clannad (x86) tomoyo’s story
Categories: clannad, l33t
Tagged: clannad, clannad:tomoyo, clannad:x86
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In front of me, the girl who likes me stood.
(I’m going to try to keep these posts as spoiler-free as I can, but it’s not easy. You’ve been warned.)
Initial Impressions
So after Misae’s story, I proceeded onto Tomoyo’s. Since Tomoyo is one of my favorite Clannad characters, I was looking forward to this one. Like Misae, the story starts off with Tomoya being a bum and hanging around Sunohara. Sunohara is fairly true to form to his anime self, and he gets beat up by Tomoyo pretty much the same way as in the anime. It’s good to see his “pranks” make it almost 100% intact to the anime.
This arc is also the first time I ran into Yukine (bravo!) and Yuko (boo!). Yuko was like the secondary character for this scenario… not the best choice. Awesome Tomoyo moments interrupted by “DOZO! HAVE A STARFISH!”… *shudder*
The Plot Thickens
While a good part of the beginning of Tomoyo’s story makes it into the anime (i.e. how she is concerned with Tomoya’s tardiness, the men’s bathroom scene), what is different from the anime is that Tomoyo and Tomoya become a couple. It diverges from the anime pretty much completely at the point (expected, since we got the Nagisa ending for the anime) where the mob shows up at the school looking for Tomoyo (with Sunohara getting pwned by Tomoyo), Tomoya doesn’t take the blame for that. Instead, he pretends that it’s a rehearsal for play. That breaks down Tomoyo enough that…
“I Can See The End!”
I draw in her arm. And then, our lips met. Tomoyo could have avoid it, but she didn’t. She quietly took it. I couldn’t feel Tomoyo’s breathing, even through her nose. Our lips part. Though I separated from her, this time Tomoyo wanted it. Our lips meet again. For a long time, our lips met. “That was fun.” I say that to her, as our lips part, looking into her eyes. The same eyes. The eyes of those who are alike.
You spend about two-thirds of the story dating Tomoyo, which is… uh… very nice. For most harem anime, the formation of the relationship generally means the end of the show. For this game so far, it indicates about the half-way part. Many idyllic days pass that are basically variations of Tomoyo waking Tomoya up (with possible smooching), Tomoyo having lunch with Tomoya and Sunohara, and Tomoyo and Tomoya smooching after school. The dialogue just screamed for more (as well as H-more):
I draw in Tomoyo’s chin with my fingers. And then, once again, our lips meet.
“Tomoyo… ” Whispering close to her year, my face came beside hers. And then our lips met. She lets out a soft moan. I just wanted to be like this… enveloped by Tomoyo’s scent.
(Needless to say, I enjoyed this part of the story.)
Getting Dusty
However, the idyllic days do not last. Eventually, the heart of the story, the difference in stature between the loser Tomoya and the shining Tomoyo, comes into play with Tomoyo’s campaign for the student council as the focus. Basically, like most top tier haremettes in harem anime, she’s too good for him (cue Mei-chan’s shock). Tomoya eventually does get suspended– for having his hand up Tomoyo’s blouse while she was pinned on a desk when a teacher walked in– and their relationship falters but doesn’t break. Instead, Tomoya resolves to get Tomoyo into office (playing sports… if only Barack and McCain did this), and Tomoyo being elected puts further strain on their relationship.
Then what happens after all of that is an emotional roller-coaster for both Tomoyo and Tomoya. Happy, really happy, sad, really sad. Riveting. The story does a great job at tugging at the reader’s heartstrings… I completely lost track of time during this portion of the story. I ended up finishing the last three weeks of the story in one sitting, and it was like 3AM when I was finally done.
Top Three Images
1. Sunohara had a lot of hilarious lines. He really should be Akira’s new cohost on Lucky Channel.
2. Tomoyo had a few good lines too. But I was too moestruck by her to really pay attention.
3. Definitely enjoyed the confrontation between Tomoyo and Kyou. That really should have been animated.
BONUS. A lot of the choices involve flirting with Tomoyo. Oddly enough, I didn’t find saving/loading to be that bothersome this arc.
Final Thoughts
– Why are all the shots of Tomoyo of her left profile? It isn’t until the very end that we get to see her right profile. Symbolic? Or am I over-analyzing things like how the political pundits over-analyze what Barack and McCain have for lunch?
– And Tomoyo must love turtlenecks… she’s always wearing one. I can’t find one scene where she isn’t wearing a turtleneck. She only wears turtlenecks in the anime when she’s dressing casual. I wonder if she wears the turtleneck as much in Tomoyo After. But, honestly, who wears turtlenecks in the middle of spring or summer?
– And, yeah, I can see how this scenario spurred the Tomoyo After follow-up. Really enjoyed this story, and H-scenes is the next logical path in plot progression… something like… “Tomoyo’s excitement does not stop. Tomoyo squeezes my leg with her thighs. That thigh of hers greedily rubs against my most sensitive area. Damn it, I do the same.”
