Bad or Mediocre Anime that was saved by a Stellar ending

[Funkatron]

How many time has this happened to you? There's an anime that isn't so great but somehow during the second half of its run it kicks it up a notch and becomes one of your faves. It's either its slow or the writing is just atrocious. But somehow it just gets better and noticably so.

Case in point: Gundam seed. Had a really slow start and it just seemed to go through the motions. then Bam! Second half of the show rolls around and I'm eager to see who lives and who dies. Another show that this seemed to happen for me is Eureka 7. Starting couple of eps seemed slow and bogged down by set-upitis. But some the the later eps and I really got into it.

Anyone else want to share?

[akcoll99]

Most of my favorite shows were series I enjoyed from beginning to end, but one I can think of is Witch Hunter Robin. I was more or less kind of bored by the first 10 episodes, but after the major storyline took off around episode 11, I was hooked on the show. Some people didn't like the ending, but I was satisfied with it and thought it tied things up nicely enough.

Of the series I'm watching now, I felt Gun Sword, Baki The Grappler, and Shakugan no Shana all started off a little weak, but have only gotten better with each episode.

[Dagger]

Fafner is the biggest example of this that I can think of.

Magic Knight Rayearth also comes to mind, although I disliked basically the entire show except the very end (which was too slow in coming anyway), only to be blown away by the entire second season. So it's sort of a unique case. I look back on it fondly, but more because of the totally kick-ass second season than because the first season had a strong ending.

[roastedpekingduck]

Looks like maybe I should give Witch Hunter Robin a second chance. I thought the first disc was okay, but I actually fell asleep on the second disc because of its episodic nature.

[GanChan]

Sorcerer Hunters had a better ending than it deserved.

[Dagger]

Looks like maybe I should give Witch Hunter Robin a second chance. I thought the first disc was okay, but I actually fell asleep on the second disc because of its episodic nature.
Heh... YMMV. I thought the show got super exciting once it took off, but the very end sucked IMO. Opinions vary, as akcoll said.

[DrMM]

Looks like maybe I should give Witch Hunter Robin a second chance. I thought the first disc was okay, but I actually fell asleep on the second disc because of its episodic nature.
Heh... YMMV. I thought the show got super exciting once it took off, but the very end sucked IMO. Opinions vary, as akcoll said.

I found it a bit boring at first myself but I liked the ending a lot. Then, when I went through and rewatched the early episodes, I gained a lot of appreciation for the sedate, episodic yet character-building nature of the early episodes.

[nakimushi]

The one show that qualifies for me here is Chrono Crusade.

I didn't think the show was bad, just very mediocre.

I thought the ending saved it from mediocrity and just about edged it into "good".

[something]

Well, Welcome to the NHK is a major recent example. It wasn't bad, but it was sinking into mediocrity. And then the ending just blew me away. Awesome <3

[something]

Heh... YMMV. I thought the show got super exciting once it took off, but the very end sucked IMO. Opinions vary, as akcoll said.
I was sort of indifferent about the ending. It's one of those shows where I have the DVDs, but I doubt I'll ever watch them, unless I get really really really into the mood for its subject matter, which is... unlikely.

[Splitter]

After watching Air, I expected a lot out of the original Kanon, but was left with such a mediocre series I temporarily gave up on it halfway through. The last two episodes though were amazing. I'll never forget that ending and it's the reason "Last Regrets" is one of my all-time favorite songs.

Second place would have to be Shuffle! with it's horribly-cliched first half dripping with fanservice. The second half though, was a tour-de-force as far as harem anime goes, combining some very surprising backstories with some amazing twists, and the ending was incredibly satisfying, even though I still think Rin's a moron.

And third place goes to Tsukihime for boring me out of my mind for eight episodes and then completely flooring me with revelation after revelation after revelation... if only Aruceid didn't talk so damn much...

[Lego]

Last Exile

The site of Alex choking the life out of Delphine made my day and the series for me at the end of the show.

[something]

Last Exile

The site of Alex choking the life out of Delphine made my day and the series for me at the end of the show.
I'm sort of the other way around. Last Exile started amazing for me, and it certainly never approached 'bad', or even 'mediocre', but the plot started to get iffy as it went on. Definitely wasn't a bad show for me before (or after) the ending though.

That said, I completely agree with the sentiment in your spoiler. That was a long time coming.

[roastedpekingduck]

I agree here. At the beginning, I thought the show absolutely kicked ass. I really loved the air battles, mysteriousness and political intrigue. Then in the second half of the show character development, plot, and relationships began to get quite convoluted . I literally didn't know how to feel about the ending. To this day unfortunately, it's one of the shows I regret buying.

[Lego]

I don't consider it bad but I give it kind of a B- or C+. I loved parts of it but it felt bogged down during the middle of the show. Still though the ending made up for it(as I mentioned) so I posted about it in this thread.

[Puppet Master]

Last Exile

The site of Alex choking the life out of Delphine made my day and the series for me at the end of the show.

I know what you mean throughout most of the show I kept hoping something like that would happen.

[ADC]

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue was pretty lousy — or, perhaps, pretty but lousy — through five discs; then the creators got their shit together and put out a very satisfactory ending. Maburaho did the same twice, at the end of the first half and the end of the series. Both have lots of fanservice, which seems to be a running theme in the 'bad show with good ending' lists.

[The Red Comet]

Betterman. When all else fails, kill everyone. Of course that only works if you have awful characters that need to die. Okay not every character dies, but enough to satiate my bloodlust.

[super rats]

For a "serious" show, Starship Operators was just way too convenient, but I really liked the ending enough to feel the show was worth watching.

[jojo_home]

None. If a show doesn't get interesting by disc 2 then no ending in the world can make up for the crap that preceded it.

[Raye]

I thought Mai HiME took a great turn in the middle of the series. It was OK to begin with, but the ending brought out the best of the show.

[Lego]

I thought Mai HiME took a great turn in the middle of the series. It was OK to begin with, but the ending brought out the best of the show.

There are certain events in Hime(warning, decent Hime spoilers ahead) that really kick the show into over gear when they happen. I mean when you have main characters going down that would normally find some way to be alive in any other show, you know that the production teams really wants to do something different. The middle episodes of Hime really made me a huge fan of the series.

[Njr Scrawl]

It has to be Nadia (TV). Started off as a let's-see type show, became more promising..then nose-dived into the fast-forwadable.

And then the series had a type of re-birth. It became a Gainax show full of action, angst, sacifice, horror, shocks, revelation, heartwarming moments, revenge, bitterness, & a satisfying end. The Gainax show that really needs a compilation movie made from it!

[akcoll99]

It has to be Nadia (TV). Started off as a let's-see type show, became more promising..then nose-dived into the fast-forwadable.

And then the series had a type of re-birth. It became a Gainax show full of action, angst, sacifice, horror, shocks, revelation, heartwarming moments, revenge, bitterness, & a satisfying end. The Gainax show that really needs a compilation movie made from it!


Yeah, I love the beginning and end of Nadia, but those filler "Island" episodes in the middle can be difficult to sit through sometimes...

[Shsway]

I don't know if I'd call the ending "stellar", but Sol Bianca: The Legacy had a surprisingly enjoyable ending, after playing out as average-bordering-on-bad most of the way through. I'm even a little interested in the original OVA as a result...

[vanfanel]

For me, the original El-Hazzard OVA. Did very little for me through most of its run, but then that ending just came out of nowhere to blow me away.

[Chacranajxy]

I can't think of one. Why? Well, because a show that's bad until the end is simply... a bad show. If you don't enjoy the show until the end, why the hell would it even be worth watching?