7 90s Anime Endings That Left Fans Confused, Ranked

The 90s were probably one of the richest and most diverse eras in the world of anime – whether it was series or movies. While we got masterpieces like Dragon Ball Z, Slam Dunk, Yu Yu Hakusho, One Piece, and more bangers like that, some popular names left us with a confusing, somewhat bitter aftertaste with their endings. What hurts more is that these were actually some massive names in the medium at that time, and even now.

Without further ado, here are our top 7 picks of anime from the 1990s that had some of the most confusing endings ever; endings that are even discussed among online communities to this day, and not in a good way.

7 Cowboy Bebop Leaves Spike Spiegel’s Fate Wide Open Forever

Cowboy Bebop | Credits: Sunrise

Cowboy Bebop Episode 26, titled “The Real Folk Blues Part 2“, ends with Spike walking into a gunfight against Vicious and collapsing on the stairs afterward, and the show just cuts to credits. Fans have argued for decades over whether he actually dies, especially since Spike’s own parable earlier in the episode about a cat that “died once and for real” gets read as foreshadowing.

It’s less “confusing” than emotionally unresolved on purpose; some might even call it the perfect ending, actually. It closes out the list because this is more of an interpretive debate than genuine confusion about what’s shown on screen.

6 Berserk‘s Anime Ending Loops Back Without Any Real Closure

Berserk (1997) | Credits: OLM

The 1997 television adaptation of Berserk halts directly in the brutal aftermath of the Eclipse event. Guts suffers catastrophic physical mutilation, Casca’s mental psyche fractures, and the screen cuts to black mid-crisis. This creates a loop: Episode 1 serves as a flash-forward to Guts’ life as the Black Swordsman, meaning Episode 25 isn’t really an ending at all, just a return to where the story started, and how he arrived at that dark starting point.

The series cuts off right before the introduction of the Skull Knight on the battlefield, effectively leaving out the vital transition into the manga’s subsequent arcs. It ranks low on the list because the frustration stems entirely from a sudden production cliffhanger rather than conceptual avant-garde writing.

5 Perfect Blue‘s Reality-Bending Twist Blurred Fact And Fiction

Perfect Blue | Credits: Madhouse

Mima’s descent into stalker-fueled paranoia makes it genuinely hard to tell what’s happening and what’s just in her head in Perfect Blue, right up until the final “I’m real” line. Satoshi Kon structures the whole movie so reality and delusion bleed together on purpose, and the ending doesn’t fully separate them for you.

It’s a rewarding kind of confusing, but it’s more about tone and dread than an unanswered mystery. It lands mid-list because the twist clarifies more than Ghost in the Shell‘s does, even if the ride there is disorienting.

4 Ghost In The Shell‘s Puppet Master Merge Left Viewers Stunned

Ghost in the Shell | Credits: Production I.G.

Motoko Kusanagi fuses with the Puppet Master at the end of the 1995 stunningly hand-drawn animated Ghost in the Shell film, and her closing line about the net being “vast and infinite” is the kind of thing that sounds profound but doesn’t spell out what she actually becomes.

Is she still herself? A new entity entirely? The movie’s too busy being philosophical to answer directly, and that ambiguity is exactly why it still gets debated decades later. It sits just under Revolutionary Girl Utena because the confusion is mostly conceptual, one big question rather than a whole tangle of unresolved threads.

3 Revolutionary Girl Utena‘s Surreal Castle Finale Baffled Everyone

Revolutionary Girl Utena | Credits: J.C. Staff

The last stretch of Revolutionary Girl Utena trades its fencing duels for full-blown allegory, cars turning into swords and castles flipping upside down included. Anthy finally walks away from Akio and the coffin she’s been trapped in, but the show never bothers explaining the mechanics of its own symbolism.

First-time viewers usually need a rewatch just to catch what actually happened underneath all that imagery. It ranks above the shell-and-blue duo below since the confusion here is dense enough to require repeat viewings, not just a debate.

2 Serial Experiments Lain Erases Its Own Heroine From Existence

Serial Experiments Lain | Credits: Triangle Staff

Serial Experiments Lain spends thirteen episodes blurring the line between the physical world and the Wired, and by the finale it just keeps pulling that thread until nothing feels solid anymore. Lain essentially deletes herself from everyone’s memory, resets reality, and leaves you wondering if any of the show’s “real world” was ever real to begin with.

It’s less a plot twist and more a slow dissolve, and that ambiguity is baked into the show’s DNA from episode one. It edges out the rest of the pack below Evangelion because its confusion is intentional and philosophical rather than a byproduct of rushed production.

1 Evangelion Ditches Giant Robots For A Trippy Inner-Mind Finale

Neon Genesis Evangelion | Credits: Gainax

By the time Episode 26 rolls around, Neon Genesis Evangelion has basically abandoned its mecha-battle format entirely. Shinji’s stuck in this abstract headspace, working through self-worth and identity while chalk-sketch visuals and inner monologues take over the screen. Nobody gets a clear answer on what happens to NERV, the Angels, or literally anyone else.

The backlash was so intense that Gainax made an entire alternate ending movie just to clear things up. Nothing else on this list caused a full-blown movie to be made just to explain itself, so the top spot isn’t close.

What are your thoughts on our compiled lists of 90s anime with the most confusing endings? We’d love to know your top picks and opinions in the comments below.