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12 Animated Sci-fi and Fantasy Series that Nailed Their Finales


Crafting a good ending is extremely difficult. You need to tie everything together to give the audience something that feels satisfying, or if it’s not meant to be satisfying, at least something that impacts them and makes them think. As a writer, it’s hard to juggle all those different plot threads and thematic elements you’ve been building up and make a conclusion out of them. You need an ending that readers will anticipate and look forward to on a rewatch and an an ending that will make them feel something, even if that something is sadness.

Some sci-fi and fantasy animated works fall short. Some do it so spectacularly that it taints the rest of the story. But some show up how endings should be done. Some give us all the feelings and can be remembered as something that just worked for the series. Let’s talk about some of these endings.

Obviously, this is a pretty subjective list. These are endings of shows that I found to be memorable and solid for reasons I’ll outline. If I missed an ending, it’s because I felt it fell a little (or a lot) short- not necessarily because I thought it was terrible. Or it’s because I haven’t seen the series.

I’m also doing endings that both felt and were meant to be conclusive. Even if a series ended on a great episode, if it wasn’t clearly intended to be “the finale” and didn’t feel like a stopping place, it’s not going to be on the list. But that still leaves plenty of endings, so let’s get down to business! There be spoilers ahead, obviously, so proceed with caution.

  1. The Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Finale

    I can’t watch the ending to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood without smiling. It’s a near perfect end to the story (there were some changes from the manga I didn’t approve of, but that’s another matter) that fits the story thematically and does all the characters justice.

    Throughout the series, we see Ed struggling with both his fatal flaw of pride (causing him to often try to take on burdens by himself and over-rely on alchemy) and his feeling of powerlessness as a human.By throwing away his alchemy to rescue his brother, he throws away the pride he clung to and also accepts himself as a human.

    His final line, “Who need alchemy when I’ve got them?” referring to all the people who support him, also ties into the series theme of the importance of community and how when humans come together and help each other, they become extraordinary. It’s a perfect end for his character arc, even calling back to the beginning of the series to show how much he’s grown.

    And this is true for all the characters. Al, who struggled with feelings of inferiority and guilt over his brother’s sacrifice, is able to return to favor and sacrifice for his brother and feel confident in both himself and the strength of their bond.  Winry no longer has to struggle with feelings of abandonment as the brothers keep their promise and give a long awaited reunion (and we see she’s grown confident enough on her own she doesn’t mind at all when Ed leaves for another trip later on).

    Scar leaves his path of hopelessness and destruction behind and instead starts to rebuild his culture. Roy and Riza get farther on their path to help the people they helped decimate in the past. The Xingese characters complete their mission and overcome the antagonism between their clans. Hohenheim is finally able to die.

    The ending had bittersweet elements too, as there was a loss of life and cost for it all. Overall, it’s a great example of what an ending should be like- it gives attention to all the character arcs, carries through the themes of the story, feels completely satisfying and brings everything to a conclusion. 

  2. The Revolutionary Girl Utena Finale

    The ending for Revolutionary Utena was a beautiful one that bought together all its themes in a surprising but great way. The series seemingly had been building up to Utena saving Anthy and becoming a prince, but in the end, she did not. What she did do was offer a helping hand (literally) and show Anthy what real love looks like, which prompted Anthy to save herself.

    The end message came out that we don’t need gallant princes to save a woman in distress like she’s a prize in a video game, we instead need to give her the support and understanding she needs to liberate herself. It’s also a great message about how to deal with someone in an abusive relationship- give them your love and support, and encouragement, but they ultimately have to make the decision to leave themselves.

    The series rejects toxic masculinity in every way- Akio’s masculine violence fails to free Anthy, but Utena’s emotions and tears open the coffin where he could not. Having rejected the misogynistic system of Ohtori, Utena disappears from it (yes, this is the intended idea) and Anthy soon follows her, breaking the abusive cycle she’s caught in and vowing to find Utena and start a new life. It has the ambiguity that is so central to Utena, but still manages to be uplifting and powerful. 

