What an incredible ride.
Personally I'm really glad Higuchi died. She wanted others to resign themselves to their circumstances like she had to when she was raped. The moment Kano feels free of this sensation of feeling controlled she becomes incredibly irate that he even thinks that he's free. Now she is long gone, resigned to her own fate, dying without ever being able to move forward and deal with her own baggage. She never could truly find that 'something' and made a victim out of others until her time finally came.