Yofukashi no Uta - Vol. 20 Ch. 200 - Final Night: And Then

[Liver]

it's something

 

[NotSomeone]

Thank you very much for picking up the scanlation to the end, as unflinchingly consistent as it was.

The ending was a lot less bitter than I was fearing, and flowed a lot better than I feared it would for a final chapter of the same length as any other chapter in this work.

I'm surprised that Nazuna's vampiric instincts compelled her to try to drink Kou's blood even though it's been three years and she must have been drinking blood just fine during that time. Even if I account for Nazuna's appraisal of Kou's blood, I was initially inclined to write off her instinctive attempt to drink his blood-- even after three years-- as a reaction from overwhelming affection rather than vampiric instinct (I mean, come on-- she's completely fine until he points out that he's became way taller than her...)

On an aside: I'm convinced the hatred of the ending to Dagashi Kashi is a meme that people forgot was a meme, and it's infected their viewing of this even less offensive ending. I do not get the problem in someone temporarily going away, and then coming back.

But maybe that's me remembering how Vonnegut allegedly described what he called "boy meets girl" stories, as well as my exposure to the opinion-- by two different nonfiction writers discussing masculinity at whichever length-- that men tend to have relationships of separation and reunion rather than the persistent staying together that women tend to have.


You're right, we didn't. Even in this chapter, not even Nazuna knows if it's the vampire or the subject who dies.

But it's also the kind of thing that can't be readily investigated, with how the concept was set up. The vampire has to fall in love with the subject, and naturally, they'll be disinclined to try to vampirize the subject and risk death (whether they interpret it as the subject's or their own) unless they have a death wish like Kiku and are convinced it'll be them that dies.


mans was reading Naruto during that time skip


Does it matter at this point? Why Kou is still a vampire shifter is as much of a mystery as why he's a vampire shifter in the first place, and the latter issue you brought up is too risky to explore-- but even then, they've made their workaround (Kou learning MMA).

Vampires have always been poorly explained, for all their prominence in the narrative. It's a point of worldbuilding that vampires are so concerned with "living normally" that they barely understand themselves, and they're stuck being overly cautious or amateur philosophers of the vampiric condition. I'm starting to think that point was made as early as it was in order to shush the reader-- to tell them to not think too much about vampire lore and simultaneously sealing the door shut.

We may as well ask about the precise mechanism of the vampire weakness objects, why memories can be stored in the blood, why vampires have strength that contradicts their builds, or why they can float. It's fairly secondary to the kind of narrative this is.

It does matter whether sucking the blood of a beloved subject kills either of them, but it mattered even more that they were concerned enough about the idea that they chose not to risk it.

I like the ending, It's the best we can get, really.
With how the author set up the story and the rules within the world of the manga, this is the best we could have, really.
It's actually really refreshing that both characters understand the risk of Nazuna drinking Kou's blood and they don't just do it and deus ex machima the ending where, even if she did drink it everything would be ok beceause we need to chase that good wholesome finale. They both love eachother way too much to risk just doing it and dying, not because they don't wanna die (they obviously don't) but because the other is dying too. It's a bittersweet, tragic love story, like Romeo and Juliet or any other.

 

[frankieMuniez]

Sweet and sour, just like I like it.

I will miss these two dumdums, and everyone else, I still feel that there are so many stories to be told in this but... you need to let go before things spoil.

This was a fun ride, thanks for that.

There’s nothing wrong with ending before it goes stale, the issue is that it went stale during the miserable arc with his best friend.

There is something wrong with setting up so many story beats and doing nothing with them though. What happened to her mom? Did she disappear or die, is she actually Nazuna? Fuck if we know, that mystery was forgotten as soon as it was uttered. Nazuna was special because she was born from a vampire and doesn’t remember anything before she met the nurse vampire. Could that be something special? Eh, maybe, we’ll never know though because the author couldn’t write an ending to save their life. Oh wait, they introduced another special mystery, Kou can turn into a half vampire but he still ages, maybe that’s a thing!! lol NOPE. Forget about that neat thing, it was all pointless.

The author left us a steaming hot one and people are calling it dessert.

 

[frankieMuniez]

Thank you very much for picking up the scanlation to the end, as unflinchingly consistent as it was.

The ending was a lot less bitter than I was fearing, and flowed a lot better than I feared it would for a final chapter of the same length as any other chapter in this work.

