I don't know about a year but I've heard from a few different people that True Ending is indeed just an epilogue (apparently even spoiling the episodes that haven't aired yet?) and not any crazy alternate universe thing.

On one hand that's definitely for the best since it seems kind of silly to have a "fake" ending to the show, but on the other hand it's sort of disappointing given how coy Toei was being about the whole thing. Would it have been that hard to just say "We're using the movie as an epilogue this year"?

At any rate, this makes the thought of waiting for it a lot more bearable.

They did. Literally since the movie was announced, they've stated over and over that it's "the True Ending, broadcast early", and that it takes place at the end of the series. At no point were they coy about it.

The alternate timeline bit was a thing started by fans for reasons that were never clear to me, with literally nothing supporting it. And now those same fans are acting surprised that the movie is exactly what they marketed it as. It's....it's upsetting. Not saying you were one of them of course, you seem like you were genuinely unaware.

Apparently. I guess I thought they were being more vague than they were since like every article talking about it put "true ending" in quotes like it was sarcastic or something?

To be fair, it IS pretty unprecedented for the ending of a show to come out, you know, before the show ends. Perhaps this is just Yuuya Takahashi's final and ultimate way of showing how thoroughly planned out Ex-Aid was. He just straight up wrote the finale before the final episodes. :lol

"Whispers of Ryuki" and "the way the movie looks will gradually change as the show airs" sound pretty coy to me, or at least contradictory to "it's just the ending, okay?".

"The ending, broadcast early" has always made me think of the way Blade: Missing Ace played, too. Otherwise it's like if Blade actually ended the way Missing Ace showed straight-up. It's just a disappointing thing to do.

They specifically said it was different than Ryuki's movie. I suppose part of the confusion could have sprung from vague translations on stuff like that though.

And I mean, the show is what's leading up to the movie, of course watching it is going to give you further context for the movie. Maybe it was a little vaguer than I'm giving it credit for but I'm sorry, I honestly don't see how anyone got "alternate timeline" out of any of that.

Like I said, Missing Ace. Spoiling the show's ending in a movie that looks like it could take place in the middle of the series is such a disappointing thing to happen that most people just don't see it in the cards.
I don't think anyone thought they said it would be an alternate timeline, just that an alternate timeline was an inevitability. That's how my train of thought went anyway.

I think it comes solely from the connotations of the title itself in a video game context. Usually such a thing implies branching paths, like a "Normal End" or a "Bad End"; a "Good End" for doing exceptionally well is often considered the "True Ending."

Ex-Aid being video game themed, people interpreted the expression in video game terms rather than literally.

New info:Source

"The Last Smile" is giving me red flags for Poppi. I know she doesn't die, but dear lord it makes me think something very bad is going to happen to her.

Fans create Bang Bang Western Gashat:D

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