Do bad endings ruin everything about a piece of media, even if everything else about it was good or better? Do you know of any media that had bad endings that ruined the whole thing? I know that no one was happy with how the 2010's Voltron show ended and no one was happy with the endings of Star vs the forces of Evil and Game of Thrones.
Do bad endings ruin everything about a piece of media, even if everything else about it was good or better? Do you know of any media that had bad endings that ruined the whole thing? I know that no one was happy with how the 2010's Voltron show ended and no one was happy with the endings of Star vs the forces of Evil and Game of Thrones.
Depends on how bad the ending is
I'm nothing but a mass of concrete yet my heart is calling my name
Do bad endings ruin everything about a piece of media, even if everything else about it was good or better? Do you know of any media that had bad endings that ruined the whole thing? I know that no one was happy with how the 2010's Voltron show ended and no one was happy with the endings of Star vs the forces of Evil and Game of Thrones.
Depends on how bad the ending is
I believe it also depends on if the media itself is also bad or not
I hate to bandwagon, but as mentioned above, "it depends." I can think of multiple anime/manga examples personally.
I DO think bad endings that are bonkers can help certain pieces of mediocre media in rare cases. For example, I think of Master of Martial Hearts and School Days having endings so PUTRID they became MEMORABLE, if not outright memes (like no one would remember these shows if they didn't just basically go absolutely HAM in the end). Dangaronpa V3 ending anyone? I loved the game but personally didn't like this one, but I can't hate it because it still is in the SPIRIT of the series. It definitely did an "ending" differently than the anime, which was interesting.
It is well known that a number of 90s/00s anime suffered mediocre endings due to too long hiatuses in the manga and/or the budget/contract running out before the manga actually finished.
The Digimon Season 2 epilogue is notorious, though I'm pretty sure it's been fan discontinued at this point. I still don't know how I feel about the Death Note ending. I think I do feel better about it than some people. Same with the also notorious Princess Tutu ending...I'm very torn on THAT one. It's tough because I see both sides too easily.
And how about a whole ending SEASON feeling "odd?" I feel that way about Sonic X's "3rd season," which feels so different from the original 2 seasons that it might as well be its own thing (parts of it feel like dang GUNDAM IMO). But that's likely because the third season was actually commissioned by a company rather than just planned outright, and is not based on any of the games. In a similar vein (though I've not finished it yet), I had heard the final season of Yu Gi Oh GX gets bizarrely dark and odd too.
To go back to the original question, DO bad endings (or ending seasons) ruin shows? I still think "it depends."
wasn't the ending of himym so bad everyone collectively abandoned the show the moment the finale aired?
I've seen this happen a few times, some are Voltron legendary defender, and supernatural
voltron the fanbase seemed to all agree the writing started going downhill after s3. but the final season was the nail in the coffin. a lot of people were (rightfully) upset at how the showrunners claimed to be progressive and LGBT friendly before treating their 2 gay characters like absolute garbage. one of them died the other unnecessary amounts of trauma before being stripped of his hero status and then married off to a random alien at the last minute JUST so they could say they made the first canon gay (mlm) marriage in a cartoon
similarly with supernatural except I don't think there really was a clear decline, people just lost interest in the show BC it was so long. but the final episode they decided to also confirm a couple characters as gay and in love with each other before sending them to super hell to spend the rest of eternity unable to ever see each other again. they didn't claim to be pro LGBT but they also knew their fanbase was. and this did NOT sit well with them.
so yeah endings can be bad enough to destroy a fandom, it's happened before, but I don't think just any show could end this badly
wasn't the ending of himym so bad everyone collectively abandoned the show the moment the finale aired?
I've seen this happen a few times, some are Voltron legendary defender, and supernatural
voltron the fanbase seemed to all agree the writing started going downhill after s3. but the final season was the nail in the coffin. a lot of people were (rightfully) upset at how the showrunners claimed to be progressive and LGBT friendly before treating their 2 gay characters like absolute garbage. one of them died the other unnecessary amounts of trauma before being stripped of his hero status and then married off to a random alien at the last minute JUST so they could say they made the first canon gay (mlm) marriage in a cartoon
similarly with supernatural except I don't think there really was a clear decline, people just lost interest in the show BC it was so long. but the final episode they decided to also confirm a couple characters as gay and in love with each other before sending them to super hell to spend the rest of eternity unable to ever see each other again. they didn't claim to be pro LGBT but they also knew their fanbase was. and this did NOT sit well with them.
so yeah endings can be bad enough to destroy a fandom, it's happened before, but I don't think just any show could end this badly
That ending has it's defenders(like Rowdy C)but a lot of people didn't like it, LOST was one where the ending definitely made a lot of people swear off the show and express regret for ever having watched it, same with GOT.
