As the lodge starts to catch fire everyone tries to escape, including Mikami (she wasn’t actually dead). Teshigawara is almost killed by the landlady, who is later revealed as Takabarashi’s grandmother, but is saved by Chibiki.
Back inside Kouichi runs into Kazami. He’s been killing other students at random to see if they’re the extra, but he really thinks it’s Kouichi, who joined in May when the curse took effect (unaware that’s not true). He almost kills Kouichi, but Akazawa knocks him out and tries to kill him for killing others. Chibiki stops her and she runs off.
While everyone gathers by Chibiki’s car, Kouichi tries to call Mei’s cell and runs back inside when she doesn’t answer. He finds her in the main hall, faced down by Akazawa. She tries to kill Mei and Kouichi tries to stop her, but then lightning strikes the lodge and causes the large central window to shatter, killing her. It is revealed that she met Kouichi a year and a half ago when they both lost someone dear to them. In Akazawa’s case it was her cousin (although he was more like a brother to her).
Mei has disappeared again, but Kouichi is able to call her this time. She says she’s by the shed out back and tells him to stay away, so naturally he goes straight to her. She takes a pick from the shed and prepares to kill someone trapped under a fallen tree. It’s Mikami – A.K.A. Reiko (Kouichi isn’t supposed to call her that at school). He says he’ll do it but hesitates. Mei assures him it’s Reiko – not only was Class 3 not short any desks this year (the faculty room was), she witnessed Reiko’s murder a year and a half ago. Hearing this and remembering the various clues pointing to the truth throughout the series, Kouichi kills Reiko.
Several days later, Kouichi, Mei, and Chibiki visit Reiko’s grave. Only Kouichi and Mei remember her – Chibiki only knows because they told him. Kouichi wonders if they’ll forget her too, and Mei asks him if he wants to remember forever.
In a post-credits scene, Teshigawara and Mochizuki hide a new instruction recording in Class 3. This one urges the next class to think carefully together before they act.
Thoughts
Kouichi, did you sleep through fire safety lessons when you were a kid, because damn. There's a difference between running into a burning building to try and rescue someone - that's still stupid, but it's a common enough trope that most people will just go with it - but standing in the middle of a burning room to make a cell phone call!? Seriously, who does that? And he's only the worst offender...
Speaking of 'why are they doing that?', why are they hiding the tape in the classroom instead of, I dunno, leaving it with Chibiki or something? It’s not like he’ll forget that the curse was stopped again even if he doesn’t remember why. At least they’re putting it in the current classroom, so it probably won’t be another fifteen years before it’s discovered, but still, this is kinda important – don’t they want to guarantee the next batch of students will listen to it?
Also, why was Reiko and Mikami being one and the same kept a secret? It’s not like knowing would’ve somehow made us guess that she’s the dead one. I actually laughed when that was revealed, and since it was probably supposed to be a horrific moment where Kouichi realizes one of his own family members has to die, that’s probably not a good thing (Kouichi was appropriately horrified, but to me it felt like something where you expect M. Night Shyamalan to pop up and say “what a twist!”).
Still, at least it actually mitigates the deus ex machina of Mei’s artificial eye somewhat by making who the extra person is actually solvable, although it also brings up the question of how Mei knew about the extra chair being in the faculty room when seemingly no one else did, and if they did, how did they fail to wonder if that might mean something? Heck, without Mei’s eye there could’ve been a bit of lingering uncertainty as to whether they actually killed the right person if it happened sooner and we had to spend the final episode or so wondering if anything else was going to happen or not; might’ve created a last bit of suspense. Oh well, just one more thing that could’ve improved the series.
That being said, at least they got one thing right. Akazawa died, and thus we finally get a death that can have some actual impact. She just wanted to protect everybody, so her heart was in the right place even if her goal consumed her in the end, and it makes her death more tragic than someone of whom we barely even know their name. It didn’t have a huge impact for me, but there’s room to feel sympathy for her, and that’s what makes it work.
And also, yeah, bit of a downer ending. The survivors are safe and the potential for future classes to reduce the deaths to one is there (assuming they can figure it out, which probably won’t be easy), but there’s no way to end the curse at all, and the whole 1972 thing didn’t get any grand revelations. Really, as it turns out we learned everything there was to know about it halfway through the series, and there was no murder, no malicious intent, just a freak accident the rest of the class had a little too much trouble coping with. And people are at risk of dying every year because of it. Way to go, 1972 Class 3. I’d say it’s random and makes no sense, but that the curse was random, senseless, and really more of a force of nature was the point and that was built up enough over the course of the second half. The intent, at least, was for the story to be about how young people would react when faced with something fatal and beyond their control, and it did do a decent job of that, in the end.
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