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Fanon Discontinuity / Anime & Manga

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Don't like that something happened in an anime or manga? For fandoms, it's simple! Just write it out of existence and pretend it didn't happen.

Note 1: Do not include examples based only in adaptations. Adaptations cannot be discontinuous since it is not part of the continuity of the original.

Note 2: Personal examples should not be posted here. The examples posted here should only be of groups of fandoms.

  • The fandom subreddit for The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You has a Running Gag of pretending that Chapter 44 doesn’t exist, since it’s about Kurumi (who is in middle school) wanting a French kiss from Rentarou, but the two of them refuse to just get it over with because that would supposedly favor her over the other girls, so instead of just French-kissing the whole harem, Rentarou recruits Hahari to disguise herself as him and have a fake date with Kurumi culminating in a French kiss, without Kurumi’s knowledge or consent of the deception, and it just gets worse from there. Fortunately no major character development occurs and the events are not mentioned again, so it’s easy to skip.
  • Attack on Titan:
    • Many fans like to pretend that the rumbling never happened because of Eren performing global genocide (which inevitably includes innocents) only proves those prejudiced towards Paradis right, and only solves the problems Paradis has on the surface.
    • Some even like to act like the Time-Skip in general never happened because of the change in Eren's character and the direction the story took.
  • Many fans of Beastars prefer to pretend that chapter 194 never happened. Louis and Juno never broke up and Louis didn't marry his hate sink fiance who has never made Louis anything other than miserable. Not only does it leave a bad taste in peoples' mouths, a fan favorite canon ship being slaughtered for no reason in particular. It's also just a really bad ending for Louis' character arc. How does his series arc of learning that he doesn't have to be a slave to other peoples' expectations conclude? By doing exactly what everyone always expected of him at the cost of his own happiness.
  • Black Butler:
    • Some fans LOVE forgetting that Grell is a transgender woman, despite the Word of God. Becomes especially ugly if we're talking of rabid Yaoi Fangirls who hate the idea that Grell/Sebastian is actually het instead of yaoi. (Though, to be fair, if one hasn't read said Word of God and doesn't know it exists, it's easy to read her as merely hopeful.)
    • There's also a sizable contingent in Black Butler fandom which disavows the second series because of its ending, in which Ciel becomes a demon, forcing Sebastian to be his servant for all eternity, since he now has no mortal soul with which to pay for services rendered. In fact, even some who otherwise love the second series have been heard to shun the ending. Other fans who find the Sebastian/Ciel ship Squicky dislike the second season for making the subtext between them text. Others just think it was poorly written, pandering and a betrayal of the original story. To be fair to all of these fans, the show itself seems to Retcon away this season, having season three continue adapting the manga from where the first season overtook it. It's not very difficult to watch the rest of the show while pretending season 2 doesn't exist.
  • A sizable chunk of Bleach fans decided that the manga ended with Aizen's defeat by Ichigo, citing the massive retcon of the Quincy which made no sense based upon all information that had led to that point, poor pacing, rushed ending, and dozens of unanswered or forgotten plot lines.
  • Much of the fan base for Bunny Drop prefers to pretend the series ended at the Time Skip. Switching from a story about a guy raising a six-year-old to a story about raising a teenager would have been contentious enough, but the series went out of its way to fabricate a romantic relationship between Daisuke and Rin – going so far as to contrive circumstances that prove they're not really related, which does nothing to dispel the Wife Husbandry implications. It also completely destroys the series' main moral for the sake of apparent Author Appeal. The producers of the anime seemed to agree, given that they stopped right before the time skip. The live action movie likewise doesn't cover that section either.
  • Canaan fans, especially shippers, prefer to forget the whole "Canaan and Maria went their separate ways and never met again" part of the ending. The most common method is to have them meet again a few years later.
  • Code Geass fans are very divided over the official ending as declared by the Word of God in which Lelouch dies for real at the end of the series (database with official statements) and a non-canon fan theory which is not consistent with the anime itself.
    • This has spawned a number of theories, pointing out the uncertain nature of being a Code Bearer and how the immortality is transferred. The series reveals that it is transferred from person to person when the Geass evolves to where it occupies both eyes permanently, at which point the Code is taken. Fans point to the fact that Charles responded to Lelouch's command when he shot himself as proof that he did not have his Code active at the time- however this does not match with what the anime shows, as Charles never had the red rings around his eyes, nor was there a nerves realignment scene, which always happens when people are geassed. Furthermore, the idea that Charles was geassed by Lelouch was officially denied by Word of God during a live commentary.
      • There is also the contested interpretation that Lelouch technically does kill a Code Bearer while his Geass is at full power. From what little we know, it could be seen as a transfer. Though, this is heavily contested since Lelouch explicitly says "this is a request" and not a command, and he doesn't even request from "God" to kill his parents, but to not halt the march of time. It was "God" who granted that wish by erasing Charles and Marianne from existence. While it may be argued that Lelouch bears some moral responsibility, he most certainly does not bear causal responsibility and thus "in the eyes of geass" is not the one who killed his parents. Lelouch's "Be Gone!" was also long after Charles had already started dissolving, so that too plays no causal role. It must be pointed out as well, that this entire discussion is moot since taking someone's code doesn't kill the former code bearer, nor is killing the former code bearer a requisite to successfully transfer the code. When C.C. received the code, she didn't kill the nun, the nun was still alive and committed suicide. And a much clearer example is V.V. still being alive when Charles receives his code and living quite a while after that, until he finally succumbs to his injuries from his battle with Lelouch and Cornelia (so technically those two killed V.V.). All of this combined conclusively debunks the idea that codes need to be activated by death and that death somehow plays a role in transferring codes.
