The ending of Sing “Yesterday” for Me was a betrayal

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The ending of Sing “Yesterday” for Me was a betrayal. I know that sounds dramatic, but allow me to explain.

It concludes with Rikuo falling into the arms of Haru, a girl he barely knew and has shown nothing but disdain for over the course of the series, and with his old flame Shinako knocking on the door of her dead boyfriend’s younger brother, implying that she’s pursuing a doomed relationship with him. It’s sad because up until this point, it felt like Rikuo and Shinako had learnt something from each other: they tried to get together, but eventually realised that there was nothing between them, just two lonely souls searching for a respite from the cold. And just as it felt like they had finally reached a turning point, the epilogue reverts them: Shinako is still trapped in the past, and Rikuo is chasing an immature relationship based almost entirely on Haru’s infatuation with him. 

I suppose some people just don’t get to grow.

Maybe that’s the real message of Sing “Yesterday” for Me? That some people just stay broken?

Aesthetic

The Ending of Sing "Yesterday" for Me: the aesthetic

Sing “Yesterday” for Me is a nostalgic anime. Based on a manga series that began in 1997, it’s set in the era just before the internet took hold and fundamentally changed the world. Isn’t it weirdly reassuring seeing Rikuo and Shinako chained to their home phones, their fingers nervously twiddling about their phone cords? Or everytime Rikuo lights up a cigarette in public, just smoking to chill out. In my opinion, the aesthetic is the best character of Sing “Yesterday” for Me, eliciting the kind of feeling to suggest I’m watching an anime based on a coffee- stained Haruki Murakami novel like Norwegian Wood, a slow and atmospheric wandering through a time and place. 

It reminds me a lot of Welcome to the N.H.K., similarly a story of a bunch of young adults so haunted by their pasts that they are scared to take the next step forwards. Rikuo isn’t nearly as broken as Satou, but both find themselves in love with the memory of a girl, only to realise that when they meet the real person, their love was always one sided and empty, a sad trick of nostalgia. 

There’s an undeniable sense of ennui about Rikuo and Shinako, a melancholy that bleeds into every scene, be it the blue moonlight as Rikuo throws out the trash, the warm glow of the streetlights as he bumps into Haru, or the flash of a speeding train as it passes Shinako, her head down on her way home from work, there’s something just slow and lonely about Sing “Yesterday” for Me, an overriding feeling of inertia as life just passes by. It’s a story told through what isn’t said.

Being brave enough to fail: Rikuo

The Ending of Sing "Yesterday" for Me: being brave enough to fail - Rikuo

It takes a brave person to follow their dreams when it means risking failure. We’re all the greatest in our own minds, but when it comes down to it, a lot of people just never have the wherewithal to try and make something happen. It’s always a half hearted effort and there’s always an excuse for not trying. The Rikuo at the beginning of Sing “Yesterday” for Me is a good example of a half hearted guy that hasn’t given himself a chance because he’s afraid to fail, the part time gigs just another way of delaying the moment when he’s forced to look himself in the mirror and ask what he’s going to do with his life. A lot of stories would climax with him working up the determination to confess to Shinako, but episode 1 ends with him confessing his feelings to her, only to be turned down. It really feels like he’s trying to live with no regrets, knowing that it’s a moment in his life that he’ll regret forever if he doesn’t at least tell her how he feels. That she turns him down should finally give him the impetus to grow and set forth on a new path, but this is where Sing “Yesterday” for Me really begins.

Letting go of the past: Shinako

The Ending of Sing "Yesterday" for Me: Letting go of the past - Shinako

Like Rikuo, Shinako is a person struggling with inertia. She’s still in love with her long dead boyfriend, but rather than put distance between herself and his family and try to move on, she’s closer to his family now than ever. Rō, her dead boyfriend’s younger brother, is clearly infatuated with her and forcefully pursues a relationship. She knows it’s unhealthy and wrong, and that she’s torturing Rō as much as herself by hanging on, but even still, she can’t seem to bring herself to separate from them. A running theme with Shinako is her lack of decisiveness, and it hurts everyone around her. The phrase “it’s better to be cruel than kind” never applied more to a person. If only she could let go of Rō.

