Mix and Match

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It ain't calculus.

Take one existing show genre, add another, and presto! you've got a brand-new genre.

The most famous example is Star Trek: The Original Series, pitched as a Wagon Train to the Stars (The Western + Space Opera).

See also X Meets Y (for when it's works, not genres/tropes) and Recycled in Space (for when it's a work plus a genre or tropes). Compare and contrast Genre Busting.

Examples of Mix and Match include:

Anime and Manga

• High School Drama + Lighthearted Comedy + Harem Genre + Shounen + Every Magic Trope Imaginable + Every Science Fiction Trope Imaginable X Serial Escalation= Mahou Sensei Negima. You may think that's an exaggeration. You would be wrong.
• High School drama + Humongous Mecha + Moe + Star Crossed Lovers + Transformation Trauma + Dysfunction Junction + Tear Jerker + Downer Ending + Kill'Em All + Nightmare Fuel Fridge Logic = Saikano
• Magical Girls + Devices from Humongous Mecha + Shounen Combat + Surprisingly Dark Plot + The Military + InSpace = Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
• Magical Girls + Toku + Softcore Cinemax Skinflick = Ultimate Girls
  • Magical Girl can be divided further; for example, Magical Girl Warrior + Magic Idol = Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch
• Girls Love + Humongous Mecha = Kannazuki no Miko
• Mind Screw + Humongous Mecha + Viewers Are Geniuses + Eldritch Abomination + Rule of Symbolism + Dysfunction Junction + Deconstruction + Nightmare Fuel = Neon Genesis Evangelion
• High School Sitcom + Boy Meets Girl + Sci Fi + Slice of Life + Locked Room Mystery = The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya (anime). Well, yeah.
  • Widget Series + Sci Fi + Mind Screw + Alternate Universe = The Vanishment Of Haruhi Suzumiya
• Magical Girl Warrior + Gender Bender = Mahou Shounen Majorian
• The Western + Hammer Horror + After the End = Vampire Hunter D
• Gentleman Thief + Coming of Age Story + Steampunk = The Daughter of Twenty Faces
• MagicalGirls + Nightmare Fuel + Faustian Rebellion= Puella Magi Madoka Magica
• Magical Girls + RPGs + Humongous Mecha = Magic Knight Rayearth
• Lolis + Mind Rape + unreliable narrators + The Power of Friendship + What Could Possibly Go Wrong? + Gorn + Crowning Moment of Awesome + Crowning Music of Awesome = Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
  • Trolls + Fair Play Whodunnit + Clueless Mystery + Closed Circle + The Power of Love + Crowning Music of Awesome + Gorn + Serial Escalation+ Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane + Language of Truth + Clap Your Hands If You Believe = Umineko no Naku Koro ni
• Magic Idol Singer + Wholesome Crossdresser = Brocken Blood
• High school drama + Feudal Future + Knight in Shining Armor + Humongous Mecha + Serial Escalation (Magnificent Bastard + Wham! Episode)³ = Code Geass
• Youkai + New Transfer Student + Cute Shotaro Boy + Petting Zoo People + Fan Service + Marshmallow Hell + More Fan Service = Kanokon
• Children Raise You + Coming of Age Story + Parents (and Children) As People + Parent with New Paramour + Boys Love = Sakende Yaruze

Comic Books

• Medical Drama + The DCU = Samaritan X

Film

• Body Horrors + Mind Screw = The Soultaker
• Blaxploitation + Our Vampires Are Different = Blacula
• Serial Killer + Buddy Cop Show = Se7en
• Sexploitation/Erotica + Crime Mystery Film Noir + Slasher Movies = Giallo
• Horny Vikings + Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons = How To Train Your Dragon
• (Fallout 3 - I Love Nuclear Power) + (The Drifter x Badass Preacher x Disability Superpower) + (The Bible x Can't Stop the Signal) = The Book of Eli
• A Streetcar Named Desire + Gender Flip + So Bad It's Good = The Room

Literature

• Government Procedural + Boarding School of Horrors = Gormenghast
• Great Detective + Affectionate Parody + Romance Arc = Lord Peter Wimsey
• Our Souls Are Different + Waxing Philosophic + Rule of Cool + Film Noir with a Bifauxnen Heroic Sociopath Jerk with a Heart of Gold protagonist = Kara no Kyoukai:
• Film Noir + Functional Magic + (Badass Longcoat + Genre Savvy + Occult Detective + First-Person Smartass + The Nicknamer) + lots of Shout Outs = The Dresden Files
• (Pokémon + Lost Roman Legion) + Five Races + Succession Crisis = Codex Alera Super extra bonus points for the ones in brackets not only being this trope deliberately invoked, but the very reason for writing the book.
• Punk Punk settings usually start as Cyberpunk mixed with another genre. For example, Cyberpunk + Medieval European Fantasy = Dungeon Punk.
• Low Fantasy + (High Fantasy - Hobbits) + Succession Crisis + Character Depth + (Noughties Drama Series - Turn of the Millennium) + 27 * Magnificent Bastard = A Song of Ice and Fire
• (Xenofiction - Cats Are Mean + Badass + Anyone Can Die + Family-Unfriendly Violence) x (Proud Warrior Race Guy + [[[The Clan]] x 4]) x (Long Runners + Loads and Loads of Characters) = Warrior Cats.

