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The Ending (Massive Spoilers)


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#1
Pacifier

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Seriously.

What in the name of holy hell...

I dropped SZS a while back after getting into some other manga (I like to let releases pile up and then go through them in one go) but the sudden release of the ending made me wonder what the hell was going on (granted, I was too busy typesetting to immediately realize this was no ordinary ending). So now, here what I gather is:

Akagi An, I guess at around Nozomu's childhood, dies in a car accident (Abiru describes the visions from her transplanted eye).
The girls of Nozomu's class all receive organ transplants from the deceased (I think Nozomu just got blood but not sure).
The girls attempt suicide for various reasons but fail.
The girls lose their will to suicide thanks to the "happy gene" that kicks in or something from the organs (they joke around and may be psycho but by no means depressed).
Something about Showa era spirits (I really don't know).
Everyone who inherited the organs can be 'possessed' by 'Kafuka', the 'spirit' of Akagi An.
When possessed, anyone with the organs sees and treats that person as Fuura Kafuka (a hallucination, outsiders see it normally, not sure about other students).
~7 years of gags pass by and nobody notices~
Nozomu exorcises 'Kafuka' and the Showa ghosts from the girls, who promptly forget who Kafuka is (no clue how this happens).
Akagi An shows up to rape our minds and marry Nozomu for a 'happy' ending (I'm guessing Akagi An knew Nozomu from the past).

Good god. This all doesn't sound too amazing until you watch the anime openings, endings and look carefully at all those 'mysterious' moments in the manga. THERE ARE HINTS EVERYWHERE. SEVEN DAMNED YEARS OF FORESHADOWING. Good god I'm twitching all over. This tops Katte Ni Kaizo for sure.

This is all from some /a/ thread somewhere after doing some Googling.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make a thread clarifying what the heck is going on and also discuss where hints actually popped up. Here's an OP from the anime (they knew...all along...):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXdAnLzHA80

The most obvious part is when you see Kafuka dressed as all the girls. I'm pretty sure some of the lyrics or text on the screen also have hidden significance.
Also, Kafuka is often represented as Buddha as she saves the lives of seventeen girls, bringing happiness and whatever. The penguin Yin Yang symbol also means something concerning something about the trinity between the girls themselves, Kafuka and the Showa spirits? I'm seriously lost. Symbolism galore.

The earliest reference is during the "list your future despairs" where Kafuka wishes to be god. Note that her name is signed with a tail, hinting that she was possessing Abiru at the time.

There are piles of other clues to find and details to figure out...and a lot of patting eachother's backs to do. This is mentally unsettling for any fan.

Edited by Pacifier, 19 June 2012 - 05:03 AM.


#2
rage bunny

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After read this thread, I can't hold back to read something on the internet and watch the very last opening. I'm afraid there's nothing new but here's thoughts pop in my mind (if anyone interest ha ha, because I confused as hell):

- (fact) + (my thoughts)

- I read somewhere (maybe in tv tropes) that all the girls were put on the class purposely to give the spirit 'posthumous' graduation (maybe that's why they always 2nd grade) before exorcist. So did Nozomu.
- When the girls (and Nozomu) attemped suicide, they were possessed by the spirit of Showa's girls who also died because suicide but regret it.
- Nozomu create Showa-like school life and also dressed in old fashion ways to (support) exorcise the spirits.
- The student's and Nozomu lost their will (but Nozomu always want to die... although he didn't really want to) because An Asagi's organ contain a gene which... makes people happy (ha ha ha.....)

+ I can't relate about the Showa's spirit and An Akagi's spirit (via organ aka Kafuka Fuura). The one Nozomu want to exorcist is the Showa's spirit or Kafuka?
+ It said the girl were already suicidal before possessed by the Showa spirit. So the trouble one is the Showa's spirit or Kafuka who's possessed them?
+ Or both?

