Anime Fans Ranks Most Brutal Series Finales Of All-Time

When it comes to anime, some series seek out to absolutely break your heart. The medium is filled with heart-wrenching tragedies of every variety. From lost loves to unexpected deaths, a gambit of unexpectedly brutal endings have helped upheave some of the medium’s best offerings.

Whether you’re watching Death Note or Clannad: After Story, you can be sure to leave the anime feeling bereft. But, hey – you definitely aren’t the only one left to suffer!

Over in Japan, anime fans recently banded together to vote on which anime series had the most brutal endings. The extensive list spans genres and demographics, proving that angst isn’t limited to a single time or place. Here at ComicBook, we are going over the top ten most traumatic titles. So, be warned! Spoiler are alive and real in the following slides!

[HT] Crunchyroll

Death Note

How It Ends: For a show about serial killing, Death Note ends just like you’d expected. After having killed a slew of corrupt (and not-so-corrupt) officials, Light finally dies after the shinigami Ryuk writes his name in his cherished Death Note.

 

School Days

How It Ends: Blood – so much blood. The anime is adapted from a titular visual novel, and the show elected to end on the game’s bad note. The series comes to a close when one of its heroines stabs its male lead to death. Then, another character comes in and kills that heroine off before sailing away with the lead’s severed head as a trophy.

 

Space Warrior Baldios

How It Ends: If you want to watch an anime with an environment message, then you found it. The aged mecha series explores what happens when mankind value technology over Mother Nature. So, when the ice caps melt, it isn’t surprising to learn that millions die thanks to the ensuing tsunami.

 

Dog Of Flanders

How It Ends: If you thought Marley & Me was bad, then you need to think again. This anime is known for its unbelievably tragic end. After showing the anime’s lead get along perfectly well with their dog, the young protagonist ends up frozen to death with his pooch.

 

Fullmetal Alchemist

How It Ends: The first Fullmetal Alchemist series has a finale that could make the strongest person bawl. After going on a slew of adventures to recoup their bodies, the Elric Brothers finally manage to fulfill their mission – but they are separated into parallel worlds in the process.

 

Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato

How It Ends: The story of sacrifice is strong with this intergalactic anime. After a long run, the anime series left fans in mourning when the Yamato evacuated all but Kodai and was flown right into the Emperor’s own spacecraft. The act was done to save the rest of humanity from the Comet Empire, but the loss still had fans reeling.

 

Hi no Tori

How It Ends: Known for its artwork, Hi no Tori is an anthology anime that’s comprised of 12 individual stories. And, as you may have guessed, each of them end rather poorly. The angst is only multiplied as you make your way through the undeniably sad project.

 

Rose of Versailles

How It Ends: As one of anime’s first popular shojo titles, Rose of Versailles also showed fans how sad love could be. Its heroine Lady Oscar finds herself shot during the Storming of Bastille after her longtime lover Andre is crippled and then killed before her. Ouch.

 

Space Runaway Ideon

How It Ends: A death here and there is something most fans can get over with time. But, when it comes to Space Runaway Ideon, the loss of life was too massive to bear. The science fiction title ends with its entire universe being ripped apart, and the fruitless event only reminded fans of how uncaring the cosmos could be.

 

Grave of the Fireflies

How It Ends: Studio Ghibli was destined for great and sad things after Grave of the Fireflies came out. As a war film, many critics consider the anime feature to be one of the genre’s best, and it does not skimp on the angst. The movie follows two orphaned children in the wake of World War II. And, by the end, audiences watch as one sibling dies before the elder shortly passes due to starvation.