I'm not sure if you're even interested in an answer at this point, it's been so long, but just in case you were/for the benefit of future readers -
The ending in the manga is
definitely not a tragedy. I didn't put that in spoilers because it's a direct reply to your post, but here's kind of what happens (in a general sense):
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
None of the important main(good) characters die. Plenty of the bad guys do. The protagonist gets a happy ending/life, so does pretty much everyone else.
More specifically though (and this will pretty much spoil the whole ending),
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
Ginta basically kicks everyone's ass, even his dad turns out to be alive, and they go home and live happily ever after, or as far as we know. They leave behind their friends in the other world, though, so I guess that's a little bittersweet.
I just finished reading the manga series literally half an hour ago, so I'm pretty sure I'm right on this one. From what I've heard the manga and anime plot are pretty different, so I can't confirm what happens in the anime version.