No Endings in Anime & Manga.
- The final (not counting specials) episode of .hack//SIGN features the buildup to a huge battle... which then doesn't take place because they got shunted to other materials instead.
- Aku No Higan Beyond Evil ends shortly after Viktor reveals his backstory, with him observing Gota fight off several thugs who are attacking his family and appreciating the latter's growth, as this means that Gota is getting closer to being able to fulfill Victor's goal of killing the beast locked within him.
- The Bamboo Blade manga ends right in the middle of Tama and Sakaki's first fight. Apparently the author decided that the outcome of the fight wasn't as important as the fact that Tama finally has a rival that's her equal.
- Deliberately invoked in Blue Comet SPT Layzner, as the creators found their series Cut Short due to low ratings and Executive Meddling, and had to extensively rewrite the ending. The Hallmark 2000 OVA fixes it with two recap episodes and a completely new one that ultimately says "Earn Your Happy Ending".
- Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: The anime ends abruptly as the gang is running up the stairs towards the final battle. Bo-bobo makes note that the series has run out of funding, with most of the most sane characters reacting as you'd expect them to. The manga, however, goes on for much... much longer. Given that the anime heavily relied on comedy, it goes to show that the anime would willingly sacrifice the opportunity to properly resolve its own story just for the sake of a joke.
- The anime adaptation of A Centaur's Life ends with Himeno winning the arm wrestling tournament, then asking why they were even competing in the first place. At that point, the title card is shown, followed by the ending credits and a still image of Himeno that says "Thank you for watching."
- The last episode of Corpse Princess ends with a Smash to Black right in the middle of the final fight between Makina and Hokuto.
- Dai-Guard doesn't end when all the Heterodynes are destroyed, it ends when all the characters realize that the Heterodyne attacks are simply a fact of life in 2030 Japan the same as earthquakes and hurricanes and the point is not about putting an end to them, but how you deal with them. From protecting the lives AND livelihoods of the civilians and working with the military and your allies (rather than against them) to deal with the situation properly.
- Dallos ends where a Gundam series would begin. Shun and Rachel have radicalized and joined Dog's crew to fight against the Earth while their surviving elders go back to work, the Earth has refused to make any concessions to the Lunar colonists even in the face of war, and Dallos' giant eyes are glowing green - and that's it. We don't see the outcome of the uprising, and we never learn what the deal is with Dallos.
- Episode 13 of Digimon Adventure 02 had two characters encounter the minions of a Big Bad called Dagomon (a thinly-veiled Expy of H.P. Lovecraft's Eldritch Abomination Dagon). While the episode's immediate conflict is resolved, questions like what the heck Dagomon is (or what the heck his Mooks are, for that matter), are never properly resolved. Even more frustrating considering that the end of the episode shows him rising oh-so-ominously from the Dark Ocean (complete with glowing red eyes), strongly implying that he will become the Big Bad (or something comparably important) later on, but never came to be.
- It doesn't help that Dagomon was originally planned to have more involvement, but this was scrapped due to meddling from Bandai and disputes among the writing staff.
- Doraemon ends up with the fans creating their own endings in doujin comics. One happy endingnote (which was legendarily Jossed from orbit, with nuclear fire
by the publishers due to the art being picture perfect to the original series and the ending being more or less beloved by the entire fanbase) and two Downer Endings, one of which was lifted from St. Elsewhere.- The Fujiko duo did try to end the series when it appeared that the franchise was losing popularity in the early 70s, resulting in the final story in Volume 6 of the manga. When the franchise suddenly picked up in popularity again shortly after the release of the said volume, they were forced to Retcon that particular story in the first story of Volume 7 of the manga.
- The 1973 series did have an ending, where Doraemon returned to the future and Nobita promised him to grow up to be successful.
- Two English publications of Fist of the North Star end just before or after important plot events. One ends after Kenshiro defeats Jagi (where Jagi reveals that Toki and Raoh are still alive), while the other ends just before the first battle with Raoh.
