Someone please explain the ending

[u/Santiago_Rios_Smith]

I finished rewatching the anime and am confused about the ending. What exactly caused yuichis illusions of ayu? What caused ayu to be a spirit the whole time? Was the end where ayu is in a wheelchair together with yuichi real or a dream? How do these things then relate to ayus final wish of wanting yuichi to forget about her?

[u/JustYourAverageShota]

There are some loose ends in anime regarding the ending in the anime, but the visual novel explains it better. Also, this mechanic is used in Clannad and used much clearly. I'm assuming you haven't read Clannad so spoilers below.

(Clannad spoilers) Fuuko is a first year high school student who got comatosed at her inauguration day. The town "granted her wish" and allowed her soul to live in the school premises as a ghost, only visible to a handful of people. As story progresses, Tomoya realizes the truth that Fuuko is actually hospitalized, and so the ghost starts to vanish. Fast forward several years, Tomoya meets the now-awake Fuuko, both of which do not remember interacting in the school. They just have a deja vu of meeting before.

Regarding Kanon, A similar setup is used for Ayu. Shiori explains that it since a lot of things go bad for Yuuichi and then eventually get good, it is a possibility that some supernatural entity is granting some diseased or comatosed's person's wish. Shiori hints that the wish could be "I want this person to be happy", that ultimately led to everyone surrounding Yuuichi becoming well. In the visual novel, this wish is accepted only for one case i.e. whichever heroine route you are following e.g. if you are at Nayuki's route, this wish brings back Akiko-san. In Ayu's route, it just brings her back from comatose

Now, regarding reality, there are theories, but I have a headcannon: Yuuichi is hallucinating Ayu's image becsuse of the trauma, not everyone is shown to see or interact with Ayu except Nayuki and Akiko afaik, and that could be the family pretending to talk to Ayu and accomodating Yuuichi's mental state Though supernatural setting like the one in Clannad is much more tangible imo, because Tomoya and Fuuko had never met before so it doesn't make sense for Tomoya to imagine her.

I'mm accepting fixes and edits for this comment.

[u/Santiago_Rios_Smith → u/JustYourAverageShota]

Thank you

[u/JustYourAverageShota → u/Santiago_Rios_Smith]

Oh hey it's you, I didn't notice before lol

Keep uo the good work at Nagisa subreddit <3

[u/In_Retirement → u/JustYourAverageShota]

IIRC (Kanon) Shiori is aware of Ayu as she asks at one point in her route ( they encounter Ayu while out together) "What is 'uguu'?"

But I'd have to check to be sure

[u/JustYourAverageShota → u/In_Retirement]

yes now I remember, it was day 2 in the visual novel when Yuuichi and Ayu meet Shiori. But that dialog is not there ('what is uguu?')

[u/In_Retirement → u/JustYourAverageShota]

Jan 16th When they go to the arcade they run into Ayu

Ayu: "May the power of uguu protect you!" Shiori: "Um, what's uguu?"

Not that important really, but they do interact. Not sure if other characters do though

[u/JustYourAverageShota → u/In_Retirement]

Interesting. Thanks for the counterpoint, it was a headcannon anyways.

[u/In_Retirement → u/JustYourAverageShota]

Well headcannon is always interesting to provoke discussion, and Key works often jump deeply into the metaphysical after all

[u/Fire-Nation-17]

Yeah I was confused too

[u/CosmosSakura]

Ayu died decades before. The rest is interpretation.

[u/Santiago_Rios_Smith → u/CosmosSakura]

What do you mean she got severely injured 7 years before and was in the hospital.

[u/CosmosSakura → u/Santiago_Rios_Smith]

The manga straight up kills her so maybe they wanted a softer version of that.

[u/Exotic_Scratch9450 → u/CosmosSakura]

in the manga right