Book Ends/Anime and Manga: Difference between revisions

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* In ''[[Twentieth Century Boys]]'', the next-to-final scene is a recollection of the first, but from a different viewpoint.

* Near the beginning of the first episode of ''[[FLCL]]'', Mamimi offers Naota the rest of her canned juice, but he protests "You know I don't like the sour stuff," and eventually tosses it aside. At the end of the episode, after all the craziness with the giant robots coming out of his head, he gets another offer of sour juice, and this time takes a reluctant gulp.

** Additionally, the series opens and closes with narration by Naota saying "[[Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here|Nothing ever happens around here. Everything is ordinary]]", even though during the series we have clearly seen that it's ''anything but'' ordinary.

** Similarly, Rei's bandages and wraps in the first episode (when she's trundled out in a gurney in front of Shinji) and Asuka's set of bandages and wraps in the last moments of ''EoE'' are identical.

** Rebuild has a reversed example of this. Remember one of the last things we see in End? Red water rising and sinking on the beach. The very first thing we see in Rebuild 1.0 is this exact same clip. Followed soon by a picture with an outline of an MP Eva... [[Fridge Brilliance]] ''and'' Reverse [[Book Ends]] much?

** ''Onikakushi-hen'''s sound novel and manga also do this so long as you don't count the police review of the crime. In this case, both end with the repetition of [[Madness Mantra|"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."]] The first time, it's a disembodied voice that Keiichi thinks he hears. At the end of the arc, it's Keiichi himself doing the repeating.

* ''[[Betterman]]'' begins and ends with Keita and Hinoki on a deserted island. {{spoiler|The beginning is Keita's dream. The ending is real.}}

** In anime as well; it takes it a step further by having post-Kira Light passing his younger counterpart.

* ''[[Madlax]]'' effectively opens and ends with the titular [[Action Girl]] receiving a call from her liaison who informs her about a new mission. Only that in the first episode, she is alone at the time while in the last one, she is accompanied by {{spoiler|a deserter army sniper who previously killed her best friend and possible love interest and who is also her possible love interest}}. It got a bit complicated along the way, indeed.

* ''[[Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora]]'' opens and ends with the lead girl meeting a "prince" in a flower field who offers her to come with him.

* ''[[Saikano]]'' begins and ends with Shuji describing Chise. The circumstances of the first description are light-hearted, while the circumstances of the second one constitute one of the most crushing examples of a [[Downer Ending]] in all of anime.

* ''[[Blue Drop]]'' starts with a man and a woman talking on a shuttle in orbit around Earth. In the last scene of the show it becomes clear that the woman {{spoiler|is Michiko on her way to a peace talk with the Arume, 30 years after the events that are depicted in the series}}.

* The ''[[Uta Kata]]'' TV-series begins and ends with Ichika narrating how much the autumn mornings remind her of summer, when she {{spoiler|still had a chance to be with Manatsu}}.

* ''[[Code Geass]]'': Lelouch's statement in the first episode of the first season, echoed in the second season's [[Grand Finale]], {{spoiler|[[Foreshadowing]] his choice of death by [[Heroic Sacrifice]].}}

** Also, season two's first episode has him announce himself as Zero, the man who destroys worlds and creates worlds. {{spoiler|The last episode has something similar as his [[Famous Last Words]].}}

** And the after-credits final scene is a flashback to the original inspiration of the painting.

** On the very first page of the manga, Ed is [http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/1935/82954664.jpg shown] in a train station with a suitcase and his red coat. On the very last page of the manga, [http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/4918/112oo.jpg he is shown] like this again, but is this time {{spoiler|leaving instead of arriving}} as he gives a speech summarizing the message of the series.

* The first and last episode of ''[[Michiko to Hatchin]]'' begin in the same way with Hana cooking omelettes.

* ''[[Millennium Actress]]'' opens and closes with the same sequence showing Chiyoko taking off for the stars. Also, earthquakes seem to play a similar role in Chiyoko's life.

* In the prologue of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', a character on the bridge of what appears to be Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren remarks "All the lights in the sky are our enemy now, huh?" In the epilogue, old Simon says, "All the lights in the sky are stars." <ref>"...the stars where our Spiral friends await."</ref>

* ''[[D.N.Angel]]'' begins with a reporter speaking into a camera as police run towards a building, then cuts to Dark and Krad charging at each other. The last episode of the series shows this scene again, indicating that in reality that scene was a flash forward.

* ''[[Somedays Dreamers]]'' begins and ends with Yume at Shibuya in Tokyo, one of the most crowded crossings in the world--with the marked difference that {{spoiler|in the end she has gained courage to cross it by herself}}.

* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' introduces us to the main protagonist, Alto Saotome, while he's training in his EX-Gear and flying within Island One's domed city, with him wishing to fly in an endless sky. The series ends with him ejecting from his [[Transforming Mecha|Valkyrie]] and flying in his EX-Gear, in the endless skies of their new planet.

