Ask John: Can You Explain the Ending of Samurai Deeper Kyo?

Question:
I was watching Samurai Deeper Kyo and I basically understood most of it until the very end. What happened between Kyo and Kyoshiro after they fought?

Answer:
WARNING: Spoilers Included

The climax of the Samurai Deeper Kyo TV animation is yet another one of Japan’s favored ambiguous endings. Who won the fight between Kyo and Kyoshiro? That depends on how you choose to interpret certain clues; clues that are specifically designed to allow viewers to make a case for either character.

At the end of the show, Yuya is selling medicine, Kyoshiro’s vocation of choice. If you’d like to believe that it was Kyoshiro who won the fight, Yuya is simply conducting business while Kyoshiro takes a break nearby the river. However, if you choose to believe that is was Kyo who won the final duel, Yuya may be selling medicine in honor of Kyoshiro, as a way to keep his spirit and memory alive in her mind. The series also ends with a major military clash. Those who would believe that Kyoshiro survived can cite the fact that the pacifist Kyoshiro is in the country with Yuya instead of taking part in the war. Presumably, if Kyo had survived, he would almost certainly be in the midst of battle instead of remaining in the country with Yuya. However, the show makes quite a point of repeatedly confirming that the Kyo of the present is no longer the same bloodthirsty warmonger that he used to be, so perhaps the figure glimpsed in the ending is Kyo after all, and he’s chosen a life of tranquility away from the clamor of war. The signs are there for you to make a case either way. Did Kyo or Kyoshiro win the duel? That’s for you as an individual viewer to decide.