  3. The Princess Tutu Finale

    The Princess Tutu ending might be bittersweet to some, but to me it’s ultimately beautiful and inspiring. All the characters reject the roles that were assigned to them. The main character, who has derided herself for being “just a duck”, realizes she can save the day as a duck and truly accepts herself.  Rue rejects her role as a villain and is finally loved after being abused and spurned from love her whole life. The prince is allowed to be selfish. Fakir is able to free everyone not as the tragic knight, but as a writer, the path he chose. The story completely rejects limited fairy tale archetypes and instead tells a story where the characters break out to choose their own path. 

  4. The Cowboy Bebop Finale

    The Cowboy Bebop ending is tragic, somewhat ambiguous and leaves some unanswered questions, but it’s also something that really sticks with you. The image of Spike finger-gunning at the camera and saying "bang", a callback to an earlier part of the story, before falling over just sticks with you. You’re gonna carry that weight. 

  5. The Avatar: The Last Airbender Finale

    It was a little rushed and contained some plot holes, but I ultimately enjoyed the ending to A:TLA a lot. There were great fight scenes, we got to see all og the gang contribute to saving the day, Azula completely falling apart was heartbreaking and Zuko sacrificing himself for Katara was a fitting end for his character arc that showed how much he’d grown. I always have a good time rewatching it.

  6. The Legend of Korra Finale

    While in some ways it could have been better, The Legend of Korra's ending is pretty fitting. It shows how much Korra has grown as a character as she understands and reaches out to her foe in a way she wouldn’t have been capable of previously. And okay, I’ll admit the main reason if gets me- seeing Korra and Asami come together in a way that was clearly romantic, mirroring the Avatar: The Last Airbender ending, was such a beautiful end to their journey of loving and supporting each other in the sweetest ways. It also meant a heck of a lot to fans all across the world who rarely see themselves represented, bringing many of them to tears. 

  7. The Cardcaptor Sakura Finale

    The movie follow-up CCS ending was super cute- we had Sakura fully master her magic and she and Syaoran are finally able to make it work. It’s an ending that gives you warm fuzzies to watch.

  8. The Haibane Renmei Finale

    The ending to Haibane Renmei is what made the whole series worth it for me. It is heavily implied that Reki has committed suicide, and needs to be saved from herself before she can be freed from the town. But she can’t be saved without asking for help. With her friend Rakka’s urging, she finally does and is freed.

    As someone who’s struggled with similar feelings as Reki, it was a very powerful and wonderful message to me- Reki’s suicide didn’t doom her, she was able to reach out and get the support she needed and she was able to recover, even after death. 

  9. The Justice League Unlimited Finale

    The Justice League finale was also the finale for the entire DC Animated universe, and it was fittingly epic, with all the heroes (and some villains) fighting off an invasion of the super powerful Darkseid. It also contains one of the most badass Superman speeches ever (It has a trope named after it). The follow up episode, "Epilogue", tied up some loose ends from Batman Beyond in an interesting way and contained and incredibly touching scene between Batman and Ace.

  10. The Gravity Falls Finale

    As I expanded on in my review, the Gravity Falls finale is a wonderful cap to the series, giving all the characters a chance to shine, having a fun fight and also containing a surprising heroic sacrifice that serves as a perfect end to a character arc. 

  11. The Futurama Finale

    The Futurama finale "Meanwhile" is on many people’s favorite lists for good reason. We see that Fry and Leela have happily grown old together, which is touching enough, but it gets extra touching when they’re given a chance to relive their lives (memories not intact). In a genius touch, the series pilot was re-aired just after that one, making it look like time had truly looped. A very sci-fi ending, as is only fitting. 

  12. The Star Wars: Clone Wars Finale

    The ending to Clone Wars felt pretty epic- it seemed like the animation had been given an upgrade and there and we saw Yoda discover many things to come, really feeding into our Star Wars nostalgia. In a nice touch, Mark Hamill finally got a voice-acting part for the series too. 

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