Forum - View topicWhat's The Best (And Worst) Anime Ending You've Ever Seen?
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KH91
Posts: 6176 |
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If only that happened, especially the bolded. |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1866 |
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@Angel, I respectfully disagree with your opinion on ZZ, but I actually agree that the ending handful of episodes on Zeta were great. Honestly, it has the same Gurren Lagann ending problem. AMAZING several climactic episodes, but one final quarter of the ending episode can ruin a great anime. An ending is a funny thing. It can change an okay anime into a masterpiece, but it can also ruin an excellent anime. I personally feel like Madoka Magica is only as great as it is because of where all these points end up in the final episode. Tomino should have let Kamille have a happy, or at least bittersweet ending.
@Akane Kickstarter is a huge thing. Maybe Sunrise will offer to remake Code Geass the way that it was intended to progress without any "THIS IS A MONEY MACHINE! WE MUST MILK IT!" mentality. I totally agree that R2 (up until spoiler[Lelouch became emperor]) was a pretty hit or miss journey with more misses than hits. I grant it the same compliment I grant Future Diary. All writing and characterization failings aside, it was never boring. |
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Angel'sArcanum
 Posts: 303 Location: Toronto, Ontario |
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I felt like SOMEONE had to die with that ending, it's just that there'd been SO many noble sacrifices throughout the series that I feel like spoiler[ it was fitting that the price of victory was not Simon dying a la Kamina (and again Kittan which is a bit much) but the lover dying this time instead. She was borne of the Anti-Spiral people, so her livelihood was kind of shared with their's I guess even if it's a bit sudden. ] But yeah, a still too much of a downer methinks.
Fair enough on ZZ and agreed with Gurren Lagann too, but with Madoka I feel differently. I actually checked your list because your views and tastes sounded similar to mine, and I noticed you scored End of Eva pretty low, and now you mention Madoka and I can only think of the dynamics between both series and their alternate/complementary film endings. See, what I think tripped Madoka up a bit was the ending, and while I still need to see Rebellion, the ending of it sounds more in line with the series. With Evangelion in relationship to End of Evangelion, I think Eva as a deconstruction follows through with its ideas to the end and hones in on its thesis with the TV series ending that to live is to suffer, individual consciousness can only cause inevitable pain, etc. and the way the characters started to sink into these darkest lows of self-esteem built to the ending well. Meanwhile EoE (I felt) was the perfect counter-point to the series ending - the characters get some redemption in the film before the fated decision and the divergent ending the film goes with which all works in showing free will as salvageable and with hope. I've heard tossed around that Urobuchi didn't intend to make a decon with Madoka and just had a dark spin on the magical girl subgenre in mind, but I can't really sit with that as well because the ending of the series feels like a bit of a cop-out with its metaphysical rules and lovey-dovey stuff after the mounting despair the series has been all about and how all desires can be corrupted, only for this final wish to be pretty much flawless (save for the wishy-washy "ghouls" stuff at the end to screw around with it at the end), whereas from what I'm told Rebellion is a little brighter and has some fanservice to bring back the characters for another outing until the ending where spoiler[Homura absorbs Godoka after they were struggling against the independent Kyubeys trying to start chaos and stir the pot. It seems like Homura embraced the very nature of corrupt, selfish desires and used that to become an omnipotent evil to smother all the others while saving Madoka and gang as a martyr for all evils. ] I've probably said this before, but it seems like an argument for the side of the nature state argument where antagonism persists and power is used to maintain order. It seems like the endings would make more sense swapped for Madoka (but dangit, I really need to see the film to back this up soundly) and they would gel more with the content leading to them in that case like Eva does with its endings. Last edited by Angel'sArcanum on Fri Mar 04, 2016 4:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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louis6578
Posts: 1866 |
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I must correct you. Nia was not born from the anti-spirals. She was born totally human (Lordgenome was human despite being a badass among them). The anti-spiral making her their messenger had nothing to do with how she was born. As such, it was a total cop out. I think it was just because sad endings are more talked about. I remember some commenter saying that Guilty Crown was the best anime ever because of its ending (something that no one believes except that commenter). Romeo x Juliet and Gurren Lagann, to me, would have been perfect with a happy ending. It's amazing that the movies didn't retcon that ending, considering how many people probably hated it. |
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Angel'sArcanum
Posts: 303 Location: Toronto, Ontario |
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Oh really? Dang, my memory must be foggy for it then, but yeah, that gives me further inclination towards not loving the ending then. Idk, I like Gurren Lagann I guess, but the ending and the kind of simplicity to the story as more of an homage to certain eras of mecha have always had me a bit at length with it. I give it high marks, but I've felt a lingering pressure to do so to a degree but I've never really confronted it. Idk, I enjoy the series, it just picks at me in certain ways. {Edit: Please refrain from excessive quoting.. I edited your post for you. ~ Psycho 101} |
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louis6578
Posts: 1866 |
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It's okay to acknowledge faults in a show you like, and even to like a show that you acknowledge is bad. Gurren Lagann is not bad by any stretch of the word. However, it is flawed. It isn't a solidly written show throughout.
