Lighter and Softer: Difference between revisions

[[File:Diablo1-3_sm3 sm.jpg|link=Diablo (series)|frame| "You maniacs! You ruined it!"]]

''We're gonna be less crazy, we're gonna finally be fine!"''|''[[Community]]'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT89wX6_Fig Season 3 opening]}}

* The three [[OAV|OAVs]]s of ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'', in addition to telling their own storyline rather than risking trying to adopt the manga storyline, also toned a lot of things down. May Hopkin's status as an underaged child prostitute and her [[Fantastic Arousal|sexual fetish for explosions and the scent of gunpowder]], Rally Vincent's tendency to stop her opponents by blowing off their [[Fingore|fingers]] or arms, the firepower of May's handgrenades, the general copious amounts of death, all of it went out the window. It is still pretty violent, though.

** It's still fairly dark, though. That it manages to qualify as [[Lighter and Softer]] says far more about the original than it.

** ''[[Parallel Trouble Adventure Dual]]'' takes the general characters -- acharacters—a brown-haired boy with parental issues, a complex soul tie to a giant mecha, and rare hallucinations, a [[Tsundere]] girl trying to prove herself, and a partially alien 'soul' inhabiting an artificial body with the resulting identity and self-worth issues -- andissues—and setting of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' and looks at how it'd perform if everyone involved was at least sane enough to have not taken a [[Read or Die|pencil to their eyeballs]] long ago. Given that it belongs to the ''[[Tenchi Muyo!|Tenchi Muyo]]'' [[The Multiverse|Multiverse]] it's hardly surprising.

** ''[[Argento Soma]]'', another [[Take That]] series, is still fairly grim, and its heroes are still full of issues, but overall seem to cope pretty well, up to making the half of the cast [[Warrior Therapist|Warrior Therapists]]s, as the authors believed that being [[Badass]] makes wonders with one's mental health.

** Even in ''The Second Raid'', Sousuke shows his trust towards Kaname by letting her cut his hair. Let's review it: a teenage [[Child Soldiers|Child Soldier]] conditioned to perceive everyone as a potential enemy is letting another person handle scissors near his head and behind his back (falling asleep in the process). More so, he actually gets aroused by her proximity even though he is [[The Stoic]]. It doesn't make him any less of a [[Badass]]], though. That's just some good character development.

** Though in reality it's only slightly [[Lighter and Softer]] than some of the SDGundam stuff that preceded it...

* ''[[Stitch!]]'', the anime adaptation of ''[[Lilo and Stitch (Disney film)|Liloand Stitch]]'' and ''[[Lilo and& Stitch: The Series]]'', is not just more lighthearted than the originals, but also replaced the human characters, and is possibly an alternate version of the series entirely.

** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'' is [[Lighter and Softer]] than its predecessor up until season 3.

* ''[[Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya|Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya]]'' is a ''[[Magical Girl]]'' manga set in an [[Alternate Universe]] ''[[Fate/stay night]]'', a universe where none of the main characters have surviving parents, siblings often attempt to murder each other out of jealousy, and Ilya {{spoiler|is a [[Not Growing Up Sucks|nineteen year old homonculus who looks ten]], and will die of [[Clone Degeneration]] before she is twenty}}. She also has an odd sorta sexual/mostly familial relationship with her stepbrother Shirou. In ''[[Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya|Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya]]'', everybody's parents are still alive, Ilya is a normal thirteen year old with the expected life span, and evil is defeated by turning into [[Magical Girl|magical girls]] using Zelretch's Kaleidostick. Incidentally, Ilya still has an odd sorta sexual/maybe family relationship with her stepbrother Shirou. [[Chick Magnet|This is probably Shirou's own fault.]]

* As both series are intended to be comedies to the core, it would be inaccurate to claim that either version of ''[[Ranma ½|Ranma One Half]]'' is [[Darker and Edgier]] then the other. The anime version can still be seen as [[Lighter and Softer]] then the manga. Not only does it lack|Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya the somewhat darker storylines that the [[Rumiko Takahashi|author]] created after the anime was cancelled... which includes, among other things, a [[Villain of the Week]] whose father was technically killed by ''Genma'', Ranma meeting his mother -- andmother—and then being threatened with [[Seppuku]] because [[Jerkass|Happosai]] dressed him in girl's clothes, Ranma being trapped in female form by a group of more powerful and much more vicious martial artists, and Akane being kidnapped, near-drowned and then changed into a doll, an almost fatal experience, over Jusenkyo... but also removes several of the more [[Comedic Sociopathy]] moments from shared storylines. Examples of this include Akane's viciously vindictive speech to Ranma after the first Nekoken incident, Happosai's attempt to murder what he believes is baby [[Embarrassing First Name|Pantyhose]] [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|Taro]] because he thinks Taro will become an even better [[Panty Thief]] then himself, and the ending of the Hypnotic Mushrooms story, which in the anime ends with a gag and in the manga ends with Akane surrounding herself with weapons to use against Ranma if he "tries something" while Ranma gives her a [[Deadpan Snarker]] response.