      • The release of Lelouch of the Ressurection has largely settled this issue as it shows the audience that the non-canon fan theory was indeed not correct and that the show staff stuck to their official statements about the ending of the original series, Lelouch is a literal corpse and not immortal. His corpse needs to be smuggled across the globe so that C.C. can attempt to resurrect him. Lelouch's return has nothing to do with the non-canon fan theory but is all about C.C.'s selfish, personal desires as she explicitly confesses that what she is doing is a violation of Lelouch's wishes but she'll persist anyway.
    • The Zero Requiem itself is considered Fanon Discontinuity by some viewers, for the fact that forcing two opposing sides into an Enemy Mine wouldn't lead to a sustainable peace. There's also the question of whether it was even necessary in the first place, considering the only global threat facing the world was Schneizal and the Damocles, and in enacting the Zero Requiem Lelouch forced the Black Knights to ally with Schneizel and almost caused Schneizel to win. Though it's somewhat justified since Lelouch was looking for an excuse to off himself following Nunnally's apparent demise and the Black Knights turning on him, among other events, which left him practically all by himself, so the Zero Requiem likely had more to do with that than actually establishing a lasting peace.
    • Certain elements of the epilogue also seem rather unusual. Kallen's mother is still bedridden and we don't see her speak, despite the supposedly upbeat monologue from Kallen, Xingke not appearing, implying that he died off screen from tuberculosis, much to the dismay of those fans who liked him, Ohgi being named president of Japan, despite the series painting him as generally incompetent at leadership and the fact that he was the one responsible for the betrayal, and by proxy, the Zero Requiem, etc.
      • For the record, Word of God says Xingke is fine, he just wasn't at that particular ceremony. Lelouch of the Ressurection also eventually clears up that Ohgi stepped down after a year, admitting he wasn't suited for it, and did regret his choices to the point where he was willing to commit suicide in front of Lelouch (despite having already been portrayed as more reasonable in this continuity), who stops him because he doesn't care about it anymore. Besides, he now has a wife and child who wouldn't want him to kill himself either.
    • Then there are those who prefer to ignore the whole second season and pretend Code Geass ended in a Cliffhanger.
    • There might eventually be those who prefer the events of the Compilation Movie series, which changed some things such as letting Shirley live and making the Black Knights more reluctant with their betrayal, attempting to give Lelouch a chance to explain himself (with Schneizel's men being the ones who try gunning him down), and leads into the aforementioned Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection film, which may help clear the problems of the second season even a little.
    • Even though the Compilation Movie series and its follow-up movie is set in an Alternate Continuity, many prefer the ending of the original TV series where Lelouch stays dead because bringing him back makes his sacrifice very pointless. It doesn't help that the producers admitted that they brought him back so that they can expand the franchise and the movie is just Part 1 of their 10-year plan.
  • Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School: Because of how divisive the whole anime is, fans on the "hate it" side will just pretend that none of it is canon to the rest of the games. In regards specific parts of the anime...
    • On the "love it" side, Juzo's death is usually ignored in favor of a happier ending where he travels with Munakata after the fallout of the Final Killing Game. This alternate version is especially welcomed in place of Munakata being the only surviving member of his Power Trio and the only legally alive member of the non-DR1 Foundation cast (Ryota went with the Jabberwock kids), which some viewers found too cruel.
    • Some pretend that the Class 74 trio never died, and were able to reconcile instead of circumstances never letting them mend their friendship.
    • The part of Side: Hope where all of Class 77-B manages to survive tends to be forgotten by DR 2 fans who felt like it cheapened the lesson the remaining cast learned about taking responsibility for their actions as Ultimate Despair and moving forward, or at least would have liked only the survivors to have awoken. This one is especially contested with fans of the Foundation and Class 78 casts, whose primary characters had to carry the weight of their comrades' deaths while Hajime got all of his back.
  • There are many fans who disregard the second season of Darker than Black, for a number of reasons. There are some who don't like what it did to Hei's character and/or are squicked out by the Lolicon subtext. There are also those who simply feel it doesn't live up to the (admittedly high) standards set by its predecessor, or liked the ending of the first season and just felt this season unnecessary.
  • Many fans of DARLING in the FRANXX ignore the space arc. Others favor the manga ending, or think the series should have ended at episode 15, after Hiro reunites with Zero Two.
  • Death Note:
    • There are several points in Death Note where fans often invoke this trope. There's when Light regains his memory and becomes Kira again; some people ignore that and everything that happened afterward, considering Light to have remained L's partner instead. Some ignore what happened shortly afterward, L's death; some accept the previous spoiler, but reject everything that occurred after it; some accept everything until the ending of the series, when Light is killed. Complicating things further, the anime (slightly) adjusts the manga's ending. Light still dies, but he dies with slightly more dignity, managing to escape but then getting killed by Ryuk, who doesn't want to be bored while Light's in prison. In the manga, he has a Freak Out prior to his death.
    • There are also fans who don't like the scene of L washing Light's feet added in episode 25, to the point of pretending it never happened.
      • A small fandom accepts it as fanservice while a bigger one hates how it made L look like he accepted defeat.
    • Many fans are displeased by and choose to ignore how Word of God interprets Light and L's relation, and such, in How To Read.
    • The manga heavily implies there is nothing after death. Many fans dislike this because it means that Light can't get sent to Hell, reunite with L, become a shinigami after he dies, or whatever the fan prefers.
  • The rape scene in the anime version of Destiny of the Shrine Maiden is subject to massive debate. It's even mentioned in the Japanese DVD Commentary that it was cut away from so people can put their own interpretation on what happened.
  • Devilman: The part where Ryo/Satan claims that he is in love with Akira because of his female side really does not sit very well with most fans, especially the ones that belong to the LGBT community. Granted, the manga came out in the 1970s so that could actually be seen as Fair for Its Day for that time, but as of now, most fans would prefer to think that Ryo never said that.
