I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been absolutely thrilled with a series and thought “there is no way this can go wrong” and then it does…it goes very very wrong. You’d think by now I should know I’m heading for heartbreak because anime is such a fickle form or entertainment. Why is it fickle?
Warning…Soul Eater ANIME spoilers beyond this point!
(I’ve read a few books on Japan and I think I read this in one of those books, but I can’t recall which one right now and they’re still packed up. So if I what I’m about to say is wrong, please correct me.)
Anime (in Japan) is seen as a commercial, companies PAY to have their shows aired on certain channels at certain times. That’s pretty much the opposite of how (I believe) things go down in the US where channels buy shows and make money off the commercials. They do things like this in Japan because the anime is supposed to promote the sales of merchandise associated with the anime/manga. I feel like that mindset makes it alright to make something incomplete, by getting people to watch the series you’ve already generated enough interest to make the investment worthwhile. It also might explain why it seems shonen/seinen manga seem to be animated far more then shoujo/josei titles. There is more sellable merchandise associated with shonen type shows.
What inspired this post? I finally finished up Soul Eater after writing such a positive review of it in the beginning, and I almost shrieked in agony at the ending. I was so happy a Shonen series had a female protagonist…and then she defeated the end boss in such a WEAK NONSENSICAL WAY! She scared him by overcoming her own fears and punched him in the face? ARRGGHHHHHHH! He was a GOD! A GOD! Darn it! Fine it worked because he was SO mentally unstable, but it still doesn’t make enough sense to satisfy me. Also it seems that characters like shinigami-sama that were built up as “so strong” went down too easily, it didn’t fit the image of strength the series was building up around them. I feel the 3 protagonists got power ups beyond their abilities at that point in time at the final battle too. I’m grateful this series was made into an anime still, but I hate that ending! Other examples of series I felt this way about are FullMetal Alchemist and Claymore. FullMetal Alchemist was probably the biggest disappointment of my entire anime watching career! Luckily I found the manga and saw the light.
I would PREFER an anime series to end on an incomplete note then to have an ending that gives closure…but is terrible. I may be sad I don’t get an ending, but its better then the anime series I loved becoming tainted to me. But at the same time, I’ve had series where I felt the animators’ ending was better then the manga, in which case I’m actually happy. I thought the Magic Knight Rayearth and Pretear endings were better then their original manga counterpart.
Do you prefer the animators take creative liberties with the ending? Will you put up with filler episodes to get to that real ending? Or just end the series on a cliffhanger?
On a side note…I’ve just read the weirdest manga series I’ve ever encountered, After School Nightmare. Will do a review with covered spoilers at the end. My jaw just dropped at how weird this series is, and how weird I am for reading it by the end.
Logan Baker on 
Raff on 
Sam on 
bluedrakon on 
lovelyduckie on
#1 by Panther on September 14, 2009 - 8:45 am
Quote
I felt the ending was fine though. At least it is not as cliche as other endings, and actually tried to teach something about courage. The last part where the Kishin compared it to insanity, in which both exists in all of us, was certainly full of impact.
If you really hate the anime, read the manga. WE ARE FLYING IN THERE.
#2 by lovelyduckie on September 14, 2009 - 8:54 am
Quote
@ Panther – I’m reading the manga through Yen Plus magazine/anthology. Although I prefer how the anime portrayed the manga-ka’s artistic style, and in general I enjoy Shonen series animated over reading the panels in a manga. I don’t hate the anime in its entirety, JUST the ending. And I don’t mind if the story follows how Maka’s greatest asset is her ability to overcome fears, I just don’t like how it was all tied together at the end. I felt like a piece of something was missing. The ending is too weak for a series I esteem so highly, but perhaps in a few years when the manga progresses more we’ll get another Soul Eater series just like with FullMetal Alchemist!
#3 by Snark on September 14, 2009 - 8:42 pm
Quote
To be fair however, punching a God in the face is about the most badass manly thing she could have done short of emasculating him by opening a bottle cap he was having trouble with.
#4 by lovelyduckie on September 16, 2009 - 9:58 am
Quote
@ Snark – AHAHAHAHA, I could see him having a mental breakdown over that.
#5 by moritheil on October 12, 2009 - 7:56 am
Quote
The manga really emphasizes how many characters’ powers are uneven and they have profound mental issues that they need to get over.
That aside, there are many ways for anime to go wrong, and few for them to go right.