YMMV / Daria

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A-F

• Accidental Aesop: While everything generally works out for Daria in the end, her Brilliant, but Lazy attitude doesn't always guarantee her the most optimal result in getting her first picks in life, particularly when Bromwell turned her down and she had to settle for Raft as a second choice.^note Although it is hinted that Raft was her first choice until she started looking at going to school with Tom. She didn't seem particularly heartbroken when ahe was accepted to Raft. Even though the writers don't delve too deeply into how Daria's lack of drive in extracurricular activities and other educational/career endeavors might cost her, aside from the Bromwell case, the lesson one might take away from all this is that intelligence, talent, and getting good grades aren't enough. To really get what you want out of life, you have to go the extra mile and put in more work, show extra drive, go above and beyond with extracurriculars, and seriously put yourself out there to truly succeed in life, rather than coasting through life and only getting involved in things outside your immediate sphere when you get forced or bribed into it. However, this wasn't a total loss, as Daria felt she didn't fit in with Bromwell's elitist environment, and her non-entry made it easier for her to end her unsatisfying romance with Tom. In addition, Raft had the added advantage of being in the same city where Jane would go to attend art school, which allowed her to better preserve the friendship between the two.
• Adaptation Displacement: Wait, Daria was a character in Beavis and Butt-Head?
• Adorkable: Mr. O'Neill, in his sweeter moments. What really stands out is when he's practicing asking Ms. Barch to dance in "Daria Dance Party" with a mirror and keeps fumbling with it when people walk in.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Daria, herself: Only Sane Woman or a hypocritical snob who's quick to judge everyone? The show itself makes her grapple with this and how her identity as a teenager may be hurting her as much as it helps her. A lot of episodes in seasons 3-5 have Daria being called out for her attitude and Daria realizing her attitude is not going to win her any friends (except for people like Jane and Jodie, and even they don't always agree with her).
  • Is Sandi a complete Alpha Bitch who thinks Quinn is just another girl to socially dominate, or does she actually view the members of the fashion club as friends, despite being a domineering Libby? There's proof that comes from both sides; by the Grand Finale, she seems to be the latter, but for a lot of the series she was the former, with this slipping out.
  • Tom's potentially ending the relationship between Daria and Jane, and effectively sealing the fate of the flirtation between Daria and Trent Lane, caused Tom to be a very controversial character and his portrayals are all over the map. The fact that what Tom represented shifted during the course of the show leads to him coming off as very different in works written before the show ended, and his status as hero, villain, or neither are entirely based on where the author fell during the show's run. And that's just regarding his relationship to Daria, which was largely his only storyline in the entire show.
  • Is Quinn's eagerness to be a Dude Magnet yet unwillingness to settle down with one guy simply because she's young and doesn't want to be tied down or because she's closeted in some form or another? Besides how seriously she caters to Sandi despite Sandi obviously seeing her as a threat to her popularity, Quinn becomes notably invested in Lindy's well-being during "Is It College Yet?"
  • Was Trent aware of Daria's crush on him? He either was clueless about her feelings, or chose to avoid the topic to save Daria from embarrassment, up to Jane's Addition, where he tells Daria that they wouldn't work out as a couple. Was it a confirmation of how he saw her all along, or was it only an offhanded comment?
  • Brittany and Kevin are a pretty straightforward archetype of vapid popular bullies in a highschool setting, but do they actually understand what that means? They seem to observe the Brain and Popular kid divide, but still talk to Daria and invite her to school events on a regular basis. The only thing they don't do is try to include Daria and Jane in their 'Popular' activities such as football games or parties, but that might just be because they know Daria wouldn't enjoy it. Do they actually think their popularity would be effected by hanging out with Daria in public? Or do they just think that 'Brains' are another species that don't like the same activities that they do? Considering that Brittany has invited Daria to parties in the past and Daria complained the whole time, it might be the latter.
  • How much does Quinn actually dislike Daria? They are very hostile to each other's faces, but any time that Quinn thinks Daria wants her advice on fashion or dating she seems almost excited to help out. The final season also reveals that Quinn has anxieties about her and Daria ending up as resentful as Helen and her sisters. It's possible that Quinn does actually respect Daria and wishes they were closer, but their teenage pride and clashing personalities stop her from reaching out.
  • Are Daria and Jane any better than the various cliques of Lawndale High? Or are they just as unwelcoming and judgmental, actively shunning and mocking those who don't meet the standards of their particular clique, even if it's for reasons that are shallow?
• Alternative Joke Interpretation: Was Daria's remark about Highland having ether in the water supply in the first episode a joke about the shows animation style or her the weirdness of it's residents.