  • Digimon:
    • Many fans decry the Distant Finale of Digimon Adventure 02 for giving most of them completely random careers. For instance, Matt — with his love of music and a fledgling garage band well in the works — dumps all that to become an astronaut. Worse is Yolei: outspoken and headstrong in the series proper, a House Wife in the future. Fans of certain ships also disregard the finale for sinking their opinions (for instance Sora and Matt end up together, which does not make fans who pair her with Tai happy). The drama CDs and the Girls' Day special CD try to explain the changes in lifestyles away, to little avail. Even the Digimon Adventure tri. 6-parter and (apparently) Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna movies can't fix the ending, so...
      • Some go further and throw the entire season out of continuity with its predecessor, based on character changes between the two series and the popular belief that Digimon Adventure 02 was just not what a follow-up to the widely popular Digimon Adventure should have been.
    • Digimon Adventure tri., has fans claiming it isn't canon, especially due to, ironically, the films' callous treatment of the 02 Digidestined up until the very last film. Other points of contention were the use of elements from 02 without elaborating further (the fake Ken and appearance of Imperialdramon aren't remarked upon at all by TK and Kari, despite them using their Digivices from that time), the Reset Button on the team's Digimon, and beloved mentor Gennai being used as a villain, at least until Our Future revealed he was an imposter. Oh and using Yggdrasil/King Drasil as an antagonist. Again. It says something when the fans who consider this out of canon were willing to accept 02, epilogue and all, over these points.
    • Many fans ignore the Bittersweet Ending of Digimon Tamers, where the kids are separated from their Digimon and it's left ambiguous as to whether they'll see them again. One of the movies (made without the input of the original creative team) reveals that the kids reunited with the Digimon fairly quickly (though incidentally, this issue was only ever mentioned in the dub). Canon Discontinuity was declared with the release of the drama CDs (though only in Japanese, so not part of the dub), which say that The Stinger at the end of the series never amounts to anything (despite the last few seconds of the episode strongly implying the opposite, even without Runaway Locomon), and the kids have gone several years without their Digimon with no indication they'll see each other again (Konaka elaborates on his website that the film isn't canon, that the lack of his input is the source of the continuity errors which already make the film's canon status debatable and that the reason the film gives for Rika's behavior - case in point, her lack of a father figure note  - is incorrect). Guess which one fans prefer. The 2018 Blu-Ray boxset included another CD drama, which reveals that Henry becomes a researcher, Rika becomes a motorcycle driver, Takato goes on a journey and promptly vanishes off the face of the Earth, and the kids still haven't reunited with their Digimon after nearly twenty years. Then came a script reading for the series anniversary in 2021 that has the kids battle the personification of "Political Correctness" that uses "Cancel Culture" as an attack, which some fans use as their reason for not considering Konaka's statements canon.
  • The majority of the Domestic Girlfriend fandom pretends the ending never happened because of Natsuo ends up marrying Hina out of pity after she's run over by a drunk driver and ends up in a coma... despite having previously agreed to marry Rui after he got her pregnant.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • As an attempt perceived as botched to recreate the overall comedy reminiscent of the first Dragon Ball series, many Dragon Ball fans reject Dragon Ball GT altogether, made easier due to the fact that it was not part of Akira Toriyama's original manga. Though Toriyama did help conceive GT in some small parts here and there, his more direct contributions to the game Dragon Ball Online and the films Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F' have fans convinced that GT never happened while stating the former as being canon (although it is written in a way that GT could have happened before the former and after the latter). It's not like Alternate Timelines don't exist, but that seems to be the case here.
    • Dragon Ball Super is considered the canon continuation of the manga, and it seems to merely regard GT as a "What If?" story. It has introduced several elements that outright contradict what is shown in GT (such as different transformations for the protagonists and a different version of Hell, for starters). This, coupled with Toriyama's close involvement, makes GT a case of Canon Discontinuity.
      • Numerous fans are less-than-satisfied about the Future Trunks Saga ending with Zamasu's Unexplained Recovery into a space- and time-consuming Genius Loci that kills all of Trunks and Mai's remaining loved ones, which forces Zen'o to Mercy Kill that entire timeline Deader than Dead to put an end to Zamasu for good (meaning that the entire arc was All for Nothing); said fans wish that it instead ended with Zamasu being successfully (A) sealed via the Evil Containment Wave or (B) Killed Off for Real via Trunks's Final Hope Slash. Quite a few fans also dislike the idea of Trunks and Mai going to a replacement timeline as compensation, and wish that they could've stayed in the main timeline with the main cast and participated in Zen'o's multiversal tournament instead. Others wanted to see the Supreme Kai of Time recruit them, setting up the origin of the Time Patrol seen in Dragon Ball Online and Dragon Ball Xenoverse; some claim that this could potentially happen off-screen following the canon ending.
      • A lot of fans choose to ignore or downplay the conversation with Beerus about how Goku absorbed the energy of a Super Saiyan God to make his base form nearly just as strong as it, due to the fact that it makes the already wonky power scaling of the series even worse and raises questions of how anyone could even hope to match his Super Saiyan or Kaioken multipliers if that was the case, especially characters like Frieza and Android 17, and later Piccolo and Gohan, who seemed to do it with relative ease. To their credit, they at least keep Goku in his Super Saiyan form for this conversation instead of his base form. While the same questions as to why his power multipliers don't seem to close the power gaps they should still remain, it at least helps create the illusion that the natural power increase Goku got wasn't THAT extreme.
