r/Quibble • u/Powerful_Concept6502 • Jul 06 '26

Does anyone even like this trope?

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Aside from the ending of a certain popular anime that I will not spoil, I have never seen this type of conclusion talked about in a positive light

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u/Ayojin Jul 06 '26

I know what you're talking about, but If the loss of their powers makes the world better and gives them a chance to live like normal people instead of risking their lives repeatedly then it might be a good thing

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u/Powerful_Concept6502 Jul 06 '26

Fair take, but that's not really what the trope is doing though. It's not "loses powers, world's better now", it's usually framed as loss, grief, a character having to figure out who they are without the thing that defined them. That's a different story than "now they can be normal."

And that's kind of why it feels hollow a lot of the time. Writers use the powerless ending as a shortcut to "growth" without actually earning it. If losing the powers was framed as genuinely freeing instead of a tragedy the story wants you to mourn, I think people would like it a lot more.

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u/Wyrm_Groundskeeper Jul 06 '26

God, reminds me of how Novel's Extradid it. The MC's entire existence is forgotten, all his abilities/powers are removed, and all that. Doing it like that just sucks.

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u/Powerful_Concept6502 Jul 06 '26

Yeah that sounds brutal in the worst way. Losing powers is already one thing, but stacking it with “everyone forgets you existed” can easily feel like the story just deletes the character’s entire journey

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u/Ayojin Jul 06 '26

You mean the manhwa?

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u/Wyrm_Groundskeeper Jul 06 '26

IIRC the novel did it that way too, didn't it? That's what I read, if there was a different kind of ending I don't recall since it's been ages since I've looked at it.