You’re Tearing Us Apart Anime!
A great ending doesn’t exactly constitute a happy one. If a piece of storytelling delivers a gut-wrenching finale, it’s more than merited just so long as it fits within the frame the narrative has created. You’d need look no further than cinematic gems such as Hotarubi no Mori e and Grave of the Fireflies. Their conclusions may have left us weeping and wishing things could have been different, but it can’t be denied how fittingly poignant they were.
Then you have the other kind of endings. Ones that appear to be risque on the surface, that seem to play into their respective show’s themes, that certainly have praiseworthy aspects to them…but still find a way to rub you up the wrong way. Take these three for example, whose resolutions have still found a way to divide fans to this very day.
Fair warning, there will be MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
#3: “Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt” (2010)
This might be the definitive example of an anime trolling its audience, that or it wanted to leave the biggest cliffhanger possible so it would get a sequel series. Either way, fans were left agape as in the literal last minute of the finale, Stocking revealed herself to be a demon and sliced up her sister into tiny pieces. Given the crazy antics these two had gotten up to over the course of the series, it was going to take a lot for fans to call them out, but this more than did the trick. Even if it was meant to be a joke ending, the amount of WTF it constituted has left the developers in a position where they either hurry up and make season two or risk hurting the memory of the anime as a whole.
#2: “Neon Genesis Evangelion” (1995-96)
The one ending that every fan and their dog loves to make fun of. While giving Shinji a moment of self-reflection so he can gain some much needed character growth is all fine and dandy, the aftermath feels so out of place that even the utter insanity of the End of Evangelion fits in more to the anime’s depressing themes and religious symbolism. Watching the entire cast go around and congratulate Shinji on his emotional breakthrough just comes across as…weird, confusing and slightly ominous given how only seconds ago things had gone to hell in a handbasket.
#1: “Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion” (2013)
The ending may have been somewhat foreshadowed, but it still doesn’t take away the fact that instead of finally wrapping things together, the conclusion to the Madoka sequel we had all been hoping for had thrown everything into chaos. We aren’t saying that this movie isn’t awesome, because it’s damn amazing in nearly all other aspects. From it’s fight scenes to its pacing to the grand reveal of the Witch’s Labyrinth, it’s peak Gen Urobuchi. It was also on the precipice of giving Homura everything that she had wanted, that she had earned. Then…she goes full on Satan, rewrites the entire universe and utterly loses herself over her obsession for Madoka. The sense of hopelessness lends itself well to the anime’s central themes, but even then we’re still left with loose ends in desperate need of being tightened up.
Be sure to check out the video below to see our picks for the Top 10 WTF Moments in Anime.
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