Statistically the majority of the stories produced for mass media consumption have happy endings, where the good guys win and then merrilly live their lives.
However, they are not as interesting as the ones where it doesn't happen — mainly because the market is oversaturated with the happily ever afters. So we decided to make a list of anime with unhappy endings — just to broaden your horizons.
In a way, the ending of Cowboy Bebop may be considered good — as euthanasia. But it is executed masterfully. Those who stayed alive are sad, those who watched the events unfolding are also sad, but the characters who found the way to deal with their nearly eternal self-flagellation and finally got rid of it found their freedom, albeit in a very downing way.
The story of the show that changed the anime industry is perfectly cyclical, and that renders all the fighting that the characters went through almost useless, all the sacrifices they made feel pointless, all the suffering they went through was for nothing, because nothing has changed and nothing will change, as long as Incubators exist.
This show perfectly encapsulates how cruel life in a city like Night City is. No one cares for you; no one pays attention to you; no one needs you. In the end, you're all alone, you'll end up suffering. The show focused on the criminal underbelly of the Night City (though considering its size, it would be wrong to call it underbelly) features a school kid as a protagonist who slowly gets dragged deeper and deeper into the story and he just can't go back.
7. WorldEnd: What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us?
The light novel that the anime is based on is infamously known as one of the most tragic light novels, and for a reason. The show slowly follows a continuing mental deterioration of one of the main characters as they are creating a family-like bonds with others, falling in love — and it all happens in the wounded world where humanity is almost destroyed but the mysterious Beasts.
The ending of Plastic Memories is sad, ambiguous, and frustrating despite being quite predictable. It's a dystopian story about romance between a human and an android with a limited lifespan. What could possibly go wrong? And the ambiguity of the last scene of the series makes this story even more tear-jerking.
Devilman: Crybaby was — and still stays — one of the most puzzling and thought-provoking shows released in the past decade, both because of its distinct art style and unpredictable plot. And one of these unpredictable elements lies in the ending. A story about demons living alongside humans and humans discovering them and transforming into them gallops towards an apocalypse, and the ending still was unexpected.
This series by Satoshi Kon is something that leaves a lot of people puzzled and terrified. The border between reality and imagination gets extremely thin, as it usually is in Kon's works, but in this case it's even more apparent how fantasies seep into the real world just because someone believes in them too strongly. No one had their happy ending here.
In a way, two main characters of the show end up together. But the details of this togetherness is what makes the ending painful. The sacrifices they made were not in vain, but that doesn't mean that the characters — those who stayed alive — will be able to live happily.
First, the ending of the anime is different from the manga. Manga actually has a happy ending — or, as happy as it could be, whereas the anime turns into the graveyard over the course of the season. And the choices that the characters make towards the ending are significantly more traumatizing both for those who stayed alive and those who watched it. Reading manga after anime feels like healing.
Bokura no has an awesome concept and feels like a rollercoaster of emotions. But the anime adaptation also differs from the manga quite a bit. Some character arcs are more developed in the anime but get confusing in the manga, but anime omits some of the crucial things. Yet the ending in both mediums feels devastating and makes you stare at the wall for a few minutes, trying to process everything. A story about kids fighting the alien invasion and at the same time being used as fuel for the giant robots cannot end in any other way.
The future is not bright at all.
Statistically the majority of the stories produced for mass media consumption have happy endings, where the good guys win and then merrilly live their lives.
However, they are not as interesting as the ones where it doesn't happen — mainly because the market is oversaturated with the happily ever afters. So we decided to make a list of anime with unhappy endings — just to broaden your horizons.
In a way, the ending of Cowboy Bebop may be considered good — as euthanasia. But it is executed masterfully. Those who stayed alive are sad, those who watched the events unfolding are also sad, but the characters who found the way to deal with their nearly eternal self-flagellation and finally got rid of it found their freedom, albeit in a very downing way.
The story of the show that changed the anime industry is perfectly cyclical, and that renders all the fighting that the characters went through almost useless, all the sacrifices they made feel pointless, all the suffering they went through was for nothing, because nothing has changed and nothing will change, as long as Incubators exist.
This show perfectly encapsulates how cruel life in a city like Night City is. No one cares for you; no one pays attention to you; no one needs you. In the end, you're all alone, you'll end up suffering. The show focused on the criminal underbelly of the Night City (though considering its size, it would be wrong to call it underbelly) features a school kid as a protagonist who slowly gets dragged deeper and deeper into the story and he just can't go back.
7. WorldEnd: What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us?
The light novel that the anime is based on is infamously known as one of the most tragic light novels, and for a reason. The show slowly follows a continuing mental deterioration of one of the main characters as they are creating a family-like bonds with others, falling in love — and it all happens in the wounded world where humanity is almost destroyed but the mysterious Beasts.
The ending of Plastic Memories is sad, ambiguous, and frustrating despite being quite predictable. It's a dystopian story about romance between a human and an android with a limited lifespan. What could possibly go wrong? And the ambiguity of the last scene of the series makes this story even more tear-jerking.
Devilman: Crybaby was — and still stays — one of the most puzzling and thought-provoking shows released in the past decade, both because of its distinct art style and unpredictable plot. And one of these unpredictable elements lies in the ending. A story about demons living alongside humans and humans discovering them and transforming into them gallops towards an apocalypse, and the ending still was unexpected.
This series by Satoshi Kon is something that leaves a lot of people puzzled and terrified. The border between reality and imagination gets extremely thin, as it usually is in Kon's works, but in this case it's even more apparent how fantasies seep into the real world just because someone believes in them too strongly. No one had their happy ending here.
In a way, two main characters of the show end up together. But the details of this togetherness is what makes the ending painful. The sacrifices they made were not in vain, but that doesn't mean that the characters — those who stayed alive — will be able to live happily.
First, the ending of the anime is different from the manga. Manga actually has a happy ending — or, as happy as it could be, whereas the anime turns into the graveyard over the course of the season. And the choices that the characters make towards the ending are significantly more traumatizing both for those who stayed alive and those who watched it. Reading manga after anime feels like healing.
Bokura no has an awesome concept and feels like a rollercoaster of emotions. But the anime adaptation also differs from the manga quite a bit. Some character arcs are more developed in the anime but get confusing in the manga, but anime omits some of the crucial things. Yet the ending in both mediums feels devastating and makes you stare at the wall for a few minutes, trying to process everything. A story about kids fighting the alien invasion and at the same time being used as fuel for the giant robots cannot end in any other way.
