Alternative Endings

Nayrael said:
Ending XI: Dusty Desert Trail


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Road to Carulean Sky? Isn't that one of the Chapter 3 endings? Those endings will be posted once the series ends.

Xaven said:
Hi! I'm after watching anime and I was unfulfilled of path that anime was going. I mean, Elen was for me the last one I would choose. I was courious about another routes and I come here. Thank your for tl:dr alternative endings and truly I love the most Reiji x Cal. Now when I have read thier happy ending I'm gladly and can walk to another anime without bitterness after watched this one.
Thank you for your work!
A bit sad that I can't saw the imagies, but still thank a lof of for telling me about Reiji x Cel routes (aswell Clau & Mio).

Ankylar said:


Same here, brother, same here. Cal is my favorite character along with Lizzie. I wished Cal survived in the anime, but it was handled so badly. Am I the only one who thinks Cal died because of a stupid misunderstanding and Reiji not being able to fucking tell her "I thought you died"?
I am so bitter about Reiji killing Cal, as if that was the only possible conclusion he could have reached.
Broke my heart to know Cal was dragged into this mess by Reiji AND Elen (since she killed Judy) and then when she was killed by Reiji, it was like he abandoned her all over again. Like Mio said, "she has no one to TALK to" That's right Reiji, all she needed was someone to talk to, not fucking shoot her.

Ahaha, sorry, I am ranting a bit here, the conclusion of her arc in the anime just pissed me off.

Nayrael said:


It was definitely all Reiji's fault. She even gave him the chance to explain himself. But no, he thought that she was like him and Elen, and that she was all depressed about becoming an assassin (when in reality she loved becoming one - unlike them, she was born and raised in the criminal underworld so her moral compass was always different).

I guess this is why I don't like Elen's route. It's the full tragedy, and both Reiji and Elen give up so much of their humanity that it's hard to even be happy about them.

By the way, if you want images with summary, I recreated most of the summaries (minus Cal route as I haven't yet found time for it...) and they can be found HERE

HimeLilianne said:
Really, thank you for making the effort of making the summary of the endings from the vn. Really appreciated it :)

HimeLilianne said:

1) Did the anime fully or mostly covered the important points of Elen's and Cal's route from the vn's chapter 1 and 2?

HimeLilianne said:

2) Basing from the images you posted here and from your tumblr post, it seems you played both the english dvd version (non-H) and the remastered version (also non-H). Or maybe you also played the original vn release (with the H-scenes) and you can read in Japanese? Please correct me here in this hehe.

HimeLilianne said:

3) Just curious. Was there an H-scene between Elen and Reiji from the original vn? Or maybe an implied H-scene for them from the non-H vn versions?

Nayrael said:


You are welcome :) I am always happy to see that people still read my summaries... and this reminds me that I still have to remake the summary of Dusty Desert Trail on tumblr...



Elen's scenes were fully covered. I can't remember much being cut, but a lot more was added with Anime-Original scenes.

Cal's scenes, especially in chapter 2, were trimmed however, which I consider a shame because they explained more about her character. Most notable changes:
- when Reiji met Cal, he pretended to be a Drug Dealer. Cal thought it was extremely cool. This hit home the fact that Cal's childhood was being surrounded by prostitutes and gangsters (and had she normally grown up, she would have become one of these two)
- Cal thought of Phantom as a superhero who murdered the evil mafiosos. This explains why in her own ending she is still an assassin: as long as bad people die and they make sure that good people are spared, being an assassin is ok in Cal's books
- in chapter 3, Cal remembered her childhood from before she fled her abusive father. But I covered this one in the summary of her ending

There are a few more, but I consider these ones to be the most major changes. They all show that Cal is not such a pure child as she looks in Anime, which then explains her character development.

Overall though, the Anime did an excellent job. Not many adaptations are worthy of their source material, but BeeTrain did a good job here (a shame the studio is now basically dead).



I played only the English DVD version as it was the only one translated... and I really, really hope a better version finds itself on Steam someday because playing the DVD version is utter suffering.
But I have explored the other versions so I know most of differences.