I've seen some critics rate movies low despite liking everything but the ending, like James Berardinelli liked Love Lies Bleeding until the ending but he felt like it ruined the film for him so much he could only give it 2 stars, I disagree and thought that ending was great but I get his point, like I personally couldn't stand the ending to The Mist for a variety of reasons and I felt like it really undid all the good will the film had brought it up til that point, same with Repo Men(not the 1984 film Repo Man, the 2010 sci-fi film)boy did that ending kill my enjoyment of the film, i'm glad I didn't see that one in theaters otherwise I would've been sooooo fucking pissed and yelling at the screen in disbelief.
Another one I missed out on in theaters was Dark Ride(the guy at the ticket counter wouldn't let me in cause I was underage despite me not getting carded at that same theater for See No Evil or The Descent)and i'm kinda glad as I was enjoying the film but thought the ending was pretty weak and if i'd seen it in theaters my disappointment would've been multiplied considerably.
Supernatural's finale suffered from the effects of COVID as one female character who was clearly meant to return did not and it compromised the finale, plus it was contrived in other ways.
I hate to bandwagon, but as mentioned above, "it depends." I can think of multiple anime/manga examples personally.
I DO think bad endings that are bonkers can help certain pieces of mediocre media in rare cases. For example, I think of Master of Martial Hearts and School Days having endings so PUTRID they became MEMORABLE, if not outright memes (like no one would remember these shows if they didn't just basically go absolutely HAM in the end). Dangaronpa V3 ending anyone? I loved the game but personally didn't like this one, but I can't hate it because it still is in the SPIRIT of the series. It definitely did an "ending" differently than the anime, which was interesting.
It is well known that a number of 90s/00s anime suffered mediocre endings due to too long hiatuses in the manga and/or the budget/contract running out before the manga actually finished.
The Digimon Season 2 epilogue is notorious, though I'm pretty sure it's been fan discontinued at this point. I still don't know how I feel about the Death Note ending. I think I do feel better about it than some people. Same with the also notorious Princess Tutu ending...I'm very torn on THAT one. It's tough because I see both sides too easily.
And how about a whole ending SEASON feeling "odd?" I feel that way about Sonic X's "3rd season," which feels so different from the original 2 seasons that it might as well be its own thing (parts of it feel like dang GUNDAM IMO). But that's likely because the third season was actually commissioned by a company rather than just planned outright, and is not based on any of the games. In a similar vein (though I've not finished it yet), I had heard the final season of Yu Gi Oh GX gets bizarrely dark and odd too.
To go back to the original question, DO bad endings (or ending seasons) ruin shows? I still think "it depends."
GX season 3 was already dark and season 4 actually felt somewhat lighter to me but it also felt odd, some people didn't like the return of Nightshoud or the asspull explaining Zane's heart attack(it was actually due to the Underworld deck and not all the shocks he got during his underground duels which many people felt was a lame explanation)the Jaden vs Yugi duel was neat but the conclusion was kinda botched.
i also wasn't thrilled about the ending to DBZ and i've seen a number of fans feel the same way.
I'd say look at something like FLCL, the ending at least to me felt a bit unsatisfying but the fact that it was left ambiguous (for everyone except two characters) doesn't make it a bad ending necessarily, it allows you to come up with your own ending and what happened afterwards.
I'd say look at something like FLCL, the ending at least to me felt a bit unsatisfying but the fact that it was left ambiguous (for everyone except two characters) doesn't make it a bad ending necessarily, it allows you to come up with your own ending and what happened afterwards.
Yeah, I liked the ambiguity of the ending personally. It captured the "floaty" and "spontaneous" feeling of the show well.
It also did the "answer basically no questions and just VIBE" thing WAY better than Lemony Snicket did in his A Series of Unfortunate Events series. (For the record, I really DO NOT LIKE the ASoUE ending)
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a weird one here, because the series starts off kinda slow/stilted in the first book, then ramps up in later books (while sadly getting formulaic), book 5 introduces new intrigue, then gets wildly off tether in book 7 and stays that way until book 11, then book 11...happens (11 is not that good, though it has its moments), I actually kinda like book 12, and then all the hype around book 13 ramps up. Then book 13 comes out...and like NOT a single...______.....mystery is answered. Wait, what???!!!!!
Lemony Snicket is one of the major forces that got me into book forums and fan theories and YA lit as a whole, and I was saddened to see the way it just...ended. With nothing being answered. I was SO floored by how the fans were let down, that I even coined the term "snicketing"-when you set up a bunch of chilling, fun, interesting, WOWZA mysteries...and proceed to answer NONE of them in the end. (And yes, I believe saying "Sometimes we just don't knowwwwwwwww" IS a cop out, at least in this case) Except for that obvious one everyone guessed like 5 books prior. BRILLIANT /s
I'd say look at something like FLCL, the ending at least to me felt a bit unsatisfying but the fact that it was left ambiguous (for everyone except two characters) doesn't make it a bad ending necessarily, it allows you to come up with your own ending and what happened afterwards.
I sure am glad they left it like that and never made any series which actively tarnish the original in hindsight...
"oooh, you're a- a freaked out child in the woods..."