Live Action TV

• Police Procedural + Prime Time Soap = Crime-Time Soap (Hill Street Blues)
• Sitcom + Wagon Train to the Stars = Red Dwarf
• Spy Drama + The Western = The Wild Wild West
• Medical Drama + The Western = Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman
• Medical Drama + Amateur Sleuth = Diagnosis: Murder
• Medical Drama + Space Opera = Mercy Point
• Medical Drama + Work Com = Scrubs
• Medical Drama + Work Com + During the War = Mash
• Medical Drama + Rescue = Emergency
• The Musical + Dramedy = Glee
• Police Procedural + Work Com = Barney Miller
• Police Procedural + Law Procedural =
  • Most famously, Law and Order
  • ... which was preceded by the short-lived 1971 Jack Webb production, The D/A/, which used the same basic format
  • ... which itself was preceded by Arrest And Trial, a 90-minute 1963 series.
• Police Procedural + Rescue = Third Watch
• Police Procedural + Odd Couple * Gender Flip + Government Conspiracy * Science Fiction = The X-Files
• (The Western + Sci Fi = Space Western) + Government Conspiracy = Firefly
• Travelogue Show + Reality Show = The Amazing Race
• Cop Show + Super Sentai = Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger
  • Super Sentai + Wuxia = Juken Sentai Gekiranger
  • Jidai Geki + Super Sentai = Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
• Film Noir + Post Cyber Punk + Kamen Rider = Kamen Rider Double
  • Hammer Horror + Kamen Rider = Kamen Rider Kiva
  • High School + Kamen Rider = Kamen Rider Fourze
• Super Sentai + Americanization + Media Adaptation Tropes = Power Rangers
  • Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger + (Gosei Sentai Dairanger - The Core Five Costumes) + Ninja Sentai Kakuranger + Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World = Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
  • Denji Sentai Megaranger - Video Game Tropes + Space Opera + Rescue Arc + Grand Finale = Power Rangers in Space
  • Seijuu Sentai Gingaman + Wagon Train to the Stars + Darker and Edgier = Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
  • Mirai Sentai Timeranger + Adaptation Distillation = Power Rangers Time Force
  • Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger + Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World + TOMMY = Power Rangers Dino Thunder
  • Engine Sentai Go-onger - Lighter and Softer + Darker and Edgier + After the End = Power Rangers RPM
• Die Hard on an X + Race Against the Clock + Real Time = 24.

Music

• Gangsta Rap + Horror Tropes = Horrorcore Rap

Video Games

• Space Marines + Super Soldiers + Alien Invasion + The Virus + Zombie Apocalypse + Hopeless War + War Is Hell + Military Science Fiction + Space Opera = Halo
• First-Person Shooter + Le Parkour + Action Girl = Mirror's Edge
• Cute Monster Girls + Bullet Hell + Crowning Music of Awesome + Fantasy Kitchen Sink = Touhou
  • Take part of the above + Serial Escalation= Mushihime-sama
• Metroidvania + Nintendo Hard + Guide Dang It + Goddamned Bats + Demonic Spiders = La-Mulana
• Retro-futuristic Science Fiction + Underwater Habitat + Hidden Elf Village + Survival Horror + Art Deco + Anarcho-Capitalistic Dystopia + Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke + What Measure Is a Non-Human? + System Shock = Bioshock
• Platform Hell + Nintendo Hard + Ludicrous Gibs + Everything Trying to Kill You + One-Hit-Point Wonder = I Wanna Be the Guy
• The Legend of Zelda + Bullet Hell = Engage To Jabberwock
• Kaiju + Professional Wrestling = King of the Monsters
• Raygun Gothic + Zeerust + Eagle Land (both flavors) + Alternate History + After the End = Fallout
• Roguelike + The Legend of Zelda (the first game) + Nausea Fuel + Nightmare Fuel + Thick Line Animation = The Binding of Isaac.
• Dragon Quest + Monster Girl Encyclopedia = Monster Girl Quest

Webcomics

• Supernatural Soap Opera + Romantic Comedy + Different for Girls = Misfile

Web Original

• (Deep-Immersion Gaming x 11) + Les Yay + The Plan+ Corrupt Corporate Executive + Moral Event Horizon⁴ + Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism / Loads and Loads of Characters - Did Not Do the Research x Rule of Cool + Shown Their Work = KIKEN
  • KIKEN + Humongous Mecha + Post Modernism + Church of Happyology / Fantastic Racism = Mobile Suit Gundam AVNA
• Archie Comics + Super-Hero School + Crazy Awesome + Transgender = Whateley Universe
• Redwall + Usagi Yojimbo + Princess Mononoke + Alternate Universe + Beast Fable + What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids? = Tasakeru
• Any random movie + Winnie the Pooh + Any other nostalgic character + Railroading + Dull Surprise + Captain Obvious + Hey, That's My Line! + Forgot About His Powers = Poohs Adventures