Half a year ago Sensei wrote on Twitter that after chapter 31 we were at the 30 km mark of the Saezuru marathon, so by now we should be nearing the finish line. If chapter 34 was the climax of the Yakuza plot, one more volume should probably be enough to wrap the story up. So, given the recent developments, my personal guess is that Saezuru will probably end with volume 7. That would make seven to eight chapter from now which equates to about one and a half years of serialization left.
What can be considered a happy ending depends a lot on the genre of the story, don’t you think? In a pure Yakuza drama I would be perfectly happy if the main characters were still alive at the end, no matter where they ended up. But Saezuru is a BL manga aimed at fujoshi, which means it’s a love story, no matter how thick the Yakuza plot gets. I’m sure this is different for everyone, but my expectations on BL happy endings are way higher than the mere survival of the main characters. If my fujoshi heart isn’t happy, it’s not a happy ending for me, simple as that. Yashiro never quit the Yakuza, because he had no place to go in the outside world. Literally, his only motivation to leave would be Doumeki. If he doesn’t become Yashiro’s place to return to, Yashiro’s life would be just as empty as before. And Doumeki wouldn’t be happy without him either. So, if Yashiro and Doumeki were both alive but seperated in the end, that would be a neutral ending for me at best, and probably not even that.
But still, I can totally see why Sensei might decide on a semi-happy ending or an open one, because the whole tone of the story is pretty dark, so an all-around happy ending could feel too forced from a technical point of view. Yoneda-sensei is a great storyteller and going from super dark to super happy might just feel wrong to her for that reason. Which I totally understand, but the romanticist in me wants to see Yashiro and Doumeki happy and in love no matter what. ;)
