Long AF Death Theory Thoughts

I just finished watching the anime, and the ending had me wondering so I came here to see if any explanations for that cryptic ending was hidden in the manga, but nope. It's the exact same.

As sad as it makes me, you can read into the ending and the special as an answer for "Yes, he does in fact die," even if the justification isn't anywhere near clear-cut.

To begin with, for a fun and lighthearted anime that never had a hint of misdirection or a hidden serious meaning to it before, why in the world is the ending so ambiguous unless the author wanted us to question it? There was zero reason to leave it like that unless we were meant to question Sakamoto's journey up to that point and what comes next for him.

These next points can honestly work for both sides of the theory argument, but I'll list them anyway:

- The words his classmates use in their final farewell is "thank you," "I'll never forget you," and "We'll always be friends." In all the anime I can remember, these lines are almost always used to indicate a long goodbye. Someone is moving and the chances of seeing them are next to nil, or someone is dying but you don't want to say goodbye bc that's freaking depressing! In anime, usually if they're expecting to see each other again someday, even sometime far in the future, they'll say something along the lines of "see you later" instead. But again, this point and the ones that follow are easily flexible to work in the opposite direction too.

- In the farewell scene of both the anime and manga, instead of waving goodbye or simply raising his hand as a lot of characters do, Sakamoto raises his hand with his fingers crossed. As far as I know, in Japan this gesture doesn't mean much of anything, but for westerners, this is typically used as a meaning for "strong wishes or hope." It can also be used as a gesture to lie against something (usually when held out of sight when making a promise to someone).

- In the special ending, there's a moment where the title card thingy in the bottom corner says "I WAS Sakamoto."

- At the end of the special, Sakamoto goes to space after a mishap with the rocket, and he's shown blasting off to the stars alone. In cartoons and stuff, the depiction of people being sent to the sky in anything other than a sci-fi genre usually means they are in heaven. They are dead. Also, it's a small point, but why is he alone in the rocket? People go to space in teams don't they?

- Someone else posted their thoughts on that German song Sakamoto sang, and the original meaning behind it, so I won't reiterate it, but it's interesting. Same with the Graduation Speech.

- The opening and ending songs are me REALLY stretching, but there's a line in the op "Heaven's wave taking you away," and also mentions going with the flow even while facing hardship, being yourself until the end...
And the entire ed is suspicious in this context, where it talks about having nothing left to lose and bidding farewell to lost days, holding onto every little precious moment both good and bad and going for their mist-like dreams in the present moment...
Translations between languages of words and phrases are rarely fully accurate with their literal meanings, because some things are just too difficult to do that, but the ending song is really sus. Why dod the studio pick these specific songs with these lyrics?

- He doesn't just deny that he's lying about the Nasa program when Hayabusa asks him about it. Why so mysterious

- He has an interesting conversation with Fukase in the nurse office about what Fukase thinks life will be like after graduation, and he almost seems upset that Fukase's outlook is so bleak and dull. He immediately counters that, if it were him, he would take his chances anyways and look for a new ground to settle on.

- The teacher asks him to give "one last message." Makes sense in that he's addressing the class, saying he's leaving, but why do the words sound so final? Why not "say a few words" or something? I guess it could be a translation thing.

- He's never seen snow on the ground implies he's never been outside when it was snowing enough to layer the ground. Has he been in a hospital room or some secluded area all his life? Or just lived in really warm climates? He also came from nowhere. Like, this is his first year spending time with anyone in that class, so either he went to school in a different area far enough away that his classmates then would be unlikely to transfer over to his current HS now, or he just didn't go to middle school.

- For a person who seems very upright and who *does* follow the rules, Sakamoto is curiously willing to break rules to do more adult things. Like sneaking into the AV room, or joining the mixer (though those college kids lied to him about the purpose of a mixer), or getting a part-time job which I think his school doesn't allow. It could be bc he feels he won't live long enough to do these things legally, but wants to experience them anyway.
He's also very active about making sure class events going well, and is quick to fix things when they start going awry. Either because he's naturally that helpful and kind, or bc he wants his maybe first and last time(?) doing these things to obviously go as well as they can. Same with the relationships between him and his classmates, and even ones that don't concern him. He's very mature for his age and that could be brought on by the knowledge of impending death, sadly. Petty things like teenage squabbles just don't matter that much.

- People have mentioned Sakamoto being in the closet on the final chapter illustration, and how it can be a metaphor for a casket/coffin; But I recall there being an illustration similar to that of the Last Supper...but now Idk where I saw it... maybe I imagined it.

In any case, I LOVE the ambiguity and how many points you can draw that just lead to more ambiguity!