History StrictlyFormula / AnimeAndManga

** As the starter Pokémon trio of each region are extremely prominent, Ash has to catch at least one starter for his team in each region, having one (Treecko in Hoenn and Froakie in Kalos), or two (as seen with Turtwig and Chimchar in Sinnoh and Rowlet and Litten in Alola), though he occasionally has the entire trio at times (in Kanto, Johto, and Unova). If he doesn't catch all the starters, that's because one or two travel companions (such as Brock for Mudkip, May for Torchic, Dawn for Piplup, Serena for Fennekin, Clemont for Chespin, and Lana for Popplio) will have at least one or two of them. ''Journeys'' threw this completely out the window when Goh ended up with all three of the Galar starters, and due to their prominence, he always seemed to have them on hand in every episode while the rest of his Pokemon remained in rotation at Cerise Laboratory. Ash also usually catches the [[ComMons common bird]] for the region, a part of the formula that was only thrown aside in Alola[[note]]Though the Rowlet Ash caught was raised by a flock of the Toucannon line, Alola's resident common bird[[/note]] and Journeys.
** Due to Eevee's newfound popularity as a mascot opposite to Pikachu in ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'', the Alola chapter of the anime started a trend in which a fellow main character other than Ash would catch an Eevee, with Lana having one in Alola and Chloe having one in ''Journeys''. While prior main characters (May in the Kanto Battle Frontier and Serena in Kalos) had Eevee before, these predate this mascot status as these Eevee still evolved (May's becoming Glaceon and Serena's becoming Sylveon), while Lana's and Chloe's have never evolved in order to follow in the footsteps of Ash's Pikachu never evolving.

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': The introduction of a new girlfriend follows a similar pattern, each time. A chapter focuses on Rentarou encountering the girl and the two of them experiencing the Soulmate sensation and Rentarou gets to know them in a one-on-one capacity, in the process discovering their odd quirks and winning their affection. The following chapter or two focuses on introducing the new girlfriend to the rest of the Rentarou Family, often engaging in some activity related to the character's interests and/or their quirks. For example both Mei and Mai, maids of the Hanazono household, were met with activities that included everyone dressing as a maid, while Rentarou and the girls assisted athlete Iku in a game of baseball. Once the activity ends, the new girlfriend reaffirms her love for Rentarou with a kiss.

* Every episode of ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' follows this structure: the heroes hear rumors of an urban legend, they learn its a Digimon behind the chaos, they defeat the Digimon causing said chaos, and then one of three endings happens. Firstly, said Digimon either reforms because they are [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misunderstood]], [[WeWillMeetAgain]] they either retreat to cause trouble somewhere else because they don't reform, or lastly, they are [[KilledOffForReal killed]]. Expect to see the first ending ''a lot'' because it's the most common one while the third ending is one that only shows up sparingly.

* ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'':
Every episode follows this structure: the heroes hear rumors of an urban legend, they learn its a Digimon behind the chaos, they defeat the Digimon causing said chaos, and then one of three endings happens. Firstly, said Digimon either reforms because they are [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misunderstood]], [[WeWillMeetAgain]] they either retreat to cause trouble somewhere else because they don't reform, or lastly, they are [[KilledOffForReal killed]]. Expect to see the first ending ''a lot'' because it's the most common one while the third ending is one that only shows up sparingly.

* Most of the cases in ''Manga/KindaichiCaseFiles'' follows Kindaichi and Miyuki (plus some other friends) going on a trip and encountering a [[SerialKiller series of gruesome murders]]. When Kindaichi inevitably uncovers the mystery, the killer will start a MotiveRant about how the victims had caused the death, intentionally or otherwise, of the killer's loved one, before breaking down with the burden of their guilt, then trying to commit suicide.

** The endgame for the Pokémon arcs. After Ash gets the final badge, two things happen. One, the villains of the region get [[CosmicDeadline a rushed closure]] with their downfall being closely related to a Legendary Pokémon who is the NonProtagonistResolver. And then Ash enters the league where he'll [[spoiler: almost]] ''always'' lose to [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter a guy with stronger Pokémon]] bordering on DiabolusExMachina (always a male character), and then he'll ditch his friends and Pokémon and journey to the next region, hitting a giant ResetButton on the way out. ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesXY'' subverted this by first handling the league arc, ''then'' making the Villainous Team arc the true finale of the season. And while Zygarde played a major role in stopping Team Flare, Ash and the entire supporting cast (including the Gym Leaders, HeroOfAnotherStory, and Champions) got to play a majorly important role as well. Once again, ''Sun and Moon'' completely averts it by having Ash [[spoiler: actually WIN the League for the first time since the Orange Islands]].

