because in the episode where he was in shock seeing Yanagi with Kiri in tokyo and saying he will never paint again, laying on the floor in tears with brushes and paints in front of a canvas. (the reason obviously is being Kiri and maybe another feeling of backstabbing by Yanagi.

reasons that Kiri didnt end up with Hiroki could be :

Elis overcomes her trauma of red for her love for Hiroki.

Hiroki overcomes his trauma or shock rather and paints again for Elis, this is something that Kiri did for him in the passed, but cant do for him in the present (she sorta realized this when she falls in tears at the trains seeing him with that painting in his arms…she says something like i guess we will be back to being only friends.

all in all Yanagi was secretly in love with kiri, Hiroki was certainly in love with Kiri.
Hiroki was an indesicive idiot who didnt want to ruin their friendship
and Yanagi abused this goody act of Hiroki (sneaking out of the tent, stealing his picture idea and saying that he would never let Hiroki have Kiri)

of course Hiroki knew Yanagi liked Kiri (he saw him sneaking out of the tent)
atleast Yanagi was dishonest in getting his way but was honest about his feelings for Kiri, hiroki kept it all for himself wanting to keep the peace with the three of them. that is how it felt for me

but the ending passed ,although i stil think Hiroki is an indesicive jerk hurting feelings of people left and right because of his ignorance and walking the path of no conflict. spaced out…escaping reality ?

in the end he finally made up his mind and he decides to hurt Kiri in the process AGAIN, the first time he was in shock because of his insecurity he created a reality that wasnt even true (yanagi with hiroki in tokyo) and draws his conclusions again (like he did in the classroom and when yanagi sneaks out of the tent)

he meets up with her again goes all snuggly and happy with Kiri for the whole show and then bam dumps Kiri , lets go Elis on the last episode :) nice Twister ….

Hiroki is a nice guy ? ma ne..so so

like elis says he spaces out.
he is absent in his own world a little too much for my taste (paranoia?)

… he doesnt see the truth for whatever reason for the entire show regarding his feelings towards Kiri i think…

Elis therefor was a surprise, although he seemed to care for her as a brother a lot which was nice…. although that kindness was shot down in the last episode

this twist of the the once conciderate tapping on the head when she confesses to him for the first time where he shows no emotion towards a mutual feeling whatsoever and complete 360 indecent relationship ending…

well indecent to the eye of the beholder , they do indeed love eachother but for me they should have stayed a family.

i feel sad for Kiri, i hope she finds a kind man in the ova if there is going to be one, hell she could even end up with Yanagi, atleast that jerk loved her lots and was honest to himself about that.

anyways wall of text lots of opinion based on my personal experience watching the show, i really enjoyed it for the most part, the ending was still nice preferences aside.
Kiri forever :)

The ending was unvbelievely brutal to watch (regardless of whom you liked most out of the two females) especially when the Kiri x Hiroki relationship was built up so much to that point…

I vote the ending down :/

But still.. ending kinda sucks. I really feel bad for Kiri =( , Hiroki completely ruined her Cristmas ( i would like meeting Shin-chan and Kiri in hotel after she talks with Hiroki)

Tomoko’s dying… hem…. WTF??? what the hell that girl doing here in first place? She has weak health, thats enough, why put in unnecessary death scene? What will happened if she die? She has strong connection with Elis mostly, she had something in beginning with Hiroki, but that was forgotten.

I have feeling that Canvas 2 was made in a hurry, many things are missing or forgotten or unnecessary.

“She’s not an obsessive character like Elis. ”
-she IS an obssessive character. Always went on “Hiroki this, Hiroki that…” in front of Shin-chan. It’s pretty DAMN annoying

“Once she knows whats happening she will obviously try to fix it and apologize not like that stuborn brat Elis. ”
-she was supposed to apologize to Elis NOT to Hiroki. Elis is the one who got hurt mentally by her.

And it seems that you forget, Elis is the one who told Hiroki to date Kiri in ep. 23. She even left the house early in ep. 24 so that Hiroki can be with Kiri. Yes, Elis did re-confessed on the phone. But if Hiroki DOES have STRONG feeling for Kiri, he wouldn’t have to go after Elis. Since he choose Elis over Kiri, this proved that Elis is more significant to his life than Kiri.

“The past is in the past…”
-LOL. As you said, the past is the past. Hiroki decided to forget his past love with Kiri & move on with Elis, the one who always support his REAL dream of becoming an artist & the one who release him from keep on becoming the prisoner of the past.

Kiri should have just forget about her past relationship with Hiroki & move on with Shin-chan.