History Main / AnachronicOrder

* As mentioned in the quote above, [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the {{Troperiffic}} ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and aptly titled]]) ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickStartOfDarkness Start of Darkness]]'' prequel book for ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. The scene in question is part of [[GrumpyOldMan Eugene Greenhilt's]] complicated explanation of his BloodOath against [[BigBad Xykon]] to his son, [[TheHero Roy]].

** It took until the 25th anniversary of the ''Zelda'' franchise for [[WordOfGod an official timeline]] (contained in ''Literature/HyruleHistoria'') to be released, accompanying 2011's ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword''. It ended up confirming two aspects of one of the more popular fan theories: that the timeline split after ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and that the original games are at the end of one of these splits. But it also revealed a piece of information that no one saw coming: the timeline split ''THREE'' ways after ''Ocarina Of Time'', with the third timeline being that [[TheBadGuyWins Link fell to Ganon]]. To wit, following the ''Hyrule Historia'' timeline in chronological order up through the end of the "Fallen Hero" branch, we have (as of 2017): ''Skyward Sword'' (released in 2011), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]'' (released in 2004), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords Four Swords]]'' (released in 2002), ''Ocarina of Time'' (released in 1998), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' (released in 1991), the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle]]'' [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo games]] (released in 2002), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' (released in 1993), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'' (released in 2013), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTriForceHeroes Tri Force Heroes]]'' (released in 2015), the original ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda|I}}'' (released in 1986), and ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' (released in 1987). Oh, and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' (released in 2017) and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom Tears of the Kingdom]]'' are somewhere in the distant future after the end of [[MergedReality all three timelines]]. Naturally, Creator/{{Nintendo}} has felt free to jump between timelines when releasing new games.

* The first three games in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series are in chronological order. Then we got [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 an interquel]] (that starts near the end of [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI the first game]] and ends at the start of [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII the third]]) and [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep a prequel set 10 years before the series began]]. Things only became harder to keep track of after that. The order goes like this: ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' > ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep]]''[=/=]''VideoGame/{{Kingdom Hearts|I}}'' (''0.2'' picks off from the end of the Secret Episode in ''Birth by Sleep'' but also runs concurrently with ''KHI'') > ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2[=/=]VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' (which happen more or less simultaneously, ''Days'' beginning slightly before ''Chain of Memories'' does, and ending long after it) > ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' > ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'' (which leads into the epilogue of ''KHII'') > ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' > ''Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep'' (due to the FramingDevice of Mickey narrating the events of the story following ''3D'') > ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''. ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX Kingdom Hearts χ]]'' serves as a ''very'' distant prequel, detailing the events leading up to the Keyblade War mentioned in ''Birth by Sleep''.

** It took until the 25th anniversary of the ''Zelda'' franchise for [[WordOfGod an official timeline]] (contained in ''Literature/HyruleHistoria'') to be released, accompanying 2011's ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword''. It ended up confirming two aspects of one of the more popular fan theories: that the timeline split after ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and that the original games are at the end of one of these splits. But it also revealed a piece of information that no one saw coming: the timeline split ''THREE'' ways after ''Ocarina Of Time'', with the third timeline being that [[TheBadGuyWins Link fell to Ganon]]. To wit, following the ''Hyrule Historia'' timeline in chronological order up through the end of the "Fallen Hero" branch, we have (as of 2017): ''Skyward Sword'' (released in 2011), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]'' (released in 2004), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords Four Swords]]'' (released in 2002), ''Ocarina of Time'' (released in 1998), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' (released in 1991), the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle]]'' [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo games]] (released in 2002), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' (released in 1993), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'' (released in 2013), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTriForceHeroes Tri Force Heroes]]'' (released in 2015), the original ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda|I}}'' (released in 1986), and ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' (released in 1987). Oh, and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' (released in 2017) is somewhere in the distant future after the end of [[MergedReality all three timelines]]. Naturally, Creator/{{Nintendo}} has felt free to jump between timelines when releasing new games.

