This. Sukaji needs to write a sequel before I murder something.
It's clear that Fumiko has to die and the "guiding Ritsu" universe deleted regardless of what happens...
Ending Timeline X: Ritsu is absorbed and Miri is still trying to find out how to unabsorb him. We don't know what happens to Fumiko (maybe she's alive?). It is assumed that the unabsorbication is impossible though as it breaks some rules in Quantum whatever...
Ending Timeline Y: Ritsu is found lying there in his adult form. His past mind seems to have overwritten his adult one. We assume that him and Miri are alive at the expense of Fumiko.
Ending Timeline Z: Universe restart? It is heavily implied that Ritsu remembers things that happened "from the past". Miri is implied to also remember stuff OR Miri is actually Fumiko in this timeline (possible).
Your interpretation of the time sequences is something completely new to me and it has given me a new understanding of everything. Thankyou <3
ON A SIDE NOTE, this is completely my theory but I think that in timeline Z Fumiko is alive and writing the blog as a means of remembering/communicating/idkshe'sacomputer with Ritsu.
This was such a bittersweet ending though...
As for the "end of time" things, I'm going to just assume that they are either the dreams of Ritsu or maybe another timeline. Maybe there is a timeline where both Ritsu and Miri/Fumiko are in the computer? Or maybe the "end of time" thingos are just a metaphor for something that happened? I mean
Thanks for all of your explanation. It gives me understanding of what the ending is about (i understand what this manga is about up till the last chapter that makes me confused of what the ending is about. I really didn't think about multiple ending timeline)
Thanks for all of your explanation. It gives me understanding of what the ending is about (i understand what this manga is about up till the last chapter that makes me confused of what the ending is about. I really didn't think about multiple ending timeline)
Don't take my explanatin literally though, read it and make your own interpretations... I've made a few more since the time I wrote that last post and dayum.... That ending is sad...
This is a direct quote of harrysoung from myanimelist forum. I believe his theory is interesting and worth pondering about. All credit to the original poster.
Spoiler
Let me try to break it down for you guys.
Basically, we know that Ritsu is caught in a time loop. He experiences the same "daily romance comedy" moments with the three different girls from the timelines.
But why is Ritsu in the time loop in the first place? It was all to prevent Miri's death
When the first time loop occurred after he kissed Akari, we were led to believe that solidifying the relationship between the timeline's heroine and Ritsu would cause a replay (the loop occurred after he kissed Akari), but that turned out to be false. A replay occurs after Miri's death, as we saw in Hatori's loop. In Hatori's loop, instead of staying at home with her, Ritsu goes to America with Miri, and there he witnesses Miri being taken by the scientists and sucked into the machine. In Akari's time loop, Miri probably got sucked into the machine JUST before Akari and Ritsu were about to kiss.
Now comes the question about the blog of Futurology. When Ritsu first stumbled upon the blog, it seemed like everything was made for Ritsu and the timeline's heroine to hook up. Why would this be the case? Because once again, everything comes back down to SAVING MIRI'S ASS. Being in a love relationship with Akari was supposed to shake Miri up and prevent her from going to America. Being with Hatori was supposed to make use of Hatori's investigative abilities to stop her from going to America. Bottom line, MIRI WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO GO TO AMERICA. Oh, and the one who was giving that message to Ritsu was Future Ritsu.
Now, this entire time-looping world is called the Torus. In the diagram that the future Ritsu made, this world would be called sequence B. Future Ritsu is from sequence A, which is the world that is progressing smoothly as it should. But how would Future Ritsu be able to influence Ritsu from sequence B? After all they are, quite literally, worlds apart from each other. Enter Bungo. All you need to know about Bungo is that it is a supercomputer with the ability to touch into sequence B. But how exactly? Through Fumiko.
We know that Fumiko came to detroy the Torus. The truth about Fumiko is that she is actually the Bungo. The reason why she looks so much like Miri is that Fumiko is actually Miri who got absorbed in the Bungo. Even though that's the case, Fumiko hates being called "Miri," since Miri died and Fumiko considers herself someone else entirely.