* The first manga adaptation of ''[[Darker Thanthan Black]]'' has much more stylized and less detailed art, a significantly less dark storyline, and does not share the original's [[Deconstructor Fleet|determination to find every trope it can and kill it]]. The [[Properly Paranoid]], [[Stoic]], [[Badass]] [[Anti-Hero]] lets someone who knows who he is go back to her everyday life even though his survival hinges on maintaining his secret identity, the [[Differently-Powered Individual|superpowered]] [[Lack of Empathy|sociopaths]] are less involved in the plot than a former test subject with normal emotions and no [[Power At a Price|remuneration]] whose main motivation is love, [[Generic Cuteness]] is in effect to such a degree that some characters are hard to recognize, and male characters who were [[Mr. Fanservice|already attractive]] were turned into [[Bishonen]]. Somebody coming to the main series or [[Interquel|second manga]] from this is going to be ''[[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|v]][[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|e]][[Mook Horror Show|r]][[Combat Pragmatist|y]]'' [[Dark and Troubled Past|s]][[Child Soldiers|u]][[The Corps Is Mother|r]][[Phlebotinum War|p]][[The Man Behind the Man|r]][[Punch Clock Villain|i]][[Gray and Grey Morality|s]][[A World Half Full|e]][[Overly Long Gag|d]].

* Japanese fans of ''[[Lupin III]]'' were quite nonplussed when ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro|The Castleof Cagliostro]]'' hit theaters, as Miyazaki had made the normally-obnoxious Lupin and his cohorts unrecognizably ''nice''. The film originally flopped at the box office. It took the passage of years, and fans who were able to see the movie on its own merits, for it to gain the popularity and critical acclaim it has today.

* The ''[[Getter Robo]]'' 70's anime series removes the batshit insane elements the original manga had. Ryouma becomes a virtuous, [[Hot-Blooded]] straightforward hero, while Hayato becomes the archetypical 'cool guy' loner... all in high school setting. They're still [[Hot-Blooded]], though. But just try to compare that version to the latter closer-to-manga versions (Shin vs Neo, Armageddon, NEW)... where they're both [[Ax Crazy]] [[Sociopathic Hero|Sociopathic Heroes]]es with the side order of [[Hot-Blooded]].

* The 1972 anime adaptation of ''[[Devilman]]'' was considerably [[Lighter and Softer]] in comparison with the original manga: Lots of changes to the story were made, the violence and nudity were considerably toned down, comic relief was included, and the most of the character who{{spoiler|died at the end of the manga are still alive in the last chapter of the first anime series, which also has a [[Bittersweet Ending]] instead of the tragic conclusion of the manga.}}

* ''[[Soul Eater]]'''s sidestory manga from the same mangaka ''[[Soul Eater Not!]]'' appears to be a twist of this from the first three chapters. It is focused on a period prior to Sid becoming a zombie (an event from Chapter 1 of the manga) and looks at how new normal academy students (instead of how badass seniors) fit in. Along with how students can raise money, waste money, get their names (Eternal Feather for example) and live in academy quarters.

* In the ''[[Mai-HiME (manga)|Mai-HiME]]'' manga, the only person who dies at any point is an [[Asshole Victim]] who previously tried to sexually assault Shiho. After the characters work through their competing approaches to fighting Orphans in the first arc, they work together against common enemies, instead of being [[Let's You and Him Fight|manipulated into fighting each other]] like in [[MaiMy-HiME|the anime]]. The characters also suffer significantly less emotional trauma than they do in the anime. A notable example is that Akane is able to win her fight and profess her love to Kazuya without {{spoiler|her CHILD (and Kazuya by proxy) being killed and her descending into insanity}}.

** The ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' anime can also be considered this in comparison to the ''[[MaiMy-HiME]]'' anime, as while the story is, in the best of times, more serious, it never seems quite as dark or hopeless, and there are fewer character deaths, although they are more often permanent.

