History Main / NoRomanticResolution

SuperTrope of MaybeEverAfter, which is specifically for examples that don't completely ''[[LeftHanging ignore]]'' the romantic plot thread in the end, but instead give it a pseudo-resolution in the form of an ambiguous implication that they ''might'' get together. Contrast MarryThemAll, where the romance is resolved but without choosing a single winner. Compare and contrast DidNotGetTheGirl.

* ''[[Characters/MarvelComicsSabretooth Sabretooth]]'' and [[Characters/MarvelComicsMonetStCroix Monet St. Croix]]. They've been in ShipTease since the first issue of [[ComicBook/UncannyXMen2016 Uncanny X-Men]], but WordOfGod has [[https://twitter.com/cullenbunn/status/1009239337588940803 confirmed they loved each other]]. Due to series cancellation, their arc ended with them running off together. Come ''{{ComicBook/ResurrXion}}'', they were in separate books with their relationship ignored for 17 months until Monet was brought in for the final [[ComicBook/WeaponX2017 Weapon X]] arc. Greg Pak continued to pile on the ShipTease, but ended up leaving the relationship with no resolution again. Chapter 24 had a guilty Victor apologizing to Monet for leaving her during her FaceMonsterTurn but she didn't blame him. Toward the end of the convo, [[https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/silverfang2/29185537/1273920/1273920_900.png a giant heart looms behind them]] as Creed wants to say something to her, but he's cut off by Omega Red. Three issues later, the series ended with a lobotomized Victor running into the Saskatchewan woods and Monet back in Aspen wondering what happened to him. That was the last seen of their relationship and it's never learned what Victor was going to tell her in issue twenty-four.

* ''{{ComicBook/Sabretooth}}'' and [[ComicBook/MonetStCroix Monet]]. They've been in ShipTease since the first issue of [[ComicBook/UncannyXMen2016 Uncanny X-Men]], but WordOfGod has [[https://twitter.com/cullenbunn/status/1009239337588940803 confirmed they loved each other]]. Due to series cancellation, their arc ended with them running off together. Come ''{{ComicBook/ResurrXion}}'', they were in separate books with their relationship ignored for 17 months until Monet was brought in for the final [[ComicBook/WeaponX2017 Weapon X]] arc. Greg Pak continued to pile on the ShipTease, but ended up leaving the relationship with no resolution again. Chapter 24 had a guilty Victor apologizing to Monet for leaving her during her FaceMonsterTurn but she didn't blame him. Toward the end of the convo, [[https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/silverfang2/29185537/1273920/1273920_900.png a giant heart looms behind them]] as Creed wants to say something to her, but he's cut off by Omega Red. Three issues later, the series ended with a lobotomized Victor running into the Saskatchewan woods and Monet back in Aspen wondering what happened to him. That was the last seen of their relationship and it's never learned what Victor was going to tell her in issue twenty-four.

'''This is an ending trope. There are unmarked spoilers ahead.'''

* None of the girls in ''LightNovel/InfiniteStratos'' get to hook up with Ichika at the end of the anime, although Houki comes close twice, once at the end of episode 12 (which is ruined by the other 4 [[ClingyJealousGirl pissed off]] girls), and once again in the second half of the OVA (she confesses, but its muted out by some fireworks that go off at the same time, so he doesn't hear it, and is distracted by them). This, however, is a result of Infinite Stratos being an ongoing light novel, which the anime only showed a portion of. The second anime series was similarly inconclusive.

* ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'' didn't provide any definite answers either, although if you want to ignore the HomoeroticSubtext aspect of it and just view it as a parody, that hardly matters. However, in this instance, Yuri's lack of a definite decision may be more to avoid the wrath of the {{fangirl}}s than to avoid upsetting his harem...

It has always been a staple of stories to include a bit of romance. Stories are also generally fond of tying up the story so everything is neat at the end, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane except]] [[RiddleForTheAges when they don't]]. Point A plus point B put together means that any romance set up in the story will generally be resolved one way or another with characters either hooking up, breaking apart, dying or just walking away from the situation entirely.

* In the first season of ''Anime/LagrangeTheFlowerOfRinne'', there are numerous hints that Lan gradually triumphs over Muginami when it comes to winning Madoka's affections. In the second season this appears to be reset though, and Madoka seems to like both girls equally. Despite lots of {{subtext}} (which even involves ''kissing''), it never becomes quite clear whether the girls are merely friends or [[TriangRelations perhaps more]].

