Forum - View topicWhat's The Best (And Worst) Anime Ending You've Ever Seen?
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11429 |
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Another ending that I keep thinking of is Zegapain. The series itself isn't normally my cup of tea, yet it was engaging enough to hold my interest. But the ending was so hauntingly bittersweet that I've rewatched the series several times because of it.
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Animeking1108
Posts: 1244 |
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Am I the only one who thought Gurren Lagann's ending completely went against the theme of the show?
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Juno016
 Posts: 2397 |
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Best ending for me was Madoka, hands down. Not everyone's cup of tea, but if you were like me and afraid of the story messing it all up at the end (March 11th disaster made the wait even more heart-clenching), the ending was quite the surprise. At least, it really hit me deep and had my roommate and I staying up late to talk about the ending and how it played into the series as a whole. Watching it once again actually had me appreciating it more, too, especially knowing how purposeful it all was.
Some people don't like Rebellion's ending, but I disagree. It's far from amazing, but it's a great parallel to the TV show's ending and considering I cared about every little detail, it made perfect sense for Homura's character. I remember walking out of that movie theater not knowing how to feel, though. I felt like I was missing SOMETHING and that's why I had mixed feelings. I had to see it again on BD to finally appreciate it for what it meant to be... I'm also not bothered by Digimon 02's ending/epilogue at all. I really don't get why people think it was OOC. I mean, the series isn't the highlight of the franchise or anything, but it's not as horrible as I kept thinking it would be when I went back to it in Japanese last Fall. The epilogue didn't feel out of place at all. But... maybe it helps that I listened to the drama CD's. Man, if people in the West had any clue what was on those "original story" drama CDs that would make them cry and care... Though the Tamers' one made me bawl my eyes out at nearly every track. Worst ending... worst ending... If I wanted to list my least favorites, I'd probably have a string of titles with open-ended, never-to-be-concluded cop-out endings. Otherwise, I usually never finish a series if it can't end on an okay note. Or I probably forgot the series as a whole. Seriously, I can't think of a conclusive ending I hated with a passion. |
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iathomps
Posts: 68 |
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This question always gives me trouble, because the majority of anime are based on existing properties that may or may not be finished yet. Anime as such always seems to have the feeling that the point of the story is the Journey, not the Destination. Take my favorite anime, Monster. It had a fitting ending, but I don't think that makes the anime great. What made it great was all the things that happened in the narrative development, and so the ending was more of a "its time for this to end" kind of thing.
As for great endings? Honestly I have watched over a hundred anime by now and the number with truly satisfying endings I can count on two hands. Besides the obvious ones like Cowboy Bebop or El Hazard OVA, I think one worth mentioning is actually Vandread. spoiler[Seeing the men and women from four different factions all team up to take on the Big Bad always puts a smile on my face.] As for worst ending? Easy, the ending to Blue Gender made me so mad that I actually became physically ill. Giving an environmentalist Aesop that basically says "for the sake of the earth, we should all go back to stone age tribal living or die" was a giant slap in the face to any viewer with half a brain, and a slap in the face to every sympathetic human character in the show that was fighting to survive.[/spoiler] |
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Wyaku
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Spiral
Now and Then, Here and There Night walker |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6030 |
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spoiler[While Endou screwing Kaiji over like he did was messed up and Kaiji never gets to battle Hyodu again. Season 2's ending definitely makes up for the bullshit ending of season 1]
You've finally come to our side.
True but blame still has to be lobbied at the individuals who see a manga or light novel and then decide to adapt it into anime before the story either reaches a certain extent or ends because they want short term gains at the expense of long term losses.
Well that's if you like needlessly bleak, cheap, or unfair endings where the heroes either lose or gain nothing.
......anime hasn't ended (Shippuden anyway)
More like I'am my brother's keeper.
That sounds more like some trashy OVA that tries to fit hours of story into the space of a few minutes...........though hentai can kind of be like that too. |
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Stuart Smith
 Posts: 1298 |
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[quote="SailorTralfamadore"]
For me personally it's a matter of priorities I think. There's a lot going on to wrap up the show rather than who ends up with who. Seeing people swear off Naruto after years of being fans just because he hooked up with one pairing over the other seems a bit petty and undermines everything else. I suppose the matter is 'plausibility' is generally an absolute in the mind of a lot of shippers Digimon is in a special situation though. The American dub is notorious for changing a lot of character personalities and inserting romance subplots that weren't in the original like Taichi and Sora. So I think people expecting certain pairings to happen that were never hinted at in the original were going to be disappointed. But as far as careers go I don't see how they were contradictory. Iori's entire arc was about the sense of justice and duty he learned from his father who was a police officer. It makes sense he would go into a field involving the judicial system. Sora's arc was about here embracing her feminine side and growing out of her tomboy phase and helping her mother out. Miyako was all about being a housewife to the point her character song was flat out called Yamato Nadeshiko Panic. -Stuart Smith |
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DuelGundam2099
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No you are not if we're talking about just the epilogue, albeit it felt more unfitting than antithetical. There are also at least a dozen titles under "best" I completely disagree with or could think of better alternatives as well as some "worsts" that make me raise an eyebrow. 
