Stealth Sequel / Anime & Manga

• Tite Kubo's Burn The Witch (2018) seems to take place in a fantastical Harry Potter-like universe, featuring the titular witches as well as wizards and dragons. Taking place in "Reverse London", while it may seem detached from any of his previous works, the last panel reveals that the organization of 'Wing Bind', which has been tasked with the protection and domestication of dragons, takes its name from the two remaining letters of the emblem that adorns the organization's recently destroyed front gates, it's shortly after revealed that the destroyed gate's emblem read 'SSWB', with the words "Soul Society West Branch" boldly engraved above, implying that the manga had been taking place in the same universe as Kubo's Bleach. It was later confirmed in an interview, where it was stated it takes place 12 years after the final main arc of Bleach.
• Trigun Stampede on the surface looked merely like a modern retelling of Trigun with Younger and Hipper character designs, especially given that the first two episodes were for the most part, remixed plotlines that were present in the original 1998 anime. While it is a Continuity Reboot of sorts, the idea it might also be a stealth prequel was a twist that watchers familiar with the source material began to suspect because of several details, including but not limited to: main protagonist Vash's initial bounty being considerably lower than in other versions of Trigun, and more suspiciously, implications that the city named July was still standing. Trigun's manga had originally opened with the declaration that a city called July was destroyed, and it's an incident from Vash's past that haunts him for most of the duration of the story. Come Stampede's season finale, it's made clear that Stampede to this point was written as a version of the July incident where other familiar Trigun protagonists like Meryl and Wolfwood are there to witness it, and the new character designs were intentionally made so the audience would perceive the characters as younger and less mature. And just to hammer that home, the finale episode was given the exact same title as the first chapter of the manga: High Noon at July.
• Doraemon: Nobita's New Dinosaur, for the most part, is promoted as a remake of the first Doraemon film, Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur, with Nobita raising two dinosaurs instead of one. In a hologram early in the film, Piisuke the futubasaurus from the earlier film can be seen, which audiences dismissed as a Continuity Cameo. But halfway into the film when Nobita and Kyu nearly drown in the Creteceous Sea, Piisuke personally appears and saves them both, confirming to the audiences that yes, the previous movie did happen. Piisuke had another cameo before the end credits as one of the random background dinosaurs on Nobisaurus Island.
• Rozen Maiden Tale started out as a What If? manga that shows what would happen if Jun decided not to wind. Then the story transitioned into where the original continuity left off. ^*The original continuity was Cut Short.
• Devilman Lady at first seems like an Alternate Continuity retelling of Devilman with a Genderflipped protagonist, but it is revealed late in the story that the events of the original Devilman and Violence Jack are canon, but nobody remembers this thanks to a Cosmic Retcon that rebooted history. Akira (The original Devilman himself) even makes an appearance to explain this to Jun.
• Shin Mazinger Zero seems like an alternate universe or retelling of the original Mazinger Z... until Kouji starts to have visions of events that happened in the original series, including a flashback of the death of Minerva-X, and it is revealed that this series is a sequel to the original anime, in the which the characters are locked in a perpetual time loop.
• ∀ Gundam takes this a step further: though in-story it doesn't state that much, it's out-and-out obvious that the Black History is comprised of the events of all previous Gundam shows. Official material draws the timelines as parallel lines with individual events of all the other Gundam series until finally merging to form the Correct Century (Turn A's universe) circle (Fridge Logic meaning it will never proceed any further) meaning Turn A is the Sequel to all of them because it has the power to merge timelines.
• The twist ending to the 2007 anime adaptation of Skull Man revealed that the series was a Stealth Prequel to Cyborg 009, and that Skull Man would later become Skull, the Big Bad of that series.
• My-Otome in the beginning seemed like a spin-off series and Transplanted Character Series to My-HiME, only with Magical Girls instead of Mons. But as the story progressed, maddeningly vague hints began insinuating that Otome is in fact set in a far future of HiME, and that the Otome and SLAVES are descendants of the HiME and Orphans. The manga (which is a separate continuity from the anime) explicitly confirms it's the future, with what is heavily implied to be the Mashiro from the original series serving as the true Big Bad.
• For most of its run Stitch! seemed like an Alternate Universe to Lilo & Stitch, where Stitch landed in Japan instead of Hawaii. However, in the third season it was revealed that it takes place after a Time Skip. The duo went their separate ways when Lilo began college, and an attempted reunion failed due to Nani giving birth, causing Lilo to miss Stitch and make the alien think he was unwanted. She pops up in this episode as an adult with her identical-looking six-year-old daughter in tow. Similarly, Stitch & Ai, partly made by the same crew as the original series, also takes place after Leroy & Stitch.
