Symphonic Rain Al Fine ending is canon

[visualnovelfan]

I thought about this recently.

The ending Al Fine seemed the most convincing ending. I always assumed Al Fine is called that because Tortinita's surname is Al Fine. I had no idea what da Capo meant.

And then I thought to myself, it probably has a different meaning.

I checked and there is.

1. to the end (a direction, as after a da capo or dal segno, to continue to fine, the indicated end).

 

The fact that there are da capo and al fine proves that it was meant like that and not just Tortinita's surname.

 

And the bonus ending is da capo ending, so it is not the real ending. Al Fine seems to be the only ending that goes to the end.

 

In my opinion and considering the name which implies it is the end, the Al Fine ending is canon.

[Yukiru]

Da capo is a musical term for re-playing a especific part of a piece, just like da capo starts over from the beginning of the story and then stretches out to the real ending.

Anyway, it's not a linear story, so pick the ending suits you the best.

[Flutterz]

Interesting point, though I still think it's mostly just a play on words because da capo al fine is a musical term, and Symphonic Rain obviously has a lot to do with music. It basically means to repeat a segment from start to finish which is kind of what happens when you play SR over and over again.

[Fred the Barber]

The "Al Fine" ending is most definitely a pun - it carries at least the two meanings you're talking about: the reference to Torta's last name, and a sense of finality. That said, here's another way you can make sense of the name using that latter interpretation:

Spoiler

The "Al Fine" ending is the only ending in which the reader observes Arietta passing away. That finality alone is sufficient to merit the name "Al Fine", in my opinon.

At any rate, I don't think it's the intention of the author to enshrine Al Fine as canon, and I certainly agree with Yukiru - as with any non-linear VN, all the endings are simultaneously canon. Your "head canon" can be whichever you like. For what it's worth, my head canon for Symphonic Rain is also the Al Fine route, but I view that perspective as just my intention as a reader.

[WinterfuryZX]

Masculine fine in current italian doesn't mean "end" but "goal, objective etc.".

Musical glossary apparently retained the archaic sentence "Da Capo al Fine (From The beginning To the end)" , but "al fine (di)" in any other context means "in order (to)".

If You want To Say "To the end" You should use feminine article-prepositon "alla" instead of "al"----> "alla fine".

In SR is used as a pun (since there's another ending named da capo), so it's definitely used correctly. It just sounds very strange and archaic. 

[Fiddle]

I always thought Da Capo was the name of an Italian mafia boss.

[WinterfuryZX]

That's not strange at all, capo also means boss. Capomafia= mafia boss

[Fred the Barber]

1 hour ago, WinterfuryZX said:

Masculine fine in current italian doesn't mean "end" but "goal, objective etc.".

Musical glossary apparently retained the archaic sentence "Da Capo al Fine (From The beginning To the end)" , but "al fine (di)" in any other context means "in order (to)".

If You want To Say "To the end" You should use feminine article-prepositon "alla" instead of "al"----> "alla fine".

In SR is used as a pun (since there's another ending named da capo), so it's definitely used correctly. It just sounds very strange and archaic. 

Fair enough, but I expect the writers of Symphonic Rain know even less Italian than I do . I'm pretty sure they were using it purely in the sense of the musical term, which makes interpreting it as "to the end" not unnatural at all for a Japanese audience (or even an American one) with some musical background.

[WinterfuryZX]

The game has nice touches like the school named "Piova", the present subjunctive of the verb "to rain" ( http://blogs.transparent.com/italian/using-the-subjunctive-in-italian/ ).

Some character names are poorly chosen, though, even for a fantasy environment.