5 Anime and Manga with Bad Endings

Anime and manga have their fair share of fans and critics. Critics would often cite the animation as the main gripe for many anime. For manga, it's usually the writing. Either way, an anime or manga which started out really well can come under heavy fire from everyone in the community if the ending turns out bad. For me, I can usually let things slide, but for these five anime and manga, I just couldn't come to terms with how their stories ended.

1. Darling in the Franxx

I believe it was 2018 when this anime first came out. My friend had suggested that I watch it because of all the hype it was receiving, and I initially liked the premise of the story. Everything was going pretty well, although there were moments where it felt like the story was dragging, and that the progression was stunted, but overall for the first half, it seemed like a decent story.

Things became a lot muddier from episode 11 or 12 onwards, because apparently, the story took a very sharp turn from its initial premise. I'm not sure but I remember it felt off from that point. I felt like they didn't know where the story was actually headed, and I think they focused too much on trying to expand the world of the story rather than where the plot has brought the characters so far, and how they have developed.

In any case, the ending felt rushed and they used a plot device called diabolus ex machina just to give the protagonists some kind of purpose to tie all loose ends and to give some substance to the lore. But it just confused the whole point of the story for me. Apparently, the real reason why the world became dystopian was because of aliens. And I just can't take stuff like that seriously, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. More so since the only way for them to overcome this ass-pulled antagonist was for the two main protagonists to execute a suicide attack on the big baddie.

But it's okay because they get reincarnated in the distant future and they're able to consummate their relationship there. The ending was so ridiculous but I think somewhere along the way, the plot got so convoluted that I guess that was the only option the screenwriters had to bring the story to a close.

2. The Promised Neverland

For all its hype and promise, truly The Promised Neverland's promise was never to be fulfilled. The first season was great. It was surrounded in mystery and some gruesomeness, tact and wit, especially considering that these children were not more than 12 years old. The horror of discovering that they were mere cattle being raised to be produce or prized meat for demonic beings was enough to pique my curiosity.

Season 1 ended and everybody can't wait for season 2 to come out. I didn't read the manga so I don't know the gripes that manga readers must have had about the story, but I can only give an opinion about how the story progressed in the anime. I don't want to talk too much about season 2, except that it left a lot to be desired.

Again, there were issues with the lore and the plot. The ending was rushed, extremely rushed in the anime, and the solution became oversimplified. The arc with Norman as mentioned by a lot of manga readers wasn't included, so we don't get to see why he changed in season 2. We just find out that he's still alive (obviously) and that he's become a mastermind, or some mad genius. But seriously, even if they had included the whole arc with Norman, it didn't justify the ending. It felt as if all the tension built up in the first season was forgotten, and all that was focused on in the second season was just getting out of the demon world and back into the human world.

That in itself is not bad, but it felt like they glossed over a lot of details that could have been fleshed out but sadly, they just skipped all of that. Maybe it's a problem with the manga as well, or maybe there were budget issues. Even the animation was noticeably worse. Anyways, it could have been a lot better considering how strongly it debuted. But, production studios only have as much to go on with the material so, I guess I'll have to read the manga to see exactly how it went.

3. Tokyo Ghoul

I have only watched the anime, and I have been meaning to read the manga for quite some time now. In any case, the gripe of a lot of people, especially the manga readers on this is that Pierrot took a lot of liberties in adapting the source material. Or rather, much like what they did with Naruto, they added a whole season of filler onto the anime, which changed a lot of important details in the manga.

So they had to backtrack in Tokyo Ghoul:re and try to connect Root A with canon. However, that proved somewhat difficult and :re was just super messy. I don't really know where to start but since we're talking about endings, I felt as with the other two, the ending was rushed. More than that, I felt really confused with how the plot went. At some point, I don't even know what exactly was happening, and who was where and what.

I guess the only compliment I can give it is the fact that it got to the end at least, even though it wasn't satisfying, not one bit. As far as I know, most of the significant characters survived, and they were able to beat the big, bad organization that terrorized all of society, ghouls and humans alike. I really need to read the manga to see what exactly was happening because the anime did not do it justice. Or maybe it did, and the manga was just that bad.

4. Island

To be honest, I don't know what possessed me to watch this anime, but it doesn't have any redeeming qualities to it. From start to finish, there is nothing I could think of that made me enjoy the story. It was confusing, it was anxiety-inducing, and it felt so bland. I understand that it was adapted from a video game, but you can't tell me that the video game was that bad. Unless it was. I'm not going to play the video game, I just know that this whole story is bad.

The premise is that there's some sort of mystery on this island and the main character along with his harem were supposed to figure out what the mystery was. But then, in the end, it was basically a time warp or a time jump that made no sense. I think the only thing that people who were aware of this video game were waiting for was the fanservice. Even that was lackluster.

So, for me, the start was already awful, and it did not progress positively. I didn't like the characters, and I didn't like the promise. Again, I have no idea what consumed me to continue watching this and finish it. Because I got to the end, and there was no silver lining at the end of the tunnel. It's just a daze, a nightmare that I was glad had ended.

5. Fairy Tail

As much as I liked the first two seasons of this anime, I just can't get around how it ended. I haven't read the manga either so I don't know exactly what the mangaka was going through, but I feel like he got stuck at some point trying to figure out how to end the story. Because there were so many weird ass-pulls that happened throughout the story. I kind of let those slide, but I think the final season just didn't cut it for me anymore, and I couldn't really feel satisfied with how it ended.

I still consider it a decent anime with just the first few arcs until Edolas maybe. Those parts were really engrossing. As a kid, when I first watched this, it felt like I was really going on an adventure with these oddly physically attractive magic-wielding teenagers, so I was down for it. As an adult, I didn't exactly understand how the story transitioned from one to the next. Because there was a time jump and an alternate universe, and so many other convoluted events that, sure, you can chock as fantasy plot devices, but really, where is it leading to in the end?

After all that was said and done, it all came back to just the power of friendship? I don't know if there was anything of note in the narrative really. And the lore behind Mavis and Zeref was quite tragic but unsatisfying. At the very least, let the readers have that because then, even if it didn't make too much sense, at least we had some fuzzy feelings.

So yeah, these are the five anime and manga that I thought had really bad endings.