Yeah, upon really close examination the Professor’s latest achievement loses quite a bit of its luster, but, still…they only half-forgot Snuka this time around, which is definitely a step in the right direction. And it provides closure to the mecha-pilot character, who we can now assume to enroll at Lillytown university and get his life back on track…well, ‘back’ might be the wrong word…get his life on track.
And it’s not like we would have to worry about Snuka, who’ll turn up again with the same certainty as a fake $10 bill, no matter where he is right now. It’s one of the secrets of that character that he’s actually better able to look after himself when there’s noone around who’s trying to look after him. (Possibly it’s a subconscious realization of that fact that predisposes the Professor & Co. to leave him behind.) And given how the mecha-pilot kinda enjoys having people look after him, for a change, you could even argue that the switch does not only not detract from the happy end, but actually adds to it!
The only party that might disagree with that is the Japanese government, obviously, if Mopey has been reading their motives right.* For if they really were out to get the bunch of troublemakers out of the country ASAP, there would in fact have been no better way to undercut their plan than leaving the most troublemakery one behind. Which is a shame, considering the expenditure – chartering a brand new Airbus must have cost a pretty penny, and that Order of the Chrysanthemum, Japan’s highest order, probably also costs at least five bucks per piece. From photographs, that looks like quite fine enamailling.
* Which is likely, since she’s cynical – and, historically, cynical people have a much better record of reading other peoples’ motives than non-cynicals.