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Bittersweet Ending / Webcomics

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Bittersweet Endings in webcomics. As said on the main page, spoilers are unmarked.


  • Aisopos ends in a pretty complicated way, to say the least. Aesop is accused for the murder of a handful of people and he is sentenced to death by crossing. His friends can't do nothing, than stare and scream to let him go. The only one who actually tries and succeeds is Bri, through a mystic dance, where Aesop swips bodies with Rike's, Rike's with Yadmon's and Yadmon's with Aesop's. This results to Aesop surving and to Yadmon to finally be killed. However, Bri also kills herself for the payback, Korki, Sallas, the Barbarian, Daross and Lenius never find out about this, thinking that their beloved friend is now dead, each one of them dies from old age and Aesop, in Rike's body, outlives them.
  • In The Art of Monsters, Hui and Wu Huan are dead, but Wu Huan gets a nice job in the afterlife with a big, fancy hat. Hui is then reborn as a human, and the implication is that hopefully one day she'll be reunited with her master again.
  • Blue Moon Blossom ends with the bunny's village restored and saved from the snake-demons, at the cost of the rabbit spirit's life. The bunny remains in their village, and their friends must return home.
  • In Bob and George, this is comically invoked with Megaman reflecting on the loss of fighting the Yellow Demon when it's Not Quite Dead.
  • At the end of Brickworld Saga, both big bads have been defeated and all seems to be well, but then Scribe goes missing and the audience finds out that not only has big bad 01 survived yet again, but now he's possessing Scribe!
  • This Croc Will Die In 100 Days: The croc saves a bird from being hit by a car again and gets to see the Cherry Blossoms, but gets hit himself in the process.
  • Dana's Story is a one shot webcomic based on a real interview given by a woman fleeing persecution and war in Syria with her two young sons trying to reach her daughter who is in Vienna, Austria with Dana's sister. The story ends where the interview was taken, with Dana and her sons safe in a care centre in Serbia but still not reunited with her daughter.
  • Darwin Carmichael Is Going to Hell: Darwin sacrifices himself to prevent the Apocalypse but doing so balanced out his karma and allowed him to go to Heaven.
  • In Deviant Universe, the Omega Rising arc ended with the heroes' victory at the cost of every named character being erased from space-time, some of them permanently.
  • DICE: The Cube That Changes Everything: The webcomic ends with the Final Die scattered. The world is at peace, thanks to Dongtae fulfilling every Dicer's desire, but everyone other than Dongtae have lost their memories about it, so he returns to being an abused Bread Shuttle. But Jieun starts at his school as a teacher and Mio befriends him all over again.
  • Drop-Out ends with the two leads still desperately depressed and with all the problems that sent them on their Suicide Pact road trip to begin with, but agreeing to live for each other's sake and make the effort to improve their lives.
    "This is the exact opposite of over."
  • Exploitation Now: Jordan confronts the agency that ruined her life and manages to destroy their headquarters, but Bush is unfortunately killed in the process.
  • Most storylines in Glorianna are this type. For instance, in "The Hall of the Mountain King", where Glorianna manages to rescue the castaways, but the King himself remains behind, knowing he will almost certainly die.
  • Henchgirl ends with Coco dead, Tina's carrot army turned evil due to the serum with her kept prisoner by them and led by an evil carrot version of her, Crepe City under the control of the carrots (with apparently the president having given up on it if the writing on Sue's computer is to be believed), and Fred permanently losing his body after a building caved in on it. But Mary has been freed from the serum and apparently given up henching for good, Fred is at least still around as a spirit, most of their friends are now their allies in their La Résistance and vowing to make things right with Mary seemingly finally becoming a hero in her own right.
    • And played utterly straight in the Extended Edition. On one hand, Tina's evil clone is stopped by Tina herself and she likewise saved Crepe City. Years down the line, Tina later goes on to become a superhero in the Fairness Federation. But Mary gives up the superhero life to become a security guard to a museum. She does manage to beat Monsieur Butterfly and his new gang when they try to take revenge, getting them thrown in jail and, even better, Fred gets a new body from Amelia thanks to a magical golem she acquires which now grants him invulnerability, giving him a shot at being a superhero. But as Mary watches, she figures she's gotten too old for him (as he never aged as a spirit while she did before possessing the new body) and just... waddles off back to work to get drunk.
