of some sort. The series is actually about a young man with [[Hikikomori|extreme social anxiety]] struggling to deal with his psychological issues and addictions, being helped by a [[Blithe Spirit]] {{spoiler|that's actually as screwed up mentally as he is}}. There ''are'' some hints of the darker, [[Black Comedy]] tone of the show in the opening--the few times the main character is shown he's almost always shown having some sort of panic attack, the main heroine is shown looking lonely as she leans against a wall, and the other women in the opening are faceless (a probable nod to the issues the main character and his friend have with women)--but it still seems a little too upbeat.

* ''[[Durarara]]'s'' second opening introduces five new characters, three of which showed up briefly in the first half of the series. This means they're important, right? Not really. Only one was actually important, three of the others played bit parts, and one didn't show up ''at all.''

* ''[[Keroro Gunso]]'' uses this in episode 150. After spending the entire episode getting ready to leave (He'd been promoted) Giroro gives a heartfelt (for him) goodbye at the train station. Cue a special ending sequence, complete with sad music and a "Goodbye Giroro" card...only for Giroro to literally shoot through them and grab Keroro by the neck. That promotion letter? Turns out it was a month old. Cue the regular ending sequence.

** By the time the series ends (and the viewers know what's really going on), it becomes obvious that it's a subverted trope. It's especially obvious each time the OP gets shifted to the end of the episode; it's the exact same song, but because of the episode we just saw, a new meaning is revealed.<ref>Yes, it's a [[Twelve-Episode Anime]]. Yes, it's pulled off more than once.</ref> In a series full of [[It Got Worse]], on a second viewing you can get [[Mood Whiplash]] because the actual episode is so ''light'' compared to the opening credits.

* ''[[Kamichama Karin]]'' sports a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7YUhKAZp9s rather dark-looking opening sequence] that, combined with the [[Non-Indicative First Episode|sombre first ep]], convinced some fans that the series was going to be a darker-and-edgier [[Magical Girl]]-slash-[[Moe|Moe Series]], ala Nanoha. [[Affectionate Parody|So wrong.]] {{spoiler|On the other hand, once the [[Cerebus Syndrome]] kicks in, the opening doesn't look quite as much out of place.}}

* ''[[Yu Gi Oh 5 D's]]'' does this with openings 2 and 5. In the second version of opening 2, we see Jack facing off against {{spoiler|Dark Carly}} in a ground duel, whilst the episode they duel in is a Riding Duel. Opening 5 does this at the very end by showing Yusei using Junk Warrior to attack Z-ONE. {{spoiler|Junk Warrior is never used in that duel, but he pops up in 154 to deal the finishing blow to Jack}}

* The third ''[[Slayers]]'' opening (''Slayers TRY'') has a humorous shot of Lina's sister, Luna, with a sign pointing at her reading, "sorry, opening only!" As for the song itself, it is less energetic and more mellow than the previous two openings, citing for a darker story, but while the overarching plot darkens later on, the overall tone of the show is as comedic as it had always been, creating some poorly timed [[Mood Whiplash]] during the comedic filler episodes. Also, in that opening, [[Holier Than Thou|Filia]] is portrayed as some demure [[Mysterious Waif|prophetic waif]]/DistressedDamsel, but in the show proper, she's an obnoxious, prissy, and loud (and very dead-on) variant of [[Holier Than Thou]].

* The opening of the ''[[Shamanic Princess]]'' OVA is standard, pastel-toned romance fanfare. The series itself is a dark tale of a powerful [[Cute Witch]] and her rivals as they try to search for {{spoiler|a holy item from their world, which turns out to be an [[Elditrich Abomination]] holding the sister of the protagonist's former love interest.}}

* ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' pulled this off with its second opening, which contains a one-on-one duel between Shana and Sydonay that never actually happens.

** That scene was a ''double'' bait and switch, since {{spoiler|Archer was killed off just before this opening began airing. Thus the intro led viewers to believe that Archer would be brought back to life. He wasn't.}}

* ''[[Twin Signal]]'s'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hjIORoPahA opening] shows scenes of a futuristic city, with the title character battling a slew of super-powered robots, running from [[Combat Tentacles]], and several unusual characters including what appears to be a fairy. The actual OVA is set in a [[Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here|sleepy town in the countryside]], is comedy-oriented, and about half the characters in the intro don't even ''appear'' in the show proper.

