Alright, this is going to have some major spoilers for the ending (although I don't think ...

Alright, this is going to have some major spoilers for the ending (although I don't think they're a big deal other than the fact that they're annoying) so don't read if you don't want to be spoiled. I've read all of the volumes (in Japanese ofc) and I have to say I cannot STAND the way it ends. It doesn't fit the rest of the volumes/plot, ruins all of the (in my opinion) great buildup, and also excuses abuse which, as a survivor myself, I just cannot take. If someone had switched all the char names and said the last volume was from a different series, I would have believed them. It felt so detatched from the rest of the titles and the journey.
This will be very long and "ranty" so you've been warned.



****SPOILERS*****
I might write more later as my thoughts are a bit scattered (only just realised you can post on here without an account otherwise I would have written months ago when it was all fresh in my mind), but the short summary is that it ends with her brother and her getting back together happily ever after. She doesn't go to live with the rental brother, she stays with her real one, and the rental brother's char sort of takes a back seat. Now, here is where I have issues. For reference, I will refer to the blood related brother as the brother and the rental one as RB

After Kanami finally decides to go with RB, she goes back and gets her things. Can't remember fully but she says goodbye to the brother and he gets mad and acts as his usual trashy self. A large stack of boxes goes to fall and Kanami get hit by them. The brother is shocked as she is unresponsive and gets all panicky and suddenly cares about her? He calls RB for help and she goes to the hospital but is still sleeping. RB and his friends are obviously very angry with the brother and some fists go out but the brother says his whole sad sob story about how shitty the parents treated him, how he was badly bullied, and how awful it was for him the way everyone acted towards him and used him once the parents had died. He lashed out at Kanami and couldn't see the light blah blah you can imagine. In truth all this part I read a while ago and didn't properly read in depth as I was getting pretty pissed off with how it seemed to be going (very much a "the author better not be doing what I think they're doing" moment).
Alas, they were. He goes back in and the other friends are pissed off with him too but by now RB has forgiven him (well not forgiven but given a chance?? I do not know but it's something equally 180) and he gets on his knees and says he knows Kanami won't forgive him and want to live with him anymore but blah blah (I think by now she is awake). She instantly is like "I love you bro I wanna live with you!" and naturally everyone else tells her to shut up because she's like 2 and OBVIOUSLY she, as the victim, is going to want to believe her abuser (who she has trauma bonded with) has become someone great again (just like how it used to be!) - but he *did* emotionally and physically abuse her and almost kill her by mistake so she's going to need to stay with RB for a bit and gradually initiate back to the brother once he has proven he actually has his shit straight and isn't going to do what he did last time he was a loving brother.... (hint: it involves suddenly not being a loving brother)
...Is what I would love to say happened but no! It didn't! No one questioned (seriously) her decision and acted as responsible adults and we flash forward into the future where she is graduating (or something similar to do with school) and her brother is there and RB and the gang meet her and say hi. It's all smiles and sunshine for the characters and I'm all frowns and tears.

I will now say the problems I have with said ending in case anyone is even vaguely interested. I, for one, am a survivor and still suffering from a lot of things this manga illustrates, so I just wanna get that out there. I know all the psychology etc. from first and second hand experience and I was deeply touched at the first few volumes and the care and buildup it had on the message of abuse (physical and also emotional - which is often harder to see and just, if not more, lethal as lots of people who have been emotionally abused don't even realise they have been). The idea you can create family bonds - found family - and have happiness and healing without it having to be a blood relation was so good. "Someone out there can love you like family and it can be just as valid and strong as your blood relations" Yaaaas. One of Kanami's big struggles was that she loved RB but he wasn't "real", and thus the love she felt also wasn't "real". Having an ending where she learns that is *is* just as real as the love between her and her blood brother would have been so powerful! The last chapter currently uploaded here shows her getting some respect for herself, what she has endured, and what is best for her. It would just be power move one after another if she *also* realised she could have more than one brother and feel entitled to enjoy that!

Such wasted potential. That is my overall feeling. If I could erase my memory of the last volume I gladly would.

