Dark Reprise / Anime

• The 1963 and 1980 versions of Astro Boy use melancholic or suspenseful reprisals of the main theme in various moments throughout the show. A notable example of this is the final episode of the 1963 show, which plays a choir version of the main theme as Astro Boy sacrifices himself to save the earth. The Japanese version of the 2003 show uses a sad music box reprisal of the original theme for flashbacks of Tobio's memories.
• Parodied in one of the summer vacation episodes of Azumanga Daioh. Some Relax-o-Vision music plays when Nyamo-sensei drunkenly tells the girls about the birds and the bees. When Chiyo-chan talks to her the next morning, the same music plays. Nyamo is horrified at what she hears.
• Cowboy Bebop has "See You Space Cowboy", a lower and sadder version of the already solemn ending theme, "The Real Folk Blues", playing near the show's end.
• The happy tune that Saya sings various songs to early on in Blood-C gets played in a slower, darker manner in the final moments of the last episode.
• Re: Cutie Honey: One of the villains' lackeys sings a mocking reprise of the iconic theme tune to lure Honey out after the whole city is convinced that she's only a danger to them, our heroine included.
• Cyber Team in Akihabara has his third ending which is a very dark version of the song "Taiyou no Hana" from the first ending (and played in a joyful version for the second ending)
• The first season of Date A Live features the "Seirei" theme for the appearance of Spirits (more specifically, it is used for Tohka before she is named as such by Shido). The last episode of the second season features the ominous "Hanten Tohka", during the debut of her Inverse Form.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion gets one. The ending theme, "Fly me to the Moon" always seemed a tad out of place, even in the beginning, but by the end in the middle of all the Mind Rape, Heroic Sacrifices, Heroic BSoD's and other assorted wrongness, that damn song just keeps on playing. And it freaks you out. Especially in the Arael, Armisael and Tabris/Kaworu episodes. WITHOUT CHANGING A DAMNED NOTE!!
  • Probably easier to take seriously if you're not a native English speaker and are getting the meaning from subtitles. If you actually understand it, the fact that it's Gratuitous English and sounds more like "Fry me touda moo" kind of spoils any suspense it might create.
• Gainax seems to like this. In the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, most of the soundtracks have been changed to now HAVE OMINOUS CHANTING ON TOP OF THE MUSIC! It does add to the mood of the scenes, but it sure does freak you out when you know that the voices are chanting.
  • And another Gainax-example: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has Libera Me From Hell, a remix between the classic, Latin song "Libera Me", and the up-beat rap-song "Rap is a Man's Soul". And that's not the only time they took a classic song and used it in an anime. Just watch the Rebuild of Evangelion version of Shinji versus Zeruel. THEY'RE PLAYING A CHILDREN'S SONG WHILE SHINJI IS CAUSING THE END OF THE WORLD, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!
  • Yet another Gainax example: in the penultimate episode of Mahoromatic ~Something more Beautiful~, the music track at the end of the episode gives way to a sad piano remix of the generally-happy opening song, So Re I Yu.
• The Grand Magic Games arc of Fairy Tail has the appropiately-named "Grand Magic Games" theme, which has a grandiose tune fitting for a high-scale competition. However, when the Games end and the conspiracy plot is brought to light, the appropiately-named "The Truth About the Grand Magic Games", with several of the tones striking a dark chord and a different closing, plays, which is fitting for the grim prospects the plans of the real Arc Villain entail.
  • Predating that, the "Dragon Chain Cannon" theme is a dark reprise of the main theme of the series, which makes sense given that it plays when the lacrima made out of the Fairy Tail guild is about to be harvested by the titular cannon.
• In Fate/Zero, Let the Stars Fall Down and Manten share the same tune, the former being used when Irisviel takes on Kirei and the latter being used as the ending theme for Kiritsugu's flashback episodes. Then there's The Dream Fades Before Dawn #3, where the melody becomes flat out creepy. Fitting that it's featured when Kirei is about to backstab Tokiomi.
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is this to the original Final Fantasy VII. Apart from the Darker and Edgier approach, even the soundtrack features Dark Reprises of well-known tunes from the game itself - the random battle theme is now a chilling piano instrumental, and even the iconic One-Winged Angel has been amped up into a rock opera.
