It's a Sad Life, Anime

[Saint]

** This will refer to the general feeling of the ending of some series, it won't tell anything really, but i don't want to ruin it for viewing fans of: Cowboy Bebop, Kenshin, or Evangelion.**

In life there are good times and bad times...but whats with so many sad anime series. i know there are more happy stories out there than not but the number of series that end and make you feel like just getting depressed is alarming. From Cowboy Bebop, Rorouni Kenshin, Neon Genisis Evangelion it just bombs... after watching Samurai X: Reflections how can you feel good? poor ol' loveable Kenny... its sad stuff, so what do you think? is it the culture or just "good" story-telling? as for me, i am hoping for that happy ending to come.

Thoughts, Facts or Rants?

[Gypsy]

I think most of us want happy endings, especially when we get attached to the characters. But, for some reason, drama runs higher with tragedy rather than everything working out. Personally, sad stories (or the sad parts) that I've read/seen always stay longer with me than the ones that end happily ever after. And, just a little offbeat here, a lot of us have just seen the Kenshin episodes that they've shown on Adult Swim ... so no hinting about endings, ok?
Back on topic, I think sometimes stories with happy endings become too predictable, and the creators perhaps wanted to use a plot that hadn't already been beaten to death.

[uc pseudonym]

On a negative note, I think there's something in all of us that looks at horribly sad stories and says: Hah! Good thing that isn't happening to me! Then again, I enjoy sad endings, so I'm not casting any blame.

I'd agree with Gypsy. If something ends up happy, it's too predicatable. Of course, if there was an anime in which everything went wrong at the end of each plot arc, and then the ending was a happy one, it'd be a bit surprising, wouldn't it?

In another sense entirely, endings can be sad. There's just something (nostalgia, perhaps) about seeing a great series draw to a close. Far sorrier than sorry endings are ones that come to an ending that is less than optimal.

[spoiler="pathetic spoiler"] ie Yu Yu Hakusho [/spoiler]

[Saint]

hmm... sorry if i was hinting.

i guess there are good stories that are sad, and the famous tradgedies and plays... but as for throwing us a curve? i mean i am beginning to expect to be let down. thus the reason for starting the thread, to try and find out, why? i mean in Christ we always have hope, no matter if things get bad we will have a happy ending. i guess i just identify more with that frame of mind and want to see that more. hehe... silly me...

[Straylight]

I actually like the animes with the unhappy endings, because they really make you think, and they seem less cliched. Good to have a few major character die off too, it really draws you in.

remember [spoiler=spoiler]Final Fantasy 7?[/spoiler] ?
Also this book series [spoiler=spoiler]Robert Jordans Wheel of Time[/spoiler] ?

[Saint]

hmm, well i see i am pretty much the minority on this issue. hehe, oh well i guess its not how it ends its that it ends... some shows you wish would just keep going.

[Technomancer]

Sad stories don't have to be without hope Saint. The end of Shusako's religious novels "Silence" or "The Samurai" for example are hardly happy, but they are not without the possibility of something greater. The same goes for Anime like "Now and Then, Here and There". Stories with unhappy or ambigous endings often give a truer account of the human condition, since that is often simply how life is; easy answers are not always how it goes.

[uc pseudonym]

Well, you probably are in the minority, but I'm with you in that. The rash of unhappy endings is not necessarily a good thing. But really, it reflects reality a bit better. I'm sure the stoning of Stephen didn't seem like a happy ending; but like you said, we have a greater hope in Jesus Christ.

[Saint]

maybe thats it. its not that its sad, its that it is a hopeless and unchangeable sad ending. despare, finality, gloom. bad things happen, but i guess i am too grounded in hope and faith to think that way. i guess i just don't relate to the stories as well. but hey, sad or silly-happy. i like all those animes. haha.