This was my post on the Chapter 19 discussion thread. I saw how a lot of people were confused about the ending, so I thought I'd clear some things up.
harrysoung said: Let me try to break it down for you guys.
Basically, we know that Ritsu is caught in a time loop. He experiences the same "daily romance comedy" moments with the three different girls from the timelines.
But why is Ritsu in the time loop in the first place? It was all to prevent Miri's death
When the first time loop occurred after he kissed Akari, we were led to believe that solidifying the relationship between the timeline's heroine and Ritsu would cause a replay (the loop occurred after he kissed Akari), but that turned out to be false. A replay occurs after Miri's death, as we saw in Hatori's loop. In Hatori's loop, instead of staying at home with her, Ritsu goes to America with Miri, and there he witnesses Miri being taken by the scientists and sucked into the machine. In Akari's time loop, Miri probably got sucked into the machine JUST before Akari and Ritsu were about to kiss.
Now comes the question about the blog of Futurology. When Ritsu first stumbled upon the blog, it seemed like everything was made for Ritsu and the timeline's heroine to hook up. Why would this be the case? Because once again, everything comes back down to SAVING MIRI'S ASS. Being in a love relationship with Akari was supposed to shake Miri up and prevent her from going to America. Being with Hatori was supposed to make use of Hatori's investigative abilities to stop her from going to America. Bottom line, MIRI WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO GO TO AMERICA. Oh, and the one who was giving that message to Ritsu was Future Ritsu.
Now, this entire time-looping world is called the Torus. In the diagram that the future Ritsu made, this world would be called sequence B. Future Ritsu is from sequence A, which is the world that is progressing smoothly as it should. But how would Future Ritsu be able to influence Ritsu from sequence B? After all they are, quite literally, worlds apart from each other. Enter Bungo. All you need to know about Bungo is that it is a supercomputer with the ability to touch into sequence B. But how exactly? Through Fumiko.
We know that Fumiko came to detroy the Torus. The truth about Fumiko is that she is actually the Bungo. The reason why she looks so much like Miri is that Fumiko is actually Miri who got absorbed in the Bungo. Even though that's the case, Fumiko hates being called "Miri," since Miri died and Fumiko considers herself someone else entirely.
The reason why Miri had to connect to Bungo in the first place was because the synchronization of the human mind and Bungo was needed for Bungo to power on. If the synchronization failed, then Bungo starts to do da absorbing. Originally, the ones who were supposed to power on the Bungo were Ritsu and Miri's parents, but they passed away in an accident. Miri was chosen as the next person after her parents to be the one to power on Bungo. The phone call, the letter, and the picture of Future Ritsu (their father at the time) was all a setup to bring Miri to the American laboratory.
As for the last chapter, all credit goes to Fumiko for setting things straight. We saw how Ritsu was prepared to sacrifice himself to save Miri. So far, the only person who was experimented on was Miri. Ritsu, who went to America alone, was the only other option to power on the Bungo. He was supposed to have failed to synchronize, but Fumiko saved him. In sequence A where Future Ritsu is, we see him lamenting over Fumiko's disappearance/ the breakdown of Bungo. But we see Miri's future form around the corner. FUTURE MIRI IS ALIVE. She is alive in sequence A, which is the normal timeline. MIRI IS ALIVE.
But where is Fumiko? Skip over to sequence B. We see the "daily romance comedy" scene replaying again.... but not quite. Quite a few things are off. So much, in fact, that it is probably implied that sequence B got out of the Torus loop . And when Ritsu is talking with Miri in his room when she wanted to play eroge with him, it seemed like she knew a bit too much about the events that went on. This is probably meant to imply that Fumiko is now Miri of sequence B .
CrossRyuu said: its pretty easy to understand if you dont drop this and you read it till the end
so i think your explanation is unessesary
Not exactly what I thought when I read the complaints about the readers' confusion concerning the ending. I posted it for a reason.
It's only there for those who need it. Those who don't may still get a better understanding. Or if they knew what happened 100%, they could just skip this thread.
I agree that the rundown is valuable indeed. Pardon me for not asking permission first but I took the initiative to repost your theory on the batoto thread. Hopefully you won't mind.
I recommend reading usernameisinvalid's (mangafox) interpretation to further comprehend the manga.