I have many shows that I love despite them not being the best-written. Heck, I know some people who would tell you to watch a poorly written anime just because the animation is great. I disagree with those people (I found most of Makoto Shinkai's stuff to be worthy of a yawn), but there are lots of people who don't care how poorly written something is as long as its exciting. Take a look at how many people religiously praise Brotherhood while lauding FMA 2003. Look at how popular Naruto Shippuden and Bleach are. They didn't get that way from being deep and thought provoking. |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2460 |
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IMO the epilogue to Gurren Lagann fits perfectly with what the final confrontation was handled. spoiler[Blindly moving forward with no thought to the consequences was how they always moved, and the Anti-Spiral showed Simon how that'd lead to the universe kind of imploding. But instead of choosing suppression like Lord Genome did, Simon chooses to keep pushing forward, but responsibly.
The several deaths before Kittan's might've been a bit much (not like I remember their names though),] but other than that I wouldn't change anything about it. |
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1820 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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What are the flaws you see? |
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louis6578
Posts: 1866 |
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Spiral energy is vaguely explained, many of the deaths (after Viral joins and they go to save Nia, before spoiler[Kittan's death]) are weightless because the characters who died only had two scenes of dialogue beforehand, a lot of Rosseau's actions betray all prior character, romantic relationships are forced often (I'd dare say that Nia and Simon is the LEAST guilty of this), they can apparently spoiler[revive/clone Lordgenome but never think to do it with Kamina (Spiral Energy=fighting spirit. Are you gonna tell me Kamina doesn't have that?)], Simon's depression from Yoko and Kamina kissing felt way too forced (how many hints were there that he even liked Yoko before this?), and finally, the ending has a whole list of problems on its own.
Do I think that these flaws prevent it from being a thoroughly enjoyable series? I ranked it "excellent" so you tell me. |
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fuuma_monou
Posts: 1820 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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I put this down to GL being science fantasy (like Star Wars and the Force) rather than science fiction. I mean, they were using GALAXIES as shuriken in the finale! Agree with you on the character motivations and romance.
Oh, I think it's the best TV series GAINAX ever did. Of course now the key creators are Trigger... |
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naruchan507
Posts: 1 |
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I haven't seen Kemonozume but I heard from a friend that it's quite interesting. I think I might start watching it when school ends. It's good to know that the ending is good. For me, the best ending was from Stein's Gate. I love how everything came together at the end. Worst ending is from Samurai X. I didn't really like what happened to the characters at the end. 
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Oh, I saw that recently. I was really hoping I'd like it. My main issue with it is that in the closing episodes, we see spoiler[the girl with the least development end up winning, the childhood friend revealed as someone with some screws loose, and a MC who neglects their childhood friend, leading to her condition getting worse.] Yeah, I didn't like the way that ended. It did handle sinking a couple of ships well enough, but I just found how it ended felt...kind of abusive to me.
Wait, so a character spoiler[getting an almost total mind wipe] is a happy ending? Though, I would like to know how the ending ignored what came before. It's been a long time since I saw it last. And I have another bad ending to add, that of Da Capo III. Honestly, the end for that series felt more like it was a mid-way point in a 2 cour show. But, I don't think it's going to be continued. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18219 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I've been letting the "worst endings" selections that I entirely disagree slide by without comment, as this is very definitely a personal exercise, but this last one gave me pause. What is "forced" about the ending of Romeo x Juliet? That was the ending that the series was working steadily towards from the first episode. You also mention in another post about how that series would have been ideal with a happy ending. Are you forgetting what the story is? Despite the anime styling added to it, it is, by nature and basing in source material, a tragedy, so for it to have had a happy ending would have been a perversion of the base story. Heck, even the fact that some redeeming value was worked into the tragedy seemed a little dishonest, though it was handled well enough that I can forgive the series for that. |
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yotsubafanfan
 Posts: 653 |
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I can only think of the best endings right now. Those being Clannad After Story, Potemayo, Azumanga Daioh, GTO,(For all the endless hilarious conclusions I can come up with with spoiler[Onizuka being a teacher in the United States],) Polar Bear Cafe, and a few others. The only ones I can think of being absolutely horrible are the endings for "His and Her Circumstances" and the ending of Kodocha (In the English dub because they literally ended the dub on a freakin clip episode which infuriates me to no end. I'm not sure how the anime ends all together so I'm not bashing on the anime ending all together, just the English dubbed ending.)
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Regarding Gurren Lagaan, a friend of mine who is a big giant robot fan, noted that GL is basically a big metaphor for the timeline of Giant Robot anime. The early episodes are all about the "passion" of the pilots and mindless "big robots hitting each other" (like early giant robot anime), the middle part is more "weighty" like robot shows of the 80s & 90s. And the end stretch is trying to be a new "Giant Robot renaissance".
In that vein, I wonder if spoiler[Nia is supposed to represent "Evangelion", she appears in the "darker" stretch and gives our protagonist something/someone to rally around when everything else he believed in is gone. But then, she later turns into a "tool" of the forces arrayed against him. Simon then leads everyone against the anti-spirals and "saves" Nia, but in the end, he must "let her go" and move on with his life. She was (and will always be) the love of his life, but he has to let her go, for everyone's sake and for the future.] That's not to say that I loved/liked the ending, but it makes sense in the broader context since GL is another Gainax joint. EDIT Or, in a similar vein, since it IS Gainax spoiler[Nia COULD represent Gundam, and be Gainax begging Bandai to move on] |
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