"Everyone Comes Back" Fantasy Party Ending

A fantasy sequence at the end of a film, where everyone who'd appeared previously in the film comes back for a party, including characters who were merely imaginary or died in the course of the story. Everyone has a good time, old recriminations are forgotten, and everyone gets a Happy Ending. Often this is a Tear Jerker or a Heartwarming Moment.

Closely related to Ghost Reunion Ending, Dance Party Ending, Sudden Musical Ending, and Climactic Battle Resurrection. May overlap with Died Happily Ever After. For more metaphorical fantasy party sequences, see Loved Ones Montage.

As this is an Ending Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The end of the Neon Genesis Evangelion series has all the cast applauding Shinji for breaking out of his Heroic BSoD.
• Less somber than so many others, Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) had a chibi-party OVA to advertise the movie set in that continuity.
• The special epilogue for the manga Outlanders had heroine and hero Kahm, Tetsuya, and their brood throwing a holiday party for their friends... all of who died during the actual series. There's no explanation until the end — on the planet they're on, once a year the dead return to visit their loved ones.
• Although not exactly the final episode (though often mistaken for it), episode 46 of Magical Princess Minky Momo ends in a dream sequence where everyone from Earth and Fenarinarsa join together for a party and then break out into a song-and-dance number of the opening theme.
• The finale of Fushigi Yuugi has both their families and the Suzaku Seven attending Miaka and Tamahome's wedding in the real world as a supernatural Imagine Spot aided by the souls of the dead, among whom can at that point be counted Tamahome's entire family and most of the Suzaku Seven, to save Miaka from the despair Suzaku is using to consume her as a sacrifice.
• The end of the Hot Springs OVA for Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny had all the female Fighters, living and dead, relaxing around a hot spring.
• Darker than Black has a sequence highly reminiscent of Evangelion's in the final episode with all the cast applauding Hei. It wasn't the last scene in the series, however.
• The cover of the final chapter of Elfen Lied has nearly all the named characters (Living and dead) standing together, as if waiting to have their photo taken, even The Unknown man, who is carrying the... capusle, that housed Number 28, ''who herself is cheerfully sticking her head out and smiling!''

Films — Animated

• The end of Shrek has everyone in the film come back to the swamp for Shrek and Fiona's wedding. Cue karaoke and a great party. Though it happens for real in-universe and most of the attendees are not unexpected (and see Shrek as a hero), Lord Farquaad joins in the karaoke from Dragon's stomach. Similarly, the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming are both at the end party in Shrek 2, despite being the main antagonists. And the dance party ending of Shrek Forever After includes a bunch of characters that only appear in the alternate timeline.
• Similarly, Minions feature a Dance Party Ending scene after the credits, featuring all the characters from the movie, including all the previous Minions masters, all of whom had died on-screen, centuries, and in some cases, millions of years ago.

