What is the most disappointing, not bad, ending to a series you have finished?

[ElijahRyne]

Currently mine is this:

https://www.mtlnovel.com/start-as-a-lord-in-a-viscount/

It was a fairly good series from start to everything but the end. The MC had discovered a mystery about how gods were the hidden rulers of the planes, and that they are resting in the astral plane. He then takes steps to study god hood, and right after his first success the series ends.

The ending goes that he sends one of his pupils off to school and he gets depressed about the world passing him by. No one recognizes him any more, and all the people he taught are now adults. The end.

 

[SailusGebel]

What's the difference between bad and dissapointing endings?

 

[ElijahRyne]

What's the difference between bad and dissapointing endings?

Bad endings are disasters. Giant world ending fights where all stakes have been thrown out the window. The story itself falls apart sometime before it. The characters, world, etc. and their motivations make no sense. ECT.

Disappointing ending are just that, disappointing. Bad endings can be disappointing, but not all disappointing endings are so.

 

[SailusGebel]

Bad endings are disasters. Giant world ending fights where all stakes have been thrown out the window. The story itself falls apart sometime before it. The characters, world, etc. and their motivations make no sense.

Disappointing ending are just that, disappointing. Bad endings can be disappointing, but not all disappointing endings are so.

Disappointing ending = shit ending?

 

[ElijahRyne]

Disappointing ending = shit ending?

Yes, but in this context, the ending also makes some sense in the story.

 

[Syringe]

HUUUGE SPOILERS FOR A BIG MANWHA!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Spoiler: Even the name itself would be a spoiler. Open at your own risk.

SOLO LEVELLING

I didn't care about the rushed ending. The resolution itself was what made everything feel like a waste of time. It's basically a reset ending where everything goes back to normal but everyone forgets the MC, eveyrthing that was sacrificed, ect to save the world. I wouldn't have cared much if they didn't FORGET the MC. That was my biggest pet peeve and was such a huge disappointment.

It really felt everything was a waste, because there's no acknowledgement. Everything resolves well, and the MC watches their friends get on with their life while they're suspended in this weird space. Maaaaaaan. I remember it like it was only yesterday. Never touched a Manhwa again after that (until just a week ago).

FAR CRY 5 SPOILERS, because it reminds me of when I 100% Far Cry 5 only to get shafted by the nuke ending. It wasn't bad, just so disappointing that everyone I helped basically died. Felt like a chump doing all those missions. Fuck me I guess. Since then I always check the endings of Ubisoft games just to make sure I'm not going to get my progress slapped by a progress-wiping ending.

Neir Automatica is my exception, because it plays so well to its story, themes, etc that I sobbed when I was given the option to delete my save to help save someone else.

 

[georgelee5786]

Tokyo Ghoul

 

[RynnTheTired]

A couple of years ago, I read a Chinese web novel called Galactic Dark Net. At the end, they've spent a bunch of time and effort gearing up for the final, last-ditch battle between humans and the evil insect aliens for the fate of the universe. And just as they're heading off to go fight...it ends. The story just quits, with an author's note tacked onto the end that basically says, "I didn't want to come up with an ending. Everybody can make up their own and end the story however they want."

After sticking with the story for 470 chapters...yeah, that was a pretty lousy way to end things.

 

[melchi]

HUUUGE SPOILERS FOR A BIG MANWHA!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Spoiler: Even the name itself would be a spoiler. Open at your own risk.

SOLO LEVELLING

I didn't care about the rushed ending. The resolution itself was what made everything feel like a waste of time. It's basically a reset ending where everything goes back to normal but everyone forgets the MC, eveyrthing that was sacrificed, ect to save the world. I wouldn't have cared much if they didn't FORGET the MC. That was my biggest pet peeve and was such a huge disappointment.

It really felt everything was a waste, because there's no acknowledgement. Everything resolves well, and the MC watches their friends get on with their life while they're suspended in this weird space. Maaaaaaan. I remember it like it was only yesterday. Never touched a Manhwa again after that (until just a week ago).

FAR CRY 5 SPOILERS, because it reminds me of when I 100% Far Cry 5 only to get shafted by the nuke ending. It wasn't bad, just so disappointing that everyone I helped basically died. Felt like a chump doing all those missions. Fuck me I guess. Since then I always check the endings of Ubisoft games just to make sure I'm not going to get my progress slapped by a progress-wiping ending.

