Episode Title:
The Final Episode.
Episode Description:
Tokyo is in ruins because of a black mass, formed by the rampaging Lil' Slugger, that envelops the town. Maniwa contacts the police chief on a screen in the cartoon world telling him what he knows; Ikari smashes the screen, is hailed a hero, and changes into a police dress uniform. Tsukiko becomes her twelve-year-old self and calls Ikari 'dad'. Maromi becomes a real dog. Ikari muses how he always wanted a daughter, but then his wife appears and he remembers what he said to her in her despair: that people mustn't create fantasy worlds to escape from reality. He takes the original bat and smashes the cartoon world apart to reveal a ruined Tokyo and a sea of Maromi toys. Maniwa tells Ikari how Lil' Slugger was made up by Tsukiko to explain away the death of her pet dog Maromi. Though she told her parents a young boy on rollerblades killed her dog with a bat, Maromi really died after being hit by a car when a painful menstrual cramp caused Tsukiko to let go of her leash. Fearing her father would punish her, she made up the story. The black blob appears as a giant and Maromi, Tsukiko and Ikari flee into the subway, but are eventually submerged. As she sinks, Tsukiko has a flashback to the original event. She comforts her young self and accepts it was her fault, stopping the black blob. Two years later, Tokyo has finally recovered from the damage. Tsukiko, now an office worker, impassively views a commercial for a popular new mascot character. Ikari is still a security guard, while Kawazu is still a reporter. Maniwa, whose hair has turned completely white, is now doing the same complex equation in chalk on the street that the old man once did. In the final scene, he arrives at an answer and gasps, mirroring the first episode.
