10 Best Anime Endings So Trippy They'll Have Fans Questioning Reality

Summary Anime endings that defy convention with surreal narratives and reality-bending visuals are sure to leave audiences in shock and awe.

Gainax Endings, as seen in Neon Genesis Evangelion and other series, challenge the norm and remain widely discussed and debated over the years.

Mind-blowing twists, like those in Paranoia Agent and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, alter realities and characters in ways that audiences can't predict.

As a rule, most anime endings tie every loose end in a neat bow. However, there are a number of series whose endings break all the rules, resulting in trippy finales that have fans questioning reality, and contemplating how reliable the anime's narrator is. Often, they’ll be accompanied by fast-paced, thrilling action and visuals that play with the very threads of reality that the series takes place in.

These finales are not only a tipping point for the characters caught in the middle of them. If their message has gotten through strongly enough, fans may start feeling as unmoored as their heroes.

Endings like these are so mind-blowing for their audiences that they remain well-known and widely discussed years, or even decades, after first airing.

10 Neon Genesis Evangelion Is Peak Gainax

Original series created by Hideaki Anno

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Studio Gainax has become infamous for these types of endings, to the point where they’re colloquially known as “Gainax Endings”. Arguably, the most well-known of these remains Neon Genesis Evangelion and both its notoriously bonkers conclusions. Though it’s clear from the first episode that this is as much your normal mecha anime as the EVA Units are normal mecha, in 1995, audiences could never have predicted how far the show would spiral by the end.

The original final two episodes see Instrumentality reducing humanity into one ethereal entity with no emotions or individual identity, sending Shinji on a bizarre journey through his own psyche as he chooses between embracing life or dooming humanity. But The End of Evangelion, hailed as one of the best anime movies, takes it up to eleven and brings everything full circle. The horrors of Instrumentality and the fall of NERV in the real world are shown in bloody detail, and Shinji’s final reckoning is even more unhinged.

Neon Genesis Evangelion Created by Hideaki Anno First Film Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth TV Show(s) Neon Genesis Evangelion Character(s) Shinji Ikari , Rei Ayanami , Asuka Langley Soryu , Toji Suzuhara , Kaworu Nagisa , Mari Illustrious Makinami , Gendo Ikari , Misato Katsuragi Video Game(s) Neon Genesis Evangelion

9 Serial Experiments Lain Explores How Technology Warps Identity

Original series written by Chiaki J. Konaka

Serial Experiments Lain holds up as one of the best Lovecraftian anime with horrors beyond comprehension. Its exploration of the relationship between technology and the "self", as well as the disconnect between people because of it, often reaches reality-bending levels. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the show’s final episode, aptly titled “Ego.”

The show begins with one of Lain’s classmates taking her own life and posthumously claiming to have ascended to another state of existence: the Wired. Its finale sees Lain take this idea to its logical extreme, taking control of reality itself and everyone in the physical world’s perception of it. She deletes herself from existence, and ascends further than anyone ever has into the Wired, becoming a virtual being of untold power.

8 Mekakucity Actors Ties Its Heroes’ Fates Together

Based on the Kagerou Project music videos by Jin

At first, Mekakucity Actors seems fairly conventional. Local hikikomori Shintaro Kisaragi is forced to venture from his home in search of a new keyboard, only to get caught up in a terrorist attack at the electronics store. He’s saved by a group of superpowered kids who call themselves the Mekakushi Dan, and drawn permanently into their world.

The further the show explores each hero’s backstory and the origins of their powers, the more surreal things get. Shintaro’s dreams of danger prove prophetic, and he awakens to his own ability just in time to help save the Mekakushi Dan from the otherworldly forces keeping them trapped in a cycle of terror. In the end, he and his friends are able to restore their unraveling world to reality, but only after facing down incomprehensible powers.

7 The Big O Goes Off The Rails In Its Finale

Based on the manga by Hitoshi Ariga

The Big O has an ending that comes straight out of nowhere in its second season. Paradigm City is a post-apocalyptic place recovering from a mass amnesia event and hiding long-buried secrets, and it’s where Detective Roger Smith and his robot partner R. Dorothy Wayneright solve crimes for a living. Their ace in the hole is the titular Big O: a massive battle mecha they bust out to defend their home from disaster.

With the chances of a third season nil, Chiaki Konaka, the writer behind Serial Experiments Lain, felt free to go a little wild with the season finale. Roger and Dorothy are losing badly in their final battle with the Rosewaters and Big Fau, and begin to see visions of parallel realities. Angel is revealed to be some sort of non-human with fake memories, a revelation that makes her snap and transform not just her form, but the entire world, resetting time and space back to the first episode.

6 Paranoia Agent Is Exactly As Unnerving As Expected

Original anime written by Seishi Minakami

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From Paprika to Perfect Blue, Satoshi Kon’s best films feature an element of psychological horror, and his major foray into television, Paranoia Agent, is no exception. Mushashino, Tokyo is suddenly struck by random street assaults by Shonen Bat, a boy with a golden bat whose face nobody can seem to remember. It’s up to a pair of detectives to crack the case, but unbeknownst to them, they’re in way over their heads.

As its title suggests, Paranoia Agent centers around the fear, repression, and crises of identity plaguing all of its characters. Though it’s suggested that Shonen Bat is a particularly slippery juvenile delinquent, or a supernatural force called by desperation, the real answer is even more shocking. With the lines between imagination and reality disappearing completely, and both Shonen Bat and Maromi wreaking monstrous destruction on Tokyo, it’s revealed that all the show’s fantastic terrors spring from the mind of a certain alleged victim.