• Awesome Music: "Freakin' Friends". It sounds just horrible enough for us to believe it's a Mystic Spiral song, and no more.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Daria herself. Some admire her as the ideal role model due to her intelligence and attitude, while others see her as a clearly flawed but still well rounded character. Then there are those who find her an all around self-righteous hypocrite.
  • Jake, while not reaching status of The Scrappy, has a fair share of detractors who thought his Bumbling Dad personality didn't mix right with the rest of the show's structure, while others consider him sympathetic if not somewhat entertaining.
  • Tom gets this due to being Daria's first boyfriend and to a large extent, by putting Daria and Jane's friendship in real danger because of their love triangle. He's amassed quite a bit of haters who consider him a flat character, think of him as a smug guy who talks down to Daria, and generally despise him for almost ending Daria and Jane's relationship. On the other hand, he does also have his fans who feel that Daria wasn't entirely innocent either. In their view, Tom was always the one who tried to communicate with Daria in the relationship but Daria herself made very little effort to communicate back effectively. Also, Tom does get some sympathy for Daria standing him up on dates more than once but every time, Tom tries to remain patient and understanding with her. All in all, very few people feel neutral when it comes to Tom.
  • Ted got this for some time, around the time of his appearance, in "The New Kid", as a part of the fandom did not admit that Daria might have a love interest, or at least one other than her platonic crush on Trent. As Ted barely reappeared after his introduction, save for brief moments in two later episodes, "A Tree Grows in Lawndale" and "I Loathed a Parade", the controversy about him was forgotten.
• Bizarro Episode: There are fans who refuse to consider "Depth Takes A Holiday" as a canon episode due to how "out there" it is (ditto the "Daria!" musical episode).
• Broken Base:
  • While it has more defenders than "Depth Takes a Holiday", the Musical Episode is still pretty divisive. Depending on who you ask, it's either utterly hilarious or completely out of place in the show. It's uncommon to come across someone who takes a neutral stance on it.
  • The fanbase is divided between those who prefer the first season, sometimes referred to as "Daria triumphant" because of the episodes where Daria usually turns things around in her favor, and those who prefer the two last seasons, which show a more fragile Daria, where they claim to have had more character development.
  • "Quinn the Brain" was received negatively by some hardcore fans, who felt that Daria seemed out of character, for feeling annoyed and threatened by Quinn's pseudo-intellectual attitude, and giving herself a She's All That-style makeover, as reaction. The episode also generated controversy in the fanbase, as to whether Daria really would be all that, as seen after the makeover, as previous episodes, and especially the immediately following "I don't" suggest that she would be quite thin and without curves.
  • "The New Kid" was quite divisive when it aired, as many fans rejected the idea that Ted could become a love interest for Daria, either because they didn't like him or because they thought Trent was the only admissible love interest.
  • "Fizz'Ed", the first episode of season 5 received a strong negative reception from many fans, perhaps because it did not focus on what was the most exciting subject of the series at that time, namely the romance between Daria and Tom. Despite this, the episode had some supporters who saw it as a return to Season 1's "Triumphant Daria".
• Designated Villain: Brittany and Kevin get this at times. At worst, the two of them (separately and together) are Innocently Insensitive and Lethally Stupid in making off-handed remarks to Daria and others and their own ditziness driving others to annoyance and anguish, but neither are actively bad or even spiteful. Helping their case is that they both suffer from Depending on the Writer (they can be portrayed as being typical high school teenagers or legitimately friendly or even friends with Daria).
  • Quinn in general is a case of Values Dissonance where her only crimes are being interested in fashion and men being attracted to her. Modern viewers might even feel uncomfortable with how close some of Daria's snide comments get to slut shaming, especially when the suitors are older men. Quinn is bullied on both sides from her friend group who berate her any time she tries to be more conscious, and by Daria whenever she seems shallow. All of the 'good' characters (Like Jane, Trent, and her summer tutor) are needlessly cruel to her, even her own mother is implied to think think she's a mess. In "Is it Fall Yet" the first boy she really liked rips her to pieces, being especially harsh over her having 'nothing interesting' about her at all. All of this while Quinn is just a kid who is still figuring herself out, and isn't even hurting anyone with her current 'shallow' interests.
  • In "Antisocial Climbers", Quinn gets all the blame when the school's food and supplies get left behind. Meanwhile, Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie get no heat despite being the three idiots who left the food and supplies behind so that they could carry Quinn's bags even though they were fully capable of carrying more than one bag.
