Even the most outstanding story can be ruined by a disappointing finale – and many anime fans are all too familiar with the frustration of a botched ending ruining an otherwise incredible show. When entering its final story arc, all great anime face the monumental task of tying the narrative together in a perfect conclusion that meets – and hopefully exceeds – fans’ expectations.
No matter how good a story starts or builds up to its endings, a bad final arc can ruin everything for anime. Be it rushed execution, controversial creative choices, or a disconnect between fans’ expectations and authors’ intent, some of anime’s most extraordinary series went down in history for their disastrous finales, which often spoil the impact of the entire journey.
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10 The Promised Neverland’s Final Arc Suffered from the Anime’s Unfaithfulness to the Source Material
The Human World Arc Is Nothing Like It Was in the Manga
The final arc of The Promised Neverland, The Human World arc, is an optimistic – if a bit bittersweet – conclusion most manga readers were relatively satisfied with. However, the finale’s reception was completely different for anime watchers, the disappointment stemming not just from the ending but the entire second season.
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The Promised Neverland Season 2 notoriously skips over large chunks of the manga – including key arcs that made the finale land. As a result, The Human World arc in the anime ends up being just a rushed montage of disconnected events, leading to the fans’ justifiable confusion and dissatisfaction. Making sense of the series’ ending without reading the manga is nigh impossible, the anime robbing the viewers of a rewarding conclusion.
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The Promised Neverland
TV-14
Animation
Action
Adventure
Drama
Fantasy
Horror
- Release Date
- April 14, 2019
9 Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Ending Is Controversially Bizarre
NGE’s Finale Is Infamously Convoluted and Brings Little Satisfaction
The original Neon Genesis Evangelion anime is rightfully regarded as one of mecha’s most influential stories even 30 years after its premiere. Yet, the series has just as many diehard fans as it does haters, and NGE's polarizing ending has much to do with its divisive reputation.
The final storyline in Neon Genesis Evangelion – centered around the triggering of Human Instrumentality – takes the anime's already prominent introspective themes of surreal psychological horror too far, resulting in the last two episodes feeling more like a fever dream than a cohesive conclusion to a mecha anime. A reality-bending trip down Shinji’s deteriorating psyche that leaves the viewers with more questions than answers, NGE’s finale is so out there, fans still can’t decide if it’s an artistic masterpiece or an incoherent disaster - with most leaning towards the latter.
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Neon Genesis Evangelion
TV-MA
Animation
Action
Drama
Sci-Fi
- Release Date
- 1995 - 1996
8 Wonder Egg Priority Ruins a Great Premise with a Confusing and Rushed Final Stretch
Wonder Egg Priority Sees One of Anime’s Biggest Drops in Quality During Its Finale
Upon premiering in 2021, Wonder Egg Priority swiftly became a fan-favorite dark horse. The anime presented an interesting genre-deconstructing take on the magical girl premise, had a nuanced approach to themes of trauma and loss, and consistently delivered in terms of visual execution. Unfortunately, the story takes a tremendous dive in the latter half. The final arc is disappointing, it invalidates everything Wonder Egg Priority had going for it.
Koito’s fate remains unresolved, Ai’s character growth is rendered null, and even the visuals – one of the early episodes’ greatest strengths – look considerably worse in the finale, leaving fans confused and frustrated. With so many core mysteries and central plotlines left without proper closure, it’s no surprise Wonder Egg Priority went from a fan darling into one of modern anime’s most hated shows.
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Wonder Egg Priority
TV-MA
Fantasy
Horror
Drama
- Release Date
- January 13, 2021
7 DARLING in the FRANXX Is a Divisive Anime with a Universally Hated Ending
The Final Arc Rushes Big Reveals and Fails to Give Characters Satisfying Closure
Studio Trigger’s DARLING in the FRANXX was polarizing from the very beginning despite its tremendous popularity. That said, even fans who enjoyed the anime couldn’t ignore the problems with the story’s final stretch. While DarliFra never shied away from asking the audiences to suspend their disbelief, the finale blows the absurdity out of proportion.
The plot suddenly goes interstellar with the introduction of aliens, the final storyline focusing on Hiro and Zero Two fighting extraterrestrial invaders. The protagonists’ unnecessary and sudden deaths sparked major controversy, with many fans seeing the tragic finale as an insufficient resolution for Hiro and Zero Two’s arcs. An over-the-top plot that fails to give fans closure, DarliFra’s ending was confusing at best and utterly disappointing at worst.
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Darling in the Franxx
Anime
Mecha
Drama
Romance
Sci-Fi
- Release Date
- 2018 - 2018
6 Platinum End’s Fatalistic Finale Nulls the Point of the Entire Anime
Platinum End Makes Controversial Narrative Choices in Its Final Stretch
Upon its premiere, Platinum End's interesting mix of human drama, existential motifs, and supernatural action promised fans a compelling story. In the end, Platinum End’s abysmally dissatisfying and nihilistic ending became the anime's unfortunate legacy.
Every character’s journey is rendered null when Shuji Nakaumi becomes the new God – only to kill himself, subsequently destroying the entire universe. While plenty of series manage to pull off a shocking finale where everyone dies, Platinum End does not rank among them, its take on the trope being rushed and disappointing instead of shocking and thematically cohesive.
