I just finished the manga today, August 26th, 2016.
I started the manga just as I finished watching the anime, back when it was airing.
All I have to say is that this ending saddens me a lot.
Most of all, the ending seems so forced.
1. Her father was crazy for her, idolized her, even took photos of her naked when it was her birthday. EVERY YEAR. Then he fights Chihiro and understand things better. He needs to save her daughter now, so he travels all around the world, desperately seeking any possible help for her beloved daughter. Until this, we're alright.
BUT then he shows up from nothing saying that the only thing he could do is go to ZOMA, and that Jogoro told him everything about zombies. Okay!
(But he seriously didn't find any other person in the world capable of saving Rea, nor anyone that already had developed zombification even further?)
And then Jogoro dies.
2. In the Sanka School, he recalls that there "is still a way", and that Chihiro is the only one capable of saving Rea at that point. Okay!
(Typical shonen manga outcome: main character is the only one that can saves the world).
3. Ranko lost all the posibilities of becoming anything like a main character, since she just held her ground outside, and didn't think of anything else.
Same goes for Darin.
(Also, back at the lab, she said that Rea had some living tissues - that she was not entirely dead. This should have been used to develop a cure for Rea.)
Until now, we have the following scenary:
Chihiro and Rea inside the church, along with Babu.
Rea's father is wounded and lying on the ground there, with them, too.
Ranko and Darin are outside, being loyal to Chihiro's promise, which is respectable.
HOW WOULD I HAVE WRITTEN THE STORY FROM THAT POINT?
Rea is attacking Babu. Chihiro tries to stop Rea, but cannot since she is super strong.
Don is not mortally wounded, and counsels Chihiro.
"You can save my daughter. Even if she doesn't remember you now, you're still somewhere in her thoughts, deep inside in her mind. You can save it and I know you will."
Chihiro stands up, he's all messed up but charges on Rea. He holds both of her hands within his, lacing their fingers.
He yells all kind of stuff, what they've been through since they met. Because of Babu.
He reminds Rea of his family, also wounded but worried about her.
She starts to remember something.
He finally yells: I love you!
Now, she is finally back.
Fordwarding...
Darin starts to do some research on his condition.
She comes up with the following argument:
-Chihiro is half-zombie because all of the poison he had gotten because of Rea's biting.
-Rea was also a half-zombie because she drank the poison before accidentally end up dying. After bleeding out, she stands up already as a zombie.
-This means that if Chihiro dies, he will also come back as a zombie proving that he's also already poisoned, as Rea was at the moment of her "death".
Back in ZOMA's lab, Darin acknowledged that Rea was not like any other zombie they had seen ever before, and had still some living tissues and living cells within her, since the zombification process was not done after decease, but before.
(Also, the poison made by Chihiro was even better than his grandfather's.)
Rea did not entirely die, when she bled out.
FROM THAT POINT, they should have focused on finding a way of turning her over to a living human being. Which was really a possibility. Maybe with a cure? Maybe getting her new organs, blood transfusion... whatever.
The de-zombification process would have been amazing story to read, chapter by chapter...
Until she is finally alive again.
From there, she would confess to Chihiro after thanking him for everything he'd done just for saving her.
And they would have been able to be together, oficially as boyfriend as girlfriend, with the promise of finishing their studies together the following year.
Dan would break up with Aria after finding her true feelings of hatred towards his daughter, and would have Rea live with him again. Rea's relationship with her father would have greatly improved after all that had happened, of course. Chihiro would be greatly welcomed and respected by him, and Rea would be very happy for that.
"I used to like zombies...", would Chihiro think.
"But after all that we've been through..." Rea's smiling face would be in the background along this dialog bubble.
"I think I started to like the living." Chihiro would smile.
"Although Babu and jiji are now gone... It was because of you that we got to save Rea from a terrible fate."
"Thank you, Babu." Babu's image in a tree, looking happy.
"Thank you, jiji (grandfather)." We would see the city from above.
"This is really... life."
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Any thoughts by private message. Sorry for any mistakes in spelling and grammar, as english is not my mother language. And thank you for reading this far. |