There are formally two H scenes:
1. The first one is not really a H-scene even if it is classified as such: it's just Reiji treating Elen's wounds and for some reason they made it arousing. It's quite awkward, and the Anime captured the gist of it as I remember
2. Reiji and Elen's real sex scene is in chapter 3, just after you choose Elen's path. Reiji and Elen have sex at the altar in the church, after which Elen leaves and Cal arrives to have a duel with Reiji

HimeLilianne said:


Thank you for the speedy reply. I think I can now at least move on from this masterpiece. Now I just have to find time and finish reading the summaries of the other endings so I can at least give closure to it. And maybe I'll hope that a better english version really comes out in Steam.

NumberEinFan said:
I actually went and bought the game in a double DVD pack a couple or several years ago off of Amazon, and despite having played it through, I've been wondering as to why the animators went and changed the ending in the anime. I mean, we didn't even get the OW-MY-HEART-In-a-good-way dialogue line from Elen that she says at the very end of the anime's final route: "This is enough." I mean, I understand that the animators were kind of cobbling together all the available routes into one story, and they did a okay job, but still, the anime's ending has me as confused as the day I finished watching it for the first time almost ten years ago... Does anyone have a explaination or analysis for it?

adeimam14 said:
is there a route where cal is still alive?

HimeLilianne said:


As far as I know, they changed the ending into a tragic one for the anime. Dunno why, but in my opinion, it's just Urobuchi doing his thing for tragic plot twists. Though I think almost everyone who played/read the synopsis of the game already know that Elen's route is a happy ending.

rick1-2 said:
Yeah, that's true! Elen's route is a happy ending! The ending for the anime was total BS, which I think Urobuchi had a hand on it being there. Again, Elen's route and ending is a HAPPY one! Do you think it's BS that the ending for the anime was changed into a tragic one?

HimeLilianne said:

Well for me, it's not BS because I have a thing for tragic endings and it's interesting to have a "what if" ending. Though I admit that after I went through the anime ending, I fell into depression and when I learned the truth about Elen's route in which it's a happy end, well, it's a mixture of disappointment and relief.

rick1-2 said:
I see. You learning the truth that Elen's route is a happy ending brought you a mixture of disappointment and relief? I get the relief part since both Reiji and Elen are actually supposed to be alive at the end, but why the disappointment?

HimeLilianne said:

I expected that the Elen route from the vn will also have a tragic end, but nah. But what matters is that I found a hidden gem of a story and had a good time :)

Ankylar said:


Yeah, she definitely gave him a chance, but he said the wrong damn thing and she punched him and set her down a path she could not stray from anymore.

Thanks for writing up these summaries. Will check it out. I have a lot of VNs on my list to play and no time in which to do so, so having these summaries help out. It's very interesting to read the monologues that Cal had in the VN that did not appear in the anime. It really shows how much she was hurt and makes me feel even more sorry for her.

Nayrael said:


It was definitely all Reiji's fault. She even gave him the chance to explain himself. But no, he thought that she was like him and Elen, and that she was all depressed about becoming an assassin (when in reality she loved becoming one - unlike them, she was born and raised in the criminal underworld so her moral compass was always different).

I guess this is why I don't like Elen's route. It's the full tragedy, and both Reiji and Elen give up so much of their humanity that it's hard to even be happy about them.

By the way, if you want images with summary, I recreated most of the summaries (minus Cal route as I haven't yet found time for it...) and they can be found HERE

rick1-2 said:
Also, you said that you remade Cal's ending summary in your tumblr. Can I see it?

rick1-2 said:
I want to ask, what happened to Claudia when Reiji went to the abandoned warehouse to wait for Eren to kill him (where the two then escape south towards Mexico after they reconcile with each other), after he thought Cal was dead when their apartment blew up? She called him after his apartment blew up, right? This is in regards to the VN. Hope to hear from you soon, Nayrael!

Nayrael said:


Unfortunately, I hadn't remade it yet :( It will take a while longer as I intend to include some of the differences between Anime and VN, which I consider to be important to fully understand how Cal's mind works (I think I talked about those cut scenes it in this thread).



As I remember, we last see her when Reiji and Lizzie confront her about her betrayal. If Reiji doesn't shoot Lizzie, Claudia leaves because Lizzie doesn't have it in her to shoot her. Claudia is then killed off screen by Inferno.

In the newest release, she is killed by Lizzie at the beach, just like in the Anime (alongside better art, the newest release includes the Anime-original additions).

rick1-2 said:
I want to make a request, can you also do the ending summary for Eren's route ending, Road to Cerulean Sky, as well?

rick1-2 said:
I think the newest release added variations to it?

