One broad role for very different cruiser designs

Were early Japanese cruisers classified and employed differently from later, more heavily armed classes?

Their wartime duties remained broadly similar: reconnaissance, screening, and battle-line support, despite the increasing divergence of their designs.

Early and later Japanese heavy cruisers were assigned broadly the same duties, even though later ships were modified heavily for other purposes. The official roles remained reconnaissance, screening, and support to the battle line. Some earlier ships could be more useful for ordinary cruiser work because later classes carried increasingly specialised aviation or combat arrangements. Stable role labels therefore concealed a growing divergence among the ships expected to perform them.