The final chapter that quite a lot seem to ignore just because it's all words and doesn't have all those cool fights or "GREAT ANIMATION". This is untrue, by the way. Because the movie is definitely well-animated, especially considering the fact that it's just about a conversation between two characters.
Just like the beginning of the story (i.e., the beginning of part 2), Mikiya walks with his umbrella under snowy weather only to get a glimpse of the same person he met 4 years ago, 「Shiki」.
Shiki's true identity has been explained in three different archetypes in this film: Shiki as a body, Shiki as a psyche, and Shiki as a soul. As she argues, this 「Shiki」 we see here is the soul, an empty soul.
The entire film reminisces on many events from previous films, such as the similarities between Shiki and Fujino which Shiki stated in part 3, the concept of the Soul and its origin which is the central concept in part 5, and finally answering my personal question about the consequences of not forgiving Shiki. What also pleasantly surprised me was the subtle similarities between Mikiya and Shiki, that Mikiya fell in love with Shiki, because of how similar his normalcy is to her abnormality.
Expects nothing and receives nothing, neither looks into the future nor regrets the past, never hurting anyone nor yourself. That is the normal person he is. There's a tiny line between Mikiya's nature of life (as in to live in the present) and 「Shiki's」 origins (from the nothingness), and it's a bit lovely that these two characters, each on the other side of this boundary, were able to fall in love with each other.
This film feels more like an epilogue than a typical film because it is highly filled with dialogue, with animation and music only providing enough support to make the most of the least so as to not make it a drag to watch, although this will undoubtedly be the case for many. The peaceful and languid tempo contrasts sharply with the preceding parts' blood and gore; one could even call this an artsy entry to the franchise rather than a commercial movie. Though I do agree reading this entry in the novel works better as it is full of words, by no means this film is an abomination. Only people who think that good fights = good animation will get to that conclusion.
"Conclusion"
This is definitely a great addition (and the true conclusion I would argue) to the franchise. However,
If you're enjoyability factors are just cool animation and fights, then you will not like this film, or even hate this film for that matter.
If you are more interested in the characters, however, then this will be a beautiful movie to watch on a winter night.
Fun Fact: The voice actors for Shiki (Maaya Sakamoto) and Mikiya (Kenichi Suzumura) were married, 6 months after this film debuted. I don't know, I just found it cute.