** A lot of stuff written by Creator/GrantMorrison. For example, the storyline of ''[[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Batman RIP]]'' begins with Batman triumphantly yelling "You're wrong! Batman and Robin will never die!" We don't see who he's talking to and the rest of the story is set six months before, introducing us to the character Batman was/will be talking to, [[spoiler: Le Bossu]]. Batman RIP ends with Batman [[spoiler: disappearing after being seen last in a helicopter which crashes in Gotham river and explodes. His ripped cowl is then found in the water by Dick Grayson, who's the Batman seen in the opening scene, not Bruce]]. Bruce then is in ComicBook/FinalCrisis, which begins a few hours after Batman RIP (and includes a fair amount of Anachronic Order in itself, since the final issue is told in non-linear FlashBack.) A few months into Final Crisis (and therefore after Batman RIP was published), we got ''Batman RIP: The Missing Chapter'', which explains how Bruce got from [[spoiler: the exploding helicopter]] to the JLA headquarters, where he is at the start of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''.

* ''ComicBook/UltimateThor'': The miniseries was essentially three stories in one: Thor in Ancient Times, Baron Zemo -- [[spoiler: who is actually Loki in disguise]] -'s plots involving Frost Giants in the middle of World War II, and Thor shortly before joining The Ultimates. The mini jumped between all three of these very sporadically.

* As of the tenth ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' game, the order in which the events of the games occurred is: ''[[Videogame/YsOrigin Origin]]'' (0), ''[[VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen I]]'', ''[[VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter II]]'', ''[[VideoGame/YsXNordics Nordics]]'' (X), ''[[VideoGame/YsIVMaskOfTheSun Mask of the Sun]]''/''[[VideoGame/YsIVTheDawnOfYs The Dawn of Ys]]''/''[[VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta Memories of Celceta]]'' (''IV''), ''Wanderers from Ys''/''[[VideoGame/YsTheOathInFelghana Oath in Felghana]]'' (''III''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand]]'' (''V''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVIIILacrimosaOfDana Lacrimosa of Dana]]'' (''VIII''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim Ark of Napishtim]]'' (''VI''), ''[[VideoGame/YsSEVEN Seven]]'' (VII), and ''[[VideoGame/YsIXMonstrumNox Monstrum Nox]]'' (IX).

* ''VideoGame/{{Insanity}}'' features a downplayed example. Switching between different characters sometimes results in the story jumping forwards or backwards slightly, though only by minutes or hours at most.

* ''VisualNovel/{{AIR}}'' starts out normally, [[spoiler:then has several episodes 1000 years in the past explaining the backstory. After that, the story starts over from the beginning, except it focuses around the ChekhovsGunman.]]

* ''Manga/BillyBat''. 1940s to [[spoiler:Biblical times to the 1950s to feudal Japan.]]

** The anime's second season kicked off by inserting the new episodes into the rerun of the first season via chronological order (well, chronological except for the TimeTravel). Thus, "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", part of season 2, was inserted after the BaseballEpisode, "The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya". The second season is thus not a sequel of the first season.

* Even though it's a simple SliceOfLife series, ''Manga/HidamariSketch'''s episodes don't take place in chronological order. Luckily, each episode gives a calendar date in its title.

* Season 1 of ''Manga/ICantUnderstandWhatMyHusbandIsSaying'' was in chronological order and ends at the last published chapter (at the time). As a result, most of Season 2's episodes take place in between season 1's episodes (The first and second episodes were numbered 7.5 and 9.5 respectively). Since the only indicator of when episodes take place is a small number on the tile cards, it left some fans asking "[[spoiler:Why aren't they following up on Kaoru being pregnant?]]"

