Top 10 Times Anime Lied To The Fans

“Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt” (2010)


Cliff-hangers are all well and good, but at the very least you need to know whether or not you’re going anywhere, otherwise you just leave the audience starved for content, and the whole thing ends up feeling like one big betrayal. Regardless of how much the creators were trolling us with that out of nowhere ending in which Stocking was revealed to be a demon and sliced up her sister, there was still the promise that such a crazy twist would be explained in a later season. A decade on and we’re still waiting!

“Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo” (2003-05)


While it may have broken so many walls you’d think they were a demolish company, BoBoBo and his motley crew of valiant and oh so bizarre hair defenders still knew how to throw in the occasional fight scene. They were often weird as shit, but fights none the less. As a result, we were more than ready to see them finally take on the bald emperor and bring this nonsensical comedy to a close…only for the long awaited battle to be cut short when both the cast and audience are informed that they’ve been cancelled. It’s kind of perfect in its own wacky way, but we’d still like to have seen the source material get adapted.

“Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam” (1985-86)


This is quite possibly Chars most infamous moment. It’s no surprise we all find this scene hilarious, and that’s because it’s the biggest bare faced lie in the entire Gundam franchise. Char has indeed betrayed people before – namely the Zabi family whose trust he gained just so he could kill them later down the line as revenge for what they did to his father. We’re pretty sure that luring Garma into a death trap and sniping Kycilia’s head off counts as an act of treachery. So, what the hell was up with this straight-faced comment? Maybe Tomino just forgot or was trying to retcon his own character?

“Gintama” (2006-18)


While we have yet to see the conclusion to Gintama in animated form, this little prank by Odd Jobs Gin is probably the closest we’ll get for a while. This episode opens up with the Gin, Shinpachi and Kagura telling us that the show has been cancelled and that this is the final episode, despite them getting renewed for another season. We then spend the entire episodes runtime going through the casts own interpretations of the big finale - yet another one of Gintoki and companies pranks. Shock horror, the series didn’t stop here, it just laughed at all the incredibly gullible fans it managed to trick into thinking it had!

“Neon Genesis Evangelion” (1995-96)


Shinji may have been given one hell of a congratulatory send-off during the finale, but there was nothing but silence for the fans who had been expecting…anything else. While we all know that End of Evangelion served as the true conclusion to this classical mind-melter of a series, back in the 90s, audiences had no idea what they were in for, made all the worse due to the previews for episodes 24 and 25 containing the now iconic battle between Asuka and the mass-produced EVA units, as well Shinji getting up close and personal with Misato. Yeah, we can see why there was widespread disappointment.

“Tokyo Ghoul” series (2014-18)


It’s bad enough that Root A decided to go on its own little story tangent, but cramming in a canon finale with an extra helping of melodrama just added to the nausea of such a hellish second season. Caught in the crossfire of the street wat between the CCG and the Ghouls, Kaneki’s BFF seemingly loses his life in all the chaos, prompting the One Eyed Wonder Boy to carry him down the street (for what seems like an eternity). Of course, whatever sadness that scene may have garnered was quashed when Hide turned out to be somewhat alive, now under the alias of the Scarecrow, and with a few chunks of him missing. Maybe next time stick to the manga in its entirety!

“Gurren Lagann” (2007)


Look, the last thing we want to do is knock this sci-fi bonanza, it’s just if you’re going to build up expectations in the opening scene with Simon declaring that every star in the sky is an enemy they need to destroy…that’s some pretty big hype there man! Stop teasing! While the final fight with Anti-Spiral was still spectacular, we can’t help but wonder if this opening is what the show had originally intended.

“Naruto” (2002-07)


The episode is called the Death of Naruto. Naruto did not die. Ergo, this is misleading ninja propaganda. Granted, what else were we to expect from prime Naruto filler? This was padding on padding before Naruto eventually left the village and Shippuden could finally kick off. Then again, if put in the context that all the filler killed Naruto as a respectable anime series then the point could be argued that the phase has some truth to it, but within the narrative itself, it’s just shinobi clickbait.

“Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance” (2009)

You just couldn’t help yourself could you Anno? The conclusion of Evangelion 2.0 left us with quite the cliffhanger, with Shinji pretty much starting the third impact all so he could save Rei from the angel Zeruel. So what’s next for our cast of characters? Well absolutely nothing that appeared in the preview in the next film. Instead of being given what we were shown for the 3.0 preview, the film instead gave us the biggest swerve of all time where Shinji’s antics of the previous film had truly messed up the world and we were flung 14 years into the future.

“Katanagatari” (2010)


Okay this isn’t so much an unintentional lie due to budget cuts or other behind the scene issues, as it is just a straight “gotcha!” moment. As per the show’s formula, Shichika is all set to take on a user of one of the twelve deviant blades and reclaim it for his pint-size love interest. Only difference being that the clash with Sabi was built up over numerous episodes, including a wild looking preview. And what’s the result? We get to see Shichika and Togame talking about the fight and how epic it was, while all we get in exchange was watching Shichika’s sister massacre some C-Grade villains in a B-Plot. Great, thanks.