Name a TV show that ended just right.
- Thread starter NinjaDeathSlap
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While I won't deny that FLCL is an entertaining mini-anime, I feel like you're being a little harsh on long-running series.Kysafen said:
<spoiler=Click for Rant>First off, you should realize that it's not always the mangaka's decision to keep a series rolling. Eichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, made it well known that he originally wanted to end it WAAAY back when Luffy and his crew made it through Reverse Mountain. He didn't want to continue, but the editors of Shonen Jump convinced him to keep going. Same can probably be said of all of your "Fuck" series. Look at Bleach. They could have ended on a high note, but now they're working in a completely new angle that really doesn't feel the same as the original; I'm assuming Kubo Tite got forced to keep going and had to think up some deus ex machina and fast.
And let's not forget that anime get longer not only to meet up with their manga counterpart, but also to not overtake it. Manga, almost by their very definition, continue indefinitely until they lose popularity, and all anime spawned from a manga (which is a pretty high percentage I'd wager) are created solely as a direct result of that popularity. As such, they're typically not allowed to create their own stories, only animate the story that's already been told, though that's given an exception whenever they start to catch up to their given content, and even then I'm sure they have to stay in close contact with the mangaka to make sure they're not doing anything too out-of-character. Every week of filler, every minute spent stretching out content, undoubtedly wears on the quality of the show, but then, these shows are not typically meant to end. If an anime makes it a great deal past 100 episodes, then the story is obviously interesting enough to warrant a great deal of people's attention, and also means they don't want to see things just end. Kind of like how a lot of series in this thread are shows that have made it for 5-8 seasons before ending, a lot of people enjoy having these characters become a regular member of their household every week, not something you can spend half an afternoon getting through.
Now, I won't deny that short series can have great depth and development poured into what little time they have, and can actually be more poignant and meaningful than many of the series that are currently running. But it almost sounds like you think ONLY short series deserve respect, that any anime that goes beyond 26, or possibly even 13, episodes is just whoring itself for more money. Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach are obviously doing SOMETHING right, or else they wouldn't still be on the air. And quite frankly, when you look at how long they've been running, airing an episode every week, taking almost NO breaks, you have to respect them for that, especially when you compare it to American TV, running reruns for half the year for just about EVERYTHING we produce, dropping shows almost out of the blue anywhere from near the beginning to unbearably close to a meaningful end, milking most animated shows on a per-episode basis until it loses popularity, then not even bothering to give the devoted fans some closure before pulling the plug.
My vote for a series that ended greatly would be FMA, both the original and Brotherhood. I also have to give serious props to Brotherhood for ending only a couple weeks after the manga series did, an impressive feat to be sure, and hopefully setting a standard for all long-running series endings to come.
i agree completely seriously what was wrong with them.Easton Dark said:
MASH ended perfectly. Cowboy Bebop and Eureka 7 probably my two favorite anime endings.
Shows that SHOULD have had an ending, Samurai Jack ( A giant fuck you to George Lucas for getting the Samurai Jack team to stop production on the last season and do his stupid clone wars shit)
Freakazoid! had a great ending, with the entire cast singing "we'll meet again" it was heart touching.
I loved how season 5 of Supernatural ended, at least until the last 20 or 30 seconds, and it would of been a great stopping point for the show. Although I'm a sucker for depressing endings, they're so much better than the happy ones. Vague endings are pretty awesome too.
Seinfeld, I could not think of a better ending for that show, nothing happened which is brilliant and absolutely perfect for that show. And to top that off they end with the same conversation they started with. This shows that there was no progression, no lesson was learned, it just happened! And it was funny and we all just got to go along for the ride.
There are a number of good answers in here. I'm going to tow one of my favorite.
Heroic Age.
Epic and sublime from beginning to end and powerful enough to bring a tear to my eye.
Heroic Age.
Epic and sublime from beginning to end and powerful enough to bring a tear to my eye.
