Aki-Sora Chapter 30 Discussion

iScream4z said:
Is it just me that think the ending was like they get together again?

Karharot said:

The afterword at the end of the last chapter explains why Aki-Sora ended like that. Due to her friend illness and ultimately death author suffered from severe depression and was unable to continue this manga in its original lighter tones. The rushed ending and that feeling of everything falling apart for Sora is most likely the author putting her feelings at the time into the story. It might have not even been fully intentional, it just came out like that because there was no other inspiration to draw on.
Life sometimes sucks like that T_T

Dragon246 said:
First of all, how did you know that the last line was spoken by Aki . It could easily have been the authors last word. (Although if Aki spoke those its better)
Also I think that it was a positive ending (although not stated clearly enough, epilogue would have been awesome!!!). Sora seemed determined and Aki was smiling too (they DID NOT do so from the time they were separated by their father). I think the author vaguely implies they live together which is OBVIOUSLY the best thing that could happen to them and the best ending.

Tennouji said:
To be honest, for me, Aki is a fucking cunt. She's the one who started this mess and now Sora's feeling the same way then now he has to suffer on his feelings. She should take responsibility or feel eternal guilt for making Sora that way. He could've a normal relationship with some other woman poor him.

Sandy1313 said:

I hope what you are saying is right... But still epilogue would've erased all ambiguity... Author should have wrote epilogue after overcoming depression

yetanothergeek said:


I discovered the OVAs and manga early this year, ended up reading the whole manga in 2 sittings.
Regarding this ending, well I found this thread a couple of days back and I notice that for the better part of the last decade there's a lot of confusion being made over that final line - "I wish your choices lead to happiness. - To me that was always clearly a message from the author and not a line spoken by the characters, but of course I had to make sure and my obsessive self went and found an original Japanese version to make sure, and guess what, that line was not translated, it is written in English in the raw manga "I wish your choices lead to happiness." really is a message from the author, both to the reader and the characters, and I think it is a hind they do end up together.

I do subscribe to the reading that Aki and Sora do end up together in the end, it is clearly intended to be an ambiguous ending but most of the chapter beats point toward they ending up together. So I feel like I had to share my views here, and her are the evidences:
First the extended cast, in this chapter we see all the characters have overcame their issues and all the couples getting together - Nami and Kana are a happy couple; Miharu and Alice seem to be getting on well even without Sora's help; Yuna overcame her shame over being nude in front of people; only Runa seem to be the exception, however her dialogue points that she isn't necessarily missing something herself but rather she's detecting that something is amiss in the world itself, something is not right with Autumn (Aki), the thing is that the World is not right because Aki and Sora aren't together. Nami dialogue also points out that, that Sora is distant and she can't reach him to help with whatever is wrong with him, he obvious didn't get over Aki. Everybody is going along their happy endings but there is still one last piece missing.

And then we cut to the end, with Aki finding Sora at their real mother's grave. The point here is that Sora finally is aware of all their family's secrets and can make a perfectly informed choice over their future. Their dialogue here is crucial, it could be read as saying they can only be together after they are dead, but it doesn't sound like that at all, pay attention on their dialogue and how it breaks down by panel and page, Sora says their parents finally get to be together in the end, Aki agrees, then we have a very intentional break to the next page and his next line is emphasized by that "Now they'll never be separated again. For eternity." he's talking about their parents, but he's thinking about Aki and himself. His dialogue focus on their parents being together more than the fact they are dead, and here is the thing, Sora knows now that their parents were never happy apart, their mother never got to built a new life for herself, the woman who raised them is their Aunt, their mother never got that chance, she died young in an accident in all likelihood as a consequence of being abandoned, too distracted and burdened with her responsibilities she had to be alone in the street at night and didn't saw the car coming. And their father, only Aki made him company in his last days and in his funeral only his immediate family was there, granted that was his will but still we don't see anybody close to him, he had nobody with him in the end and he was mourned by almost nobody. Their separation didn't fix their lives it ruined them both, the only silver lining for their separation is that they can be together now that they were gone.

