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So we're in that seasonal transition period now where a lot of shows are ending and unsurprisingly not everyone is happy with how they turned out. Having rushed and incomplete endings to things typically comes with the territory when it's an adaptation of an ongoing work. It usually comes in 3 flavors:

1.) The ending just resolves the particular arc they were at in the hopes that they'll get greenlit for another season. This is obviously the risky option, as unless it was already decided beforehand, you can't know if a show will sell well enough to get a sequel. If it doesn't, then you're left with lots of dangling plot threads that might never get a resolution.

2.) It follows the work pretty faithfully, but they try to wrap up as much as possible at the end to give a sense of closure. This one can feel particularly rushed as they rarely leave themselves enough room to fit in those resolutions comfortably. Everything feels last minute which not only doesn't sit right with viewers, but cuts off the possibility of continuing in another season. But at least the story is completed.

3.) The adaptation ignores the source material and goes down its own path. This can be done by either putting an anime original arc after the adapted content, or loosely adapting the thing in the first place. This probably results in the best endings, but at the same time you alienate the viewers who were looking forward to seeing the original content in anime form.

Of course any 3 of these can be successful in what the companies probably want to happen: the consumers will check out the original works to see how the story continues. This has certainly happened to me on many occasions.

So how do you guys think adaptations should end?

I'd say a mix of 1 and 3. I'm fine with resolving whatever arc it leaves off on but if the team working on the show can come up a with a reasonably competent original ending, then I don't mind that approach.

It's gonna be a cop-out, but whichever way lead to the best ending. Sometime show can easily close up most of the open threads without too much rushing, in that case it's better to just end it for real. Other time it's clear that they won't close every threads so they should just leave them open and concentrate and closing the current arc well.

Most story are written before the author even thought of the ending, they usually don't even know how long they'll be published, so it's not like there's a "real ending" in most case, the author will just make it up when he has to wrap it up because the publisher says its time. It's not impossible to make a good ending that's different from the source material. Then again I'm particularly picky about my ending (more often than not I don't even watch the last 1-2 episode, or read the last book of a series) so I often find that even the ending from the source material is rushed.

If I had to give an answer, I'd says they should just remove stuff they know they won't have time to touch on, it's usually pretty easy to remove most of the stuff. So I guess I go with #3. Honestly they shouldn't cater to the fans of the original material anyway, they'll always find the adaptation to be inferior anyway, plus they can just spin it as "incentive for new fan to read the original material" and that should go down smoothly, plus the fan will be able to feel all smug and superior for knowing more about the story than newer fan, everyone win.

I generally like option 1, since the reason I'm watching an adaptation is typically because the thing being adapted tells a good story, and that story has been tested. Trying to shoehorn a different ending often leads to dramatic whiplash because the story is suddenly being created in a vastly different fashion, and it's a problem because the writers now have feet in two different worlds: The world of original content, where they essentially have to fly blind, yet also the world of an existing context, which will hold back the creativity of writers trying something new.

I only like option 3 when the writers go crazy with how loose the adaptation is going to be, since they aren't shackled by the existing stuff.

I don't read much manga; I don't care what's in the source material. I just hope for a coherent, satisfying anime experience, irrespective of the option chosen. Indeed, even if the source material is long since completed, I couldn't give a toss what happened there, so long as the anime is good.

So there is an option 4): whatever the anime producers think is a good thing.

There is also an option 5), aka the Blade of the Immortal option where the anime ends mid-arc, but that isn't my preference.

no right answer, as long as it's good.

I've actually been meaning to start a similar topic like this, awesome!

Anyway, I think an adaption should always stand by its own standards and be an alternative for those who'd prefer not having to read the format of the original material (anime-only viewers). This is best done when it has it's own closure too, instead of giving viewers a 'read-the-manga-ending'. Not that I have a problem with that tbh. Even though The Severing Crime Edge didn't exactly end with all knots untied, it did stop at a good point and did its job in motivating me to want to pick up the manga if it ever gets localized. However, since sales did pretty darn bad (one of the least selling in a long time IIRC) anime-only viewers seem to have little to no hope of seeing a continuation in animated form, though I kind of have it somewhat bad since the manga isn't localized either. Probably would have been better in a few ways to make the anime loosely based off the manga and give it its own original ending so it can stand on its own two legs as a stand-alone. As of recent I really don't like adaptions that pack in so much to the point where it feels so rushed and makes it seem like they want you to ignore the unanswered questions and confuse you even more aka. Mekakucity Actors. Brynhildr in the Darkness did something similar, but it was far more enjoyable, comprehensible, and hilarious in comparison, even though I wasn't a fan of how it ended.

So yeah, it's either faithful adaption with moderate pacing that stops at a certain point or loosely-based adaption for me.

getchman wrote:

I'd say a mix of 1 and 3. I'm fine with resolving whatever arc it leaves off on but if the team working on the show can come up a with a reasonably competent original ending, then I don't mind that approach.