* Episodes in ''Anime/PrincessPrincipal'' aren't in chronological order, but instead have case numbers indicating where they fall on the timeline relative to each other. For example, in the first episode, Case 13, the main team is already fully assembled and has their dynamics down pat. Episode 2, Case 1, only has Ange and Dorothy on the team, and shows how the Princess joined them, and episode 3, Case 2, shows the immediate aftermath, including how the Princess' attendant Beatrice joins the team. Then they jump to Case 9, which has Chise in it, who isn't introduced until the following episode, which is Case 7...

* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' is somewhat out of order due to a number of reasons, including time travel. Its always in order from ''somebody's'' point of view, but an in-universe observer (such as the cast of ''Manga/XXXHolic'') would be ''incredibly'' confused (as is anyone trying to make an objective timeline). One point is when we follow two souls through reincarnation, following the events of their next life, as the parents of one of the main characters, and thus explaining something that happened before the story began but is just happening now and oh dear [[MindScrew I've gone and got a headache again]].

* ''Fanfic/KitsuneNoKenFistOfTheFox'': The author's story-notes on his Deviantart account are not posted in the order they would be placed in the story proper. Averted with the actual story on Website/FanfictionDotNet, however, where the chapters are in their proper order.

* The ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' film their playthroughs in one long sitting, and the footage is cut up into bits and uploaded onto Website/YouTube, and thus there are minor inconsistencies (usually when one of the hosts suggests they play a game of which footage has already been uploaded).

* ''WebVideo/TheTRYChannel'': Each of their videos has three pairs of participants, trying various items. There are occasional clues that some pairs film several segments in a row, then have them placed into the appropriately themed video -- e.g.: One TRY'er saying it was the first time he filmed with another AFTER another video containing both of them; a Website/YouTube comment from one saying that the effects of ''that'' video influenced an earlier video....

** The Archanea canon (the original) takes place centuries later on the continent of Archanea, distant from Jugdral but occupying the same world. The ''Archanea War Chronicles'', a game broadcast by UsefulNotes/{{Satellaview}} (and thus not counted as part of the overall series) takes place earliest, along with the four bonus chapters in ''New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Darkness'' ([=FE12=]). Then comes ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' ([=FE1=]), ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' Book 1 (the first half of [=FE3=]) and ''Shadow Dragon'' ([=FE11=]), which all tell the same story.

* The ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' franchise has a somewhat loose continuity between its various incarnations beginning with ''Ninja Gaiden Shadow'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy, followed by the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} version of ''Ninja Gaiden'', ''Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}} version of ''Ninja Gaiden 2'', the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] ''Ninja Gaiden'', ''Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom'' for the NES, and ''Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos'' for the NES (where Ryu loses the Dragon Sword at the end, establishing ''III'' as a prequel). It is unknown where the original arcade game fits in the canon (if it does) or the Sega games for that matter.

* The ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'' chronology follows this order: ''V'', ''[[SoftReboot SamSho (2019)]]'' ([[RecycledTitle which uses the same title as the original game]]), ''I'', ''III'', ''IV'', ''II'', ''64'', ''Warriors Rage'' (arcade [[note]]specifically the short-lived Hyper UsefulNotes/NeoGeo 64 arcade system; to prevent confusion, fans often refer to it as ''64-2''[[/note]]), ''Sen/Edge of Destiny'', and ''[[RecycledTitle Warriors Rage]]'' ([[UsefulNotes/PlayStation PS]]). ''VI'', on the other hand, is officially a [[DreamMatchGame "festival game"]] set in an AlternateContinuity that generally follows the events of the main timeline. Going by the original Japanese titles clears up the confusion ever so slightly, as ''Samurai Shodown V'' is actually ''Samurai Spirits [[EpisodeZeroTheBeginning Zero]]''.