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Covnam
 Posts: 3703 |
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Thank you for bringing up the El Hazard OVA Rebecca, it's one of my favorite endings (and by proxy one of my favorite series and favorite to rewatch).
Glad to see it isn't forgotten!
Yeah, that's definitely a great one. Excellent ending that's very fitting for an excellent series.
The follow ups weren't as good (though I prefer the 2nd OVA opening to the first), but I don't think they harm the originally any. Plus, with the time skip, there's plenty of room to have everything still happen between the original ova (before the very end back on earth) and the actual end of the ova without the series being affected.
Agreed, that was a lot of fun and has the same affect on me. |
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trilaan
 Posts: 1059 Location: Texas |
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I'm always happy to know others feel the same. Thank you.
I agree, Covnam, I love The Magnificent World the best but the others were pretty good, too, each one offering something a little different as well as stuff I really liked, even in The Alternative World.
Oh, Vandread has one of my all-time favorite revelation(y'know, THAT one). Love it. Last edited by trilaan on Fri Mar 04, 2016 3:38 am; edited 2 times in total |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1868 |
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Best: (TO ME! Personal connection! Not objective quality) Anohana. That ending was just perfect in my mind. It hit every point it needed to. It needs to be seen properly to be explained, and I don't wanna ruin it for the... 4 people who haven't seen it yet. I'll just say that I was satisfied as hell once that journey was done.
Worst: A tossup. On the side of a story that intentionally ended the way it did... Oreimo. First off, I'm rooting for Kuroneko anyway, but that's irrelevant. Kyousuke dumped every girl just to play house with his sister. That's pretty low. I wouldn't mind if it showed that the other girls were just playing along afterwards, or if it showed Kyousuke reconciling and getting with one of them (preferably Kuroneko) but as it is, it's just a disappointment. The entire series is a personal favorite, and a lot of people refuse to give it a chance because the ending was spoiled for them. It's a shame. The ending is bad, but it's not so bad that it ruins everything that was great about the show. Anime only ending: Gash Bell. Ugh... not only do the anime-exclusive Faudo Arc's episodes pale by comparison to the manga, but they don't even properly convey the antagonist. Zeon is Gash's evil twin, but the manga gives him a clearly defined, sympathetic backstory, as well as his nihilistic partner Dufaux and the other antagonistic demon/human pairs of the arc. While they couldn't have possibly known specifics, the anime left these key players as "villains because villains" who were just evil without explanation. Not only were these things bad, but the end of the series doesn't even conclude the overarching "Mamono Battle Royal" myth arc. Right after Gash vs Zeon, it cuts to Brago and Gash meeting in a field in France, saying some "good luck" "You're a worthy foe for getting this far" junk, and then the show just ends. If I were a storyboard writer in Japan, even I could write a better, made up conclusion with only the existing manga at the time in mind. I can imagine the Faudo arc being where the final demons get eliminated, leading up to a fight between Gash and Brago wherein Gash wins and they have an emotional farewell. Boom. Concluded. Zeon burns each ally's book one by one (taking the anime's place of Clear Note, who did not exist in the manga back then), Gash takes him out, any remaining demons schedule a friendly duel with Gash to narrow down the numbers, Gash vs Brago ends it. I've seen some mediocre anime-only endings, but this is an anime that DEMANDS some closure. Soul Eater: What can I say about this anime's final episode that others hadn't already said? Maka is part-weapon. Makes sense. Her dad is a Death Scythe. This means that she can stomp Ashura? On what planet does that make sense? Ugh... |
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Supermutant
 Posts: 377 |
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Best: Sailor Moon.
