looking for interesting manga/anime where "good" side doesn't win at the end!

[AnbuItachi]

any suggestions?

[Kotohono]

Since this request is rather spoiler-ish in nature I'll put them in one for the sake of others reading this, click at your own discretion.

Spoiler:

If you consider then the side focused on by the series as "good" then maybe Death Note or to lesser extent Code Geass.

If failing to achieve their goal/objective that the "good" side had wanted despite victory over their enemies counts as them losing, then I'd say Katanagatari

[kitten320]

Spoiler for spoilers:

Aoi Bungaku would be a perfect choice. It is a 12 episode series with several mini stories. Each story is different so one is better than another but mostly they all have bad ending in one or another way.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within not exactly what you want but considering how much damage was done I would say bad side was quiet a winner.

Ga-Rei Zero I would say that bad side stayed the winner here with quiet huge loss on good side.

Kuroshitsuji II a perfect ending in my eyes, just what you want. Might want to check 1st season or at least skim through it to know basic story. I myself didn't like 1st season but 2nd was great and it does aexactly what you want.

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom a bit depends on how you interupt the ending but I would say it is quiet negative.

[GreatTeacherKen]

You seem to be looking for a 'Downer Ending.' This link has a good list of anime/manga that end unhappily. Some of them might be debatable as to how much of a downer they are, but hopefully you'll find something that interests you.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph.../AnimeAndManga

The link describes the endings in detail, so if you don't want to know how exactly they end, I'll give some examples:

Spoiler for tragic endings:

Grave of the Fireflies
Ideon: Be Invoked
Gilgamesh
Space Warrior Baldios
X: The Movie (not the TV series or original manga, which is incomplete)
Berserk (anime-only, manga isn't over yet)
Kite

[AbZeroNow]

Spoiler for spoilers:

I will second Space Runaway Ideon and in particular the movie Be Invoked. Tomino really earned his "Kill 'Em All" nickname with that. Even children die in graphic ways. Be yeah, everybody dies in that.

I will also second Grave of The Fireflies, which is a really sad movie.

The original OVA of Area 88 has an implied Bolivian Army ending with the hero rushing back to do a suicide mission

But yeah, TV Tropes has all sorts of examples of Downer Endings.

[Haak]

Spoiler for bad endings:

If you want an absolute "bad guy wins ending and there's nothing you can do to stop him" then I'd recommend The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It's utterly brutal. It's a book trilogy though.

There's also Saya no Uta, a short Visual Novel by Urobuchi Gen.

As for anime, I recommend Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (also by Urobuchi Gen) and Texhnolyze

[Aquillion]

Some of the ones listed have more bittersweet or ambiguous endings than bad ones.

But anyway, I suggest

Spoiler:

Texhnolyze, if you like gritty cyberpunk sorts of settings.

[ArrowSmith]

Originally Posted by Aquillion

Some of the ones listed have more bittersweet or ambiguous endings than bad ones.

But anyway, I suggest

Spoiler:

Texhnolyze, if you like gritty cyberpunk sorts of settings.

That one has to be THE most depressing anime of all time.

[tyranuus]

Aye, that is a good one.

My vote however goes to:

Spoiler:

Chrno Crusade.
It starts off really light and you're not expecting anything great; but the ending is really powerful, and really leaves you wondering if all the sacrifices made were worth it

[kitten320]

^ I kind of second that one too.

[GreatTeacherKen]

^^

I'll third that recommendation, however, it only applies to the anime version; the original manga, which ended after the anime, has a very different outcome.