#because the way I had interpreted the takarazuka version was so firm I didn't even question it

[enwie]

I was originally first introduced to the series through the takarazuka play, and there's an interesting small change it does with the ending that I like to think about.

At the end of season 1, Lin offers Shang the red umbrella, just like the one Shang took from the buddha statue in the beginning, which Lin used to emotionally wrangle him into the whole mess.

In the anime, Shang initially accepts the umbrella, but later discards it when it starts raining. As he throws it away, it lands on the buddha statue, shielding it from the rain. The story comes a full circle, Shang has paid back any and all debts he might've had. His conscience is free (of Lin's hypocritical judgment).

In the zuka version, Lin makes the same offer of gifting the umbrella, but Shang refuses it outright. He already got into so much trouble just from borrowing the umbrella from the statue in the beginning of the show, he doesn't want to risk whatever mess this one might get him into. If he's going to get wet in the rain because of it, so be it. He'll live.

What, then? The zuka version ends with Lin being the one that places the umbrella on the statue to protect it from the rain, and the story... comes a full circle?

The anime doesn't give a particular reason to believe this but thinking about it, Lin, in the beginning of the story, wasn't just waiting for some passing stooge to pick the umbrella up. He was the one who'd planted it there to begin with. After all, it's his trap and it's exactly something he would do.

The story comes a full circle.