– I demand a remake of Clannad to go through Tomoyo’s arc and then Tomoyo After. This was a lot better than watching Nagisa develop a severe case of stage fright.
– I now have Tomoyo ranked #1 overall for the Clannad haremettes. 1A, Tomoyo. 1B, Kyou. 2, Kotomi-chan. 3, Ryou. 4, Nagisa. 998, The Robot of the Dream World. 999, Fuko. Kyou really needs to bring it if she wants her crown back.
– Story ends up making Toimoyo seem like an uber-caring person. She’s like Belldandy level in that regard, only she has a penchant for violence.
– Misae’s arc ends here. I would have ranked this game above StarCraft if it led to a Misae and Tomoyo threesome. (Yes, I’m still very disappointed that Key-VA didn’t maximize their profits by also doing an X-rated version.)
– Tried out the Japanese text for a while, and it really does depend a lot on simple sentence structures. Interesting. Usually, for novels, it’s a good idea to vary it, but hardly any compound sentences are to be found.
– The music… especially the final portion of the story… fantastic. When the Engrish song Ana popped up, I wasn’t sure what was more delightful: the song or Tomoyo in her snow gear.
– No signs of Kotomi-chan.
– Yukine next.
39 Responses to “clannad (x86) tomoyo’s story”
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… Tomoyo really doesn’t change expression, does she? Or at least, you managed to get the exact same expression almost every time. And it’s sad, but I think Tomoyo has more balls than Sunohara…
So you liked Tomoyo’s route? I personally found it a bit boring (I might be biased because of Kyou and because of Tomoyo’s resemblance to Nanase from One).
Hell, I found the Sunohara siblings route (the Mei parts) to be more enjoyable than Tomoyo’s route, but that’s probably just me.
So you’re starting Yukine’s route next? I loved that route (it’s one of my favorites, if not my favorite route), especially because of the slice-of-life vibes I got from it.
On a side note: what’s with all the Fuko hate? I like her and her route…
Wow, didn’t know Tomoyo was that forward in her scenario… That most certainly does scream for eroscenes.
As for the simple sentences, I believe that’s part of Key’s style. They keep their description simple, and obviously the setting is every day school life, and most people don’t use very complex sentence structure during daily conversation.
Nasu Kinoko (Type-Moon’s scenario writer) is of course the exact opposite, using complex words as well as complex grammar in his writing. To the point that many of your average japanese high-schooler or college student will say “I can’t read that.” But this says nothing more than your American High-schooler or College student saying “I can’t read that” When confronted with a book by Stephen Grisham, Michael Chriton, or Stephen King. Also, In contrast to Key, Nasu, or Type-Moon’s title tend to focus are far more complex and intellectually compelling ideas, and as such even the conversational dialogue is more complex as well.
Your standard Visual Novel tends to range in between the two.
are you japanese? or are you just there right now
On a side note: what’s with all the Fuko hate? I like her and her route…
(ノ゜▽゜)ノ☆ã©ã†ãžï¼
I’m American, born and raised on the east coast. I’m just here in Japan on Study Abroad right now (Major is Japanese, shooting for Translator). However, my time here will be over once this month is up.
“On a side note: what’s with all the Fuko hate? I like her and her route…”
i am one of those few that dont hate Fuko… she is just like an adorable little sister… but most would just rather smother her on her sleep…
Once again, to Evil Devil this time,
(ノ゜▽゜)ノ☆ã©ã†ãžï¼
Nah, we don’t hate Fuko. We just think her inferior to the other girls.
Kouryuu: Yes, she was forward. Do take note though that in Tomoyo After, it was TOMOYA who was pushing for the more hanky-panky stuff. ;)
Oddly enough, unlike Jason, I kind of breezed through Tomoyo’s scenario, and it was the second route I finished after Kotomi’s (which is pretty straightforward in its own way). Hmm.
Yeah the simple sentences of Clannad is definitly something that I apprieciate… I have some problems with Kanji’s knowledge but my oral is almost 100% japanese… so let’s say that half of the dialogue is spoke by male characters and the other half by female characters, in most of the visual novels female characters have voice on their speech but male character do not, then I understand 100% of female characters speech and 45% of male characters speech for normal visual novels ; for Key’s product it’s 100% for females speech and 60% for male speech, so… this is quite better ^^
My favorite route in the game. Tomoyo and Tomoya struggle as a couple against the expectations of society. Somewhat like Romeo and Juliet. You hardly ever see this type of conflict in the anime (almost all the time, the characters act like they don’t even like each other like retarded 14 year olds for 99% of the story), which is probably why I liked it so much.
Tomoyo’s blunt honesty strikes ever so many times. Heh heh.
Tip: You won’t meet Kotomi-chan unless you choose to ignore Ryou in the beginning. There’s a point where Tomoya tries to ditch class and Ryou tells him to stay put. If Tomoya has been nice to Ryou up to that point, he listens, but otherwise he goes to the library and meets Kotomi.
