Not for nothing, but don't you think if I really wanted it to be a "twist" you didn't see coming, I would have just written that in without telegraphing it? Giving clues along the way is part of the fun, at least for me. A lot of people in this very thread were saying that was going to happen immediately after that scene on the street with Ashley.
FWIW, I've never watched any anime, so any similarities you mentioned really are coincidences (or story telling techniques that I've learned from people that have learned from them... Or anime learned from the some people I've learned from... Who knows...)
Big fan of Chekhov's Gun. Hell, in an early
You must be registered to see the links
, I mention it by name. Still hasn't changed.