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' ends with none of Ranma's [[BelligerentSexualTension relationship]] [[HaremSeries issues]] being resolved in the slightest (with the implication that the situation is going to persist for quite some time). While Akane remains the likeliest of his suitors to end up with him, their relationship manages to stay in stasis in spite of the final volume's last chapter being about their ''wedding'', thanks to their other suitors [[WeddingSmashers gatecrashing the wedding]] and forcing it to be postponed indefinitely which leaves the two of them arguing about who's to blame the most for the mess and ''still'' not having once confirmed their feelings for each other either way.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': While Kaylee and Simon finally get together in the BigDamnMovie, ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', the UST between Mal and Inara remains unresolved. However, she does say she wants to stay on the ship - for those two, even admitting they actually want to be around each other is a huge step forward in the relationship.
* At the end of the original run of ''Series/GilmoreGirls,'' Rory is left without a love interest, rejecting Logan's proposal and starting her career in journalism.
** In the 2016 revival, Rory has interactions with all three major ex-love interests. She shares a nice moment with Dean, where they both fondly remember their time together, but it's clear that they've both moved on. She finally breaks up with Logan for good. Jess, however, is still around, and implied to still have feelings for her. This did not go unnoticed by [[FanPreferredCouple Jess/Rory shippers]], who had been disappointed by their ending in the original run.

* ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' already had a pretty bad LoveTriangle arc between Megumi, Blue, and Seiji that overtook the entire second half of the series, with Blue keeping Megumi at arms length to prevent a repeat of his [[MyGreatestFailure greatest failure]] and how he contributed to Queen Mirage's StartOfDarkness... but then Queen Mirage is restored back to her human Cure form and she and Blue falls in love again. Meanwhile, Megumi just forgets about her crush for Blue and Seiji is ignored entirely. Supposedly, this is due to the writers not wanting the moral of how romance isn't always the best solution for happiness, especially if it causes issues for those around you, but said lesson came at the expense of everyone else in the story, thus making the rather important lesson fall flat.

[[folder:Film]]

** ''Anime/YuGiOh5DS'': when Aki is just about to confess to Yusei, she stops in the middle of the confession and just says he's a great guy, he tells her the same followed by a HeldGaze moment, after that nothing happens and we're left wondering if Yusei would even accept her or not, in the last scene she goes to another town and doesn't see him again for a long time, so they probably never hooked up after all.

* Edward has at least one love interest in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' but nothing ever comes from it as [[spoiler:he gets stuck in a parallel universe]]. Likewise Roy and Riza seem pretty romantic at the end but come ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa'' and they're back to square one, with Riza barely being a character in the film and [[spoiler:Roy being sent far away and spending his time depressed over Ed being gone]]. Meanwhile, in the [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist manga version]] of the story, [[spoiler: Edward]] is the ''only'' major character who gets his romantic resolution with [[spoiler:Winry]]. [[spoiler:Alphonse/Mei Chang, Roy/Riza, and Ling/Lan Fan]] are all inconclusive, though one of the [[WordOfGod author's comments]] in an artbook at least indicated [[spoiler:Roy and Riza]] would have married each other if they weren't in the military and thus not subject to anti-fraternization rules.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': All the girls explicitly and canonically want Kyon (though circumstances [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Haruhi]] are keeping all the sexual tension unresolved for now), while Itsuki ''claims'' to be solely playing up the HoYay to keep Haruhi from warping him into ''actually'' being gay for Kyon ([[UnreliableNarrator emphasis on "claims"]]). Also, there's a couple of yuri-laden sidebars in the harem (Haruhi/Mikuru and Yuki/Mikuru), just to complicate matters more. [[JustifiedTrope (Haruhi likes it complicated.)]]

* The series was originally made as being [[NoHuggingNoKissing anti-romance]], but the anime adaptation (and later manga adaptations for that matter) of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' bring out romance anyway. What was thought to have been a romantic ending [[spoiler:came about at the end of the second anime season: Gourry and Lina kiss in another dimension where the former saves her from the [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Lord of Nightmares]], but when they return to the world below, they don't remember it.]] The final light novel also teases at the idea of romance when Gourry asks to [[WillTheyOrWontThey accompany Lina to her homeland]], but it's still ambiguous. There's also the ShipTease between Zelgadis and Amelia, which was mostly left hanging when the [[UnCancelled new anime seasons were released]].