* The anime adaptation of ''[[Rosario to+ Vampire]]'' definitely is this. It cuts out most of the darker story arcs that crop up later in the storyline, while considerably softening many of the earlier ones, and generally portraying a lot of antagonists as less evil than their manga counterparts. For example, the [[Attempted Rape]] element of Mizore's introductory art was removed completely, while Ruby's master Yukata, a notable [[Knight of Cerebus]], was reduced to a tragic [[Posthumous Character]]. Finally, Tsukune's ghoul transformation, a major contributing factor to the series' [[Cerebus Syndrome]], was ignored completely.

== ComicbooksComic Books ==

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131123041718/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/06/14/i-lova-ya-but-youre-strange-2/ He has a helicopter with his name on it. And he gets arrested by the police in the end. It's awesome.]

* [[Batman]] himself traditionally comes in two flavors, [[Darker and Edgier]] and [[Lighter and Softer]]. In [[Darker and Edgier]] mode, [[Wangst|he spends 95% of his time moping in the corner about his parents]], and the other 5% being awesome. In [[Lighter and Softer]] mode, however, he ranges from neutral to downright cheerful- andcheerful—and might even make a joke!

* The original 1980s version of ''[[Power Pack]]'', while not nearly as angsty as Marvel's other works, took itself seriously and attempted to be a serious, but not ''as'' serious as usual, comic about [[Kid Hero|kid heroes]]es, with a fair amount of characterization, intelligent plots, and good quality storytelling. It actually tries to realistically portray what children who find themselves with superpowers might actually go through, but still falls short of stereotypical comic angst. The 2000s remake is aimed squarely at a quite young audience and has much cuter art and simpler storytelling.

* ''[[Tiny Titans]]'' is an even lighter version of [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] compared to [[Teen Titans (animation)|the TV show]]. It takes places in a bright happy world where some of the worst things the elementary school Titans need to worry about are: embarrassingly -loving father Trigon, grumpy lunch lady Darkseid, and stern principal Slade. In both versions of ''Teen Titans'', Trigon wishes to conquer Earth and turn it into a literal hell, [[Darkseid]] is out to conquer ''all'' life, and Slade is an amoral mercenary and assassin.

* The 1994 [[ReContinuity BootReboot]] of ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]''. Over the previous decade, the comic had been hemorrhaging readers for years, having gone from happy young superheroes in a bright and shiny future to cynical adults struggling to hold society together (and the insanely complex [[Continuity Snarl]] that came about after ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''. So, the comic started over at the beginning with a focus on youth and idealism. (It got [[Darker and Edgier]] again when [[Dan Abnett]] and Andy Lanning took over writing duties years later, but that's another story.)

* The [http://archiveofourown.org/series/9224 "Daycare 'Verse"], a series of [[Alternate Universe]] modern-setting ''[[X-Men: First Class|X Men First Class]]'' [[Slash Fic|Slash Fics]]s. In it, Charles Xavier runs a daycare for [[Kid Fic|mutant toddlers]], and [[Magneto|Erik Lehnsherr]] is his [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] engineer boyfriend (instead of a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] [[Nazi Hunter]]-turned-terrorist). Instead of [[Fantastic Racism]] and imminent nuclear war, the main hazards in the characters' current lives seem to be annoying coworkers and getting set on fire by a mutant preschooler with [[Power Incontinence]] issues.

* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6933825/1/Pony_Space Pony Space]'' A ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' and ''[[Dead Space (series)|Dead Space]]'' crossover, while it does have much of ''Dead Space'''s horror and the psychological effects of the Marker, Necromorphs rarely show up (twice as of 14 chapters), and it keeps much of MLP's light hearted tone.

* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Return of the Jedi]]'', also produced by [[George Lucas]], was more kid-oriented than the well-received and [[Darker and Edgier]] ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', the previous film in the original trilogy. Interestingly enough, Lucas, who didn't direct either film, wanted ''The Empire Strikes Back'' to be [[Lighter and Softer]], was eventually convinced to keep it in its current form, and ended up hiring a director for ''ROTJ'' whom Lucas would direct through.

** In the prequel trilogy, ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' andis noticeably lighter in tone. In contrast, ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'' are noticeably lighter in tone, particularly the former. In contrast,and ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'''' waswere substantially [[Darker and Edgier]]. (For comparison: In Episode I, Anakin is a kid; in Episode III ''he murders several kids''.)

