Favourite TV/Anime Finale

[RedDeadFred]

I just watched the series finale of Justified, and I think it's probably the most perfect series finale I've ever seen. I usually feel sad after a great series ends since I know that it's over. With Justified, I'm just happy. I don't think I'd ever been 100% satisfied with an ending before today.

Anyway, what is everyone else's favourite finales? Do try to avoid spoilers.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Endings and beginnings are hard so it's great when something manages to pull them off well. I recently watched Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time and the final episode of that show was very satisfying, not sure if I would call it my favourite but I liked it a lot. I was also fond of the conclusion of Cowboy Bebop which was another show I only saw for the first time recently. Breaking Bad has an extremely satisfying final episode as well.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Spoiler: Batman The Brave and the Bold

The last episode was pretty much one great big 4th wall breaker thanks to Bat Mite (seriously screw him)!

Sure I'm the wrong demographic for that speech but he did sum it well on how I felt toward cartoon superheroes when I was a kid.

(Also if we don't see a newer cartoon incarnation of him, the Beware the Batman will be the last we see of him on the animatic scene which is sad cos it suck!)

Oh yeah there is also Legend of Korra

Spoiler: Not the best version of that scene I know

What really did it for me was that soundtrack for that scene, it was really deep. Yes there was that big reveal aswell.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Oldie, but I can't remember many TV shows I followed with a truly satisfying finale.

Spoiler: Hi, Stan Lee! Hi, Stan Lee's wife!

You might want to watch the whole episode for the full effect. What I really love about it is that the 'final boss' villain is an insane symbiote-possessed Spider-Man from a dimension where EVERYTHING was awful for him 100% of the time and everyone he loved died, plus he eventually was led to believe he was a clone. In that reality New York looks like it's been nuked!

Then we visit a dimension where everything is perfect for Spidey all the time- Uncle Ben LIVES, he is a multibillionaire, even Jonah Jameson loves him and he never struggles or has anything bad happen at all... and the result is that the Peter Parker from that dimension is a reckless, egotistical snob who doesn't even consider the possibility of failure. The point is that you have to struggle sometimes in life in order to build character. We see the absolute best reality for Peter and the absolute worst, and he realizes that his truth lies somewhere in between, as it must.

Still would have liked to see that planned 6th season though, just for some closure with Mary Jane and some of the other characters who got sent into the dimensional portals like Venom and Carnage.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Snip

Oh yeah! I remember that final (yes I did watched the many parts to it)!

Heh it make me wonder if that means the real "superhero" Spider-man is Maguire or Garfield under that mask given one of them played him in the movie? Yes "our" Spider-man mention he was in a TV series but we haven't gotten a lived Spider-man TV series unless he meant that old one.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Snip

Snipception

This was before even the Maguire movies, so I presume it was supposed to be Christopher Daniel Barnes, the voice of Spidey in the series itself (so yes that last scene was him talking to himself). What's funny is apparently there was going to be a live-action movie around the time of this series, so for the first 4 Seasons they were careful not to use the characters Sandman or Electro because they were slated to appear in the movie. When that project fell apart, they brought Electro forward in the most powerful incarnation he's ever had.

 

[The Madman]

Only watched it recently for the first time, but I quite liked this ending:

You're gonna carry that weight.​

I like ambiguous endings that leave a lot up to the imagination of the viewer while still resolving the main overarching plots.

Spoiler: For those that dont know what the quote is from but are curious

Cowboy Bebop. Good show, I was impressed even as someone who generally doesn't line anime.

 

[StormShaun]

Clannad After Story.
[sub][sub]I've probably said this for the hundredth time.[/sub][/sub]

It beats you up, rips out your heart, delivers a fatality, and then it finally carries you to Heaven.
It would shame David Cage with all of it's emotions.

Well that, and it delivers a final nail in the series' message.
That and it wraps it up in a neat little bow ... covered in your tears.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I vaguely remember Gundam Wing's ending making me do manly things, like push-ups and chopping down trees. Must have been good to elicit such a manly response.

 

[Fox12]

greatest ending of all time!