I would love to see your ending summary of it for the VN, and the how differeny anime's adaptation of it is. We know Mio is let go by Cal, is rescued by Eren, and escorted back home by Shiga in the anime, but what about in the VN?

We also know that Cal dies in the anime (it follows Eren's route, and mostly her ending) and Eren's route in the VN, killed by Reiji, but what are the differences for her death?

As for Claudia, so in the original VN (before the anime and VN remake release), the last we saw of her is when she's confronted by Reiji and Lizzie about her betrayal. If Reiji doesn't shoot Lizzie, Claudia leaves since Lizzie is unwilling to shoot her. After that, Claudia is then killed by Inferno offscreen? Wow, that's stupid, we don't even get to see what happened to her onscreen in the VN.

Wait, if Reiji doesn't shoot Lizzie, can that possibly lead to the bad ending where Reiji is killed by Eren at the abandoned warehouse under Scythe's orders? I think to get that, you can't do Eren's route in Chapter 1.

The newest release includes the Anime-original additions? Oh god, even the anime ending? The story is still the same, right? Hope to hear from you soon!

Nayrael said:


Ah yes, the Cerulean Skies... I greatly regret not making a summary of that one.
Though I barely remember details of that route, so I'd have to replay the game. Can't promise it will come anytime soon though.



I have't played the new version itself, but from what I hear you choose if you want a happy or sad ending.



In the VN, Elen saves Mio,and unlike the Anime Mio does not have any more interactions with Reiji. I remember in the Anime she gave him a speech that she gives him in the Cal's route, a fact I did not like because in the game this speech is what made Reiji decide not to kill Cal.



None really. The two meet in the Church, duel, and Reiji kills her.
This scene only changes if Reiji kisses (or has sax in later 18+ version) at the end of Chapter 2. In this case, Reiji does not have the strength to pull the trigger, so Cal wins the duel and he dies (I touched on this in one of Bad Ending summaries).



Not really. In the branched stories, it's common for characters to not get full resolutions in every route, or for all mysteries to be resolved, or for everything to be explained. It makes readers more motivated to see other routes, and it saves the already exhausted writers to reduce the amount of story they have to write. Basically, to get the full story, you have to finish all the routes (and reach all the bad endings as well). In a way, you could even say that having a route that's completely fulfilling would be detrimental to the story overall.
The Anime of course is not such a type of the story, so it did need to show Claudia's ultimate fate on screen.

In other words, for VN's, killing major characters off-screen is nothing uncommon, or even bad. That injustice is more than made up by them having their own route, aka their own storyline, all for themselves.



Yep. In this case, Ein kills him.
Now that I think about it, I do wonder if the same happens if you complete Claudia's and Cal's routes. Maybe in that case we get a variation of Southbound? I doubt it, but I remember when I once ended in Cal's route which then turned into Mio's route so all is possible.



The newest release is a fusion of the VN's and Anime's story. Basically, it's the VN's story with new scenes. So it's really not the "same" story as the Anime.

As for the ending, from what I heard (but did not confirm myself) you choose if you want the old ending, or the Anime ending. The game certainly has both sets of pictures:





I really hope that someday the game appears on Steam. You'd think that with the flood of VN releases on Steam that it would have came by now, but alas... and playing the currently existing PS version is... masochism to say it lightly.

rick1-2 said:
That speech is what made Reiji decide not to kill Cal in the game. However, in the anime, it was what made him resolved in killing Cal. What the hell? Yeah, I agree with you in not liking the anime for this part.

So, the ending where Reiji is killed by Cal in their duel when he doesn't have the strength to pull the trigger, what does it entail? Is it summarized in this thread? Also, there's absolutely no difference in Cal's death between the anime and Eren's route in the VN, she and Reiji meet in the church, duel, and Reiji kills her. Cal dies the same.

I see. What are the other ways that will lead to Ein killing Reiji in the abandoned warehouse? I believe there are two more ways? Wait, if you do Eren's route in chapter 1, and Reiji doesn't shoot Lizzie, where will that lead to? Reiji going to his apartment? We do know that shooting Lizzie will always lead Claudia's route though.

So, you're saying that the newest release is the VN's story, just with new scenes? I know it's not the same story as the Anime's story, and that is what I want. I want the VN's story, not the Anime's story. Strange fusion though, wouldn't you agree?

Wait, this currently existing PS version, it's in English? Don't tell it's the painful DVD one? God, you have to be a freaking masochist to play that? You're saying the PS version is worst?