I do have a couple of beefs with Tsubasa. One, Shaoran gets barely any development until the very last story arc. His ladyfriend Sakura started off more as a damsel-in-distress rather than a bland RPG hero, but she at least got interesting shortly before the "Ho-Lee-Fee-Yuck!" Acid Tokyo arc. Really, Tsubasa is about its original characters more than anyone else. Who do the fans like the most? Fai and Kurogane, and I don't blame them.
Also, the plot is twisty like freakin' crazy, and is the short of weirdness that plagued the old version of Evangelion, but, you know what? Having Evangelion Syndrome still makes you more interesting than, say, the majority of bad stuff reviewed by Channel Awesome, but my god, how do Yuko and Fei-Wang keep track of their actions? No normal person (outside of CLAMP, Light, L, and maybe Bruce Wayne) could keep track of all that weirdness! Or maybe I just need to dabble in some narcotics. Too bad I pride myself on avoiding such vices.
But still, Tsubasa is rollicking good fun. And has good-to-great artwork, (The Magic Knight Rayearth girls look so much nicer here! One of them was even really cute!) as well as a few superbly well done scenes of drama. I have the entire series, and don't plan on giving it away anytime soon, despite its flaws. And hey! It's still a lot better than the anime version!
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As you know, I don't think the reputation that anime has as never having good endings is entirely deserved. Most animes I've seen to completion have decent, if not good endings. Many times, they are often open-ended, and maybe that's why many people act like they "suck."
Nonetheless, I have seen my fair share of anime endings that totally blow. Let's recap, shall we?
Akira: FUCK. THIS. ENDING! Oh wait, Akira didn't even have a proper story structure to begin with; how could it even have a decent ending?
Princess Mononoke: So . . . shit happens . . . and nothing's resolved. Okay, not everyone died at the end, but seriously, where is the resolution!? YOU ARE TEARING ME APAHT, MIYAZAKI!
Kanon: The last episode should've been stretched out to 3 episodes. As it currently is, it's way too rushed, and feels like a cop-out.
Also, it would've made more since if Yuichi hooked up with Mai or Shiori instead of Ayu. I'm just sayin'.
Air: Wow, talk about a desperate ploy for an emotional response. Okay, granted, the plot had already lost my interest by this point, but everything was just . . . so . . . contrived. And again, there is no resolution of any sort here. TRAGIC ENDING DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN GOOD ENDING!
Chobits: Confusing, illogical, pointless. Also, Hideki, your apartment manager's single. Be a man, and go ahead and "tap" her! (After asking politely, of course) You don't have to worry about her memory being "wiped"!
Cowboy Bebop: BEING COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE TO THE POINT THAT THE OUTCOME IS VIRTUALLY TELEGRAPHED BEFORE IT EVEN HAPPENS DOES NOT MAKE IT A GOOD ENDING!
Lucky Star: Well, there's always the manga.
Evangelion tv series: as much as I like the school sequence and Shinji realizing that beating himself up is self-defeating, the fact remains that everything before that is junk.
Trinity Blood: I'm still waiting for that sequel, guys. Don't make me resort to writing a fanfic to satisfy my desire for a proper conclusion. I'll fucking do it; you know I will! (And watch my FF.net cred go up in the process.)
Eh, bad endings exist everywhere. I see them too in vidjagames, Occidental media, fanfics, et cetera.
Don't worry, though; my fanfics won't have bad endings to them.