- Glass Mask has an in-universe example with the book-turned-play Bianca the Pirate. Maya plays the pirate Bianca, who confesses to the masses on a courthouse-ship her past as a noble, how she disguised herself as a man to live as a pirate and was now found out. The play ends with a narrator saying, 'Her name disappears at this point in history... in the distance, you can see a small ship sailing away with some figures in it. What became of Bianca? You will have no answers from the mediterranean sea'.
- The last line in the He Is My Master manga is "Izumi's debt is still *insert huge amount here*". It doesn't conclude. As a mirror to the Bo-bobo example above, however, the anime actually has an ending.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers has a Valentine's Day strip end rather abruptly just as one of the main characters seems to be remembering something about another...
- Hikaru no Go ends after Hikaru's team loses the Hokuto Cup, and Hikaru vowing to continue playing Go — which he has pretty much been doing throughout the entire series. Given that the point of the story is for Hikaru to become a master, ending when he's not even close to reaching his goal is... unsatisfactory to say the least.
- The His and Her Circumstances anime infamously ends (or fails to end) this way, with an episode consisting of a slideshow of drawings that still doesn't resolve anything.
- I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up ends with Hana deciding not to move out, and more or less deciding to stay with her senpai and "wife," Machi, on a permanent basis. After that, life goes on for the married couple... and that's it. Because of that, some people were surprised that the manga ended after only three chapters.
- Initial D, no need to say! "The challenge continues into the far future."
- The first anime adaptation of Inuyasha ends with No Romantic Resolution and the heroes running off into the sunset, still having yet to defeat the antagonist, but proudly proclaiming that someday they will. Eventually the show was Un-Canceled to finish out the rest of the series. Though it doesn't cover all the manga stories from where the original series left off, just the main conflict with Naraku.
- The Kill la Kill manga adaptation ended after Ryuko's first confrontation with Nui, about halfway through the story, an encounter that shakes up the status quo and doesn't offer much of a conclusion.
- The 2017 anime adaptation of Kino's Journey ends with Kino taking a nap in a field on a beautiful day, declaring that it's the end of her journey, and when she awakens, another one will begin. In The Stinger, she wakes up and sets off on Hermes once again.
- Koroshiya Yametai ends without a clear resolution to the conflict, with the manga artist noting that it would take another two volumes or 400 pages, which was not possible at the time the story ended.
- The main story ends when Rose delivers the rosary to her employers in exchange for Father Shirafune and Benika's safety, but realizes she is forced to take a side in the coming revolution. She asks Benika to kill her, but Benika refuses, claiming that she and Rose could take control of the church and Babylon, respectively, to end the conflict. Rose kisses Benika, then sets out, prepared to be a hitman until the day when her work is no longer necessary. The story ends with no clear resolution to the conflict.
- Chapter 43.5, a post-series bonus chapter, shows that secondary antagonists Gina and Hibai survived the fake explosion, with Rose helping them fake their deaths. They infiltrate Babylon together, and break into their systems, learning that Babylon was behind the deaths of Gina's family and is using Hibai's son as collateral. They're about to part ways, but Gina enlists Hibai on her quest for revenge, offering to remove the Explosive Leash around Hibai's neck. Hibai's only response is an "Ah," leaving it unclear whether she accepted.
- The OVA of Kujibiki♡Unbalance represents episodes 1, 21, and 25 of a fictional 26-episode TV series, meaning that we never get to see the conclusion. Just to heighten the annoyance, episode 25 ends with Ritsuko about to announce the conditions for victory in the tournament. (The manga of Genshiken, which featured it as a Show Within a Show, clarifies that the last episode was never aired due to a typhoon, so it is sort of justified.)
- The Genshiken manga itself doesn't really have any real ending, the idea being that just because the members graduate doesn't mean that club is going anywhere. More members will join and life (and doujinshi) will go on.
- The second season fully embraces this trope, while doing the preview for the final episode Madarame loudly proclaims: YES! MIKAN IS BESTO ENDO!!!
