Quote:
Originally Posted by farios
Simply because he selfishly thinks that they all wants to move on, and sorry for being rude but you compares graduation in this show with a real graduation, first of all this "graduation" is much more serious and no one is going to happy if they know someone is making such an important decision about when you'll graduate like that without discussing it with you.
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Admittedly on first glance, it looks like an issue of sovereignty. It certainly appears as though Otonashi is "tricking" them into disappearing, which does indeed present a gray area that's worth debating. But the reason why these people are in this alternate world is pretty clearly cut and simple. They're there to grow up and move beyond their sources of regret and dissatisfaction.
Overall, I agree with you. Looking back to the first episodes, all the SSS members are indoctrinated into believing a glaring factual
error, which is that disappearing isn't what you want, so living as a student which would only help you relive life causes you to "die." So in other words, by believing what Yuri told them, the SSS members had their choice of choosing between living a fake life and choosing to move on taken away from them from the very beginning! It's true that if you have a major disease, it's your choice whether you want to have a doctor come and help you get better. It's also true Otonashi in a way also took away that freedom despite having the facts of the matter. But he would've done better in considering the matter of sovereignty. Thus he probably had better ways of approaching this dilemma. I think we'd all agree he should've from the beginning considered presenting the dynamic as a choice between living in a faked world or moving into the next stage in the afterlife, though he was right to fear having a wall of suspicion blocking him from doing so. But the director had Otonashi do exactly that toward the end when Yuri had Otonashi explain everything. Abrupt pacing, I'm sure you'll agree!
But let's consider a scenario in which Otonashi never receives the serendipity of having Yuri sniff out his scheme and force him to present the choice between fake world vs. moving on to the others. If you want my honest opinion, I think Otonashi's decision to try "forcing" others to choose the latter was still the right one. He willingly risks alienating everyone by choosing to trick them into doing something they later probably wouldn't regret. If it weren't for the fact that everyone's there to cure emotional scars, I wouldn't be as inclined to take this stance. But because there are emotional scars and old regrets to take into account, I personally feel the choice is clear for anyone.
As for college graduation--perhaps I wasn't clear, so allow me to provide some clarity. I read a few comments and got the impression that some people are enraged that their favorite characters got "killed off." I will be honest in saying I do get a tinge of sadness and nostalgia when I see my preferred anime shows coming to a close. I invoked the college analogy because I felt people were simply getting too touchy feely over seeing their characters gone. Though directors are often pressured to do fanfic service just to please the crowds, I felt there wasn't too much wrong with the way Yui was sent away from the world for all the grumbling and discontent. I felt she "graduated" and moved on and left her regrets behind. I was a bit baffled (at least in my reading of past comments) with the slew of negative reactions people gave since that episode. I was brought to the conclusion that there was nothing much more to discuss in this regard, so it'd be best to move on!