* The ''VideoGame/SilverFalls'' series jumps all over the timeline with each release. Occasionally, a game's graphics will be an indicator of how far into the past it takes place; for example, ''Undertakers'', the chronological first game, resembles UsefulNotes/Atari2600 software, while ''3 Down Stars'', the first game released, has more modern [=3DS=] imagery and is ''next to last'' in the timeline.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games [[NonLinearSequel are like this]]. A [[WordOfGod Twitter post]] by Creator/GameFreak member Toshinobu Matsumiya explained that ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' are first (their events are parallel to each other), followed by ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' three years later. ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' takes place an unspecified amount of time after those games, with ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' occurring two years after ''B/W''. The latest entry in the series [[VideoGameLongRunners at the time of the post]], ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', is also the latest entry chronologically, roughly a decade after the events of Generations I/III [[note]]WordOfGod states [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Red]] to be in his [[VagueAge "early twenties"]] in these games and remarks made by [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Looker]] about [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Anabel]] indicate they first met 10 years earlier[[/note]] and two years after Generation VI [[note]]concept art for [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Grimsley]] notes he's that many years older than he was in ''[=B2/W2=]''[[/note]]. However, the Gen VI remakes of ''Ruby/Sapphire'', ''Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire'', heavily imply that any game featuring [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]] is set in [[AlternateUniverse a different]] [[AlternateTimeline timeline]] from the Gen I-Gen V titles [[ForWantOfANail as a result of]] [[spoiler:AZ activating his ultimate weapon 3,000 years prior to ''X/Y'']].

* ''AudioPlay/TheMorgueFiles'' is told in reverse chronological order. Case #1 occurs in 2018, Case #2 in 2016, Case #3 in 2010 and Case #4 in 2000.

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'': The main storyline is divided between the Crain siblings currently, as a group of dysfunctional adults that have a troubled relationship with each other, and the time that they were kids and living in Hill House before losing their mother. A number of flashbacks also tell stories of the time in-between those two, of when they were closer before a number of events pulled them apart, such as Luke's drug addiction and Steve writing a book about Hill House at the cost of alienating his siblings with his portrayal of his mother.

* As of the tenth ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' game, the order in which the events of the games occurred is: ''[[Videogame/YsOrigin Origin]]'' (0), ''[[VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen I]]'', ''[[VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter II]]'' [[VideoGame/YsXNordics Nordics]] (X), ''[[VideoGame/YsIVMaskOfTheSun Mask of the Sun]]''/''[[VideoGame/YsIVTheDawnOfYs The Dawn of Ys]]''/''[[VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta Memories of Celceta]]'' (''IV''), ''Wanderers from Ys''/''[[VideoGame/YsTheOathInFelghana Oath in Felghana]]'' (''III''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand]]'' (''V''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVIIILacrimosaOfDana Lacrimosa of Dana]]'' (''VIII''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim Ark of Napishtim]]'' (''VI''), ''[[VideoGame/YsSEVEN Seven]]'' (VII), and ''[[VideoGame/YsIXMonstrumNox Monstrum Nox]]'' (IX).

* As of the ninth ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' game, the order in which the events of the games occurred is: ''[[Videogame/YsOrigin Origin]]'' (0), ''[[VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen I]]'', ''[[VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter II]]'', ''[[VideoGame/YsIVMaskOfTheSun Mask of the Sun]]''/''[[VideoGame/YsIVTheDawnOfYs The Dawn of Ys]]''/''[[VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta Memories of Celceta]]'' (''IV''), ''Wanderers from Ys''/''[[VideoGame/YsTheOathInFelghana Oath in Felghana]]'' (''III''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand]]'' (''V''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVIIILacrimosaOfDana Lacrimosa of Dana]]'' (''VIII''), ''[[VideoGame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim Ark of Napishtim]]'' (''VI''), ''[[VideoGame/YsSEVEN Seven]]'' (VII), and ''[[VideoGame/YsIXMonstrumNox Monstrum Nox]]'' (IX).

