Juri's short story was the more interesting one (again, I'm a little biased, since Juri is my favorite character and I love the JurixRuka dynamic), but was any of those stories necessary? I don't think so.

And I was right, the ending was THAT good! Bittersweet? Yes, but emotional and hopeful in the right amount! I also loved the 2 extra stories, especially because Juri is the focus of the first one (she has always been my favorite character in the anime!). Her story is beautifully sad, but it gave depth to her character (it was one of the things the manga lacked in my opinion). The second one was interesting, we get to see another group who is commanded by World's End as well but with a different set of rules. It was very short, though, but it had this haunting tone to it that I liked. All in all, these last two volumes were my absolute favorites and it wrapped this story that meant so much to me on my teen years beautifully. I found out that there are two extra volumes, and I might look out for them, but I think I might re-watch the anime first.

I have never reached the end of the story on my first read of the manga and never managed to watch the anime all the way to the end, so all of what is happening in this volume is absolutely new to me. And so far, it has been the best volume of the manga! Things are coming to a head, secrets are out, things are being explained (in a very Utena way, if that makes sense) and I really liked the fable-like story of Dios & The Rose Bride, makes some sense. But that ending? Now I HAVE to read the final volume!

Re-reading this book is such an experience! Yes, I wish I could read it for the first time just so I can feel the shock, the tension and the feel of having finished a great book all over again, but experiencing it with knowing eyes and catching the foreshadowings (and there are A LOT of them) - both for the trilogy and for the Cosmere as a whole - and the way the story itself is built in such a masterful way, is amazing! I read this while listening to the audiobook (something I didn't do in my first read) AND reading the annotions by Brandon at the end of each chapter. All I can say is I a have a whole new admiration for how he constructs his stories, his characters and most of all, his magic systems. Can't wait to do this for the next installments as well!