Problem 1) The brother is good again.
The author seemed to want to make the brother a good guy again but this was obviously not feesable in such a short (and I mean short - like <50 pages) amount of time, especially with all of the *rest* of the time telling us (and showing us) he's awful. It felt like a sympathy grab which instantly ruined the buildup of emotions. It's also not...very likely?? I know this is fiction but given how close to the bone it has been in previous volumes about the reality of an abusive situation I feel it's ok for me to use this as an argument. One does not go over 6 months (It's been a fairly long time since his parents died) being, in every way possible, abusive and neglectful and then "magically" go back to being 100% nice again. They don't spend time being loving (while still suffering the things that were the "reason" they were suddenly hurtful) -> be hurtful -> be loving instantly and not have any suspicions about going bad again. It does not happen. And if it does happen, it happens as a honeymoon period. It will go back to being bad again after a few days/week (if she's lucky), and the cycle will start all over again.
This is also emphasised by the fact that the brother was nice to her while the parents were alive. While he was being treated like shit (you know, his big get out of jail free card for abusing) he was kind to her. And yet he suddenly did such a MASSIVE 180? Who's to say he won't do a 180 again? The fact he can go years being kind and loving and then at the flip of a switch be so neglectful and abusive to her (the person he only treated like pure gold before) is worrying to say the least. But no one seems to think or factor this in and instead they're GLAD he is "back to being nice brother" again. This is so, so sad. He has been living sqalidly for a looong time, generally being a waste of space, hurting his younger sister and now everyone isn't even vaguelly having flags or caution when he seems good again? No one seems to make the logical leap that what he's saying STILL doesn't fly?? It's like everything he did is completely erased - which leads me on to problem 2...

2) Kanami suffered for nothing
It is not noble, pious, and good to forgive an abuser. I say this as someone abused myself. "Forgiving" and "giving a second chance" is born of optimism that that person will be loving and kind. A want for affection from the person who gives none. Hope, if you will. That does not mean the pain is erased, it does not mean the pain is irrelevant, and it does NOT mean the pain doesn't need healing anymore. It does. Greatly. PARTICULARLY when a child is involved. If someone is able to put aside what an abuser did to them and give them a second chance (and I don't mean because they're in the cycle of abuse and conditioned to do that but because they want to) then power to them and that shows they have healed and progressed greatly. It takes time though. Time that Kanami never had.
Kanami is put into a position where she can't have that healing or CHOICE to think of herself and what she has suffered because the adults that should be safeguarding her don't try to put in preventative measures. This also ties in to the original problem of "we're not her real family so we don't reeeally have the right" bullshit where it somehow is seemed as the best course of action to not step up and intervene as, at the end of the day, "he's her real brother" and family is forever.
She is a child. She, as has been made abundatly clear throughout the manga, wants her brother to love her again. She wants to understand him and for things to go back to being lovely like they were before. She has the mindset of someone who has been in an abusive situation and therefore is unlikely to step out of it of it (or recognise it. or *want* to step out of it). THIS HAS BEEN MADE CLEAR! Look how hard it was for her, even with her brother beating and verbally abusing her in every interaction she had with him, to go to live with RB (someone she wanted to be with and enjoyed being with no less!!). And she felt GUILTY for doing this! She felt she was being a bad sister/person for "abandoning" her abusive brother!
Therefore!!! She is NOT in the right mind to make any choices about living with or not living with her brother! Even remove the fact that she is a child - she is a victim! The victim's safety comes first! The loving, butter wouldn't melt brother that she'd known for however many years suddenly turned into an abusive monster and just as suddenly turned back into someone remorseful for their actions and loving and kind again. Would you let a child go with them? For Kanami - this seems great! He's nice again, hooray!! This is because she is a CHILD and a VICTIM and she is stuck in the cycle of abuse and wanting things to be lovely. It is up to the adults to look past that and look into the future and think of what is best for her. Will he (the brother) snap again? Will this happen again? Will she be ok? Will she be able to get the emotional support she needs given how mentally shaken the brother is? Will her needs be met? Will there be another accident? Will she be able to be a child?! (not taking care of her brother's emotional or physical needs or want to alleviate his guilt). Will they be putting her in a stable situtation?

