Is the ending a dream sequence?
I am curious about the ending. Is it real?
shareI do believe that Taeko did get off the train and decide to stay in the country with Toshio - that was real. Her younger self and her old classmates appearing on the train and encouraging her to go back...that was just symbolic, I think.
I kind of interpreted it to mean that your past, your memories of everything you experience make you who you are today, and they influence the choices you make in your life. It seemed that Taeko was holding on to some things in her past and was finally able to let them go (her past self is left behind and watches her go as she leaves with Toshio) in order to move on to her future.
Yes, I agree. The only part which I found mildly inconsistent was that one of the kids stopped the bus for Taeko to board it.
shareI don't think there's any need to analyse it - just to live it. It's a wonderful piece of art which touches one's emotions directly. God Isao Takahata is apparently the master in it!
Also, part of the effect is exactly that it's not clear! It could just be the storm of thoughts in Taeko's head - and we all know how thoughts can shift from the one to the other (yes, just like in dreams).
A couple of things:
1. At the end of the sequence, when child Taeko stayed behind, it's not "letting go of the past". I saw in it, growing up properly. And by "properly" I mean free from negative brainwashing like "don't be creative stick to the script", "this child is not normal", "marry the first bum who proposes because you're getting old", etc. And it's this that makes Only Yesterday the best film ever made!
2. When the children stopped the bus, this was to me childish miscief / group culture / ability to solve problems efficiently and have fun (rather than stress) while doing it.
But then, that's the magic of this ending: That it touches our emotions directly and we see all sorts of things in it!
Lovely interpretation. Same goes for Toshio almost falling over one of the kids who was rolling on the ground .
there's a highway that is curling up like smoke above her shoulder