Worst Endings Eva(ngelion)?

[Aion]

Death Note:
The last ten or so minutes NEARLY made me rate it 9/10. Everything was perfect - evil laugh and all... until Madhouse did what they usually do and change the very end of the ending for the worse. They removed the last twist (Ryuk writing in front of others) in order to have Light do a marathon and try to make viewers sympathetic towards him; going against the original ending by doing so.

Claymore:
Until the 25th episode, it was a top ten contender. If Madhouse had ended the series on a Berserk-esque cliffhanger, they would've made the series be discussed in years to come AND allowed for a continuation. But, instead, they went for a final boss battle... then decided to end everything inconclusively, anyway. It was retarded and highlighted how bad Madhouse are - in spite of their brilliance - at ending their adaptations. Honestly, I should 8/10 it because of how bad the finale was, but knocking off a point when I loved 1-24 seems mighty harsh...

My-HiME:
After turning into an emotional, Battle Royale-esque tale of tragedy, the writers did a complete 180 at the death; reviving the entire cast. And if that wasn't enough to make the ending bad (it was!), the retarded final battle and all the silliness surrounding it sure as hell as. Yet another great series let down by an awful ending. I'm only kind with my rating because its story was poor to begin with; it being a character>story type.

Utawarerumono:
It got worse and worse as it neared the end. What started out as a medieval warfare epic turned into Godzilla. A robot army entered the picture, a past involving blob monsters, and all the other rubbish that usually gets pulled out of arses in Japan.

Trigun:
Vash goes off to his final encounter with his nemesis, wins... and then doesn't kill him; taking him back with him? Ok, then - I'm SURE an evil character such as Knives would turn into a goodie, with some love. Retarded.

Neon Genesis Evangelion / End of Eva:
When a comprehensible version intended to be understood gets released, I'll like Eva a lot more. Only appreciated by those who think symbolism = deep.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
Simon never could compare to Kamina. And planet throwing ranks highly in the league of retarded ****. It got worse and worse once the space rubbish started; the episode where characters 'tragically' got killed off being awful.

Devilman Lady:
I stopped following what was happening when the HOT lesbian pairing became some kind of God & devil pairing; God's child using 'his' penis on the devil to control all life, or something - I forget. The anime writers lost it completely.

Gantz:
A horrible player vs. player, original story finale where the Afghan war got mentioned. The Buddha arc - the best part of Gantz - also got ****** treatment in the first series; the pacing first moving too slowly then speeding up when the best parts were reached.

True Tears:
If the chicken girl and her constant, serious chicken metaphors wasn't enough to make me dislike True Tears, then the series ending and then getting extended by two episodes sure as hell was. The lead chased after and confessed to the girl he liked... then did a 180; being cold towards her and showing affection towards the chicken girl. It was like the studio behind it realized they'd finished the story a few episodes too early and then had to extend the drama, illogically.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Well the entire point of Vash's character was that he doesn't kill anyone ever, he had to literally forced to do that one kill in the series by Legato. Plus I doubt he figured Knives would turn out ok, probably just took him back to imprison him or something, it's better than the asspull in maximum which comes out of nowhere with Knives suddenly decided "OH W8 I <3 MAI BRO" and turning good like that at least the anime doesn't have the audacity to outright say that's what happens. His fate is uncertain either way. There's a chance that he might be executed by the townsfolk, who knows.

I kind of like the Death Note change, but I agree the manga version is better by far.

As for my own "worst" endings:

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid

There's no real closure with Chidori and Sousuke for one thing which annoyed the **** out of me after they'd been apart so long and while the arbalest administering a massive curb stomp beat down on the villains was cool it wasn't very tense or climactic in the same way the ending of the first series was, though overall TSR was superior to the first series.

I don't think it was an awful ending, but it could've and should've been better.

Hellsing first series

I didn't like the overall show much anyway, but the ending was just so weird and seemed entirely based on Alucard going Vampire Super Saiyan. Not even a final showdown with Anderson either. Rubbish.