    • With Super it's also worth noting that the manga and anime versions are sometimes very different takes on Toriyama's original manuscript, with Toyotarō and the Toei Animation staff at the helm respectively. While there is no "true" canon version, there are groups of people which considers the Dragon Ball Super anime non-canon and instead chooses the Dragon Ball Super manga as the canon, and vice-versa. The people who prefer the manga quote that Toriyama has complained about the anime quality (early in its run) and is more involved in the manga written and illustrated by Toyotarō before publishing them, while people who prefer the anime quote that the manga only started off as promotional material for the anime, and that Toei has an input on the overall story as well (for example, Kale being a Toei creation). And there is the third group that prefer to ignore Super's existence altogether just like GT.
  • Many people consider the true ending of the infamous h-doujin manga Metamorphosis to be a fan edit titled I'm Gonna Fix That Girl where Josuke Higashikata and Okuyasu Nijimura show up just before she is Driven to Suicide by a lethal dose of heroin and Josuke uses Crazy Diamond to heal her, giving her a second chance at life with her child.
  • Eureka Seven AO, despite being a sequel to the original anime, is widely considered non-canon by fans for its cop-outs, Continuity Snarl, wasting of good plot threads, a lack of understanding of what happened to everyone but Eureka and Renton from the original show, and other assorted unpleasantness. This was solidified in the ending, which directly contradicted one of the most important themes in the original series. Funnily enough, because of the backstory's MASSIVE Continuity Snarl, it's not too hard to put it into discontinuity.
  • The Fist of the North Star manga is often divided into two major eras: the Raoh-era ("the good era"); and the post-Time Skip-era ("the not-so-good era"). Originally, Buronson and Tetsuo Hara intended to end the manga with the death of Kenshiro's main rival, Raoh. However, due to contractual obligations they had with Shueisha, they were forced to extend the manga's storyline by a few years. This led to the sudden introductions of other rival martial art schools for Kenshiro to face that were somehow not around during the earlier conflicts, too much emphasis on ki-based attacks (when they were originally used only for special occasions), and the sudden appearances of way too many long-lost relatives (especially Raoh's brother Kaioh, a character who can easily be described as "Raoh with a scar on his face"). Many of the more recent spin-off works and side-stories rarely acknowledge any of the events after the death of Raoh, outside of a few plot points (like the retconned origin story of how Raoh, Toki, and Kenshiro were originally refugees from Shura).
  • Food Wars!: As divisive as the Central saga is, it is nowhere near as hated as the final arc. In between things like an overpowered Arc Villain with a bland personality, the increasingly less focus on actual cooking and more on things like "superhuman abilities", the increasing number of offscreen fights, and a overall lack of romantic resolution, most fans like to pretend the series ended with the Central arc and that the last arc never happened.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) ended with Edward and Alphonse Elric separated in different universes: Al in Amestris, Ed in our world. The sequel film Conqueror of Shamballa reunited them, but trapped them both in our world. Both endings are frequently ignored or written around in fanfiction. Some fans choose to ignore the movie altogether.
    • Partly thanks to that particular twist, the original anime also has Winry and Edward ultimately on platonic terms rather than romantic terms (as in the manga). Fans ignore such implications and go for the romance route, unless they ship them with someone else.
    • On a sillier note, the general consensus on Roy Mustang's moustache in the epilogue to Brotherhoodnote  seems to be that either Ed scribbled on his photograph, or Hawkeye tied him down shortly after and shaved it off.
    • Ed losing his alchemy at the end of the manga/Brotherhood is another unpopular ending twist that many fans choose to ignore in fanfiction.
    • For something in both canons: a lot of fanfiction leaves Maes Hughes inexplicably alive, with everything else in the world the same.
    • Fans of Conqueror of Shamballa frequently write around Alfons' death.
    • Word of God is that Roy and Riza can't get married due to military regulations. Many fans dislike the Secret Relationship alternative and either ignore this or have the rule changed.
  • Full Metal Panic!:
    • Many fans want to pretend that Kalinin's betrayal never happened. After his touching backstory with young Sousuke was released, his Face–Heel Turn just didn't sit well. The one person it seemed he would never betray had been Sousuke, since he felt great guilt and felt that he owed him and thought of him as a son.
    • Also, Kaname's sudden transformation from a capable Action Girl who matches Sousuke well into a Brainwashed Damsel in Distress who follows Leonard around. Most people like to believe this development didn't occur.
  • Gundam:
    • The Compilation Movie version of Zeta Gundam ended on a much happier note, with protagonist Kamille not getting Mind Raped by the Big Bad, and Axis quietly packing up and leaving. Many fans decided that this meant Gundam ZZ, which they already denied for its Mood Whiplash, was non-canon. They still insist this, despite Yoshiyuki Tomino himself saying that the movie is merely Alternate Continuity and ZZ still happened.
    • Unicorn and The Origin have come under attack from purists for way too much Newtype space magic in the former, inconsistent characterization in the latter, and too many bad retcons for both. It doesn't help that these were two of the first non Anime First works, something of a trend in the franchise.
    • Gundam Wing's extreme yaoi fans at one point even dismissed official website info that made no mention of any romance between any characters, declaring that their chosen pairings were the "real" canon and that Word of God didn't know a thing about their own property. They also engaged in "Relena Censoring", taking official manga like Blind Target and cutting out all appearances by and references to Relena Darlian/Peacecraft. The focus was entirely on Shipping, which shows in all the Plot Holes Relena's disappearance opens up. This flavour of discontinuity is all but dead nowadays, as these fans got older and mellowed out.
    • Today, most of the fanon discontinuity centers around the light novel Frozen Teardrop, because of its Retcons, its convoluted attempts at making everyone related to one another, new characters that aren't as well-received, and pairings not favored by the audience, either for being uninteresting, part of the rampant Generation Xerox, or downright gross (ex. Trowa Phobos/Katherine Oud Winner, which hits at least the latter two).
