15+ GREAT Anime With Disappointing Endings (Sadly)

An ending can make or break a story.

Anime is infamous for having stories that aren’t able to keep a consistent quality in their endings.

In this list, we discuss 15 anime that let down fans with their endings.

Here they are!

1. Great Teacher Onizuka

Great Teacher Onizuka is a 43 episode anime that didn’t adapt the manga fully.

The first 41 episodes did justice to the manga but unfortunately, the show ended with the last 2 episodes being anime original.

It would’ve been better if they just left the anime incomplete, instead of doing an anime original ending.

2. Future Diary

Future Diary has one of the most confusing endings in all of anime.

The ending introduced alien concepts to the story that were never foreshadowed in the earlier episodes making it very weird.

An OVA was released later which gave some clarification to the ending.

3. Erased

Erased is infamous for its ending being widely hated.

The show almost had a perfect story till its last episode.

Due to weird character pairings & comical villain moments, it left a sour taste in most people’s mouths.

4. Fullmetal Alchemist

The 2003 adaptation of the Fullmetal Alchemist came out when the story wasn’t finished in the manga.

Instead of adding filler arcs in the anime & waiting for the story to finish, the anime deviated towards its own story after the first half of the show.

It naturally had a terrible ending because of it.

5. Claymore

Similar to Fullmetal Alchemist, Claymore’s anime came out when no one knew the future of the manga’s story.

There was an anime original ending to the show. Though, unlike Fullmetal Alchemist which got a good adaptation later, in the form of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, there’s no news for something similar with Claymore.

6. Bleach

Despite being one of the most popular anime out there, Bleach’s anime didn’t fully adapt the manga, which left the fan base disappointed.

Thankfully it’s been announced that the last arc of the manga is going to get an adaptation soon, let’s hope the wait fans have to suffer will be worth it.

7. The Promised Neverland

Promised Neverland’s ending has to be one of the most disastrous endings in all of anime.

The anime in season 2 started going on its own route, despite manga being already complete & the ending of the season solidified it as a disaster.

Everything that could’ve gone wrong with it (animation, pacing, plot) went wrong.

8. Akame ga Kill!

Akame ga Kill wasn’t always the best adaptation out there but it did justice to the manga for the most part.

But in the end, maybe due to the manga not being finished, the ending was incredibly rushed & hence didn’t feel satisfying.

9. Dorohedoro

Dorohedoro only has a single season aired, & there’s a high chance of the second season to be announced soon.

Manga fans thought it was almost impossible to have a good adaptation of the manga because of its unorthodox art.

But Mappa managed to do it justice by making one of the best CGI anime adaptations of all time.

Though the point of the story where season 1 ended felt very abrupt & unsatisfactory.

10. Akira

Akira is one of the most iconic anime films of all time.

The film was made in 1988, but its production value still blows away most anime that come out today.

That said, the conclusion of the movie is very controversial.

When the movie was made, the Akira manga was only halfway done, so the film’s conclusion was confusing to many people.

Relevant: 13+ Old School Anime You Should Add To Your List

11. Gintama

While Gintama got a solid ending with the recent Gintama the Final movie, the original ending of the show was… quite weird.

The final season was advertised as the end of Gintama’s story but the final episode didn’t actually conclude the story, instead, it was just a casual funny episode.

Though the show did break the 4th wall & apologized for giving a fake ending to fans.

12. Soul Eater

Like many anime on this list, Soul Eater had a disappointing ending because it did not follow the manga’s story.

The anime had some variations from the manga since the start but in the finale, it became extremely illogical & stupid.

13. Horimiya

Horimiya is one of the most rushed anime adaptations you will find in this medium.

While it was still enjoyable, the fast pacing reduced the impact of most of the great moments of the story.

The show was completely ruined when the anime ignored most of the story, & directly adapted the ending of the manga in the last episode of the show.

14. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion’s ending abandoned the actual plot & revolved around the philosophical themes of the show.

While the philosophy presented was mind-boggling, it wasn’t entertaining at all & the conclusion felt very incomplete since the story was left open-ended.

Though the anime received movie adaptations later with better conclusions.

15. Wonder Egg Priority

Wonder Egg Priority is a 2021 anime-original show which was considered an underrated masterpiece when it aired.

The show wasn’t concluded in its original run & the end of the story was released after a few months gap in the form of an anime special.

But the wait wasn’t worth it at all.

The show crammed a lot of plot points in just a 50-minute anime special, & the worst part is half of the time in this anime special was just a recap of the original season.