Anime Ending that makes you want to strangle the director

[Raiyuu]

I wanted to strangle Tatsuo Sato for the end of [I]Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness[/I]. Not because I thought it was a [I]bad[/I] ending, but because of the way Akito had changed from the series as a result of what happened to him in the intervening years (I won't go into the details as it'll spoil the movie for the uninitiated).

Of all the characters in all the anime I've seen (which admittedly is not that many) I identify with Akito more than any other. To see him changed the way he was, with no conceivable way he could return to his old self, was a real wrench. I suppose the strength of feeling I experienced towards the writers and director are testament to the power of their writing, but that doesn't mean I'm going to forgive them for messing with my buddy Akito.

[manga gal15]

Yeah, the Fruits Basket ending was kinda cut short. I mean the manga goes on for about 14 volumes or something.... but at least it was a, though disturbing at first, happy ending (although those kinda endings have a high risk of being....well....to put in kind words, way to emotional for their own good).

But seriously, why do some of the most beautiful, involving series have such crappy endings?! I don't need a huge battle or a happy ending to resolve a series, just a conclusion that makes sense (at least eventually) and doesn't leave anything hanging or crams everything into one episode.

I guess one justification is that these directors have insane deadlines and they are, in a way, ruled by companies that don't care about our feelings as viewers and only have eyes for pieces of paper that have pictures on them. Here's a little math lesson for them: anime series + good ending = money.



Anyway, I really don't know what I'm talking about... I'm running on 7 hours sleep in a 48 hour period... :sleep:

[DiscoSnorlax]

I don't know if the japanese version ends like this, because I've only seen the US version, but I am, how shall we say, 'less than happy about' the ending to Digimon Season 2. Yes, I know, old history, but.. well, it's usually impossible to make me hold a grudge very long if at all, but sometimes...

I'm going to stop typing now before I get myself into trouble, anyone who knows me probably knows my objections already as it is.

[Delta]

[COLOR=DarkRed]
Ah, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

I was really hoping that they'd kill Shinji so that the series could advance and focus on more interesting people like Rei Ayanami. Dying would be a very archetypal end for a character like Shinji. [SPOILER]Maybe that's why they ended the series in another way: they gave the character's internal conflict a resolution then ended the series.[/SPOILER]

Ah well. At least it was a happy ending.
[/COLOR]

[Dagger]

I figured there would be little point in creating a new thread just for this... so, conversely, which anime end exceptionally well?

Although its second arc is at best mediocre, [b]Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water[/b] has one of the most touching and satisfying final episodes I've ever seen. It provides an appropriate amount of closure for every single main character; there's even a brief "where are they now?" segment a little while after the climax. I laughed, I cried and I almost forgave Gainax for completely botching the middle section of the series.

[b]Read or Die[/b] has a beautiful, bittersweet sort of ending that stuck with me long after I first watched it. The OVA's creators could have chosen to cop out by letting [spoiler]the original Nancy live.[/spoiler] I'm certainly glad they didn't.

~Dagger~

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='Dagger IX1']I figured there would be little point in creating a new thread just for this... so, conversely, which anime end exceptionally well?[/quote] Actually, there's a large point in creating a new thread. For one thing, the topics are polar opposites, so there's no way they should reside in the same thread. Sometimes I like to rant about how bad things are, and other times I like to lavish things with praise.

Secondly, this thread is already long. People hate long threads because they have to read a ton of stuff before they can even post. Sure, they could just blindly enter in and post, but then that brings two problems: 1. what they want to say could already have been said and they would sound like they are repeating themselves, and 2. the direction of the topic could be wholly different from the beginning, so no one is even going to bother discussing stuff that's old bacon - at least not in a large thread that has come a long way.

And last, more people will post in a fresh thread rather than an old one because of the fact that there's just more leeway there. Plus, people with ideas and different angles will be less hesitant to post, so the topic won't just repeat itself, but instead will have new angles and ideas from newer people with fresher thoughts.

[eleanor]

[color=firebrick] Gee, when did Azurewolf become a mod? I didn't know about it.