The reason why Miri had to connect to Bungo in the first place was because the synchronization of the human mind and Bungo was needed for Bungo to power on. If the synchronization failed, then Bungo starts to do da absorbing. Originally, the ones who were supposed to power on the Bungo were Ritsu and Miri's parents, but they passed away in an accident. Miri was chosen as the next person after her parents to be the one to power on Bungo. The phone call, the letter, and the picture of Future Ritsu (their father at the time) was all a setup to bring Miri to the American laboratory.
As for the last chapter, all credit goes to Fumiko for setting things straight. We saw how Ritsu was prepared to sacrifice himself to save Miri. So far, the only person who was experimented on was Miri. Ritsu, who went to America alone, was the only other option to power on the Bungo. He was supposed to have failed to synchronize, but Fumiko saved him. In sequence A where Future Ritsu is, we see him lamenting over Fumiko's disappearance/ the breakdown of Bungo. But we see Miri's future form around the corner. FUTURE MIRI IS ALIVE. She is alive in sequence A, which is the normal timeline. MIRI IS ALIVE.
But where is Fumiko? Skip over to sequence B. We see the "daily romance comedy" scene replaying again.... but not quite. Quite a few things are off. So much, in fact, that it is probably implied thatsequence B got out of the Torus loop . And when Ritsu is talking with Miri in his room when she wanted to play eroge with him, it seemed like she knew a bit too much about the events that went on. This is probably meant to imply that Fumiko is now Miri of sequence B .
Happily ever after indeed
Here is yet another interesting interpretation from usernameisinvalid in Mangafox.
Spoiler
Things are much more deep than they seem, but i'll explain the part that people are most interested in: how the hell it ended up alright and where's Fumiko?!
A simple way to describe it is in Ch19 pg17. The loop continued to happen because Miri kept being absorbed (loop 1 and 2), so "future" Ritsu (or sequence A Ritsu) kept it going. Once Ritsu came with the crazy idea of being absorbed (loop 3), Fumiko couldn't stand it and, knowing that either sequence B Ritsu or future Ritsu (or even both) would fade and she wouldn't be able to live with him, she "deleted" herself and her actions that were causing Miri (or Ritsu) to being absorbed, leading to the "happy ending" where neither of them were taken.
This can be stated from the quoted page and i'll explain a bit:
[...]The Bungo that was supposed to take Miri wasn't able to take me[...] - this states that Bungo (the computer) accepted the fact that Miri had to be absorbed so that itself could exist (As soon as Bungo takes Miri it "becomes" Fumiko. So anywhere in the future, Fumiko and Bungo/Bingo is the same "person"). This statement can be proven in page 15 of this chapter when he says: [...]Is that so, Bungo.... no, Fumiko[...] - ((Although I'm almost sure the correct spelling in both sentences is probably Bingo, and I'll tell why a bit ahead in the "Extras"))
[...]Bungo itself is not casualty... but the Bungo who took Miri IS[...] - with this, what can be extracted is the fact that it's not the pure existence of the computer (Bungo) that consists the Casualty, wich always makes Miri disappear being absorbed, but the Casualty is really Fumiko (Bungo with Miri absorbed) that keeps things to happen differently so she can still exist with Ritsu, not wanting to disappear (love and/or auto-preservation). ((Although I'm almost sure the correct spelling in both sentences is probably Bingo, and I'll tell why a bit ahead in the "Extras")). The casualty stuff that kinda explains how the loop keeps going in in ch 17 pg 18.
[...]And now that it's broken... I'm all alone[...] -This proves the point that Fumiko "killed" itself so no more troubles kept occurring. If it weren't like this she would still be by his side when he woke up after, what we could call, a little time lapse while things were getting into their "new" places. And, since it all end well, after this little time lapse, Miri appears in the same sequence as Ritsu, proving that the computer Bungo(Bingo) didn't absorb any of them.