• In Fushigi Yuugi, the instrumental "Romantic" is played—you guessed it—in romantic moments in the first few instances. It is reprised numerous times later in the series, e.g. when Miaka tries to kill herself to save her friends and when Mitsukake dies
• Hunter × Hunter has Hyori Ittai, a fast-paced, upbeat fight song that plays during the second half of the Chimera Ant arc. A much more somber piano rendition plays when Killua finds a hopeless Gon having given up all nen he'll ever have to take revenge on Pitou.
• Happens with the anime adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. The third opening theme, Great Days, has a cheerful and laid-back tune, with a warm color palette and the heroes standing together. However, during the final arc, the opening distorts into a creepy, off-tune mess with a dark and unsettling color palette, and some segments (and even the animation under it) being played backward, slowed down and sped up, to reference the Big Bad's terrifying 11th-Hour Superpower, which loops and distorts time.
• The dub version of Kirby: Right Back at Ya! uses a foreboding version of Kirby's Transformation Sequence music for the scene in "Fossil Fools, Part 2" where a dinosaur made from Kirby's DNA copies the Fire ability.
• Macross Frontier has the song Aimo, a love song/lullaby taught to Ranka Lee by her mother. Later in the series, Ranka sings a version created by her manager, Aimo O.C., which changes the song into a battle hymn. To say nothing of the ~bless the little queen~ version of Do You Remember Love... It's not just a dark reprise of an earlier scene in the series—it's a dark reprise of the most iconic song of the franchise.
• Everyone familiar with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya knows about the cheery, happy tune of "Hare Hare Yukai" ("Sunny Sunny Happiness"), the ending theme from the anime adaptation's first season. Included in the Image Song Album for each of the characters is a version of "Hare Hare Yukai" sung by that character. For the most part they have the same lyrics, but Ryoko Asakura's version has very dark and moody lyrics about how she has no place in the world and mentions destruction a few times.
• Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch reverses this with Return to the Sea. In its first uses, it's a dark, angry song in which Sara expresses her rage and hatred. However, when Hanon's assertion that Tarou really did love Sara gets to her, she reprises the song with a happier, more optimistic tone ("The inevitable distrust/Is only harmful weakness/Love cannot be defined, but/I want to believe in it again").
• Early on in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Tohru sings a cheerful tune about annihilating all the dust and garbage while cleaning. She sings it again 100 chapters later, only this time it's being used as a Pre-Mortem One-Liner as she prepares to finish off Jida.
• My Hero Academia has several songs that are somber reprises of its most memorable themes.
  • "You Say Run" is the series' Signature Song for some of its greatest "Hell, Yes!" Moments. But "Anguish of the Quirkless" is a somber version that first plays the day Izuku learns he's Quirkless and thus his dreams of becoming a hero are impossible while he and his mom cry uncontrollably over it. The similarly saddening "Supportive Heart" features parts of "You Say Run" and plays when All Might has used up all of his power as Izuku sobs in his arms.
  • "I Am Here!" is All Might's soaring theme song that plays whenever he arrives to save the day. The far more solemn and gentle "Resting Symbol of Peace" plays as All Might reflects on how little time he has left to be a Hero as he clings to whatever remnants of One For All he has left.
• One Piece has the melancholic track 'Hahanaru Umi' (Mother Sea), which is a slow piano cover of the series' upbeat theme song 'We Are!'
• The Popee the Performer episode "Swallower" has a sad instrumental violin and harp cover of its normally upbeat main theme. The episode is notable not only for having both Popee and Kedamono dead by the end of the episode, but also for being one of the only episodes of this Black Comedy to be banned from the airwaves.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica has a weird version where the darker version shows up first... in the very first scene. It's a creepy song and fits the dark atmosphere of the scene. It turns out to be a slowed down, distorted version of the ending theme, "Magia", which the show deliberately avoided using until Episode 3. The ending version is... only slightly less creepy than the one used in the opening scene. The slowing down and pitching down of "Magia" and other songs in Episode 1 turned out to be a production error exclusive to certain TV broadcasts; it was later "SHAFTed" back to the regular version in the DVD/Blu-Ray releases.
  • Another weird variation comes up late in the series. Homura's theme, "Puella in somnio" (Girl in the Dream) tends to follow her arrival onto a scene without fail, and is a mysterious and airy. A reprise comes in the form of "Inevitabilis" (Inevitable), a heavy and melancholic piano reprise that plays during Episode 11 when she breaks down in front of Madoka and explains everything before resolving to fight Walpurgis Night by herself. While the reprise came up much earlier in the series, it's particularly more poignant in the context of this scene and sets a much bleaker tone from thereon in (which, for Madoka Magica, is saying something).
