High Position - Vol. 5 Ch. 39 - Saigo Hanashi "Closing Words"

[LysandersTreason]

@kronix Lmao. We got blueballed! Where's the naked sexy scenes with Ozawa! Where's his getting to rail that cute girl when young and he's still studly and she's still beautiful?

@thePaulBunyanTrophy Thank you for translating this, and thank you for your interesting notes at the end of each chapter. We didn't get the best-possible fantasy ending, but it was still somewhat satisfying and realistic that he basically 'saw all the ways his life could have gone if he made different decisions' and then when he was revived, decided to start making those better decisions from that point on. Even if Sachiko and Miyu were pretty goddamn unappreciative. I feel a bit sad that he never got to really experience a full life with Ozawa (or maybe he did, as you said the author may have hinted). But in the end it's not reality

 

[Bladestone]

Thanks for translating!

Well that was a cool way to handle the ending, nice.

 

[safarathena]

Thank you very much translator-San.

 

[PlanOfInaction]

Perfection

 

[knicknac95]

Not quite a happy ending, but not a bad one either.

Thanks for translating this series

 

[k31_]

Thanks for translating

 

[AfterMidnightMoon]

Thanks for translating, @thePaulBunyanTrophy

 

[mowqlin]

What a great ending. When I saw that it was ending on 39 a few chapters ago, I was worried it would twist horribly, but what a pleasant surprise. Definitely going to buy the manga when I get a chance. The author's other series is fantastic as well.

 

[lolfacesayshi]

That was an amazing ride, thanks @thePaulBunyanTrophy for translating it.

Seems like all those divergent paths, and the best one is where he fixes learns from his mistakes.

 

[neorasp]

What a ride.

 

[AlexMCS]

Great manga, OK ending.

@MOKALI 100% agreed. Hate this stupid japanese trope. Same crappy ending panel as Your Name. More than not showing the face, what annoys me is the lack of resolution.

 

[zawarudo]

Thank you, thank you very much @juicius and @ThePaulBunyanTrophy for working on this one right until the end, and at such a fast pace as well. This is definitely a 10/10 work from both mangaka and scanlator team. I personally think the ending is a bit predictable, since the author has repeatedly foreshadowed that Satsuki is the True Path and Sachiko will eventually be revealed as the overly strong-headed woman which would never truly fit with Amano's slightly doormat personality. But the way he delivered it was probably the best way I could think of, especially since he also showed him repairing his relationship with Sachiko and Miyu somewhat - thus the best outcome for everyone involved.

I only have one nitpick - in the real timeline Amano and Satsuki barely even knew each other existed since they never even talked to each other, I found it a bit perplexing that after 30 years she would immediately resort to calling him in that informal/affectionate way at the end, unless she secretly has always liked him.

 

[ThePaulBunyanTrophy]

@zawarudo

Yeah, that's gotta be intentional. A final bit of "magic" I should say. It's the resolution that the people were waiting for. Some people weren't happy that it was not a Disney happy ending, but then, this isn't Disney. The way I see it, as I said on the note, is that the cassette is the medium of not music, but memories. And it not only stores memories but it is how memories are transferred from one person to the other. It is also used to refresh your own memories of things that were forgotten. So the last 4 pages are very significant. Satsuki gets triggered by his name, and pauses a bit. Then she calls him the same way she's always called him, "Amano," in the timeslip timeline. Then they are transported (figuratively) to the high school days where the tape is inserted, rewound, and played, and the memories are refreshed and shared. It's not a Disneyesque "everything is great" spoon-fed resolution that gets hammered into your brain with no room for interpretation, but the ending, with a bit of imagination, becomes as clear as day. That tape is the mix tape Amano has always wanted to give to Satsuki to tell her how he feels, and he finally does, and in the process, their memories are refreshed and shared and they are brought together.

Of course, that is just my interpretation of the ending. And the thing I like most is that that IS just one interpretation and there are bound to be more. To me, that's more precious than a chiseled in stone happy ending.

 

[zawarudo]

@ThePaulBunyanTrophy

Fully agree. I really like how the final 4 pages alone could easily be interpreted in two extremely different ways: either Amano and Satsuki proceed to talk for hours catching up with how life's been for both of them for 30 years - hence the young faces and the auto-reverse cassette tape symbolizing all the memories - which is a very comfy implication, or that Satsuki somehow also retained some memories from the time-slip (which also ties in with the young faces and the auto-reverse cassette tapes) and immediately recognized her old flame, which is more than a bit whimsical but also very comfy. And of course many other interpretations could still work. This is the best kind of open ending, one that still leaves you feeling wholesome. This manga is incredibly uplifting from start to end.

 

[quanzi]

Thanks @ThePaulBunyanTrophy for finishing this in a record time. I hope that the author's other series would get some love too (e.g. Sekitou Elegy which kind of gives offthe same vibes has been stuck at volume 6 since forever).

 

[simetris]

ahh.. what a ride..
thank you for translating this great manga

 

[neiT720]

If this were a dream, it would totally make sense why that guy suddenly called up his juniors a few chap back. The dream is coming to a close then nothing makes sense anymore, at least for me. I'd had plenty of dreams where shit would get weird toward the end.

But if that was the case then the author would had thrown in dream like sequence where things got weird and MC just didn't notice. So in all, i think it was a parallel universe or some sort.

Oh well, at least the young magic reverse tape at the end is nice. Love it, when realistic story do this, just a small miracle between 2 people.

A great read tho, hopefully, someone pick up Sekitou Elegy.

This author is great at telling somewhat realistic love stories. I'm sick of those fluffy romance manga where fluff is all that they have.

 

[morooster]

i cry. life goes on

 

[Not-Ak-not]

Thank you, thank you very much! @ThePaulBunyanTrophy @juicius

 

[Kiriha]

The open ending kinda ticks me off, but still a great read and good ending overall.