Ano Hana Last Episode HYPE!

So on the 23rd Ano Hana's last episode will be coming out. To be quite honest, the series sorta only noticed that it was lagging a bit behind on plot in the 9th and 10th episodes and then started to speed itself up - so much so that I believe I went through at least 3 "oh my God" moments of tension in episode 10 alone - which was more than what I experienced in episodes 6-8 combined. So I'm going to speculate a bit since the ending seems more vague than what I had previously thought. Get ready for some hype!

No seriously. You bitches better make up during the credit scenes or I will cry, eat some ice cream and watch more Hanasaku Iroha rage so hard.

Some people have suggested to me that Jintan's mom will have a major role in what goes on. To be quite honest, I think she'll have a "role" by being one of the obstacles that Jintan overcomes (along with Menma's death) in an conclusion monologue while he stops becoming a jerk/recluse completely during the credit scenes. Other than adding that extra bit of tension, however, I don't think that Jintan's mother will have a deciding role to play in the conclusion of this series.

Now how will Menma go away (and yes, we do want her to go the fuck away)?

There's always family bonding - in what form I can't tell, but maybe something like the Fuuko Arc in CLANNAD. The most likely would be for the wish to be "I wish everyone in the Peace Busters would get along together" because that's what the entire damn cast has been doing all 11 episodes. A Bakemonogatari-style spiritual ritual to get rid of Menma is also possible with the power of friendship. Menma could just randomly disappear in the credit scenes after pissing everyone off enough. And then there's always the Ghostbusters.

DON'T BE HAPPY GODDAMN IT MAKE HER GO AWAY YOU MORON

There are several distinct possible ends for Menma:

a) Goes away and doesn't reappear in the credit scene/ever again. This is the most likely

ending - Menma disappears because she's happy, people go back to their lives but closer to each other and more enlightened, the Super Peace Busters meet on occasion, somebody bitchslaps Menma's mother, everybody's happy. Bittersweet with an emphasis on "way too sweet".

b) Goes away but reappears in credit scene after passage of time as a baby to Jintan or Yukiatsu. Less probable, since only like...Angel Beats has really done anything like what I just suggested. However, this came up during a discussion because Menma had to have that goddamn flashback where she heard from Jintan's mother about reincarnation. Grudgingly, I must put this up as a possible end.

c) Key-Studios-style magical handwave (a la CLANNAD/Air) - Menma comes back to life! Goddamn it. This essentially MEANS a season 2 will be coming, because I'm pretty sure Yukiatsu/Anaru wouldn't be able to handle this shit...let alone Poppo, who would go off running into the sunset driven high by the madness coolness of it all.

d) Doesn't go away. Uh...this also means a season 2, but in a more disturbing way. Not disturbing as in like "oh this is kinda unrealistic but unusual, this might be interesting"; as in, "Saya no Uta soundtrack on please" disturbing. Very negligible chance of it happening.

No! Poppo! You will NOT run out of batteries on me! I have more AAAs!

Menma's family will be resolved in some Disney-Pixar-like way, so I'm not too worried about that. That leaves the last, most meaty question of: what happens to everyone else?

Sadly, episode 10 left little doubt about what would happen.

Yukiatsu/Tsuruko is happening. The MOMENT that Tsuruko said what she thought publicly to whomever - I couldn't care less if it was the garbage man from the next block - boom, makers are not going to leave her little wish hanging for obvious reasons not noted.

Poppo will ride into the sunset with a Harley-Davidson. Bound for America. I don't care where he is during the credit scene. He will ride to America with a motorcycle alone.

Jintan has three options: if Menma inserts enough coins before the credit scenes hit, Jintan's going out with Menma - no questions asked. However, since that's not happening, Jintan may stay alone - because of the heavy Menma/Jintan implication, even with the Anaru confession this may still be the case. The most likely thing is for Jintan to "move on" (as much as people may hate the switching of heroines) and implied romance is had in bucketfuls in the credit scene. The third path is 90% verified because of the confession Anaru made to Tsuruko in the last episode. It went roughly like this:

Anaru: But...Jintan is irreplaceable!

Me: YES THERE IS A GOD OF CANON COUPLINGS

Next 5 minutes are spent dancing around the room

Well I think Yukiatsu would be interested in my Pokemans.

So yeah. Jintan/Anaru bitches. Some people seem to like the Yukiatsu/Anaru coupling, but the stereotypical cool guy/tsundere you find in SHOUJO (AHEM) manga are not suitable for the type of series that Ano Hana represents. Besides, Jintan can play games. Yukiatsu fixes his Rolex for fun. There's an unpleasant distinction and one coupling should be more fitting than the other in this case. Oh and there's always the matter of Tsuruko raging. Raging hard. That slapdown in episode 10 was just cold.

Any more speculations? If not, get ready for the end of this memorable series. The "d'awwwwww" end is coming for you.

D'awwwwwww shit.