    • ∀ Gundam is sometimes discounted because of its revelation that all Gundam shows—U.C. and A.U.—take place on the same timeline, with Turn A being the Distant Finale to all of them. This renders the struggles in every other show ultimately pointless and begs the question of how humanity destroyed itself and rebuilt to the space age so many times without the archelogical evidence you'd expect.
    • Some fans didn't accept Flay's death at the end of Gundam SEED; either they pretend it didn't happen, or they go the Fix Fic route. And many of the fans think Gundam SEED Destiny is not part of the Gundam series.
    • The live-action/CGI movie G-Saviour is in a funny place in regards to this: Sunrise has never officially said it's non-canon, but they also "do not like to talk about it", and many fans don't count it as a Gundam story. Other fans compromise by sticking it in an Alternate Continuity.
    • For fans whom preferred the Reservoir Dogs ending of the first season of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 reject the second season for doing an almost complete reversal of where the series seemed to be going. The same for the official movie, which wasn't what many people expected and broke the Absent Aliens trope.
  • Word of God is that the haibane from Haibane Renmei are not angels. Almost every fan theory and interpretation revolves around them being Dead All Along and in purgatory.
  • The majority of the Haruhi Suzumiya fan base disregard The Endless Eight arc of the anime, which is a lengthy repetition of time, plot, and scenery that lasts more than half of the second season, with eight whole episodes being the exact same thing aside from minor differences. As soon as the arc ended, all of the Image Boards celebrated. This was what KyoAni was aiming for, as they didn't want to do the 8 episodes that Kadokawa asked.
  • When Kite failed to appear in the early plot of Hunter × Hunter's 2011 anime, many fans simply decided to assume his place in Gon's backstory was the same as in the manga, but simply not shown. It was revealed at the beginning of the Chimera Ant arc that the encounter did take place. However, he had never actually introduced himself, and until his appearance in the Chimera Ant arc, the two had never really met, being almost complete strangers. Many fans were revolted at these changes to the canon, and quite a few have even decided to (rather than disregarding the entire adaptation,) disregard all offending episodes, replacing them with corresponding manga chapters to keep the backstory as it was.
  • The Lamune & 40 series:
    • As far as many Lamune & 40 fans are concerned, the series ended with the final episode of VS Knight Lamune & 40 FIRE and most of them like to pretend that the FRESH OVA (aka Knights of Ramune) doesn't exist.
  • Fans would like to pretend that the events of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel - Northern War to have never happened in the Trails Series. The anime, which is an original anime, is supposed to be an Interquel, depicting what has happened between The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II and Cold Steel III with the protagonist of the Erebonia arc, Rean Schwarzer, being a Hero Antagonist in the eyes of the North Ambrian cast. However, due to the poor pacing of the anime, the lack of any dates that depict when the events have happened (such as the coup d'etat within the North Ambrian parliament) compared to how it was told in Cold Steel III (the games first came out before the anime did), and the overuse of cameos that don't really go anywhere made fans not really caring about the anime. Many of the fans preferred the version of the Northern War as depicted through Rean's flashbacks in Cold Steel III instead.
  • As far as the Love Hina fandom is concerned, the anime franchise ended with the Christmas Special. The Spring Special and Love Hina Again never happened.
  • Lucky Star:
    • The fandom dismisses Konata's comment on her not being lesbian as her being in the closet, not realizing it, or just plain out ignoring the quote.
    • The fandom also ignores anything post-high school, manga-wise. One might wonder if the anime staff agrees, since the anime ends before even getting to those parts.
  • Lupin III is subject to this at times, mostly because of its status as a long runner. Especially with the Milestone Celebration movies.
    • On the other hand, Lupin III has always operated on Negative Continuity with some Mythology Gags.
    • Most fans like to think that Pycal dies at the end of his original appearance during Green Jacket. The 30th anniversary special Return Of The Magician doesn't exist. And while Green vs. Red wasn't considered bad, most of the fandom prefers to think of it as being an alternate continuity due to how it implies that Lupin the Third is not a single man, but a title passed down throughout the years. Or that he wants to retire and picked a ramen shop-worker to take his place.
  • Maetel Legend is the prequel to Galaxy Express 999, establishing the long-suspected connection between 999 and Queen Millenia. Many feel that Millenia stood best on its own, especially if their only experience is the 1982 film. In Maetel Legend, the heroine of Queen Millenia, Yayoi Yukino, is shown to become the evil Queen Promethium of 999. The turning of such a likeable character into such a cruel, heartless villain was probably the reason why many fans would prefer to forget Maetel Legend, especially since she had such a good sendoff in the 1982 Queen Millenia film.
  • Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Some fans of Monster Rancher prefer to ignore the third season and believe the series ended on an agonizing Downer Ending. They believe it helps differentiate it more from similar mon series like Digimon Adventure and Pokémon: The Series, and clashes well with the mostly lighthearted nature of the anime.
  • Some veteran My-Otome fans will invariably advise newcomers to the series to avoid the Oddly Named Sequel OVA Mai-Otome Zwei at all costs, mostly due to excessive and pointless Fanservice and plot points that make no sense within the context of the series.
  • An earlier series by Gainax, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, suffered from a 12-episode filler arc shoehorned into the middle of the series after its early success earned it a sudden half-season extension. These episodes are not only animated poorly, but they also warp the characters' personalities with stories that are not only useless, but also incoherent. Some fans argue that these episodes provide character development, but other fans (and critics) suggest that skipping them altogether would benefit the series as a whole (a sentiment shared by director Hideaki Anno, who admitted that he would've saved only episodes 30 and 31, which contain genuine plot elements.