* ''[[Oliver!]]'', the 1968 musical adaptation of ''[[Oliver Twist]]''. Granted, most musicals are [[Lighter and Softer]] by nature, but still, the original book is far more grim.

* ''BattleEscape forfrom the [[Planet of the Apes]]'', in contrast to the previous two and the latter two, especialy the very dark ''Conquest'' (and more so if you watch the version with the [[Executive Meddling|original, uncensored ending]]).

* [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]'', [[Halloween (film)|compared]] [[The Thing (film)|to]] [[Escape from New York|his]] [[Prince of Darkness|other]] [[They Live!|works]].

* ''[[The HitchhikersHitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (film)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]''--the—the Galaxy is presented as more wondrous and grand than the dull, bureaucratic "Earth-society-but-bigger" version we tend to get, and the film ends with {{spoiler|the new Earth being put in the place of the old one rather than being dismantled when construction shuts down as in the other versions.}}

* The ''Dunk & Egg'' novels are a ''relatively'' [[Lighter and Softer]] prequels to the [[Black and Gray Morality|extremely dark]] ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', but still not exactly "kid-friendly". Still, [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|considering the main series]], it's saying a lot.

* Most of the ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' novels focusing on the Imperial Guard portrays them as actual humans rather than statistics to [[Zerg Rush]] with. Perhaps taken to extreme with the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novels, which are distinctly comedic against the ridiculously [[Darker and Edgier|GRIMDARK]] setting.

** "[[Angel/Recap/S05 /E15 A Hole in Thethe World|A Hole In The World]]" and "Shells" notwithstanding, the same could be said for ''[[Angel]]'' Season 5. The entire season is a bit of a relief after the relentless Season 4.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'', after its first season. The first season and a few lingering bits of it in the second featured (among other things), Picard as a grumpy asshole, Q as a sadistic monster, Riker constantly shouting when he wasn't giving a perverted or just plain cocky smirk, dimly lit sets, aliens with drug problems, [[Anyone Can Die|a major character getting killed off for no reason]], [[Narm|cannibalistic Ferengis]], the topic of "sex" often feeling forced into episodes (as if somehow reveling in the idea that you can say a naughty word on TV?) rather than being handled organically, phaser beams that ''set people on fire'', and one infamous episode in which a character has his head shot off and then his stomach explode outwards with [[Special Effects Failure|alien parasites]]. [[Growing the Beard|The show got better]] right about the same time these bits went away, focusing a bit more on highbrow concepts and moral dilemmas. ''Then'' the [[Trek Verse]] got [[Darker and Edgier]] again, but without making it so cheesy.

* ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]'' compared to [[Sword of Truth|its source material]]. When your source material includes (among other things) [[The Big Bad]] brainwashing a kid then killing him by pouring molten metal down his throat, his [[The Dragon|Dragon]] being a serial child molester and murderer, institutionalized gang-rape by the enemy army, and a [[Serial Killer]] severing a woman's spinal cord onscreen and then killing her in a manner which made [[Vomiting Cop|a combat hardened general throw up]], a [[Lighter and Softer]] [[Pragmatic Adaptation]] is the ''best'' you're going to get.

* In terms of singing style, In This Moment's second album ''The Dream'', which placed a lot more emphasis on clean vocals than the [[Metal Scream|Metal Screams]]s of ''Beautiful Tragedy''. [[Justified Trope|This was because]] lead singer Maria Brink wanted to challenge herself with what she (personally) found a more difficult singing style.

* The [[Velvet Underground]] have an interesting trajectory in this regard. Their first album--1967album—1967's ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''--was—was a fairly eclectic mix of soft stuff, hard stuff, and hard stuff that sounds soft (consider "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09bHvtAz4j8 Sunday Morning]," for instance). The next album, ''White Light/White Heat'', took a definite turn for the experimental and [[Darker and Edgier]] (the title track is about amphetamines, and it gets more macabre--oftenmacabre—often [[Black Humor|humorously]] so--fromso—from there; John Cale stated that it was "consciously anti-beauty"). However, the third album, 1969's ''The Velvet Underground'', is a a lot mellower (if nevertheless experimental) -- something the band occasionally attributed to having their equipment stolen before recording --, and finally 1970's ''Loaded'' (so called because [[Executive Meddling|the label wanted an album "loaded with hits"]]), which is ''much'' softer musically (but also just as experimental and ''[[Ear Worm|ridiculously]]'' [[Ear Worm|listenable]], proving that [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]).

