Some thoughts about the ending (SPOILER)

[Caelus]

Just wanted to share some thoughts about the ending and hoping to read someone else's opinion (even if the game has been out for a while).
I really loved the game and its writing for 99% of the time, but to be honest I was kinda disappointed at the true ending.
First, I'm not a big fan of the "and now let's break the curse (but only offscreen)" that looks like a sequel hook. I'm completely fine with the story not explaining every mystery, including Sapporo and the janitor's role, but ending it like that just seems unfinished, so much that I thought there was going to be an extra scene if I got all the secret endings as well.
But that is still something I can accept, even if I don't like it a lot.

What I didn't really like about the ending is how fast it went about the central point of the story: Asahi and Kirin's relationship. The whole game was a slow build-up towards an eventual confrontation for the two of them, every note unveiling an unhealthy relationship that desperately needed to be sorted out. But when they finally meet again and they start talking about the notes... it just ends in a few lines.
Honestly I was expecting a much more elaborate emotional moment where they would finally be able to talk honestly about their feelings and what happened in the past. Seeing the writing just quickly going past it felt bad, like a story building toward a climax but then changing its mind at the last moment.
I mean, during the game it becomes gradually clear that the purpose of Asahi's Elevator Game is not just for her to physically *find* Kirin, but for the two of them to *really* find each other's true self. But at the end it's almost like the story wants to forget about it and quickly proceed to the ending, leaving the girls' issues aside, as something they'll just have to deal with in their offscreen future.
Of course I wouldn't expect such complicated feelings to be quickly solved in a matter of minutes in order to have a super happy ending, but it would have been much better to at least be able to see the beginning of the process instead of just "hiding" it offscreen.

Or at least this is how I felt when I finished the game. I'd be curious to know if it was like this for someone else or if everyone was satisfied with what we got.

[stumat]

I think you've made really good points about the plot and I generally agree. Here I my thoughts:

1) Isn’t it quite often in life itself that a situation or relationship seems to move in the direction of some great climax, but it ends up in a way that is quite ordinary and not-so-climactic?

(It is not a rethorical question – I honestly don’t know if other people exprience this, but it seems to me to be that way).

2) Does Kirin strike you as a character with whom one can have a long and mature conversation about feelings? I feel like she obviously isn’t such a character. She seems to have her feelins buried, and not really able to act in a mature way or talk productively about her feelings.

But this is just my impression, I’m curious if anyone perceives her character differently than me.

So in the end, I am not disappointed by the ending. You can consider it bad writing or you can consider it a vague ending which is open to interpretation; I prefer to think about it in the latter way.

By the way, your point about „an unhealthy relationship that desperately needed to be sorted out” is very valid. It seems to me, that by the end of the game, it hasn’t been sorted out and the unhelathy relationship is likely bound to continue.