Who the $@#% thought this was a good way to end this series?!?

Every time again, it baffles me how so many people are unable to actually understand how to write - and end - a story and are expecting cheap Hollywood happy endings from manga & anime as well.
The ending in the anime reflects the setting and message of the story perfectly - for those who missed the point; this show wasn't a shounen series building on the tropes of overcoming ones weakness in the pursuite of defeating some eternal evil.

Of course as always, most aspects in literature and storytelling are subjective and taste & opinions differ - but that doesn't apply to every single aspect - there are some more objective truths in stortelling that are building some sort of 'standard' how to write a good story - rules which are important in regards to art-expression & craftmanship in general. In this particular case the message of the show was hardly hidden or obfuscated - and the ending was pretty much the most believable. People tend to overlook this aspects, since cheaply produced media taught us that stereotypical narratives of the extremes have way more short-term impact than actual believeable developments and in reality inter-social relationships don't tend to work in the way that they build themselves up first, just to escalate at one point while leading to a clear defined dramatic or happy end that brings full closure and resolution. That's just not how reality works - but especially western media and Hollywood did a great job teaching people to expect such questionable endings to a story.

It's surely not that I don't get it - many shoujo ai dramas tend to work with such clean-cut black and white narratives as well - so one might expect them everywhere sind we're used to them - but with how the show portrayed the main characters and their development, the ending makes simply absolute sense. What would be the other options? After being good friends for such a long time, one confesses their romantic feelings for the other and it either ends in them living happily ever after? From an realism-standpoint it could also end in a complete desaster with their friendship breaking completely - that WOULD be a common option for sure, but why are YOU as viewer/reader actually calling for some trite and stereotypical ending used in every other shoujo ai story anyways? Why would YOU actually want the story already told a thousand times instead of something 'believeable'? (can't call it a novum - because endings like this are also rather common to be honest...)

I frustrates me quite a lot how few people actually can deal with open endings in drama shows - and I wouldn't be surprised if the people complaining are actually the very same people liking typical tele-novelas and similar stuff - narratives that are basically the embodiment of open endings...

Usually you find people misinterpreting unresolved romance in those shows as something negative - completely missing the point that an open ending is at least not a tragic one and that the hypothetical life of the characters doesn't end with the end of the narration. So while the ending is open - it actually leaves more than enough room for a potential/hypothetical happy ending outside the scope of the actual narration. And lets be completely real here... in regards to a scenario as the one portrayed in this show... if all parties involved can deal with it, what's so bad with a good friendship going on compared to the potential destruction outspoken but unrequited love can cause to it? And while it isn't particularly well portrayed in this particular show; the main theme for the two main characters in the lovestory is clearly that they CAN'T tell each other - for rather badly explained reasons - but one of the most common one would most likely be the fear of ruining an important friendship. So why are you all craving for and valuing romantic emotions so clearly over platonic ones?

Sometimes I really don't get it - this show is clearly not a masterpiece in my book - but I'd say it was one of the more touching interpretations of the topic despite its timid expression. It's slow - it's melancholic - and in the league it's playing it surely is a congruent and consistent theme throughout the whole show (if we put aside the at times over-the-top comedic-relief scenes that is.) It would pretty much ruin the theme and vibe of 99% of the product if they went for another ending - so kudos to the author and director for not making such a (sadly; widespread) beginner-mistake!