Generally speaking, an overwhelming majority of anime is adapted from written material. Manga, light novels, video games, and visual novels are all common source material for many anime. While manga and light novels have only one ending, video games and visual novels usually have a handful of different endings to unlock during gameplay.
When anime adapt these types of stories, they have to pick one ending and stick with it. Many anime choose the true end for their anime adaptations, but at least one has infamously chosen a bad end for its anime adaptation. Regardless of which end is adapted, there are plenty of anime that have multiple endings depending on the choices the main characters make.
10 Steins;Gate Has Endings For Every Possible Romance Option
The Steins;Gate anime is based on a visual novel that delves into alternate storylines that the original anime doesn't touch on at all. In the original game, Rintaro Okabe has the option to pursue any of the potential love interests, and Mayuri Shiina, Luka Urushibara, Suzuha Amane, Faris NyanNyan, and Kurisu Makise all have their own endings in the Steins;Gate visual novel. The anime includes the true route, which is Kurisu's ending. Kurisu's ending arguably has the best writing, with the other endings feeling hard to believe or somehow incomplete.
9 The Fate Stay/Night Franchise Has Several Endings, Including Bad Endings
Fate/Stay Night is a visual novel that includes the Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven's Feel storylines, all of which have been faithfully or loosely adapted into anime. However, the average anime fan may be unaware that all the Fate anime are related to one another and branch from the same storyline that originates in the visual novel. Besides the distinct storylines included in Fate, the Fate/Stay Night visual novel also has a multitude of bad endings that should be avoided if players want to experience the full story.
8 Clannad Has Six Different Plot Lines To Follow In The Visual Novel
The Clannad anime has Tomoya Okazaki pursuing Nagisa Furukawa, but she's only one of several romanceable options in the original visual novel that the anime is based on. Fuuko Ibuki, Tomoyo Sakagami, the Fujibayashi twins, and Misae Sagare are among the different romance options available in the Clannad visual novel.
The Nagisa route is considered the true route, especially considering that Clannad After Story's true end picks up where Nagisa's Clannad route ended. The Clannad anime adaptation is a beloved story for many anime aficionados.
7 School Days Is Infamous For Its Visual Novel Bad Endings
Most visual novel anime adaptations follow true or good endings in the visual novel, but School Days breaks the mold by choosing one of the bad endings. School Days has a total of 21 possible endings for players in its original release, including multiple endings for Sekai Saionji and Kotonoha Katsura, as well as two different harem endings. The School Days anime adaptation chooses the bad end where Kotonoha takes revenge against both Makoto and Sekai – one of the worst endings the game has to offer.
6 Little Busters! Has Several Good & Bad Endings In The Visual Novel
The Little Busters! anime is also based on a visual novel that has multiple endings for various romance options, as well as bad endings. Made by the same creators who brought anime fans Clannad, Little Busters! follows Riki Naoe and the friends he makes in his youth after he loses both his parents and develops narcolepsy. The Little Busters! anime has become something of a cult classic with some anime fans for its melodramatic storyline, but its source material contains several endings aside from the anime's ending.
5 Kanon Has Five Different Love Options & Includes Bad Endings
With two different anime adaptations airing in the 2000s, Kanon established itself as a beloved series for many anime fans. Its source material comes from the same writers who produced the Clannad and Little Busters! visual novels, with Kanon being Key's first visual novel. All three series carry the same style that Key became known for: melodramatic storylines that focus on the "what-ifs" of potential romantic connections. Kanon has both good and bad endings depending on what players choose, but the anime chooses the ending that focuses on Ayu Tsukimiya.
4 Hakuouki Has Multiple Endings For Each Romanceable Character
Originally an otome game based on real historical figures who were in the Shinsengumi, Hakuouki garnered enough popularity to get several anime releases and even some manga. The original game follows Chizuru Yukimura, who works with the Shinsengumi to locate her father.
There is a multitude of romance options, and each of them has its own unique endings with Chizuru. The anime follows the plotline for Toshizo Hijikata, who Chizuru falls in love with over the course of the series. Hakuouki even has some bad endings, making the game a rich experience.
3 Steins;Gate 0 Has Several Endings, Including A Bad Ending
Unlike its predecessor, Steins;Gate 0 takes a slightly different approach to its branching storyline by offering fewer romance options than the original. There are a total of six endings players can receive in the Steins;Gate 0 visual novel, including a bad ending. Mayuri saves the day in Steins;Gate 0, as it's only through her intervention that her past self chooses to rouse Okabe's spirit and encourage him to complete Operation Skuld. This adds a bittersweet layer to the original Steins;Gate, as players get to see more of Mayuri's point of view.
2 Corpse Party Has At Least 27 Endings, Many Of Them Being Horrific & Disturbing
The Corpse Party: Tortured Souls anime is surprisingly short when compared to its source material. Corpse Party was originally released in 1996 as a supernatural horror game that follows Satoshi Mochida and his schoolmates after they're sucked into the hellish Heavenly Host Elementary School, a haunted school that once stood where their current school is built. Each chapter has multiple dead ends and bad endings that halt the full story's progress. The anime is only four episodes, so fans should pick up the game for the complete chilling experience.
1 Persona 5: The Animation's Original Game Has Three Endings
The Persona 5 anime adaptation didn't quite capture the nuances of its source material's story and with good reason, as the Persona 5 video game is over 100 hours long. Fans of the anime should definitely look into the game it's based on if they haven't already. Persona 5 is widely considered one of Atlus's best Persona entries, and, like the other Persona entries, the game has more than one ending. There's a bad end, a good end, and a true end, with the anime adapting the true end route.