Anime that Ended Well

[Bagheera]

As we all know, the trickiest part of a story is the ending. How many times have we seen shows that had an awesome beginning, only to fizzle out at the end? Worse, how many times have we seen endings that failed to live up to the show the preceded them, or failed to resolve the major questions/conflicts of the show? IME these sorts of endings are all to common. This thread, then, is for shows that don't have these sorts of endings. They don't necessarily have to be happy endings, just ones that left you feeling immensely satisfied and feeling your time invested in the show was well-spent. NGE is excluded here for obvious reasons.

My picks:

Steins;Gate -- while the show probably should have ended after episode 22, I can't help but feel the workaround used to make the endgame work was both fitting and inspired. It wasn't perfect; there were some plot holes here and there, but overall I was left with both the warm fuzzies and a feeling of "fuck yeah!" contentment.

Zoids New Century Zero -- I can't really recommend the show, even for mecha fans. It was trite, formulaic, etc. Probably the only reason I even bothered is because I'm a wildlife geek and I grooved on the mecha designs. But that said, that ending . . . holy crap was it good. Normally mecha shows feature all kinds of upgrades toward the end, and while these showed up here they were ultimately discarded in favor of the bare bones original zoid we saw at the beginning of the show. For that final battle there were no powerups, no god modes, absolutely nothing but a well-animated, knock-down-drag-out fight that had our hero earning his victory. That sequence alone made the whole damn show worthwhile IMO.

These aren't the best by any means, but they're the ones that immediately came to mind and inspired me to create the thread. What are your favorites?

[Mr. Tines]

As we all know, the trickiest part of a story is the ending. How many times have we seen shows that had an awesome beginning, only to fizzle out at the end?

That "Japan doesn't into endings" is a sad fact, traveling hopefully is all too often better than arriving, and episodic series safer than ones with an overall arc. Adaptations of on-going manga at best manage a logical pausing place (Zettai Karen Children, which stopped at a time-skip in the manga), but all too often fall into the "anime original ending" trap (Claymore, and to a lesser extent, Bokurano, which had its own broader adaptation decay issues) -- I often approach the final episodes of series I've been enjoying with some trepidation (I'm looking at you, Ghost Hound!).

That said, I could write quite a long list of series that actually finish in a definitive and satisfying manner, but I'll choose the first three that come to mind:

Mouryou no Hako -- had the advantage of adapting a mystery novel; all is revealed, and then there is a coda to tie up the remaining loose ends.

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! -- a superior "cute girls at school" series that ties its plot up neatly.

Princess Tutu -- it tells its tale and doesn't fall into anticlimax or wimp-out at the end.

[Dr. Nick]

Gunbuster - comes immediately to my mind when I think of a good anime ending.
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor - supposedly superior in every way to the light novel that spawned it.
Area 88 (OVA) & Gundam 0080 - these two deserve to be mentioned together.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes - duh.
Moribito - sold something like 2000 copies in Japan.

[Bagheera]

Another one that came to mind:

GITS:SAC (first season) -- I admit to being a bit confused at various points (par for the course with Shirow works IME), but that ending . . . if the Tachikomas don't make a body stand up and cheer I don't know what will.

[NemZ]

GITS = YES

Also: Monster, Ergo Proxy, Cowboy Beebop, Haibane Renmei, Lain, Paranoia Agent, Utena, Samurai Champloo... perhaps more later.

[Someone]

Death Note.

[Tankred]

War in the Pocket.

[NemZ]

Death Note.

Ending was okay, yes, but the whole second act was just crap so it's hard to justfy it being worth all that tedium.

[TheFriskyIan]

The first season of Darker Than Black ended very well.

Now with that being said, I can safely say that the second seasons ending was a god awful train wreck. The OVA's ended good though.

[the_seventh_child]

Code Geass - Proper ending, except that I felt some very shitty characters got a closure they didn't deserve; but otherwise, it had to end that way, glorifying the "sacrifice" of the already brilliant main character.

Monster - Genius; not really sure how to interpret the last scene, but generally it was a worthy ending of a masterpiece.

Lagann - Simple GAR-free ending. I loved it, because it shows that certain things can only last so much. Epic on its own way.

[Defectron]

Any anime made by Gainax, except Abenobashi, Abenobashi needs to go sit in the shame corner for the ending it had. But other then that Gainax is the good ending anime company, because you know a gainax ending is a quality ending!

[Fireball]

Well, Evangelion excluded, still pretty much any Gainax ending. If Gurren Lagann and Gunbuster didn't make you teary you have no soul and Panty & Stocking was such an entire explosion of WAT that it stole goddamn Christmas itself.