 

[MaxonTreik]

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid

There's no real closure with Chidori and Sousuke for one thing which annoyed the **** out of me after they'd been apart so long and while the arbalest administering a massive curb stomp beat down on the villains was cool it wasn't very tense or climactic in the same way the ending of the first series was, though overall TSR was superior to the first series.

I don't think it was an awful ending, but it could've and should've been better.

That's because novels haven't ended. :roll:

Devilman Lady:
I stopped following what was happening when the HOT lesbian pairing became some kind of God & devil pairing; God's child using 'his' penis on the devil to control all life, or something - I forget. The anime writers lost it completely..

:roll:

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid

There's no real closure with Chidori and Sousuke for one thing which annoyed the **** out of me after they'd been apart so long and while the arbalest administering a massive curb stomp beat down on the villains was cool it wasn't very tense or climactic in the same way the ending of the first series was, though overall TSR was superior to the first series.

I don't think it was an awful ending, but it could've and should've been better.

That's because novels haven't ended. :roll:

Maybe so, but there's been no sequel announcement I'm aware of and it's possible to have closure without finality (see FMP1's ending) it just seemed to end with Kaname massively pissed at Sousuke and there was no real reconcilliation proper =/ On the one hand you have this massive shonen good guy kicks righteous butt ending and also a somewhat downery romance ending =/ I mean the implication is it's going to be ok but I'd have been happier if they'd done more to emphasise that

 

[Vashdaman]

hmm I diagree with you about trigun aion, I thought Madhouse gave it a great ending, after all thats what Vash was all about, regardless whether Knives would have changed or not, Vash was all about forgiveness and that's partly why he was such a great character.

 

[Aion]

:roll:

You went from struggling to comprehend why I couldn't quite follow a story where a woman who had been acting all lesbian was actually a shemale with a penis (as well as a child of God, or some ********) and needed to rape the heroine to attain true Godhood to rolling your eyes? Most odd editing...

Maxon, you may be a Scottish, skirt-wearing man and have no issue with penises being hidden underneath skirts, but this is where we're going to have to differ. You can't roll your eyes at everyone with a better, more informed opinion than yourself - that's just childish.

Also, Witchblade is better than the lady version of Devilman, FYI.

 

[fabio de lunatico]

Even though it feels like I'm always complaining about anime endings, there's only one show I can think of whose ending is so bad that it undermines everything that came before. That show is My-Hime, and my reasons are the same as those outlined by the Bastard Bad Guy. If you're going to mess with my emotions, don't make it all for nothing in the final episode.

And Evangelion, I suppose, though it's been a long time since I saw it (probably with good reason).

 

[ilmaestro]

Even though it feels like I'm always complaining about anime endings, there's only one show I can think of whose ending is so bad that it undermines everything that came before. That show is My-Hime

Son, I am disappoint. The ending of Mai-HiME turns everything from the ret of the show into one of the most hilarious slow-burn pranks I've ever seen. It makes it a worse, on balance, I guess, but I feel it turns the show into something completely different, but equally brilliant.

 

[Arbalest]

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid

There's no real closure with Chidori and Sousuke for one thing which annoyed the **** out of me after they'd been apart so long and while the arbalest administering a massive curb stomp beat down on the villains was cool it wasn't very tense or climactic in the same way the ending of the first series was, though overall TSR was superior to the first series.

I don't think it was an awful ending, but it could've and should've been better.