  • The Invitation ends with Annie unable to resist returning to The Master and her enthralled fiancé, figuring that she never had much of a life as an aspirant engineer woman in Victorian England, anyway. She ends her last will and testament with a plea for someone with a stronger will to stop her when she becomes a thrall of The Master. ...The final couple pages of Annie and Will getting married with The Master officiating are pretty cute, though.
  • Never Mind the Gap ends with Mary, after being revealed as having been a robot all along, having her brain have to be formatted and restored from a backup, due to an accident. The reset wipes out her memories and personal development for the comic's entire run - which includes her relationship with Jim. But the final story comic suggests that Mary and Jim will start over and get back together eventually.
  • NIMONA: Ballister and Goldenloin are reconciled and redeemed, the Institution is dismantled, and Blitzmeyer gets a fancy new lab with Ballister. However, Nimona's vengeful rampage killed many innocent people, she runs off after reassuring Ballister that she's alive, and there's only a slight possibility that she and Ballister will ever reunite.
  • In No Rest for the Wicked's "A Modest Proposal" arc, killing the wicked witch does not bring back the dead children, the two rescued children know their father abandoned them, and even though they saved Claire, November wonders if she really did any good.
  • In Queen of Wands, Felix and Shannon have settled into having a family, Seamus is finally moving on permanently from his limbo dance with Elaine, Angela seems to be finally maturing, Kestrel has grown as a person and is starting a new job... but the job is in Boston, half a country away from all of her friends; Angela's actions have irreparably damaged their friendship; and Seamus is moving to California, on the other end of the country. Felix and Shannon get to stay where they are— but their closest friend and roommate who they've lived with for years is gone, and while we know she visits, she likely never comes back permanently.
  • By its fans Roommates is infamous for its main Story Arcs having bittersweet endings. For example:
    • Dark!Jareth arc: they defeated the villain (the Monster Roommate's Superpowered Evil Side) but he survived and will return sooner or later.
    • Such Stuff...: They escaped the Lotus-Eater Machine, but one of them almost lost his soul, and the previous villain returned thanks to a new one (the Monster Roommate's mother. That's a messed up family), who also decided to stay.
    • Kings War: War won. Villain defeated. They even managed to not end up in debt to a different one. But the Monster Roommate was seriously wounded, a little boy sacrificed himself, and they blatantly missed The Chessmaster manipulating from the background.
  • The "That Which Redeems" Story Arc from Sluggy Freelance ends with the Demonic Invaders being successfully repelled and Torg returning home safely ... but Alt-Zoe died in the process, an event that haunted Torg for quite some time afterwards. In fact, for bittersweetness perfectly encapsulated, take a look at the very last strip of the story arc (not counting the Dimension of Pain epilogue).
  • In Sailor Moon Cosmos Arc, Chibiusa finally ascends the throne and awakens as Neo Sailor Moon. However, she lost both her parents in the process: Usagi became Sailor Cosmos and ascended to godhood, and Mamoru abdicated to take Helios's place in Elysion, so he could be with her, which neither of them is even sure they want (as this Chibiusa hadn't even met Helios yet and only recently got the memories of her alternate time-traveling self).
  • Sonichu Issue #10 ends on a rather implicitly bittersweet note - Chris, Sonichu and co. succeed in their rampage and get rid of most of their perceived thorns in their side. Simonla however is blown up and presumed dead (albeit not without leaving behind a daughter), and both Metal Sonichu and Count Graduon are still out there and unaccounted for...
  • Wonderlab: Despite Taii's efforts to un-Distort them, Catt ends up turning back into a Distortion before escaping the facility alongside its Abnormalities. Beebi managed to escape the collapsed facility alongside various employees, but Rza and the other Department Heads weren't as lucky, having died while trying to fend off the rampaging Abnormalities. A few months later, Flower founds the Bloom Office, and Finn, Ella, and Taii (who had become a Fixer) all work within it. Taii doesn't allow Catt's re-Distortion to deter them, however, as they resolve to one day find Catt again and restore their humanity.
  • The Warrior Returns: The first season ends with one of the heavily bitter variety. Seongjun finally achieves a permanent death, breaking the world free from the "Groundhog Day" Loop his powers have trapped the world in, but in the process, he had to orchestrate events that would result in the irreparable suffering of hundreds of millions. That is to say nothing of the fact that Minsu has become a new Demon Lord and now plans to destroy the entire world out of spite or the fact that many of the Old Guard are dead. However, Garam has undergone a Heel–Face Turn and empowered Jeongsu so that he can wield the weapons of the other Warriors, and there are still surviving old Warriors who are willing to fight to save the world.

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