Explanation Of The Ending

Reading the other thread on the Discusion Board here made it clear that some other people didn't understand what happened at the end of the movie, and believe that Naoko came back as a ghost, so here it is:

In the scene with Yabe in the spa at the end, it's reported that a woman has been found with amnesia. It's Naoko.

Ueda is moved to tears because Naoko came back to him. This is exactly how they met in the first episode with the coin trick. He knows that even though she doesn't remember him, the woman he loved came back to him after a year, just as she promised.

Her mother also knew that she was alive, but wouldn't remember her at all, which was why she asked Ueda to take care of her daughter for the rest of Naoko's life. Her mother paused in the hallway as she was leaving because she sensed her daughter there.

A perfect ending to the series, even if there wasn't a kiss. It was obvious that they loved each other when they said farewell in the cave.