I think this fits more as a Gainax Ending than it's own Trope. This paragraph describes almost every part of the reaction I've seen on this board and the Bioware ones:
The quote on that page pretty much sums it up quite well:
---
The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."
>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
Quote:For whatever reason, after watching a Gainax Ending, you won't have any idea what happened. After rewatching it, rewatching the entire series, discussing it with other fans, looking up the meaning of the symbolism, and subjecting the entire thing to a comprehensive literary analysis, you still might not have any idea what happened. If you're lucky, then there will be some kind of emotional or symbolic resolution even if it doesn't actually explain what happened to the characters, and you'll be left with the sense that the series as a whole was more deeply thought out than it seemed before. If you're unlucky, then you'll be left with more questions than when you started with, and the sense that the series as a whole has been voided of the meaning you once read in it.
The quote on that page pretty much sums it up quite well:
Quote:"I wanted controversy, arguments, fights, discussions, people in anger waving fists in my face saying, 'how dare you?!'".(As a note, I think ME3 has a unsatisfactory ending, but not one that RUINS FOREVER the series.)
— Patrick McGoohan on the ending of The Prisoner
---
The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."
>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI