I'm so sad this series is over. It's been quite a ride. All those happy, lovely, sad, beautiful, nice, cute, adorable, deep, heartwarming moments are all over. We went from Touko denying herself and trying to become her sister and Yuu not understanding what love is to these two, fully comfortable in their lives, together.
All I can say is just wow right now, still sorting out my thoughts. Without a doubt, the best yuri/shoujo-ai out there. Nothing can compare to it honestly. It's just a masterpiece in its story, characters, pacing, art, and content. It made me really care about almost all of the side characters, especially Sayaka, to the point where there really was no antagonist or anyone of that sort here. Even Sayaka I was rooting for until the end, and I'm really happy that Sayaka found someone (wish we could see her though!)
I was half-expecting a timeskip, but I was expecting a timeskip to marriage. I'm pleasantly surprised that wasn't the case. Yuu cut her hair, not sure if I personally like it, but it feels like it fits her. Touko seems to not have changed one bit. It's really nice seeing everybody more mature and in a different stage of their lives. Koyomi is going to debut as an author. If she makes her stories with the same uniqueness as her play, she's going to be a great author (and if it could exist I'd like to read her novels please). Looks like Akari and Doujima are a thing, and seeing they're all in college now it must be really going well!
Yuu seems to have opened up about her relationship to her friends (except Doujima) and her sister. That's really nice. It's also cute how Rei really supports her younger sister's relationship.
That awkwardness between Touko and Sayaka though.
So Touko is on her way to be a real movie actress huh? Would not have expected that at the start of the series. Although, in retrospect, having to act like the image of her older sister means that she's pretty damn good at acting and practiced it for YEARS before she got into actual acting. But Yuu's still unsure of the direction of her life, as expected. But we all know once she gets into something, she's going to be REALLY into it.
I'll be completely honest: I did not see the rings until people mentioned it in the forum thread. So they're committed! It's really lovely, and despite just reading the previous chapter like a few minutes before this one, it all felt really nostalgic seeing all those locations, especially the train bridge with the stone steps and the road with the trees.
This manga really went full circle. We started with the panel in chapter 4 where Yuu reached out to the stars that Touko gave her from the planetarium, asking whether one day she can reach those stars and love someone. We ended with chapter 45, where Yuu reaches out to the stars in the sky, and takes back her hand, having reached them and loving someone.
What a beautiful ending. This is the perfect ending. It doesn't drag out too long and it does exactly what it needs to do, executing it so perfectly and not once feeling rushed in my personal opinion. This is truly the best yuri/shoujo-ai story that I have ever known, and will probably ever know. I know that this manga is perfect the way it is with its length and ending, but I still can't help but feel sad that it IS ending. I can't help but want more of Yuu and Touko. I'll really miss this series.
Thank you for this beautiful work of art, this masterpiece, Nakatani-sensei. Looking forward to more of your works in the future.
On a side note, why does it end on chapter 45 but MAL says there's 50 chapters? Am I missing something? |