This’ll be a quick post/review as I’m technically supposed to be studying. 
But I couldn’t resist watching the last episode of Long Love Letter, since the ending of the 2nd to the last episode was such a cliffhanger! (Although I totally saw it coming 
hehehe.) Or maybe I just want to be nitpicky again because I’m not liking people’s reaction to this drama. Well, sure, it’s something not everyone will like, but some people are just downright mean when they say it’s stupid or that they want 11 hours of their lives back. I honestly think this show deserves more love than that.
Anyway, it’s all about this group of people who were coincidentally in a school, during winter break. They experience an earthquake which inexplicably transports the entire school, including everyone who was in it at the time, several years into the future. Or, at least a version of the future, where the Earth is nothing but a desert, and there are dangerous chemicals in the air, and humans have mutated into some sort of creepy species.
I don’t know why people are confused with how the drama went. It totally made sense to me. Okay, some parts admittedly were confusing, but that’s what happens when you tackle time travel and parallel worlds. What you have to remember is that it’s all fiction anyway, so even if you can’t wrap your mind around a certain concept (let’s say that it’s blatantly scientifically impossible), you just have to think that it’s just a story, and for the universe the story is in, breaking scientific laws is possible. If you’re able to accept that, then you’ll probably enjoy this drama, and really get its messages.
The most obvious one being “Live for the moment”, because you never know when you will lose the people or the things you have around you, as was shown by the characters in the show who lost everything they had in an instant. And then there’s also all that stuff about saving the environment. I think this is mostly the reason why I like this show, because I like it when people remind other people to be careful with the Earth’s resources as they’re not unlimited. The last one, which I think is the most important would be to “never lose hope“.
Okay, okay, that’s a little cliche (or cheesy), but I think what this drama did really well is to tie all those messages together. It’s like saying that you should live for the moment, enjoy your life, and do what you can while protecting the Earth from destruction. But if all your effort fails, and you still end up in a world with no rain and hazardous chemicals mixed in the wind, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seize the moment anymore, and still try to save what you can of the Earth, even if you’re armed with absolutely nothing.
And regarding the ending…
[Spoilers galore ahead. If you don't like spoilers, just watch the drama!]
I totally got it. I don’t know why people say it’s stupid, or that it just opened up another can of worms, without answering the questions that the first episode asked.
The entire story began with Asami (Kubozuka Yosuke) having his cellphone stolen, causing him to lose contact with a girl he met, Misaki (Tokiwa Takako). Now, we know that what happened next was that he finished college, became a teacher, and didn’t see Misaki again until after a few years, when Misaki went to his school to deliver some flowers. And when they meet in school, we know that before they parted ways, the earthquake happened, causing all of them to be transported into the future.
Now, in the last episode, because fragments of the “time capsule” they sent from the future made it to the point in time where Asami was about to lose his cellphone, the effect was that he didn’t lose his cellphone, and so he didn’t lose contact with Misaki, hence, the future where they only meet again in school when Asami’s already a teacher, no longer happens. Hence, even if the earthquake occurs in 2002 and affect the school, the circumstances wouldn’t be the same, because it wouldn’t have been the first time Asami and Misaki meet again. And so you can conclude from that, that the bleak future where the characters fought for their survival amidst a barren desert, doesn’t happen anymore.
Get it?
Hmm… maybe I’m not good at explaining stuff. But seriously, the bits and pieces of paper falling from the sky into Asami’s lap as he sits in that bench, really wraps up the story.
It’s consistent with the Chaos theory/Butterfly effect that says something like:
“It is possible that a very small occurence can produce unpredictable and sometimes drastic results by triggering a series of increasingly significant events.”
Ah… Just watch the show and you’ll see what I mean. Although it’s not the best J-drama I’ve seen, it’s most definitely not a bad one. 
