10 Worst Manga Endings Of All Time

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Feature header showing Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Oshi no Ko

Published Apr 5, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Joshua Edward Ryan Fox is a freelance writer for Screen Rant with a passion for pop culture. Joshua grew up in Connecticut where he developed an appreciation for writing and entertainment and has earned a Master's degree in professional writing and technical writing. His writing has been quoted by both the anime streaming site Crunchyroll and the anime YouTuber Gigguk.

Nothing can ruin a story more than a bad ending, and manga is no exception. It’s quite often that a person will devote months or years of their time to getting invested in a manga, only for it to have an ending that’s anticlimactic at best or a complete betrayal of what made the story good at worst, and when that happens, it always begs the question of what was even the point of reading in the first place.

There are plenty of manga with great endings, especially in recent years, but unfortunately, the really bad ones are equally prolific, and the discourse around them is so great that many people end up thinking a manga having a bad ending is inevitable. That, of course, is nothing but an exaggeration, but thanks to a few terrible endings in particular, it’s easy to see how anyone could reach that line of thought.

Nisekoi

At the end of Naoshi Komi’s Nisekoi, while Raku finally learned that Onodera was the fated “promise girl” he spent his life looking for, he gave up on that and accepted that he had fallen in love with Chitoge. Raku and Chitoge finally became a couple, and the series ends with them as adults, with their friends preparing their long-awaited wedding.

While Nisekoi began as a fresh take on anime romcoms, it quickly devolved into the same sort of tedious harem story that people were already getting tired of in the 2010s, and it having an ending that most fans predicted from day one only further emphasized that point. Nisekoi’s ending is more boring than it is bad, but it especially stands out because of how emblematic it is of the manga’s wasted potential.

Vector Ball

In Makoto Raiku’s Vector Ball, after defeating a group of villainous spirit bodies, Gogakushi returned to his realm to convince the king to stop the invasion of humanity. Later, Okaka brought Chimi to a fight with a crab-like spirit body to see if it was possible to eat them, and as soon as Chimi did just that, the series abruptly came to an end.

Unlike other manga, Vector Ball was short-lived not because it was canceled, but because Makoto Raiku decided to end it early because the story wasn’t working. It’s hard to object to that idea, as Vector Ball struggled with pacing, tonal issues, and all-around confusing writing from day one, all of which are readily apparent in the finale, but at the very least, Raiku remains active with the Zatch Bell! sequel, Zatch Bell! 2.

Fist Of The North Star

Following the death of Kaioh in Buronson and Tetsuo Hara’s Fist of the North Star, Kenshiro returned to his vagabond ways until an old enemy of his went after Rin and Bat. When Bat almost died in the fight, Rin realized that Bat was her true love, not Kenshiro, but Kenshiro could accept that, and they went their separate ways once more as Kenshiro returned to delivering justice wherever people were in danger.

Fist of the North Star’s second half is generally seen as inferior to the first, and the final act perfectly embodies that with a lazy return to episodic storytelling and a bizarre love story between Kenshiro and Rin; nothing is added to the story as Fist of the North Star spins its wheels for 30 more chapters, and it’s an all-around shameful ending for such an iconic series.

Jujutsu Kaisen

In the grand finale of Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen, after a long and intense battle, Yuji and his friends finally defeated Sukuna and put an end to Kenjaku’s plot to fuse everyone in Japan into a giant cursed spirit. After that, everyone went back to their regular lives, with Yuji resolving to protect everyone in Gojo’s absence, and in the afterlife, Sukuna decided to give Yuji’s way of thinking a chance and resolved not to live alone if he got another chance at life.

While Jujutsu Kaisen’s ending isn’t as bad as people said it was when it first came out, between the repetitive nature of the final fight, how poorly utilized and developed many characters were, and the overall anticlimactic nature of it all, it’s easy to see why it’s so divisive. Jujutsu Kaisen’s sequel, Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo, fixes many of the problems with Jujutsu Kaisen’s ending, but ultimately, it doesn’t make it any less disappointing.

