History Main / MundaneFantastic

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': [[TheFuture In the 31st Century]], aliens and robots walking the streets is no big deal, and [[CasualInterplanetaryTravel interplanetary travel is as casual as a Sunday drive]]. The only one to find any of this unusual is Fry, a FishOutOfTemporalWater (and not a particularly bright one, at that), and even he gets used to it all after a while. When he sees a FlyingSaucer hanging over his head... he advises them that they can't park there, and treats his [[AlienAbduction abduction]] with annoyance.

* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'': It's a cop show with [[InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha giant robots]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The world of Avatar has superhumans who can shoot fire and manipulate water, magical spirits, and tons of MixAndMatchCritters. The Aang Gang are weirded out by the existence of a bear that...just a bear.

* ''Manga/MurasakiironoQualia'' is a science-fiction series that uses the Multiverse and Copenhagen theories as a focal point on how the protagonist can traverse these multiverses and try to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. Using the multiverse theory and its infinite possibility, she realizes that it's not impossible to think that there is a parallel universe where magic exists. Indeed there is one and she can now use it, no questions asked.

* Creator/PiersAnthony's ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' universe is a successful blending of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''-like magic elements and modern science, to the point at which people aren't fazed by the Incarnation of Death materializing to take their loved ones to the great beyond -- unless he turns his attention to ''them''. At one point, Chronos (the Incarnation of Time) causes the entire world to run backwards for several hours - the general public are aware that this is happening, but they treat it as more of a temporary inconvenience than anything out of the ordinary. [[{{Squick}} Except for the guy who had just gotten out of the bathroom when the reverse began]].

* All books by the Creator/StrugatskyBrothers. You want to travel somewhere very quickly? Find the nearest phone booth... er, [[PortalNetwork Null-T]] cabin, enter the destination phone number... er, cabin address, press "Go" -- that's all you need to know. Mostly because they deeply despised {{Expospeak}} ([[Quotes/{{Expospeak}} see the quote]]). ''Literature/RoadsidePicnic'' has rather "humans can get used to anything, even really weird crap" point, but the end result is exactly the same.
* ''Literature/LonelyWerewolfGirl'' ducks into these plot threads half the time. In between politicking between the high clans of werewolves and the plotting of the queen of the fire elementals, you've got college students trying to get cable, a businesswoman trying to get her layabout musician cousins to actually do something, and an overworked sorceress and fashion designer trying to come up with suitable styles for said queen of the fire elementals.

* Robin [=McKinley's=] ''Literature/{{Sunshine}}'' has a lot of this. Sunshine lives on an alternate-reality Earth where vampires, were-animals of all sorts, demons, sorcerers, etc. are simply a fact of life, and in some cases, valued members of society.
* ''Literature/TheSookieStackhouseMysteries'' play with this. The existence of vampires is known but other magical creatures like shapeshifters are still in hiding.

* In ''Literature/TheGrimnoirChronicles'' by Larry Correia, the existence of Actives (magic wielding mutants) is well known and many of them have jobs appropriate to their powers. For instance, Heavies (Actives who [[GravityMaster control gravity]]) often work anywhere that requires heavy lifting.
* The ''Literature/KrimPyramid'' books have ordinary people snatched from their early 21st century lives into the worlds of Greek and Egyptian myth.

* In ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', the idea that animals taking over a human's farm is frightening to farmers at first, but by the end of the story, Animal [[spoiler:(now renamed Manor)]] Farm's neighbors have gotten used to the idea, and enjoy a nice card game with the pigs. It is a more sinister example of this trope, because it reflects how much the pigs have abandoned the ideals of Animalism that they cavort with humanity and adopt its worst aspects, to point where [[spoiler:the other animals can't tell pig from man when the two sides argue over the outcome of a card game]].
* [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] in ''[[Literature/DrGretaHelsing Strange Practice]]'': as a doctor to London's supernatural population, Greta thinks nothing of treating vampires' Seasonal Affective Disorder, examining fretful ghoul babies, or having her clinic door warded with a PerceptionFilter to protect the {{Masquerade}}. On the other hand, hearing stories about [[spoiler:the Devil]] from an old friend of his does throw her -- and everyone else in the room -- off a bit.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': When Eric first arrives on Tariatla and enters a city, he is surprised by two things. 1.) The many fantastical creatures living among the humans, who are performing magic. 2.) The fact that he is the only person surprised by #1. Tariatla has had magic for ages and humans learned to coexist with the goblins and dwarves etc. by now. Later, after he has become a mage (which he learned from a mass produced book) he has to get creative when he's hired as a stage performer, because his entire audience can do basic magic.
* ''Literature/HowToLiveSafelyInAScienceFictionalUniverse'': Charles may have a laser gun and a time machine, but he's ultimately essentially a traffic cop. The universe itself may be an artificial narrative construct, but it still took zoning permits and investors and developers to build it. And so on. Even the doomsday clock ticking down to the end of the universe gets nary more than a passing mention.
* In Franz Kafka's ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis'', Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning and finds himself transformed into a giant insect. He and his family treat this event as bothersome and disgusting, but not as unnatural. Gregor himself is not at all surprised by it, and never thinks about why it happened.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' is set in a world where, somehow, vehicles are alive. That this is strange has been commented on exactly once, in the FanonDiscontinuity movie ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad''.

