Looking back at the anime that concluded in Winter of 2009, I have to say that I was quite satisfied with how all of the shows I watched had finished. I did not watch every anime that came out, but out of those I did, I felt there was a general trend of decent to great endings.
A funny thing about anime is that it has the reputation of giving the viewer incredibly good endings and incredibly bad ones, and often times fans can’t even agree on which endings are which. I could come up with a variety of hypotheses as to why people so vehemently disagree on the quality of certain conclusions (or lack thereof), but it really all comes down to personal experience, personal experience that says, for example, whether wrapping everything up by the end is a Good Thing, or if it would be better to leave some things open or to the imagination.
I think the mixed reputation for Anime Endings has very much to do with anime shows actually ending in the first place. I’m not saying this is a good or bad thing, but one of the oft-touted qualities of anime that got fans choosing it over cartoons and TV shows in their own countries was that anime tended to have endings which built upon events which occurred in previous episodes. Of course, as the general level of writing in TV shows has improved over the years there’s less of a discrepancy, but anime seems to rarely get canned outright with no warning to the writers and staff the way American TV shows do. The trend instead seems to be that if a show is getting canceled, the anime staff is told in advance so that they may try to cobble together something to finish the series off with, be it a cliffhanger ending or even the Ideon TV series’ Narrator Exposition Ending (it has to be seen to truly be experienced).
What makes a good ending? Something that says your viewing experience was worthwhile.
OGIUE MANIAX 
what? no nitpicking, unsubstantiated, overly harsh complaints on the shows you watch? that’s not the spirit of anime blogging!
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BECAUSE YOU’RE A MA~N
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not(Maria+Holic End)
If it’s open fine, but at least end on a strong note. If it’s a closed ending, then I hope things at least are sensible/meaningful in the last episode. The sudden introduction of new, unforeseen, details in a final episode does not usually bode well (often a scapegoat).
Large ruleset of acceptability could probably be constructed, but meh. ^^
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SPOILERS! Please ignore this comment if you see a show you haven’t seen listed below.
Yes, and for me the good endings from the shows I’ve seen (and ended recently) are:
Xam’d
Gundam 00
Toradora!
In the abovementioned I see a commonality in that these endings, because they are strong, fast-paced, and conclusive; allowed me to look past a lot of problems that I’ve seen throughout the show. In Gundam 00, the Trans-am burst was revealed an episode prior – which somewhat mitigates
The sudden introduction of new, unforeseen, details in a final episode does not usually bode well (often a scapegoat).
Mediocre ending for a mediocre show (which is so disappointing because I expected too much):
RideBack
Outright Terrible:
Skip Beat (a non-ending?)
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“What makes a good ending? Something that says your viewing experience was worthwhile.”
This I always find interesting. When I do hear people saying “the ending ruined the show for me”, and it makes me wonder what happened to the moments that the person had watching the show before the ending. Wanting good closure to a story is all well and good, but is it that important enough to take precedence of the enjoyment that you had beforehand? Are the moments before the ending not worthwhile? I don’t think so.
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I get the feeling viewers often give endings far too much weight in relations to the rest of the show. Endings to me are ultimately just the final block to a show, and, with certain exceptions, if one found an ending unsatisfactory, it is only because the episodes that supported it were poorly executed as well. That somehow an ending can ruin the entire experience of an entire well done show has always been puzzling to me.
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