  • Signum Malum is a darker and more melancholic revision of Sis Puella Magica.
  • Sayaka Miki's leitmotif is a somewhat cheery tune called Decretum, which has a slower, more melancholic version called Conturbatio. Later, when Sayaka becomes a witch, she is accompanied by a harsh, orchestral version of Decretum called Symposium Magarum.
    • Oddly enough despite Conturbatio being the darker, more melancholic version, it's Decretum that's the dark reprise making this a minor example of Soundtrack Dissonance. Conturbatio plays when Sayaka makes her wish and when she is with Kyosuke, Decretum plays when she's sinking into despair and when she turns into a witch.
  • Early on, we have "Venari Strigas" (Witch Hunt) during a fight against a witch. Later on, we get "Surgam Identidem" (I will rise again), which plays during the climatic fight against Walpurgisnacht, the strongest witch in the story (not counting Kriemhild Gretchen).
• While the theme song ("Chirin No Suzu") to the 1978 animated film Ringing Bell was already melancholy from the very beginning. As the movie progresses, the song gets gloomier with newer lyrics added. A notable example is after Chirin mourns his mother's death, he decides to leave the stable and confront the wolf. As he's preparing to leave, a slower variation of the theme song is heard complete with drums.
• Sailor Moon uses this to great effect many times. Some examples:
  • Most of the dramatic scenes in the first four seasons of the show use a slowed down version of the theme song, 'Moonlight Densetsu', most notably the star locket.
  • Sailor Stars also uses a slowed down version of the theme 'Sailor Star Song' in emotional scenes (though there's also a happier, faster version); it's even billed as a separate song in the soundtrack, called 'Makenai' (Don't Give Up). The same trick is used with Princess Kakyuu's theme in her death scene.
  • The way it happens in The Movie of Sailor Moon R is probably the most interesting: after Usagi manages to save 'everybody' as she puts it, with the help of the other senshi and Mamoru, using the power of the Silver Crystal in a sequence set to 'Moon Revenge', she uses up all her power and dies the song 'Fukkatsu No Serenade' starts playing, and it's somber and sad, but blossoms into a more hopeful tone as a contrite Fiore uses his powers to resurrect Usagi.
  • A scary version happens with the Sailor Star track ''Nehellenia Fukkatsu' which is already pretty sinister when normal, but is reprised later in the season, most notably when Sailor Galaxia kills 99% of the Earth's population, and it's pure undiluted Nightmare Fuel.
• Appears in Soul Eater with the songs "soul-eater (so scandalous)" and "soul-eater (reprise)." The first is a hip-hop tune with Word Salad Lyrics used over some title cards and at other light-hearted moments. The second keeps the Word Salad Lyrics, but the catchy refrain is gone, some of the lyrics are warped, it sounds a lot creepier in general, and it's generally played when people are going crazy.
  • It also has "Black Star (never lose myself)" and "Black Star (lost myself)". The first is a stirring hip-hop song that serves as Black Star's leitmotiv, the second one is a complete jumbled mess with the voice turned incomprehensible and the entire musical arrangement sounding like a carnival on acid.
• Spy X Family: In the first episode of the anime adaptation, the cheery tune of the track "Girl's Pastime" is changed to the sadder theme of "Subject 007" when Anya Forger has a flashback to her time at the laboratory she received her powers from.
• Tokyo Ghoul has Unravel, the epic first-season opening, which, admittedly, was already a bit sad as far as the lyrics go, but then it just becomes... depressing with its special version during the second-season finale. What once was guitars and others becomes just a piano, a violin, a cello, and TK's fragile-sounding voice. While it plays, you see the aftermath of all that's happened in the episode: Anteiku has burned down, characters are dead and other characters are mourning, and most importantly, Kaneki is walking through this all, carrying the body of his best friend Hide in his arms.
• Kurogane from Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- has two themes, Break the Sword of Justice which is high energy action theme, and Broken Sword of Justice which is a slower more swelled orchestral theme. 'Broken Sword'' plays when Kurogane loses both his parents, his father to combat, and his mother at the hands of a murder.
• In Your Name, the upbeat vocal opening theme, "Yume Tourou", gets remixed into the slow, melancholy instrumental "Kataware Doki" when Taki and Mitsuha finally meet in person at the lip of the mountain crater.
• YuYu Hakusho sometimes uses a melancholic version of the melody of its theme song "Smile Bomb" during sad situations, when Yusuke was in terrible pain from absorbing Genkai's power and Puu tried to give him water.