Beginning Of Series vs. End Of Series

About

Beginning Of Series vs. End Of Series, also known as The Main Character At The Beginning vs. The End Of Series, refers to a catchphrase and trend on Twitter / X and Reddit used to depict a character at the beginning of a series and how their design or personality changes at the end of the series, particularly in anime and manga. The phrase has been present in viral tweets since September 2020, seeing a resurgence in April 2024 after X user @mlmcreekthat posted a one-panel comic depicting a "tragic character trope," which inspired netizens to share their favorite character design changes.

Origin

On September 17th, 2020, X^[1] user @fatestaynova posted one of the earliest examples of the "beginning of series vs. end of series" trend, which features two pictures of YouTuber Markiplier, one from his early videos and another years later (shown below), which amassed roughly 340 likes and 40 reposts in four years.

Spread

On April 27th, 2024, X^[2] user @mlmcreek posted an illustration portraying an archetypal main character at the start and end of a series (shown below, left) calling it a "tragic character trope." The post gained more than 68,000 likes and 10,000 reposts in just two days.

The tweet quickly inspired anime and manga fans to share their favorite character's change from the beginning of a series vs. the end of a series, like X user @Experxment,^[3] who uploaded two images of Attack on Titan's main character Eren Yeager. The post, uploaded on April 28th, 2024, amassed roughly 2,400 likes and 360 reposts in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References