Neir Automatica is my exception, because it plays so well to its story, themes, etc that I sobbed when I was given the option to delete my save to help save someone else.

Oh I gave up on solo leveling. Doesn't surprise me it ends like that.

Same for Neir, I left a map and then it was a game over because of apparent abandonment.

Also, several series here end with big time fast forewords where all the people in the novel grow old and die.

 

[K5Rakitan]

I have blocked such things from my memory

 

[owotrucked]

Release that witch. Author got bullied by wife to not make a harem ending lmao

 

[Cipiteca396]

I wouldn't have cared much if they didn't FORGET the MC

That reminds me of the ending of A Monster Who Levels Up. The MC gets amnesia and his fake harem gets set to scratch fighting over him.

The MC had discovered a mystery about how gods

The ending of Death March was a bit disappointing to me as well. Technically it was a good ending, I just felt a little left behind, I guess?
Ah, no... I guess the problem is that when an ending is disappointing, I just make up new and better ones until I'm satisfied and forget it existed. But Death March tied up all its loose ends and should have been satisfying, so it ended disappointingly and I couldn't 'fix' it.

That's the reason I can't remember any others though. Deliberately forgot them.

 

[SailusGebel]

Injustice.

 

[Le_ther]

Currently mine is this:

https://www.mtlnovel.com/start-as-a-lord-in-a-viscount/

It was a fairly good series from start to everything but the end. The MC had discovered a mystery about how gods were the hidden rulers of the planes, and that they are resting in the astral plane. He then takes steps to study god hood, and right after his first success the series ends.

The ending goes that he sends one of his pupils off to school and he gets depressed about the world passing him by. No one recognizes him any more, and all the people he taught are now adults. The end.

"The novels extra"

The author of the novel is good at making premise but sucks at ending like literally and metaphorically.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

To my father I'm a disappointment.

 

[Jemini]

That reminds me of the ending of A Monster Who Levels Up. The MC gets amnesia and his fake harem gets set to scratch fighting over him.

The ending of Death March was a bit disappointing to me as well. Technically it was a good ending, I just felt a little left behind, I guess?
Ah, no... I guess the problem is that when an ending is disappointing, I just make up new and better ones until I'm satisfied and forget it existed. But Death March tied up all its loose ends and should have been satisfying, so it ended disappointingly and I couldn't 'fix' it.

That's the reason I can't remember any others though. Deliberately forgot them.

I dropped Death March half way through the 2nd to last book. My opinion about it, having never read the ending, is that the single most disappointing thing about it is the fact it didn't end sooner. Seriously, up until book 9 or so, the series is typical Isekai trash, but still somewhat enjoyable. Then, as soon as he learns to chant, it just releases all limitations and it feels like there's no stakes anymore, so the author just breaks the power scale in what seems to be some vain hope to restore the stakes. But, the problem is the MC can still power through everything like it's nothing, so it fails to fix the stakes and all that manages to do is make the thing a complete unreadable mess.

If that series had ended on book 12 or so, it would have been a whole heck of a lot better. Mind, I'm not saying book 12 was an actual good ending point, I'm saying it needed to be re-written such that it ends 3 books after book 9 in order to avoid the mess it became.

 

[rain-090]

Tokyo Ghoul

How?
I don't think it was bad.

 

[ElijahRyne]

How?
I don't think it was bad.

The anime had a disappointing ending

 

[georgelee5786]

How?
I don't think it was bad.

I didn't think it was bad, just kinda disappointed me

 

[J_Chemist]

HUUUGE SPOILERS FOR A BIG MANWHA!

I agree with the first one. Left a sour taste.


I tried to think of a few stories where I was disappointed and one that comes to mind is the The Quintessential Quintuplets. The woman he pairs with made zero sense in the grand scheme of things and from what I read, the author just kind of full sent it with little care.

I generally catch "disappointments" early on prior to reaching the climaxes. After reading, reviewing, and just existing long enough, I can generally see where the author is taking the story. If I disagree with it or if I get the whiff that it's about to GFR, I generally drop it or skim it. Like Rent-A-Girlfriend for example. I had a feeling it was about to get sussy, then that NTR chapter came out and my suspicions were correct so I just bailed. There's a number of titles that do that. I ain't got time for it all.