Close on Title

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

So, let's say you're watching a movie. As you get introduced to the characters, you might expect the title card to show up soon. However, several minutes pass without it. You wonder briefly what's taking so long, but then decide to just enjoy the film. Once the characters have completed their journey and the movie ends...the title card finally shows up.

What took so long? The answer can differ depending on the story. Maybe the title refers to something the protagonist spent the entire plot learning. Maybe it refers to something the character becomes by the time the story ends. Maybe the title contains a spoiler. Then again, maybe it just felt unique.

Contrast The Teaser, where the title takes a few minutes to appear, but still does so before the conclusion. If a work's title appears at both the beginning and the end, it belongs in Book Ends.

Examples of Close on Title include:


Anime and Manga

  • Episode 10 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The opening is shown at the end of this particular episode and doubles up as the credits screen. Fitting, since the entire episode focused on what happened to Homura before the current timeline.
  • The Ouran High School Host Club episode about Kaoru and Hikaru meeting Tamaki for the first time, "The Door the Twins Opened", saves its title card for the closing scene, after the twins open the door to the Host Club's room.
  • The first original OVA for Ai no Kusabi shows the title right before the end credits roll.
  • Episode titles for Wolf's Rain appear at the end. (This is used to poignant effect in Gunshot of Remorse.)
  • Bleach chapter 416 had the title "Deicide 18: [The End]"...at the end of the chapter, when Ichigo finally emerged out of Dangai Precipice World, and after Gin's defeat by Aizen.
  • Chapter 52 of Kuroko No Basket had this. It can be considered to be a Spoiler Title, but the spoiler is not about the chapter itself, but about what the events of the chapter would lead to, since in that chapter they lose the championship, but the title is "A new challenge", giving some hope for the next competition.

Comic Books

  • The Spider-Man comic "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" saves the title for the last panel, in order to prevent readers from discovering too soon which Spider-Man character Marvel decided to kill off.
    • Peter David's "The Death of Jean DeWolff" did this as well.
  • Every issue of the John Stewart-centric comic Green Lantern: Mosaic had the story title on the last page.
  • The comic detailing Captain America (comics)'s death, "The Death of the Dream", saved its title for the closing.
  • In a Deadpool story where his eardrums get destroyed by an explosion, and then he ends up fighting magical mimes, there are no words at all till the last page, and the punny title, Silent But Deadly, is the very last thing of all.
  • Each issue of the mini-series The Secret History of The Authority: Jack Hawksmoor.
  • The Atomic Robo comic "Why Atomic Robo hates Dr. Dinosaur".
  • "Your Mother Should Know," an issue of the Will Payton-era Starman.
  • "It's Your Funeral," an issue of Exiles.
  • A six-page Archie story, "A Winner Never Quits...A Quitter Never Wins," ended with its moral as the title, which was saved for the last panel. Or as they put it in their own early-70's faux-hip terms, "We're gonna lay it on you at the end of this yarn."

Film

Music

  • Claude Debussy's Preludes pour piano have highly evocative and poetical titles. They are written after each piece, specifically to void influencing the musician with preconceptions and instead let them focus on the actual, very subtle sound effects.
  • Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" sames the Title Drop until the very end.

Western Animation

  • The Pixar Short Day and Night does not have its title displayed until the ending, after Day and Night have become friends.
  • The BBC kid's show Kerwhizz ("The quiz with added whizz") has a "K" logo and a theme song which includes the title at the start, and it's referred to several times per show, but the title only appears on-screen during the closing credits.
  • Teachers Pet: The Movie
  • Tangled Ever After does not display its title until after Eugene and Rapunzel are declared husband and wife, and Maximus and Pascal lose the wedding cake.



Oh, there's the picture!