"The curtains close / on a kiss God knows / we can tell the end is near."
— Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Once More With Feeling"
When the Official Couple kiss at or very near the ending of the series or film. If the kiss itself isn't the very last shot, it will probably be followed by their wedding, a dance, Riding into the Sunset, or closing the bedroom door.
Chances are good this will precede any ending narration or title card that says "And they lived Happily Ever After."
Being an Ending Trope, it's a given the examples contain SPOILERS. Consider yourself warned.
Sometimes a sub-trope of Last Minute Hookup. Not to be confused with Last Kiss.
Examples:
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Anime/Manga
- The Last: Naruto the Movie ends with Naruto and Hinata sharing The Big Damn Kiss up in the air with Full Moon Silhouette behind. When the scene blacks out, you can hear Naruto thanking Hinata. The ending credits immediately follows, and it features their Wedding Day.
- D.N.Angel ends with Daisuke and Riku sharing a kiss while Risa and Hitawi are hinted to hook up later. Actually, the only "hint" is that they could be seen as gazing at each other. Whether this actually was supposed to be a hint or not is debated in fandom.
- Simon and Nia in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Interestingly it's also a Last Kiss, since Nia's existence cannot be sustained any longer because she has Anti-Spiral data in her, and she fades away.
- Sailor Moon ends with Usagi and Mamoru kissing in the moonlight.
- Sailor Moon Crystal's Closing Credits end on a kiss between Serenity and Endymion as they're reflected in water, with the precise moment their lips touch obscured by ripples.
- Summer Wars ends with a kiss. The main character doesn't quite have the balls to do it, so his love interest has to take things into her own hands and give him a peck on the cheek. He collapses as a result.
- Corsair ends this way, with the protagonists kissing on the top deck of their ship.
- I'm Gonna Be an Angel! ends with Noelle and Yuusuke kissing, mirroring their first kiss from the first episode. For some, Raphael and Mikael also count, though theirs is not 'that' visible
- Brigadoon: Marin and Melan ends with the title characters kissing. It might be a good-bye, kiss, though, so this may actually be a Bittersweet Ending.
- Bakuman。 ends with Mashiro and Azuki kissing.
- Used literally and figuratively in Date A Live where almost every arc ends with Shido kissing the Girl of the Week. (This seals their power and allows them to live normally.)
- Similar to the above, The World God Only Knows has Keima kiss each girl at the end of her arc; this drives out the "loose spirit" inside them, allowing Elsie to capture it. Also a Last Kiss, because the girl forgets their entire relationship afterward though some of them get their memories back later.
- The last scene of the Blue Comet SPT Layzner OAV, which is also the end of the whole series, features Anna and Eiji having quite The Big Damn Kiss.
Comic Books
- Super Mario Adventures ends its last chapter with Toadstool giving Mario a kiss on the cheek.
Fan Fiction
- In Perfection is Overrated, Shizuru and Natsuki's last scene together ends with them kissing.
Film
- Disney, naturally, Loves This Trope:
- Cinderella: Cinderella and Prince Charming on the way to their honeymoon (as seen in the image).
- Sleeping Beauty: Aurora and Philip after sharing a waltz.
- Robin Hood: Robin Hood and Maid Marian on the way to their honeymoon.
- The Little Mermaid: Ariel and Eric during their wedding reception.
- Beauty and the Beast: Belle and Adam after sharing a waltz.note
- Aladdin and Jasmine seal their love with a kiss at the end before embarking on another flying carpet ride.
- The Princess and the Frog: Tiana and Naveen while dancing on the balcony of Tiana's Palace.
- Tangled ends with Rapunzel and Eugene kissing while (in narration) the latter answers the question "Did Rapunzel and I ever get married?"
- Sky High (2005) ends with The Hero and his childhood friend kissing and floating in the air.
- High School Musical 2 ends with the leads kissing.
- Fantastic Four (2005) ends with the leads kissing.
- A movie version of the myth Jason and the Argonauts ends with Hera and Zeus watching Jason and Medea kiss. (They neglect to tell you what came next, of course...)
- The Princess Bride. "This kiss left them all behind." Notably, the book goes on for a little bit, opting for And the Adventure Continues.
- This is the standard ending for James Bond films, although the woman saying "Oh, James..." only came later. A few examples:
- Dr. No: Bond and Honey Ryder make out in a rescue raft while throwing away the mooring rope tying them to a Coast Guard ship.
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service is famous for lacking such an ending. Poor Tracy. ;-;
- The Man with the Golden Gun: Bond disconnects a phone call from M to make out with Mary Goodnight.