Worst: Can't chose one between these. DBGT which pretty makes renders everything about DB saga junk by the way it ends. Thankfully not canon anymore for DB Fans. End Of Evangelion. A failure of writing a end if I ever saw one. Manga does it so much better. Gilgamesh: Has a ending so mind numbingly bad that WTF was that over and over and over again. Master Of Martial Hearts. I agree with the article. Such 180 to the story. In the end what are we left with. Heroes and villains that turned out to be all very bad. Like if Citizen Kane and rosebud is not the sled but someone he killed. Full Metal Alchemist: How do you fail twice? Not come with a creative ending and then fail a second time leaving this in a way you had to wonder would fate of our favorite brothers. Brotherhood was way better. |
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louis6578
Posts: 1868 |
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I have to agree about FMA 2003. That ending was pretty hit or miss. The show deserved better, and while I loved every new plot point (aside from the TerminArcher, which was silly), some of them needed closure. Envy being Hohenheim's son, Winry's mixed feelings toward Roy Mustang, who Gluttony, Pride/Bradley, and Greed were in their human lives (as well as some expansion on the other homunculi), and finally... the one reason this ending doesn't work to me. No matter how you look at it, no matter how you try to turn this around, Alphonse brought Edward back to life using Alchemy. This completely goes against the themes of the show. Hope Chapman. I am challenging you, the FMA-fangirl of ANN, to defend this argument.
Oh, and I forgot about Gurren Lagann's ending! I usually just stop halfway through the final episode and pretend it ended there. That was a pretty awful one. I think it's the lowest Anime-original (not based on a manga, light novel, or grandma's war stories) ending I've ever come across. That's the thing. It's hard for me to think of an anime that ended SO poorly that I consider it to be a contender for the worst concluded one. I feel a little sore for only listing Anohana under best ending, so here are some honorable mentions from me for my best ending in anime. HM: Code Geass R2, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Gash Bell (The Manga, not the anime), Digimon Tamers (Aw...), Princess Tutu (a perfect end to a perfect journey), Assassination Classroom (no spoilers, but I think when the anime comes out for this, I'll cry my eyes out), Cowboy Bebop, Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter 2011, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and (if you ask me) Steins;Gate. HM for worst: Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (really, bro? Really?), Akira (the movie), Neon Genesis Evangelion, Romeo x Juliet (Ugh... I loved the show, but that was forced), Gurren Lagann, most/all anime that ended before the manga without finding an appropriate stopping point), Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (last minute tragedy porn. I think it was borderline confirmed that the only purpose of Kamille's braindamage was to let ZZ happen without Judeau being needed), Bubblegum Crisis (for not having an ending), and, my most controversial pick, Wolf's Rain.  I regret none of those choices.
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Angel'sArcanum
 Posts: 303 Location: Toronto, Ontario |
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I never considered the backstories that were missing for some of the other homunculi, that's a good point, although I guess really the point was that those who did have backstories were ones whose pasts were relevant to the central characters whereas the others you could say were just gathered elsewhere and their stories are forgotten history or what have you. MechArcher was silly though indeed. I think Winry got a bit of a confrontation with Mustang if I recall, probably could've been more direct though, I forget. Alphonse trying to bring back Ed got a bit weird with how back and forth it was, the execution could've been better, but I guess it's not to be taken as literally as the other resurrections with the Philosopher's Stone, but rather a familial sacrifice to help another truly achieve something perhaps. Gurren Lagann is a weird one, someone explained to me that the intro to the very first episode is actually an alternate timeline when Simon's arrogance to have human's conquer everything lead to their demise, but it doesn't really seem acknowledged by the characters in the current timeline, so the compromises and losses they felt seemed a bit forced and bitter. I understand Simon needing to be humble for his accomplishments, but spoiler[having your lover die in your arms AND becoming some delusional hobo pushes it]. Zeta Gundam I find didn't get really good UNTIL the ending. Most of the series was just persisting angst and a bit of chaos, but it was too ever-present, exhausting and lacked an emotional center with all the different plot hindrances throughout, but once everything culminated in the ending few episodes, Tomino's direction felt more precise and the surplus of deaths everywhere still played out rather smoothly all things considered. I don't find the absolute ending with Kamille holds enough weight on its own though, doesn't really say anything I find and is a weird way to close the series if you want to disregard ZZ (which I strongly disagree with, as even if I seem to have a strong love and support for it as the greatest Gundam series I've seen, at the very least it provides some semblance of closure that 0079 and Zeta lack.) |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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I see people talking about the ending to Gurren Lagann, and here's my two cents on it. SPOILERS.
spoiler[If it weren't for Nia's death, it would have been perfect. Seriously, why the hell did the writers think it was a good idea to kill off Nia? Was it not enough that Kittan and several other members had to die? What's more hand-bangingly stupid is that her reason for being killed off came right out of nowhere. As far as I can tell, Nia died because boohoo sad face. THAT is emotional manipulation, folks- sadness (most of the time) for it's own sake, without a point or purpose.] As for Code Geass...I liked what they were going for in theory, but the second half really needed to be it's own episode. Also, I have to agree that Steins;Gate had a really great ending. Sure, a certain plot point revolving around the female leads was a bit of a cheat, but who cares? |
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