Thanking the Viewer

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Closing Credits which, among other thanks, thank the viewer for watching/reading/playing. Can address the viewer directly in second person ("Thanks to... YOU"), or refer to them in third person ("Thanks to all our viewers/everyone who read my comic/etc.") Sometimes also the last element on Special Thanks.

For when viewers are thanked specifically for financial support, see Viewers Like You.

Examples of Thanking the Viewer include:

Anime and Manga

• One of the last Azumanga Daioh strips, and the final episode of the anime, had the girls going to Yukari and thanking her for being their teacher. However, the actual "Thank You" panel showed the girls facing toward the reader, subtly thanking them as well.
• The very final shot in Puella Magi Madoka Magica is this ^{[dead link]} "Thank you for watching" artwork.
• In episode 167 of Gintama, Gintoki becomes nostalgic about 8-bit video games and mentions how touched he was when he saw the words "you" in the credits at the end of the game.
• Battle Programmer Shirase had an unusual variant. The head director apologized for the show having to end, specifically addressing: "To those who enjoyed the show on TV and to those outside the broadcast area who took special measures to watch the show on their PC monitors and to everybody who watched it subtitled overseas without permission."

Comic Books

• The final page of Millar's Wanted has quite a subversion...

Literature

• JKR did this in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Live-Action TV

• The end of Angel.
• Inverted by Charlie Brooker in Screenwipe, Newswipe and You Have Been Watching, where he usually tells the viewer to go away. In fact it's almost a Catch Phrase.
• Subverted in the fourth season finale of Babylon 5 (the first episode filmed after season 5 was greenlit by the network) which was dedicated to "all people who predicted that the Babylon Project would fail in its mission".
  • The episode shot before it, the series finale shot in case there was no 5th season, finished with freeze frame shots of the entire crew finishing with them waving while Shadow Ships zoom past and narration says Funding for this program was made possible by grants from the Anla'shok Memorial Fund

Video Games

• The phrase 'and YOU' appears in the end credits of huge numbers of games, most notably most Capcom arcade games do it.
  • Viewtiful Joe ends with the words "Everybody loves a hero. Everybody loves you" on the screen.
• Crazy Taxi
• The computer game Digital: A Love Story.
• The credits sequence in Kirby's Dream Land ends in "And... so many players."
• EarthBound did it. It even addresses the player by their real name.
  • Assuming that you didn't put in "BUTTS" or "Ness".
  • In Mother 3, you are mentioned, by name, at the end of the credits, of course. Not only that, but at The End of the game, Everyone in the game thanks you, personally, for all that you did for them, assures you that their world is going to be okay, and hopes that your world is as good to you as you've been to them.
    • Ditto for the fangame Touhou Mother.
• A staple of at least the SNES releases of Mega Man X games. "Thanks X, Zero and YOU!"
• One of the hidden galleries in the original Medal of Honor has the entire cast (including the joke characters of multiplayer) cheering and thanking the player in a huge group shot.
• Prehistorik Man
• Used in Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song, with the character you selected directly thanking the player and encouraging them to "help the others just like you did me!", to roughly paraphrase it.
• "Thank you so much a for-to playing my game!" from every 3D Super Mario Brothers game. It's even said by Mario himself!
  • At the end of Super Mario World, the Yoshi eggs Mario rescued thank you, the player, for saving them.
  • YOU'RE THE BEST PLAYER EVER!
  • The coral in World 9-4 of Super Mario Bros the Lost Levels. Also, the Game Over screen if you die there.
  • The flipping tiles at the end of Special 8-Crown in Super Mario 3D Land.
  • "Thank you. I will always watch you from beyond the stars..."
• The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass: towards the beginning of the game, you - the player - were asked to sign for a letter. At the very end of the credits, your signature appears.
  • Zelda II the Adventure of Link: Thanks A Million
• Karoshi: THANKS FOR PLAY
• The very first Castlevania says in its credits: "You played the greatest role in this game". Some of the later titles also thank the player.
• Snatcher has a strange example: After Gillian and Jamie escape from the church before it's destroyed with the Kill Sat along with the Snatcher production factory, Random thanks the player for being "a hell of a Junker" as he holds Elijah down. He thanks the player after the character he's been controlling leaves the scene.

Web Comics

• The final page of Concerned.
• Every chapter of Gunnerkrigg Court ends with Tom Siddell thanking the reader in The Rant.
• The end of Problem Sleuth has some credits with the line "Story: You", because it's an Interactive Comic.

Western Animation

• Kids Next Door ended with a drawing by series creator, Tom Warbuton (Mr. Warbuton in the credits), of the Sector V cast over looking sunset from their treehouse with the words "Stay Young" at the top. A subtle thank you to the viewers for the six year series.
• Cartoon Planet would thank you for watching the Closing Credits, then end with a "See You Soon."
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends had a drawing of Mac and Bloo at the end of the final episode from series creator, Craig McCracken, with a thank you to the viewers
• Hey Assholes, thanks for watching!
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold last episode ended with nearly all the cast from past episodes gathering for a "wrap up party" hosted by Ambush Bug. Batman then turns to the viewers and thanks them for watching as we get a final group shot.
• David Mandel thanks the viewers in his Vanity Plate on Clerks.

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Thank you for reading!