• Die for Our Ship: Tom, from anyone he ships:
  • He get this treatment from those who ship Daria with Trent, despite the producers themselves being very disparaging towards the idea of Daria/Trent going down. If Tom happens to show up in fan works involving a Daria/Trent pairing, expect him to receive Ron the Death Eater treatment where he's presented as an abusive Jerkass who deserves to get killed in a nasty manner.
  • Tom gets this in Daria/Jane fans as well, a little bit understandable considering the Daria, Tom, Jane love triangle had Daria and Jane break up their friendship. Trent in comparison if he’s not paired up with Daria himself will be a supportive brother and friend to the girls who hooks up with a minor character.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Despite only showing up in three episodes, Daria's aunt Amy is deeply beloved by the fans of the show, due to her personality being near identical to her
  • Mr. DeMartino is a fan favorite for his (often correct and justified) ranting and Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable speech patterns.
  • Stacy Rowe became another fan favorite for being an adorable Woobie who gains sympathy for the crap she puts up with from the rest of The Fashion Club.
  • Mystik Spiral as a whole has their fair share of fans. And would've achieved Breakout Character status, had their spinoff gotten off the ground.
  • Jodie: not just for being a positive black female character, but one that deconstructs the various race tropes associated with her from Token Minority to Flawless Token that not even the titular character would be aware of.
  • Andrea, the goth background character, is seldomly seen and heard but heavily featured in fanfiction. She's kind of a "darker" Daria, and her few appearances and lines tend to be short but memorable.
  • Burnout Girl (sometimes referred to as "Jennifer" due to a seating chart in "Café Disaffecto") is fairly popular as far as background characters go, mostly due to her interesting design.
• Fan Nickname: Mack is also known as "Saint Mack", due to him being one of the few characters to be both nice and generally together.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Daria/Jane seems to be vastly preferred over any other pairing, canon or otherwise, featuring one of the two, likely due to the show's focus on the intimacy of their friendship.
• Fair for Its Day: Modern viewers might feel a bit of Squick for how often Daria's underage sister is hit on by adult men. The show usually plays this for comedy, with Quinn either intentionally seducing them or taking advantage of their attraction to buy her clothes or sodas. More bizarre are episodes where Quinn gets dates with actors or models who appear to be adults, yet her parents don't see any issue with them because of how it effects Quinn's popularity.
• Foe Yay Shipping: There is some fandom for Quinn/Sandi, with fans interpreting Sandi's hostility as her conflicting feelings over her attraction to her biggest rival.

G-R

• Genius Bonus: While it may seem odd that Brittany was left out of the modeling seminar, it does make sense since its a well-known fact most designers prefer models with smaller cup-sizes, since it is easier to fit them. When the designers have Brittany do a model walk for them, they even make hand gestures regarding her breasts, drawing attention to this.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Daria has a large number of fans in Argentina, probably because of her resemblance to Argentine cultural icon, Mafalda. The show is also quite popular in Britain, where it aired at one point on Channel 5.
• Girl-Show Ghetto: This show managed not to fall into it.
• Growing the Beard: In the first season the colors were more muted and the voice actors hadn't quite settled into their performances, especially those voicing multiple characters like Wendy Hoops or Marc Thompson. Daria's snarkiness towards those around her was fine, but one can see that getting old really fast. The show arguably grew the beard with "The Misery Chick", which had the characters tackling a difficult subject (death of an unlikable person), even leading to a brief schism between Daria and Jane. All the characters would slowly gain dimension and depth after that, and the "classic" era of the show would begin with Season 2.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The episode "Fizz Ed" focused on the school running out of money and having to accept sponsorship from a soda company who changes the curriculum to focus entirely on promoting their products. In 2017, Oklahoma ran out of money for its education, mostly due to tax cuts for oil companies, and has been accepting donated materials from oil companies that refocus the entire curriculum to oil, promote fracking, and ignore the negative effects of oil on the environment.
  • In episode 4 of Season 4, Kevin and the football team (except Mack) are suspected of cheating, because they all got 100% on their test and the teacher, Mr. DeMartino, noticed his file cabinet was broken into the night before. When he asked Kevin to name the people responsible for the Teapot Dome Scandal - which was a question on the test - he first named the New Orleans Saints. When DeMartino didn't buy it, he named the New England Patriots. Both teams were found guilty of illegally surveilling their opponents in 2012 and 2007 respectively.
  • In "Arts n' Crass", Helen mentions an essay by Daria about reintroducing torture, "which was obviously a joke".
  • In "This Year's Model", Daria invites a recruiter of Private Military Contractors to the school, whose pitch is "Sad to say, America no longer engages in the kind of ground wars that made this country great!".
