What is the Best Anime Ending of all Time?
Article at a glance:
- Endings are HARD—just ask Game of Thrones fans. A bad finale can ruin years of goodwill, but a perfect one? That’s legendary. Today, we’re celebrating two anime that stuck the landing: FMAB and Code Geass.
- For every Attack on Titan or MHA fumble, there’s a masterpiece like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood—a finale so tight, even its deaths feel satisfying. (Looking at you, Wrath.)
- And yeah, Code Geass’s ending is divisive… but if you think Lelouch’s sacrifice wasn’t peak fiction, fight me. This is how you end a story without cop-outs.
We all know that ending a series is hard. Writing a satisfying conclusion to a long-running series is a hard thing to do and this problem is not exclusive to anime or manga. How many high-profile TV shows or movie franchises have a bad ending? How I Met Your Mother, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, The Walking Dead, and more. I could keep going. A bad ending can really kill all the goodwill the franchise built up over the years and even deter future audiences in some cases. With that said though, what is the BEST anime ending of all time?
We know all the bad ones. Oshi no Ko, Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, and MHA, all had varying degrees of terrible endings. But today, I would like to focus more on the positive side and go over what I think is the Best Anime Ending of all time. And I got two of them for ya, today. So let’s get started.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Look, I know I have called FMAB overrated a few times and no, I don’t think that FMAB is the best anime ever made. But, I never said I didn’t like FMAB, I would be stupid not to like FMAB. And I think the recent trend of bad endings has only increased the respect people had for FMAB’s ending. Seriously, the last arc of FMAB is damn near perfect. Every character gets a conclusion they deserve, even the death feels melancholic and satisfying. The best death probably being that of Bradley’s. It hit hard seeing a man as brutal as him pass away with a genuine smile on his face.
Alphonse sacrificing his soul to get Edward’s arm back and then Edward sacrificing his ability to use Alchemy to bring Alphonse back was such a perfect series of events. FMAB’s ending ticked every box and managed to be both emotionally and narratively satisfying. You cannot ask for a better ending to a long-running, beloved anime than this.
Code Geass
This one might be a bit controversial. And I know some people don’t like the Code Geass ending but, come on. Just like FMAB, the Code Geass ending managed to complete all character arcs with things coming a full circle as Suzaku took on the mantle of Zero. In a way, both Lelouch and Suzaku died that day because Suzaku can never be “Suzaku” now, he always has to be Zero. Lelouch died like a damn king, carrying all of the world’s hatred so that no one else has to. Like, the moment Lelouch dies and Nunnally immediately picks up on what he did is so well done.
I feel like this is what Attack on Titan’s ending should have been. But we got…well, whatever that was. I don’t care, Code Geass easily has a claim to the best Anime Ending of all time. Just like FMAB, the ending was both emotionally and narratively satisfying. And I hope people understand how hard that balance it so achieve.
That is all for now
So yeah, let me know what you guys think in the comments. Are there any other endings I missed? I may have, I’m only human. So please, please let me know your favorite endings in the comments. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!
Also, check out my thoughts on Gundam GQuuuuuuX so far here!
