Disliked the ending, however I want to know who did it so I made this topic for ideas to clash and information to gather, I think that the parents last wishes clashed with each other, and the murderer is related to the cousin that died in an accident, the cousin could very well be Saaya. Since Saaya could not lie then I believe it was either the last wish that prevented her from remembering or the rules of the shinigami had something to do with it, but supposedly everything she has said has been the truth so she might had erased a part of her memories because of a last request or rules. The mother might had wished that Shizuka survived, but the father trying to protect the culprit wished for everyone involved to forget since he saw Shizuka surviving, with Hibikis wish it brought forward the event that happened in the beginning. Now this is all I can recall and guess, what does the community think happened.

I'm pretty sure that none of the family members committed the murders(...duh), because 3 of them got their last wishes(which a murderer would not have gotten) and also since shizuka's tantrum in the shinigami court established that he hadn't killed anyone

It is very certain that the massacre had to have been related to the enigmatic dead cousin.

But how do the two clever brothers(Minamida) factor into this? The younger one was definitely a witness...

And why isn't the shinigami chief allowed to access the files related to this case...this possibly hints at the murderer not being human

More and more questions...ugh...damn it, i consider my sleuthing skills above average but this mystery has me stumped! Either its really good, or lacks a lot of clues

There should be an epilogue

The first course of action to solve it would be to gather all hints, no matter how small, for example go over everything Saya said, since it has been established that she can't lie. Go over the court case to establish the rules of the shinigami.

I made a list of a bunch of the things I considered hints, or rules for the mechanics behind shinigami, last requests, evil spirits and a time line of events that were listed. If someone wants to organize it more coherently they can feel free, I just wrote down what I found as I re-read it.

- Saaya can't lie
- said she doesn't know anything about the families deaths
- can't murder or revive people
- said if they discover the truth she will erase it again
- Shizuka and Hibiki were both granted a last request
- two types of last requests, requests in life, and post-death requests
- post-death requests can have a lag time of several minutes to hours between the death and last request due to investigation
- Shiroha's mother died 13 years ago, was a plan by "Minamida"
- Azuma destined to die 10 years ago, in coma
- Azuma's brother is "much younger" than him
- evil spirits can possess people and cannot be detected by shinigami 'soul search'
- Aunt died 15 years ago
- mother was in accident 15 years ago, while pregnant with Hibiki
- saaya became a shinigami 10 years ago, after half a year of training
- shinigami should do everything they can to grant a last request
- when the chief went to look at information regarding Shizuka, she was told there were certain rules shinigami can't break (which i believe to be that they can not murder or revive people?)

Possible answers I considered are;
Saaya is the cousin, as they left out her last name and both of the cousins names, the father liked her a lot etc

Hibiki is the reincarnation of the cousin or the cousin used her last request to possess her or something along those lines

the cousin became an evil spirit and possessed the mother or shizuka, its never made clear if you lose your last request if your body is possessed and used to commit murder

the minamida brothers are related to the cousin and set something up, although it seems unlikely since there didn't seem to be any recognition by the younger one when shizuka spoiled the politicians plan.

I think the mystery novel that Azuma wrote has some part in it, Minamida might had read it and decided to replicate the event to some extent, but the mystery remains who did it, why he did it and what wish di the parents do to make that situation, the fathers wish should be something revolving protect or keep the murderer safe, the mother would probably wish for something for her child, now if we combine those 2 and Hibikis wish then what kind of wish caused the event at the beginning to happen.

I posted my list on mangafox as well, and there seems to be a lot more discussion there if you are interested.

The culprit is... the chief editor. or publisher. or maybe reader or activist or politician that think it too gore and must be axed.
I like this manga and surprised to see it end with chapter 18. So I reread starting from beginning before start on chapter 18. After done chapter 18, I was eh~ end? Reread chapter 18 and ****, TROLL END.
Rage, SHIFT-DELETE all files. Move on.
However, it hard to move on when a good manga ruined like this, so I try to find conclusion from reader. I didn't read comment from Mangafox, but from Batoto and mangaupdates reader, I conclude that there are too many possibilities, too open to accuse anyone to be the culprit. You can eliminate who is innocent base from fact and Sherlock can conclude that the last remainder is guilty, whoever impossible it maybe. But I can't, I have delete the manga from my hard disk
Also, I think the author failed to establish Prima Facie on any character, whoever the culprit that you accused is based on speculation, not enough fact or prove, and therefore, NOT GUILTY.

Quote from manga2x (a reader from Batoto),


Well, I remember that chapter 17 also explaining about a shinigami ability to erase memory, so my final conclusion, the mangaka didn't believe (arrogantly lol) that his manga might get axed. When it officials, it too late to make a solid conclusion. Try explaining by mixed story and real life, putting himself (or herself), readers, editor, chief editor and maybe the publisher (even no GOD mentioned thought) in the manga.
It was rushed, many reader including me conclude that it a TROLL END. Now it time to move on. Peace.

Last edited by Hantu at 3:19 pm, Feb 14 2013

________________
i don't exist

1) It isn't entirely clear what "Azuma Minamida"s final 'Last Request' ends up being.
Considering the hole between him getting badly wounded and the spot where he eventually lost consciousness (as well as the FULL stretch of Saaya's mistake), I believe that this is quite essential to ultimately answering the questions "Who did it? Why? And how?" _fully_.

2) Azuma's novel definitely appears to be the main focus, as it *could* be what we have just read, albeit in manga-form (and both unfinished to boot?)

3) Shizuka's novel "F" may in fact be a part of or a full copy of the novel Azuma wrote (incomplete as well?). After all, coincidence is quite a plot device, but this is quite unlikely.


Fact is, Saaya *wanted* Azuma's novel to be completed. The likelihood of Azuma's younger brother wanting Shizuka in order to affect this seems heavily implied (whether writing or acting out or maybe even in another way)...

While it does look like the enigmatic Minamida is the culprit, there just doesn't seem to be enough conclusive evidence...
Oh 5th volume, whereever are you?

...though the incompleteness DOES add to the strength of the story.