• While not advertised as such, UQ Holder! makes it obvious in literally the first couple pages that it's a sequel to Negima! Magister Negi Magi. This is likely because Negima was ended by an especially bad case of Executive Meddling and the subsequent Creator Backlash. Later parts of UQ Holder drop the "Stealth" aspect entirely, with the series subtitled as "Mahou Sensei Negima 2". This gets played with however as it turns out it's set in the Bad Future of Negima than a straight sequel to the main timeline.
• Accel World is set in the far future of Sword Art Online. Although this is known to most fans of the author, it's not obvious until a later episode of Accel World, where Haru directly refers to the main Virtual Reality of SAO.
• Jaco the Galactic Patrolman turns out to be a prequel to Dragon Ball. Jaco's mission was to stop Kakarot/Goku's pod from landing on Earth. He fails, obviously. Also, Tights is Bulma's older sister. Ultimately subverted as the publisher couldn't resist using this fact for marketing and directly calling out the series that Jaco is a prequel to, several issues before it's revealed in the manga itself.
• Adolescence of Utena, the movie successor to Revolutionary Girl Utena, appears to take place in an Alternate Continuity. But there are certain hints, such as personality changes and song lyrics, that seem to be saying that this is actually an extremely metaphorical true ending to the series.
  • The manga is also an Alternate Continuity, but its ending points towards a much bigger story happening in the future, making it seem like a prequel to the show and movie. Also, clothing changes that happen during the manga (Utena's black uniform, Chu-chu's tie) carry over to the show.
• The 2014 Lupin III anime movie, Gravestone of Daisuke Jigen, in its final scene, turns out to be a prequel to The Mystery of Mamo.
• Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation quickly drops Foreshadowing about it being set in the same universe its accompanying video game is based on, set seven months prior to the story of "Reborn:EPISODE 4".
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion initially plays out like a Fix Fic Alternate Continuity of the franchise: everybody is alive and human, the new Eldritch Abominations can be defeated through cheery songs, and Charlotte is the Team Pet. Then Homura realizes that this is wrong and begins to remember the actual events of the show. And then things get worse, naturally.
• Killer Killer waits until the third chapter to reveal itself as a Danganronpa spin-off.
• Played with in Space Patrol Luluco. There are episodes that act as epilogues to both Kill la Kill (the cast visits the home planet of the life fibers and destroys it) and Inferno Cop (Luluco meets him in Hell), but these are mostly treated as jokes, as all three shows were made by Studio TRIGGER and Luluco was created to be the company's Milestone Celebration. Somewhat more seriously, at the end of the series, Luluco is revealed to be Trigger-chan, one of Studio Trigger's three mascots.
• The Kemono Friends anime series is eventually revealed to be one to the mobile game it was based on, with "Kaban", the main protagonist of the anime, being revealed to be a clone of Mirai, the previous protagonist, created after a piece of the latter's hair was exposed to the Sand Star and the current friends are actually a new (possibly related) generation.
• Word of God says that FLCL Alternative was designed as a stealth prequel to the original series, which is why Haruko doesn't have her bracelet or Vespa yet. However, other staff members say that it's supposed to be an Alternate Universe (hence the title). Really, the whole thing is so vague that either explanation seems plausible. The Gainax Ending has her get the Vespa and see something that could be Atomsk, and also features visions of the first series appearing in her silhouette. This was a reference to an unused idea from the original OVA that the town of Mabase was actually on Mars all along.
• W'z reveals in its first episode that it's a sequel to an earlier GoHands production with this line...
  "By continuing to achieve victory, a Hand Shaker will eventually reach God."
• SSSS.GRIDMAN initially appears an Alternate Continuity to Denkō Chōjin Gridman, with a different Gridman who uses similar powers and weapons to fight monsters that appear in the real world instead of the computer world. Then Hibiki meets Anosillus the 2nd, who is heavily implied to be the child of a kind-hearted monster with the same name from the original series. After the revelation that the anime is actually set in the Computer World, the final battle has Hibiki, the New Century Junior High students, and even Anti donning Acceptors to restore Gridman to his true form—his original tokusatsu design.
• Higurashi: When They Cry - Gou at first seems to be a remake/readaptation, and was marketed as such, but at the start of episode 2 the plot is revealed to actually be set after the events of the original Higurashi.
• While the movie Yo-kai Watch Jam The Movie: Yo-kai Academy Y - Can a Cat be a Hero? initially seemed like an Alternate Continuity for the Yo-kai Watch anime, the sequel Yo-kai Watch Jam - Yo-kai Academy Y: Close Encounters of the N Kind reveals that the ominous threat seen in the final scene of Yo-kai Watch! was an alien entity who decimated the Yo-kai World, releasing the Yo-kai criminal Mikettio and splitting him into three Yo-kai (Bakera, Goromi, and Bluepon) in the process, forcing Enma and Zazel to flee to the Y-Gakuen universe and Enma to keep himself dormant within Emma Daiouji (daugher of Kinya Daiouji, Lord Enma Gouen's own reincarnation). Also, some Classic Yo-kai managed to survive, keeping themselves safe within Earth Walker. Likewise, Episode 53 reveals that Jinpei, Jibanyan's reincarnation, is Amy's grandson and Miho's son, setting both the series and the movie as sequels to Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside as well.
