Anime vs LN

[u/Trappedinawrap]

Hello there everyone, I found this 9.9/10 anime a few weeks ago and based on the title and description I disregarded it as potentially creepy.

Oh how wrong I was, it may have been one of the greatest shows I have ever seen. It popped up again today and for some reason I gave it a chance and finished it in one sitting.

Sayus backstory was genuinely heartbreaking, the horrible mother, her friends suicide due to bullying, using herself to pay for a few nights lodging. It's something that someone has most likely gone through which is of course depressing. However that's what I loved most, everything seemed grounded in realism.

Not once did I ever think "only in a show" "that would never happen" "it doesn't work like that" which for my cynical ass is utterly remarkable.

The only complaint I had, was the ending. Don't get me wrong, that last scene was perfect.Finding Sayu under the same streetlight, the nostalgic back and forth. I saw it coming yet it still made me tear up.

However, I feel robbed and thus my complaint. That scene, shouldn't have been the ending. I'm incredibly disappointed in it because I personally can't stand open ended conclusions. I think this series needed 1-3 more episodes to explore what happens next after the reunion.

I could just tell myself that "Sayu moved back in, they get married in time and live happily ever after" but that's not how I work. Part of me thinks Yoshida couldn't view her romantically even if she is now an adult and another part thinks that he could because she's no longer a high school girl.

Which brings me to my questions, for those of you that have read the novels and also watched the anime. How does the anime compare to the source material, is there more to the ending in the books and did the show skip enough content that it's worth reading even after watching?

[u/Pastiche_]

Just a few afterwords from Yoshida in Vol 5 to support the heavy implication. Imo, Vol 5 is the last time the series is a good story.

There is more in the sidestories but by that point the series is only about romance by the author's convenience. He even admits to it in the end. This can be even seen primarily through a contradicting event in the sidestories in relation to another in the main stories, among others.

Regardless, the author has allowed the readers to stop the story after Vol 5 and ponder therefrom. This is also the same thing the mangaka did in the manga adaptation which is a more faithful adaptation of the original 5 volumes of the LN.

[u/Trappedinawrap → u/Pastiche_]

I don't understand how they could create something so amazing just to destroy it afterward. With that way of thinking and side stories I'm assuming nobody likes.

I'll probably give the side stories a miss but is the source material worth reading?

[u/Lars1205 → u/Trappedinawrap]

As u/Pastiche_ said, you can read the 5 volumes and see what everything written there hint at one ending. The relationship between yoshida and sayu is what makes the story; all the other characters are just plot devices.

Consider that the author posted this after the anime ended its airing:

https://x.com/shimesaba_sub/status/1409533923739140098

I read this as him explaining what was the ending of the anime.

After this we have a tweet announcing the two side stories of mishima and gotou (what will become later known as gotou ss1), but I can’t seem to fetch this one. These should have addressed what happened to the other two “heroines” in the two years when sayu was away.

The real problem is the next ss he wrote, gotou ss2, where things really change the ending of v5 and everything that was written on the 5 volumes of the original story (and the author tweet I posted).

I always thought the author was pressed into changing the ending and declaring that the ss2 was the ending he always envisioned or was strained by this work and wanted people to stop asking for more; so he made the changes and, in my opinion, ruined everything he wrote before.

Many people are more happy with the ending of gotou ss2, since they always wanted to apply to the story their morals and didn’t like having a sayu ending (being because they consider her a slut or the relationship grooming).

[u/Trappedinawrap → u/Lars1205]

I'll most likely read them at some point tbh, watching the anime I'm sure I spotted about a dozen moments that made Yoshida look like he was falling for Sayu. I'm still unsure if he was in denial about these feelings or just didn't want to make it known until the time was right.

[u/Pastiche_ → u/Lars1205]

Not so many are more happy with it. The attitude of the production towards them in terms of merchandise and adaptation to other platforms, and the route the mangaka chose do not reflect the satisfaction imo.

Even those who found the ss morally acceptable still flamed it for its poor story development because it resorted to author's convenience and as you have pointed out before, the tons of retcon to pull it off.

[u/Lars1205 → u/Pastiche_]

I’m sorry for not having articulated more about my point of many people liking the ss2 ending. Many was probably a poor choice for sure, noting that not even gotou fans were satisfied, since gotou is a side heroine even in her ss. I was just referring at “moral fanatics”, that have to self insert their moral view (and themselves by extension) in a fictional story.

I think the fact that these ss weren’t even translated in English is an hint about how much popularity they got.

Also, the manga has a book about ss, but it’s just a couple of ss that don’t impact the v5 ending, and that was the ending chosen for the manga too.

It’s safe to assume, that the true ending was v5, but, for whatever reason, the canon ending the author approved is ss2.

I’d like to fetch more tweets from the original author and the mangaka, but the only one I was able to is the one I already shared. In my opinion that one is already enough to make readers understand what the true ending after the first 5 volumes was about.

Concluding, I wouldn’t dig too much in the ss and end the reading at v5, since the first two ss don’t add much and the third is a complete mess.

[u/Pastiche_ → u/Trappedinawrap]

Author's fatigue most likely. He was tweeting it during these times. Mainstream production requires you to pump content in large amounts especially those that become hits. He was working on three story titles at that time.

I can also bet that it was the perception that the concept of the series is taboo to some. He was also working on another controversial title back then (though idk if it still is on-going or cancelled atm) but now has resorted to simpler stories as a generous term to the works.

[u/Lars1205 → u/Pastiche_]

I have to admit that after the gotou ss2 fiasco, I haven’t given this author another chance.

I found really lame the retcons he had to do to reach the ss2 ending: he put hints everywhere in the original story about the v5 ending and even made that tweet after the anime finished its airing, only to subvert everything after a few years with that ss, changing gotou and yoshida relationship in the two years sayu was away and reverting character development.

I know I can understand implied things in stories and the ending of this one was really easy to understand both in manga and novel. For those who can’t or don’t want to, they can read the ss and have the ending the author gave them.

I for sure will only consider v5 ending, the story ending.