  • Way back in the first episode "Esteemsters" there's a throwaway gag about Daria's parents acting upset that their daughter apparently had low self-esteem, because they 'always tell her how wonderful she is, dammit!' This becomes much harsher when the final regular episode "Boxing Daria" aired, and showed the reason Daria's parents were so initially upset was because Daria used to have quite a problem with her attitude in school, so much so Jake and Helen actually had a rather heated argument over it, and were probably afraid it was happening again.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • During the final episode of Season 1, we find out that Mack's full name is Michael Jordan Mackenzie. He explains that his original name was Michael James, but after his father saw Michael Jordan in a playoff game, he changed James to Jordan. One year after the show ended in 2002, the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted a promising young basketball player by the name of LeBron James.
  • Geoffrey Arend, the (second) voice of Upchuck, the ultimate Casanova Wannabe who disgusts or even outright creeps out all the girls he's constantly hitting on? Former husband of Christina Hendricks!
  • In "The Invitation", Britanny asks if Daria's quote, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger", is from a song. The phrase, or a loose translation thereof, has appeared in not one, but two hit songs since the episode aired.
  • Straddling the line between harsher and hilarious, in one episode, a desperate Jake begins to work for a supremely stereotypical dot-com that produces absolutely nothing. Its much younger employees are all initial public offering-based millionaires, some of whom spend company time ordering things for themselves out of high-end catalogs. It looks like Jake didn't last there too long, which for once is good. Come the dot-com bubble burst just a few years later, people like these were pursued by the law, and when liquidation firms came in to recoup what they could, they found... unneeded items from high-end catalogs. "Is 6000 too much for a coffee table?" "Not if you love it!"
  • "Death in velvety green - homicidal house plants, next on Sick Sad World!"
  • One episode has Kevin sharing some "wisdom" he learned in the aftermath of an injury that nearly ended his football career. To this, Brittany is wowed and says that he'd make a wonderful father, to which Daria then ends with "To a coconut". In the 20th Anniversary follow-up in Entertainment Weekly, it's revealed that not only is Kevin a great father and is happily married to Brittany, but is also a stay-at-home Dad.
  • The character of Melody Powers, a violently anti-communist Tuxedo and Martini super-spy who Daria created for a writing project in "Cafe Disaffecto", became this in two ways. First, just a month after that episode aired, the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, an Affectionate Parody of James Bond about a (male) Tuxedo and Martini super-spy who shared Melody's last name, premiered and went on to become a late '90s pop culture touchstone. The second stems from the fact that Daria was, in many ways, an animated version of Angela Chase from My So-Called Life. Years later, Angela's actress Claire Danes starred on Homeland as Carrie Mathison, a CIA agent willing to go to extreme lengths to stop terrorists... meaning that Angela Chase became Melody Powers for real. Add to that the fan theory that Carrie is Angela all grown up...
  • Brittany saying that she convinced her parents to install Pay TV, claiming it would be to watch History Channel, in "The Lab Brat". Hardly a convincing argument these days, for reasons well known.
• Ho Yay:
  • Some fans play with the idea that Jeffy might be gay. In Season 1 The Invitation, when the Three J's are trying to spread rumors about each other, Jeffy says that one of the others is a bad kisser. When Quinn looks at him, he quickly adds that he heard it from a girl. After his essay-test in Lucky Strike, Daria gives him a good grade because he made a good argument about his own theory that Mercutio had a thing for Romeo. It gets reinforced when he opts to go hunting for a squirrel with Tom and Jake, leaving Quinn behind.
  • Mack and Kevin get a lot of this, with Kevin often leaning on Mack and calling him "Mackdaddy" (even if Mack hates being called that). A ring salesman even mistakes them for a gay couple.
  • Mr. DeMartino gets pissed when he finds out that Mr. O'Neill is dating Ms. Barch, to the point he tries to break off their accidental marriage proposal. The bartender even looks at them funny when they start to hug each other while crying.
  • After starting off as Ted's bully, Robert quickly becomes buddies with him while they play a VR game at the arcade, to the point Ted even forgets that he was hanging out with Daria.
• Jerkass Woobie: Mr. DeMartino, Mr. O'Neill, and Ms. Barch (emphasis on the "Jerkass" part for Barch and DeMartino), but these three do have their moments where the viewer can't help but feel sorry for them.
  • Mr. DeMartino grew up with a mother who sent him to live with his strange, twisted neighbors because she didn't want her dates to know she was a single mother (and later, his best friend married said mom and his best friend [Mr O'Neill] married another woman he hates: Ms. Barch). He lost his love of teaching because of idiot students like Brittany and Kevin, and has a crippling gambling addiction that cost him his car.