** This is also common when leveled at ''SPECIFIC'' artists within the genre. Primarily [[Hardcore Hip Hop]] rappers and type 1 & 3 [[Gangsta Rap]] variants. A good example would be 50Cent whom ironically built his image around being the anti-Ja Rule (whom also turned lighter), which to some made fiddy hypocritical. Then there's others like [[Snoop Dogg]], [[3Three Six6 Mafia|Three Six Mafia]], [[Jay- Z]], [[Nas]] (circa ''Nastradamus''), the later years of No Limit records, [[Bone Thugs-n-Harmony]] (fans thinking they're still trying to chase [[Black Sheep Hit|''Tha Crossroads'']], or at least the record label is), [[Wu-Tang Clan]] circa ''Wu-Tang Forever'' (RZA saying it was a record [[But Not Too Black|for white people]]). As far as the whole genre goes it mostly boils down to [[Money, Dear Boy]] (or to be fair [[Executive Meddling]] in addition to radio/MusicVideo censorship towards [[Hip Hop]] especially [[Gangsta Rap]], [[Political Rap]], and [[Conscious Hip Hop]])..for better or for worse.

* Synthpop duo Future Perfect's first album, ''Dirty Little Secrets'', is dark, [[Angst|angstyangst]]y, and depressing at times. Their second, ''Escape'', looks to be headed in the upbeat and energetic direction, by the previews.

** [[Testament]] subverted this trope after their "[[Lighter and Softer]]" ''The Ritual'' flopped. ''Demonic'', in particular, borders on being a full-blown death metal album.

* As shown above, Bucky from ''[[Get Fuzzy]]'' had an idea to [[The Mockbuster|remake famous films]] in this vein. Relevant strips begin [https://web.archive.org/web/20100326072236/http://comics.com/get_fuzzy/2010-02-08/ here].

* [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] shifted their free TV programming from a TV-14 rating to TV-PG starting in 2008; this was done to help distance the current product from the "anything goes" [[Attitude Era]] (especially in light of the [[Chris Benoit]] tragedy and the steroid scandals brought to light by a Sports Illustrated article in 2006 that named names), as well as to help attract new advertisers (and a younger demographic).

* In the mid 80's, [[WWEWorld Wrestling Entertainment|WWF]]'s Rock 'N' Wrestling evolved Pro Wrestling from male niche entertainment to family entertainment.

* Prior to coming to the [[WWEWorld Wrestling Entertainment|WWF]], the Sheepherders were one of the most hardcore tag teams in pro wrestling. Upon their arrival, Butch Miller and Luke Williams changed their name to the Bushwhackers, became faces, and played their brawling style more for laughs than for heat.

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'' has "Lorwyn," a plane which by its design was meant to be [[Lighter and Softer]], until you looked closer. Its [[Darker and Edgier]] counterpart is "Shadowmoor." Which is appropriate, considering that the two sets' inspiration were fairy tales and their older folk tale counterparts respectively.

** Lorwyn was something of an inversion of the way worlds usually work in ''Magic: the Gathering''. Goblins and faeries were both the same as they always are, but the world is so much [[Lighter and Softer]] than usual that their traditional mischief and hedonism is close enough to true evil to be aligned with black mana. Merfolk, generally xenophobic and hostile to surface-dwellers, got hit with true [[Disneyfication]] and became sociable, lounging out of wells and on riverbanks chatting with townfolk. Elves were the biggest reversal; in normal Magic settings they are definitively from forests and green mana, but generally leaning towards white mana on the side, indicating a preference for order and the status quo versus [[The World Is Always Doomed|whatever maniac was trying to conquer the world in the storyline of this expansion]]. With no world-ending threat to Lorwyn, though, they are still green but their pride and disdain for everything else is sufficient to make ''them'' the closest thing to a [[Big Bad]]. And then Shadowmoor came along and [[Zig-Zagging Trope|partially inverted it in a few more ways all over again]].

* ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion]]'' was considered to be by far the darkest game of the [[Old World of Darkness]] line, which is ''really'' saying something. Characters spent their undead days in a decaying afterlife, trying to avoid the machinations of the power-hungry Hierarchy and [[Eldritch Abomination|the insatiable Oblivion]] while trying to hold on to their ties to life and fighting off [[Enemy Within|the dark voices in their head]]. Now comes the [[Spiritual Successor]], ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters]]'', where the characters have [[Back Fromfrom the Dead|returned from the brink of death]] with a ghostly passenger and superpowers, and a major component of their culture is celebrating another day of life.

