Couldn't find a proper name for the type of ending, so just went with a usual complaint for these type of endings.
What I'm talking about are essentially endings in which sad stuff happens (character sacrifices himself, someone dies, etc) and at the end the sad stuff is reversed. Like it turns out the character wasn't dead, or whatever sad thing happened actually didn't happen, or stuff like that. Hence the common complaint that 'our tears were for nothing'.
A popular and recent example would be The Dark Knight Rises, with Bruce Wayne/Batman still being alive after his 'sacrifice'. For anime related examples a good one would be Clannad After Story, or the recent Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi.
[spoiler]The reason I ask is because I am writing a story and am somewhat going for that type of ending. The MC will 'die' but will come back alive in the epilogue. There is a completely valid reason for him coming back alive, too, so it isn't a cop-out or anything[/spoiler]
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"Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi" I was freaking in tears during that last episode, but then the ending made me mad. Don't ever end anything like that.