5 Akame ga Kill! Goes for a Shocking Anime-Original Ending
The Final Arc Is Chaotic and Not True to the Manga
When an anime runs out of manga material to adapt and has to opt for an anime-original ending, most series strive to alienate fans as little as possible, settling for rushed but uncontroversial conclusions. Akame ga Kill! chooses the complete opposite route. Akame ga Kill!'s final arc ends with most characters – including protagonist Tatsumi – dead, and the plot wrapped up in a rushed and ungratifying manner.
While Akame ga Kill! was never an optimistic anime by any means – and featured plenty of character death throughout – the finale’s massacre lacked the emotional impact which usually makes such tragedies land. Comparatively, the manga’s conclusion is much less nihilistic and actually succeeds at ending things on a satisfying note without compromising the series’ dark themes.
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Akame ga Kill!
TV-MA
Drama
Action
Anime
Fantasy
- Release Date
- 2014 - 2014
- Network
- Tokyo MX
- Directors
- Hiroyuki Tsuchiya, Manabu Okamoto, Daisuke Eguchi, Akihisa Shibata, Sumito Sasaki, Masahiro Sonoda, Kazuhiro Ozawa, Kazuomi Koga, Takahiro Kawakoshi, Tomoko Hiramuki, Yoshiko Mikami, Masaki Matsumura, Mamiko Sekiya
- Writers
- Touko Machida
4 Naruto: Shippuden’s Finale Didn’t Live Up to Sky-High Expectations
Fans Had Major Problems with the Fourth Great Shinobi War’s Ending
Arguably the most iconic shonen title of the 2000s, Naruto had a lot of expectations riding on its ending. As is the case with a surprising number of long-running shonen anime, Naruto: Shippuden’s final saga ended up feeling rushed and failed to satisfy a large number of fans.
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The Fourth Great Shinobi War plot is an epic with many incredible, iconic moments – from Kakashi’s fight with Obito to Madara’s character as a whole, its the actual ending undermined much of the arc’s greatness. Naruto fans felt disappointed with the rushed character development, hastily resolved romantic subplots – particularly Sasuke and Sakura ending up together – and Kaguya’s role as the final antagonist.
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Naruto
TV-PG
Animation
Action
Adventure
Comedy
Fantasy
- Release Date
- 2002 - 2006
- Showrunner
- Masashi Kishimoto
- Directors
- Hayato Date
- Writers
- Masashi Kishimoto
3 Erased Botched the Reveal of Its Big Mystery
The Lackluster Conclusion Sours the Impression from an Otherwise Great Series
A time travel mystery with a compelling plot and a captivating dark tone, Erased started off as a anime with all the makings of a modern classic. Satoru's investigation into serial kidnapping cases from the body and perspective of his childhood self made for a thrilling detective set up high in tension and emotion.
Unfortunately, a good mystery is decided by its ending – and Erased failed to stick the landing. The anime's final story arc features a disappointingly predictable culprit unraveling, followed by a rushed and unrealistic wrap-up that left the viewers expectedly frustrated after the show's outstandingly strong start.
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Erased
TV-14
Crime
Drama
- Release Date
- January 8, 2016
Stream
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
2 Soul Eater’s Anime-Only Final Arc Goes Against What the Anime Stands For
The Kishin Battle Arc Fails to Bring the Story to a Gratifying End
Another victim of a poorly executed anime-original ending, Soul Eater is an incredibly entertaining ride filled with creative worldbuilding, memorable characters, and dynamic action – up until the story starts to deviate too much from the source material in the final arc. The anime-only Kishin Battle arc is a rushed and lackluster finale that attempts to wrap the entire anime up with Maka’s team facing off against the Great Old One Asura.
On top of the arc’s hasty pace and lack of meaningful character development, fans felt most frustrated with how Maka defeats the big bad single-handedly, all thanks to the power of friendship being on her side. Even if Soul Eater’s manga own ending is controversial, it doesn’t compare to how poorly the anime-original ending was received.
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Soul Eater
TV-14
Action
Adventure
Animation
Supernatural
- Release Date
- 2008 - 2008
- Directors
- Takuya Igarashi
- Writers
- Akatsuki Yamatoya
- Franchise(s)
- Soul Eater
1 Death Note Part II Made Too Many Controversial Choices Fans Can’t Agree On
Death Note’s Conclusion Is Memorable But Polarizing
One of the most iconic and popular works in all of anime, Death Note has a surprisingly polarizing final arc – its controversial status made even more significant by the series only having two distinctive arcs, also referred to as parts. Part I of Death Note ends with the shocking death of L – Light’s main adversary and an all-time fan-favorite character. To many fans, Near wasn't an adequate replacement to L, making Part II less compelling.
However, Part II’s final stretch happens to be even more divisive than its premise, particularly due to how the series chooses to reveal Light’s identity as Kira and kill him off in a way that highlights his mental deterioration and patheticness. To some, Death Note’s conclusion was nothing short of a masterpiece. Others see the ending as a severe disappointment.
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Death Note
TV-14
Animation
Crime
Drama
- Release Date
- October 4, 2006
