An Ambiguous Report About The End Of The World
I came home from work today and my neck was just killing me, so I aggressively set about to watch this two and a half hour long Jakubisko film that I've been dying to see. It was very worth it, lying on a couch in a young man's agony as generations of a fantastical world pass before my eyes.
An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World
These questions lead to a conversation between Helen and her own daughter in which she must answer for his past. When the BCR claim a major victory in California and hijack Nazi television, Jennifer (Genea Charpentier) is brought to tears when she realizes her parents built their success on the deaths of minorities through concentration camps. "There are some scenes we saw coming from the beginning and that was definitely one of them," Scarpa explains. "There's a lot that has gone unspoken on the show: What happened to African-Americans? What happened to Jews? What happened to LGBTQ people? The other thing that's really not talked about in this world is what were the Smiths' complicity in it? We wanted to build up to this final scene so that, finally, all the things that were left unsaid have to be said."
In case you didn't know, The End of the F***ing World isn't, in fact, about the literal end of the world. Although its title sounds apocalyptic, it actually doesn't take place in some dystopian future. When does it take place? Let's take a look now that we're in the second season.
Northern territories between Japan and Czarist Russia had not been fixed. Russia proposed negotiation to Japan. British Minister Parkes had advised Tokyo take the Kuriles, because Britain, which had been in rivalry in three parts of the world, Crimea, Afghanistan, and the Korean Penisula, wanted the long chain of barren islands to be in Japanese handsin order to deny Russian access to the North Pacific Ocean. The two countries signed the Treaty of Saint Petersberg in 1875, Japan taking the whole of the Kuriles and Russia the whole of Sakhalin. At Yalta in February 1945 Roosevelt and Stalin agreed that the latter start war on Japan within three months after the defeat of Germany on the condition that Russia take the Japanese Manchurian interests and the Kuriles. The four islands that Japan has been claiming were not included in the Saint Petersberg Treaty; they were considered by the two countries a part that constituted Hokkaido, the Japanese northermost island.Chinese envoys had to rely on Okinawan (Ryukyu) pilots on their way to and back home from Okinawa. The then ex-US President Grant on a round-the-world trip went to Beijing in June 1979, where he was asked by Li Hongzhan for mediation with Japan. He came to Tokyo in July and asked the Japanese leaders to give a few Okinawan islands. After much deliberation the Japaned agreed to give over two islands, Miyako and Yaeshima including the Senakaku. Beijing was pleased and the two countries actually agreed to the draft of the treaty. Only signatures remained to be done for it to be effective, just then Beijing thought twice. They calculated that Japan was frightened with advancing Russia so they could gain the advantage of time and obtain far more. Li did not make any protest about the Senkaku in the peace talks which ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 - 95. The Chinese communists expected to be invited to the San Fraicisco Peace Conference with Japan, representing China. In May 15, 1950, only seven and a half months after the declaration the People's Republic of China, they met to discuss which attitude to take in California of whether the Senkaku Islands were Japanese or Taiwanese. The paper of ten pages was prepared for mulling, in which the Japanese words Senkaku, not the Chinese words Diaoyu, were used throughout. Zhou Enlai said in the August 15, 1951, issue of the People's Daily that the Senkaku historically belonged to Japan. The People's Daily introduced the Senakaku, not Diaoyu, in its January 8, 1953, issue as the island group of the Okinawan Islands and said that China should help the Okinawan people's resistance to the US jurisdiction.ECAFE (the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East) announced in 1970 that there were billions of barreles of oil under the seabed around the Senakaku. In 1971 Taiwan and then China said the the Islands were theirs. The maps had been used in both Taiwan and China that delimited the Senkaku, using the Japanese words, as Japanese territory but the two governments swiftly recovered all these maps.
The Latin prefix ambi- means "both," and has led to many people confusing ambiguous and ambivalent. Ambivalent refers to having mixed, contradictory, or more than one feeling about something (the second portion of this word comes from the Latin valere, "to be strong, be worth"). Ambiguous, on the other hand, means unclear or able to be understood in multiple ways (it comes in part from the Latin agere, meaning to drive").
