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Why Does Anime Constantly End at Cliffhangers?

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pgtl_10

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I just finished Sekirei. The last episode had to be continued at the end but the show is four or five years old.

This is like the fifth anime I've seen that gets no closure. Freezing, Attack on Titan, Sekirei, Trigun(To a point), and Arpeggio, They end midstream and I'm left wondering what's next. It's frustrating.

Is anime bombing so hard that shows keep getting canceled? Do the writers have no idea how to progress a series without being tied to the manga?
 
It's so you keep watching. Unless you mean the final episode ends with "to be continued," in which case I don't know.
 
pgtl_10 said:
I just finished Sekirei. The last episode had to be continued at the end but the show is four or five years old.

This is like the fifth anime I've seen that gets no closure. Freezing, Attack on Titan, Sekirei, Trigun(To a point), and Arpeggio, They end midstream and I'm left wondering what's next. It's frustrating.

Is anime bombing so hard that shows keep getting canceled? Do the writers have no idea how to progress a series without being tied to the manga?
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Movie coming in October at least.
 
pgtl_10 said:
This is like the fifth anime I've seen that gets no closure. Freezing, Attack on Titan, Sekirei, Trigun(To a point), and Arpeggio, They end midstream and I'm left wondering what's next. It's frustrating.
Click to expand...

Looks like you answered your own question. Not sure the TBC is intentional though.
 
Anime are usually advertisements for the manga/light novel, you won't get the full product from the commercial.
 
Anime are almost always just a way to increase Manga sales, so most of them end on a cliffhanger.

But it kinda makes sense, the stories they adapt are simply still ongoing - so making a satisfying ending is hard.

Don't worry tho, there's gonna be another season of Attack on Titan next year - probably with an equally unsatisfying ending.
 
The anime you listed are partial adaptations, some of which have source material that is ongoing. So it's no surprise that they end at cliffhangers. Anime only endings are generally pretty poorly done and feel forced.
 
Yeah, I watched "when supernatural battles became commonplace " or whatever and that show didn't even end on a cliffhanger. It pretty much just ended with zero resolution, as if there'd be an episode the next week.
 
They are TV shows... they want you to keep watching.

Also, many manga /novels that are adapted are not finished at the point at which the anime is made.
 
The ending for Berserk killed me. You can't even call that a cliffhanger, it just sorta ended. Most other animes I've watched have had solid endings that were satisfying.
 
because

tumblr_n8k996khSM1qbsh4co1_500.gif
 
If you've been following the Under the Dog kickstarter it looks like even the pre-production on that one is going to end on a cliffhanger.
 
Also sometimes the anime catches up to the Manga and such so they have to do other stuff or take a break. Fairy tail is an example of that.

Should really read the Manga if you can. I only watch the anime versions once every other blue moon
 
Most anime ended before they are able to catch up with manga. Most of the time they are not popular enough to have another season after ending.
 
Veritigo_X said:
The ending for Berserk killed me. You can't even call that a cliffhanger, it just sorta ended. Most other animes I've watched have had solid endings that were satisfying.
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This. Samurai Champloo ended very well. I appreciate the way the main plot line ended but the series still left open any adventures if they wanted it.

I remember Full Metal Alchemist ended pretty well when the manga did not finish. I don't understand why writers don't take elements from the manga and create their own story.
 
Those are all partial adaptations so they either do that or have an original ending.

If it makes you feel better the actual endings to most manga/anime are terrible so the cliffhanger is probably an improvement.
 
pgtl_10 said:
This. Samurai Champloo ended very well. I appreciate the way the main plot line ended but the series still left open any adventures if they wanted it.

I remember Full Metal Alchemist ended pretty well when the manga did not finish. I don't understand why writers don't take elements from the manga and create their own story.
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Because most anime these days are like 12 episodes so they don't have time to setup their own thing like the original FMA. And also why bother make up original endings and what not when there is a hope you sell well and can make a sequel.
 
pgtl_10 said:
This. Samurai Champloo ended very well. I appreciate the way the main plot line ended but the series still left open any adventures if they wanted it.

I remember Full Metal Alchemist ended pretty well when the manga did not finish. I don't understand why writers don't take elements from the manga and create their own story.
Click to expand...

Samurai Champloo is not based on manga or light novel. Full Metal Alchemist had the author's permission to continue in a different direction.
 
The shows are adapted from manga that are still running at the time of airing. Sometimes the anime splits off and does its own thing with its own ending, sometimes it cranks out filler eps until the manga can catch up, and other times it just ends with the intention (sometimes fulfilled, sometimes not) of returning later once the manga has caught up and there's more to animate.
 
Kinyou said:
Didn't Claymore basically run out of manga to adapt? That's always a shitty situation. The manga was just recently finished, maybe someone will pick the series up again
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It finished? might get around to reading it again. It was getting pretty trashy when I stopped though.
 
If the anime you're watching has on ongoing manga with no end in sight then yeah you're gonna get a cliffhanger or anime only rushed ending.

Or incredible amounts of filler but that really mostly happens to popular long running shounen
 
Kinyou said:
Didn't Claymore basically run out of manga to adapt? That's always a shitty situation. The manga was just recently finished, maybe someone will pick the series up again
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Claymore was particularly bad, in this sense that it had an original anime ending, but it still manage to not solve anything and leave the entire story open.
 
Mecha said:
Anime are usually advertisements for the manga/light novel, you won't get the full product from the commercial.
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Unfortunately, this is the answer or at least a large part of it. That and anime often runs out of material to adapt, so has to take long breaks (Like AoT) or insert filler garbage (Like Dragonball Z, Naruto, One Piece, etc.)
 
The Silver said:
If the anime you're watching has on ongoing manga with no end in sight then yeah you're gonna get a cliffhanger or anime only rushed ending.

Or incredible amounts of filler but that really mostly happens to popular long running shounen
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much. If the source material has nothing left to continue an anime on, they usually just end or they create an alternate storyline altogether. Like with the original Full Metal Alchemist anime for instance.

On another note, I don't quite agree with anime being a commercial for mangas though. In some cases they certainly are, especially when it concerns ongoing stuff that has a lot of audience growth potential which end up getting like half or one season's worth of episodes, but there's plenty of profitable stuff out there irregardless of merchandise and a possible source manga.
 
It usually happens with series adapted from ongoing manga. They leave it open ended so they have the option to go back and continue it once enough material has been built up. Sometimes they license a series really early to beat out some other studio from getting it and that is what you end up with.
 
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