That's because novels haven't ended. :roll:

Maybe so, but there's been no sequel announcement I'm aware of and it's possible to have closure without finality (see FMP1's ending) it just seemed to end with Kaname massively pissed at Sousuke and there was no real reconcilliation proper =/ On the one hand you have this massive shonen good guy kicks righteous butt ending and also a somewhat downery romance ending =/ I mean the implication is it's going to be ok but I'd have been happier if they'd done more to emphasise that

That's where the novel ended at. Of course, did you watch the bit of them on the train at the end? i think it was a decent enough ending, and then of course you do have the OVA as well which fits in just after the end of TSR.
The novels have ended, but the reason we have no sign of a continuation yet is because gatoh is still silly enough to look to KyoAni, who apparently hate doing mecha series. Expect one at some point, or if need be, look to the novels. Ending Day by Day, Or rather the 4th and 5th main story novels are out in february(this is what TSR is based off of), and hopefully we'll get them continuing after as well, so you can still continue.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid

There's no real closure with Chidori and Sousuke for one thing which annoyed the **** out of me after they'd been apart so long and while the arbalest administering a massive curb stomp beat down on the villains was cool it wasn't very tense or climactic in the same way the ending of the first series was, though overall TSR was superior to the first series.

I don't think it was an awful ending, but it could've and should've been better.

That's because novels haven't ended. :roll:

Maybe so, but there's been no sequel announcement I'm aware of and it's possible to have closure without finality (see FMP1's ending) it just seemed to end with Kaname massively pissed at Sousuke and there was no real reconcilliation proper =/ On the one hand you have this massive shonen good guy kicks righteous butt ending and also a somewhat downery romance ending =/ I mean the implication is it's going to be ok but I'd have been happier if they'd done more to emphasise that

That's where the novel ended at. Of course, did you watch the bit of them on the train at the end? i think it was a decent enough ending, and then of course you do have the OVA as well which fits in just after the end of TSR.
The novels have ended, but the reason we have no sign of a continuation yet is because gatoh is still silly enough to look to KyoAni, who apparently hate doing mecha series. Expect one at some point, or if need be, look to the novels. Ending Day by Day, Or rather the 4th and 5th main story novels are out in february(this is what TSR is based off of), and hopefully we'll get them continuing after as well, so you can still continue.

Mmm I saw the train and if you mean the ova starring Testarossa I was under the impression that was set before the first episode of TSR.

 

[Max Takeshi]

Tokyo Underground

An average series gets the mother of all rushed endings. A few more episodes were really needed, instead the final episode feels like 4 spliced together.

Not good.

 

[Reaper gI]

That's because novels haven't ended. :roll:

Maybe so, but there's been no sequel announcement I'm aware of and it's possible to have closure without finality (see FMP1's ending) it just seemed to end with Kaname massively pissed at Sousuke and there was no real reconcilliation proper =/ On the one hand you have this massive shonen good guy kicks righteous butt ending and also a somewhat downery romance ending =/ I mean the implication is it's going to be ok but I'd have been happier if they'd done more to emphasise that

The final 2 novels should be out by now, vol 12 was due in August.
Some of us don't like filler. Just stopping when you run out of material is okay by me.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
Simon never could compare to Kamina. And planet throwing ranks highly in the league of retarded ****. It got worse and worse once the space rubbish started; the episode where characters 'tragically' got killed off being awful.

You realy didn't get the show then, spent most of the time laughing during it, intersperced with comments of "oh that was from ***". It's litterly going through a checklist of all the most common super robot tropes and cliches and doing one per episode. That was the kill 'em all/ noble sacrifice ep.

 

[Aion]

...but I'm sure I did get the Kamina manliness/Simon angst/new world politics sections of the series, 'cause I liked those parts, right?

"You didn't like it because you didn't get!" is the most childish counter-argument that can be used, and it gets used a frightening amount on forums like these. If you're supposed to be Mr. Experience and pulling rank on me, at least act mature.

It's true that the stupidity of it all may have appealed to me if I were a fan stupidity, or I may have found myself filled with nostalgia when worthless characters got offed in a way that was supposed to be tragic. Maybe I'd even pull out a brofist over planets being thrown and the stakes getting increasingly retarded by the episode. But I'm not a robotard, or whatever you people refer to yourself as, and as such I could only grade the series based on its own merits. And if a series can't be viewed and enjoyed fully on its own, and requires happy memories from other titles, then - unless its purely a parody - it can't be very good, can it?

