I cried. I also cry every time I watch the last episode of the anime. Having finished the novel, I am now able to fill in much of the missing thoughts and emotions of each character as the scenes fly by. It makes every scene, every second, and every frame so much more precious because there's so much more to be found there. In fact, right after finishing the novel, I rewatched the last episode of the anime. Of course, I cried. I didn't even realize at the time, but when I thought about it, I realized that I cried not because I was sad, but because I was angry.
This story has a tremendous impact on me. I imagine that is probably somewhat different from how most other people feel about this story. For example, I consider the ending of "Saishuu Heiki Kanojo" (original manga) to be a happy ending. I imagine not many people do. As I mentioned before, one can consider the ending of "Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu" as an inverse of the ending of SaiKano. "Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu" has far greater impact on me than SaiKano did. For one thing, SaiKano has a bit too much unrealism in its story. And generally, happy endings tend not to have as strong effect on the reader.
It would have been a happier ending if the humanity was destroyed. Or maybe I should say that it would have been an average sad ending that does not make me angry, a bit sad, but not angry. That is how I think, or maybe that is how I've been made to think due to the life I was forced to live. Perhaps my problem, if it's even a problem, is similar to that of Iriya before she met Asaba. Perhaps if I were to find something, or rather someone, who becomes everything to me, I may also start to think differently, even if it were set up to be that way, as in Iriya's case.
As long as I have my site, it will be a tribute to Iriya because my favicon.ico is there as a tribute to Iriya. May she remember the happiest moments of her life forever and ever.