BUT!!! Now here comes the real "Blow your brains" part!!!!! (no it's not "JUST" that! xD)
Read this if you want some "extra" confusion! Ch 18 pg 22. [...]Dr. Mizuhara successfully combined quantum computers with the mind. "BUNGO" in the case of a male... and "FUMIKO" in the case of a female[...] - Ritsu starts telling Fumiko how he discovered the truth about the computer and all from the letter he read. This surely helps us understanding the parts described above a bit more easily. On the other hand it totally blows our brains out. Why, you ask me? Did you notice that loop 1 and 2 had this totally perverted friend that was almost a copy of Ritsu? What was his name again?? Yes! BUNGO! which means that, in the first two loops we were actually looking at a loop where Ritsu was the one previously absorbed! That can be proven by the author in the blog having the exact same profile as him (being a male included), which also means that, by any chance, Ritsu that was absorbed was already trying to keep Miri safe. Why, you ask me again? Because: BUNGO (the "friend") was the one that introduced the Blog to Ritsu. He wouldn't have discovered it if not for that friend's comment. He also says something interesting in ch 01, pg 29: [...]Chivalry exists, right...?[...]. Although, that comment would only make sense if he knew that Ritsu was helping Akari, which would only make sense if he knew the content in the blog. Things go wrong because of Ritsu not passing exams and Miri goes to America in Ch 08. Since that already meant the plans for keeping Miri safe didn't work, the server of the blog went down, until Bungo got involved into it again (probably making Ritsu enjoy something, since it would loop anyway). The most important thing on this chapter, though, is probably the beginning, where sequence A Ritsu is talking to Miri, in a strange place, called the beginning of time. Probably it's actually about the end of the chapter, when Miri gets absorbed but the the loop happens. It may be a little time lapse conversation between future Ritsu that is looping things again and the recently absorbed Miri that will be returned to the "normal" loop. In loop 2 we see texts and the blog having some interference: letters being changed in numbers, Bungo not showing so much, etc. that's mostly because some things about the truth started showing up as Ritsu discovers about his father's death, etc. The interesting thing, though, is assimilating how Bungo (the computer+Ritsu) tried to fix things that happened in loop 1. Since Miri was absorbed because he didn't fly to America due to his test exams, the blog made sure that he would pass exams this time, throwing him over Hattori, not Akari. In loop 3, since we have Fumiko, you won't see Bungo anywhere, since they can't exist at the same time, being one absorbing Ritsu and the other absorbing Miri. The only thing i haven't actually figured out yet is why the tied soy sauce from loop 2, ended up in loop 1. It could be just Bungo's work so he had some way to approach Akari, or it could mean that the loops weren't actually in chronological order. I'd expect the first hypothesis to be true, but, you never know!
Comment if you agree, disagree, or haven't thought about the things I pointed out! I liked the manga a lot, and it'd be a waste to not explore all of it in the chat!
It had been shown that there's two separate timeline, sequence A and sequence B where sequence A is directly affecting sequence B. What I'm curious on though is the origin of sequence A. I presume sequence A as the 'original' timeline where Miri is absorbed into Bungo, giving birth to Fumiko while Ritsu work within the facility in order to alter the past. Hence the reason Bungo itself is not the causality but the Bungo that absorbed Miri is, since the creation of Bungo by Ritsu's parent is according to the original timeline, but his effort to prevent Miri from being absorbed is contrary to that. Chronologically, that explains the trigger that begins the loop.
Then Future Ritsu created three parallel world and alter it accordingly, namely the Akari, Hatori and Fumiko routes. It is interesting to note that since they're Ritsu of parallel (different) world and there's no Reading Steiner (courtesy of Steins;Gate) involved, they're effectively different individuals performing the same routine. That is, I believe every loop is simply Future Ritsu altering another parallel world to form a unique/different route rather than travelling through space and time, which is what I initially assumed. This is supported by the fact that Future Ritsu said Akara and Hatori routes are 'wasted memories'. Ritsu of Fumiko route obtain memory from the other two routes due to the interference from Fumiko who is,Miri absorbed by Bungo.
Akari Route is straightforward and serve as a stepping stone towards the twist, so there's not much to say there. As for Hatori Route, contrary with what harrysoung deduced, I believe only the letter are the work of the scientists to recruit Miri to the American laboratory. This is heavily hinted when Future Ritsu said that both the blog and TV doesn't work. This indirectly meant that the phone call and TV are due to Future Ritsu's direct interference into the past (parallel world) which became buggy due to the work of causality. As opposed to usernameisinvalid's theory, although Bungo appeared in the first two routes, he (Bungo) is actually the manifestation of the actual (male) Bingo rather than the manifestation of Absorbed Ritsu. This can be easily explained by the phone calls, TV and blog; those are direct interference from Future Ritsu from his science lab rather than interference from Bingo. I supposed it's safe to assumed Bingo is either controlled by Future Ritsu/Fumiko or collaborated with them to alter the past.
