This article explains the ending of the Netflix film We Couldn’t Become Adults and will contain spoilers.
As the film explores the complexity of human emotions and relationships, our main character, Sato, has been through with his ex Kaori sending that friend request. He’s trying to rediscover his true self but needs to examine his past self first. You might say he’s lovestruck when he thinks of Kaori, he’s collecting the rubbish with his friend in the first scene and thinks about when he saw Kaori, his first love.
Netflix film We Couldn’t Become Adults ending explained
From here, we go on a downward trajectory of his life. His life practically spirals across the years — from finding out in 2015 that Kaori is married and has a kid and then his girlfriend, Megumi, dumps him. In 1999 on New Year’s Eve, Sato asks Kaori if she would like to move in with him but she’s not interested. Then, we learn that he didn’t want to marry her because she doesn’t like “ordinary” things, meanwhile flash forward to the present day, she has a husband and a child. Maybe, she just didn’t want to be with him this whole time and knew that from the beginning. Or she might have just changed as she grew up — after all, humans are complex beings with multiple feelings. We know that he’s been hurt in the past but where does this leave him, does he get a happy ending that we know and love from the fairy tales or a taste of reality?
For present-day Sato, he’s back in Tokyo and revisiting the places where he made memories alone, pondering on his experiences. He finally comes to the realisation that he’s been living in the past for so long and never truly got to live freely. Importantly, he learns that people around him, from Kaori to his friends, are just as “ordinary” as him. Like Kaori, Sato despised all things “ordinary” like marriage because he imagined life to be extraordinary and unique but I think his failure to recognize “ordinary” things can be unique and can add value to another human’s life could’ve changed his perspective.
The refreshing part and arguably the most significant aspect of the film is his shift in perspective. He becomes more optimistic, self-aware and understands that dwelling on the past gets you nowhere.
What did you think of the ending of the Netflix film We Couldn’t Become Adults? Comment below.