* While the over all plot line in Brian Azzarello's and Eduardo Risso's crime noir series ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'' take place in a chronological manner, certain story lines (most notably The Counter Fifth Detective) are presented with events (pertaining to that arc) out of order and the reader left to reconstruct them. The epic back story is also peppered through out the main narrative in a series of flash backs from different points of view.
* Done intentionally with the three separate plots in ''ComicBook/AmericanBornChinese'', and is essential to the overall story.
* In the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "Waltz of the Hours", each page is set on a different hour of a single day, but the pages are not in linear order.
* ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'' frequently jumps around from the titular character's current activities with [=TeslaDyne=] and various exploits in the last 80 years, though, helpfully, we're always given dates and locations. Even if that location is "the Vampire Dimension".
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

** ''[[ComicBook/BatmanPreludeToTheWedding Batman: Prelude to the Wedding]]'' is told this way, with the third issue possibly occurring earliest and the fourth taking place entirely ''within'' the first.
* The "To Drown the World" arc of ''ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}'' varies its scenes between the present and up to four months in the past and fifteen minutes in the future. The skips to the past tend to cover progressively less time as the arc goes on, though.
* The first year of Priest's run on ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'' made mad, passionate love to this trope. Figuring out what led to what was half the fun.

* ''ComicBook/EmpireState'' is ColorCodedForYourConvenience. The story alternates between sections that are monochromatic red or blue. The blue sections are arranged in chronological order (barring one flashback); the red sections aren't in any particular order, but they all occur chronologically before the first blue section. The two red sections that fall last, chronologically, have spots of blue scattered throughout to signal the transition.
* ''ComicBook/JonahHex2005'' is a mostly one-and-done series with each issue being set wherever and whenever over the course of Hex's long life in TheWildWest.
* The comic ''ComicBook/LoveAndRockets'' started as an anthology series, but soon settled into (mostly) two regular series: The ''Palomar'' series, about a small town in Central America, was told as a series of flashbacks and jumped forward and backwards in time. The other stories, referred to as the ''Locas'' series, took place in present-day Los Angeles and were told in straight sequential order. Ironically, after the ''Human Diastrophism'' storyline, the ''Palomar'' stories started being told in a linear fashion while the ''Locas'' stories started jumping around.

* Several issues of ''ComicBook/ThePulse'' involve heavy use of flashbacks to frame the story.
* And before ''Black Panther'', Christopher Priest's writing in ''ComicBook/QuantumAndWoody'' had short clips appear in anachronistic order in every single issue.
* The first issue of ''ComicBook/SexCriminals'' begins in the present, then loops back to the past, then to the present again, then the past again, and finally back to the present.
* ''ComicBook/SilentHillAmongTheDamned'' is in this order, only serving to make the story more confusing.
* The ''ComicBook/SinCity'' stories were published in this order. A timeline of the main stories (and a few others that can be pinned down relative to them): ''That Yellow Bastard'' (with "Just Another Saturday Night" concurrent), ''A Dame To Kill For'' (with "Blue Eyes" and ''The Hard Goodbye'' concurrent), "Wrong Turn", "Wrong Track", ''Hell and Back'', ''The Big Fat Kill'', ''Family Values''.

* IDW's ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers]]'' comics are told in this fashion. When the first mini-series begins the war has already been going on for sometime. Through flashbacks and other issues and mini-series we slowly shape how the war began, who's responsible, and in general learn more about the universe.
* The ''ComicBook/UltimateThor'' miniseries was essentially three stories in one: Thor in Ancient Times, Baron Zemo -- [[spoiler: who is actually Loki in disguise]] -'s plots involving Frost Giants in the middle of World War II, and Thor shortly before joining The Ultimates. The mini jumped between all three of these very sporadically.

%%* Dr. Manhattan in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', and, indeed, the flashback episodes of ''Watchmen'' in general.
* Flashbacks in the first issue of ''ComicBook/YoungbloodJudgmentDay'' jump from present to various times in possibly-random order - 1868, 436, 1943 etc. Later issues set them in chronological order.