#absolutely crushed and emotional and ohhhh my godddd <- den o brained

[greenorangetree]

a lot of people have said that the den o ending took away from the emotional impact of the set up for it. i honestly dont quite think so.

i think the imagin getting to live is another heart touching part of their story. they are imagins, intangible sand creatures who prey on people in their worst moments, twisting their deepest wishes in order to go back in time to the absolute most important time in their lives to destroy the timeline from there, yet clearly have chosen to do good--they have love and affection for their contract holder and do not want to simply use him for any ends of their own, they have chosen to sacrifice themselves in order to save this timeline, a time they are not even from, a time with happy and sad moments alike, all because of what being a part of den o has done to them. they have grown from the uncaring and often cruel imagin they were at the start, hurtful to ryotaro by using his body as they felt, hurting him physically, trying to kill him, etc, to beings who genuinely adore ryotaro as a part of their family in a way. getting in one last defiance to their nature by getting physical forms and a FUTURE because they chose to save this timeline and created memories with people instead of destroying it entirely, that twists my heartstrings and definitely made me cry on my first watch and my many rewatches of den o.

now why do i say all of this about den o's ending? i want to mention how much i love it already and that is why the version of it where the imagin dont get to live absolutely would have CRUSHED me.

think about it:

- ryotaro is absolutely crushed. he has always been destined to be alone by nature. he is a singularity point. he can remember everything while everyone else forgets. his family died at an early age, his sister's fiance left and took with him his sister's happiness, who, mind you, is his only relative left, and also had to drop out of high school because of that. the one time he gets to make some close connections with anyone, who also remember because they were theyre with him and had his back through all the bullshit that was thrown at him? they get erased alongside the rest of their kind. they fought so hard to save the timeline, a timeline they didnt belong to, just because ryotaro showed them that they could do better than their own natures? who fought despite ryotaro's fear of losing them? this would absolutely destroy ryotaro. how could he go back to living life while also grieving the loss of the intangible demons that lived in his head? every little thing they left behind-- momotaros's wardrobe that he spent all of ryotaro's cash on, gifts left from urataros's paramours, kintaros's weights and gear, the drawings ryutaros made-- all of these tangible things that were left by the imagin, who didnt get to live for themselves without being tied to ryotaro as their only anchor for existing in this timeline? seeing them without the imagin who they belong to would be absolutely devastating.

- airi, who has gone through this intense period of grief before over something she couldn't remember or understand, once again has to deal with it, except in her brother. she can't really understand what hes been through, but she can remember those times when her little brother wasnt acting quite like himself, but rather someone quite younger and more impulsive, yet clearly loved her with a passion, just like her brother does. she can only do so much for him, like how he had to do for her merely a year ago. she can't help him through the worst of it, but also has to deal with her own memory problems and lingering grief over her fiance.

- hana would have to go back to being alone. she has no where else to go, as her future and her timeline is gone, erased. living alone on the denliner in the time before ryotaro and his merry gang got on board would havr been hard. she had just lost everything in her life, after all. but now, having seen the denliner full of life and color and energy with those imagin, having to go back to the cold, empty, sterile interior of the denliner's dining car? even naomi is crushed by the loss. it hurts to lose everything once, but this life that shes managed to rebuild in some sense of normalcy had made her happier, nicer. losing it all again in one fell swoop, once again powerless to do anything, that is absolutely despair inducing.

- and of course, sakurai yuuto. unlike hana, he really IS alone. hana has naomi, owner, any passenger who boards the denliner from time to time, but aboard the zeroliner? just him and deneb. without deneb, he is truly alone. he doesnt belong in the timeline anymore. it was his own (future self's) doing, after all. what life he had, he chose to leave it. for all the time he spent protecting time, he had his partner with him. he cooked and cleaned and tolerated yuuto's aggression. he may not have been the nicest, hell he hated deneb's over enthusiasm, his overbearing compassion, the shittake mushrooms in his food, and showed it through violence, but what was he supposed to do without the one who's been through it all with him? whos been his carer, his one connection through it all? deneb was someone who, knowing his fate, left behind one last meal for yuuto, and simply requested he eat his mushrooms, too kind for his own good, and is now gone forever. yuuto isn't a singularity point. he cant change things or protect the way ryotaro or hana can through their memories. but he has done everything in his power already to protect his former time. he has already sacrificed it all--the memories of himself, memories are time, after all, and it is the most he can ever give. he has never felt more powerless. he has felt lost, just doing what his future self had told him to do without any real connection to what he was protecting, sure, but never has he felt so useless in the way he feels when he couldnt even protect deneb's existence.

yeah im going through it, the den o time tripping ride! honestly this was a fun brainworm to have lol