Paranoia Agent Cast Liam O'Brien , Michelle Ruff , Michael McConnohie , William Frederick Knight , Doug Stone , Carrie Savage , Erica Shaffer , Sam Riegel Release Date April 14, 2011 Seasons 1 Streaming Service(s) Crunchyroll Franchise(s) Paranoia Agent Writers Seishi Minakami Directors Satoshi Kon Main Genre Thriller Creator(s) Satoshi Kon Expand

5 Darker Than Black Bends And Twists Space And Time

Original series written by Tensai Okumura and Shoutarou Suga

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Everyone on Earth knows about Heaven’s Gate and Hell’s Gate, the chaotic cracks in space and time on either side of the world. What almost nobody knows about are the Contractors: humans who spontaneously developed superpowers when the Gates opened and are now used as hitmen and spies by shady governments and organizations worldwide. Hei is a Contractor working for one of these organizations, carrying out dirty job after dirty job.

Darker Than Black is largely episodic, pitting Hei against other Contractors and the official forces out to thwart his various crimes. However, the finales of both seasons each take the opportunity to go off the rails. From surreal imagery to dangling plot threads to even deeper cracks in the fabric of reality, this show not once but twice leaves fans scratching their heads and trying to figure out what on Earth just happened.

4 Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 Has A Notorious Original Ending

Based on the manga by Hiromu Arakawa

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When Edward and Alphonse Elric lose their limbs and entire body, respectively, in an attempt to resurrect their mother, they devote their lives to their quest to restore themselves. However, it isn’t that simple: they find themselves in the middle of a great conspiracy that targets not only their entire country, but the history of their family as well. It soon becomes clear that their journey may have no end after all.

Because the manga wasn’t finished by the time the original anime adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist has one of the most famous anime-only endings out there. And it is quite out there, with an out-of-the-blue twist that lands Edward (the most bewildered one of all) in our world, right in the middle of World War II-era England, revealing that alchemy in Amestris is fueled by the deaths of humans on Earth. The follow-up movie, Conqueror of Shamballa, which forces Edward to navigate Nazi Germany, is no less strange.

Fullmetal Alchemist Created by Hiromu Arakawa TV Show(s) Fullmetal Alchemist , Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Character(s) Edward Elric , Alphonse Elric , Roy Mustang , Winry Rockbell , Maes Hughes , Riza Hawkeye , Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist) , Ling Yao , Lan Fan , May Chang , King Bradley , Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist) , Envy (Fullmetal Alchemist) , Greed (Fullmetal Alchemist) Video Game(s) Fullmetal Alchemist: Stray Rondo , Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir , Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy , Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel Expand

3 AKIRA Takes Its Espers To Another Dimension

Based on the manga by Katsuhiro Otomo

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This film’s stunning animation is just one of many reasons why a live-action remake of AKIRA simply wouldn’t work. Tetsuo losing control of his powers, transforming into a massive, rapidly mutating mountain of flesh, and threatening to kill everyone around him is one of the most famously terrifying scenes in anime. The conclusion, which like much of the film left out a lot of the details from the manga, is no less impactful.

It’s impossible to flat-out kill Tetsuo or to reverse his transformation. In the end, it’s the returned-from-the-dead Akira who saves everybody: he uses his own psychic powers to create a new universe for his fellow Espers, showing Kaneda visions of the past before ejecting him into a destroyed Neo-Tokyo. As for Tetsuo, he now has the power to do the same, stepping into a new dimension of his own beyond the audience’s comprehension.

Akira (1988) A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics. Director Katsuhiro Otomo Release Date July 16, 1988 Studio(s) Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co. Ltd Distributor(s) Toho Writers Katsuhiro Otomo , Izô Hashimoto Cast Mitsuo Iwata , Nozomu Sasaki , Mami Koyama , Taro Ishida , Tesshô Genda , Mizuho Suzuki , Tatsuhiko Nakamura , Fukue Itō , Kazuhiro Shindō Runtime 124 Minutes Budget $5.7 Million Expand

2 Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion Sends Its World To Hell

Based on the original series "Puella Magi Madoka Magica"

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The ending of the original show flips its entire conceit on its head, with Madoka ascending to godhood and becoming an omnipotent source of hope for all magical girls, in the past, present, and future. All except for one: Homura is the one loose thread in an otherwise solid ending, pointedly left alone and desolate in one of the most shocking anime post-credits scenes, and the final twist of Rebellion finally reveals her fate.

Homura’s only happiness is Madoka, and she can find no solace in being left alone. So she becomes the demon to Madoka’s god, reverses Madoka’s wish and replaces it with her own, and traps Madoka and all her friends in a false Mitakihara with no memory of anything that occurred in the main show, as one does. The movie ends with Homura delighting in her victory but acknowledging the possibility/sequel hook that if Madoka ever regains her memory, they will become enemies.

1 Adolescence of Utena Is Much Wilder Than Its Show

Based on the original series "Revolutionary Girl Utena"

As heavy on symbolism and metaphor as Revolutionary Girl Utena is, it can sometimes be hard to make sense of what’s truly happening, but as in Madoka, the final conclusion is perfectly understandable. Though Utena has disappeared, her impact is permanent: Anthy is finally empowered to walk away and leave Akio and Ohtori Academy behind. It’s the sequel film that feels truly free to get trippy with it, because it assumes that viewers have already seen the show.

Adolescence focuses primarily on Utena and Anthy and their journey to freedom and happiness together, showing their story in even more striking and unique visual styles, which, considering the visuals of the show, is saying something. In the film’s most famous mind screw, it ends with Utena being eaten by a car wash and reemerging as a car, which Anthy drives out of Ohtori while being chased by tanks. When Akio tries to stop her, she doesn’t just destroy his mindset, she blows him up into a bunch of rose petals.