Midori no Hibi: Final Days

July 26, 2004 | 13 Comments

Well, here it is: the final chapter of Midori no Hibi manga. I am not really sure the number of this chapter because I missed out on some chapters and Shounen Sunday magazine had a double-issue edition a couple of weeks ago. Having said that, if my calculation is correct, I think this is supposed to be chapter 85. Anyway, it turns out the manga does not end any different from the anime. There are some small differences but definitely not enough to make it stand out more than the anime. The only thing that the manga has that the anime lack is Seiji telling Midori that he loves her too. So if you were one of those people who were annoyed that Seiji didn't say the S word (Suki) to Midori in the anime, you probably like this one better.

The chapter begins with Midori telling everyone that she is sorry if she made everyone worries about her condition. But she feels better now so she's going to be okay. Kouta is then seen asking Midori if she remembers what happened to her while she was asleep. Midori, however, tells Kouta that she can't remember anything, much to Kouta's sadness. Meanwhile, Seiji is seen walking around the city looking sad because he knows that Midori lost her memory when she returns to her body. Seiji then gets the idea that he should just come over and confess to her. He thinks that if he does this, Midori will remember their days together and hopefully she can be his girlfriend. Before he can execute the plan, however, he remembers some of the things that Midori said to him before she disappeared from his right hand. And this is where the manga and the anime diverge from one another.

In the anime, Midori didn't tell Seiji anything before she disappeared from his right hand and she disappears mostly because she thinks Seiji always see her as his right hand no matter the circumstances. In the manga, however, Midori disappears from Seiji's hand because she believes that even though Seiji tells her that he loves her (in her right hand form), the whole thing is not real since she's not in her real body. So she wants to try for one more time, to be brave and tell Seiji about her feelings in her own body. This explains the whole memory lost a bit better in my opinion. Anyway, when Seiji remembers this, he realises that he can't come over and tells her about her days as his right hand because then Midori won't have the chance to tell him about it herself. Having said that, the fact that she can't remember their time together makes him loses all hope. Seiji wonders if their days together are really over.

Back to Midori herself, she is seen in her room wondering why her heart always throbs every time she tries to remember what happened when she was asleep. She then sees a letter wedged underneath Seiji's photograph. The letter, which turns out to be from Kouta, simply tells Midori that Seiji right now is in a particular park. This does not make any sense to me since I didn't have the previous chapter but I supposed it explains how Midori manages to find Seiji later on. Anyway, upon reading this, Midori feels that she needs to talk to Seiji about her feelings for him so she makes an attempt to walk out of her room. Meanwhile, as expected, Seiji is seen standing in the park that she and Midori used to go for ice cream. It looks like he still has Midori's little diary with him but he intends to burn it so he can forget about Midori. Before he manages to do it, however, he senses someone standing behind him.

The person turns out to be Midori who proceeds to introduce herself to Seiji. Midori tells Seiji that she's a first year Ogurabashi senior high student and although Seiji doesn't know her, she actually has always admired Seiji for 3 years now. Because of this, she had always been watching him from a far. At first Midori is too afraid to tell Seiji that she likes him but in the end, she forces herself to say it. Upon hearing her confession, Seiji smiles and tells her that he knows. In fact, he has also been watching her. Well, the truth is, Seiji believes that it was more like Midori showed up on her own but Seiji decided not to tell her about this. Midori is surprised to know that Seiji has been watching her as well. Because of this, Seiji adds that he also like/love her. There you go, he finally says 'it'.

Anyway, 1 month later, Seiji is seen in a hurry. He's late and hopes the person he's supposed to meet will wait for him. It is also obvious that Seiji has run away from his class cleaning duty and gets a smack on his back from Ayase because he tries to weasel out of it. Ayase tells Seiji that he needs to stop slacking off and proceeds to leave Seiji alone and walk together with Nao. ;) While walking along the road, Seiji gets to see all of the supporting characters living their own lives. Eventually, he arrives at his destination and sees Midori waiting for him. Seiji then gives Midori a present, which turns out to be a new diary. Midori appreciates the gift and tells Seiji that she'll take good care of it. The series ends with Seiji saying that the days of Midori as his right hand has ended, however, their new days together has just started. Midori, however, doesn't understand the first part of Seiji's sentence, suggesting that she does not regain her memory as his right hand.

Impression:

This is a nice albeit plain ending for the series. The fact that the manga doesn't feel that different from the anime is kind of disappointing. Oh well, at least Midori has a better clothing when she confesses her feelings to Seiji in this version. I always thought her yellow outfit from the anime was horrendous. It makes her head bigger than her body. Anyway, I also think that it's kind of disappointing that apart from Rin, the other supporting characters simply continue their lives without any major change to their routine. Thankfully this is not the case for the two main characters. It's nice to see Seiji giving Midori a new diary and of course him telling her that he likes her too. It's a nice change from the Seiji that appears in the first chapter of this manga. Similarly, Midori is quite a different person at the end of the story. While she's not as noisy as the mini Midori, she's not shy either.

© memento 2003