** As the starter Pokémon trio of each region are extremely prominent, Ash has to catch at least one starter for his team in each region (having one, Treecko in Hoenn and Froakie in Kalos), or two (as seen with Turtwig and Chimchar in Sinnoh and Rowlet and Litten in Alola), though he occasionally has the entire trio at times (in Kanto, Johto, and Unova). If he doesn't catch all the starters, that's because one or two travel companions (such as Brock for Mudkip, May for Torchic, Dawn for Piplup, Serena for Fennekin, Clemont for Chespin, and Lana for Popplio) will have at least one or two of them. ''Journeys'' threw this completely out the window when Goh ended up with all three of the Galar starters, and due to their prominence, he always seemed to have them on hand in every episode while the rest of his Pokemon remained in rotation at Cerise Laboratory. Ash also usually catches the [[ComMons common bird]] for the region, a part of the formula that was only thrown aside in Alola[[note]]Though the Rowlet Ash caught was raised by a flock of the Toucannon line, Alola's resident common bird[[/note]] and Journeys.

** As the starter Pokémon trio of each region are extremely prominent, Ash has to catch at least one starter for his team in each region (having one, Treecko in Hoenn and Froakie in Kalos), or two (as seen with Turtwig and Chimchar in Sinnoh and Rowlet and Litten in Alola), though he occasionally has the entire trio at times (in Kanto, Johto, and Unova). If he doesn't catch all the starters, that's because one or two travel companions (such as Brock for Mudkip, May for Torchic, Dawn for Piplup, Serena for Fennekin, Clemont for Chespin, and Lana for Popplio) will have at least one or two of them. [[spoiler: ''Journeys'' threw this completely out the window when Goh ended up with all three of the Galar starters.]] Ash also usually catches the [[ComMons common bird]] for the region, a part of the formula that was only thrown aside in Alola and Journeys.

** Almost every Doraemon NonSerialMovie goes through similar formula where Doraemon and friends travel to outer space or other timeline or some undicovered part of the world, interact with the locals, and is forced to fight enemies (either illegal time travellers or aliens or wizards), then Doraemon and friends, sometimes with the help of the locals, will defeat the enemies with his futuristic gadgets and save the day. There are some exceptions such as Doraemon and the Steel Troops, [[spoiler:where the adversaries are simply way too powerful and numerous, that the only way to win is to have Shizuka travel back in time to convince the space scientist in the past to not create the KillerRobot, thus altering the history]].

* Almost every TV episode of ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' falls into this. Similarly to ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', the episode will almost always begin with Nobita crying about a problem and begging Doraemon for a gadget of the week whether it is getting revenge from the bullies Gian and Suneo, solving his school struggles, or showing off over Suneo's wealth. Nobita will abuse said gadget or it will end up stolen by Gian and Suneo and both misuse it themselves. Doraemon has to get it back and morale is taught or not.

* ''Manga/TisTimeForTorturePrincess'' establishes the basic formula early on: Tortura greets the Princess with [[TitleDrop "'Tis time for 'torture', Princess"]] and introduces that episode's [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment "torture"]], which is usually [[TisTimeForTorturePrincess a bribe of delicious food]] or some other MundaneLuxury. The Princess looks like she's going to resist, causing Ex to brag about her strict upbringing or accomplishments on the battlefield, only for the Princess to cave when Tortura introduces some twist to sweeten the deal. At the end Tortura reports to the Hell-Lord with what she found out, only for him to dismiss it as unimportant or for a really trivial reason.

* ''Manga/TisTimeForTorturePrincess'' establishes the basic formula early on: Tortura greets the Princess with [[TitleDrop "'Tis time for 'torture', Princess"]] and introduces that episode's [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment "torture"]], which is usually [[FoodAsBribe a bribe of delicious food]] or some other MundaneLuxury. The Princess looks like she's going to resist, causing Ex to brag about her strict upbringing or accomplishments on the battlefield, only for the Princess to cave when Tortura introduces some twist to sweeten the deal. At the end Tortura reports to the Hell-Lord with what she found out, only for him to dismiss it as unimportant or for a really trivial reason.