->'''Steve Blance''': The only evil deed here is to my house. Who are you two?\\
'''Thunderbolt''': Pow! I'm Thunderbolt!\\
'''Lightning''': Zap! And I'm Lightning! We come from the comic book pages!\\
'''Steve Blance''': Oh, out-of-towners.

* ''LightNovel/GargoyleOfTheYoshinagas'' has it in full. Alchemy has a strong presence in the universe, but the lives of the people of the town it's set in take precedence over it in the story.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Despite all of the things which are spoiled by just being on this page, the narrative focuses mostly on the S.O.S. members' normal lives.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the "Treehouse Of Horror VI" story "Time And Punishment", while altering the space-time continuum, Homer ends up in what seems to be the perfect universe: he lives in a luxurious home with his family, his children are well-behaved, he has a luxury car, and [[ObnoxiousInLaws Patty and Selma]] are dead. However, when he asks Marge to pass him a donut, she says "Donut? What's a donut?", he freaks out and travels through time again. [[GaveUpTooSoon Sadly]], ''[[GaveUpTooSoon seconds]]'' [[GaveUpTooSoon after he leaves, it starts to rain donuts, to which Marge says "Hmm, it's raining again..."]].

* ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'': Aside from a [[PinocchioSyndrome teenage robot]], the [[ChildProdigy 8-year-old professor]] [[GadgeteerGenius who built her]], and their [[TranslatorCollar talking cat]], the series is all about the ordinary lives of [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent normal high-school freshwomen]]. It's even in the name: ''nichijou'' means "everyday, ordinary"; hence, the lesser-used English title ''My Ordinary Life''.

* ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf'': He is a travelling merchant, she is a 800-year-old shapeshifter wolf harvest goddess, together they... trade goods with other people. And trade the currency market. They even spend a whole episode, episode 7, doing nothing but standing around, talking about the precious metals contents in the coinage minted by the various medieval kingdoms of the area and the political and market forces that drive up and down their values relative to each other.

* ''Manga/HyperPolice'' is about a CatGirl and her kitsune partner (previously werewolf). TheyFightCrime in a FantasyKitchenSink [[CityOfAdventure city]] while competing with a MegaCorp for {{bount|yHunter}}ies... and it's a [[{{Sitcom}} situation comedy]].

* ''VideoGame/SimCity'' is a pretty regular world by our standards... except for [=UFOs=], metallic monsters, buildings can be "plopped" into existence, and then it probably has everything that the Sims has in it as well.

* ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'', which aside from the [[FurryDenial staunchly-denied]] [[FunnyAnimal purely aesthetic species]] of the characters, is a perfectly ordinary sitcom about families and friends... until it starts bringing in the fantastic elements such as sapient horns, an evil magic hat that is capable of hexing people, ghosts, a real imaginary friend from outer space, fire-breathing dinosaurs, trucks and bullets with faces, two {{Muck Monster}}s, multiple [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfoots]], FrankensteinsMonster, a zombie, and a character turning into a fly. ''None'' of this is ''ever'' explained and the characters [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight just roll with it]]. It's to the point where the episode with the evil magic hat was primarily an AcquiredSituationalNarcissism FeudEpisode, the horns were about dealing with [[FreudianExcuse a traumatic experience the antagonist went through]], the fire-breathing dinosaur could have as easily been a real wild animal, the zombie was just a FunnyBackgroundEvent, etc.

* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series primarily focuses on courtroom drama and [[CourtroomAntic antics]]. It also heavily features a family of [[WillingChanneler spirit channelers]]. The fact that Phoenix's assistant is regularly possessed by the spirit of her older sister, causing her to grow at least a foot and gain a spontaneous boob job also never seems to faze anyone. One person mentions it in passing as if it were no more interesting than the character's voice changing. This isn't a case where it's just for the benefit of the audience, either, as several incidents hinge on the fact that channeling actually does change the person's body.

* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series primarily focuses on courtroom drama and [[CourtroomAntic antics]]. It also heavily features a family of [[WillingChanneler spirit channelers]]. The fact that Phoenix's assistant is regularly possessed by the spirit of her older sister, causing her to grow at least a foot and gain a spontaneous boob job also never seems to faze anyone. One person mentions it in passing as if it were no more interesting than the character's voice changing.

* ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'''s whole premise is this. Aside from a [[PinocchioSyndrome teenage robot]], the [[ChildProdigy 8-year-old professor]] [[GadgeteerGenius who built her]], and their [[TranslatorCollar talking cat]], the series is all about the ordinary lives of [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent normal high-school freshwomen]] -- with every single happening jacked UpToEleven. It's even in the name: ''nichijou'' means "everyday, ordinary"; hence, the lesser-used English title ''My Ordinary Life''.

** UpToEleven with the various {{crossover}}s that ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' had with this show, ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily''. Granted, all these shows being within the same universe would go a long way at explaining the more... out-there events in the latter two cartoons.

* In ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', the idea that animals taking over a human's farm is frightening to farmers at first, but by the end of the story, Animal [[spoiler:(now renamed Manor)]] Farm's neighbors have gotten used to the idea, and enjoy a nice card game with the pigs. It is a more sinister example of this trope, because it reflects how much the pigs have abandoned the ideals of Animalism that they cavort with humanity and adopt its worst aspects, to point where [[spoiler:the other animals can't tell pig from man when the two sides argue over a the outcome of a card game]].

*** What they have "no idea" about is their co-workers' participation. Amber, at least, is [[http://www.shortpacked.com/2009/comic/book-10/01-this-man-this-manhattan/posthumous/ perfectly aware of the invasion]].

* [[ParodiedTrope Poking fun at this trope]] is more or less the entire point of ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/114049/this-is-the-life-a-tale-of-a-human-in-equestria This Is the Life: A Tale of a Human in Equestria]]''. The titular character is constantly freaked out by everything around him which some ponies make fun of because of how he overreacts.
-->'''Self-Insert''': Just today I went to the library to return a book. I spent an hour there, hanging out with a baby dragon who is the assistant to a unicorn who is the protégé of a princess who is thousands of years old, who receives letters from that protégé through the baby dragon's magical breath.\\
'''Lyra''': Okay, and I had fried oats for breakfast. What's your point?
* In ''Fanfic/ForLoveOfMagic'' Harry Potter is noticeably ''offended'' by the Wizarding World's complete lack of awe at magic. They can rewrite facets of reality on a whim but they treat it as completely mundane. Incidentally, it's this very attitude that causes them to be in awe of Harry's seemingly impossible feats, such as wandless casting, creating new spells, and changing components of spells. Anyone can do them but their attitude towards magic keeps them from exploring it.

* It is never stated if the world of ''FanFic/FurAndPhotography'' was [[TheUnmasquedWorld unmasqued]] or if it ever was masqued to begin with, but supernatural beings like werewolves, vampires, demons, elementals and witches are public knowledge.
* Many events become this in ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'', simply because the loopers are so old that they have SeenItAll. Surprises usually come from variant loops.

* Naomi Novik's ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series is pretty much historical fiction in the Napoleonic era... except there are dragons. They are mostly bred by the military for use as flying war vessels.
** In most of Europe, civilians tend to panic at the sight of dragons and generally regard them as dangerous warbeasts barely kept in check by their handlers. However in China dragons serve as everything from shopkeepers and public transport to high ranking civil servants, and no humans react to one sleeping by the road save to wake it when traffic is being blocked.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' does this well and has a lot of fun with it. Two ''ridiculously'' overpowered wizards are [[WizardDuel dueling]]? Cool, let's go watch! Did that pony just use ToonPhysics to pass through a solid wall? Yeah, she's just being [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinkie Pie]]. A [[ALoadOfBull minotaur]] is giving a self-help seminar? Is it Tuesday already? Yet things like a bunny stampede, a zebra (initially), and running out of cider ''terrify the ponies''. They also see [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows manually clearing out winter and changing it to spring]] to be a normal and fun yearly tradition, yet the [[EldritchLocation Everfree Forest]] scares the life out of them ''because clouds move on their own and nature operates without the help of the ponies''. "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E9SliceOfLife Slice of Life]]" shows that monsters attack Ponyville so often that it's treated as a mild inconvenience at best, like road construction holding up traffic. This even extends to non-ponies: since they'd spent many years living underwater while hiding from [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 the Storm King]], hippogriffs like Silverstream are fascinated by mundane things like ''stairs'', since they have no need for them underwater ''or'' on land, since they have wings.