Films — Live-Action

• Big Fish: During the last story as Albert Finney is being carried to the river. And then subverted with the "real" funeral.
• Longtime Companion: Everyone who died of AIDS in the movie appears to the three surviving friends on the beach.
• Open Your Eyes: It takes place inside a man who's in a sleeping virtual reality simulation, so it's not surprising his best friend and girlfriend appear once again. Since 150 years have passed while the man is in stasis, they're long dead and won't be around when he's awakened.
• Labyrinth: Sarah has visions of her friends in the mirror, then it turns out they're actually in her room.
• Scrooged: The spirits are seen at the final party.
• Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry: Characters from Harry's books and real people from his life all mingle, with music provided by the Star Wars Barmitzvah band from one of his stories, playing "I Could Write a Book.
• In Fellini's 8½, after the Author Avatar protagonist decides to cancel his movie, all the people from his past come back to join him in a dance number set on a circus stage, where he is the ringmaster.
• The original ending for Heathers, which had JD successfully blow up the school, whereupon all the students are shown getting along together at a prom in the afterlife. This was changed for being a bit too macabre, and in the final ending JD kills only himself.
• The final scene of Titanic (1997), where Rose passes away and is reunited on a restored RMS Titanic with all those who died in the sinking. (And Cal).
• Return of the Jedi: Anakin's shade is standing, smiling — albeit reticently — with Obi-Wan and Yoda.
• Mocked at the end of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, when the narrator points out how corny it is that Perry, who got shot in the chest, is now "magically alive, on crutches; I mean fuck, why not bring 'em all back?". In the background all the dead characters from earlier in the film walk into the room, followed by Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley, until a nurse shoves them back out.
• Naturally, Places in the Heart ends with the group meeting in a church. Rather bluntly metaphorical, since some characters are clearly alive and one has been dead since near the beginning of the movie.
• Happens in a particularly metaphorical way in the film of V for Vendetta. A crowd of people all costumed as V remove their masks. Some of the people who reveal themselves died during the story, including not only the girl, but also: "Valerie" and her lover (appearing as they did before getting sent to Larkhill), the other homosexual couple blackbagged by Creedy's men, Eve's parents, and Dietrich, whom V says is dead.
• At the end of Wolves Of Kromer all the characters who died dance together over the credits to "Spirit in the Sky."
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension features all the good characters dance-marching off to their next adventure during the end credits, despite some of them being extremely living-disabled.
• As the credits roll for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, our heroes jog back to the Belafonte. Among them is Ned, holding the boom mic, despite dying in the chopper crash.
• Les Misérables (2012) has the entire cast come back at the end to sing "Do You Hear The People Sing?", even the ones who have died which is most of them, if not all.
• Casshern has the entire cast - including the villains - come back for a dance party/picnic which is oddly appropriate since it is implied that not only are they all dead and in heaven, but that they are reincarnated souls that have just finished another tour.
• The Voices: As the credits roll, everyone who died in the film joins Jesus for a colorful dance number in order to let Jerry into the afterlife.
• Wild Mountain Thyme ends with Anthony and Rosemary, now married, singing the titular song at a bar with all of the other characters in attendance, including their deceased parents.
• Underground: The tragicomic allegorical story ends with the whole cast dead and presumably in the afterlife. We see everyone at a picturesque lakeside picnic. Everyone reconciles, and Ivan provides the concluding ode to the old Soviet Yugoslavia. "Once upon a time, there was a country." The ground beneath the party cracks off (balkanizes) and carries everyone away on the lake.

Literature

• Anyone in Bridge of Birds who wasn't a villain shows up under the titular bridge of birds. The ghosts of everyone appear including Miser Shen, his family, Henpecked Ho, his concubine, her lover and the three handmaidens. In a bizarrely heartwarming moment the living Doctor Death is suddenly killed by a giant bird, only to be reunited with his late wife.
• The Chronicles of Narnia ends with almost every character from the previous books meeting each other in Aslan's Country.
• Under a Velvet Cloak ends with this exact type of scene with all of the Incarnations as well as quite a few other significant characters, even those from the other timeline. Interestingly, it is Justified since the special scene is created by the new Incarnation of Dreams.
• One of the academics quoted in House of Leaves spoofs the trope as a cliche of classical Hollywood, picturing a scene at the end of The Navidson Record where Delial, Holloway and all the other characters would be waiting at the heart of the labyrinth and end with a dance number.

Live-Action TV

• An interesting variation in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Inner Light," in which all of Kamin's friends return to life just at the end of what is revealed to be an implanted memory. So, it's a fantasy within a fantasy.
• The final scene of Lost is all of the major characters, having realized they are dead, reuniting in a church to "move on" together. The last few minutes is everybody hugging each other.
• Parodied in Scrubs. JD imagines how his last day at Sacred Heart should end, envisioning nearly every character who appeared in more than one episode, even those who have died, lined up down the hallway to the door to say goodbye. As JD reaches the door, he realizes how childish it is to expect everyone to make a big deal of it and walks out the door alone.
• Some... example from Deep Space Nine as well. Dead characters don't come back, but the actors who played recurring characters are there without makeup, creating a fourth wall straddling version.
• The last episode of Anna und die Liebe ends with the two current leads kissing and the whole cast (and some of the crew members apparently) walking through the scene in their Real Life clothes while the camera goes back revealing the studios set with the lights slowly going out.
• Happens Once per Episode on Danger5. Everyone shows up at the party when the credits roll, even Hitler and the characters who died in that episode.

Music

• Seems to happen during the closing track of Ogden's Nutgone Flake by The Small Faces.