    • In fact, Anno created a compilation of the series, called "The Nautilus Story", which deletes many of these unnecessary episodes. Similarly, when the series returns to its roots in Episode 35, it quickly forgets these episodes (save 30 and 31), further suggesting they were never supposed to happen in the first place.
  • Naruto:
    • The Abridged Series of Naruto takes this trope to its logical conclusion by producing its own version of the fight between Naruto and Kiba, in which the loss is at least honorable, rather than having Naruto win by virtue of an accidental fart. It insists that the Abridged version is how it happened.
    • In the Shipping Fandom, ALL sides (especially the Big Three NaruSaku, NaruHina, and SasuSaku, as well as NaruSasu) like to ignore some parts of the manga that support other couples. Some (extreme) NaruHina and SasuSaku fans refuse to believe/remember any chapters/pages that could hint at NaruSaku. Some (also extreme) NaruSaku fans downplay Hinata's actions (especially the Pain battle). Goes even further when the characters themselves suffer from discontinuity (particularly Sakura who suffers to the extreme) in that thoughts, feelings, words, and actions are ignored just because it could be used as support for the other pairing.
    • The fandom has gone into apoplectic fits trying to reconcile a sudden plot twist after the battle between Sasuke and Itachi. The problem isn't so much the idea of him having been secretly loyal to Konoha all these years, but the fact that there was nothing whatsoever in the manga even suggesting such a thing, making the revelation seem like a Ass Pull out of left field.
      • After said revelation, Sasuke haters tend to forget that Itachi destroyed his sanity. The fan discontinuity from both ends of the Itachi-reaction spectrum is pretty astounding.
      • Some fans are just disgusted by the notion of genocide as a peace-keeping measure (he killed every single Uchiha but Sasuke, including civilians, children, etc).
    • After Chapter 449, some fans seem to just tell themselves that Pain never invaded Konoha. Konoha's a crater now because of a sinkhole that appeared offscreen.
      • Those that did enjoy the Invasion arc usually don't have good things to say about the anime's rendition of it. Of special note is Shippuden episode 167, which was massively criticized for its art style.
      • Due to how controversial the later arcs are that occur after, many consider Naruto returning to Konoha after dealing with Pain to be the true ending of the series. The anime successfully makes it feel like a series ending in episode 175 thanks to its use of "Departure to the Front Lines" over a series of flashbacks regarding what Naruto accomplished throughout the series until that point, as well as the villagers slowly warming up to Naruto along the way.
    • A truly disturbing number of fanfic authors write off Haku's declaration that he's a boy. Fem!Haku is almost more prevalent than Canon!Haku, especially in stories that keep him alive. In many cases, to enable Haku to be used in non-Yaoi pairings with Naruto and other ones.
    • Some fans haven't reacted well to the revelation that Tobi is actually Obito, feeling that it ruins both characters and that Tobi's motivation for his schemes are petty.
    • The Fourth Shinobi World War Arc as a whole cuts this. Partly due to its sheer length and because the plot takes increasingly bizarre turns with the main villain constantly changing. (You think it's Madara? Nope, it's this Kaguya woman who was only just introduced 10 chapters ago!) Characters pulling out new abilities through asspulls to keep the story moving. The whole arc is widely regarded by fans as a mess. It's considered to be too ridiculous of a Gambit Pileup to maintain Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
    • With Chapter 700, many fans (mostly Die for Our Ships, although non-shippers are also pretty vocal) are denying the existence of the epilogue. This is mostly due to the lack of resolution to political issues, the number of Ship Sinking and what appears to be an Esoteric Happy Ending.
    • Also, the continuation manga Boruto, not only for bringing the series into Franchise Zombie territory, but also for killing off Kurama and apparently Naruto himself.
    • Many Sasusaku fans like to ignore Naruto Gaiden because it shows that Sasuke has been away on a long mission away from his family since his daughter was a toddler. This is easily ignored because Chapter 700 is vague enough to suggest that he's just on a (normal) mission.
    • Many anime fans ignore filler episodes (except Kakashi's backstory episode), in part due to how much longer it makes the anime and how long it takes to return to the main story arc in Shippuden.
  • A handful of fans of Negima! Magister Negi Magi have decided that the manga series ended at Volume 18, given the fact that the next volume is the start to the Mundus Magicus arc and that the arc itself is quite divisive from within the fandom. Even if fans do consider the Mundus Magicus arc canon, there's still those who don't consider the ending to be canon, whether it's the last two chapters (which involves a Time Skip to after Negi saving his father from the Big Bad, which ends up happening off-camera or the last two volumes (which, instead of resolving loose plot threads, reverts the story back to the Unwanted Harem antics of the early volumes).
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: Some people think the last two episodes of the series and End of Evangelion cover the same events from different points of view; some think they're different, accept End of Evangelion as the ending, and disregard the TV series' ending; some only accept the ending of the TV series and disregard the movie; and some reject both endings. The issue is only further complicated by the fact that many fans cannot agree on what the hell happened in either of those endings.
  • Oreimo: The parts of the ending where Kyousuke alienates several of the girls and anything directly after his wedding kiss with Kirino didn't happen according to a great many people who refuse to accept the cop-out at the last minute/page.
  • Before a second season was officially announced in 2022, many fans disregarded the Gainax Ending of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, wherein Stocking turns out to have been The Mole this whole time, slices Panty into 666 pieces, and joins Corset in his mission to drill a hole to Hell. These fans took the end as the ending credits of the last episode, and not the Sequel Hook.