  • Ms. Barch: Abandoned by her husband after 22 years of a bad marriage and now blames all males for being just as bad as her husband (until Mr. O'Neill comes along). Watch that scene in "The Daria Hunter" when she finds out that Mr. O'Neill actually cares about her plight. When she says, "You're sensitive, yet you're a male", she sounds like she's about to cry.
  • Mr. O'Neill isn't as much of an overt Jerkass as the other two, but Daria's mom does consider him creepy and he does push his pie-eyed beliefs on others without thinking that others will disagree with what he believes. The Woobie parts are obvious: Mr. DeMartino is his friend, Ms. Barch roped him into a Pitbull Dates Puppy relationship which scared O'Neill (at first), and, much like DeMartino, he has to deal with students who aren't as bright as Daria.
  • Link from the episode "Is It Fall Yet?", especially as he's been passed along by his mother to counselors and was just wanting to engage in typical camping activities so he wouldn't have to think about his dysfunctional family.
  • Sandi, of all people, manages to be this in "Fat Like Me", given her despair at being bed-ridden and gaining weight.
  • Daria herself. While she may be cynical, hypocritical, and completely apathetic to just about everything around her, you can't help but feel sorry for her when some light is shed on her childhood in "Boxing Daria".
• LGBT Fanbase: Besides being rerun on LOGO, the combination of Daria not conforming to a world that wants to change her, the Pseudo-Romantic Friendship between her and Jane, Jane's Ambiguously Bi tendencies with Allison and the above Alternate Character Interpretation of Quinn being closeted (dubbed "Queer Quinn") had made it notably popular with queer fans of the show.

• Misaimed Fandom: A lot of fans view Daria as an appropriate role model because she thinks she's Surrounded by Idiots and views herself and Jane as being the only level-headed people in school, even though her anti-social tendencies get called out all the time. These same fans throw a fit whenever Daria dares to show insecurity about her appearance or have a dating life.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Ms. Angela Li probably crossed this when she forced Daria to sell chocolate to a woman who had blood sugar issues, implying that she was more interested in making money than someone's physical well-being.
  • Jake's father would be enough to qualify, despite never appearing on screen, if we consider the cruel treatment he gave to his son until he became the somewhat neurotic man he is as of today. Hell, he was apparently such an Abusive Parent that Jake not only still has Catapult Nightmares years after his death, but so frequently that Hellen doesn't even flinch at them, merely giving a dry assurance that he's here and his father's dead without taking her eyes off her book.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: "Daria's Inferno" was not well received (although the storyline is generally regarded as up to the series' standards), and "Daria's Sick Sad Life Planner" was criticized by the Moral Guardians for molding journal entries to Daria's viewpoint.
• Recurring Fanon Character:
  • Danielle Todds is an attractive girl used as a Love Interest for Quinn whenever someone doesn't want to pair her with someone in the Fashion Club.
  • Veronica Morgendorffer was created for a mini-fic with the premise that Daria wakes up to find a third Morgendorffer sister, who looks like Quinn but with Daria's glasses and personality. Everyone acts like she's always been there, leaving Daria confused what's going on. Some stories use her seriously, others just make a Running Gag that Daria is constantly forgetting that she exists.
  • "Judith" and "NegaJane" are evil versions of Daria and Jane who go to multiple universes and kill their local counterparts.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Jake would later go on to become a certain Pokémon trainer who would do his best to push his Pokémon beyond their limits.
  • Kevin and Mr. DeMartino were voiced by Marc Thompson, a known voice actor for 4Kids Entertainment.

S-W

• Seasonal Rot: Part of the fandom thinks that the series began to show signs of exhaustion from the third season onwards, with the presentation of wacky episodes (“Depth Takes a Holiday”, “Daria!”, “The Lawndale File”) that escaped the realism that characterized the show in previous seasons, and that the deterioration was compounded by the appearance of Tom Sloane and the subsequent love conflicts involving him, Jane and Daria, when the show, to many fans, came to resemble Dawson's Creek. Another part of the fandom, however, believes that the final two seasons brought more character development to Daria. The fifth season has also been criticized, not only for the unpopular and ill-fated romance between Daria and Tom, but also for giving the fashion club excessive screen time to the detriment of the main characters.
• Signature Scene:
  • Daria defining "edgy".