+ I wonder if the student's abnormal behaviour were caused by the side effect of the 'positive gene' (the positive gene divert their suicidal traits to something absurd. I've read that depressed person will suicidal if they didn't consult or divert their action to positive things) or because the Showa's spirit (chapter 291-299 not yet scanlated so far)?
- Yet it said that the girl will forget about Kafuka...

+ I wonder about the last chapter (in Batoto so far) which show Chie explain about Kafuka (in police station??). Did the school staff/chairman already know about this?
+ I wonder if the ploy Nozomu made were supported by his powerful family, since he also, a victim. Chapter 300 and 290 told us how Rin and Kei helped the exorcism and Mikoto seems knew about An Asagi as Abiru's eye donor

+ I wonder about Maria. We all know she's an illegal immigrant and very poor. So how she ended up with An Akagi's organ? (Okay, I think I know... An Akagi's organ stolen and shipped illegally)
+ But how the hell an unexpected immigrant join Nozomu class without planning? Or maybe the powerful family already plan this...

+ You said there's 17 girls. From the list of Nozomu students, the girls are:
(10) Taro Maria Sekiutsu, (15) Manami Ookusa, (16) Kanako Oora, (17) Meru Otonashi, (18) Ai Kaga,
(20) Chiri Kitsu, (21) Kaede Kimura, (22) Abiru Kobushi, (23) Kiri Komori, (25) Matoi Tsunetsuki
(26) Miko Nezu, (27) Nami Hito, (28) Harumi Fujiyoshi, (29) Marui [unknown surname], (30) Shooko Maruchi
(31) Mayo Mitama, (32) Rin Itoshiki

+ I wonder if Rin, too, were An Akagi's donor recipient. (The op mv give us the back of Rin's body instead Kotonon... but it's so fast, so I can't guarantee it)
+ But there also Kotonon, unknown real name and unknown student number.
+ I'm not sure Marui is the recipient... she seems... normal.

+ 'An Akagi' names appeared in student name list, so does Kafuka Fuura. I wonder why, since she is 'not real'. Did the student who possessed by her register her name legally? Or the school staff did this in order to help the possessed girls?
+ When Nami child, there was a kid who told teacher than Nami is 'normal'. There's speculation than she is, who named An, was Kafuka. If that true... then... how? Someone possessed by Kafuka in her earlier childhood? Or did 'An Asagi' in the same generation with Nami & friends?

- Chie sensei said that 'the exorcism will make the girls forget about Kafura, but soon she'll unite and assimilate a reincarnation for her'. Okay. For me, this is scary. The last chapter show 11 girls who fallen in love with Nozomu asked him to marry them (or one of them). Nozomu run and found Kafuka Fuura in wedding dress with a question: [Which Kafuka are you?]
+ I think as long as they has An Akagi's organ, they still can be possessed? So the An Akagi's we see is one of Nozomu's student who got possessed.
+ Or I wonder if... there IS one student as her true reincarnation?

- Kafuka Fuura gives us a tendency to kill Nozomu and love him at the same time. Why? Kafuka is the 'positive' entity at all. Did this related with her trauma as an 'abuse' child?
+ I think the reason why the girls commits suicide can be explain by their abnormal behaviour (rejected because half-Kaukasian, depressed because need attention (not special, too normal), etc)

+ The opening is creepy... I also wonder what the 'apple' means.
- I still don't get the scene where she dressed as all of the girls (the details too small). But the girls fallen from the sky like rain explains a lot about the suicide. And it's scary.

+ There's speculation that in Meru Otonashi's intro episode, Kafuka's right hand were bandaged which make people assume she was possessed Abiru at the time. But Abiru appear in the next scene, having no bandage on her right hand, but left.
- Jun Kudou appear in the last chapter, saying he comes from family which forbid blood transfusion and suicide. And he's in Nozomu's class.
+ I wonder........

+ Not related to ending, but I wonder if Mikoto and Nozomu were twins :D They both have the same voice actor, same face, and also, according to Kei, both mistaken for girls.