Explaining why the ending of Sing “Yesterday” for Me is a betrayal

Explaining why the ending of Sing "Yesterday" for Me is a betrayal

The ending of Sing “Yesterday” for Me feels like a betrayal because it concludes on a tone-deaf ostensibly happy note that falls apart the moment you stop to think about it. It never felt like Rikuo loved Haru, just as it never felt like Shinako loved Rō. Both relationships are built on deeply unhealthy foundations: Haru falling in love with Rikuo after bumping into him in the street without knowing anything about him, and Rō wanting to replace his older brother in Shinako’s eyes, something that he can never hope to do. Both relationships seem totally one sided, and characterise the deep sense of emptiness and loss that Rikuo and Shinako both seemed so desperate to escape, yet are apparently doomed to repeat. I just thought Sing “Yesterday” for Me was braver than this.

13 responses to “The ending of Sing “Yesterday” for Me was a betrayal”

  1. […] Bateszi. (2020). The ending of Sing “Yesterday” for Me was a betrayal. Bateszi Anime Blog. […]

    1. ryan Avatar
      ryan

      sorry was i the only one rooting for haru and rikuo to be together since the start? i started the anime in hopes of that and i’m happy it ended that way. to be honest, shinako was ever so slightly getting on my nerves. not that i wanted her ending to be that sad but i never anticipated her and rikuo getting together at all.

      1. DerKastellen Avatar
        DerKastellen

        Oh, I like Haru. I wish her to be happy.
        But why should we believe Rikuo is in love with her? He barely ever empathized with her, and he shows up and declares his love. Not feeling convinced of it.

  2. Nelson Avatar

    Hey, there! Great stuff I feel super motivated! I am starting an anime blog and I was wondering where I could find images of the anime that I’m writing about. I’m not entirely sure what I’m legally allowed to use or where to find them. So long as its journalistic is it covered under the fair use doctrine? Thanks in advance

  3. Dakara Daijobu Avatar
    Dakara Daijobu

    It is one of author’s “curse”, the obsession or need of plot-twist. In this case, it’s really annoying because it’s a ridiculously forced one. So I totally agree, the ending is a betrayal.

    So what if Rikou and Shinako ended up being together? Yes, the readers or viewers can guess it. So what? It’s fine, fkc the plot-twist.

  4. Celty Avatar
    Celty

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this anime and I could not agree more. This is the reason why I am dropping this anime because I already sense that the ending will not go in the way I wanted

  5. chaddy Avatar
    chaddy

    Just finish the anime, was enjoyable up until the end!! The ending makes no sense to me, shinoko was irritating. tbh the the main character that was suppose to be broken was the least screwed one out of all of them!!!

  6. Misaki Avatar
    Misaki

    I don’t understand anyone rooting for this. It’s toxic, and a plot twist is apart of the story. Her reason for liking him is just..sick. I’m glad it went the way it did.

  7. Harsh bilthare Avatar

    I literally want shinako and rikou together beacuse they both loved each other after all they left each other as couples beacuse they cared for haru and rou

  8. DerKastellan Avatar
    DerKastellan

    Thank you. This mirrors my feelings on the series. The ending is not in tune with everything before it.

    While it doesn’t make for great narrative, Shinako should have just seen a shrink and then made up her mind. Her showing up on Rou’s doorstep at the end feels like she’s an anchor weighing too many people down.

    I think Rikuo and Shinako could have been happy had she actually started to address what seems at the end to be a mental health issue. It has gone way beyond grief and become something else.

    Anyway, I love Haru as a character, and if I had felt that Rikuo ever treated her as a possible love interest or with kindness, then (and only then) I could have found the ending convincing.

  9. tv schedule today Avatar

    I was really disappointed with the ending of Sing “Yesterday” for Me. It felt like a betrayal to the characters and the story.

  10. kito Avatar
    kito

    I just finished the anime and I feel the same. I identified somewhat with Rikuo, and tbh I really liked Shinako, she’s the kind of person I like. So yeah, I just feel betrayed 🙁

  11. Lucky94 Avatar
    Lucky94

    That ending betrayed the eleven episodes coming into the final one. Shinako did not grow as character she doesn’t even have romantic feelings for Rou. Rou was a child through out the whole series and asking not to be treated as one. Rikuo is not sure that he actually is in love with Haru, and Haru to me seems like she is infatuated with a older guy. Both relationships are doomed in regret for everyone especially Rou he will probably meet girls his age and not be able to do anything because he chained Shinako to the past.

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