I fucking love you
I also like the ending but I guess I'm trying to reconcile what to think of the horrible bullying Shizuka initially went through, like...? Are we just going to brush over it? I get Maria had a horrible environment and that Shizuka later hurt her too but that goes into arguing whether someone can be completely absolved of their wrongdoing because their life sucked. In an ideal world they can be reformed and we forget about it but reality is limited.
They reached a consensus due to Takopii but still. In reality communication/understanding is hard without a Takopii to act as an intermediary (though in most situations communication will indeed solve a lot of problems).
Anyways I just don't know what to think of the bullying ig
Both Shizuka and Maria did all of that due to the environment they were in. No one brushed over anything, it just goes to show the unfortunate circumstances that led them to doing their horrible actions, no? I don't think what they did needed to be justified or absolved, it just happened, and that's it.
I get that it's a fact of life and very human, bullies bully because they lack love, but I still just don't know what to think of it.
They chose to let go of the bad blood thanks to Takopii, that was their choice, but I don't know about in other similar situations. It reminds me of the concept, "the key to stopping the cycle of revenge is love", which is very Japanese and a common theme in manga. I agree with the logic but it's also very self serving to the perpetrators depending on severity of crime.
Does this mean the criminal system and death penalty should ultimately be gone? Idk. Each country has different laws even. If we can get to that point as society, have abundant resources distributed, eliminate all unfortunate circumstances and prevent criminals, that'd be great.
I've seen a few ppl say that, while the ending was mostly satisfying, they were left a little disappointed with the feeling that everything was erased. I want to disagree.
When you think about it, nothing was really erased. Not completely. Marina was still abused and left scarred in every way by her mom and became a parent to her parent; Shizuka was still neglected by her mother, was forgotten by her father, and presumably lived through depression; And Azuma still lived under the thumb of an overbearing mother where nothing he did was ever good enough when held in comparison to his brother. All are combating their own forms of loneliness.
Azuma talks to his brother. Shizuka manipulating a potentially obsessive Azuma disappeared (thankfully we avoided that train wreck!). And Shizuka + Marina wanting to kill each other disappeared too after the final return, but the events that ultimately had the biggest impacts on them and made them the scarred people they are still exist.
The Ending Itself + Meaning:
I think the whole point of the ending, from my perspective, is that there's just some things that can't be fixed no matter how much you try and wish for it. Bad s— will always happen and sometimes struggling to fix or avoid it can make it all the worse. Sometimes you just have to weather the f—g storm, as turbulent as it is, and wait for it to pass.
There is no magic to make things go away, no savior that can erase it all, but you can reach out and talk to someone and hope you can connect with them enough that you understand a portion of each other. Bawl your eyes out for hours, maybe even days, and then talk to someone about the stuff you're going through and feel just a little less lonely... Which is so much more realistic and, to me, helpful.
So I'm fully satisfied with the ending.