I thought Gravitation had a nice ending, even though now that I've said this thousands of Gravitation fans will probably maul me. I don't really enjoy animes that have 25+ episodes since they tend to have billions of filler episodes, and I thought Gravitation was paced at a good speed. It was amazing that [i]all[/i] of the episodes actually held my attention through the whole thing...actually, I like all the endings of the episodes as well. They sort of leave of both wanting for more and most of the time a bit sad or bitter. And the ending to the series was sweet, so booyah. Go shounen-ai. :P

Cowboy Bebop had a nice ending as well. Though I can't think to elaborate on it because I just like the very last scene lol. [/color]

[ghostlightning]

evangelion: all the endings (i did not see the videogame ending) are flawed and yet they are quite brilliant.

consider this: the overriding theme of the series is a search for what is the truth, or what is reality, especially in terms of the psychological or spiritual self.

the series ending focused on shinji becoming a person acceptable to himself. i consider this ending true to the intention of the program - refer to the opening track: thesis of a cruel angel "shounen yo shinwa e nara" or young boy fulfill (your) legend (loose translation). it is a journey of a young boy with a (terribly) flawed psyche into self-acceptance and renewal. that is precisely the thing being congratulated by the characters in shinji's mind.

disclaimer: i personally think shinji is the biggest wuss in all fiction

in end of evangelion, the (psychological , spiritual, and science-fiction) concepts of the series become fully fleshed out. shinji's absorption in the LCL which resulted in the annihilation of all humans (an illusion anyway, they become a singular being in the third impact) made him alone with the voices of the angel beings (rei and kaworu). shinji is not alone. all humans exist as one being. now we ask? if there is only one being, why is it only shinji? the answer to this is that the singular being contains multiple consciousnesses, only that each consciousness is only conscious of the self. shinji experiences only himself and no other (it wouldn't make sense if it were another character). what separates the consciousnesses from each other is what the series calls the A/T FIELD. the absolute terror the experience of "otherness" gives us. this is at least college-level philosophy (existentialism) and i do hope i do not alienate the readers of this thread. having others around renders us vulnerable to pain by virtue of conflict that two separate beings can create. this is the warning kaworu gave shinji when shinji considered that he misses the others.

like shinji, a lot of us experience other people with fear. our deepest sufferings are products of our experiences with other people (most notably that of family, partners, friends, and social groups). this evangelion expounds on and fantasizes as A/T FIELDS, "the walls of the heart" that finds expression in giant mecha vs. monster battles.

i personally find the net result of the difficult to watch endings quite fulfilling for such an anime (with all its production issues). i almost am sorry for hideaki anno. i wonder how much of himself did he put in the writing.

my favorite ending is cowboy bebop's. i also experienced if i were truly alive, and then, it doesn't mean anything at all...

peace

[chimazokuruby]

[COLOR=Red]predictable endings.....and happy endings...and the endings of vampyre movies...where the vampyre always dies, and the the hottest guy in the whole movie dies....but i espcially hate happy endings when the hero wins...i hate that...a lot!!!!![/COLOR]

[kaiyomichiru]

Goodness where should I start? The concept/storyline for InuYasha is awesome, I mean, a messed up love triangle along with a lecherous man who will actually change his ways to devote himself to one woman and a self-denying prettyman with a humungoid fur boa, what's not to like...EXCEPT FOR THE ENDING! [spoiler]So everyone's chasing after Naraku and Kikyou is like [i]this close[/i] to killing that darned person. But alas, she fails and it's followed by various meaningless scenes and then you find yourself with your jaw dropped, sitting in front of the TV with your heart struck by an arrow of disappointment saying "what the hell!"[/spoiler] I feel like we started where we began. Sure we got friends and what not but hell, we haven't gotten anything accomplished! Please forgive my ranting and raging but this was unacceptable for all those Inu fans out there (do you agree all you Inu fans???) I heard there are OVAs in the making, but Takehashi better finish the damn story or else I'll be wondering what happened to everyone until I'm all hunched over with white hair and crippled. Anyways, if anyone has any info, opinions, etc. I'd like to hear it.

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1][b]Added spoiler tags. Careful what you might reveal, heh ^_~ -Solo[/COLOR][/SIZE][/b]

[2010DigitalBoy]

The .hack//Legend of the Twilight ending SUCKED! The final manga volume has yet to be released, but I loved the first two. I thought the anime would be great so I watched it on cartoon network. it was a little more kiddy but was still pretty good. Suddenly it broke into a weird plot that kinda spun in circles, but it was still interesting.

Then it ended.

We dont see what happened.

[spoiler]Just two silloughets geting sucked up[/spoiler]

Curse those genius creators. I should burn them to death and pee on the ashes.