No. They will not. ALL of her pain and suffering is swept aside as the sympathy falls with the brother (who don't worry, has learned his lesson /sarcasm) and this lovely sweet scene of family reunion. The goal of RB has been met, the goal of Kanami has been met - the goal of everyone has been met! Happy family again!
Except.... it ruins all charachter development, too, as I would have hoped by now RB would actually give a flying monkey about Kanami and feel somewhat more entitled to try to ensure she is ok. Up in the last few volumes it certainly *felt* like he did, given how fervently he was trying to get her the eff out of there because of the amount of red flags flying in his face, but bowing out to the brother and sort of becoming a completely irrelevant character just completely DESTROYS any kind of rapport he and Kanami have been developing and also devalues how massively impactful (in a positive way) he was on Kanami. I would go so far as to say if it weren't for him, she would be dead. He knows this, the other characters know this (or at least, up until this volume we feel like they see the slippery slope of abuse Kanami is on - part of what makes it so heartbreaking for them to see her desperately trying to believe in the fairytale ending) and yet they somehow forget all that extreme suffering she was put under....it's somehow ok now. Well, not ok, but absolved. The brother will do better. Kanami can start again now. Excuse me while I sigh in disappointment and roll my eyes. So all of those volumes and the ending is just unrealistic childish optimism that totally sounds like my fantasies of the "happy ending" I wanted when I was being abused that, looking at now, totally aren't actually what's best and would completely neglect the suffering I had endured and put the abuser on a pedestal where somehow all of their actions can be redone. First and foremost this was a story about KANAMI and RB - the brother was a reason and a drive but not the sole focus. The focus was on RB and Kanami and the gradual forming of a loving bond. Welp, sorry, if you were looking forward to the part where it all pays off and RB and Kanami have their slice of healing and happiness while the brother sorts himself out (since he's not the priority - the VICTIM is - therefore he should be more of an afterthought) then I would recommend you walk away now - as it really, really does not happen.
If you also looked forward to seeing RB's friends form a protective ring of love and new beginnings around Kanami and give her the feelings of family and stability that she so desperately missed then you should take a look at the door! It's not here, but it might be out there somewhere in another manga! (please tell me if it is. I really need the closure of something like this manga but with a good ending....)

3) The other charachters that you probably forgot about
RB?? Who??? Sorry, thought you said something there....
In all seriousness though. They just melt away. The character development between him and his friends and Kanami, poof gone. It felt so underwhelming because it was almost like they were a means to an end. Once Kanami and her brother were back together, the plot sort of dropped them (although I use the word "plot" liberally as there are only a few more pages of happy every after fantasy). This makes everything feel out of place and strange because, as I mentioned before, this story was about Kanami and *RB*. He's the main character but he somehow suddenly feels like a tiny sideshow! They appear to say congrats to Kanami but the bond/chemistry between her and RB feels completely gone. Kanami also seems so...blase about him. It reeeeeally screams unhealthy to me (and also feels just so sad...) because it felt like she was *just* at her awakening period where she was becoming comfortable with the concept of loving someone as a brother even if they're not blood related and not feeling ashamed or guilty about that. Letting go of sentimentality to appreciate RB who truly cared for her and step into a more positive future that she *finally* feels she deserves. But then now it's totally back to the "stranger rental" vibe. You would not have thought the stuff they've gone through together even vaguelly happened. It really seemed like a random highschooler talking to a random guy she met once and not a survivor talking to someone who helped and tried to save her. (y'all the guy was offering to LIVE WITH HER! He was looking into legalities and was 100% ready to pay to raise this kid! That's a bond and dedication!) .
The other friends also are just meh in the end and yeah nothing else to say on that really. And the mum of the friend (who you don't see again but still) also not concerned about any of this? Did they all get amnesia? Did they buy it?? Is it free??? Can I get some too?? asking for a friend who has read a bad abuse justifying ending to an otherwise great manga.

And here is the REAL kicker in all of this (at least for me): The author could have had their cake and eaten it. Brother going back to good + Kanami getting justice.

