(Warning: there are indirect spoilers here for the endings of both
Katanagatari and Haibane Renmei.)
Author wrote (a while back):
Possibly the fear of spoilers is why nobody wrote how Togame pulled
an almost exact Reki reveal. [...] Now the reveal being the same, the
subsequent resolution was different. Reki was tested and passed, but
Togame did not have that chance. Kuro is certain that she would fail
("I am glad"). I am not so sure. She pondered becoming a mother at
some point, remember. [...]
I'm not as optimistic as Author is because I think there's a crucial
difference between Reki and Togame in their respective situations. As
I see it, Reki's test was to confront, accept, and then basically let
go of her past in order to move on. The analogous test for Togame would
be to not just consider a future after her goal was achieved (which is
something she talks about with Shichika) but to give up on her goal,
to let go of her obsession for her revenge, and I don't think Togame
ever considers or talks about this.
(Togame herself says that she couldn't change and do this, although
she may have been lying about that as she probably was lying about
other things in her episode 12 conversation. Or, if not lying, not
seriously confronting the idea because there was no point to it by that
point.)
The counter-argument is that being faced with your test can change
people. Reki had that opportunity and without it, well, she might have
ended up in something like Togame's situation (tacitly drifting into a
bad ending). She was after all only saved at the very last moment (and
with outside assistance).
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Series:
Katanagatari
