at first i thought this was going to be solely a murder mystery but after reading through it i took away some pretty significant themes. tldr; i think the main theme of this manga was to demonstrate that you don't need to suffer to make art.
i saw someone earlier saying that they were a little disappointed with the fact that they didnt stick with the "you can't save everyone" theme, and that everyone got a happy ending, but i actually dont think that was ever the goal of the manga in the first place. i think the main story that the manga was trying to tell was "you dont need to suffer to make art". you don't need to be abused or groomed or a murderer to make good art. you don't have to lose everything to be a good artist.
this might seem weird to say but i dont think this is hinata's story, even if he is the catalyst for everything happening. i think its a story about sora and what happened to make him turn out the way he did, and how changing all of it didn't get rid of his talent as an artist. its about how his art was still beautiful and meaningful even if he didnt suffer. i see it as a commentary on the "starving artist trope" (see: all the artists who had committed suicide that sora was researching), and how its actually harmful to believe your suffering and pain was all for the purpose of making "better art", because it just causes you to seek out more pain and suffering to create more and more art. mr. hakuraku's role in the story is to show that. even if sora was still abused, if mr. hakuraku wasnt there to groom him into becoming obsessed with death and a "final masterpiece", sora might've turned out okay. not better, but okay.
by removing mr. hakuraku's own suffering, it proved that he didnt need to experience the death of his family to create something beautiful. we see at the end that he creates something hes proud of, and becomes a renowned artist. it was important that mr. hakuraku got this ending, because only by stopping the cycle of pain at the source could hinata ensure that sora didn't end up repeating that same cycle.
personally, as well, i like the ending, and i don't think it was rushed at all. everything paid off for me when i saw how sora's painting changed in the new timeline. it wasn't the same dark, misery-filled, painful painting that it was before, but it was still beautiful. sora no longer had to suffer to make good art, he just did.
this was kind of a long tangent and this is totally my own opinion. obviously, you can take from this manga whatever you want, but these were my thoughts.
at first i thought this was going to be solely a murder mystery but after reading through it i took away some pretty significant themes.
tldr; i think the main theme of this manga was to demonstrate that you don't need to suffer to make art.
i saw someone earlier saying that they were a little disappointed with the fact that they didnt stick with the "you can't save everyone" theme, and that everyone got a happy ending, but i actually dont think that was ever the goal of the manga in the first place. i think the main story that the manga was trying to tell was "you dont need to suffer to make art". you don't need to be abused or groomed or a murderer to make good art. you don't have to lose everything to be a good artist.
this might seem weird to say but i dont think this is hinata's story, even if he is the catalyst for everything happening. i think its a story about sora and what happened to make him turn out the way he did, and how changing all of it didn't get rid of his talent as an artist. its about how his art was still beautiful and meaningful even if he didnt suffer. i see it as a commentary on the "starving artist trope" (see: all the artists who had committed suicide that sora was researching), and how its actually harmful to believe your suffering and pain was all for the purpose of making "better art", because it just causes you to seek out more pain and suffering to create more and more art. mr. hakuraku's role in the story is to show that. even if sora was still abused, if mr. hakuraku wasnt there to groom him into becoming obsessed with death and a "final masterpiece", sora might've turned out okay. not better, but okay.
by removing mr. hakuraku's own suffering, it proved that he didnt need to experience the death of his family to create something beautiful. we see at the end that he creates something hes proud of, and becomes a renowned artist. it was important that mr. hakuraku got this ending, because only by stopping the cycle of pain at the source could hinata ensure that sora didn't end up repeating that same cycle.
personally, as well, i like the ending, and i don't think it was rushed at all. everything paid off for me when i saw how sora's painting changed in the new timeline. it wasn't the same dark, misery-filled, painful painting that it was before, but it was still beautiful. sora no longer had to suffer to make good art, he just did.
this was kind of a long tangent and this is totally my own opinion. obviously, you can take from this manga whatever you want, but these were my thoughts.