No change in opinion after watching it. It's still a great ending to a great series which made me very glad that I watched this, except for one part which I'll go to later.
I liked it very much how a lot of things were resolved:
- Yasuko finally accepting that right now, her son is all grown up and that she shouldn't and can't treat him like a little kid anymore. Ryuuji also finally understood the responsibility of being a son, and helping Yasuko to amend her family ties. (Though it's weird that in the light novels, Ryuuji's father was implied to be living in the waters of Tokyo Bay where in here, we have another irresponsible father who ran away...)
- Taiga understanding that she cannot run away forever from her family, because to put it simply, family is family. It's for life. There may be problems but there's no way that you can escape and run from it completely. Seeing how Ryuuji helped Yasuko, she realised she has to tackle her own family problems no matter what. There's no point in continuing her idea that it's the fault of others for she herself being in that plight. It's really time to face the music.
- The Minorin explanation of the sky with the single star. As long as you have tried your best, you will shine as bright as you can be and someone somewhere out there will definitely notice you. That's why Taiga's doing, even though that will result in her being separated from everyone.
- The Amin's dislike of herself for putting up that adult facade of hers. She's envious of Taiga for being able to find someone who's able to discover and accept her true self despite of her flaws and she always felt it'll be nice if she herself can experience that. Well, she did, in Ryuuji, however, she recognise that to Taiga, it's love but for Amin, it's not. Still, she's glad.
On to my sole complaint.
I don't really like the separation of the couple by one whole year. Other than having the explanation that Kitamura will be furthering his studies in the US (surely to catch hold of Sumire. Question, was this in the light novels), why call it a day to their high school experience?
There's also nothing in between to that entire year. As I said in an earlier post, this series lasted for a year. Many things happened, and now we're supposed to accept that for the next year, nothing significant happens at all?
From the way Ryuuji finally gets his confession known to Taiga, it can be inferred that they never met each other throughout the year, and potentially nothing happened at all, which is very awkward, considering Taiga replied to their mail and all, just after she left the school.
From a business point of view, and I'm sure there will be murmurs of people wanting to see more development (even though it may be talking about other characters), by choosing to reunite both Ryuuji and Taiga a year later, they really close the door to whatever new things that can be come up with, by J.C Staff or by the author. If the author decides to have extras, there's no way they can put that back in the anime. (as of this point, the Tomiie/Sakura thing is still open, but not Ryuuji/Taiga in that aspect)
I myself am interested in more Noto and Maya. It's sweet to see Kashii taking a photo of both Noto and Maya together in their graduation ceremony. More story of their love/hate relationship will be great.
Anyway, if that was something the author decided, I have nothing much to say. The decision (by god knows who) to end it this way is a blemish, a small one, nonetheless a significant one, but this still potentially ranks among the best animes of the year.