History Main / GainaxEnding

* The Czech short film ''Animation/ClubOfTheDiscarded'' ends with the all the movie's mannequins gathered around a television screen and watching it. They are watching television static.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'', after the plot has concluded, the talking seagulls begin to reprise their version of the [=SpongeBob=] theme, in a stylistic Flash animation. However, Bubbles reappears and expresses his disdain for the song, which inexplicably leads into a rap battle between them.

* The last scene of ''ComicBook/BePrepared'' has Vera's StrugglingSingleMother revealing she got the new job she interviewed for--and it's in England, so the family is moving to London. [[EyeTake Vera stares off into the distance.]] End story!
* The original ''Creature Commandos'' had a respectable run in the anthology comic ''Weird War Tales''. It ended abruptly with a one-page story, in which they (and the writer!) are condemned to execution for being too human, the execution is stayed so they can be stuffed into a rocket headed to Berlin instead, and the rocket malfunctions and zooms into outer space.
* ''ComicBook/{{Crimson}}'' is a straightforward story that ends on a [[BittersweetEnding bitter-sweet note]] with TheHero [[ButNowIMustGo departing on a new quest]]. But then the final pages reveal that the hero's best friend Joe [[AndThatLittleGirlWasMe was telling the story to another friend in a bar]]. What makes it confusing is that said friend interrupts Joe because he doesn't buy his story is real or vampires, demons and monsters don't exist, despite the many catastrophic events that happened around the world beforehand that confirmed the existence of supernatural creatures, the fact that the Apocalypse nearly happened and that ''Joe himself is obviously a vampire!'' Or maybe not, since Joe and his friend walk out of the bar in the daytime with no serious effects. They even pass by a homeless man that looks like one of the main villains who seemingly died during the final battle, which Joe briefly pauses to comment on. These things make it unclear whether or not the series' events were made up or really happened.
* ''ComicBook/DoubleDuck'' stars WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck himself as a secret agent, with the first story arc full of plot twists. Of course, the story arc ends by revealing the identity of the leader of The Agency that Donald works for: [[spoiler:a hologram of Donald]]. [[MindScrewdriver Thankfully, it gets explained throughout the second story arc]] ([[spoiler:the leader, for example, is actually an AI The Agency based on Donald's thought processes, as it turns out he has an uncanny talent for dealing with the unexpected, executing [[OutsideTheBoxTactic Outside-the-Box Tactics]] and playing XanatosSpeedChess, and uses the hologram as an interface]]).
* The ending of ''ComicBook/TheFilth'' makes no sense ''at all''. [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Filth_%28comics%29#Synopsis has an explanation of how it works]], but it seems to be an interpretation rather than a definitive answer.
* After thirty years' worth of adventures, ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'' ends the story of the Diggers sisters with a GainaxEnding being invoked ''in-universe'' in issue 301. With Gina rendered DeaderThanDead, and her friends and family having saved the universe from destruction, Brittany heads to her place in the Diggers family tomb and watches ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' to reminisce on good times...Until Gina suddenly arrives, probably(?) BackFromTheDead, and possibly found a way to make time loop. What follows is the cast getting invited to reenact the ending credits of the aforementioned movie alongside them. The only thing for sure is that Brittany is bemused by Gina thankfully ending the series on such a nerdy note.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} in Hell'', Hellboy takes on his OneWingedAngel form, wrecks Hell's capital, ends up on a beach, makes his way to an empty mansion there, comes across three glowing geometric shapes, and presumably AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. TheEnd.
* ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' is a magic spell in the form of a work of fiction. Everything in the first two volumes of ''The Invisibles'' is a lie. There's no massive Manichean struggle of good vs. evil. The outer church is simply an outside intelligence trying to prepare humanity for something mindblowing by essentially inoculating humanity against the horror of the end of the world (which is actually human instrumentality). Think of getting a booster shot. It's not going to kill you, but it's going to prepare your immune system for something worse in the future. To quote Grant Morrison: "In Katmandu, much to my shock and surprise, I experienced [...] a full-on, Tibetan, Sci-Fi Vision of All [=SpaceTimeMind=] As A Single Complexifying Iteration Which Is The Larval Form Of A 5th Dimensional Adult Entity".
* ''ComicBook/MisterMiracle2017'' does have a definitive ending to the most tangible conflict -- Scott and Barda defeat Darkseid, save their son Jacob from being sacrificed to him, and the war between New Genesis and Apokolips is finally waning. However, this occurs in issue 11. The actual final issue 12 addresses the question of [[SanitySlippage what's wrong with Scott]] and why the reality around him feels wrong, but with [[AmbiguousSituation very resounding ambiguity]]: plot-wise it's effectively a normal day, but throughout it he gets visited by visions of loved ones that died during the series, all suggesting different fates that point to [[LotusEaterMachine the reality indeed being false]]: is everything in the world just a DyingDream from [[DrivenToSuicide his suicide attempt]] at the very start of the series? Is he in hell? Is he in heaven? Or just a construct of being struck by the Anti-Life Equation? Whatever the answer, Scott ends up surprisingly content with this "fake" world and [[IChooseToStay chooses to stay]], having made peace with his depression, [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally having carved out a happy life with his wife and children]].
* ''ComicBook/Ronin1983'' seems like a fairly straight-forward comic until the end when you find out that everything you knew was a lie. It all ends with most of the story wrapped up with a couple of mild questions still lingering... and then the very last page throws everything out the window and raises several more.
* ''ComicBook/SamuraiJackQuantumJack'', an AlternateContinuity ComicBookAdaptation of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', ends with Jack turning into a tiger and nowhere near returning to the path toward defeating his nemesis Aku.
* The ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' adventure "[[Recap/TintinFlight714 Flight 714]]" starts with Tintin and friends meeting his nemesis Rastapopoulos, who wants the wealth of a billionaire, and for some reason it ends with aliens who come and brainwash everybody into [[LaserGuidedAmnesia forgetting the whole thing ever happened]] (except Snowy, who [[AsideComment laments to the audience]] that no one would believe him even if they could understand what he's saying).
* The last chapter of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is intended to [[FauxSymbolism come across as]] a Gainax Ending, until you [[AllThereInTheManual re-read the comic and associated documents]] to pick up all the foreshadowing.
* The ending to ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader.'' Granted, the series was intended to close the character of ComicBook/{{Batman}} with a metaphysical look at the character, but the ending grabs metaphysics and goes straight into the surreal, passing by {{Elseworld}}s, multiple universes, and the [[MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden]], [[MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver]], and [[MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark]] Ages of Comic Books along the way. The general point of it was that there is no such thing as a definitive Batman story, and that the happy ending to Batman's story is that he gets to be Batman... because who doesn't want to be Batman?