The image system made it possible to seek literary methods of attaining the universal for someone like me born and brought up in a peripheral, marginal, off-centre region of the peripheral, marginal, off-centre country, Japan. Starting from such a background I do not represent Asia as a new economic power but an Asia impregnated with ever-lasting poverty and a mixed-up fertility. By sharing old, familiar yet living metaphors I align myself with writers like Kim Ji-ha of Korea, Chon I and Mu Jen, both of China. For me the brotherhood of world literature consists in such relationships in concrete terms. I once took part in a hunger strike for the political freedom of a gifted Korean poet. I am now deeply worried about the destiny of those gifted Chinese novelists who have been deprived of their freedom since the Tienanmen Square incident.
Contrast Happy Ending and Downer Ending, where the conclusion is obvious, Bittersweet Ending, which is ambiguous about the happiness of the resolution, but not on the events themselves, and Esoteric Happy Ending, which seems happy until the audience actually thinks about it.
An ambiguous ending can lead to Wild Mass Guessing among the fanbase about the specific details. It may even turn the work into a Fanfic Fuel for fans that try to fill the gaps of the ending and provide more clear explanations.
Anime & Manga In the anime adaptation of Baccano! the old man and granddaughter decide the story is better off with no ending, so the audience can imagine what happens next. While the anime does set up future plot points that would later be explored in the original novels, it was Cut Short due to poor ratings and sales in Japan.
Captain Earth: Do Daichi and Hana survive the destruction of the Blume, or do they die?
One of the most classic examples is the ending of Cowboy Bebop, "The Real Folk Blues (Part 2)"; after his final fight with Vicious, Spike limps down the stairs to find an armed guard surrounding him, only to raise his hand in a gun shape and say "Bang," before collapsing. The series director, Shinichirō Watanabe, purposefully keeps the ambiguous tone in interviews, saying that Spike was "probably just sleeping".
In the finale of the second season of Code Geass, Lelouch is apparently killed by his friend, Suzaku, dressed in the infamous Zero outfit, after having planned to make the world hate him, so as to unite in peace after his assassination. This is all well and good, until at the very end C.C. is being pulled along in a wagon driven by a man with hidden features, during which time she talks about how she was wrong about the isolating nature of Geass, addressing Lelouch as though he may be alive. This is further supported by Nunnally receiving visions of Lelouch's memories upon touching him after his assassination, encouraging the theory that Lelouch absorbed his father's Code during his final confrontation with him, becoming immortal upon getting impaled rather than dying.
Count Cain: A grown-up Merryweather sees the Hargreaves ring next to a teacup and thinks Cain kept his promise of having tea with her. It turns out that Cleahadol was the one to leave the ring there, and flashes back to what seems to be moments after the series' climax. He finds the skeletal remains of Riff with glass shards in his back, draped around Cain. Cain has his eyes closed, but no blood on him. Cleahadol himself mentions that he isn't sure if he really did hear Cain talk or it was his ability as a medium letting him speak to Cain's spirit, but he was told to leave the ring with Merryweather eventually. It's not made clear if Cain was dead or simply chose to remain with his dead servant. Kaori Yuuki said she felt this ending was perfect for the series, as it went well with the overall feeling and leaving this mystery open.
The conclusion of A Cruel God Reigns. It's not really clear whether Jeremy and Ian become a couple, or where their relationship will go from there.
Doraemon: Occurs in "A World Without Sound". Noby and Doraemon speak to the "What if? Box" and tell it to take away the sound from the world. They plan to later tell the device to turn the world back to normal. However, the way Noby and Doraemon get home is left up to the reader's interpretation. They can't tell the "What if?" Box to bring the sound back because they can't speak to it. Some readers think the "What if?" Box can detect their handwriting, though this isn't stated anywhere in the comic.
