3 Anime With Controversial Final Seasons (#1 Is Actually Perfect)

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Ideally, the final stretch of an anime should offer closure and set the right tone for its send-off. It should also be climactic and true to its source material. Unfortunately, plenty of anime have controversial endings, even with multiple seasons to prepare. One might forgive shorter, one-outing titles for dropping the ball. However, it’s harder to be as lenient with narratives that take us on a longer ride, especially when it fails to feel worthwhile.

3) Tokyo Ghoul

Tokyo Ghoul Season 1 got the nature of Sui Ishida’s manga right, even if it made changes. However, the anime went off the rails after that, and it never found its way back. The series was one that started to be controversial ahead of its final season. Not only did Season 2 diverge from the source material completely, but its story just wasn’t that good. The anime walked back its departure from the manga in Season 3. Unfortunately, the way it handled this just made it messier and more difficult to follow. Naturally then, when Tokyo Ghoul hit its final batch of episodes, its climax didn’t feel properly set up. The end of Ken Kaneki’s journey on-screen paled in comparison to the manga’s finale. It was a shame, as the bar was already low after Season 2. Tokyo Ghoul:re could’ve marked a comeback.

2) The Promised Neverland

The Promised Neverland was an anime with an excellent opening, but its ending was far from it. The series only had two seasons in total, and the second made the perplexing choice to pass over some of the manga’s most popular storylines — including its Goldy Pond arc — in favor of narratives original to the anime. Understandably, this sparked backlash from fans of the source material. And it wasn’t the only odd choice Season 2 made. Although The Promised Neverland could have continued for another outing, the anime cut and condensed more than 100 chapters into a mere 11 episodes. It was a terrible way to wrap things up, and it was more disappointing after a strong first outing.

1) Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan got a lot of flak for its final season — and not just because it dragged things out across multiple parts rather than having more than four outings. The complaints about Attack on Titan mostly took issue with the direction of the ending. And to its credit, it’s the same direction that Hajime Isayama’s manga took, which also sparked controversy. The final chapter of Attack on Titan flipped the narrative, turning Eren Jaeger into the series’ villain. It also delivered a tragic end, one that admittedly got a little jumbled in its messaging.

For many, Attack on Titan didn’t make Eren’s journey worthwhile. However, despite the many Reddit threads arguing otherwise, I’d posit this was the only way his story could have ended. It’s one of the rare anime that had a controversial final season that was actually kind of perfect. After many climactic moments, it struck just the right tone.

Which anime do you think had weak final seasons? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!