* The first volume of ''[[My Lovely Ghost Kana]]'' starts and ends very similarly on the surface, but also shows how much things have changed in a few short months. In the beginning, [[Unlucky Everydude|Daikichi]] is buying food and beer at a convenience store and overhears the occult-obsessed owner talking to his assistant about how someone finally moved into an apartment building rumored to be haunted. Daikichi walks back to the apartment he just moved into and is welcomed energetically by [[Genki Girl|Kana]], the resident [[Cute Ghost Girl]] who [[Pretty Freeloader|excitedly goes through his grocery bags looking for beer]], which she hasn't had in years. In the end of the first volume, Daikichi is buying food and beer at the same convenience store, and the occult-obsessed owner is talking to his assistant about the strange circumstances by which Daikichi miraculously survived being buried alive. Daikichi walks back to the apartment he's come to call home and is welcomed energetically by Kana, who hugs him affectionately, having developed from [[Pretty Freeloader]] to [[Magical Girlfriend]].

* The first season of the anime version of ''[[K-On!]]'' begins with the main character Yui waking up late for her first day of high school, slipping and falling before heading out the door, where we see her jogging along her route to the campus. The last episode of the first season ends with a repeat of this before the ending concert, grabbing her guitar and running back, starting to slip, but catching herself before falling.

** The very first episode also had Mugi, Mio, and Ritsu attempt to recruit Yui into the club with an improvised song. The last chronological episode of the second season (three years later) had these four play a farewell song to Azusa. The reactions of Yui and Azusa to their exclusive performances were almost exactly the same: *solo applause*, {{spoiler|remarks "You guys really aren't that good!",}} and wants to join in next time.

** Also, this seems to be the case for many characters' background stories. Lockon, for one, lost his family in a terror attack caused by the KPSA, and in the end, he turned out to become a terrorist himself (at least according to publicity). Setsuna started out being a member of a guerilla warfare squad, and later became a member of Celestial Being, who employs this kind of warfare to a great degree.

** In the first season, Setsuna pilots Exia. In the last episode of season 2, 00 Raiser is compleely destroyed, and Setsuna changes to Exia. Also, in the first episode, we see 0 Gundam, later revealed to be piloted by Ribbons. in the finale, Ribbons changes over to the 0 Gundam, after his Reborns Gundam/Reborns Cannon is destroyed.

* ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' ends with a little spiel about the host club that opened the first couple of episodes.

** The final chapter of the manga has [[Wholesome Crossdresser|Haruhi]] being [[Mistaken for Gay]] yet again much to her dismay, much like in the first chapter.

* In the anime version of ''[[Welcome to The NHK]]'', one of the first scenes shown is a nightmare of Satou's. At the end of it, he runs along a snowy cliff towards a physical manifestation of the "conspiracy" with a "bomb" in hand, and leaps off of the cliff towards it. In the final episode, {{spoiler|Satou is once again at that snowy cliff, this time in reality. He once again runs towards a physical manifestation of the "conspiracy", or the NHK, with a "revolution bomb" in his hand. However this time, Misaki is running after him, trying to stop him from jumping over the cliff.}}

* ''[[Gun X Sword]]'' begins with Van walking into a church looking for food. He finds a young girl in trouble and rescues her. She buys him lunch. The series ends with him walking into a house looking for food. He finds the girl [[She Is All Grown Up|a few years older]] and ready to cook him a meal just the way he likes it. In both episodes, he comes in looking for food and finds Wendy instead.

** An example played straight if you span out to include the entire original series: Ash seeing Ho-Oh before leaving for Hoenn, presumably the same Ho-Oh he saw in the very first episode.

** The first and last episode of the ''Diamond and Pearl'' arc both begin with Dawn waking up in her bedroom.

* In ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', the first and last fights of the {{spoiler|Laxus}} arc end the same way: {{spoiler|with Gajeel [[Taking the Bullet]] to save someone from a fatal attack from Laxus.}}

* ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' has a twofer: the first and last episodes both fall on Relena's birthday, and both end with a letter relating to said birthday getting torn up without being read. In the first, it's Relena giving Heero an invitation to her party; in the last, {{spoiler|it's inverted as Relena tears up an envelope Heero left with his present to her.}}

* In ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', [[The Lancer|Barnaby]] flies in from nowhere and catches a falling [[The Protagonist|Kotetsu]] in both the first and the last episodes. The former's [[Character Development]] and [[Heterosexual Life Partners|the improvement in their relationship]] is obvious in how he treats Kotetsu after the fact: [http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmem4tTzPT1qfoo7s.gif casually tossing him aside] vs. [http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmem5gPZST1qfoo7s.gif gently setting him down.] {{spoiler|The scene is also mirrored in the final scene in the series.}}

* So far, most of the major ''[[Bleach]]'' arcs end with {{spoiler|Ichigo and Rukia parting ways.}}

* The anime series of ''[[Nichijou]]'' begins and ends with a section about motivation, complete with a shot of cherry blossoms popping up spontaneously.

* [[Sola]] begins with Yorito setting up his camera to take a picture of the sunrise and ends with {{spoiler|Aona, Mana and Koyori}} doing the same thing.

** The scene in the first episode where Kaede gives Rin his lunch while forgetting her own is replicated in the last episode, where {{spoiler|Rin is replaced by Primula}}.

** The first and last episodes both show Kaede wrapped in a green towel after a bath.

* The first episode of ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' has an aura of an Iriomote cat entering Ichigo Momomiya's body after she is injected with the cat's DNA by Ryou Shirogane. At the end of the last episode, we see the same aura of the Iriomote cat leaving her body when she (and the other Mew Mews) {{spoiler|temporarily}} lose their animal-based superpowers.

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[[Book Ends|Wait, didn't you see this]] [[Mind Screw|once]] [[Book Ends|before?]]