Kamina inspiring those around him and leading a rebellion was great, and very fun. Simon's development immediately after that was good enough for me to overlook the lack of the only great character in the series. And the complete switch of focus right after the timeskip, and the problems created by forming a civilized hi-tech society, gave the series a new, surprisingly deeper edge. But once the story reached space and the robot/ship/whatever kept getting bigger, it became almost nonsensical and a chore to watch. I came close to dropping it.

Based on the first half or so, I can see why people love it. But unless everyone has memories of ancient anime stuck in their heads, for the life of me I can't see why so few were irked by its fall from grace.

 

[JohnC]

I liked TTGL precisely because of how it went. From the start, it was OTT and it just kept building on that. The few episodes where it went all serious was the low point, but it was just using that to set up the rest, so it's forgiven. I'm not saying it would have been a low point in another show, BTW. Just for this particular OTT show. Different things for different shows. Even though it's completely unrealistic, I love that when they are having that fight near the end the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann mecha is 10 million light years tall. Utterly ridiculous, but right for the show.

 

[Wildcard]

Utawarerumono:
It got worse and worse as it neared the end. What started out as a medieval warfare epic turned into Godzilla. A robot army entered the picture, a past involving blob monsters, and all the other rubbish that usually gets pulled out of arses in Japan.

Seconded. Around the half way point I thought it was going was going to be a firm favourite, but I struggle to imagine how they could have made a messier, more senseless ending.

One that sticks in my mind is Pumpkin Scissors - more a 'to be continued' than true ending perhaps, but all the same stretching a relatively short story arc from the manga over far too many episodes at the end just ground the whole thing into unbearable tedium. It didn't help that there were absolutely zero answers to the bigger questions either, we never learn who the 'Silver wheel' are or what's really going on with the 'Invisible Nine'. All we get is a trail of clues that go nowhere. I wouldn't mind so much if it was actually going to be continued, but it seems pretty unlikely. As a self contained series it's deeply disappointing.

 

[Aion]

Tears to Tiara - another ero-game adaptation - goes in a similar direction to Utaware, near the end. The key difference is, it was never as good as Utaware started out.

There are some pretty nifty VNs out there, if you look hard enough. Cocker/Fabio revealed the existence of Saya no Uta to me - a story about a lead guy with a brain disorder that makes him see all humans as awful looking blob-monsters and an actual blob monster as a cute girl. And Phantom had a good enough story without the porn to get re-released without anything pornographic included. Then, of course, there's the anti-harem School Days and mindfcuking Higurashi.

I liked TTGL precisely because of how it went. From the start, it was OTT and it just kept building on that. The few episodes where it went all serious was the low point, but it was just using that to set up the rest, so it's forgiven. I'm not saying it would have been a low point in another show, BTW. Just for this particular OTT show. Different things for different shows. Even though it's completely unrealistic, I love that when they are having that fight near the end the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann mecha is 10 million light years tall. Utterly ridiculous, but right for the show.

I think, at the end of day, we're never going to agree because of how different our viewpoints are. My top ten anime are mostly seinenish, drama-filled titles; only NHK having lots of humour - it also having lots of depressing moments. The only title with lots of mecha action in my favourites is Geass.

My love of the first season of Geass and hatred for the second pretty much sums up my stance on over the top silliness: I liked Geass when it was like Death Note and hated it when it became more like Gundam, with lots of OTT nonsense and inconsistent plotting. It's no great surprise to me that lots of TTGL fans also love R2.


About Vash/Trigun: It's true that Vash was such a likable guy because of his kindness. But, as Wolfwood repeatedly tried to drill into his spiky-haired friend, its idealistic to try to survive in the wild west without killing to survive or protect. His logic was that of a child, and I thought he'd grown up a bit by the end... until he saved the life of the man who'd killed his 'mother'/too many people to count and was a threat to everyone alive. His decision to spare the life of Knives could only be viewed as cowardly by me.