  • Ouran High School Host Club fans, particularly those who like Kyoya and Tamaki, tend to disregard the entirety of episode eight. The episode revolves around Haruhi, having taken on some hassling thugs on the beach, being ridiculed by her friends for doing so despite being a girl and thus weaker. The scene wherein Kyoya pretends as though he's going to rape her to prove that she's foolish for thinking one's gender doesn't matter is particularly reviled for (on top of never coming up again) furthering this message. Haruhi is treated as being in the wrong here, too stubborn to admit that she was wrong. The ending of the episode states that the true problem was Haruhi being so used to taking care of herself that she unnecessarily put herself into a dangerous situation—but the focus on her gender and the brushing-off of Kyoya nearly assaulting her has almost all fans of the anime pretending that this episode never happened.
  • Pokémon: The Series:
  • Fans of The Promised Neverland like to pretend that the second season never existed, due to various cut parts, Contrived Coincidence later on, and the last episode compressing 60 chapters into a few minutes, glossing over some very important events in the manga.
  • Some Pretty Cure fans refuse to admit Yes! Pretty Cure 5 ever had a second season. Even worse, some of those fans refuse to admit Power of Hope ~PreCure Full Bloom~ happened.
  • To some fans, the third Puella Magi Madoka Magica movie (Rebellion), or at least its ending, never happened, since Homura undoes Madoka's wish at the end of the anime so that she can be with her. The reasons for this vary, including that the original had a perfectly good ending already, the spoilered action was out of character for Homura, or that the development ruins the Madoka/Homura ship.
  • Psycho-Pass fans rejected the second season not only because Gen Urobuchi is not writing it but none of the storylines had any effect to the Psycho-Pass: The Movie (only exception is Mika's antagonistic behavior towards Akane). It doesn't help that the writer of the second season was told to "fill in the blanks" after he'd been told of the movie's plot.
  • A large amount of the Record of Ragnarok fandom choose to ignore the reveal that Jack the Ripper isn't the actual Jack the Ripper, but a MI6 agent who killed the real Jack the Ripper and took his name for the tournament. Many feel that this ruins the impact of his fight against Heracles and the Character Development he undergoes during the fight, as well as taking a character whose biggest appeal for many was his status as humanity's Token Evil Teammate and retroactively trying to make him more heroic. The fact that this reveal only comes up in Jack's spin-off manga, and hasn't been brought up in the main manga, also makes it rather easy to ignore.
  • The Rurouni Kenshin Non-Serial Movie Seisouhen (known as Requiem in English). Its many, many, many shortcomings have been discussed to death elsewhere on this wiki, so it suffices to say here that most fans deny its existence. Nobuhiro Watsuki himself did not have complete control over the movie, and was not entirely happy about the ending.
  • To most Saber Marionette J watchers, the anime only has 25 episodes, ending when Lorelei and Otaru discussed the Heroic Sacrifice of Cherry, Lime, and Bloodberry, and Otaru walked off upset and missing them, instead of all three of them coming back to life as if nothing ever happened without any logical explanation.
  • Many fans of Saikano believe that the series should have ended on episode 10 with Shuji and Chise running away together, instead of all the (additional) Angst and doom we get bombarded with in the next 3 episodes.
  • Saint Seiya: apart from the almost puzzling differences among the Manga and the Anime in "classical versions" (that tend to be selectively ignored or accepted by the fans), the spin-off stories are constantly a target of it. While is (more or less) accepted that Saint Seiya: Episode.G is a pretty normal part of the continuity, the same cannot be said of Saint Seiya Omega (as many fans frowned upon, due to the introduction of new elements and huge changes in concepts) and Saint Seiya: Next Dimension : largely despised by a vast number of fans due to plot, art and continuity severe problems .
    • Even if Saint Seiya: Next Dimension has been created by the original author, Masami Kurumada himself, this is a rare case where Word of God is not taken, and Fanon Discontinuity is more accepted instead. (Besides, the fans tend to prefer the very assumed Alternate Universe series Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, created and developed by another author, Shiori Teshirogi, which is about the Holy War against Hades in the XVIII Century, and consider it as the real Canon. It helps that Lost Canvas is actually the most well-drawn and well-written sequel of all the various sequels.
  • A decent amount of School-Live! fans think that the manga should have ended with the girls leaving the high school forever in Chapter 30 instead of moving onto the University arc, which has a very mixed reception amongst fans. It helps that the anime actually does end at that point. The ending mentioning that the girls went their separate ways is also frequently ignored to going against all previous characterisation and development.
  • Many Shaman King fans hold contempt for the end of the manga in which Hao won the tournament, since he isUnintentionallyUnsympathetic, the climax of the series' overall decline. Some fans may also disregard the sequel manga (for similar and/or different reasons). In a good amount of cases, the manga is completely thrown out in favor of the anime.
  • Shugo Chara!:
    • Shugo Chara! Party, the third season of Shugo Chara! is widely disliked by fans due to shortened episodes, shoving semi-main characters Out of Focus, and focusing way too much on Rikka.
    • Some fans also dislike the later chapters of the manga due to focusing too much on romance and making the Guardian Characters artifacts, and for feeling very rushed in tone.
  • Soul Eater:
    • There is a very large section of the fandom that refuses to admit that Soul Eater Not! exists in any way or form.
    • Some also ignore the final chapter of the manga due to its rushed nature.
  • Fans of the anime Stitch! prefer to believe it is set in an Alternate Continuity from Lilo & Stitch (and, by extension, Lilo & Stitch: The Series) instead of being a sequel. Especially easy to do for Americans, since Disney only showed the first five episodes of this series in the franchise's original home country.
  • Many, if not most, fans were outraged at the characterization of Manaka and Toujo at the end of Strawberry 100%, when, after all the not-so-subtle hinting that he and Toujo were a Red String of Fate couple and she was the only one he was truly happy with, could relate to, etc., he goes and picks Nishino out of pity or "she was there first" more than anything else, and she doesn't even put up a fight. Most like to imagine that, in the author's private gallery, the real ending exists in which he comes to his senses and chooses the right one at the end. The "official" one was published due to Executive Meddling. The fans that hate the ending see it as ruining a great story, while the fans that defend the ending say it makes the story great.