[lcrisler]

[FONT=Arial]Wow...I read this entire thread to make sure I wasn't retreading someone elses statement, and it's making me wonder if I'm the only one who thinks this...but I [SIZE=1]hated[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]Hated[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]HATED[/SIZE] how [B]Kare Kano [/B] ([B]His and Hers Circumstances[/B]) ended.
It started off being one of my favorite anime; wonderfully drawn characters ([U]Tsubasa Shibahime [/U] is such a cute little kid!) and I enjoyed the characterization. Throughout the series, outisde of the ending, I only wish there had been more of the interaction between [U]Tsubasa[/U] and her stepbrother and the jock chick and the guy she tormented in elementary school (pardon me, but I totally can't remember their names right now).
Without giving anything away, lets just say that from discussing it with other people, I've learned that they ended the series before the manga was done, and just cobbled an ending together. I'm sure you can see the problems inherent in such a decision :flaming: .
Now I'm in a bit of a dilemma...I'm a completist, so I'd hate to just pick up the last few volumes of a manga, but at the same time, do I really want to buy an entire series of manga that I've already watched the anime for? Sigh...[/FONT]

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]Ranma ½: Seven seasons didn't conclude it; the OAV didn't conclude it; neither of the two movies concluded it. So after watching all that, I was just a [i]little[/i] annoyed at all the loose ends that were left hanging. I mean, neither the series nor the OAV had any sort of conclusion [i]at all.[/i] They felt like they stopped short, when there was still more to be told.

And funnily enough, after I read the manga I found out that that's exactly what they do. There's a whole big finale spanning the entirety of the last two manga volumes that isn't in the anime at all, which I was extremely pleased with and enjoyed very much. I thought it wrapped everything up quite nicely, and was a good way to end the series. It's just too bad they didn't make an eighth season of the anime to include it.[/color]

[Kippky]

Worst ending? hmmmm, Cowboy Bebop takes the cake there. As does Helsing...Alucard is_____ ...*ish maddened* :flaming: HE CAN:T BE______! And Spike _________!!! That's just wrong! He needed to marry Fay! :D :flaming: WHY IS ALUCARD________?!?!?!?! ((I added blanks so I don't spoil anything 4 anybody...))

[vegeta rocker]

The end of Argentosoma really made me angry.

[spoiler]What was up with everyone just flying off into space? i detest endings that jump to like 5 years later. You never learn why Ryu is a political prisonor, you never learn the true orgins of the aliens. There is no closure whatsoever. Floating dots of light? I love the series but they went way to surreal on the end. I didn't understand why the alien had some green glowing things on one side of his face. They were like Ryu's face scars but i didn't understand the point. Terrible ending, but then again Gainax is notorious for that. I still think that Ryu should have died. [/spoiler]

[2010DigitalBoy]

despite the fact that I loved the movie in its entirety, i found the ending of AKIRA to be confusing.[spoiler] We see Kaneda and the other kid rise from the rubble, but we dont know about what happened to everyone else, in tokyo.[/spoiler]

[Dagger]

[quote name='Kippky']Worst ending? hmmmm, Cowboy Bebop takes the cake there. As does Helsing...Alucard is_____ ...*ish maddened* :flaming: HE CAN:T BE______! And Spike _________!!! That's just wrong! He needed to marry Fay! :D :flaming: WHY IS ALUCARD________?!?!?!?! ((I added blanks so I don't spoil anything 4 anybody...))[/quote]

Thank you for being so considerate. If you'd like to use spoiler tags, simply type [spoiler]text[/*spoiler]. They allow you to go into much greater detail without needing to worry about ruining any plot twists for other members.

On a slightly different note, I'd appreciate it if you toned down the punctuation a bit. Thirteen exclamation points are never more meaningful than three (that's an extreme example, but I'm sure you see my point).

~Dagger~

[lumberjack80]

By far, the absolute worst ending I've scene was for Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Over the course of the series, we slowly start to see Arumi and Sasshi grow up and slowly become very well developed characters. The whole series slowly built up to what I felt was the only final logical conclusion with [spoiler]Sasshi finally having to face tell Arumi that her grandfather passed away and accepting the fact that she was going to move away.[/spoiler] But, this was not the case, as Gainax decided to put [spoiler]a happy ending to the story and had Sasshi save Arumi's grandpa[/spoiler] which I felt really hurt the story.

[Dagger]

I did not like the ending of Gasaraki. Granted, I became rather disenchanted with the English dub during the latter half of the show, and I was having trouble keeping up with the thrust of the plot. On the one hand, I respect the series for presenting some very complicated situations and portraying the characters on both sides in a balanced manner. On the other hand, not only did I not know who to root for, I had difficulty caring what happened to any of the characters. To me, the final two episodes felt like a total rush job--Misuzu [spoiler]could have made a fantastic pseudo-villain, had her personality been developed more carefully. As things were, I found myself wishing they had resolved the tension between her and Miharu, not to mention her romantic feelings for Yushiro.

At least America wasn't the big bad guy in this one.[/spoiler]

~Dagger~