  • Many fans still find Helen's Mama Bear moment from "Arts N' Crass" as one of the defining moments of the show, highlighting how Helen loves her daughter and will do anything to protect her.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • To Ghost World, with which it shares very similar themes of exploring teen angst in The '90s through the eyes of a misfit teenage girl. Jane even has the same haircut as Enid Coleslaw, to the point that the image caption for the main page lampshades it. And bringing it full circle, the film adaptation of Ghost World was seen by many fans as "Daria: The Movie".
  • To Welcome to the Dollhouse, a 1995 American coming-of-age black comedy film written and directed by Todd Solondz, which depicts the life of a bespectacled, uncool, young female brunette student who is very unpopular at her school, and who has an overbearing mother, an inept father , a cute and insufferable younger sister, stupid schoolmates, authoritarian teachers... and who harbors a platonic crush on an indolent young rock star wannabe.Daria escapes the charge of being a rip-off of that film because its production predated the film's premiere, and because Daria's characters, unlike Solondz's, have at least some redeeming qualities.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The long-awaited DVD set occasionally opts for these in place of the more generic cues that comprise the majority of the music.
• Theme Pairing: The "Future Alter Egos", though not firmly canon, go even farther by pairing Depraved Bisexual Allison with The Alcoholic Lindy, as both are morally ambiguous characters who are introduced in movies.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Ted DeWitt-Clinton is introduced as a socially awkward potential love interest to Daria in "The New Kid". He was also one of the few characters who left Daria tongue-tied at the end of an episode. Ted could have gone on to become a recurring character and possibly eventually become Daria's actual boyfriend despite their awkward start but after his first appearance, he quietly disappears from the series, save for a minor speaking role in "I Loathe A Parade".
  • Luhrman as well from "I Don't", similar to the above. He could have gone from a potential love-interest or even a good companion to Daria but never appeared again.
  • The Burnout Girl, who was one of the first characters to be created, but eventually reduced to a speechless background character, despite initial predictions that she should eventually have some short lines, as in the unaired pilot "Sealed With a Kick".
  • The Sloane family. Tom's parents (Katherine/Kay and Angier) and sister (Elsie) could have presented a good opportunity for him to have his own subplots and grow out of being a Satellite Character to Daria and Jane. But the only time they appear is in Is It Fall Yet and don't make any more appearances in the fifth and penultimate season, denying the audience the chance to get to know Tom outside of being "The Boyfriend" to Daria and Jane.
  • David Sorenson, Quinn's tutor who appears only in "Is It Fall Yet?" and who showed sympathy for Daria. For many fans of the series, he could have been an alternate love interest for Daria. Or a friend. Or even a love interest for a more mature Quinn.
  • Aunt Amy, the Über-Daria, who, in the opinion of many fans of the series, could have appeared in more episodes, so that her bond with her niece was better developed.
  • Monique, the on-again off-again love interest of Trent, who appeared in just two episodes. A greater presence of her could have helped to sink the Trent/Daria ship - as this was the intention of the production - in a more convincing and acceptable way to the public.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: It was hinted twice that Quinn had Hidden Depths when it came to boys and relationships (In "This Year's Model" she gets uncomfortable about grinding up against shirtless boys and in "Daria Dance Party" she syas she doesn't slow dance until the seventh date). This could've made for good Character Development but this side of her was never brought up again after those two instances.
• Time Marches On: Daria says a lot of borderline violent things that would get her in major trouble with zero tolerance policies put in place in reaction to the growing trend of school shootings, especially if someone as paranoid as Ms. Li were in charge of the school.
  • The premise of the episode "It Happened One Nut" rests on Helen's determination that Daria improve her social skills so she doesn't end up as a mortician. She needn't have worried: the job of mortician, or any job that involves working with dead bodies, is not as stigmatized as a calling for weird, antisocial loners. Part of this is because shows like Six Feet Under and the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation pantheon have given these jobs a more favorable impression for later generations.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Aside from the music (Which you wouldn't see on the home releases due to licensing issues), the show is very much a time capsule of the Turn of the Millennium. Some pretty notable examples include:
  • Helen's bulky cell phone, as well as the use of landlines and corded phones in characters' houses. In "Cafe Disaffecto", Quinn even sells phone cards as part of the fundraiser.
  • "Cafe Disaffecto" is kicked off by an Internet Cafe being robbed - Internet cafes more or less stopped being a thing once Personal Computers and broadband became more widespread in North America, making this very much a "Nineties" thing.
  • Cathode ray Tube television and computer monitors being seen in Daria's house. Jane in the episode "Psycho Therapy" also has a "Bondi Blue" iMac computer in her room.
    • "The New Kid" also has the mention of software being distributed via CD-ROM.
  • The presence of malls in suburban America.
    • "Fuzzy Wuzzy Wee Bits" is an obvious parody of Beanie Babies.
