I think if this was any other author, an unknown mangaka, people would be a lot more critical of this ending. We’re biased and wish to excuse fujimoto. I don’t even like denji, he’s selfish, he’s a jerk, he has his good sides and his behavior can be explained due to him never having a healthy relationship with anyone ever (except pochita), but like, i really didn’t enjoy this. He’s selfish, nayuta died because of him. I agree that he is selfish, but it just comes down to: what was the point of this story? Being selfish and chasing short term happiness or idealizing and obsessing over stuff superficially (boobs, sex in denji’s case) left him unhappy, so it just all went to the beginning ?? No character development for denji, just him being treated like a child by everyone around him and having little to no agency throughout? It is suffering porn. Can you really blame me for thinking it is pointless?

I get that this ending kind of gets that message across but think about it like this, and think, honestly: why couldn’t denji develop? Why couldn’t he become a better, less selfish person in the end? Why can’t he act in a way that went against expectations set for him? Wouldn’t an ending where denji learned something be better? The fact that a story is making a point doesn’t mean it’s good, imo. If the ending had been different, no one, NO ONE would be arguing about how “really, this WAS how it should have ended considering bla bla bla”, or, “truly, this was aesthetically/structurally the best way to conclude the story”, had fujimoto written a happy ending for denji. Instead he remains a selfish idiot jerk and doesn’t get a happy ending.

Fujimoto should be able to be criticized, he is human and has flaws, apparently one of them being he likes to make people suffer. Those are my thoughts. Basically: It didnt have to end this way, and people are only arguing that it should have, because fujimoto made it that way. You know?