Ending?

Adding spoiler tag just in case:

I'm pretty sure the DVD guy is dead, you see clearly see his body in the bag. If you're refering to the The Happy Birthday scene where he re-appears, it is just an imaginary. That was likely an imaginary 'beautiful' moment that she wanted to enjoy.

I have no idea who the woman at the end of the movie is, but I assume she will pick up and save Nozomi.

Yes the DVD guy died.

The person at the end is the hikikomori we have seen a few times throughout the movie.

+++ Hey, I know what a restraining order is. I had girlfriends before, you know... +++

I know it's not what the film is about but I wanted a pinocchio ending. Where she became a real person and wanderd happily off.

The DVD guy is dead. The Happy Birthday Scene is in Nozomi's head. A fleeting thought before her "death".

"Apple Woman", the girl in the window is the hikikomori or recluse we see throughout the film. The one sitting on the floor surrounded by waste, empty bottles and apples. The message we hear on her answering machine from her mother is where we learn the significance of the rotting apples in her kitchen. Mom says "You don't have to grow apples with us, but it's time to come home". Clearly, Apple Woman comes from a family who grows apples and has become a recluse and her mom is worried and just wants her to come home. Apple woman's mom doesn't even get to talk directly to her, which is why she announces important things like her sister being pregnant on an answering machine instead of on the phone. This just further illustrates the point of her being a recluse.

Apple Woman lost her heart. Nozomi found it. "Mind Blown!" The heart traveled from apple woman like a dandelion through the air until and ended up in her neightbor's house, some lonely guy whom has a fixation with a blow up doll. A doll he imagines is his ex-girlfriend. A doll that he kinda gives his heart to. But the heart Nozomi got was apple womans'.

The dandelion that apple woman blows on at the end of the film is imagery for her heart or how she's touched those around her. You see how when Nozomi "dies" we see the floating dandelion petals float by all the people affected by her, all the people she met in her life.

We then see the recluse arise. She got her heart back from Nozomi. She's coming back to life. She puts a rotting apple in the garbage and gets up off the floor and opens the drapes to the outside. This is a very big step for her as she has been so lost without her heart. Apple Woman sees Nomozi laying in the trash surrounded by apples and bottles. She says "Beautiful". Similar to how the recluse is surrounded by rotting apples and empty bottles. This signifies that they are one heart.