Tomoyo is really charming. She mades a good couple with Tomoya; their characters just really complement each other and you get a great chemistry that you don’t usually get with other characters.
But please be nicer to Fuuko! It’s sad to be happily reading about Tomoyo fluff and 2008 Elections and then suddenly… FUUKO BASHING assaulting my brain and causing me to RAGE! Please think of the RAGEing readers and embrace the starfish even a little!
Here Theru, this should cheer you up:
(ノ゜▽゜)ノ☆ã©ã†ãžï¼
Oddly I expect Jason to have fun with Fuuko. He will be the Fuuko Master!
Myssa Rei: PRESENT FOR YOU!
http://www.houseofsixten.com/heartscontents/?p=196
Jason as a 12-year old tsundere in nekomimi.
(My god, Sixten’s even more broken than I thought…)
But so’s KyoAni. They’re issuing a DVD for fans which supposedly has the first ep for Haruhi… but in Kyonko style.
Where did you hear that from Haess?
Let me look that up and confirm or deny the truth of it. But if it is true, there is no God.
DVD 8 SPECIAL DVD 8 SPECIAL DVD 8 SPECIAL DVD 8 SPECIAL DVD 8 SPECIAL DVD 8 SPECIAL DVD 8 SPECIAL
I can’t wait for your next post? :P
Haesslich: Very big rumor, that, but very doubtful as well. There’s bigger chance of, oh, the Anti-SOS dan to make cameos in the second season than that happening at this point. :) But who knows?
Pahxenon: Ara, what?
Best guess, Episode 24 of Clannad. The TomoyoxTomoya episode.
Only one way to find out – someone gets the DVD and sees what’s on it. Still… I take it that you haven’t broken with the image of Jason in nekomimi with a cat-o-nine-tails, threatening Sixten? I thought you were the one most afraid of that image. ;)
Haesslich: I’d still say it’s pretty far-fetched, even for KyoAni. Ooooooooooooof course, if Kadokawa Shoten has anything to do with it, well, as Jason often says, the bets are off.
Oh, and I thought we agreed on the point that there IS a God… And she looks really good in a ponytail (to quote a sarcastic and bored high school student).
If they do the crossgender, then there is no God, or She has been silenced by the Chaos outside of her realm. Personally, I prefer her with longer hair… but outside of that one cover, that’s not likely to happen either.
Pshaw, I’m not too worried. Compared to, oh, CLANNAD, an adaptation of the Disappearance should go (with minor alterations, as with the first season) without a hitch.
And a crossgender OAV? It would be fun, but again, ’tis mere supposition at this point. Again, with their adaptations KyoAni has been (mostly) very faithful to the source material (barring the stuff we’ve seen recently in CLANNAD, and the sidestories in Melancholy).
To even get away with it, they’d probably have to do another ‘Someday in the Rain’ for it to work, e.g., bring the original author on board.
As for Haruhi’s hairstyle… I don’t really care either way (personal experience makes me lean towards shorter hair, since, y’know, longer hair is harder to care for ;p ), since she’s attractive regardless of her hairstyle.
This was the same woman who wore a different hairstyle every day of the week – I don’t think longer hair would bother her overmuch, certainly not the style showed on the NewType cover.
Oddly enough, I remember the novels having her hair long (I’m at work, so I don’t have the book on hand), but not the massive fall we saw in the Newtype cover. Good thing it didn’t reach Kuyou-levels though. ;)
If you mention that one more time, I will quote Beowulf Lee’s response to the post I linked to.
Yes, long hair’s a pain to take care of, but it can be quite… sensual…
About Clannad: Yukine’s route is fun, cuz thats where Sunohara gets all his funniest lines.
About the current discussion: Haess, sensual? I sorta agree but as a male with hair about as long as Misae’s I gotta say …The Hell?
It can be sensual for the partner, and maybe for the one with the long hair, depending on what you do. Now, let us wait for Jason to take this completely out of context…
Thinking back on it people (of both genders) used to touch my hair saying things like “Its so soft” and “I wish mine was a long as yours” among other things that are easily odd sounding taken out of context. But what could you do that would make it sensual for the person who owns the hair?
…
Do you WANT Jason to take this conversation out of context?
Keh…not even gonna humour me. Perhaps I do Haess. I got the answer to my question: Hair ropers is the answer!
You get a partner and you try figuring it out yourself. I’m not going to open myself up to another out of context blog post.
Haess, avoiding an out-of-context post? Oh my, I must be running a fever…
Interestingly enough, while we’ve had Jason post his thought on the Tomoyo game arc, we still haven’t heard even a hint of his thoughts on the CLANNAD 1-episode OVA. Points on finding Fukuyama Jun (Lulu/Keita from Inukami/Kei from Special A) in it… :)
I don’t need to hand Jason any more ammo. If you want to, by all means. For you, I’ll even make the out-of-context quotes even better. ;)
Are you talking about the Tomoyo OVA which just came out, with Sunohara and black hair?