What? What was even the point of that ending? If he'd ended it when Keiko gave Ran her birthday present, that would have been a better ending. That is to say, the series would have ended better had he not written an end to it at all. Honestly, the ending just feels pointless. It does nothing for development or the story. It literally just ends everything. How disappointing.
I'm not saying this because I feel like I was taken in by subtext. I don't. It wasn't subtext. It was clear canon. Their relationship was extremely well written. By the end, it was obvious in their actions and thought that were shown that they were two people in love, and it was that slow progression toward love that made the series better and better as went on. The series showed us more and more instances of their emotions for and their caring about each other as they went from friends to something more. This growth was something the other characters saw and a number commented on. It was something only the two main characters didn't accept, as it moved steadily toward a sense of climax. And the conclusion to it? Absolutely nothing. Actually, literally less than nothing, as it took away from the development built up in the series.
It's frankly a poor way to end any story, and a sad way to see one as good as this one had been end. What we're left with isn't a story that spent it's entire time playing with subtext and/or baiting. We're left with a story of two women who fell in love but never faced their feelings for each other and let themselves be separated through their own actions with no resistance despite how clearly neither of them liked the thought of being separated, despite how clearly they both wanted to stay together.