Other than that,

Mobile Suit Gundam - There's a reason 0079 is so iconic and the last third is a big part of it. It's perhaps the best depiction of a genuine war in the entire frenchise - it's where all the cool moments happen: Battle of Texas, The Big Zam, Lalah's death, Gihren's patricide before getting murdered himself, Amuro vs Char, Kycilia getting her freaking head blown off and the entire A Baoa Qu battle you have Zakus fighting GMs, Balls getting freaking RIDER KICKED, Doms chopping entire Magellan ships apart, the Feddies throwing their last reserves into it, Musai ships making desperate banzai attacks...it's pure, utter chaos and I've yet to see a final battle as apocalyptic and gripping as A Baoa Qu. The best part of it all, while Amuro and the White Base contribute greatly, they don't really win the battle by themselves. White Base shoots down a shitload of Zeon forces, but they ulitmately crash while the Gundam gets destroyed in one of the most memorable shootouts. Actually, one might argue that the Federation would have won regardless of their contributions. In the end, they were just a cog in the wheel of a gigantic machinery of war and it gives the whole thing a much more grounded perspective than the special teenager in his super robot who single-handedly ends an entire world war by himself. By the end YES MY SWEEETT, YES MY SWEEEETESSSSST kicks in, you have lived, breathed and shared tears with the crew and you are nothing but glad they made it out of this hell.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam - Zeta embodies Tomino's habit of creating rather tedious shows but then turning it into something else by butchering almost every character mercilessly. Zeta pulls absoultely no punches and goes on a killing streak it makes you lose sight of who is actually on which side. The last 2 episodes are war in its most depressive and darkest form that it burns itself into your conscious - so much, that you actually forget that for most of its parts, you had a cast full of crazy, obnoxious assholes trying to out-asshole each other. If there was ever an ending that made a show better in retrospect than it actually was it's Zeta. Also, best girl wins.

Cowboy Bebop - There is not much to say here because it's one of the most poetical perfect endings I could ever witness. Bang.

Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal - Not often that an anime outshines its manga material that much but T&B does it masterfully. Everything builds up to the final moments and leaves you with a very sad and melancholic conclusion but not in a bad way. It marks actually the beginning of the swordsman Kenshin but unfortunately the tv series that followed isn't quite as mature though that doesn't diminish this masterpiece in any shape or form.

[Mr. Tines]

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

That OTOH, is a series I'd add to the list of "doesn't into endings" -- it stops abruptly, without any sense of story resolution at any scale. Camille's story ends in anticlimax, and the bigger political consequences of that final bloodbath go unstated.

[Fireball]

That never bothered me since ZZ is a direct sequel (originally aired a week later) that continues the strings for better or worse. Besides, what do you mean no resolution? By the end of the Gryps Conflict Paptimus and the Titans are defeated, AEUG and the rest of the Federation is in shambles and Neo Zeon emerged victorious. There isn't really much to resolve because everyone else pretty much kicked the bucket. Sucks for Kamille though, but not every hero gets the good ending (immediately). Like I said, the ending of Zeta itself was satisfying enough as it made the show more memorable and complete conclusions aren't always needed, see Gainax.

And you know, the Japan can't into endings is just /a/ getting mad at things that didn't go their way. Western fiction can be just as bad with their endless comics, movie sequels and tv series seasons that just won't end until the shark has been jumped long ago and every last damn penny has been squeezed out of it.

[Mr. Tines]

"To be continued next episode" is not an ending, though it probably explains the serious lack of resolution there (it's also why I immediately set aside from consideration any adaptations of on-going manga that just stopped at an appropriate chapter boundary). It still leaves Zeta probably a notch worse than Ghost Hound as far as endings that are actually pay-offs for the previous N episodes go.

but not every hero gets the good ending

See also Princess Tutu, cited above. Now, that's a series that knows its story-telling.

[Hyper Shinchan]

"To be continued next episode" is not an ending

It's the only ending that I'll ever accept.

[Fireball]

Yeah, Kamille's closure is one of the few redeeming qualities about ZZ. If you think Zeta had a shit ending, boy, I wanna see you after ZZ haha.

[InstrumentalityOne]

Macross F TV and Katanagatari?

[BrikHaus]

Escaflowne, Outlaw Star, Gurren Lagann, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Wolf's Rain, Welcome to the NHK.

[CJD]

Fullmetal Alchemist

Thank you! I couldn't agree more on this. Though I do think Brotherhood's ending was better.