  • Paintball as a school field trip would very much be unheard of after the increase of school shootings during the Turn of the Millennium and The New '10s.
  • Everyone's hairstyles and fashion choices, such as Quinn exposing her belly button while wearing long pants. In general, the technology, fashion, and music featured in the show were distinctively from the late 1990s/early 2000s, but a lot of the themes and situations aren't as dated. The fan wiki points out many specific examples of the show's datedness.
  • Glasses being automatically uncool. The episode 'Through A Lens Darkly' relies on the presumption that wearing glasses of any style is considered unfashionable, so choosing not to wear them is vain. The episode never even considers that Daria refusing to try contact lenses is also a stylistic choice, and hypocritical considering it comes at the cost of learning to drive properly.
  • On a more specific note, the show's depiction of Gen X cynicism and of (suburban middle-class and largely white) American life is pretty firmly welded to the 90s. After The War on Terror, the 2008 Recession, increased political polarization, rise of fascist-flavored politics in the USA, and the proliferation of social media, the mentality of "ironic detachment" and cynicism can come off as privileged willful ignorance in the age of "New Sincerity".
  • The social themes the show covers have become far more nuanced in the modern day. Mainstream feminism, for example, has outgrown the basic concept of 'girls shouldn't be judged based on their looks', which is Daria's main concern on the matter. In fact, many of its observations about 'shallow' interests like fashion, theater, and dating come across as misogynistic through a modern feminist lens.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Generally, there are a lot of characters who deserve Daria's snark. However, during "Life in the Past Lane", Daria really goes overboard on harping on Jane's new date, Nathan, a retro guy who's really into the 1940s. Even though Nathan is only showing an interest in the culture, music, and style of the 40s, Daria decided to rain on his parade repeatedly by telling him just how racist and conformist the 40s were. And even after Nathan acknowledges Daria's criticisms and admits that his favorite era had its flaws and social inequalities, what does Daria do? She continues to snark at him and annoy him to the point where Nathan, quite justifiably, decides that he would really rather have as little to do with Daria as possible. Granted Nathan was eventually revealed to be a bit of an obsessive jerk towards the end of the episode but Daria's Jerkass behavior towards him before then was still completely uncalled for.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • It's debatable just how sympathetic Timothy O'Neill is intended to be as he's often shown to be self-congratulatory and has trouble remembering the names of his students early on but at the bare minimum, he's not meant to be a bad guy, as his motives seem to be well-meaning. And he's clearly not a Sitcom Arch-Nemesis to Daria like Ms. Li is. However, he does cross the line a lot with Daria whenever he singles her out to try to make her take part in activities she clearly doesn't want to be in and at one point, even submits one of her essays to a contest without asking for her consent. As a side effect, this tends to make Mr. O'Neill come off as more of an inconsiderate asshole with no regard for Daria's feelings or consent on any matter than the writers probably intended him to be. As such, it also makes it harder for one to sympathize with Mr. O'Neill once he gets humiliated and bad things start happening to him.
  • Daria's aunt Amy could also qualify. While clearly being set up as a sort of adult version of Daria she is shockingly self-centered and inconsiderate when dealing with others. For instance showing up to a wedding after saying you weren't coming would cause some rather difficult logistical issues. She also shows almost no knowledge of her sisters' lives such as the name of Rita's boyfriend or that a previous one had actually died and not knowing her nieces' ages. She is also willing to passively aggressively insult both Jake and Helen in front of their children. So while Daria clearly considers her to be cool there is little to set her apart from the shallow and egocentric adults on the show besides having a similar sense of humor to Daria. The show does acknowledge this later on when Amy (at Daria's request) tries to mediate between her feuding sisters and gets sucked into the feud herself after both Helen and Rita call her out on how she secluded herself from the rest of the family so she could fly under the radar and do what she wanted while avoiding any family responsibilities.
• Values Dissonance:
  • A majority of the episodes show teenage girls associating with adult men, staying out late and going to places that serve alcohol.
  • The first episode has Daria admitting to having low self-esteem and Helen's reaction is to get angry with her, remind her of how many times they tell her that she's wonderful and scream "What's wrong with you?!" Aside from the blatant insensitivity, there is a greater understanding of how ineffectual and damaging it is to tell anyone with low self-esteem or depression to just "buck up" in today's world than there was in 1997.
  • "Is it Fall yet?" features a character who is bisexual... but she tries to go after Jane hard. Watching this is difficult now considering that this is a stereotype of the "Predatory gay character". Making matters worse is that she's the only explicitly LGBT+ character in the series.
