#and funnily enough none of them really have to do with MHA ending

[airs-headspace]

I really made Abiteth's dad way too powerful HAHASDOUFADSFAHOU

[soul-dwelling]

Funnily enough, all the MHA talk made me realise another aspect I didn't mind in the Soul Eater anime ending - some people say it came too quick and not much changed or was resolved, yet I think the fact is, that at 51 episodes a kinda open yet at the same time conclusive ending works - and with conclusive I mean things like, compare anime Crona with Deku - both are charachters that sometimes get reduced to crybabys or being super passive - yet Crona ends up living with Maka and Soul and joining the group - they didn't take part at the final battle, yet it doesn't really feel like they were "cucked" (pardon this awful term) because they had the big self sacrifice moment, and even did the whole speech that hyped up Maka - even if one imagines Crona kinda living a very uneventful life, it feels right, cause they have the people that they grew to love and care for around them. But if Soul Eater was 500 episodes long, then maybe it would feel like "oh, that's it? no next gen ships and kids? no cool transformations, etc?" I'm afraid this didn't turn out as coherent as I wanted but I hope the jist can be understood. Anyways, good luck with dealing with another horrible anime ending, cause even if it sounds trivial, it does suck...

Going to start with the disclaimer: we’re not using “cuck” here--we’re taking that word out of the lexicon in this response, given the worst people online who could have said “I wish Izuku and Ochaco had some closure” and instead wrongly lambasted her and other girl and women characters, and wrongly debased Izuku. 

Funnily enough, all the MHA talk made me realise another aspect I didn't mind in the Soul Eater anime ending - some people say it came too quick and not much changed or was resolved, yet I think the fact is, that at 51 episodes a kinda open yet at the same time conclusive ending works - 

My annoyance with the Soul Eater ending has to do with how the anime introduces some brand new details seemingly just to artificially create an ending. 

This kind of Gecko Ending approach was the same problem the first Blue Exorcist anime had: did we really need to bring in a new grandfather for Rin and Yukio to set up this final arc? 

It’s what I think about Soul Eater. We bring in Buttataki but as a tech expert so we can have a city versus castle fight and give Sid and Kid almost zero reason to start being suspicious. We have Stein disappear to take him off the chessboard and give Medusa an artificial power boost. Maka has to get close to perfecting Genie Hunter but struggles with it. None of this felt organic, it felt like new swerves just for the sake of reaching the ending, not taking what was already there to get to the ending, or having the ending in mind first and working backwards all the way to Episode 1. 

At least when the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime did its original ending, there were details introduced all the way back to Episode 1 to establish this was a different story from the manga, that these variations were there for a reason to set up the ending. 

and with conclusive I mean things like, compare anime Crona with Deku - both are charachters that sometimes get reduced to crybabys or being super passive - yet Crona ends up living with Maka and Soul and joining the group - they didn't take part at the final battle, yet it doesn't really feel like they were "cucked" (pardon this awful term) because they had the big self sacrifice moment, and even did the whole speech that hyped up Maka - even if one imagines Crona kinda living a very uneventful life, it feels right, cause they have the people that they grew to love and care for around them.

Yeah, “cuck” is an awful word, perpetuating the sexist and misogynistic crap thrown at Ochaco and other characters who weren’t confirmed to be in any relationship with Izuku. We can talk about disappointment with the shipping closure without using that bullshit word. 

I’m pissed we got all that build up to Izuku and Ochaco, then never paid it off with either making them a couple or undermining the romantic cliches, but I’m not going to perpetuate the toxic masculinity bullshit online to tear down Izuku along with the other characters. And that’s not even getting into how people may have read Izuku being with someone who isn’t a girl or a woman or being asexual. It sucks that Horikoshi did not commit to an ending, but I’m not turning that into an enforced expectation that a relationship had to happen and then if it didn’t that people get to make sexist remarks about characters. And that’s not even getting into how that reduces Ochaco and others into just objects. 

I’m fine with Izuku’s conclusion in the manga, although I agree with you that so much of Crona’s ending in the anime works as well, as they showed obvious progression, are in a different place than they were before, whereas Izuku is repeating so much of what he did in Chapter 1 that it is hard to see him as a new character when he is literally doing stuff we already saw in Chapter 1, suggesting this isn’t progression so much as “same scene, new flavor.” 

Let’s go back to why Crona worked: I agree with you, Crona gets a happy ending, living with Maka and Soul is good for them, they contributed to Maka’s defeat of Medusa, they are the ones who get to summarize the thesis statement to the anime for the audience when awakening to watch Maka’s punch of courage--they get to be one of the ones who pretty much has the last word on how Maka defeats Asura. 

Fans online are not reaching agreement on whether this is a happy ending or not for Izuku. Crona wanted a home and got it; Izuku wanted to run off doing heroics--and didn’t get to. We don’t get to see Izuku playing hero or fantasy cosplay stuff. If Izuku being a teacher was ever on the table at some point earlier in the series, it would fit better for narrative cohesion. It’s believable Izuku would become a teacher; it’s just not a good setup and payoff that a well written story should have. 

I agree that how we see the story ends does influence whether each story works. Our last image of Izuku is just a comic book splash page--that’s boring. Crona’s last images are a decent home life with Maka and Soul (barring the offensive and stupid Blair moment) and getting overwhelmed playing basketball (cute, but not punching down on them). 

But if Soul Eater was 500 episodes long, then maybe it would feel like "oh, that's it? no next gen ships and kids? no cool transformations, etc?"

See also the Fire Force problem. We get an entirely new manga, and the only new info we get for Soul Eater is stuff to populate the wiki, answering questions that are comparatively less engaging, as to what Maka’s mother looks like and what the main four kids looked like as toddlers. 

So, yeah, Soul Eater, both manga and anime, pretty much ended before things would’ve gotten less fulfilling. See the Amphibia comparison to My Hero Academia by ilovereadingandstuff and thekingofwinterblog a bit ago, about how Amphibia.