• A common theory was that Rebuild of Evangelion would turn out to be some kind of Alternate Timeline to the original series rather than a straightforward remake/reboot; aside from the trippy nature of the franchise in general^note for perspective, many fans also believe that the show's two endings are both canonical, the idea was bolstered by Kaworu already knowing who Shinji is and commenting that "this time" he'll make him happy. The final movie confirms the theory, with Kaworu admitting that he's relived different versions of the story many times, and Shinji seeing visions of the original show.
• Fire Force seemed like a self-contained story, with little winks and nods to the author's prior work Soul Eater. By the endgame, however, it's outright shown that Fire Force was a prequel all along, with the final chapters making it blatantly obvious as the sun seen in Soul Eater was the "old world" in the Fire Force, destroyed due to the Cataclysm, and that Lord Death created the "new world" the Soul Eater series is set in.
• D.Y.N. Freaks by Demonbane's writer Haganeya Jin at first seems like it is just a separate manga which just also happens to draw inspiration from Cthulhu Mythos. And then one of the characters summons the severed arm of Demonbane itself. It turns out that the manga is a sequel to a concept idea for a sequel called "D2 Project" which ends with Demonbane managing to destroy Azathoth, leading to a omniversal Dream Apocalypse, with the world of D.Y.N. Freaks being the last bastion to stop the destruction of everything. Nitroplus Blasterz Heroines Infinite Duel is notably an Interquel to all of this, explaining how Mugen AKA Yog-Sothoth was able to create the world in the first place.
• X/1999 serves as a resolution to Seishirou and Subaru's rivalry from Tokyo Babylon given their stories are self-contained.
• Oshi no Ko Chapter 90.1 reveals that The series takes place years after the end of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, with the titular main character shown to be married and a successful photographer.
• Shimeji Simulation: The manga, at first, initially appears to be an original work created by the author Tsukumizu. But from the start of Chapter 8, there's a minor hint that the manga is a stealth sequel to Girls' Last Tour, where Shjiima and Majime briefly come across a black cube sitting in front of the danchis that is identical to the cube seen at the highest layer of the predecessor manga's finale. Several other hints of this manga being a sequel have also been seen including the inclusion of the machine language, the cryptic writing system previously seen in the predecessor manga, which is assumed to have now been upgraded as it has fishes and more graphical elements embedded onto it; with Sis using it to bolster the computational power of the simulation, which is already a foreshadowing that their world is a simulated reality in a supercomputer. It was not until Chapter 44 when Yomikawa reads a book to Shijima about the humanity of the past which was struck by a violent unnamed epidemic, before a massive war followed, with human settlements wiped out one after other, with the latter so eerily identical as to how the humans were wiped out by the massive Robot War seen in many of the video clips in Kanazawa's camera in Episode 12 of the anime. The biggest bombshell comes when it was revealed that humanity during the eve of the robot war managed to create a fusiform-shaped supercomputer and used it to transfer their human consciousness (a la Brain Uploading) to preserve humanity from extinction; and then the said computer is said to operate forever inside a space shuttle that goes on practically forever to the edge of the universe, birthing the simulation that is as of now in the start of the manga. In GLT's Volume 6, Chapter 42, it basically corroborates Chito and Yuuri's observation of the third shuttle's flight path which continuously heads further into the edge of the universe. The Dénouement Episode, Chapter 48, cements this trope as it is revealed that the two strangers Shijima met inside the Afterlife Express were not in fact her neighbours, but Chito and Yuuri themselves who were posited to have passed away from the Big Sleep and had their consciousness uploaded right next to the black cube, which served as the de facto server room to the simulation. This, at the end, revealed that Shimeji Simulation is a sequel set in an unspecified years within the future after Girls' Last Tour, making this manga a canonical sequel to its predecessor.
• While Akira Himekawa generally treats each adaptation of The Legend of Zelda as a separate story, this is used for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016). Twilight Princess had already been a very Distant Sequel to Ocarina of Time, but the manga makes the connection far more direct and explicit beginning at Link's Symbolic Hero Rebirth, and the manga adds a scene the Hero's Shade shows Link his face in life, revealing himself as the Hero of Time.
• Scott Pilgrim Takes Off starts out as a straightforward adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim comics… until Scott is apparently killed in the first fight. From there, we learn of time travel shenanigans from Scott’s future self from after the events of the comics.

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