* ''[[The Noozles]]'' does not involve dancing on rainbows with stars. The show does feature exciting adventures, but these get [[Cerebus Syndrome|darker as the series progresses.]] While the credits might make you think you are watching your typical "child has magical adventures and must hide them from parents" show, the show's actual plot is so strange that a [[Not Making This Up Disclaimer]] is often involved when describing it.

* [[Master of Martial Hearts]] has a rather unappealing, but otherwise lighthearted and optimistic opening. It's ending features a quiet and somewhat romantic song featuring its lead females in some rather [[Les Yay|suggestive]] moments. [[Sarcasm Mode|There's no way it would have possibly the worst ending with the worst plot twist ever]]...

* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'''s opening does have some elements of the heavy fanservice featured in the show, but is played over a soothing Gregorian chant about divine justice and Art Nouveau-inspired [[Moe]] imagery, most likely meant to convey innocence rather than sensuality. The ending is also a pop love song that may match the show in the lyrics, but ''not'' in tone.

* The film of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' began with an animated opening to a movie called ''The Littlest Elf'', before stopping mid-stride (complete with [[Record Needle Scratch]]) for the narrator to tell us that the movie we'll be seeing will be far more depressing. Of course, this is a hilarious [[Mythology Gag]] for the people who have read the books.

* The opening credits for the (non)hit b-movie ''[[Cave Dwellers]]''. Two men in loincloths run around the screen doing weird things -- you never see the men in the opening credits during the movie, nor do you see any action sequence similar to what they were doing. This is because the clips are from the 1963 Italian sword-and-sandal film ''Taur, the Mighty''. When Film Ventures International purchased what became ''[[Cave Dwellers]]'' for a 1990 re-release, they couldn't use the original credits or film title (''Blade Master''); this allowed them to license the remainder of the movie as a film clip.

** The ''Master Ninja'' credits are actually fairly representative of the "movies" themselves -- Lee Van Cleef somewhat halfassedly pretending to be a ninja. It's the score and film-negative effect that make them stand out...

* The beginning of the movie ''[[Return of the Killer Tomatoes]]'' shows a group of attractive teenager girls in skimpy bathing suits romping on a beach, with a voiceover announcing "You are about to see the movie ''Big Breasted Women Go To The Beach And Take Their Tops Off''" (complete with a Beach Boys-style theme song containing those words), until the screen goes black, the voiceover apologizes for showing the wrong movie, and the title for "Return Of The Killer Tomatoes" appears.

* Minor example: ''Ghost Ship'' starts with cheesy lounge music and the title in a cheerfully 50s-style font, and zooms in on the ship's passengers happily dancing the night away {{spoiler|and then a tightly wound wire slices through the crowd}}.

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSWINQ32Ozw opening credits] to the 1958 version of ''[[The Blob]]'' written by none other than Burt Bacharach (no, I'm not kidding) sound like a fun, beach-rompy movie (lyrics notwithstanding).

* The opening song to ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' promises that we will "see androids fighting Brad and Janet". There's nothing in the film that could be described as an android except just possibly Rocky, who never touches Brad, and what he does to Janet is... not called fighting. Put a comma there and continue to pretend Rocky is an android and it ''almost'' works. We see at least one "android" fighting, and we see Brad and Janet. This is one hell of a stretch, admittedly.

** More a [[Thematic Theme Tune]], since the lyrics are actually about Science Fiction B-movies in general.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* Episode 25 of ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' begins with fake titles and credits for a historical epic called "The Black Eagle", whose opening scene is interrupted by the ''real'' [[Title Sequence]]. The scene nevertheless goes on for long enough that early audiences were probably scrambling for the week's ''Radio Times'', wondering if there had been another last-minute schedule change.

** This was a rather popular type of gag on the series. One episode had the opening at the ''very end'' of the show, followed by ''the credits''. Another ran the opening credits at the beginning of the show... followed ''immediately'' by the closing credits. The Pythons frequently set out to subvert not just the structure of the typical comedy sketch, but also the structure of television programmes themselves.

** One step further in the program for ''Spamalot.'' The main section of the play booklet describes a Finnish play that sounds like torture to the audience. Among the notes in the playbook are "There will be three intermissions -- one every two-and-a-half hours" and warnings not to speak Swedish in the theater. After this five-page section comes the real opening.

