Do You Believe An Argument Could Be Made That After Sanemi “actually” Died, He Still Decided To Go

Do you believe an argument could be made that after Sanemi “actually” died, he still decided to go to hell for his mom? Or would that not make sense for his arc. For how selfless of a person he is, even after what happened, he’d still go to hell for his mom since she is with their dad or no?

Thank you so much for the ask!! This is a great question!

So, to me, the way Sanemi phrases it makes it sound like he plans to walk his mother to hell and stay for her punishment before returning to his siblings' sides. I think he just didn't want her to be alone but he had no intention of completely leaving behind his siblings and the reason I believe that is this one single panel:

"Besides, if I went there too soon, Genya would be sad."

It sounds to me that Sanemi does intend to be with Genya and the others, just not yet. First, he wants to take care of his mother since she seems to be stuck in some kind of purgatory where she longingly watches her children in shame.

This brings me to a theory: Shizu had the option of going to heaven, similar to Ume, but she chose to go to hell out of shame and guilt for harming her children. Sanemi, accepting her feelings, was willing to guide her there on his back, to be there for her punishment until she was "ready."

As for whether this makes sense for his arc... Sanemi is one of the most self-sacrificial characters in KNY, something I will discuss when I do a dedicated analysis for him (like I did for Genya's birthday, but since I missed Sanemi's birthday...)

It makes perfect sense for the character willing to put literally everything on the line for his baby brother to also sacrifice his very soul for his family.

So, yes, if he were to find Shizu still in that purgatory-like state after he dies, I fully believe he would still carry Shizu on his back to hell.

Thank you again for the ask!