Wow. What a great show this was.
Before I begin, let me say that I am the kind of person that is willing to forgive something for not being believable as long as it’s happy, because A) I am objectively the worst person at judging literary worth and writing in the world B) I just want everybody to be okay, even if they aren’t even real C) I am objectively an idiot. Angel beats is the biggest case-in-point for me in regards to this principle. Anyways, with that out of the way….
We have to witness Banri’s friends all crying a river in the beginning of the episode once they realize he’s finally reverted and forgotten everyone, just as he said. While it was a slow burn, it didn’t make this fact any easier to deal with, and it’s hard seeing all our friends (Kaga especially) being so down over it.
Later, Banri sits in his apartment room, cleaning up his college stuff (as he’s going to withdraw) and realizes somebody pretending to be him is sending emails to Kaga. Confused, he battles with this other Banri who tells him “Not to give up, ever.”
THE FEELS. The first half of the episode delivers what I believe the cruelest scene I have ever seen this side of nipponese curtoons lul. Later, Banri enjoy dinner with Linda and the two have seemingly reverted to as they were in high school, complete with Banri exclaiming that he still has feelings for Linda. We have to watch painfully as Banri greets Kaga at the door and mistakes her for Chinami, and even hands her the mirror she lovingly put in a bag of DVD’s she lent from him. Confused, he hands it back to her and doesn’t recognize it. Ouch, this scene hurt like hell. Kaga walks off, and as Banri coldly goes back in, he realizes the mirror in his room is not the right one.
Then, it snaps back to him. He remembers everything. As I suspected, Kaga is the trigger that reverts him to his old self. Now having both combined memories, he runs after her. Linda meets him halfway, throws shoes at him, and he continues running to catch her. Now comes the confusing; he meets with his old self, having climbed out of the river he “suicided” himself into about 6 or 7 episodes ago. He tells College Banri about how frusterated he was that he never listened to him, and they come to terms. Now comes the really confusing part. Linda runs across the bridge and tells Banri that her answer is “Yes”, after all these years. The scene was so touching and happy that I didn’t care it didn’t make any sense, I was just happy to see ghost Banri and Linda finally happy and with each other. After all, these are characters who’s exploits we’ve been following for half a year now.
Banri and Kaga meet up on the bridge as he calls out for her. Kaga asks if he remembers their promise, and he does. They hug, kiss, catch up, and proclaim their love for one another in a well deserved, touching fashion. Kaga also tells him she’ll catch him up on what all their friends have been up to. Of course, Banri also hands Kaga the ring that he got; she happily wears it, and the two walk off hand-in-hand (let’s go paati night).
Now call me crazy, but I was hoping for further bullshit to happen, like ghost Banri becomes a separate entity so that Linda doesn’t have to be alone (This would make even less sense than the previous shit). Linda is the only one that I feel gets left out. Poor girl will never get to be with her high school crush. Is she ok with that? Prior scenes would suggest she is, but I can’t help but feel bad for her.
So, who were those emails coming from? I thought it was College Banri coming to and sending emails inbetween spouts of turning back into high school Banri. Nope. It was our well dressed, badass, best fucking friend ever 2D-kun who sent those emails to get the two of them back together.
2D kun is the best fucking friend in the whole world. God DAMN the man is dedicated to his buddies. Thankfully, everyone’s back together now and back to how it used to be. Just happy to see everything worked out.
Happy end.
