Summertime Rendering - 25: I'm Home

Title:Summertime Rendering
Episode:25: I'm Home
Synopsis
Shin finds himself back on the ferry to Hitogashima island on July 22nd. Hizuru is there as before, and he embarrasses himself as usual. But he is surprised to see that she's alive. She is shocked to find that this strange boy knows her secret identity. Shin has lost almost all of his memories of the grim struggle he has been through; even he wonders how he knew who Nagumo/Hizuru really is. He attributes it to deja-vu. On the pier he instinctively tries to stop Mio from crashing her bike, but she has no trouble braking to a halt. Sou and Tokiko come along as well. Shin asks Sou why he returned to the island. He has a funny feeling that he was worried about everyone and needed to make certain they were OK. Sou says Ushio demanded that he return and threatened to beat him up if he didn't. Ushio comes along and is clearly not entirely happy to see him. She hasn't drowned, obviously. Shin recently got an e-mail from his mother, who must also be alive and well. Ushio called Shin in Tokyo yesterday and insisted that he pay a visit to the island during summer break. Curiously, she refers to him as 'Ajiro' rather than 'Shinpei' (she will only use the former name when the two are alone). He had a strange dream in which he heard someone's voice and "was fearful that the island would disappear". At the Hito Shrine Shin meets a somewhat older Priest Karakiri and his son, Yamato, who we've never seen before. About the only bad news Yamato can think of is that Ushio lost the seashell pendant Shin once gave her and has been searching ceaselessly for it for two days. Shin finds Ushio on a beach, searching. He apologizes for abruptly leaving two years ago. Ushio says she has had a dream in which she will never see him again, which is why she called him. Shin finds the pendant and returns it to Ushio. On July 24th Shin tells Hizuru that while he can't remember exactly what happened in his dream, it was that, plus Ushio's similar one, that told him of her true identity. She is intrigued. She says she is working on another book and came to the island to perform some research. Today is the birthday of Ryuunosuke's daughter, Haine (she doesn't look anything like the Haine we know). "Time has overwritten summer" Shin says to himself. "With its passing I'm relieved but also pained and lonely". He mentions to Sou that Ushio's resentments seem to have melted away but he still feels 'off' for some reason. At the festival he finds Hizuru racing to record ideas for her book that have occured to her. She credits him with ending the 'slump' that she had been in. Shin and Ushio simultaneously remember a promise they made at the old clinic. "Welcome home" she says. The story ends the next day as everyone sings Happy Birthday to Ushio at her 18th birthday party.
Comments
Nothing really mind-blowing happens in this episode, instead it is a laid-back postscript to the long and repetitive battle against the Shadows. The centuries long saga of Hiruko and Shadow Sickness has evidently never occured in this timeline. All that remains are some vague, dreamlike memories. A good ending, but I am left wondering, how did time reset to July 22nd? How did Ushio, the good Shadow, know that this would happen? Someone must have made a choice since this couldn't have occurred at random. It would make more sense if time had continued onwards from where it stood when Shide was finally defeated (but that wouldn't have made for a happy ending). And if ten or so 'loops' took place, does that mean nine continued onward to an unhappy ending in which evil was victorious? And even in the 'good' ending, poor Shadow Mio has apparently ceased to exist. But why quibble about such things when we have such a neat show. It isn't perfect, but it was clearly the best anime of 2022 in my opinion.

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