  • A few particular field trips taken by Lawndale High would simply not happen after the the early 2000s:
    • "The Daria Hunter" depicts a school trip at a paintball field. This would not be considered even remotely acceptable for a field trip after the D.C. Sniper attacks or the increase of school shootings in The New '10s.
    • "Just Add Water" depicts "Casino Night" where students were encouraged to gamble. While it already would have raised a few eyebrows, The New '10s brought underaged gambling into the spotlight when video games started introducing predatory lootboxes.
  • "Malled" depicts Daria and Jane hitching a ride with the Fashion Club - and presumably did not let their teacher know. While problematic enough, Bennett and Lawndale High would be in very deep trouble if they allowed this to happen after The New '10s.
  • Upchuck's Lovable Sex Maniac tendencies. While he is still portrayed as a creep, his behavior is still Played for Laughs and not taken seriously in-universe. In the post-#MeToo movement, his perverted behavior and occasions where he touches girls without consent will get him in a lot more trouble than it did in the '90s.
• Values Resonance:
  • Jodie's struggles and discussions on race relations were relevant during the Turn of the Millennium, but have obviously become a lot more relevant in The New '10s, so much so in fact that the proposed reboot has her as Daria's new right-hand instead of Jane.
  • "Fat like Me"'s ending scene in which Sandi decides for the "Weight requirement" for Fashion Club membership as "Case-by-case". It was already fairly bold enough as is (With multiple people as early as The '80s decrying the modeling and fashion industry of promoting unrealistic body standards as well as genuine health concerns with models) but it became far far more relevant in The New '10s and The New '20s as Body Positivity became more important.
  • "This Year's Model" is pretty Anvilicious with its aesop about how predatory the modeling industry can be. 25 years later, it still manages to remain relevant. In particular, Quinn showcases the exact types of people that the Modeling Industry can prey upon. In particular, the scene in which girls are made to pose in a titillating fashion with shirtless males also shows one particularly nasty element with modeling: That some models may even be underage but are "adult passing". The show is also one of the few cases in which the characters are sexualised - and it's not intended to be titillating at all.
  • Similar to The Weekenders, Daria performs a much more nuanced take on the common Aesop of "Be Yourself". However, it also takes a little hard truths towards it - that people won't like you if "yourself" is argumentative, abrasive, and negative. It still manages to be relevant 20 years after the show debuted and finished.
  • Daria's entire emotional arc throughout the show has her being forced to confront that even if she's a smart and opinionated young woman, she is still like every other girl in the world with similar faults and capabilities. She can get flustered over sex, fail to live up to her own standards, make dumb mistakes, and be nasty to people who don't deserve it. That said, she's still a compassionate young woman who does genuinely care about her family and friends, would never actively wish harm on anyone, and will strive to do the right thing if she honestly believes she needs to. In light of how storytelling and media began to focus on heroines who are "not like the other girls", only for the message to later be deconstructed by showing why that can be such a harmful statement, Daria manages to stand out as an early examination of this type of thinking.
• Vanilla Protagonist: Daria has her witty, sarcastic remarks while sustaining her dispassionate expression while lacking the quirks of the other characters on the show.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: Quinn's transition from her smiley face tee to her butterfly shirt seemed to signify her personality transition. She wore the smiley face shirt during the earlier seasons where she was much more frequently shallow and vain, whereas she started wearing the butterfly shirt when she became more aware of her intellect and legitimate depth.
  • Her first pink shirt also showed off her midsection and was the shade of a Baby Girl's hospital blanket; later the shirt grows longer yet still clings to her slender figure and the pink becomes a deeper shade. Quinn is realizing she has more going on than just her body.
• The Woobie:
  • Sometimes, Stacy qualifies as such. Despite being one of the minor characters, she's especially noticeable during the episode "Fat Like Me".
  • Daria has also managed these moments, special mention deserves in episodes like "Boxing Daria", and some episodes focused on her relationship with Tom.
  • For some in the fandom, Tom himself can be seen as this, agree to an alternative interpretation. Note that many think that Daria never appreciated him at all, and he seemed to get a genuine kick out in crawl in her, for love. The series itself appeared to have endorsed, in an exaggerated and ironical way, this view in a post-credits image from the film "It is College Yet?", which shows an aged, broken and melancholic Tom, in a room full of lighted candles (remniscent of the episode "My Night at Daria's"), still appearing to wait for his love night with Daria.
  • One of the Js, if you pay attention, drops several hints that he's more familiar with the penal system than a kid his age really should be.
  • Link it Is It Fall Yet?. Not only is he dealing with the same social issues that Daria has, he also comes from a broken home.

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