** ''Geist'' also tends to be Lighter And Softer compared to the ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' in general. It's not exactly a bag of kittens, but it's generally optimistic -- theoptimistic—the Bound got a second chance at life, and intend to use it to the fullest, whether that means saving people, helping innocent ghosts, destroying malevolent ghosts, killing villainous people, or just making their lives comfortable. After previous games have been the likes of ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'', ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'', or even ''[[Hunter: The Vigil]]'', it's a bit of a shock to see a game that falls closer to ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]].

* ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]''. During 3e , there were chaos cultists on Terra, the Imperium was losing worlds by the hundreds and High Lords did not care, in fact most of them had been driven insane by imperfect deageing treatments. This was before the Horus Heresy, before the Imperium's methods were justified by dozens of books. There was no [[Ciaphas Cain]], no likable or sane character to be found. The Sisters of Battle fielded suicide bomber cadres, the Space Marines were a shadow of their power in later editions, and more insane: imperfections in their half forgotten surgical techniques rendered 9 out of 10 recruits dead and the survivors deranged. The [[Religious Horror]] was at its peak, the artwork like of things that can barely be called human hugging and kissing undetonated artillery shells, begging the gods of war for salvation has never been reprinted, the forces of Chaos, later [[Ultimate Evil]], were simply presented as an alternate form of insanity to that of the Imperium's. By 5e, ''Warhammer'' shows an Age of War where humanity's survival hangs in the balance. 3e showed an Age of Insanity where the spirit of man was long dead. The reason for this is because Games Workshop realized that almost everyone saw the storyline as a huge joke because it was too [[Grimdark]].

** And then there's [https://web.archive.org/web/20120410134009/http://www.mmogrindhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/hello-kitty-40k.jpg this...] And [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Brighthammer_40,000_%282nd_edition%29 Brighthammer 40000], which takes every race and makes them more sympathetic save the Tau, who conveniently are [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s.

* ''[[Little Fears]] Nightmare Edition'' as compared to the original. The constant pall of child abuse is gone, and it's actually fairly well-suited to running a relatively light-hearted Kids Vs. Monsters adventure in the vein of ''[[The Monster Squad]].'' It has suggested rules modifications for taking it even ''further'' in the [[Lighter and Softer]] direction with the Dark Fairy Tales playmode (think ''[[Coraline (novel)|Coraline]]'' -- or—or your choice of children's fairy stories with a dark cast to them, if that one scared you too much)... or, alternately, darkening it to the point that it's more in line with the original game.

* ''[[Mutant Chronicles]]'' can be considered a lighter and softer take on ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]''. There are a lot of similar elements and the feel is much the same, but in ''Mutant Chronicles'', human life is considered precious and humanity still has a fighting chance.

** If American McGee REALLY wanted to be [[Darker and Edgier]] then he should have stuck with the original ending: no friendly woodsman and Red and Granny don't get eaten ''whole.'' [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the game -- ingame—in the "original story" telling of it, Grimm mentions this about older versions... but comments that he couldn't go with that for his corrupted version while he's telling it -- presumablyit—presumably because it'd be straying too far from the well-known story.

** Compared to its story and angst-heavy [[Final Fantasy IV|predecessor]] and [[Final Fantasy VI|successor]], ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'' can come off as humorous, even borderline [[Affectionate Parody|parodic]]; however, the theme of {{spoiler|planet-level destruction and [[Heroic Sacrifice|Heroic Sacrifices]]s}} is still present.

** ''[[Final Fantasy X -2]]'' is this, big time. The body count is almost non-existent. Everything is more cheerful. The music is upbeat. Hey, the end of ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' {{spoiler|had an ultimate force of death and destruction wiped off the plane of existence}}, it's needed.

* ''[[Command and& Conquer]] Red Alert 2'' was much lighter and softer than its predecessors. Red Alert 1 was a game where Einstein went back in time and killed Adolf Hitler, allowing a power hungry Stalin to invade Europe. Red Alert 2 was a game where the Soviet Union invaded the USA with blimps and mind-controlled squid. This was a reaction to the [[Darker and Edgier]] Tiberium Sun, which most fans of the C&C series didn't like.

*** And then they made a [[Lighter and Softer]] level and included it as a secret bonus in the actual game.

** The portable games are all significantly [[Lighter and Softer]] as well, [[Bittersweet Ending|except for]] ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening|Link's Awakening]]''. [[The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games|The Oracle games]] weren't that bright either.

