I have a lot to say sorry in advance!

Well I didn't like anyone from this story (aside from the wife's friend) but I still have this horrible feeling in my stomach and I feel bad. Why didn't I like the wife you ask? Well we don't really know her even though she appeared so many times. Yes, I felt bad for her but when we see her face for the only time I feel as if there is more to her than it seems. *shrugs*

There are so many layers past "ew incest! Aw sad ending" that I feel most don't look at. It's intricately written. The threesome with the son wasn't totally unnecessary. I did think it was weird that he watched/participated but it was important to have that in order for us to understand why he became the way he did. He also donned a blindfold like his father in an attempt to feel what his father felt, to rekindle those feelings. He joined in on the twos secretive act in order to understand. He didn't love his father and mother and his father didn't love his mother like they were supposed to. But those two loved each other when they *weren't* supposed to. He needed to see "real" love. Real wanting.

He tells the man to shush in order to encapsulate and remake the scene from years past. He gives in to the man's request to have his personal contact info just so he can continue to have this. At the end of the day though, just like his father, he went crawling back to Mirako(?). It's called the "*Inheritance* of Aroma" after all. He becomes just like his father in the end.

One thing I didn't understand was the old man with the eyepatch though. What did he mean by that at the end? How did he know? I have my ideas. Maybe, and this is a big maybe, he and Shinobu knew each other. The man had relations with his father, perhaps he was his brother as well. And knew the same would happen with him. My 2nd theory is further down but basically he's a symbolic foreshadowing for bad things to happen?

I guess I'll never figure it out as some things are better left a mystery. In the same way some things are better left forgotten and in the past. Takezou just needs to move on. I know, and Shinobu did as well, that he never would but there is/was hope. While some of us wished for a happy ending, it was stated from the beginning that it was a "forbidden" love. They were destined to never be with one another and Shinobu knew it. Even though he wanted to lay in lust with his brother, he knew that it was wrong, especially after finding out they were blood related. Or perhaps acknowledging it, I might say.

I believe he knew from the beginning, from their first meeting but never wanted to acknowledge it without bona-fide proof or else his twisted love would have to end. He was afraid of Takezou because of the unknown feeling he felt towards him and therefore distanced him and treated him harshly. This did the opposite as Takezou also fell in "love." I put this in quotes as it more so started out as a twisted mix of admiration and fear which then formed into a kind of love. The want for the forbidden and unattainable. The need for something that wishes to deny you as much as possible. But this is just how I view it. Perhaps I'm wrong.

Shinobu's death can be interpretated in two ways. Suicide due to guilt and grief. Or pure accident. I think it was the first one due to how Takezou reacted to what Hiraki(?) said. We also never see the letter he left for him before leaving. The eye patch man might've been foreshadowing for something bad both times. The first was Takezou(and maybe Shinobu) truly realizing his feelings (it was the first time he called him brother/first time he smiled at Takezou) or it was the fact that it was the kickstart to their morbid relationship (I'm a bit unsure about this).

The second was Shinobu's death. Shinobu went to the bank to make sure that Takezou would get money when he dies. The man says "You've always been so kind(?)" meaning he knew of what he planned to do. Once again, we'll never truly know. If you've made it this far please do share with me your thoughts and ideas!