- The ending of the Macross Frontier TV show, on the surface, would seem like every "Good Guys Live Happily Ever After" plot. However, considering that the Love Triangle, a central theme across the Macross franchise, is left unresolved, one could make a case that the story has an unresolved ending.
- A Manga With Too Many Premises ends suddenly as the main characters mysteriously swap bodies after kissing. The entire point of the manga was to cram as many premises for yuri manga as possible into a single one-shot, so it doesn't really have a plot.
- The manga adaptation of the Persona 3 side of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth ends after the second labyrinth, less than halfway through the game.
- Pet Shop of Horrors ends with D leaving Tokyo and Leon, with their relationship unresolved, the continuation of the plot not only introduces a replacement for Leon, but also makes clear that the latter is chasing D all over the world, but even then, they seem to never find each other and their relationship is unclear again.
- Pretty Cure:
- Futari wa Pretty Cure:
- One of the last few episodes of focuses on the heroines' class entering a chorus competition. The episode ends immediately after their performance, with absolutely no indication of whether they won.
- An earlier episode focuses on the science club entering a competition and, like the chorus episode, ends without revealing the outcome. A full year later, Max Heart finally revealed that Verone won... as part of the discussion on what to do for this year's competition, and once again, the episode ended without indicating how they did.
- HuGtto! Pretty Cure
- Episode 31 has this in regards to the conflict between Hana and Eri, the one who Hana stood up for in the past and got shunned by her peers for. When it looked like Eri was about to apologize to Hana, Takumi and Jinjin attack, freezing everyone in place forcing the Pretty Cures to fight them off. By the time they were dealt with, the episode never goes back to Eri's apology, instead opting to have Hana and the others watch her cheer-leading recital before cutting to the main team taking a selfie together. It should be noted that Eri has never been seen since that episode.
- Futari wa Pretty Cure:
- Ranma ½ is a two-fer. The anime version was Cut Short and ended with Nodoka's first appearance; the final shot of the episode was Ranma and Akane discussing their need to get going, and waving a farewell to the audience. The manga, meanwhile, got all the way up to an attempted wedding between Ranma and Akane. Which got blown up. The second-last panel of the manga is the two arguing over whose fault it was that the wedding was wrecked, and the last was a shot of them heading off to school again with a caption stating that "the game of love... has gone into overtime".
- In Reborn! (2004), in spite of the final arc ending with the curse being lifted from the Arcobaleno, there is no clear resolution for Tsuna or the other guardians. Tsuna is still failing his way through school and sports, still hasn't confessed to Kyoko, and is still dependent on Reborn for guidance and all of which is lampshaded mercilessly. He still defiantly opposes being the Vongola boss but offers no alternative for his future. The only difference between the beginning and ending of the manga is that he has friends.
- The final chapter of A Room For Two has Sakurako and Kasumi return to the boarding house where they first met as roommates in high school, where they meet up with their landlady and friend Natsuki. They then meet up with Yukari, Ruriko(aka "Ruri" or "Koruri") and Moka, and have some Chicago-style pizza together, then go home together. A late-series special offers some closure to Kasumi and Sakurako's relationship, with Kasumi asking if they can stay they way they are and Sakurako saying yes, but even that upholds the status quo.
- School Rumble: It's not so bad in the anime adaptation, since it ended before the series took a turn for the Tear-Jerkingly Serious. The manga leaves the audience hanging in such a bad way that some have debated whether the author was just saying "screw you" to the audience.
- Subaru: The titular heroine Subaru is being chased by employees of the Immigration Department, with her ballet troupe trying to get her to flee with them and Alexander holding them off. But then Alexander admits that he and Subaru will never have a future together, so Subaru willingly falls into the hands of the Immigration Department. What exactly happened after that moment isn't told. Unless one reads ''the ''sequel''.
- To Love Ru Darkness has no conclusive ending with Rito yet to choose anyone as his official girlfriend, despite his obvious preference for Haruna. This leaves the girls in his harem more determined than ever to win his affections. In an e-mail for her mother, Momo writes life will go on the same way as before.