** The formula only changed with the ''Best Wishes'' series (2011-2013), where Team Rocket got a big boost in competence and much less screentime, the implication being they had their hands full with special directives or other serious business, leaving Ash and co. alone. They didn't show up once per episode, and they didn't have much bearing on Ash's side of the plot. The half-season of {{Filler}} before Pokémon X and Y came out turned them back to normal, though they still get a couple episodes of non-absence. Additionally, the Gen 5 arc also altered the "Ash catches five Pokémon in a region, releases or otherwise gives up one, and then catches another Pokémon to replace it" gimmick, where he instead had a team of eight (not counting Pikachu) with no releases, though out of those, four got shafted in terms of screen time to make room for the starters, [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Scraggy]], and the MerchandiseDriven rejoining of [[NostalgiaFilter Charizard]].
** The ''Sun and Moon'' series (2016-2019), where the adventure-style layout was instead changed to a school-based SliceOfLife show, threw the old formula completely out the window. Characters of the week are few and far in between, with most interactions being between the main cast and their Pokémon. In contrast to previous seasons, which had 3-4 main characters, there are now 6 main characters, and 1 extra Pokémon sidekick. Pokémon of the week are often implemented into the show more naturally, rather than being overexposed and being made the focus of the whole episode. In contrast to previous seasons, events from previous episodes are often regularly brought back and mentioned, adding more continuity. Team Rocket, while now humorous again, have become surprisingly competent and do not appear in every single episode.
** ''Pokémon Journeys'' (2019-) sees only two total main characters, Ash and Goh, doing research for Professor Cerise across all of the existing regions and [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Galar]], revisiting the adventure layout from previous series while also having elements of ''Sun and Moon'''s lesser number of characters of the week and increased focus on humor. Furthermore, there are no female companions this time around, though Chloe, Cerise's daughter, is occasionally given focus. More emphasis on Pokémon catching is present, with Goh regularly catching Pokémon in many episodes. The Team Rocket Trio, [[spoiler:especially since Ash is now the champion of Alola]], now have a machine that dispenses powerful Pokémon for them, allowing them to still be the balance between competence and silliness that they were in Alola.
** [[NonSerialMovie The movies]] follow such a rigid formula that you'd swear that they only have two or three plots they recycle every year: Ash and friends will enter a location with a completely different appearance from the region they're supposed to be in, possibly come across the newest Mythical Pokémon/a Pokémon from the next generation of games, then come into conflict with an antagonist; either a [[GenericDoomsdayVillain one-dimensional]] [[HumansAreBastards bastard human]] who wants to use the title Pokémon for his (and yes, it's almost always a man) own evil ends, or a big, scary and evil-looking Pokémon with sinister/disasterous goals. If the antagonist is a human, expect them to be irredeemable jackasses through and through, though there is a rare HeelFaceTurn for some of them, but if it's a Pokémon, 90% of the time they're NotEvilJustMisunderstood, and the other 10% perform a HeelFaceTurn. Oftentimes, the world will be at stake, a large-scale battle happens, a DisneyDeath or two will occur, Team Rocket [[MandatoryLine show up and do absolutely nothing significant]], and a SuperMode or two will be shown off (the portrayal of which may or may not directly contradict how they work in the games). To top it off, despite all that happens across the movie, its events will rarely, if ever, actually be referenced in the actual show. The 20th movie, ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou'', avoids this formula. It has no true villain (the closest thing being Ash's JerkAss rival, Cross), Team Rocket doesn't appear, the fate of the world is never at stake, and it takes place in an alternate timeline from the main series. There ''is'' a DisneyDeath, though.
** The endgame for the Pokémon arcs. After Ash gets the final badge, two things happen. One, the villains of the region get [[CosmicDeadline a rushed closure]] with their downfall being closely related to a Legendary Pokémon who is the NonProtagonistResolver. And then Ash enters the league where he'll [[spoiler: almost]] ''always'' lose to [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter a guy with stronger Pokémon]] bordering on DiabolusExMachina (always a male character), and then he'll ditch his friends and Pokémon and journey to the next region, hitting a giant ResetButton on the way out. ''X and Y'' subverted this by first handling the league arc, ''then'' making the Villainous Team arc the true finale of the season. And while Zygarde played a major role in stopping Team Flare, Ash and the entire supporting cast (including the Gym Leaders, HeroOfAnotherStory, and Champions) got to play a majorly important role as well. Once again, ''Sun and Moon'' completely averts it by having Ash [[spoiler: actually WIN the League for the first time since the Orange Islands]].
** Ash wasn't often the only one having to change his teams out per the BagOfSpilling. When Brock was still a major character for Ash's later journeys through Hoenn, the Kanto Battle Frontier, and Sinnoh, he would remove some of the Pokemon from his team as well by leaving them at his gym (Onix, Geodude, and Crobat for Hoenn, Ludicolo for Kanto, and Forretress and Marshtomp for Sinnoh). May also did it to a lesser extent for the Kanto Battle Frontier when she removed Beautifly, Skitty, and Bulbasaur from her team. Even ''Team Rocket'' started to do this starting with Unova, where they have to give up all of the Pokemon they have on them before going into a new region (whether or not they leave them directly at Rocket HQ or release them into the wild). While their first case of this for Unova caused them to even leave behind Wobbuffet (their longest lasting Pokemon), he is reinstated for Kalos and is not subjected to this for Alola and ''Journeys''.
** As the starter Pokemon trio of each region are extremely prominent, Ash has to catch at least one starter for his team in each region (having one, Treecko in Hoenn and Froakie in Kalos), or two (as seen with Turtwig and Chimchar in Sinnoh and Rowlet and Litten in Alola), though he occasionally has the entire trio at times (in Kanto, Johto, and Unova). If he doesn't catch all the starters, that's because one or two travel companions (such as Brock for Mudkip, May for Torchic, Dawn for Piplup, Serena for Fennekin, Clemont for Chespin, and Lana for Popplio) will have at least one or two of them. [[spoiler: ''Journeys'' threw this completely out the window when Goh ended up with all three of the Galar starters.]] Ash also usually catches the [[ComMons common bird]] for the region, a part of the formula that was only thrown aside in Alola and Journeys.