Prison School

At the end of Akira Hiramoto’s Prison School, just as Kiyoshi and Chiyo were about to begin their relationship in earnest, Hana, refusing to lose to Chiyo, exposed the full depth of Kiyoshi’s perversion by revealing he was wearing Hana’s underwear. Kiyoshi is forced to accept that he’s lost Chiyo forever, and sometime later, Chiyo becomes the student council president and as big a man-hating tyrant as her sister.

As much as Prison School reveled in absurdism and black comedy, the finale went too far with it by essentially rendering everything moot and going for as sad an ending as possible, all of which was completely contrived. Prison School was never a deep story by any means, but with such a terrible ending, it’s not even worth reading as a “so bad, it’s good” type of story.

Tokyo Revengers

In Ken Wakui’s Tokyo Revengers, Takemichi let Mikey beat him to a pulp to fully exorcise his dark impulses, but instead of dying, Takemichi and Mikey were both sent back to 1998, before anything bad happened to any of the characters. With their knowledge of the future, Takemichi and Mikey created an even stronger Tokyo Manji Gang and saved everyone from their fates, and years later, Takemichi could finally marry Hina with all his friends alive and well to see.

Tokyo Revengers made the mistake of waiting until its final arc to explore the truth of Takemichi’s powers and Mikey’s dark impulses, and because of that, the ultimate resolution was incredibly anticlimactic and gave way to a dreadfully cliché ending. It was a terrible conclusion to an already contentious final arc, and while Tokyo Revengers is largely overhated, there’s very little to defend about its finale.

Attack On Titan

After a long battle at the end of Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan, Armin, Mikasa, and their friends defeated Eren and stopped the Rumbling, albeit not before 80% of humanity was wiped out. With tensions surrounding Eldians higher than ever, Armin had to put even more effort into making peace with the world, but it was all for naught, as Paradis would ultimately be destroyed in war sometime in the future.

With how much Eren’s plans and the political themes attached to them had divided fans, Attack on Titan was never going to have a wholly satisfying ending, but it was somehow even worse thanks to a slew of utterly baffling plot twists and an epilogue that left things aggressively bittersweet at best. Attack on Titan kickstarted the idea that modern manga always have bad endings, and overall, it’s easy to see why.

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Chainsaw Man

At the end of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man, Pochita realized that Denji and the rest of the world would be better off if he never existed, so Pochita ate himself to erase himself from existence. Pochita’s act created a new timeline where Denji never became Chainsaw Man, yet he still became a Devil Hunter with Power and Nayuta, so he’s still living something of a good life.

Chainsaw Man part 2 was incredibly divisive among fans, and unfortunately, the finale brought it all to a head with its rampant anticlimax, nonsensical plot twists, and ultimately choosing an ending that rendered everything in the series utterly moot. The ending quickly became a massive source of mockery among manga fans, and it’s hard to see the series recovering anytime soon.

Oshi No Ko

In the finale of Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari’s Oshi no Ko, to get rid of Hikaru Kamiki once and for all, Aqua forced him into a murder-suicide framed as Kamiki murdering him so it wouldn’t hurt Ruby’s reputation. Everyone in Aqua’s life was broken by his death, but Ruby resolved to keep her sadness to herself so she could continue being an idol, essentially replacing Ai in every regard.

It’s one thing for Aqua not to get a happy ending in as contrived a way as possible, but by having Ruby decide to live her life by lying about her sorrow, Oshi no Ko ends its story by doing what it went to great lengths to establish was the wrong way to live, yet it still frames it as a happy ending. There is virtually nothing about Oshi no Ko’s ending that’s worth defending, and no matter how good the anime is, that’s unlikely to ever change.

Bunny Drop

At the end of Yumi Unita’s Bunny Drop, not only did Daikichi learn that Rin had developed romantic feelings for him, but it was also revealed that Rin isn’t actually related to him, meaning there was nothing wrong with them becoming a couple on a technical level. Two years later, with Rin an adult and still loving Daikichi, Daikichi agrees to marry her, with Rin hoping to raise their child with the same love he raised her with.

The main draw of Bunny Drop was its heartwarming story of a found family, so when it decided to throw that away to make it an incestual romance story and actually follow through on it, everyone reacted with disgust at the sudden shift in premise. It’s an inarguably disgusting finale that irreparably ruined what should have been a sweet story, and it’s why Bunny Drop easily has the worst ending in all of manga.