Pretty much the same for me. However I'd rather have a show that's interesting throughout than a show that has a good ending. I tend to enjoy a show more at the beginning, being able to forgive the bad stuff and enjoy the good stuff more, while being more difficult to impress near the end. So for me it’s about the journey, not the destination.

I hardly ever read the source before watching the anime so whether or not it is faithful is of no consequence to me as long as I stay entertained. But what you're asking is basically like what flavor of dirt is best if I have to eat it. Dirt never tastes good.

Ideally I'd choose:

Option 4: Just wait until the damn source is complete before adapting it. The work is decently planned out and executed for however many episodes and strait seasons it takes to tell the story with no breaks and ties up it's loose ends.

Ultimately, I value conclusiveness over all else, so if I had to choose one of those it would be option 2 or 3, where we get an attempt at an ending if they know they probably aren't going to get another season. I'd also be fine with option 1 if I was fairly sure the series was successful enough that a sequel was inevitable.

I rarely read the source material either, so I tend to think that it be what they thought it best to tell a complete story. I know a certain live action show has gotten positive attention by choosing to have its source material be more of a guideline than a rule, adding in a couple new characters and changing some events. And I have seen some anime that have taken this a bit too, sometimes a difference being from the anime being before major plot events in the manga, sometimes it can work well fro surprises and its own story, while others it kind of falls apart.

Although I know that often they want to increase interest in the original material, which I can understand why it ends open ended.

Kruszer wrote:

Option 4: Just wait until the damn source is complete before adapting it. The work is decently planned out and executed for however many episodes and strait seasons it takes to tell the story with no breaks and ties up it's loose ends.

This one's pretty funny. So that's Golden Time and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood? Ah, Toradora too, it's in the banner. There should be more recent examples {Shaft's trying very hard with Bakemonogatari} but nothing immediately springs to mind.

I've yet to figure out the reason for Brotherhood being made; The abridged first half combined with the "new" second half makes for a pretty miserly show, it's explicitly made for the people who didn't like the first anime but liked the manga; I didn't think there were that many of us.

Still, it's a 60+ episode advertisement for the conclusion of the manga. They could have gotten the same effect from rebroadcasting the first series.

Golden Time and Toradora are anime from completed light novel sources but I always get the feeling that a producer just wanted to see it animated; Can't judge what sort of impact it would have on future sales at that point as wouldn't it be more likely detract future customers who can just buy the show with the same story?

The real option 4 {Should be number 1 by how common it's become}: Full stop ending. No conclusions, not even a momentarily wrap up, just a "Hey, it's the last episode" comment in the previous episode. Examples: Every single season romantic/harem comedy adaptation {Ha, Chuunbyo got two seasons... it still counts thanks to season 2. Nisekoi counts double}. They exist to sell books, not the show.

This is how they should end, too. One, it's not as if the mangas or light novels always have good endings {Attack on Titan, no, not going to say it...} Two, if they did it this way, they're be four or five adaptations every few years and none of them would be experimental as it would only be the ones that were already successes, Three, the point is to sell merchandise in Japan and the last thing I want is artistic credibility because then the US would never be able to afford it, Four and most importantly, oftentimes it's the premise that is the most interesting part of the show and the more premises we have, the better for the shows to follow {to steal and improve on them, of course}.

This is still no excuse for H Gata B Kei to end four episodes from the finale; Even one or two OVA episodes could have finished the job.

Animegomaniac wrote:

This is how they should end, too. One, it's not as if the mangas or light novels always have good endings {Attack on Titan, no, not going to say it...}

Attack on Titan is still ongoing isn't it? Unless I misunderstood something or you're from the future.

Whatever works for the series sits well with me. However, the anime creators attempts to make their own ending are often puny. There are, of course, anime which have its own good endings like House of Five Leaves, but because it seems rather rare I prefer the first option, since it is simply the easiest one. The second one and the third option can work, if the person adapting the source material is competent and creative enough to either improve on the source material or make an equally good series.

Personally, I prefer option one, so long as it makes a reasonable ending. It can clearly not be the ending, it just as to work as an ending. A case in point would be the anime of Sasameki Koto; it might not be satisfying, but it certainly works.

Animegomaniac wrote:

Kruszer wrote:

Option 4: Just wait until the damn source is complete before adapting it. The work is decently planned out and executed for however many episodes and strait seasons it takes to tell the story with no breaks and ties up it's loose ends.

This one's pretty funny. So that's Golden Time and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood? Ah, Toradora too, it's in the banner. There should be more recent examples {Shaft's trying very hard with Bakemonogatari} but nothing immediately springs to mind.

It's surprisingly rare for something that should be common sense, but most companies start an adaptation early to try and cash in more or "strike whilst the iron is hot" and well we fans end up getting burned from it.

I've generally begun to just prefer visual novel adaptations over manga ones because at least those probably have an ending; the game having already come out and then someone later decided to make an anime out of it.

Since how a series wraps itself up is part of what I rate it on, I'm going to knock off one or two points if something does not conclude itself or if I think the ending it was given does not suit the show or was rushed and sloppy.

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