Theatre

• In Mack And Mabel, Mack Sennett narrates in the last scene that Mabel Normand died on September 23, 1930, but the show doesn't end there (at least with the Revised Ending first used in the 1976 national tour). Rather than a true-to-life Downer Ending, he presents an ending worthy of a Mack Sennett film, bringing back all his friends for a big slapstick wedding ceremony where, with a squirting flower in his lapel, he puts a ring on Mabel's finger and the preacher gets a Pie in the Face.
• Les Misérables ends with the entire company, including the deceased characters, reprising "Do You Hear The People Sing?".
  • Though most productions omit the villainous Thenardiers, and Inspector Javert.
• Zigzagged in Gilbert and Sullivan's "Ruddigore". The dead baronets participate as a chorus throughout, but in the original ending, which is also used in some modern productions, they return to life when the curse that caused their deaths is lifted.

Video Games

• The parades in Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario are much like this.
• The "Confused" ending of the white chamber.
• The very end of Mario Kart DS if you beat all tracks and unlock all karts on all circuit classes.
• The end of the .hack series, where everyone from the four-part PS2 series is having a party. Sora, realizing how much of a jerk he's been, is sitting off to the side and crying, because he knows full well that no one would want him around, and rightfully so. But someone invites him in anyway, and good times are had by all.
• The end of Limbo of the Lost features this, as well as a huge song moment.
• Sacrifice's credit sequence.
• The rather glorious ending of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past shows all the different non-villain characters restored to their proper places. The King returns, Link's uncle is brought back to life, the flute-playing boy is reunited with his father, etc., etc. And it is awesome.
• Appears as a hidden easter egg ending in the final level of Deus Ex: Invisible War.
• A very elaborate one happens in The Stinger of Call of Duty: Black Ops II: Menendez and Woods provide, respectively, guitar and drums for Avenged Sevenfold as they play their song "Carry On" to the crowd of characters headbanging in Club Solar. It's about as awesome and hilarious as you'd expect.
• One appears as an after-ending easter egg in Saints Row IV.
• KISS: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child ends with one of these, with the band playing out to an audience of the game's monsters and the 4 bosses. The musical ending is fitting for a KISS game, and the presence of the bosses is touching given that they were the Rogue Protagonist heroes from the comic series that you had to blast into chunky gibs.
• The ending of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. As the ship carrying his daughter pulls into Great Inagua, Edward looks at one of the tables where his whole crew is having a good drink and imagines seeing Blackbeard, Benjamin Hornigold, Calico Jack, & Mary Read among them.
• The credits sequences of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver feature sprites of the player as well as every notable character in that half of the game.
• The Mass Effect 3 DLC Citadel ends in one of these, with all living party members capable of being invited to a big party thrown by Commander Shepard. Characters killed in the course of Mass Effect 3 are also included in the DLC posthumously, since as Mass Effect 3's final piece of content, it's considered the series' farewell.
• The Sexy Brutale has this as its Earn Your Bad Ending; unlike most examples, it's not heartwarming at all, since it represents the protagonist succumbing to hedonism and fantasy rather than confronting the truth.

Visual Novels

• Every story in the Higurashi: When They Cry Visual Novels ended with a Tea Party, with the various characters sitting around discussing the plot and their horrible deaths, and speculating on what was really going on.
  • Umineko: When They Cry's first Tea Party was basically a parody of this, as it's NOT a 'meta thing', it's part of the main plot; It starts as a cheerful conversation between several characters (some of whom supposedly died during the episode) where they wonder who killed everyone and how with a cup of tea. But as it goes on the mood becomes increasingly heavy and serious, until the Golden Witch Beatrice appears and kills the victims all over again, claiming that she committed the murders with magic. From that point on, the hero Battler (and the reader) will have to prove her wrong.
    • The end of that series is a particularly sad case of this where Battler, who survived the Rokkenjima incident but lost his memory, is finally reunited with his Beatrice and his family in the golden land. The implication and meaning of this heavily depends on what side of the mystery/fantasy debate you sit on.

Webcomics

• In The Order of the Stick, after getting trapped by some epic-illusion casting runes, Elan, Haley, and Roy experience this in a shared illusion in which all the plot threads of the comic are quickly wrapped up in a big happy ending, culminating in the remarriage of Elan's mother and father. Elan, of all people, is the one to figure out how illogical it all is (at the very least, his evil brother should be trying to kill him over being chosen as best man by their father) and snaps them all out of it. Belkar had his own separate illusionary world that also invoked this trope (it was just him, his Morality Pet, and his dead Trickster Mentor living a simple life together).

Western Animation

• The last episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, in which various characters show up as Animated Actors attending a wrap party for the series. Considering the entire episode is a 22-minute Fourth Wall break, it's fitting.

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