OMG, what is up with these non-endings (Spring 2018)

This season is leaving a bad after taste in my mouth. A lot of shows, even shows that I really like, don’t have good endings or even have an ending to them. I know that some of the shows that I have been watching this season have sequels coming up in the fall, but leaving us with any sense of thematic closure is not a way to entice is to watching more. The only show that sold a sequel by having a transitional episode with a good cliff hanger to it was Golden Kamuy. You know what? Golden Kamuy had the bare minimum attributes to this by having our characters continuing their journey toward the gold with bad guys plotting in after credits scenes. It’s an episodic adventure story, so something like that works for a series like Golden Kamuy. Quite a few shows couldn’t even pull that off. Here are some quick examples of everything. I haven’t watched every show airing this season, but I have read a lot of people’s opinions on shows. Non-endings seem to be a wide spread problem this season.

Let’s talk about some of the shows that I have watched. One show that didn’t end well is Wotakoi. It’s an episodic series about romance between adult Otaku, but the show always felt like it had some sense of forward momentum centered around the relationship between Naru and Hirotaka. The ending of the show just centered around a new character that was just introduced and ended with our four main characters talking about their first anime loves in a café. Relatable, but there wasn’t any sense of growth between Naru and Hirotaka. Such a disappointment.

I just wrote a thing about the space and mech shows which appeared on my blog two hours ago, but a lot of those shows have had non-endings as well. Here is a quick summary of that to people who haven’t don’t want to click that link: Space Battleship Tiramisu ended after having our main character not even pay attention to the conflict he was directly involved in and ended up on Earth somehow.  After a great battle episode centered around the Empire attacking the Free Planet’s Alliance many battlefleets, the final invasion conflict between Yang and Reinhard was just merely set up. They could of at least had one episode centered around a battle between the two and then had a cliff hanger centered around the results of that battle. Lastly, I don’t think that two episodes is enough to finish off Full Metal Panic. There is too much going on right not to have that conclusion feel good. I love my space and mech shows, so why do they have to hurt me?

I know that this post is me complaining about this, but there is something to be said about series having a semblance of a conclusion. Each anime series is like a musical piece. Some pieces have multiple movements, but the most important part of each movement are the first notes and the last notes that are played in the piece. The average audience doesn’t remember much about what happens in the middle of each of these pieces and movements. As long as not many things go wrong in the middle, like Darling in the FranXX, the average audience is going to be ok if the last note is good and resolves the final chord. There are multiples upon multiple examples of that not happening and it’s leaving sour notes all over the place. Having a bad impression leading up to your second season is not a good idea, guys. That’s it, I’m done complaining. Have fun with the rest of your day, people.

(Spring 2018 in Review part 1 will appear on Friday.)