* ''LightNovel/WatashitachiNoTamuraKun'': The series end with Tamura confessing to both Matsuzawa and Souma, and both of them confess to him, but none of the relationships are truly confirmed or denied by the end of the series.

* Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}: Kara's ''[[Comicbook/{{Supergirl 1982}} second solo book]]'' ends with her childhood crush Dick Malverne showing up and kissing her all of sudden. Readers never got to see Kara's reaction because the series was abruptly cancelled and the character killed two years later (DC had plans for a relaunch but they never materialized). Several decades later writer Paul Kupperberg revealed that [[http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/fate-of-dick-malverne.html Supergirl would turn Dick down]]. However, ''Comicbook/YoungLove'' picked up that plot thread and solved it after twenty years: [[http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com.es/2008/06/it-came-from-back-issue-box-solo-1-tim.html Dick confesses that he loves Linda, he always knew she was Supergirl... and he's dying from cancer. They kiss and he passes away later that night]].

* ''Film/EaglesGathered'' ends without making it clear if Gold and Silver were ever lovers; if they were as of the end of the film; if either is still alive; or whether Gold ever existed at all.

It has always been a staple of stories to include a bit of romance. Stories are also generally fond of tying up the story so everything is neat at the end, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane except]] [[RiddleForTheAges when they don't.]] Point A plus point B put together means that any romance set up in the story will generally be resolved one way or another with characters either hooking up, breaking apart, dying or just walking away from the situation entirely.

But sometimes it doesn't work out like that. Sometimes the story sets up a romantic arc that [[LeftHanging never quite seems to get wrapped up completely]]. There can be several reasons for this, of which the most well known is [[StatusQuoIsGod not wanting to upset the status quo]]. Sometimes the author just wants to leave things open ended, or the author feels that resolving the romance would in some fundamental way [[BrokenAesop work against the moral of the story they're trying to tell.]] Or perhaps, [[MaybeEverAfter the author would prefer to merely hint that the relationship may be forming.]] The common point between all of these is that the romantic plot lines were temptingly laid out but never followed to their absolute confirmed conclusion.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': All the girls explicitly and canonically want Kyon (though circumstances [[AndZoidberg and Haruhi]] are keeping all the sexual tension unresolved for now), while Itsuki ''claims'' to be solely playing up the HoYay to keep Haruhi from warping him into ''actually'' being gay for Kyon ([[UnreliableNarrator emphasis on "claims"]]). Also, there's a couple of yuri-laden sidebars in the harem (Haruhi/Mikuru and Yuki/Mikuru), just to complicate matters more. [[JustifiedTrope (Haruhi likes it complicated.)]]

** The last few episodes hint at possible romance between Tylor and Yuriko, though, and in the follow-up [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVAs]] they officially begin a relationship. In later, unfilmed stories they're engaged.

* In ''Anime/WaitingInTheSummer'', while Kaito and Ichika are implied to be together at the end (as evidenced by her in the student film wearing a jacket his sister brought back with her on her trip), Mio and Tetsuro haven't seem to officially hook up yet. However, neither one of them seems to mind the [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]], and at the very least they're still hanging around with each other.
* The ''Manga/WanderingSon'' anime ends on an ambiguous note. The love triangle between Nitori, Takatsuki, and Saori is still present but they're on much more neutral terms than before, to the point where they're all friends again. Nitori and her girlfriend Anna have broken up as well. The manga averts this as it continues to the end of high school. Nitori and Anna get back together again and the love triangle ends in none of the couples. Takatsuki stays single (though [[spoiler:he has unrequited feelings for Nitori]]) and Saori dates [[spoiler:Fumiya.]]

* ''Film/AirCity'': The main arc of the series is the romance between Ji-sung, the handsome square-jawed secret agent, and Do-kyung, the leggy beauty who is also chief of operations at Incheon Airport. The series ends with Ji-sung getting sent off on a secret mission to Moscow, right after he's asked Do-kyung to marry him. She's left watching planes take off from the airport, wondering if she'll ever see him again.