* ''[[Police Squad!]]'' made the bait-and-switch a [[Running Gag]], introducing and then instantly killing off a "Special Guest Star" during each episode's opening credits. There's also a scene where [[Abraham Lincoln]] (played by and credited to Rex Hamilton) foils his own assassination by pulling out a gun and shooting back. Obviously, that never happens in the show. There were plans to show Mahatma Gandhi wielding an assault rifle if the show had been picked up for a second season.

** Lampshaded and subverted by the animated version, in which Mr. Bean is taken aboard a flying saucer populated by Mr. Bean lookalikes -- but of course just when he thinks he's found his place in the universe the aliens reject him and beam him down in an exact facsimile of the live action opening credits.

** The [[Ominous Latin Chanting|solemn choir]] isn't all that solemn either, if you translate it back from [[Altum Videtur|the Latin]]. ''Ecce homo, qui est fava'': {{spoiler|Behold the man, who is a bean.}}

* ''[[Power Rangers Time Force]]'' was about time travelers from the future, and clips in later versions of the opening showed the characters in different eras like the Wild West, feudal Japan, or prehistoric times. The actual show, however, mostly took place in the present day (where the time travelers were stuck); with only the prehistory clip being from a legit time trip. The rest of the clips came from either ''[[Mirai Sentai Timeranger]]'' [[Stock Footage]], which was never put into the American version, or from an episode where the characters were trapped in various movies showing off different time periods.

* The opening credits for ''[[Dexter]]'' are an [[Affectionate Parody]] of this trope. The viewer sees shots in extreme closeup which appear to be violent and bloody {{spoiler|amusing and wrong because Dexter is a methodical serial killer}}...but turn out to be Dexter only going through his morning routine and having his breakfast.

* It was one of Joss Whedon's long standing dreams to give an actor initial credit and then kill him or in this case her off in that episode. In [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] {{spoiler|Amber Benson}} is credited for the first and last time in {{spoiler|'''Seeing Red'''}} and at the episode's end rather unceremoniously killed - {{spoiler|by a stray bullet no less}}.

** Joss wanted to do this for the pilot with Jessie but it was shot down.

{{quote| "'Wild Wild Kingdom' will not be seen at this time. In its place, we present a program in which people act like animals."}}

** This concept was swiped wholesale from the first six seasons of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. ("'Charlie's Angels Get The Syph' will not be seen tonight...")

* Peter [[De Luise]] mentions this is in commentary track for one of the episodes of the first season of ''21JumpStreet''. The credits feature a bunch of gunplay and a car flipping over. However the series was mostly about undercover work and centered around sedate dialog-driven scenes. The car flipping over was one of the most expensive scenes shot for the series, and was really the only one of its kind.

* The fifth season opening of ''[[The Wire]]'' contains at least two things that appear to be [[Spoiler Opening|spoilers]] but in context were misleading in a rather ironic fashion: various newspaper covers mentioning a [[Serial Killer]] of the homeless with a possible sexual motive {{spoiler|1=which McNulty and Freamon made up to get the Police department more funding}}, and a picture of McNulty laid out as if it were part of a wake {{spoiler|which was really just a mock-wake held as a send-off before he was [[Reassigned to Antarctica|taken off active police work]].}}

* The opening credits of [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]] episode "The Muttiny" suggested Rita Repulsa would remain as the [[Big Bad]]. Then we got caught by surprise with the debut of Lord Zedd and that Rita was working for him all this time.

* The opening credits of [[Power Rangers in Space]] indicated Divatox would remain as the main villain. Sure, Astronema had already made an appearance in the [[Batman Cold Opening]] but nothing concrete to that point indicated she'd take over.

* During its title sequence, the Japanese-humor-filled comedy adventure game ''[[Touch Detective]] 2 1/2'' features music and scenes that imply that it's in the mold of serious detective anime. Fortunately, the prominently featured dancing mushroom and corn-husk-masked villain ''should'' keep anyone from being genuinely fooled.

** The original game, ''Touch Detective'' had a very similar intro, except slightly more believable; then, of course, the dancing mushroom appeared.

* At first, ''[[Time Hollow]]'' seems like a story filled with the player spamming his ability to create time rifts, after it shows multiple prominent plot points in the character introduction part of the intro, as well as some parts of the story nicely animated. Your character cannot stop things already in motion in-game (like {{spoiler|the treehouse once it's already on fire -- the player needs to stop the firebomb from burning the tree in the first place}}), and we never get to see {{spoiler|Ethan diving and catching Kori, or Ethan saving the place his parents were trapped in from blowing up}}. Instead, in the story, {{spoiler|the place blows up ''anyway'', and it's actually Ethan's ''uncle'' who saves the girl from falling off the school building -- and even then, they don't even manage to prevent ''that'' -- instead, the uncle and the girl fall a few stories to the ground}}. Also, there's even a direct contradiction in the opening to actual fact in-story -- {{spoiler|a Hollow Pen user cannot go through a Hole without losing their ability to use the pen -- or even see or hold said pen}}.

