Honestly yeah, my gripe wasn't at all with Noriko living - but instead just the hamfisted way they alluded to her death with the blast & following scenes only to go 'yeah but actually its chill she lived' at the very end. She should've lost an arm/hand/leg or something similar to the idea like a 'holy shit what just happened, where are you Norik- holy shit is that your hairpiece/handbag/handstitched karl marx rosary that never leaves your neck...hanging off the knocked over streetlight?...you're dead ' moment & that should've been Koichi's reasoning behind thinking that she was truly dead up until the reveal at the end.