* In ''Manga/PenguinBrothers'', Hina becomes the object of desire of two guys: Koshiba and Isshiki. The former is her first friend in her new school, while the latter is a childhood friend whom she made a ChildhoodMarriagePromise with in kindergarten. Hina herself seems to have a stronger ShipTease with the latter (her relationship with the former is mostly platonic in nature), but the series throws a spanner to the protagonist's romantic developments by having Hina confess that she's in love with her uncle, Kyo (whom she still have a crush on despite knowing that she can never get together with him), and the manga ends with her moving away from the school to accompany him to France

* ''Anime/{{Canaan}}'' has heavy romantic subtext between Maria and Canaan however nothing ever comes of it as [[spoiler:they go their separate ways]].

** In the anime Erina is more straightforward with her words (also happening in InnerMonologue mode), leaving no doubts that what she feels for him is romantic, it also doesn't have the TimeSkip part (implying that they would hook up sooner than in the manga), but the [[TitleDrop No Romantic Resolution]] part is still there.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'': While most of the pairings end up on MaybeEverAfter (Erza x Jellal, Gray x Juvia) or all-but-confirmed (Gajeel x Levy), ironically it's Natsu x Lucy that's ends up closest to this point since Natsu is as oblivious to Lucy's feelings as ever.

* ''Manga/GhostInTheShell'' has a particularly painful example-- despite increasingly heavy hints towards Batou and the Major having feelings for one another by the end of Solid State Society, no real conclusion is ever reached. The theatrical movies fare no better, with even more romantic subtext but no chance whatsoever of things ever ending happily for them.

* In the ''Anime/TokyoMewMew'' anime, Retasu's potential romance with Shirogane is left open-ended since there's no definitive love confession.

* ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'': In the anime, Tomoki has sexual tension going on with all of the female cast members, particularly Sohara and Ikaros. Heff even [[spoiler: goes on a date with Ikaros and Nymph]], yet the series opts for the first option and doesn't ever come to a romantic resolution. The trope is even lampshaded when Mikako tries to hold a ShotgunWedding and force him to pick one of the four candidates, only for the attempted wedding to be crashed by yet another girl (a little sister this time). Later, Sohara indicates that she really doesn't mind the status quo continuing for a while longer.

* In the ''Anime/TokyoMewMew'' anime, Retasu's fate is left open-ended; while the guy that liked her went back to his home planet and the guy she likes is still around, there's no definitive love confession.

* ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'': Defied. Keima is well aware that if he fails to properly choose a girl, they'll all continue vying for his affections without end. So he tells them he's going to confess to [[spoiler:Chihiro]] (and then does so) to make absolutely sure they can move on instead of staying in a holding pattern forever. Though, to be fair, he genuinely ''does'' love [[spoiler:Chihiro]], with Dokurou commenting that it's [[spoiler:Chihiro's refusal to follow the "script" that caused Keima to fall for her in the first place.]]
* Throughout the entire series, ''Anime/YuGiOh'' had a subplot involving Téa's TwoPersonLoveTriangle with Yugi and Atem. At the end, Atem goes to the afterlife, and the series ends without saying whether or not Yugi and Téa wind up together. The first episode of Anime/YuGiOhGX is set ten years later, and a grown-up Yugi appears, but gives no backstory on what happened in the interim. Thenceforth, several other characters make cameos, but nobody reveals what happened to any of the characters after the first series. The manga version, however, leans them more towards MaybeEverAfter with the sequel movie Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions implying they may get together after all.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh5DS'': when Aki is just about to confess to Yusei, she stops in the middle of the confession and just says he's a great guy, he tells her the same followed by a HeldGaze moment, after that nothing happens and we're left wondering if Yusei would even accept her or not, in the last scene she goes to another town and doesn't see him again for a long time, so they probably never hooked up after all.

* Ultimately, the ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' manga ends without confirming which girl won over Hayate. In the final chapter, it's implied [[spoiler:Hinagiku]] confessed to Hayate, but it never shows his response, and while he does reunite with [[spoiler:Nagi and wants to continue protecting her]], it doesn't confirm whether or not his feelings towards her are still platonic.

SuperTrope of MaybeEverAfter, which is specifically for examples that don't completely ''[[LeftHanging ignore]]'' the romantic plot thread in the end, but instead give it a pseudo-resolution in the form of an ambiguous implication that they ''might'' get together. Contrast MarryThemAll, where the romance is resolved but without choosing a single winner. Compare DidNotGetTheGirl.

* ''Film/GreenHornet'' ends with the titular character having thoroughly alienated his potential love interest.