Anyway, I still thought this series is the most interesting story ever. I love the last twist too, although it quite a shock.
Who can guess a gag manga had a truth like this? Ha!

:batoto_001:


#3
Pacifier

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Haha, I'm no expert on the series to be honest. Like, I edited out 17 after realizing I didn't know which of them were actually affected.

I'm pretty sure Itoshiki meant to exorcise the Showa spirits, then later learned that there was another 'spirit' possessing all of them...maybe. Or maybe he meant to exorcise all spirits?

Don't be so quick to write off happiness being a physical thing. I'm sure a complex mixture of hormones can stimulate 'happiness' if you pumped it into the human brain. In that sense, if Akagi's blood contained high concentrations of these chemicals, then inheriting the organs and stuff would lead to exposure to a good deal of it (granted, the effect would only be temporary unless the organ involved could produce these hormones).

The thing about memories being stored in organs external of the brain also has some credibility by the same argument but it would be extremely simple feelings that probably disappear the instant the body loses the hormones. Kafuka disappearing from their memories feels more like a supernatural thing though, as is her entire existence.

I'm pretty sure it was as the manga explained. Maria sold out some poor student to join the class by 'coincidence' (or divine intervention) and nobody really cared (gotta love that high school).

As for the class list, I have no idea. Maybe Kafuka went ahead and added the name for fun. Also, the explanation for the existence of Kafuka is probably in apathy. Nobody bothered to actually check if such a student/person existed in Japan and they just took it all as is (I believe the *cough* home room teacher is most responsible for checking who 'exists' or not in class). As for the childhood of Hito Nami, nobody said they couldn't have delusions back then or if that was Kafuka at all.

I'm not sure at all of Kafuka/Akagi's life so I can't explain her behavior and neither can I explain the Itoshiki household and if they have any reason to support the whole delusion. That being said, it's true that Itoshiki Mikoto seemed to know too much, along with Chie. However, it's also true they had no reason to act or reveal the truth. They couldn't really do anything about it and it wasn't causing any harm. Heck, it could even be considered beneficial to keep up this euphoria.

The ending was pretty nuts. The line, "which Kafuka are you?" seems to 'lead' to the fact that she in fact isn't 'Kafuka' at all (ie. a possessed student). As such, I just assumed this was Akagi An in some form, be it hallucination or supernatural. I had the creepiest feeling that she was a ghost and that she was gonna leap off the cliff, tempting Itoshiki to save her and end up killing himself and unite with her in the 'afterlife'.

The opening song, Ringo Mogire Beam, or Apple Picking Beam is a slightly modified calling card of a suicide cult (they changed it to avoid actual members of the cult, if any existed, killing themselves). That's all I remember anyway. The scene of Kafuka cosplaying all the girls is just another way of saying that she's 'all of them' or more specifically, in all of them and possessing some of them.

I don't think the bandage switching arms is of great importance. After all, the entire 'scene' is a hallucination, so really, there shouldn't have been bandages at all.

I think Jun was simply hinting that Itoshiki is not only suicidal but received a blood transfusion from Akagi. That explains how Itoshiki could see Kafuka and not be possessed himself I suppose...

Did Itoshiki get possessed?

Anyway, much of the discrepancies seen can be explained with a kind of 'cop out'. All the girls and Itoshiki were so insane so if they started acting like Kafuka and switching personalities, nobody would really 'care'. In that sense, the school they were in probably ignored all the shenanigans with class lists since that was the 'loony bin' of classes, a place where the nuts were shoveled together while they make delusional gags about society.

#4
Knight K

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the answers probably resides on chapters 291-299 because almost all where gags, and the ending is really amazing, because the foreshadowing for soo many years is outstanding, you're right on the openings is full of hints, and the anime as well, finally

i'm in despair!!, the ending of SZS has left me in despair!!