I'm surprised that Nazuna's vampiric instincts compelled her to try to drink Kou's blood even though it's been three years and she must have been drinking blood just fine during that time. Even if I account for Nazuna's appraisal of Kou's blood, I was initially inclined to write off her instinctive attempt to drink his blood-- even after three years-- as a reaction from overwhelming affection rather than vampiric instinct (I mean, come on-- she's completely fine until he points out that he's became way taller than her...)

On an aside: I'm convinced the hatred of the ending to Dagashi Kashi is a meme that people forgot was a meme, and it's infected their viewing of this even less offensive ending. I do not get the problem in someone temporarily going away, and then coming back.

But maybe that's me remembering how Vonnegut allegedly described what he called "boy meets girl" stories, as well as my exposure to the opinion-- by two different nonfiction writers discussing masculinity at whichever length-- that men tend to have relationships of separation and reunion rather than the persistent staying together that women tend to have.


You're right, we didn't. Even in this chapter, not even Nazuna knows if it's the vampire or the subject who dies.

But it's also the kind of thing that can't be readily investigated, with how the concept was set up. The vampire has to fall in love with the subject, and naturally, they'll be disinclined to try to vampirize the subject and risk death (whether they interpret it as the subject's or their own) unless they have a death wish like Kiku and are convinced it'll be them that dies.


mans was reading Naruto during that time skip


Does it matter at this point? Why Kou is still a vampire shifter is as much of a mystery as why he's a vampire shifter in the first place, and the latter issue you brought up is too risky to explore-- but even then, they've made their workaround (Kou learning MMA).

Vampires have always been poorly explained, for all their prominence in the narrative. It's a point of worldbuilding that vampires are so concerned with "living normally" that they barely understand themselves, and they're stuck being overly cautious or amateur philosophers of the vampiric condition. I'm starting to think that point was made as early as it was in order to shush the reader-- to tell them to not think too much about vampire lore and simultaneously sealing the door shut.

We may as well ask about the precise mechanism of the vampire weakness objects, why memories can be stored in the blood, why vampires have strength that contradicts their builds, or why they can float. It's fairly secondary to the kind of narrative this is.

It does matter whether sucking the blood of a beloved subject kills either of them, but it mattered even more that they were concerned enough about the idea that they chose not to risk it.

This is an amazing amount of words to say “we got a rushed, half finished ending because the author forgot to use any of his mysteries”.

 

[rayce]

I will say this certainly solidifies my decision on whether to go back and read their previous work. Hahaha no.

 

[frankieMuniez]

I swear some people in this comments section wouldn’t be satisfied by the ending unless Ko and Nazuna got married and then had 15 pages of hot sweaty vampire sex

The author presented a number of special mysteries that set them apart from other vampire/human couples. Nazuna was born a vampire from a vampire, that was unique. Kou can turn into a half vampire, that’s never happened before. Nazuna could be the person we think is her mother because she has special vampire amnesia.

The issue isn’t that it was an “unsatisfying ending” the issue is that the author setup huge mysteries and literally said “yeah I don’t know” when the characters addressed one of them.

It’s a lazy rushed ending.

 

[RazorsEdge]

what a fucking piece of garbage ending

 

[AlthusserStandAccount]

I think there is nothing I can write that better captures my feelings after this final chapter than what Eduardo Galeano, a prolific uruguayan writer, wrote about utopias: “(...) Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking." It has been quite a journey and it is a pleasure to be alive to be able to enjoy it, to continue enjoying it, and to experience it with all of you, strangers from the internet, we have to be grateful for that, that we have enough humanity to be moved by art and have strong feelings, good or bad, when art and its dilemmas, its characters, its conflicts, its beginnings and its endings, its journeys, challenge us, just as in Yofukashi No Uta. Now Kou and Nazuna will have to walk, chasing each other, but isn't love like that too? Finally, "C'est la vie" they say in French, "that's life," and today I think it may be true.

A big hug to all, it has been a pleasure! See you soon Nazuna and Kou.

 

[Eighty-six]

This is an amazing amount of words to say “we got a rushed, half finished ending because the author forgot to use any of his mysteries”.

I wouldn't talk about what the author "forgot to use any of" when you're unclear about what's in the narrative (see below) and aren't willing to acknowledge the obvious priorities of the mangaka (i.e., character exploration).

What happened to her mom?

She died from not drinking blood while pregnant with Nazuna. Kabura reported this to Nazuna and Kou in chapter 68, relaying information she got from Haru's husband who himself died shortly after meeting Kabura.

Nazuna could be the person we think is her mother because she has special vampire amnesia.

Her father told Kabura that her mother died, and then died shortly after. That was never implied to be a possibility.