Fireworks: The bauble is destroyed by the drunkard firework craftsman firing it, and Norimichi grabs one of the shards showing glimpses of possible futures. He dives into the sea to be with Nazuna and they kiss and converse a bit more before she swims away. The next day, Nazuna's seat in class is empty and Norimichi is absent. Did they successfully elope? Did they drown in the sea? Was everything that happened in between Nazuna getting dragged off by her mother and the next day scene merely Norimichi's fantasy like in the original short? Is there some other explanation for the couple's absence? We never find out.
The 88th Shogakukan Short Manga Contest Winner Giant Tortoise Killing ends with the titular rampaging monster being successfully defeated by Makoto with her spear, fists and her best friend's cheering for her. The final panel shows Makoto lying on the defeated giant tortoise with her eyes closed. The author confirms that they intended to leave it to the audiences' interpretation whether she's dead for good (likely because she swore revenge on it after it killed her family in the middle of the story), or she's survived/only passed out after defeating the giant tortoise.
Granbelm: The story ends with a transfer student joining the class Shingetsu is sitting in and the ethereal glow on Shingetsu due to being doomed to live forever but never exist disappears. While her narration and reaction hints that it may be Mangetsu reborn, the episode ends before showing the girl's face or if people can see Shingetsu.
Odd Taxi; the series ends with Sakura Wadagaki, the girl who performed a Kill and Replace on up and coming idol Yuki Mitsuya, hopping in the back of Odokawa's taxi. Sakura knows that Odokawa was the one who drove her to the place where she murdered Yuki, but why she's back is left unanswered- is she here to tie up one last loose end and murder Odokawa? Is she trying to get out of town before the truth of her crimes comes up? The show leaves this question hanging, though Odokawa most likely knows he may be in danger with her in the back.
In Oyaji, while the story makes it clear the titular Oyaji is actually terminally ill, his impending death is never shown or alluded to, at the end Oyaji simply disappears after making sure to pass all the knowledge of life and love his wife and children needed before his time was up; all is framed as if Oyaji was a force of nature who appeared to do his job and then left when it was done.
Shi ni Aruki: While an explanation for most of the events throughout the manga is given in the final chapter, the notion that Tokiko has been Dead All Along and many of the deaths were the result of a curse attached to her that required those deaths to keep her alive isn't treated as the definitive answer, and the manga ends with both the remaining characters and the audience alike wondering if everything was due to a supernatural curse or just unfortunate coincidence.
Storm Thief is probably the best example: the golem is floating randomly in the ocean, unable to control himself; the flotilla trying to escape the island has got away, but what they'll find on land (assuming they reach it) is totally uncertain; and the entire city is in the grip of the mother of all probability storms, meaning pretty much anything is possible there.
Suicide Club ends with Kyoko surviving the mass suicide perpetuated by her friend Saya, who has been possessed by a malevolent spirit called "Mitsuko". Kyoko is crying for Saya in the same way that Saya, who survived a previous mass suicide, was crying for Mitsuko, and posts from a BBS on the last page strongly imply that Kyoko has or will become the next "Mitsuko", although it's not clear when those posts were made so it's not for certain whether or not the cycle really has continued.
The result of the duel between Yugi and Jonouchi in the final episode of the Battle City arc of Yu-Gi-Oh! is never shown. Many fans actually beleive that Jonouchi won, seeing as it's the most likely reason why he got his Red Eyes B. Dragon card back (which he told Yugi to keep in an early episode of the arc, but which he has in the next arc; since Yugi and Jonouchi were still playing by Battle City rules, the ante rule presumably still stood). In fact, that was the biggest reason why he told Yugi to hold onto it; he didn't think he deserved to use it until he was a strong enough duelist to prove it.
Likewise, the ending to Yu-Gi-Oh! GX was left deliberately ambiguous. The final episode consisted of a duel between Judai and Yugi, and although there was no official ending, it can be implied that Yugi won.
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