Have We Gotten Any Good Manga Endings In the Last 5 Years? Despite Some Recent Controversies, the Answer Is Yes

Ending a long-running story is a challenge in any medium, and manga is no exception. Manga getting abruptly canceled is one thing, but even when a manga is allowed to run its course, it will sometimes be paced in a way that poorly resolves its various plot threads, if it even resolves them at all, and it can be so bad that it completely ruins the story for some people.

It’s always hard to find a manga that ends its story perfectly, and that discourse has arguably reached its peak in the 2020s. The 2020s have seen the ends of incredibly popular manga like Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Oshi no Ko, and unfortunately, the contentious endings of popular manga in the 2020s have revived the discourse about whether or not manga ever manage to have good endings. As always, the discussion is rife with exaggerations and various disingenuous critiques, but there’s probably never been a better time to discuss the issue than right now.

Why Some Of The Most Recent Manga Endings Are So Contentious

The Worst Manga Endings Of The 2020s

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Many major manga endings in recent years have been contentious, and it’s important to understand why. In many cases, some recent manga endings have been controversial for how quickly they end without properly giving closure to the characters or the world they inhabited, which makes their endings feel unsatisfying because of how many loose ends were left behind. My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, and JoJolion are several noteworthy manga that ended recently without properly tying up their lingering plot threads, and that’s been a major sticking point for fans and critics alike.

Another issue with some recent manga endings is how they sometimes extend the gradual decline in the quality of their stories. Manga, like any long-running story, will often see a drop in quality in their later years, and as bad as that is, an ending doing nothing to rectify the drop in quality, possibly even making it worse, will just make things feel even worse than they were before. Tokyo Revengers, The Promised Neverland, and Domestic Girlfriend are all examples of manga with lackluster endings to cap off years of decline, and their reputations are unlikely to improve anytime soon.

Sometimes, however, a manga’s pacing will be great, and the ending will come after a largely well-received arc, but some specific detail about the ending will abruptly ruin any goodwill the series had garnered to the point that people will feel they wasted their time getting invested in the stories, to begin with. Platinum End, Attack on Titan, and Aka Akasaka’s Oshi no Ko are all prime examples of manga that did one specific thing to abruptly ruin what could have been passable endings at worst, and overall, it’s hard to argue with the problems people have had with them.

Are Some Of The 2020s’ Most Hated Manga Endings As Bad As People Say?

Why Some Manga Endings Deserve Better Criticism

A lot of manga endings of the 2020s have been criticized for one reason or another, and that, of course, calls into question if those criticisms are justified. While many criticisms about manga endings are valid, many of them can feel disingenuous when they’re less critiques of how a manga ended and more critiques about largely miscellaneous elements, especially when someone’s main criticism revolves around shipping. Many criticisms of manga endings are disingenuous because they’re mostly about a manga not ending the way someone wanted it to end, and ignoring that can often make endings come across far better.

Another point worth considering is the behind-the-scenes issues that often go into manga endings. Not only do many manga rush their endings due to the health of their authors, but even when a manga is successful enough to run upwards to a decade, the authors often have to plan out their endings a year or so in advance, and even that isn’t always enough time to properly end things. Many manga end poorly for reasons out of the authors’ control, so in that regard, some endings like My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen do warrant a little more leniency.

Which Manga Had The Best Endings In The 2020s?

The Best Manga Endings In Recent Years

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Reasons why some critiques of recent manga endings are exaggerated aside, there are plenty of manga that ended in the 2020s and managed to have great endings simply because they were written well. Call of the Night and Ayakashi Triangle, for example, both had somewhat open-ended finales, but because of how well they closed out their main arcs and didn’t run long enough to overstay their welcomes. In a similar vein, manga like Fire Force and Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, while a bit uneven, managed to bring everything together for largely satisfying conclusions, all of which is nothing but commendable.

There were also plenty of manga that ended in the 2020s after having consistently great runs from start to finish. Haikyu!!, Golden Kamuy, and Delicious in Dungeon were all consistently great from start to finish before ending in the 2020s, as each one did a great job of being consistent with their stories and character arcs and closing out their narratives as satisfyingly as possible. Those stories and others are prime examples of manga still being capable of having good endings, and that’s great to see in lieu of so many bad endings in recent years.

If there’s any recent manga ending that truly stands out, however, it’s the ending to Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Demon Slayer’s ending has all the same problems of rushed pacing and poor closure, but because of the sincerity in Demon Slayer’s writing, combined with its genuine sincerity, its shortcomings aren’t as egregious as other manga that ended with similar issues while trying to do far more with their stories. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s ending works for being average amid a slew of largely bad manga endings, and that, surprisingly, is something far more manga need to strive for.

The Issues People Have With Modern Manga Endings Are Nothing New For The Community

Manga Fans Have Been Hating Endings For Years

The issues people have with modern manga endings are largely valid, but as previously stated, they’re nothing new for the manga community. Manga like Naruto, Bleach, and Fairy Tail were, and still are, criticized for their endings, and even manga that are 30-40 years old like Ranma ½ and Fist of the North Star are criticized for having lackluster endings after otherwise great runs. The issues people are having with recent manga endings are no different from the issues people have had for decades, the only difference is that social media allows people to be more vocal about their complaints.

Lackluster manga endings have been around for decades, and if the past few years are anything to go on, there will only be more in the coming years. That being said, there were still plenty of great manga endings in the 2020s, and the fact that there were plenty of good manga endings in the 2020s among the multitude of bad ones means that people can expect plenty of great endings in the years to come. The upcoming years likely won’t be easy for the manga community, but hopefully, there should still be plenty to look forward to.