Kenjimax said: I agree that the rundown is valuable indeed. Pardon me for not asking permission first but I took the initiative to repost your theory on the batoto thread. Hopefully you won't mind.
I recommend reading usernameisinvalid's (mangafox) interpretation to further comprehend the manga.
Nah, no problem. His is pretty interesting as well, but it's pretty darn complex in some places.
Yeah, there are many different ways to look at this. My way is just one of them.
Thanks for this explanation. I kinda didn't get the parts near the final chapter, so I ended up hating the series for that. After reading this however, I finally get to appreciate the story.
harrysoung said: This was my post on the Chapter 19 discussion thread. I saw how a lot of people were confused about the ending, so I thought I'd clear some things up.
harrysoung said: Let me try to break it down for you guys.
Basically, we know that Ritsu is caught in a time loop. He experiences the same "daily romance comedy" moments with the three different girls from the timelines.
But why is Ritsu in the time loop in the first place? It was all to prevent Miri's death
When the first time loop occurred after he kissed Akari, we were led to believe that solidifying the relationship between the timeline's heroine and Ritsu would cause a replay (the loop occurred after he kissed Akari), but that turned out to be false. A replay occurs after Miri's death, as we saw in Hatori's loop. In Hatori's loop, instead of staying at home with her, Ritsu goes to America with Miri, and there he witnesses Miri being taken by the scientists and sucked into the machine. In Akari's time loop, Miri probably got sucked into the machine JUST before Akari and Ritsu were about to kiss.
Now comes the question about the blog of Futurology. When Ritsu first stumbled upon the blog, it seemed like everything was made for Ritsu and the timeline's heroine to hook up. Why would this be the case? Because once again, everything comes back down to SAVING MIRI'S ASS. Being in a love relationship with Akari was supposed to shake Miri up and prevent her from going to America. Being with Hatori was supposed to make use of Hatori's investigative abilities to stop her from going to America. Bottom line, MIRI WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO GO TO AMERICA. Oh, and the one who was giving that message to Ritsu was Future Ritsu.
Now, this entire time-looping world is called the Torus. In the diagram that the future Ritsu made, this world would be called sequence B. Future Ritsu is from sequence A, which is the world that is progressing smoothly as it should. But how would Future Ritsu be able to influence Ritsu from sequence B? After all they are, quite literally, worlds apart from each other. Enter Bungo. All you need to know about Bungo is that it is a supercomputer with the ability to touch into sequence B. But how exactly? Through Fumiko.
We know that Fumiko came to detroy the Torus. The truth about Fumiko is that she is actually the Bungo. The reason why she looks so much like Miri is that Fumiko is actually Miri who got absorbed in the Bungo. Even though that's the case, Fumiko hates being called "Miri," since Miri died and Fumiko considers herself someone else entirely.
The reason why Miri had to connect to Bungo in the first place was because the synchronization of the human mind and Bungo was needed for Bungo to power on. If the synchronization failed, then Bungo starts to do da absorbing. Originally, the ones who were supposed to power on the Bungo were Ritsu and Miri's parents, but they passed away in an accident. Miri was chosen as the next person after her parents to be the one to power on Bungo. The phone call, the letter, and the picture of Future Ritsu (their father at the time) was all a setup to bring Miri to the American laboratory.
As for the last chapter, all credit goes to Fumiko for setting things straight. We saw how Ritsu was prepared to sacrifice himself to save Miri. So far, the only person who was experimented on was Miri. Ritsu, who went to America alone, was the only other option to power on the Bungo. He was supposed to have failed to synchronize, but Fumiko saved him. In sequence A where Future Ritsu is, we see him lamenting over Fumiko's disappearance/ the breakdown of Bungo. But we see Miri's future form around the corner. FUTURE MIRI IS ALIVE. She is alive in sequence A, which is the normal timeline. MIRI IS ALIVE.
But where is Fumiko? Skip over to sequence B. We see the "daily romance comedy" scene replaying again.... but not quite. Quite a few things are off. So much, in fact, that it is probably implied that sequence B got out of the Torus loop . And when Ritsu is talking with Miri in his room when she wanted to play eroge with him, it seemed like she knew a bit too much about the events that went on. This is probably meant to imply that Fumiko is now Miri of sequence B .
