So, the finale came as it went.
I do agree that the most impressive about this final episode were both the visuals and the insert songs; I almost felt if I was diving right into the world of TRON but much more extraordinarily.
But, I do have my share of complaints:
1. Gai's reasons for wanting Mana were let's just say long-winded to me.
2. I felt from this final episode that Gai was casted into the most gloomy role of all the characters: the victim. Plagued with guilt for not being able to do as Shu by rejecting his fate and trying to change Mana's.
- It almost felt like whatever Shu chose to be, then subsequently Gai was casted into the opposite role with no choice in the matter.
3. The fights as stunning as they were executed were brief due to the pacing.
4. The pacing of the episode itself felt quick and rushed, and by the time it reaches the epilogue we don't know what happened with the rest of the survivors.
5. If I understood correctly, as long as there's evolution then Mana cannot be saved, and she's forever trapped in a vicious, never-ending cycle. She's forever to be the bringer of the Apocalypse to the human race.
When the time comes for the next Apocalypse, Mana will be reborned in another body and attempt to trigger the calamity. Another hero will unexpectedly rise and save humanity due to realizing love from others, thus stopping Mana again.
She'll be sent to the pit beyond the Apocalypse waiting again to reenact her role in the Apocalypse after the next one.
- I disagree with Gai that by just accepting Mana she'll be stopped. Recall that when Shu shuns her for a second time, that she will never ever forgive him even if he apologizes.
- I feel that Mana after all wants Shu and likes to be with him, and Gai will never ever be able to fill for Shu in Mana's heart.
- That's why I believe that she'll come back reborned for the Next Apocalypse.
6. Shu stopping the Fourth Apocalypse was just another delay for Daath's agenda, because no matter how much humanity as either a whole or as individual resists nobody can escape the forces of universe: evolution, stagnation, rebirth, and death.
Spoiler:
7. The unforgiveable is that Inori sacrificed her life and existence to save Shu, as he saved humanity from the Apocalypse.
Some confrontations came more or less the way I theorized in my previous posts:
Haruka confront her brother, Keido, in a standoff, but his death was just pretty lame, though obvious for a flat character like him whose reasons to kill his rival and to start the mess were pretty much pathetic.
Shu and Inori embracing as the virus is consuming them at the climax.
The difference from my theory to what became reality in this episode were:
1. It was Shu who performed the epic healing of the world and thus ending the Apocalypse.
2. Unfortunately, Inori sang no song while Shuu was healing the world.
3. Inori herself sacrificed her life to save Shuu not before meeting for one last time in the space between the hearts, so that she could deliver her present to Shuu which he took.
Cut to about two to three years later in the epilogue:
1. Shu retains his Void Genome arm, apparently now deactivated and useless. Plus, he remained blind.
2. He comes to visit Souta, Yahiro, glasses girl, Tsugumi, and Ayase, all waiting for him, to toast and celebrate Hare's birthday.
3. Japan pretty much recovered fast from the whole ordeal now that the cities have been rebuilt.
4. Last we see of Shuu he's sitting on a bench at the park listening a video by EGOIST; likely, listening to Inori's last song.
Immediately after that is THE END