Nazuna was special because she was born from a vampire and doesn’t remember anything before she met the nurse vampire. Could that be something special? Eh, maybe, we’ll never know though because the author couldn’t write an ending to save their life.

It's special in its own right, but they lack the means or the care to explore any deeper meaning of those circumstances, beyond the demonstration that it's possible for a vampire to fall in love with a human. She's indistinguishable from any other vampire. You blame the author supposedly not being able to write an ending even though Nazuna explicitly decided to not pursue an investigation about these circumstances around the time she learned about them (ch. 68, p. 10-11) in favor of showing Kou the past she does remember. At no point after that does anybody express interest in exploring the particulars of her being a dhampir.

You're using the ending as a scapegoat for what should be (to you) deeper issues in this narrative. If you wanted to complain, you shouldn't be complaining that nothing was done with Nazuna's special circumstances, but that there was never any interest in exploring those special circumstances any further than was done.

---

Oh wait, they introduced another special mystery, Kou can turn into a half vampire but he still ages, maybe that’s a thing!! lol NOPE.

"Maybe that's a thing"? What does that line mean?

The concept is completely foreign to any of the vampires-- they're all at a loss of how to investigate it, and barely care to beyond immediate practical applications. Not unlike nearly all of the vampiric existence-- a reality that is explicitly stated less than a quarter into the story, by Hatsuka.

---

It's a bittersweet, tragic love story, like Romeo and Juliet or any other.

You call it "bittersweet", but nobody died, Kou can become a vampire at will, he's able to live a daytime life without suffering the ennui he used to, and he still gets to be with Nazuna because now he can wrangle her if her "instincts" start acting up.

This is barely bitter.

 

[Speedtail]

Damn bruh, to think 2 years went by reading this. I got a girlfriend and everything now. That's crazy. I'll be waiting for the authors next work, this really was amazing.

 

[HerrMagoo]

I guess it's.... a kind of happy ending? They'll keep up their relationship of tag basically it sounds like forever until he gets to the point he can't chase her around the globe anymore, but it's bitter that they can never really do anything more than that. The dumb author even hinted that it is strange that the guy can still transform into a half vampire after three years, why not make that something more relevant to their situation possibly being different?

Instead here we go again with another multiple year time skip basically resulting in a "Hey, I'm back." just like the author's last manga Dagashi Kashi. Probably safe to skip this author from now on if you want a proper relationship ending.

I think it's not that the author is dumb, no not at all... The way I see this is an open ending where the author decided to leave the story with some loose ends that make each reader able to decide for themselves whether they were able to figure things out or not at the end. It's not what we usually get with mangas so it's a bit weird and might not sit well at first but I think it's a completely valid choice for the narrative.

 

[basedchrisyang]

This was a great ending. Time to kill myself now.

 

[Eighty-six]

This was a great ending. Time to kill myself now.

Okay, but don't die.

 

[aqyx]

I really wish there would be more plot points expanded upon and more holes explained but that's wishful thinking for a series like this. I don't know how to feel about this ending but the manga was great.

 

[FanofEverything]

This was nice. A happy ending with a confirmation of feelings and plenty of time in their lives to figure out the rest. A quiet but heartfelt send off to a good series. Thank you for all your hard work author, and I hope to read your next work soon.

 

[ninjacookie]

And so, it ends.

Thanks for the translation guys.

 

[Mr.Oblivion]

Definitely a better ending than Dagashi Kashi but still not very good. I'm happy they are together but their are FAR too many unanswered questions.

 

[RazorsEdge]

I think there is nothing I can write that better captures my feelings after this final chapter than what Eduardo Galeano, a prolific uruguayan writer, wrote about utopias: “(...) Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking." It has been quite a journey and it is a pleasure to be alive to be able to enjoy it, to continue enjoying it, and to experience it with all of you, strangers from the internet, we have to be grateful for that, that we have enough humanity to be moved by art and have strong feelings, good or bad, when art and its dilemmas, its characters, its conflicts, its beginnings and its endings, its journeys, challenge us, just as in Yofukashi No Uta. Now Kou and Nazuna will have to walk, chasing each other, but isn't love like that too? Finally, "C'est la vie" they say in French, "that's life," and today I think it may be true.

A big hug to all, it has been a pleasure! See you soon Nazuna and Kou.

la provincia rebelde strikes again

 

[Bounce]

Great series, thank you very much for the scanlation

 

[RedlineAlchemist]

It's not the worst ending... but damn does it feel like running off a cliff. I was so looking forward to more, then there's nothing.