Onward to the most mindfk part of the manga; Fumiko route. I believe Bungo did not appear this time around because Fumiko is sent/used to initiate the parallel world rather than Bungo. Whereas in previous ones, Fumiko is simply an 'observer' overseeing thing with Future Ritsu. It is also interesting to note that the sole blog post from Fumiko route is initiated byFutureBungo in an act of self-preservation. In regards to the ending, on one hand, harrysoung believe Fumiko became Miri in sequence B while usernameisinvalid believe Fumiko sacrificed herself. Personally, I'm inclined towards the latter. The problem with Fumiko-become-Miri is that, Miri of sequence B knew about future events because she read it up from a blog by 'Fumiko'. If we believe Fumiko became Miri, it implies that Fumiko is unconsciously controlling the event of sequence B since Miri, obviously, is oblivious to the true identity of Fumiko. However, I agree that sequence B got out of the Torus loop. It is highly probable that the current sequence B will lead to the 'Happy' sequence A where both Miri and Ritsu survive.
Which mean the ultimate problem is: Just what did Fumiko did? Future Ritsu implied that he survived because Bungo is unable of absorbing him. Given that it's a translated text, it's difficult to discern the original meaning but I suggest Ritsu could only meant two thing.
1. Bungo simply can't absorb him and he never disappeared. However, Bungo didn't start up either. Fumiko then did something.
2. Bungo DID absorbed him and start up, but due to causality, the absorption itself is nulled because it MUST be Miri that's absorbed rather than Ritsu. Hence, either another loop appeared or Bungo malfunctioned in the future world. Fumiko then did something to prevent that.
Yet again, I'm leaning towards the latter. Perhaps, Fumiko knewshe'scapable of restoring (altering) the past. This is hinted by "I'll restore everything to it's original state", "You've been killing m-" (still wondering whether it's Miri or Me), and "Fumiko, thank you". We know that the 'plan' is for them to somehow activate Bungo without sacrificing Miri; which will indirectly 'kill' Fumiko (Since I assumed not activating Bungo is the greatest paradox of all). So perhaps all this boils down to Fumiko initially being unwilling to erase her existence but came to acceptance later on after seeing Ritsu's self-sacrificing act. Or perhaps it's her only choice. With Ritsu sacrificing himself, Fumiko knew that Bungo will refuse Ritsu and somehow broke down, causing Future Ritsu to be unable to recreate parallel world or saving Miri, effectively a 'Bad End' in it's truest sense.
Edit: On a separate note, Ritsu existing simultaneously in all the parallel world is quite a viable interpretation. However, in that case, why did Future Ritsu insist that he wasn't accepted by Bungo and hence forcing another loop to occur(?). Was his monologue a red herring/unreliable narrator? Furthermore, if he's absorbed by Bungo and exist in all the parallel world, why did he thank Fumiko at the end of sequence A? While it's logical to assume that if Miri's present then Fumiko's existence is erased, that would mean he (who is absorbed by Bungo) deliberately 'kill' Fumiko without her consent. I don't believe thanking her, then, is even explainable unless Future Ritsu misunderstood and thought it's Fumiko who helped him.
As for why Ritsu of sequence B had pieces of memory from the Torus loop, I believe that's because the Ritsu of the fourth (and final) loop is the same Ritsu that sacrificed himself. Perhaps Bungo (with the conscience of Fumiko/Miri) rejected him and did something with that ability of hers?
Another thing I'm confused is, why did Ritsu mentioned Fumiko manipulated the letter? I reckon it is counterproductive for Future Ritsu if that letter is sent. Perhaps Ritsu meant it's yet another action taken by Future Bungo due to the causality?
However, with regards to the Fumiko and Miri thing, what if Fumiko and Miri somehow fused? It wouldn't be that hard, since Fumiko IS Miri, but what if Fumiko's memories were placed into Miri's when the world reset? That would explain why she appears to know more than she does and MAYBE if my theory is correct, maybe the Ritsu that was 'absorbed' by Bungo had his memories fuse with Ritsu in the new "correct" timeline?
my opinion is just that the author got sick of his work and just dropped it with an incomplete ending without explanation cause he did a mistake and couldn't deal with it ^^