'Thou shalt not kill' ******** is only used in works aimed at younger readers/viewers, and it becomes very annoying, after awhile. At least Kenshin had dirtied his hands enough in the past to have a valid excuse for no longer wanting to kill - him also switching over to 'kill mode' when required; such as when Saitou emerged for a death match.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Tears to Tiara - another ero-game adaptation - goes in a similar direction to Utaware, near the end. The key difference is, it was never as good as Utaware started out.

There are some pretty nifty VNs out there, if you look hard enough. Cocker/Fabio revealed the existence of Saya no Uta to me - a story about a lead guy with a brain disorder that makes him see all humans as awful looking blob-monsters and an actual blob monster as a cute girl. And Phantom had a good enough story without the porn to get re-released without anything pornographic included. Then, of course, there's the anti-harem School Days and mindfcuking Higurashi.

I liked TTGL precisely because of how it went. From the start, it was OTT and it just kept building on that. The few episodes where it went all serious was the low point, but it was just using that to set up the rest, so it's forgiven. I'm not saying it would have been a low point in another show, BTW. Just for this particular OTT show. Different things for different shows. Even though it's completely unrealistic, I love that when they are having that fight near the end the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann mecha is 10 million light years tall. Utterly ridiculous, but right for the show.

I think, at the end of day, we're never going to agree because of how different our viewpoints are. My top ten anime are mostly seinenish, drama-filled titles; only NHK having lots of humour - it also having lots of depressing moments. The only title with lots of mecha action in my favourites is Geass.

My love of the first season of Geass and hatred for the second pretty much sums up my stance on over the top silliness: I liked Geass when it was like Death Note and hated it when it became more like Gundam, with lots of OTT nonsense and inconsistent plotting. It's no great surprise to me that lots of TTGL fans also love R2.


About Vash/Trigun: It's true that Vash was such a likable guy because of his kindness. But, as Wolfwood repeatedly tried to drill into his spiky-haired friend, its idealistic to try to survive in the wild west without killing to survive or protect. His logic was that of a child, and I thought he'd grown up a bit by the end... until he saved the life of the man who'd killed his 'mother'/too many people to count and was a threat to everyone alive. His decision to spare the life of Knives could only be viewed as cowardly by me.

'Thou shalt not kill' ******** is only used in works aimed at younger readers/viewers, and it becomes very annoying, after awhile. At least Kenshin had dirtied his hands enough in the past to have a valid excuse for no longer wanting to kill - him also switching over to 'kill mode' when required; such as when Saitou emerged for a death match.

I see where you're going but in the series I think it was clear the reverse was true, that Wolfwood was being brought round to Vash's train of thought which is why he got killed in the end, because he didn't finish off Chapel (it was Chapel right?).

I can understand why you're disappointed with the ending and frankly in the same situation I'd have offed the guy but it's just part of Vash's whole Batman thing (only minus the anti-heroness)

 

[CitizenGeek]

Worst endings ... probably Claymore, Gundam 00 and FLCL all had terrible or at least disappointing endings.

Death Note:
The last ten or so minutes NEARLY made me rate it 9/10. Everything was perfect - evil laugh and all... until Madhouse did what they usually do and change the very end of the ending for the worse. They removed the last twist (Ryuk writing in front of others) in order to have Light do a marathon and try to make viewers sympathetic towards him; going against the original ending by doing so.

But, like, objectively, do you think it was a bad ending? Leaving aside the fact that it was changed from the managa? I liked the Death Note ending.

Neon Genesis Evangelion / End of Eva:
When a comprehensible version intended to be understood gets released, I'll like Eva a lot more. Only appreciated by those who think symbolism = deep.

