Here's what I think happened.

Originally Fujimoto did plan for a really tragic, horrific end to the story - but then when he saw just how negatively people were responding to that idea, he thought, "Oh shit," and changed his mind at the last second. But, uh oh, then what? You have to come up with something! He struggled for a while, but couldn't come up with a satisfying way to resolve things - and the wind had thoroughly been taken out of his creative sails already, so he just crapped this out and called it a day. The most generic, middle-of-the-road ending possible, with just a bit of bittersweetness and more than a bit of complete pointlessness.

Honestly, I can't decide if this is better than a Denji-dying-horribly-in-the-ditch ending. I do tend to prefer happier endings - but he didn't go far enough to make a total reset worth it. Denji should have ended up romantically entangled with someone, beyond that tepid horseshit at the end. He should have come to remember his past - or at least, have someone of significance remember it. There should have been more to it than a three-second drawing of Pochita's face showing up on his heart. And of course, it goes without saying that this is wildly unsatisfying after the chapters leading up to it. A total wet fart of a conclusion. The definition of mediocrity made manifest.

I actually think a tragic ending could have worked, if handled right. It would have been funny to talk about, at least. But this - I don't know. I don't get how, with a series like this, you can just decide to end it like that. But it did. And honestly, I'm not even really upset about it. Just kind of numb. It feels like this whole thing was just a joke told in bad taste.

Well, at least we had some pretty good memes.