The Ending

reneansun said:
Finishing the manga a few minutes ago, I have to say I am surprised people dislike the ending so much. For me, I felt the mother's last act (taking the gun and killing Haru) truly fit her madness, desperation and jealously for her daughter. The ending itself gives a sense of longing, since the readers didn't see the happy ending they wanted for their tortured protagonists, but in the well-written side. Like telling us that things won't end happily sometimes as much as we want them to. The message of moving on still persists, especially after Haru's death, since Sachi needs to walk forward with yet another, unmendable scar. Since the only person who helped her overcome her abyss won't be with her in the end.

And well, I doubt someone started this manga and reached the ending expecting a happy story.

Also, the concept of "criminal protagonist goes to jail" was also explored by another manga/manhwa I read which I won't name here because of end spoilers, and it certainly doesn't give a sad ending. Just sth among the lines of "wait for some years to get your happy ending."

ElionSylwin said:
I finished the manga today and I agree with you, the way it ended left a sour taste. User 89ji_mayoi made a good point in their review saying "big part of Sachi-iro no One Room is moving on and deciding for on your own terms what happiness is for you, regardless of tragedy, loss, or abuse." and while I agree with that, at the same time the way it ended was absolutely unnecessary. In my opinion, take out the part where he dies and exchange it with him going to prison and nothing will change and it will feel like better ending. Because I believe what happened to Sachi in the end would happen nonetheless as Hiro would go into a prison for a while (from what I found online, max sentence for kidnapping in japan is 7 years), therefore he would be out of a picture for that amount time. So I think she would still be adopted and she would still become a photographer. The only difference is that Hiro would most likely be there as well, travelling the world with her.