  • Sword Art Online has a number of fans who see the Aincrad Arc as the only one, due to the following Arc "Fairy Tale" effectively removing the (admittedly somewhat ambiguous) Happy Ending of the previous Arc, turning the Action Girl Asuna into a Damsel in Distress and moving the series as a whole much closer to a harem series than it was previously. Another portion of fans agree the second arc was bad, but don't relegate it to Fanon Discontinuity because they see the arcs after that as good enough to bear with it, and Alfheim is the setting of several later arcs either in part or in full.
  • Many fans of Tantei Opera Milky Holmes dislike the third season Futari wa Milky Holmes so much that they insist the next season Tantei Opera Milky Holmes TD is the real third season.
  • For the most part, the Tenchi Muyo! fandom would simply prefer to believe that the third OVA never existed. However, it is important to note this is mainly limited to the western fandom; In Japan, the third OVA was well-received, mainly due to the fact there were several novels and supplementary material released in Japan that never saw an official English translation, leaving the western fandom lacking in prevalent information. The fourth OVA, in the other hand, seems to have failed to catch on even in Japan.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
    • The fandom is divided on whether or not to accept Nia's death. Those who dislike it because it ignores the show's established premise of "nothing is inevitable/impossible" consider the show to end at the kiss between Simon and Nia at their wedding, ignoring the rest of the series finale.
    • In addition, almost every fan agrees that most of episode 4 never happened, mainly because the episode has a completely different (and worse) style from the rest of the series because of a different director. Even the official manga adaption rewrote that part, removing the weird puffball Beastmen and introducing Kittan and his sisters around the time of Viral's attack. Part of this is also a reaction to the producer insulting everyone at 2ch and stating that he hates Otaku even though Studio Gainax's main fanbase is Otaku — and the owner openly proclaimed himself to be one — and then resigned.
      Simon: You can't do that! You can't just skip reality!
      Kamina: Of course I can! Who the hell do you think I am!?!
    • Then you have the people who ignore everything after Kamina's death in episode 8.
  • Tokyo Mew Mew: Once Reiko Yoshida left the manga, Mia Ikumi retconned many aspects to fit with the anime, rendered the main character practically useless for no reason. Small wonder the resulting sequel, Tokyo Mew Mew à la mode, has been discarded by fans (and the editor — it lasted only two volumes, although Executive Meddling is to blame there; Ikumi wanted to focus more on the previous series' characters, but her editor told her not to).
  • While a few elements of it are liked, more than a few fans of Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- ignore the 2nd half of the series due to it becoming a pretentious, angsty-for-the-sake-of-being-angsty Mind Screw (and not a very enjoyable one).
    • Even more fans completely ignore the 2nd half of the anime because...well, because frankly the animation studio did a bad job and just invented a whole bunch of fillers that never happened and annoyed the hell out of both fans and CLAMP.
  • UQ Holder!, the Stealth Sequel of Negima! Magister Negi Magi is completely disregarded in any way or form by a handful of fans, due to not picking up any of the many plot threads that were left loose in the original series nor making a good use of its own plot threads, and cop-outs.
  • In The Vision of Escaflowne, it's revealed that Bishounen baddie Dilandau is actually Allen Schezar's long-lost little sister, who was used for experiments, one of which included turning her into a boy, apparently to create some sort of supersoldier. Dilandau's numerous fangirls won't hear of it unless they're trying to justify a Mister Seahorse scenario.
  • Wandering Son:
    • Fans of the anime don't often like the last episode, due to the Broken Aesop.
    • Takatsuki deciding that she's comfortable being a girl and that she doesn't want to transition caused a stir in the fanbase, especially with some trans boy fans who previously found him relatable. Many fans ignore it or create theories to get past it.
    • Saori ends up dating Fumiya, has a Maybe Ever After with Doi, and Takatsuki ends up with an unrequited crush on Nitori. A lot of Takatsuki/Saori fans write around all this or just plain ignore it.
    • Many Takatsuki/Nitori fans also ignore Nitori's Official Couple status with Anna and ship them together instead.
  • The anime for Witchblade has been said to be canon to the comics. However, things like how the Witchblade even works and a few other details cause a pretty big Continuity Snarl. As a result, not only do comic fans who hate the anime refuse to acknowlege its existence, even the comic fans who like the anime for what it is treat it as an Alternate Continuity so they don't get worked up about the inconsistencies with comic canon.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
      • Some fans who do like the anime pretend the filler never happened, particularly season 4's Atlantis arc and the KC Grand Prix in season 5.
      • Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions has groups of fans who treat it as canon to the manga, as canon to the anime, or as not canon at all, preferring the series to end at chapter 343.
    • Most fans were not fussed when 4Kids decided to omit the last season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. It does have unfortunate implications as far as Jaden's fate is concerned, but that's still better than having the fourth season and its implications as far as the fate of the world is concerned.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds was well received by fans of the franchise, especially those who had been sticking with it since at least the beginning of the new series. Then the Dark Signer arc came to an end, being followed by an arc many fans had problems with, due to pacing, poor character treatment, and disliked plot twists. Cue fans pretending the Dark Signer arc was the last arc.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V:
      • Many fans are quick to disregard the first half of the Fusion Arc, namely Captain Solo, the Parasite Monsters (as well as the Doktor), as well as anything involving Sanders and BB.
      • After the final arc was released, many fanfiction writers have either altered the ending to the series, or just mentally erased it in its entirety.
    • There are many fans who would rather not acknowledge anything that comes after Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, mostly because the protagonists (especially Yuma) became much wackier there.

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