Episode 25 and 26 are pretty awful as an ending to the series. Gainax originally wanted to do the ending they later made with EoE, but TV Tokyo freaked out after the violence in episode 24 and demanded that they make a new ending. And so, with only 2 weeks to dream up a whole new ending, it was bound to be bad. However, I have to completely disagree that End of Evangelion is a bad film. It is, probably by far and away, my all time favourite movie. It's experimental and still accessible, and evem though I didn't properly understand it until I watched it a further 3 or 4 times, it's still enormously affecting the first time around. The scene where the world is literally ending, and that up-tempo but depressing song (Komm, Susser Tod) is playing is my all-time favourite moment from anime.

 

[Aion]

But, like, objectively, do you think it was a bad ending? Leaving aside the fact that it was changed from the managa? I liked the Death Note ending.

Along with the storyboards DN's writer sent to the artist, he made one thing very clear: he wanted Light to die pathetically. For all his sins over the course of the story, at the end he wanted it made clear he'd reached the end of the road - he wanted him to die in a very human, very weak manner. Light begging Ryuk to save him and, in-turn, Ryuk pointing out that he'd lost the moment he'd resorted to begging for help highlighted the game was well and truly up for him.

Mikami abandoning Light - referring to him as trash - instead of causing a fountain of blood to explode *SOMEHOW* with a pen also went along with the author's intention of making it clear Light wasn't at all Godly, or worthy of a death fit even for a human - dying like a dog.

Ignoring the cheesiness of having Light *SOMEHOW* run with multiple bullet wounds - recalling how he'd changed from all sweet and innocent to evil, or something - followed by L's spirit standing over Light as he died for the LightxL fangirls, like I said before: it went against the original ending for Light to die in a peaceful manner, with Ryuk almost seeming to be trying to help Light by ending his suffering quickly. I got the distinct impression Madhouse's writers were made up of Light fanboys - that's my only explanation for the drastic change that occurred at the very end of the best manga adaptation in existence.

However, I have to completely disagree that End of Evangelion is a bad film.

Never said it was. In fact, until right after Misato blood-kissed Shinji (lucky son of a bitch...), I thought it was a brilliant film. The raid section was thrilling, and Asuka's last stand against the freaky new Eva units ranks as one of the greatest action sequences of all time - the time limit making it even better by stacking the odds against Asuka even further. But after the blood-kiss point, I understood practically nothing, and that meant it gave me one hell of a headache.

It's been years since I've watched Eva now, but I don't rate things I dislike 8/10. The TV series has some of the best characterization around and a good chunk of the film ended the story in style. My problem with Eva is more with how others rave over it being the best thing since sliced bread; even when most of the 10/10 people were just as confused as I remember being, coming out of it.

 

[Warmaster]

Not that I am a fan of Eva at all, the ending was, without doubt, the single worst excuse for an ending of ANY series (Anime or not) I have managed to sit through. Completely without excuse. (even Russel T. Davis' repeated Deus Ex Machina's in the new Doctor Who weren't as bad as that)

However as for other ones:

The Third: Was pretty poor. The series had started well, but was on a long decline long before the end, but the ending was extremely weak

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: For a comedy series, the last episodes get rather strangely serious, but then they pull a Deus Ex and leave everything all over the floor.

Nausicaa of the valley of the wind: Even Miyazaki agrees that resorting to Deus Ex was a really crappy way to end it (The Manga sorted that out though so all is fine, and it is the main reason he did Mononoke, which is even better!)

Eureka Seven: Not the best series as a whole, but it certainly had its moments. The last episode is certainly not one of them. Must...forget...love...heart...

Ghost in the shell: As much as it broke ground, and as much as most of the film was interesting and pretty good, the first time both me and my brother watched it on the late night sci fi channel block, we were both bored stupid after 20 minutes of chatty exposition at the end.

Devilman Lady: Agree with Aion on this, the ending was pretty awful, but then again, I had long become tired of constant 'monster of the weekness' long before I got there save a few interesting bits so it wasn't that shocking.

Tbh off the top of my head can't think of many more where it isn't a case of a poor ending but rather a case of the whole series being poor - most of these I rather liked but fell apart at the end (except eva, which just sucks, but still)