Forum - View topicSatisfied... but a little sad too
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undeadben
 Posts: 1212 Location: West Texas |
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I always mention I'm not a big manga reader but I do get into it when it is something I look for specifically. Usually if I watch anime and the story leaves me either wanting more, or just interested in what else happens I will usually at least check out if there was originally a manga for the story and whether or not the manga is completed. If it is completed I also check to see how many volumes were released past the date of the final episode of the anime in question to see if it is something that would honestly give me more.
However for the most part, since I am constantly looking for new anime to watch, a lot of manga gets left on the backburner for later, unless I have a huge urge to keep going forward with the story. A small part of the reason I usually leave the original manga counterparts aside happened to me twice this weekend. After a long period I finally purchased two series that I had had an interest in and I've read them during the past couple of weeks. These were Love Hina and Midori Days. Both of these have anime series that I have enjoyed and I have re-watched each at least three times through. (I know that the storytelling and content are quite different for these two but I just happened to be in the mood for these stories again, so bear with my rambling.) I finished them both over the past couple of days and had similar experiences at the end of each one. I finished Love Hina first and while I love that it is so different from its anime and found it to be quite a ways better, I was a bit sad when I finished it. The reason for this is that I had held the manga back so that I could get more of the Hinata stories later. Stories that I did not know before. In another word, more. However upon finishing it, while satisfied with the ending, I was a bit sad. Not at how the series concluded, but that I would never see more or other stories with these characters. I felt like, even though I can re-read it, I was going to miss all of these characters, because now they have gone off on their own to a world that I can no longer follow them to. While that wasn't completely out of my mind yet I picked up and read the last two volumes of Midori Days. This was another manga that I also like better than the anime but not by much as after reading it I realized the storytelling is so well transfered to the anime. And there is also more that was never included in the anime so this is where I got my bonus story as well, even though there wasn't more after the conclusion. And while I do enjoy the satisfying ending, I had that same sort of empty feeling. Like Kei and Naru, Seiji and Midori have moved past the point where I can follow their story. So basically while I find myself happy that I now know as much of the story as is available, I also find myself wondering where those characters went next. I know it is fiction but this happens to me a lot when I'm reading books and novels so I suppose it is natural that it'll happen when I finish an anime or a manga as well. Anyone else find that, even being satisfied with an ending, you still miss some of your favorite characters when a manga series comes to a conclusion? |
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CloverKuroba
 Posts: 506 |
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Azumanga Daioh is the prime example for me. The ending is quite happy and hopeful, as you see spoiler[Chiyo quietly realize that they may not be together forever, but they'll always be in each others' hearts]. But I became really attached to the great cast of characters and the scenario...that it left me feeling kind of empty. I was satisfied, but I really wished that it wasn't over.
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Not a Jellyfish
 Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
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This happens to me quite frequently, but I'm also mostly an exclusive manga reader, rather than an anime watcher. Series I have loved to that point, I tend to re-read far too much. And I think they all tend to be Shoujo...
 ;; Marmalade Boy, Fushigi Yuugi, Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, X (if only because of it's inconclusive ending), Paradise Kiss. And there are many others that I know will leave me that way once the series has finished it's run. Nana, after I broke down and marathoned all of the anime (huge deal for me because I'm such an origin fan), I was left bawling and thinking about the characters for days. They each left a massive impression on me that it was sad to see them go and end in that way. Although, I know there is more to come after the anime, it was still such a huge emotional impact on me.
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Monumension
 Posts: 268 Location: Norway |
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I have gotten this «empty feeling» only once after finishing a manga. Battle Royale was the first time I followed a series trough it's complete run. The conclusion also marked the culmination of my interest in the story that had started when I got into the live action movie three years earlier. I already knew what was going to happen to all the characters at the end but that didn't matter because it still felt like the first time I had finished the complete story.
Of course, the devastating thematics didn't help this. In the days afterwards I felt like I was going trough the same problems that the surviving protagonists of the series certainly had to deal with. It was like I tried to cope with the deaths and loss of real comrades because I had participarted in the game myself! It was a strangely voyeristic moment for me: I litteraly felt that I had watched my own friends die, something which speaks volumes of how much I managed to assimilate myself into the story. Last edited by Monumension on Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:11 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sarasa*Tatara
Posts: 31 Location: Michigan |
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I usually cry when I finish a series that I love. I think the worst might have been the endings of Kodocha, W Juliet, Fushigi Yuugi, and Here Is Greenwood.
I hated getting to volume 10 of Kodocha and realizing that I would never get to experience anything new with Sana ever again! W Juliet is kind of a moot point now that it has a second series, but for a year it was a big part of my life, especially since it was one of a small number of series in my collection, I really got to know Ito and Mako  .
