Close on Title

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So, let's say you're watching a movie. As you get introduced to the characters, you might expect the title card to show up soon. However, several minutes pass without it. You wonder briefly what's taking so long, but then decide to just enjoy the film. Once the characters have completed their journey and the movie ends...the title card finally shows up.

What took so long? The answer can differ depending on the story. Maybe the title refers to something the protagonist spent the entire plot learning. Maybe it refers to something the character becomes by the time the story ends. Maybe the title contains a spoiler. Then again, maybe it just felt unique.

Contrast The Teaser, where the title takes a few minutes to appear, but still does so before the conclusion. If a work's title appears at both the beginning and the end, it belongs in Book Ends.

Examples of Close on Title include:

Anime and Manga

• Episode 10 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The opening is shown at the end of this particular episode and doubles up as the credits screen. Fitting, since the entire episode focused on what happened to Homura before the current timeline.
• The Ouran High School Host Club episode about Kaoru and Hikaru meeting Tamaki for the first time, "The Door the Twins Opened", saves its title card for the closing scene, after the twins open the door to the Host Club's room.
  • Ouran the Vaguely Abridged Series did the same thing when abridging this episode.
• The first original OVA for Ai no Kusabi shows the title right before the end credits roll.
• Episode titles for Wolf's Rain appear at the end. (This is used to poignant effect in Gunshot of Remorse.)
• Bleach chapter 416 had the title "Deicide 18: [The End]"...at the end of the chapter, when Ichigo finally emerged out of Dangai Precipice World, and after Gin's defeat by Aizen.
• Chapter 52 of Kuroko No Basket had this. It can be considered to be a Spoiler Title, but the spoiler is not about the chapter itself, but about what the events of the chapter would lead to, since in that chapter they lose the championship, but the title is "A new challenge", giving some hope for the next competition.

Comic Books

• The Spider-Man comic "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" saves the title for the last panel, in order to prevent readers from discovering too soon which Spider-Man character Marvel decided to kill off.
  • Peter David's "The Death of Jean DeWolff" did this as well.
• Every issue of the John Stewart-centric comic Green Lantern: Mosaic had the story title on the last page.
• The comic detailing Captain America (comics)'s death, "The Death of the Dream", saved its title for the closing.
• In a Deadpool story where his eardrums get destroyed by an explosion, and then he ends up fighting magical mimes, there are no words at all till the last page, and the punny title, Silent But Deadly, is the very last thing of all.
• Each issue of the mini-series The Secret History of The Authority: Jack Hawksmoor.
• The Atomic Robo comic "Why Atomic Robo hates Dr. Dinosaur".
• "Your Mother Should Know," an issue of the Will Payton-era Starman.
• "It's Your Funeral," an issue of Exiles.
• A six-page Archie story, "A Winner Never Quits...A Quitter Never Wins," ended with its moral as the title, which was saved for the last panel. Or as they put it in their own early-70's faux-hip terms, "We're gonna lay it on you at the end of this yarn."

Film

• Hoffa didn't have any credits, not even the name of the film, until the end.
• The same goes for Yes Man.
• In Hot Fuzz, the title card does not appear until the very end of the film. This can be backed up by the DVD Commentary.
• Contact likewise has the title card and the rest of the opening credits immediately preceding the closing ones.
• Inception doesn't have a title card until the end credits. Where it is displayed three separate times. Of course, given the events of the film, this is probably on purpose...
  • Christopher Nolan seems fond of doing this; Batman Begins and The Dark Knight also don't show their titles until the end.
  • May be Fridge Brilliance when you realize that he put the title card at the beginning of Memento, a film where the events are shown in backward chronological order.
• Avatar's title appears at the very end of the film, after Jake's subconscious is permanently transferred into his Na'vi avatar.
• How to Train Your Dragon does this.
• In Thor, the words "Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment Present" take five minutes to appear, while the actors' names and title card come during the end credits.
• The words "Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment Present a Marvel Studios Production, A Film By Joe Johnston: Captain America: The First Avenger" do not appear until during the movie's end credits, which come in between Cap meeting Nick Fury and Fury asking Cap to become an Avenger.
• The Bucket List
• The Mummy Returns
• The Passion of the Christ: Only a Bible verse is at the opening; all other credits are saved for the end of the film.
• A Prophet does this—probably because the lead character emerges as a metaphorical "prophet" fully only by the end of the film.
• Courageous, egregiously.
• Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous for some reason.
• Wanted: Though it may be argued that the film title shows up (as part of a newspaper headline) about an hour into the film, making it one heck of a teaser.

Music

• Claude Debussy's Preludes pour piano have highly evocative and poetical titles. They are written after each piece, specifically to void influencing the musician with preconceptions and instead let them focus on the actual, very subtle sound effects.
• Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" sames the Title Drop until the very end.

Western Animation

• The Pixar Short Day and Night does not have its title displayed until the ending, after Day and Night have become friends.
• The BBC kid's show Kerwhizz ("The quiz with added whizz") has a "K" logo and a theme song which includes the title at the start, and it's referred to several times per show, but the title only appears on-screen during the closing credits.
• Teachers Pet: The Movie
• Tangled Ever After does not display its title until after Eugene and Rapunzel are declared husband and wife, and Maximus and Pascal lose the wedding cake.

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Oh, there's the picture!