Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyfall
With that in mind, Koichi's father's phone calls actually gain a very specific purpose - he has been in India for a while now (he didn't even know Koichi was hospitalized), and as such is well beyond the phenomenon's range. As such, he is the single person involved in the story whose perspective isn't suspect to manipulation. Most of it might seem like silly chatter, but I think it really is worth to take note of everything we can derive from his conversations - because his position within the show is unique compared to everyone else located in Yomiyama, as the single shred of information we can assume as being true.
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This is quite an important observation I think, and one I agree with. I'm trying to restrict my speculation to what I can reasonably assume is true, and towards that end I think the information the show has presented needs to be sorted into three piles - relevant, irrelevant and intentionally misleading. I think Mei and Tatsuji both believed what they told Kouichi in the last two eps, but it almost doesn't matter whether they do or not - what matters is how much of it is true. I think there are elements of both testimonies that are true, but enough falsehood in each that if the entire testimony is taken as read, it would actually lead us further from the truth.
That's why I agree with Skyfall that Yousuke's phone calls are important, and that they're included in the story for the very specific purpose of providing a clue that Kouichi is not the Another, contradicting what I think is a lot of intentionally misleading hinting that he is. As someone outside the range of The Phenomenon, his information needs to be interpreted differently than what Mei, Tatsuji and anyone in Yomiyama says. My take on Tatsuji is that he believes what he tells the children in the library, but he incorrectly assumes that he's "immune" from the distortion because he's not "directly involved" with Class 3. I think his memories and perceptions are being altered more than he thinks, and it's very possible that his actions have a direct bearing on future events, even if he believes otherwise.