Spoiler

Okay, no, sorry, I had to. The film fixed it, though, so it's fine. EoE legitimately had one of my favorite endings, once I understood what the fuck had happened.

Berserk was a masterpiece as well, though the show ended too soon. One more episode, and it would have been the greatest finale ever. The book takes it, though.

Lain had a good ending as well.

Spoiler

Lain is one of my favorite stories of all time, and this ending was very emotional. It reminds me of the Madoka finale, which was also good, but this one was so understated that it really touched me. The writer is very spiritual, even though I'm not sure if he's religious. For such a dark writer, he really captures the idea of a loving god.

 

[Cette]

The finale to Babylon 5 pretty much makes me cry like a ***** every time I watch it still. Shame it's walled off behind making through the fifth season.

 

[Shocksplicer]

Fuck me the finale to Justified was so damn perfect...
Other finales I liked?
Cowboy Bebop is an obvious one, as is The Shield.
I also quite liked the ending to Fringe, particularly the final image of the series. If you've seen it you'll know what I mean...

 

[BuddyLeaf]

No particular order:

1. Cowboy Bebop
2. Welcome to the NHK
3. Psycho Pass
4. Death Note
5. Inuyasha

 

[Fappy]

Anime with good endings and brief reasoning!

1. FLCL for this moment:

Spoiler

2. Kill la Kill cause it was just so damn cute:

Spoiler

3. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Season 1 (Part 2 in the manga) primarily for this scene:

Spoiler: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Season 1

4. Cowboy Bebop cause... I don't really need to explain this one:

Spoiler

Can't think of any others off the top of my head that are worth mentioning. Most anime endings are mediocre or just plain bad.

As for live action shows? They very rarely have gratifying endings. Breaking Bad is literally the only one I can think of right now.

 

[ChaoshadowZero]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

It felt like the perfect payoff after such an amazing series. Avoiding spoilers so I won't say why, but the very last scene is the most satisfied I've ever been with an ending, and I still get the same feeling every time I watch it.

 

[madwarper]

Burn Notice

Spoiler: Yeah, the final episode was pretty lackluster, but...

In the final scene, Michael and Fiona were in the cabin with his nephew, and Michael is wondering how he's going to explain everything to his nephew about his father being killed, his grandmother committing suicide, and everything else Mike's had to go through. Fi suggests that Mike tell him the truth. To say, "My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy..."

Which changed the entire series, including Mike's fourth wall breaking spy-splaining, into Mike giving a eulogy of his family to his nephew.

 

[Kyrian007]

I'll agree with a couple of responses here. Cowboy Bebop, bang. A DARING ending to a show... any kind of show. Also, Babylon 5 ended well. I liked that Zach was the one around until the very end. It was oddly fitting.

But the best ending. M*A*S*H's "Goodbye, Farewell, Amen." It's kind of hard for me to argue against the most watched television event of any kind. A record it held for 27 years. Not only was it a good and satisfying payoff for Hawkeye and B.J., but the sidestories for Charles and Father Mulcahy were really well done too. Kinda unfair as it was about as long as 5 normal episodes... but still I find the numbers kinda hard to argue with.

On the Anime front, I liked the ending to Gungrave. Maybe not as much as Cowboy Bebop, but I think it was worth a mention.

 

[murrow]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Six Feet Under yet. Nothing I've ever seen on TV brought me this close to crying:

Spoiler

 

[happyninja42]

The finale to Babylon 5 pretty much makes me cry like a ***** every time I watch it still. Shame it's walled off behind making through the fifth season.

Oh, come on, the true finale to B5 was the end of season 4. xD We all know this to be true. In fact, if I recall correctly, (and I could be wrong on this), the ending to season 4 was supposed to be the actual end of season 5, but since they weren't sure if they would be picked up for season 5, they went ahead and used the imagery and stuff that he was going to use to finish off the show.

OT: If I had to pick one, the only one I can think of that I felt was resolved very well was Avatar: The Last Airbender. Babylon 5 is a close second, but that's more my "Favortie TV show ever", than my "favorite TV show ending". I have some issues with the ending, but not many.