And now we go the final scene, after that last line about their parents Sora has his back to Aki and then he actually makes a dramatic turn, pay attention to his stance and then we look at his expression, he has a serious look on his face but he is blushing, he has something important to say to Aki and he wants to get it right. One could read this as he telling her they should be separated, but I don't buy it, not only it wouldn't be necessary saying anything since both were already separated but it doesn't go along with that expression, he's blushing! Granted, characters are constantly blushing in this manga, but that always means that they are taken by some emotion (shame, lust, fear, happiness, sadness), if he wanted to break up he'd be apathetic and that serious expression wouldn't be accompanied with the blushing. Maybe he could be sad? Not really, he doesn't look the lest bit sad. He looks determined, and that's a rare expression to the ever submissive Sora.
Reading both their expressions in the end, the most likely reading is that this is a do over of the scene in the end of ch.29 where Sora couldn't tell he wanted Aki to stay, and make no mistake that's what happened, look again at that train station scene, Sora froze when Aki put their destiny in his hands, when he finally emerged from inside his head that train was gone gone, there is no hint of the train anymore, he didn't even notice it leaving he blacked out, Aki left with Sora in silence looking down, to her that was his answer.
Throughout the manga, Sora is always submissive, Aki and the other girls are always the instigators, things just happen to him and he always goes along with them. The only times we see him take an active role is in these last few chapters when he's trying to get back together with Aki after his father separates them.
The most likely reading of this last scene, his serious determinate expression the fact that he needs to say something absolutely important to Aki, is that he wants her to come back to him, and he wants to get it right, he needs to show he will fight for them, he won't runaway like his father did, and the only way they can find happiness is together. And by Aki's expression, she's smiling and blushing, perfectly warm and accepting, she's been waiting for his answer all this time and now that he knows all the truth about their family and where it all lead, she has already figured out what Sora is going to say, and will accept coming back. In fact, without any context, if you just read their expressions alone, they don't look at all like two people who are about to say goodbye, in fact it looks like he's about to propose to her and she will say yes, which is not what's I think is happening, he's just going to ask her to stay, but they do give off that feeling. And mind you, it was very deliberately made to be left ambiguous but, most of the evidence points out to that interpretation. But of course, I would really have preferred an unambiguously happy ending with them together.


Ever since I finished this series, I've been tracking all the author other manga, well at lest those I could find translated, and she has indeed gotten a lot better in her art and writing. I do recommend her other manga and there is noticeable improvement there, and though Aki Sora is a somewhat flawed series these characters remain dear to me, and it's also nice knowing these characters are still fresh in the author mind, she was talking about the new digital editions of Aki Sora (still no new paper because of that law) and has recently posted some art on her twitter of Aki and Sora and Nami and Kana, and some of them are certainly new ones, there's a pandemic reference in one of the pieces, so there is that.

But that was my piece of mind, kind of long but I hope it adds something to the appreciation of this series, even after all these years.

F4LC0N99 said:

Thank God I found someone who recently read Aki-Sora... I decided to read it after watching it a very long time ago. I actually am in agreement with you! They really were blushing and the fact that Aki blatantly didn't say that line implies that they actually really do get back together. All the other things you said pointed toward that, too. I looked for a chapter 30 thread right after finishing it and you really helped clear things up! It was honestly a first for me, reading this kind of manga and it got weirder than I thought it would. The end chapters were crazy, too... Can't say I liked it or disliked it - it was maybe a mix tbh, but yeah.

yetanothergeek said:


Hello there, glad knowing my comment helped in your reading experience, good knowing even after almost a decade there still people talking about this manga. There really is a change in mood in the last volume, but it's not out of nowhere there always this undercurrent of more complex issues under the surface.

The way I see, when a series ends in an ambiguous note the true to what happens next is always up to the readers choice, so when it comes to the readers "I wish your choices lead to happiness.", it's essentially choose the ending you're most happy with, but of course I stand by my reading and all the details I found (and some I haven't mentioned) point that the most likely scenario is them getting back together, also because that was also a message addressing the characters in the story. I can't help but hope for an epilogue, late epilogues do happen sometimes, but only if it confirms that they are happily back together, other than that I will take an ambiguous happy ending than a clear sad one any day.

Also not my go to manga theme but I was curious, I found the series after it was mentioned on a YouTube video defending Onee-chans over Imoutos (I agree on that point, but I don't judge) found it after, and it's been an emotional roller-coaster. You mentioned you watched years ago but then decided to read manga after, was that also years ago or was the reading recent?

I do recommend reading some of her other works, I love it's always about sex, though not always about intercourse, some are dark and depressing while others much more fun and crazy, so there is lot of range to explore. I don't know what she working on right now, she frequently mentions her works in progress on Twitter but I don't know if it's from a new series or just short stories, there is only so much I can google translate. Recently the author changed her Twitter icon to Aki, and if everything goes okay a new digital edition of Aki Sora going out early June, I love seeing that this series is still dear to many people.

F4LC0N99 said:

(This quoting thing is so goddamn long...)
Basically, I first watched it maybe a few years ago, but I don't remember too much. I actually watched it back-to-back with Yosuga no Sora, not sure if you know it, but very similar themes. So anyway, a few days ago, I sort of spontaneously decided to read the manga in full, remembering that the OVA left the story unresolved for me, and I felt like finding out what happened. To be honest, I discovered and watched Aki-Sora on HentaiHaven (I know), and I returned to it after all this time, which is kinda crazy... But it IS definitely cool to see a title still get attention after so long! I have to agree that the underlying issues in the story had to be resolved for the story to end and so it's fair for the last chapters to shift to a serious tone. Also, I was kinda surprised to find out that the author is female lol. I'm glad I got your response!