** This was simple necessity. For a point-and-click game, especially one with no running timer or similar restriction, showing what you actually need do would constitute a MASSIVE spoiler. Plus [[Rule of Cool]].

* Used and lampshaded in ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]''. The title screen features a scrolling story card and shows the game's items in a fashion taken directly from the first Legend of Zelda, complete with Link at the end. Link himself, however, is holding a card reading "Most of this shit does not appear in this game"

* ''[[Eversion]]'' has an adorable, sugary-sweet title screen that's a tad misleading. The quote and warning do hint at what's to come, though.

 

== Western Animation ==

** The first season did follow a similar format to what the credits show (although instead of having them as "heroes", they were just... well, themselves), but it was quickly abandoned. They didn't change the credits simply because they worked within the logic of the show.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Master Shake in one episode: when asked by Frylock why they didn't fight crime anymore, Shake tells him that 1) it wasn't making the Aqua Teens a lot of money, and 2) they spent most of their budget on the kickass credits they used to play themselves up.

** There is no way to tell if the supernatural menaces in the opening credits are real or not. Conversely, later incarnations of the show did include real supernatural elements.

** Finally fixed with "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" opening, which has unmasking of three monsters.

** Except for the fact that ''he's Birdman,'' which is a bit of a giveaway.

* A rather different example might be the ''Mega Man'' cartoon made in America. The title sequence was pure awesome with its detailed Japanese-style animation, only a short time before it became mainstream. The actual cartoon was rather blander and, well... cartoonish to the eye, more in line with traditional early-'90s American animated action fare. Apparently an episode was done in each style, and test audiences preferred the American one.

** Possibly as a nod to this, in one episode George hits his head walking out of his tree-house (he forgot that he and Ursula live in a tree), and subsequently addresses Ursula as "Fella". Other character: "Fella?!" Ursula: "George is a simple man." "Nearsighted, too."

* The [[Title Sequence]] for ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' consists of clips from the pilot episode, "Big House Blues." When shown on the series, the episode had scenes cut, including Ren realizing that he had been kissing Stimpy in his sleep and washing his mouth on the toilet afterwards -- scenes that feature prominently in the opening. (The uncut cartoon eventually aired on Spike TV and was released on DVD.)

** Not to mention the opening's inclusion of Magneto summoning the Brood out of the earth itself

* ''[[The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack]]'' has a minor example of this -- the credits seemingly frame Captain K'nuckles as a free-spirited adventurer and Bubbie as a stuffy, almost-antagonist figure who opposes adventure or risk of any kind. In the actual series, Captain K'nuckles is a lazy, shiftless, and greedy [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]] who manipulates the eponymous Flapjack's idolization of him to further whatever ill-advised and self-serving plan he's currently trying to enact, while Bubbie is the perpetual voice of reason and resident [[Reasonable Authority Figure]].

** Not to mention that the [[Art Shift|opening is in stop-motion]]

*** One popular fan interpretation for the art shift and the out-of-characterness is that the opening is showing the world from Flapjack's (rather skewed) way of seeing things.

* The opening credits to the [[Show Within a Show|Itchy and Scratchy cartoons]] in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' promises that 'they fight and bite' over animation of the two hitting each other with weapons. In fact in the vast majority episodes they don't ''fight'' at all: Scratchy is minding his own business when Itchy brutally attacks and kills him for no reason at all.

* The Japanese opening of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' barely features Lugnut while prominently showing minor characters Arcee and Ironhide apparently on Earth and fighting alongside our heroes - indeed, Arcee is shown [[Designated Girl Fight|fighting Blackarachnia]] underwater (which, it should be noted, she is [[Did Not Do the Research|physically incapable of doing in-universe]], since she is part organic). It also shows various fight scenes around the world, when in fact all the scenes on Earth take place in an around Detroit. Despite all that, it's ''still'' [[Spoiler Opening|full of spoilers]]( {{spoiler|Longarm Prime,}} anyone?).