>>4013913For me, the ending elevated the manga. A purely happy ending was never in the cards, and that had been outright confirmed with the train. But as far as bittersweet endings go, this one was really good.
Have you read the 100 ghost stories manga? Now that is a depressing, downer ending. And Nier's ending D is like a more depressing version of this one. I'd still consider those bittersweet endings and I like both of them. But this one has a way higher ratio of sweet to bitter.
I understand not liking something because of what it does to the characters. I just dropped the Arne anime because of what happened with Louis. But that was mean spirited and shitting on both the character and anyone who liked him. No one in Ryota killed his brother was being shit on with this ending, least of all Chika. The mangaka clearly loves him more than the rest.
In the end, he was vindicated both in universe and out as the pure, good boy he had always been. And he was elevated to sainthood. Literally. Look up what a bodhisattva is. That's Chika. Young Link is the only other sho I know of to attain such virtue.