* Most ''Franchise/PrettyCure'' seasons fall into formula to at least some degree, but some are much more noteworthy than others:

** It should also be noted that if one were to skip the less plot-oriented filler episodes, this would become less noticeable. The later arcs were also significantly more plot-driven.
* The ''Anime/SaintSeiya'' movies (with the exception of the second one) generally follow the same format as the Posidon arc of the manga - Greek God X arrises, proclaims they will destroy all of mankind; Athena confronts said god by herself and is promptly set up for a slow, tortuous death as a human sacrifice and her bronze saints (as the main characters) are given some arbitrary time limit to fight through the bad guy's minions and rescue her. Inevitably, they are all defeated at least once until Seiya (and sometimes Ikki) manages to struggle into the main baddie's chamber, whereupon he focuses all his and his friends' energy into the single punch that he's learned and blows the baddie to space dust. Athena is rescued, roll credits, the end. You could set your watch by it. Some of the other consistent guideposts: Hyouga will get curbstomped ala [[TheWorfEffect Worf]]. Shiryu will get beat within an inch of his life, but triumphs after shedding his armor to unleash his true power, and then collapses. Shun will fight defensively, get ripped apart, and call for his Big Brother with his last conscious breath. Ikki will then teleport in and avenge his little bro by viciously one-shotting the offender, but then gets Worf-stomped by the Dragon or Big Bad. Seiya will get debilitated somehow (blinding or poisoning, usually) and get thrown down a cliff or stairway, or into a ravine, which he will slowly and painfully make his way back up from, for the final confrontation as described above. Like clockwork.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* Along with borrowing heavily from the series, the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' {{Non Serial Movie}}s had a very distinct formula that they rarely broke from: the good guys are living their lives normally, the villain is introduced and does some damage, alongside various [[QuirkyMinibossSquad side villains]], the heroes attempt to defeat the villain right away but are repulsed, the side villains and the non-central Z-Fighters duke it out, Goku fights evenly with the main villain for a while, the main villain [[OneWingedAngel reveals his true power]] and inflicts a CurbStompBattle onto everyone, and then Goku [[AssPull pulls out a technique]] that defeats the villain. Piccolo also [[BigDamnHeroes shows up to save Gohan]] at some point, and in later movies Vegeta shows up to save Goku saying [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou "you must be defeated by my hand!"]] Every movie in between ''Anime/DragonBallZTheWorldsStrongest'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZSuperAndroid13'' follows this formula exactly, and the prior and later films don't divert from it much (for instance, sometimes the villain doesn't have a QuirkyMinibossSquad or Goku isn't the main character).

* ''Manga/FairyTail'' follows the same formula whenever a new dark guild or evil organization rears its ugly head: Fairy Tail mows down all the {{Mook}}s with [[ConservationOfNinjitsu no effort]], while the QuirkyMinibossSquad gives them some trouble before getting taken out, all leading up to the climactic battle against the ArcVillain, who (most often) [[TheHero Natsu]] takes down after being pushed to the brink. Pepper it with some tragic backstories for new villains or known characters, a HeelFaceTurn or two, and at least one of the heroes' new enemies/allies exclaiming how insane Fairy Tail is, and you have your standard story arc.

* Along with borrowing heavily from the series, the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' {{Non Serial Movie}}s had a very distinct formula that they rarely broke from: the Z-Warriors are living their lives normally, the villain is introduced and does some damage, alongside various [[QuirkyMinibossSquad side villains]], the heroes attempt to defeat the villain right away but are repulsed, the side villains and the non-central Z-Fighters duke it out, Goku fights evenly with the main villain for a while, the main villain [[OneWingedAngel reveals his true power]] and inflicts a CurbStompBattle onto everyone, and then Goku [[AssPull pulls out a technique]] that defeats the villain. Piccolo also [[BigDamnHeroes shows up to save Gohan]] at some point, and in later movies Vegeta shows up to save Goku saying [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou "you must be defeated by my hand!"]] Every movie in between ''Anime/DragonBallZTheWorldsStrongest'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZSuperAndroid13'' follows this formula exactly, and the prior and later films don't divert from it much (for instance, sometimes the villain doesn't have a QuirkyMinibossSquad or Goku isn't the main character).