AnimeLoe

Many people are still confused by the ending of this anime because it gives an open ending that makes people trying to create theories on it. One of the most well-known theories are that the Aunt is actually Makoto who time travelling to the past, then there’s a theory about Chiaki being a con-artist who purposely made Makoto falling in love with him so she would restore and take care of the painting he looked for. Aside from those theories and speculations made by the viewers, I’ve created my own opinion as well which probably can answer some of the plot holes in the story.

1.  If Chiaki still had 1 chance for time-leaping/travelling, why not use it for going back to the future and getting recharge then coming back to the present?

First thing first, I want to make sure that we all know the difference between time-leaping and time-travelling in this anime. Time-leaping is jumping through timeline where you exist (which means only moving your present consciousness to your past body). Time-travelling means moving to the other timeline where you don’t exist (other universe), like Chiaki who came from the future and live in the present time in which he hasn’t been born yet (because if he has a present body, he would just time-leaping, moving his consciousness and used his present body instead). So if it’s like this, then there is a probability of different rule in using time-leaping and time-travelling, which I assume that you can use time-leaping as much as you can recharge, but can only time-travelling once in a lifetime. And that means, Chiaki can’t go back and forth from and to the future as he likes.

2.    Why didn’t just Chiaki stay in the present and live happily ever after with Makoto instead of going back to the future?

As what happened to Chiaki before Makoto restored his last time-leaping/travelling chance. Chiaki has broken the rules by telling Makoto about the future and the existence of time-travelling which resulting him being disappeared. Even though Makoto has leapt through the time when Chiaki hasn’t told her, the future remains the same (Makoto still knows about the future and time-travelling from Chiaki) so the rule is still valid, that’s why, before vanishing, Chiaki has to go back to the future with his restored last chance.

3.    So in the end, will Chiaki and Makoto ever reunite?

It’s an open-ending story, everyone… we have the freedom to create the ending we want, but the ending for me is “Yes, they meet in the future”. Why?

There are so many hints showing me to that conclusion throughout the whole movie. According to Makoto’s aunt confession, she and Makoto has almost identical condition in which she fell in love with a time traveler and ended up waiting for him but he never comes back in the end.

Then she said, “you’re not like me, right? If someone late for an appointment… wouldn’t you run out to meet him?” this, everybody, is a sign from her that Makoto shouldn’t have just waited for the rest of her life because she will end up like her at some point, she’s telling her to run to him instead. That’s why when Chiaki said “I’ll be waiting in the future”, Makoto answered “I’ll be right there, I’ll run there.”

Therefore, from my theory earlier, if Chiaki went back to the future it means he wouldn’t be able to come back to Makoto’s timeline in the present, that’s why the only timeline they can meet is in the future where Chiaki belongs. But since, meeting in the future where Chiaki belongs is impossible because in that time Makoto would be dead already, she determined to come running there to his side, instead. So this time, she’s gonna be the one time-travelling to where Chiaki is. So the next thing to do for Makoto is not keeping or restoring the painting Chiaki looked for, because it’s already restored and kept by her aunt. The next thing she has to do is creating the way to time-travelling and meet her beloved Chiaki in the future.