** The ''[[Mega Man ZX]]'' series is [[Lighter and Softer]] compared to the previous series, ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'', which is '''''the''''' darkest chapter in the series. It doesn't mean that ''ZX'' is actually kid-friendly; it's just that ''Zero'' is too ''pitch''...

** ''[[Mega Man Powered Up]]'' could be considered a [[Lighter and Softer]] version of the original game, with the brighter graphics, the cutesy voices, the Super Deformed art style, and the lowered difficulty.

* ''Academy of Champions: Soccer'' is a kid-targeted soccer game for the Wii. It in itself is not a [[Lighter and Softer]] version of any extant franchise, but it's published by [[Ubisoft]], and contains a special team composed of characters from other Ubisoft franchises. What does that mean? Cute and cuddly, brightly-colored [[Fun Size]] versions of [[Assassin's Creed|Altaiir]], [[Splinter Cell|Sam Fisher]], [[Beyond Good & Evil (video game)|Jade]], and [[Prince of Persia|the Prince]] footying along with the game's [[Kid Hero|Kid Heroes]]es.

* [[Wii Ware]] game ''[[Water Warfare]]'' is a [[Lighter and Softer]] version of the entire "FPS Deathmatch" genre. While it plays much the same as other multiplayer [[FPS|FPSes]]es, with multiple weapons and areas, deathmatches, [[Capture the Flag]] games, and the like, it's entirely nonviolent--allnonviolent—all the weapons are squirt guns and water balloons, and the worst that ever happens to anyone is that they get wet.

** One person on the [[Game FAQsGameFAQs]] forum for the game (about 6 days before the American release) said that "If Parodius is a [[Cute'Em Up]] then this game is... a first person cuter!"

* ''[[Death Smiles]]'', a shooter by CAVE while not too dark, reduced a bit of its horror elements with a lighter style where the girls stops an evil Santa Claus to find several [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]]s to wake up their benefactor who saves them from certain death.

* ''[[Tetris the Grand Master]] 4 - The Masters of Round'' is looking to drop the serious-looking backgrounds in favor of [https://web.archive.org/web/20090913125927/http://am-show.sega.jp/jamma09/t_tgm.shtml flowers and prettiness].

* ''[[Hey You, Pikachu!]]'' and ''[[Pokémon Channel]]'' to the mainline [[Pokémon]] series. You just take care of a wild Pikachu and with time, you become good friends. [[Recycled in Space|The latter half is the same as the prequel, but while you both watch T.V.]]

** The darker view of the Harpers usually comes from the schism, even then, they get along better with the "traitors" that left the Harpers to form their own organization than most other factions get along with other members of the same faction. On a superficial level, the Harpers sound like [[Knight Templar|Knight Templars]]s for calling the Moonstars "traitors," but their actions are very different. They get along very well with them for the most part and can and have worked together, since they still have the same goals, just different views on how to approach them, this is nowhere near how a "totalitarian, borderline-fascist [[Knight Templar]]" organization should act. They just happen to not mince words.

** As s whole, ''[[Touhou]]'' gives a [[Lighter and Softer]] version of various elements in Japanese mythologies and folklores. ''Everyone is a little girl'', to boot.

* For the [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] series, this started with ''[[Sonic Heroes]]'', while ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', the ''[[Sonic Storybook Series]]'', and more recently ''[[Sonic Colors]]'' take it back in this direction after the [[Darker and Edgier]] ''[[Shadow the Hedgehog]]'' and the [[It Got Worse|infamous]] ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 (video game)|Sonic '06]]''. Given the all-around [[Fan Dumb]] complaining of the latter games, this was probably needed.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts coded]]'' is probably the cheeriest game in the entire series. The plot is light--"let's make a data-Sora and have a nostalgic romp through a bunch of worlds from the first game while he fixes some inconsistencies in Jiminy's Journal!"--and—and there's a bigger focus on fun gameplay than in other installments of the series. The game has its sad and scary parts, for sure, but it's still more optimistic than its contemporaries, ''[[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|Birth by Sleep]]'' and ''[[Ret-Gone|358/2 Days]]''.

* Against the ongoing tide of [[Mass Effect|Mature]] [[Dragon Age Origins|Dark]] [[Western Role Playing Game|Role Playing Games]], ''[[Divinity 2]]'' serves as being much notably lighter in tone and setting than most current [[Western RPG|Western RPGs]]s out at the moment.

