The finale of a story can make or break everything that came before it. A series that has had critical and popular success over its run can be undone in one fell swoop by a bad ending, and leave many viewers with the feeling that the show is no longer worth watching because of it.
The most recent example of this would be the eighth season of Game of Thrones, a show that, until that point, was regarded as one of the best TV series of all time. This disappointment isn't limited to live-action, as there are many anime series that have come and gone whose finales have left a sour taste in the mouths of even its most loyal fans.
10 Bleach
Although it has recently been announced that fans of Tite Kubo's supernatural series would be seeing the ending they have all been waiting for, the disappointment in Bleach's original ending was two-fold. The anime ended its run at the conclusion of the Fullbring arc, with Ichigo finally getting his Soul Reaper powers back after having lost them in his battle with Aizen.
While there are many who believed that the final panel of Rukia fading away in front of Ichigo was a perfect end to the story, Kubo thought otherwise and decided to keep going into the Fullbring and Thousand-Year Blood War arc. Not only was the Fullbring arc a disappointing end for the anime, but the subsequent arc was a let down for fans of the manga as well.
9 Yu-Gi-Oh GX
For fans who were only able to watch the English dub of GX, they weren't even able to see how disappointing the final season of the show was as it was never translated into English before the 5D's series began.
After fusing with Yubel, Jaden falls into a slump for the final season while all of his friends are able to move on without him until he has another fateful encounter with The King of Games himself, and finally has a duel with Yugi. Not only does this undo Jaden's slump in the worst way possible, but the audience never even sees who was the winner of that duel, as the series ends before the result is made clear to the viewer.
8 Death Note
Death Note had a lot going for it in its prime. The central conflict between Light and L was captivating, and every step they took to take the other down was masterful, if sometimes a little melodramatic. Then tragedy struck when L was unceremoniously killed off by Rem and the show skips ahead to Kira being worshipped as a god among men, while Light is left in charge of tracking him down and using his position to make sure his secret stays hidden.
While the time skip makes Light suddenly seem outwardly much colder than his teenage self was, it also introduced Near as his new foil, who manages to win against the serial killer against all odds and in a completely unsatisfying way.
7 Soul Eater
As the manga was still ongoing at the time of Soul Eater's anime run, it's not surprising that the anime deviated from the plot of its source material; unfortunately, that deviation wasn't for the better. Up until the final battle, the show made sure that teamwork was the central focus of the battles, with almost every major fight utilizing the three main meisters as well as their weapons.
Asura ends up being defeated in a single, decisive punch to the face, as Maka makes use of the power of bravery. It makes absolutely no sense and is one of the most disappointing final battles in all of anime.
6 Fullmetal Alchemist
Like Soul Eater, Fullmetal Alchemist's original series was airing while the manga was still being released, so the story deviates around halfway through the anime. As it wasn't able to use the storyline of Father, his origins, or the true nature of Amestris, the writers instead came up with Hohenheim gaining immortality through swapping bodies with others, and the nature of the homunculi was altered entirely.
While it was an interesting plot, seeing Ed and Al play from the Winchester handbook and constantly sacrifice themselves for the other grew repetitive, and Edward being flung to Munich was nowhere near as satisfying as Brotherhood's ending.
5 Digimon Adventure 2
Everything was going fine and dandy for this follow up series to the original Digimon Adventure, but that all went out the window when the epilogue happened. Matt the musician suddenly became an astronaut, Sora the tomboy became a women's fashion designer, and in possibly the worst act against clear on-screen chemistry, Kari and TK didn't end up together.
It was as if it was written by someone who had never watched an episode of the anime in their lives, choosing to ignore everything that the kids had gone through in the years they saved the world to go for an ending that made no sense in context.
4 Big Order
While not the most controversial ending of all time, the finale of Big Order managed to do the unthinkable and make everything that had happened up until that point meaningless.
Using the same power of wish-granting that was responsible for the Great Destruction in the first place, Eiji puts everything back to the way it was, effectively undoing the entire plot of the series in a matter of seconds. What was the point if he could have simply wished away the issue this whole time?
3 Future Diary
Future Diary was riding high for the majority of its run, right up until the conclusion that raised more questions than it answered. Suddenly introducing time travel to the mix where alternate worlds are already a thing made for a deeply confusing and unsatisfying ending, to say the least.
While an OVA came out to wrap up the series in a way that was much better received, for many fans of the show it was too little, too late.
2 Tokyo Ghoul √A
There were many aspects of Tokyo Ghoul √A that didn't sit well with the audience, particularly for fans of the manga. Aside from Ken joining the very organization that kidnapped and tortured him being completely non-sensical, the fact that the final fight wasn't shown at all was a giant slap in the face to fans of the show.
Not only that, but Ken's fate is left completely ambiguous to the audience as the credits roll. A follow-up anime, Tokyo Ghoul:re, helped give the story the ending it deserved, but it doesn't take away from the sting of the original finale.
1 Neon Genesis Evangelion
The ending to this Neon Genesis Evangelion was so controversial that Hideaki Anno, the director and one of the writers of the show, was sent death threats. While the last two episodes were retconned in the film End of Evangelion into something far less experimental, even the new ending to the series left gaps in the story that weren't fully explained.
Even though the entire series is being remade in film form, it's hard to ignore the sting of the original endings to what was such a beloved and well-received series.