AND WOW! DID NOT see that coming...

Elen lives, and she kills Scythe...but Reiji dies at the very end. As Elen is looking at flowers in the field of her homeland, he is shot by someone driving by a carriage.

I didn't get why after that Elen was still so wrapped up in her surroundings...unless the scene where she is laying down, looking like she's making a snow angel is her actually dead?

Will just have to wait for the RAW to see it again.

Cal fans should be happy now! XD As well as people who wanted a AOE.

Ending: Basically Road of the Cerulean Sky, but...

Cool fights between Reiji/Elen and the Zahlen Schwestern, unfortunately the series is now at an end. There's the scene where Scythe stands with his arms outstretched in front of Elen with his shadow overlapping her. I wonder if it's a religious reference that Scythe Master was once Elen's "god". He made her what she is today, and now she has to end her creator's life. Compared to robotic Ein personality, Elen's eyes was full of emotion when she blew Scythe's brains out.

McGuire that bastard also didn't die and Inferno still stands.

Reiji brings Elen to find her homeland, and as Elen finally remembers the place she was born and enjoys the flowers on the field, Reiji is shot in the back by an assassin from a passing wheel cart. WTF?!

More of a downer for me. Both of them have suffered enough, but only one gets to enjoy normal life. I don't understand why Inferno will kill one but don't finish off the other. I would like to know what McGuire said near the end. Perhaps he thinks Reiji is more of a threat than Elen.

...because if those descriptions are accurate, it really feels like a twist for the sake of having a twist.

Having either one or both of them die during the final battle without making such a last minute surprise out of it would have been preferrable, at least if you ask me.

Sure, it still matches the bittersweet nature of both the anime and the game, but...conceptually speaking what I'm reading feels a little too forced from a storytelling perspective.

Maybe I'll like it more once a translation is available, that's always possible, but it's unlikely.

:heh::heh::heh: I'm so happy. I told my friends that a Reiji death would be the best ending. Sorry but I personally wanted the guy to die since the kid killing not to mention Clau and then after Cal's death. Me and Beetrain once again see eye to eye. This is why I'm such a fan of theirs.

Perfect ending. Redemption equals death. He led a cruel life and did cruel things. He got to fulfill his promise but after that he had to pay his dues. God I love Bee Train. I almost doubted that they'd have it in them to do this but I'm glad I was proven wrong.

I agree. The ending was just so...strange. Reiji get's shot, Elen doesn't notice at all, and happily plays in the field? Reiji is her life, and her #1 fear was losing him...

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No, I haven't seen the episode actually but I will as soon as I find it.

I don't really have many problems with the ending as described. Bee Train is all about symbolism. They rarely put much effort into being completely realistic. That's not there style and never will be. They wanted Reiji to complete his promise but also pay for his crimes is my opinion on why they'd opt for such a death scene. The scene seems to be designed to give him a quasi "happy" ending with his atonement at the end. It seems like a great way to end this series to me.

...one way for Elen's reaction to make at least some sense would be if:

a)She's ready to accept death too, after having found her true origin, so she'll either kill herself or will be killed off-screen.

b)The anime staff merely wanted to delay her reaction to the "surprise" death of Reiji and leave it up to people's imagination in order to avoid complicating things further.

I've got no problems with symbolism or with a lack of realism, that's not quite it, but sometimes there is such a thing as trying to be too "artsy" and not giving the audience enough build-up for the chosen ending, particularly if it relies on a last minute twist.

I'm not really a fan of this kind of "shock" coming at the tail end of a work of fiction unless there is enough build-up. Both Hollywood and European movies have done similar things before, like creating a superficially "happy" ending that is suddenly interrupted by something like "the killer is still alive!" or "the survivor was actually the killer!" but I'm usually not going to praise that outcome.

WTF???????Seriously, Reiji gets killed. Motherfuckers.Why??

It does suck when they kill off the characters. Beetrain let both of the assissins in noir live pity they didn't do it here. Then we could get an Ova or something.

I honestly don't what you trying to say here. Are you telling me you thought this was going to be some sort of happy go lucky ending? The possibility that Reiji was going to die was always on the table especially after all the things that have happened. It was always fairly obvious that it was leading towards an Elen/Ein type of ending too and we got that.

Would you have preferred if he'd die without fulfilling his promise? I don't really get what other kind of buildup you'd expect for this sort of ending. I love twists especially when done where they aren't expected but completely logical. Reiji and Elen were killers and hated by Inferno and others groups. They weren't going to allow them to run free forever. The twist is a stroke of genius. Ending the show on a bittersweet note and making this show Bee Train's work instead of a complete textbook copy of Nitro(I assume this is an added ending since I've never heard of this ending before and I've done a couple endings of the game myself). Some will hate and some will love it. I personally love it.