* ''[[Fallout 2]]'', is [[Lighter and Softer]] compare to the rest of the Fallout games its full of humor and pop culture jokes and the main villains are [[Cartoonish Supervillainy|cartoonlycartoonishly evil]] rather than the anti-villains the last game had.

* ''[[Yoshi's Story]]'' is much [[Lighter and Softer]] than ''[[Yoshi's Island]]'' in that it is generally much easier and it excises the [[Nightmare Fuel]] from the original. Yeah, that's right, they managed to make an already light game ''[[Up to Eleven|even lighter]]''.

* Bet you never thought you'd see the day ''[[Postal (video game series)|Postal 2]]'' got called [[Lighter and Softer]]. But the second game took the series' ultraviolence into near cartoonish levels and [[Crosses the Line Twice|played all of its depravity for laughs.]] But while ''Postal 2'' was a dark comedy, ''Postal 1'' was just... dark.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]: Mists of Pandaria'' has received the ''[[Diablo (series)|Diablo 3]]'' treatment, with fanboy screams of "[[Care Bears]]", and the series being [[Ruined FOREVER]]. After [[Darker and Edgier|Cataclysm's]] [[Eldritch Abomination|Old God]] corrupted dragon attempting an [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Azeroth Shattering Kaboom]], it's a little hard to not come off as [[Lighter and Softer]].

* A rather bizarre example occurs with the video game adaptation of [[Adventures In Dinosaur City]]. The main characters of the film are fans of a cartoon series, of which we only see the intro, before being [[Trapped in TV Land|sucked into]] it's [[Darker and Edgier]] real version. However the game based it's asthetic more on said cartoon, thereby being [[Lighter and Softer]] then the film, but also truer to the, fictitious, source material.

** [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209160610/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1808 Earlier, it had God rejecting the notion of toning down his art work for this.]

* ''[[Fluffy Bunny Domination]]'' lives and breaths a [[Lighter and Softer]] version of [[BDSM]].

* This trope is parodied [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/485797 here], with an attempt to make ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' [[Lighter and Softer]]. It's a parody of the animated cartoon versions of films geared towards adult audiences (see Western Animation below). In particular, [[Sociopathic Hero|Rorschach]] describes himself as "nutty" (he's relegated to comic relief) and [[Attempted Rape|the Comedian]]... ''[[Dogged Nice Guy|has a crush]]'' on Silk Spectre.

* ''Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters'' was a [[Lighter and Softer]] version of ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]''.

* ''[[Beast Machines]]'' is about planetary genocide, religious fanaticism and unceasing, torrential whining. ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (anime)|Transformers Robots in Disguise]]'' is about the wacky adventures of a put-upon space shark and the delightful things he does. That's something of a simplification, but the fact remains: Transformers has never gotten quite so dark as Beast Machines since, <ref>until Transformers: Prime, anyways,</ref> if only because presumably Hasbro have decided they'd quite like people to actually buy their toys.

* The short lived cult series ''[[Cybersix]]'' was waaaay [[Lighter and Softer]] than the original comic it was based on: All the nazi [[Backstory]] of Von Reichter becomes subtext; when defeated the Fixed Ideas evaporate videogame-style leaving behind a pile of clothes & a "Sustenance" health powerup for Cybersix so she didn't need to ''bite them like a vampire'' as in the comic; and nothing of all the ''high'' sexual content of the original.

* Although [[Nickelodeon]] isn't one for "dark" shows (except [[Invader Zim|ZIM]]) and [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]), ''[[Chalk ZoneChalkZone]]'' seems to be Nick's attempt at making a very soft, light, and fluffy cartoon (most likely to recover younger viewers from the [[Nightmare Fuel]]-filled ''Invader Zim'' (already mentioned). Despite being adorable, [[Tastes Like Diabetes|it made many viewers sick]]. Well, that's what happens when you have too much sugar.

** Also, when Nickelodeon's CBS block featured non-Jr. shows from 2002-2005, due to having to comply to the E/I guidelines, the two most popular Nicktoons of the time, ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' and ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'', were off-limits for the CBS block, therefore Nick had to rely on less-popular Nicktoons to fill the roster, like ''[[All Grown Up!]]'', ''[[As Told by Ginger]]'', and the aforementioned ''[[Chalk ZoneChalkZone]]''.

* ''[[The Problem Solverz]]'' was originally pitched to [[Adult Swim]] and was much more random and surreal than the [[Cartoon Network]] series. Now the show is quite toned down and focuses more on the episode plots instead of arbitrary [[BLAM|BLAMsNon Sequitur Scene]]s.