FY is such a sad series anyway, IMO, and usually I'm up really late finishing it, so I end up sad when I finish it, even though I know everything's going to be alright for spoiler[Miaka and Taka]. Greenwood might be the worst, (major end spoiler) spoiler[because at the end it's just Suka-chan saying "Well, come on!" and running down the hall. I always want to say "Wait! I can't follow!" ] I still like it's ending, though. It just always leaves me sad... |
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Samurai-with-glasses
 Posts: 628 |
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As the saying goes: "It's hard to part ways with good friends."
Bittersweet > Bitter + Sweet |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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The only manga I've ever read and experienced this with was Chobits. I was very into the story, as I read the whole thing in a single evening, and by the time the end came around I think I was actually in tears from how sweet the story was. I liked the ending a lot (I enjoy the way CLAMP does romance in general), but I was sort of sad to say goodbye to all of the characters.
Actually, I think Chobits is the only manga with a satisfactory ending that I've ever actually finished o.o |
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suna_suna
 Posts: 550 Location: Ohio |
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I have had this expirience with one manga in particular, and that is Fruits Basket. while i love the ending, and this is true for any other series, it leaves questions about what else happened to these characters, and of course, what about the other characters you don't see in the ending. but a series can't go on forever, and there will always be questions about the rest of the story. but, one must learn to be satisfied with the story given, and realize that that is how the author decided to end it. one could look for more stories, but unless they are done willingly by the original author, they cannot be considered true.
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jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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undeadben, I felt the same thing when I finished Love Hina but that was nothing like the sadness I felt when I finished Maison Ikkoku. MI was (and is) far and away my favorite manga, as I identified with the series lead Godai more than is probably healthy....heh. Anyway, I put off reading the end of the series for more than two years until finally a friend of mine said "I can't believe you haven't read it yet! I...I refuse to talk to you until you finish it!"
I was still in college at this point, and there was a weekend when my roommate left town to see his girlfriend, so I decided to take the entire weekend to re-read the entire series from beginning to end. Those of you who have read the series know how perfect the ending is, and it really hit me that I'd never get to read any more adventures of these characters that I had basically grown up with (I started reading the book at 16, and I finished it when I was probably....22, maybe?). What an amazing, amazing series.... |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16963 |
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I've felt the same feelings after finishing a manga or anime before myself. Even a normal book series/trilogy. I was a bit sad when Love Hina ended but the level of sadness you and jgreen have mentioned I felt when Ai Yori Aoshi ended. If that ain't bittersweet nothing is. I mean everyone mostly got their wish with the ending, but yet you still wish you could see more of how they develop afterwards and continue on with their lives. I felt the same after watching Haibane Renmei. As for manga though, I am thoroughly dreading the day when Oh My Goddess finally ends. After all these years of reading it and having it be one of the key things that got me into manga and anime I am not looking forward to that day when it finally ends it's publication. I mean it's been a source of joy and relaxation for me for damn near a decade and losing that will suck. So it better end really well or someone will answer for it.
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aya_honda
 Posts: 920 Location: Around here |
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The feeling of sadness that you talk about, undeadben, follows me usually after I have finished a series that I loved dearly and I waited for every issue to be released. I always have this feeling of emptiness everytime I finish a great series ( to me at least ) because I have the feeling that I might never discover another story to charm me again, and although this is not true, it always sits behind my mind. I am getting accustomed to the characters , to the story. It's the nice feeling to wait for an issue to be released or for the volumes to come to you, to see what happens then and all of the sudden you can't enjoy that anymore.
I had the same feeling with Midori Days (more touching and funnier than the anime) but also with Fruits Basket. The ending, especially when it's so close, becomes quite controversial in my mind: on the one hand I want to know it, I want to see what happens to my favourite characters (because usually they aren't the main characters  ) and on the other hand I want to prolongue the the moments before knowing the ending because the story gets a touch of finality and thus my anxious feelings about it will finish. And although it happens many times to re-read a manga, I never have the same feeling that I had before.
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kirbyboy102
 Posts: 157 |
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I've only finished a few manga totally, and it happens to me when I do.
Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch left me in tears. Everything was very bittersweet in the end, and it left me with a few tears the first time through reading it. |
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c.rescentro.ses
Posts: 11 |
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After I've read a manga completely, I feel happy and elated more than anything (I tend to read the cute or shojo manga
 ). Then I do feel kind of empty because I can no longeer read the story anymore. Usually I quickly replace that manga with a different one and the cycle starts all over again.
If the manga I completed has an anime, I watch it as soon as possible. Of course, then the "emptiness" happens all over again. Reading this stuff is sad, now that I think about it. Well, the only thing more sad is that my life can't afford all the manga I want and my time doesn't allow to read it all either, haha. If I ever lived in Japan (or visit, which I'm planning to at least), I think I'd die from the overwhelming feeling of happiness when walking in a manga store. Of course, I'm limited to English-only so far, but boy when I learn Japanese, which I am determinded to do so, look out! |
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