- The Spy Who Loved Me:
Gray: Bond! What do you think you’re doing?!- The Living Daylights: Kara Milovy is disappointed that Bond didn't attend her concert. Turns out he did, and sneaked into her dressing room. It's famous for being the most WAFFy ending of a Bond film.
- The ending of the tremendously Darker and Edgier Licence to Kill has a WAFFy ending as well.
- Tomorrow Never Dies: Bond declines rescue from the Royal Navy in South China Sea so he can make out with Wai Lin. Fridge Logic dictates that they would end up drowning, but oh well...
- Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace and Skyfall don't have any such scenes yet, and as such, only time will tell...
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ends with Sam and Flint finally getting to kiss, punctuated by Brent yelling "Yeah! I'm a chicken!"
- Don Bluth's Thumbelina ends as Thumbelina and the prince kiss, now married.
- The Girl Next Door: Matthew and Danielle end the movie with a kiss.
- The first Spider-Man film subverts this trope. Mary Jane confesses her love to Peter and kisses him. Peter turns her down and insists that can only be friends, knowing that if Spider-Man's enemies found out about her, she would be in constant danger. The second film plays it straight when the two kiss passionately.
- Naturally happens in the animated feature Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss.
- Wings has Jack and Mary share a kiss after seeing a shooting star.
- Spaceballs has Lone Starr and Vespa kiss after engaging in "the short short version" of a wedding.
- The Swan Princess ends each of its first three movies with Derek and Odette kissing, via Stock Footage of the first time they locked lips.
- In The Book of Life, Manolo and Maria kiss as Mary Beth finishes telling their story to the children. Also, once Mary Beth and the old security guard reveal themselves as La Muerte and Xibalba, the two share a passionate kiss as the movie ends.
- Howl's Moving Castle: The final shot of the film is Sophie and Howl sharing a kiss and then Riding into the Sunset.
- Singin' in the Rain ends with Don and Kathy kissing in front of a billboard for their next movie.
- Paris When It Sizzles discusses the trope before using and lampshading it at the end.
- The ending of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie features April and Casey kissing, with the Turtles watching above from a rooftop congratulating them.
Literature
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian gets Percy and Annabeth together. "And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time."
Live Action Television
- In the series finale of Chuck, the last image is of Chuck and Sarah kissing on the beach.
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch does this with Sabrina and Harvey in the last episode.
- Also lampshaded in the episode that turns the Spellman household into a silent movie. Everything suddenly turns back to normal after Sabrina and Harvey kiss. The aunts explain that the kiss broke the spell because silent movies always end with a kiss, or a comedic pratfall.
- The Musical Episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's lampshaded just before it happens with the lyric "The curtains close on a kiss, God knows we can tell the end is near."
- In Scrubs's Season 8 finale (which was supposed to be the Grand Finale, but wasn't), the last image J.D. sees on the "Goodbye" sign is of him and Elliot kissing.
- The end of season four of Merlin more or less ends on the image of Arthur and Guinevere kissing as he crowns her Queen of Camelot (though there is a brief Sequel Hook afterwards involving Morgana in the forest).
Video Games
- The Playstation version of Chrono Trigger added a movie of Crono's and Marle's marriage to the standard ending. The same movie also shows Kino proposing to Ayla and Frog (in his human form) being knighted.
- The ending of the Witch Hunt DLC for Dragon Age: Origins can be the player character and Morrigan embracing before stepping off into the unknown.
- Final Fantasy VIII ends with Squall and Rinoa kissing as the Balamb Garden flies under the moonlight.
- Final Fantasy XV has Noctis and Luna share one of these in the post-credit stinger during their wedding in the afterlife.
Web Original
- Ruby Quest has Ruby and Tom kiss right before they escape the Metal Glen and ride a tram into the sunset.
- Kid Radd, only it ends right before the kiss, which pisses the hero to no end.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- And the first season of The Legend of Korra.
- Kim Possible
- Originally, anyway.
- And then again at the ...uh...second finale of the series.
- Danny Phantom, then the Official Couple does a Riding into the Sunset that ends the series.
- Gargoyles without the non-canonical third season.
- Futurama: "Into the Wild Green Yonder" has Fry and Leela finally kiss before the crew flies through a wormhole to escape Zapp.
- Sonic Sat AM
- Robin and Starfire at the end of Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo. Cyborg remarks it's about time.
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius managed to do this without anyone planning it. The show was abruptly cancelled after its third season (at least 4 scripts for Season 4 had already been written). Not only that, but the big Villain Team-Up episode that was originally intended to serve as the third season finale was aired almost a year and a half before the season ended. The result? One of the last 3 episodes to air ("Lady Sings the Blues") had a B-plot of Jimmy and Cindy accepting their feelings for each other and ended with them kissing on the lips, which is why half the fandom considers it the series finale.
