Why make fans wait then years to screw them over like this?
Whilst I agree that Eiji was in character, it is vastly out of character for Ankh, Hina, and Shingo to let Eiji kill himself when they could have prevented it.
Suicide is not the way for someone to find peace at all., it is a symptom, not a solution. And it’s an awful end for Eiji who was traumatised and suffering ptsd when this started, only to finally find someone who understood him and friends who became family.
Then to lose his other half (I don’t ship Ankh and Eiji romantically in the series but their appearances in between and this movie have shifted my opinion) and spend 10 years trying to bring him back… and what? Leave Ankh alive whilst Eiji dies? I hated it. Actually and vehemently hated it. As some Japanese reviewers have said “the lights came up at the end of the film and it was silent. Like there was no hope left.”
Toei, Eiji deserved better. Ankh and Hina deserved better. And your fans did too.