* ''Script/{{Watchmen}}'' ends with the complete destruction of the timeline of the ''Watchmen'' universe, [[WelcomeToTheRealWorld causing New York to revert to the real world.]] This is accomplished via Rorschach, Nite Owl, and Silk Spectre "spinning and tumbling through an other-dimensional funhouse of sound and color" until they land in Times Square, where a kid is reading ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' and excitedly shouts that he recognizes them. Then the police arrive. Cut to black.

* After thirty years' worth of adventures, ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'' ends the story of the Diggers sisters with a GainaxEnding being invoked ''in-universe'' in issue 301. With Gina rendered DeaderThanDead a few issues before, and her friends and family having saved the universe from destruction, Brittany heads to the Diggers family tomb and watches ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' to reminisce on good times...Until Gina suddenly arrives, probably(?) BackFromTheDead, and possibly found a way to make time loop. What follows is the sisters' friends and families getting invited to reenact the ending credits of the aforementioned movie alongside them. The only thing for sure is that Brittany is bemused by Gina thankfully ending the series on such a nerdy note.

* After thirty years' worth of adventures, ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'' ends the story of the Diggers sisters with a GainaxEnding being invoked ''in-universe'' in issue 301. With Gina rendered DeaderThanDead a few issues before, and her friends and family still managing to save the universe from destruction, Brianna heads to her family tomb and watches ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' to reminisce on good times...Until Gina suddenly arrives, probably(?) BackFromTheDead, and possibly found a way to make time loop. What follows is the sisters' friends and families getting invited to reenact the ending credits of the aforementioned movie alongside them. The only thing for sure is that Brianna is bemused by Gina thankfully ending the series on a nerdy note, though it's no less random.

* After thirty years' worth of adventures, ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'' ends with a GainaxEnding being invoked ''in-universe'' in issue 301. When Gina has apparently been rendered DeaderThanDead a few issues before, her friends and family still manage to save the universe from destruction. With that settled, Brianna heads to her family tomb and watches ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' to reminisce on good times...Until Gina suddenly arrives, probably(?) BackFromTheDead and having possibly found a way to make time loop. What follows is the sisters' friends and families being invited to reenact the ending credits of the aforementioned ending alongside them. The only thing for sure is that Brianna is bemused by Gina thankfully ending the series on a nerdy note, though it's no less random.