- The anime of UFO Princess Valkyrie ended with just a normal episode. This, along with the fact that the last season was all of two episodes long, gives the impression that the series got cancelled unexpectedly.
- Underdog ended with Naoto escaping from a Deadly Game coming back home to find an email telling him that he is about to enter the second round. This series was presumably cancelled prematurely.
- Urusei Yatsura does this almost constantly. Many episodes follow this formula: Lum or one of the other aliens introduces a new device or power. One of the other characters misuses it for selfish reasons. Things rapidly spin out of control until the entire town is engulfed in chaos. And... that's it. The episodes often end just when things are at their craziest, without even considering how the cast will get out of this mess.
- The series itself ends this way, too. The final storyline is one big lampshading of the fact that after all these years, Ataru still refuses to tell Lum he loves her. He literally is willing to risk the destruction of the world to avoid doing this. When the townsfolk discover this, they form a mob and hunt Ataru down to try to force him to say he loves Lum. He still won't, and the series ends with him about to be beaten to death.
- To be specific, the series doesn't exactly conclude with No Ending, but more of an "adventure continues" type of ending. Ataru chases after Lum, who refuses to disable an amnesia device (which will make all the aliens forget their memories of Earth) until he tells her he loves her, but she stops when she notices he kept the chunk of her horn he pulled off all the way back in chapter one. It's enough to convince her, but she tells him she'll get him to say it one day. Ataru says he'll say it on his deathbed, and the series ends there, much to the cast's annoyance (someone even tosses a can at Ataru's head in the very last panel).
- The series itself ends this way, too. The final storyline is one big lampshading of the fact that after all these years, Ataru still refuses to tell Lum he loves her. He literally is willing to risk the destruction of the world to avoid doing this. When the townsfolk discover this, they form a mob and hunt Ataru down to try to force him to say he loves Lum. He still won't, and the series ends with him about to be beaten to death.
- Winter Days: Since none of the segments are connected to each other, the film doesn't have any sort of resolution; after the last segment is done, the film simply plays the credits.
- ×××HOLiC:
- The Beach Episode ends with a ghost girl looking out the window to the protagonists. The issue is never mentioned again.
- The whole series apparently ends with Watanuki and Doumeki talking about a dream of Yuuko's. Except that it's Doumeki's grandson and Yuuko's dream is telling Watanuki that he can leave the shop at last. Nothing about the fates of Kohane, Himawari and her husband, the original Doumeki, the unhatched egg that's now a Doumeki family heirloom, and Xiaolang is ever resolved.
- Yo-kai Watch often toys with this trope in various segments, as some of them never had a proper conclusion. This often laps with Aborted Arc or Left Hanging.
- Both Kyubi's and Manjimutt's segments have this. Kyubi plans on trying to win Katie's after his second appearance, but nothing else afterwards.
- The last episode of "The Great (Dog) Escape" has Manjimutt getting a visit from Charlie, who is a serial killer. What happened to Manjimutt after that is unknown, though we see in a later episode that he is still fine.
- Gusty Bones's debut ends with Nate almost winning, when two yo-kai added more prize balls in the machine.
- Yukino Plan is the story of a manipulative and possessive girl named Sana who plots to ensure that her friend Yukino belongs to her. The series is only two chapters long and ends with Sana reiterating her desire to make Yukino hers, but no real resolution.
- Yuri Moyou ends after 41 chapters with no real resolution to any of the sisters' romance plots, save for Serina's boss calling her by her first name, and Ryou giving Hikari a kiss on the cheek. The final chapter is only unique in that it gives a page to each sister, instead of focusing on a single one of them.
- The Zatch Bell! anime ends after Gash and company beat Faudo. Kiyomaro and Gash (whose book is still golden) are about to fight Sherry and Brago in a grassy meadow. No outcome is shown and the anime ends there. The manga took a few cues from the anime near the end, up to the point where the final fight between Gash and Brago is in a grassy meadow. However, expectedly, Gash wins this fight and becomes King of Makai.
