Sounds interesting but she established that she only knew Misaki from pictures and I doubt Misaki was caring for Rinnosuke as deeply after their divorce seeing as no one visited him in the hospital. If anything his life probably went the way he thought it would when he was considering dropping out of high school. If anything it's obvious he didn't have a lot of ambition so I'm curious why he chose to try college again.
By the way the Marina treating him as a small pet annoys me still, because she's 23 and has only ever been with Rinnosuke who even older sounds like a virgin girl. I picture the relationship similar where the only difference is that as an older man he can bring up counterpoints rather than just "fait accompli".
Like i just feel she needs to be aware of the massive complex she is causing. With the future changing it's obvious Rinnosuke isn't just Rinnosuke. they are different time periods. He has yet to become the person she loves, so the comparisons and stuff are just messing him up psychologically. Especially since as a nice person he couldn't break up with her if he wanted to since she has no where to go.
In this sense that project was planned poorly if there's no way to test its success. It's a loop in the way they send people back to change the future and it just causes a one way flow of change to the future.
Consider why Saki, his future ex-wife, rejected his confession: She wanted to study abroad. We've learned that despite the rejection, she still liked him, but put her education and future first. Although taciturn, she's clearly very intelligent and easily a candidate for future inventor of time-travel.
Given this history, imagine their possible future: They marry, she acts as a mother figure to "train" him, but work keeps them busy and there's some distance growing between them. She gets a job offer for a prestigious or secret research position abroad. Once again, she puts her career first. Rinnosuke cannot leave his job. Saki fears a long-distance relationship will only put further strain on their relationship, so if it'll end either way why not cut ties now? Feeling guilty, she divorces him. Although still loving him, she does not want to selfishly tie him down. Maybe during a fight she makes a jab at him never finishing High School.
Years later, thinking about that fight, Rinnosuke goes back to school, where he meets Marina. During his final days in the hospital, Marina is always by his side. Saki, being incredibly busy with her time-travel research, misses most of this. She manages to fly out, but pauses at the doorway to his hospital room, overhearing Marina talking. After hearing enough, Saki cannot bear to infringe on their limited time when she's the one who left Rinnosuke. The news of his passing comes to her not long after, and she sobs quietly, alone.
Saki felt she failed Rinnosuke, having abandoned him. Marina, loyal and devoted, deserved him more. What if... she could send Marina back? As a result, Saki would never have married Rinnosuke. For what she had done to him, this would be her atonement. His mother, father, Saki, they all left him too early, and he suffered for it. Marina could give Rinnosuke what Saki never could: someone who would never leave him.
Not wanting to meet Marina in person, perhaps out of embarrassment, Saki recruited Marina through an agent. Or, maybe Marina did meet Saki, but she looked so different from the 20-odd year old photo, and Marina being an airhead, she never made the connection.
Continuing:
Of course, the explanation behind Marina traveling back in time could be far "simpler". She might have just wished really hard at that shrine we saw and *poof* magic! I'll be a bit disappointed if it's an easy cop-out like that, but whatever.
Continuing:
Ch.42, whaa, cliff! Does this mean she traveled back, too? Or is the "real Misaki nee-chan" just someone else altogether?
More mention of the paranormal this chapter, which feels like foreshadowing. If Misaki doesn't have a background in the sciences, and is opting to be a UK tour guide, that seems to pretty much exclude my original hypothesis of her inventing time-travel. Looks like 'magic' is becoming the likely answer to how Marina traveled back in time.
The Ending:
Okay, so yay, it wasn't magic, but it was still fundamentally without substance. College experiments? Kind of weak, but at least it shows a remote connection to Marina.
I was actually interested in finding out about the sister's character, life, and interactions with the MC, but that was all glossed over. I mean, her father gave her up for adoption and kept her younger brother. What did she think of that? How did she feel? What kind of reunion did the two siblings have after so long? Nope, nothing, just a side conversation with Marina about it and a couple background shots in the future of them getting along. There was a good amount of potential there for a lot of heart-wrenching and -warming moments within that arc, all squandered.
The dying future Rinnosuke didn't die? And came back to get Marina? Does this mean it's an alternate timeline? What happened with that? Did he end up living without the transplant? Does that version of Marina have her husband back, or is she now stuck in a world where she only has his grave to visit? That would be tragic. Well, at least she didn't just suddenly disappear; I did appreciate that much.
I wanted to know more about the failed marriage with Misaki, and how he fell so far as to be homeless. I would guess it had to do with their roles never equalizing, entrenching into parent-child types of interactions, along with Rinnosuke's paralyzed, childish heart and inability to say something as simple as "I love you". Over time, without progressing, it would become toxic, and either Misaki gave up or Rinnosuke ran away from it all. If he ran away, it would certainly explain his homelessness.
The kouhai girl was cute, and her confession showed an interesting divergence. Rinnosuke only stayed in school because of Marina, which means the girl never would have even talked to him if Marina hadn't altered the timeline. Her character was quickly dropped after a phone conversation, so that was a bit of a letdown, as I kinda wanted to see more from her, but it's understandable that she had no real hope. Then again, would it be cheating if he hooked up with her while waiting those 25 long years for the 'second' Marina?
Waiting 25 years to meet your wife, that's gotta be painful. It seems he even postponed meeting her until after his condition was fully cured, so he wouldn't put her through any hardships if he didn't make it. Sweet and heartbreaking, but it worked out in the end.
(They originally met when she was 20 and he was 39, and now he's 43 on their first meeting. Meaning she waited 4 extra years at college, not knowing what she was waiting for. In that time, she could have met someone else, breaking Rinnosuke's heart. Talk about taking a risk!)
I'm guessing that his ex-wife is the one who invented time-travel, and she still cared about him enough to send Marina back. It would explain why something as advanced as time-travel could be used for something so mundane and personal. It would also allow the ex-wife to confirm its success when she gets older and realizes the truth. The ex-wife must have hid this from Marina when she was selected for the time-travel experiment.
Second, I think the 3-year gap from Marina's arrival to her birth holds some kind of significance. What if she can't stay back in time once she's born? They would be separated after 3 years together, and Rinosuke would have to find her again 18 years later, reversing their roles. It would make for a bittersweet ending; and all this might have already happened, a loop.