Ok, so, picture this. The brother says his story but everyone else says that still doesn't justify anthing and that he needs serious help. They don't budge on this nor do they say they're not in the position to forgive him or not as it's not their business. Kanami says she wants to go with him and will forigve him blah blah and RB says that that's not going to happen; he changed so suddenly one way then changed so suddenly back - while she might want to be with him, it's better to take things slowly. He proposes Kanami lives with him (RB) for a while (like she was going to before the accident happened anyway) to be in a stable (STABLE!), loving environment while the brother gets his shit sorted out etc., and stays at home with the brother on the weekends - gradually moving up to being holidays etc. - until the brother has proven he is actually safe for her to be around and this isn't going to go downhill again. The brother agrees to get the house and money and everything generally sorted and get himself in a mentally better place where hitting his sister doesn't ever factor in his mind and live apart from Kanami in the meantime, saying RB has been like a second brother anyway and has been better to her than he has (closure on the brother or not mental debate! Yay!). RB would say that Kanami has been through a lot and she needs time away from him to process everything (fun fact: it's only when you're away from the toxic environment that your brain slows down and deals with it all - one reason why abuse victims can have nightmares etc. even when their life is "good" or "happy". It's because they're finally in a safe space to process things) and the friends would agree they would take care of her and give her a family. The brother could visit her, rebuild the bond (IN A HEALTHY WAY. not just based on Kanami's "I love my brother" obsessions which is kind of what's been fueling it so far) and gradually start over. Kanami could say that she still loves her brother, but that RB has also become her brother, and she also loves him. Maybe have a mental thought about how she feels a bit confused about the new period in her life that is about to start but she is contented and knows she and her brother will get back on track.
Flash forward to the graduation, and this time instead of Kanami saying hi to the RB+co, it can be a touching shot of the brother calling Kanami and her smiling calling him brother and saying something like "looking forward to starting a new chapter", implying they are now going to live together full time. Or something you can hopefully get the idea.

An ending like this would have tied in so much better with the leadup and message of the previous volumes, wouldn't have devalued a victim's pain for the sake of a "they were all good" message, wouldn't have ignored the pure honest effort RB had put in to loving and caring for Kanami and the bond they had developed, and WOULDN'T. JUST. FORGIVE. A CHILD. ABUSER.

EVEN if you have been bullied and have suffered abuse it doesn't give you an excuse to abuse someone. Kanami had literally done nothing wrong. There was no trigger in her being a brat or something, no fight, nothing. It was PURELY on the brother. As someone who has struggled through abuse - the insinuation that your abuse can justify acting shitty to a child (particularly one under your care whom you have always previously been loving to) is so awful and insulting that it should be thrown out of the window right now. Your past explains your actions. It doesn't excuse them. If anyone wants to say something like "X% of abuse victims go on to be abusers" then just get out now, because it is STILL not an excuse and it is ALSO not even *applicable* in this scenario. He was being hurt by others and he was loving to his sister. The scenario didn't change - he did. He took it out on her for no reason because he was being shitty - not because he was a poor waif. He made a choice and the choice was to abuse his sister. And using his past trauma and the stress/etc. he experienced (when he was still being kind!) as a "reason" is so weak it can't even knock over a flower. Again, *your past explains your actions. It doesn't excuse them*. I'm sure he can be a good person again, but he made an active choice time and time again over a long period of time to be a bad one, and abuse isn't the reason for that, he is.

I know this review (for lack of a better term) was somewhat scathing and sarcastic and sounded like it had a lot of vitriol for the author. I actually don't, that's why I'm so annoyed by the ending of this series. I LOVED the author's writing and ability to capture the pure emotions of it all (from a child, no less!). As someone who has been there and is still there, my heart broke into a thousand pieces reading the things Kanami said and seeing how closely they mirrored my own mind and the minds of other survivors I've spoken to. I binge bought and binge read the entire set of the manga because of how eager I was to read about Kanami and her journey. I downloaded the Renta app on my phone (kinda a faff to do since it's JP play store) just so I could properly read it all. THIS is how much I loved the series. So all of these comments aren't coming from some beligerent reader who can't take fiction and fun, but someone who was deeply touched - in lots of ways - by a series that seemed to capture the *real* meat of abuse. The internal struggle, the constant (actually desperately sad) hope that "they'll suddenly turn nice again and it'll all be happy!", the childish dream of it all and the step into a situtation that you resign yourself to (going with RB) because your "dream" can't come true - but that turns out for the best and your find yourself happy in.

I can't actually think about this series now without getting annoyed and sad. The ending did that. And, personally, I think an ending shouldn't ruin the journey of a story. Unfortunately, this ending did. But I pretend in my heart it didn't happen and that actually that was a Kanami fantasy and she goes with RB and integrates back with her brother slowly while also having another, loving, brother to support her. If I don't imagine that was the "real" ending, then I can't help but get truly dispondent at how the author had *everything* in their grasp and articulated it all *perfectly*, but then fell at the last hurdle and destroyed it all in a truly crude way.

If you're debating on reading this series or buying this series and supporting the author - buy it, read it. Just don't buy the last volume. Instead, imagine Kanami goes with RB and the brother slowly gets himself off the ground and slowly gets back into Kanami's life - two happy families and a respect for the pain of victims.