another world, tomoyo chapter
Categories: anime, clannad, episodic review
Tagged: clannad
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In front of me, the girl who likes me stood.
“I’m your girlfriend, after all.”
“Let’s break up.”
I don’t remember the last time I looked forward to an anime episode so much. Ah, the bliss of being dropped into the lovey-dovey portion of the Tomoyo arc. After reading the visual novel for so long, I’m not used to seeing Tomoyo out of a turtleneck anymore.
(For people following along with the timestamps, I’m using the rip from [Dark-Raws] as the source, which includes the preview in front of the episode.)
Definitely enjoyed teased Tomoyo, but I’m disappointed that this scene didn’t end with Tomoya dragging Tomoyo onto the bed and kissing her. (Happens at least once during her scenario for Clannad.)
Kyoto should have changed up the OP a little. I mean, the OP is probably going to be the only time you’re going to see a character other than Tomoya, Tomoyo, and Sunohara for this episode. Would have loved to see a Tomoyo-centric OP… and I know you do too.
Full lovey-dovey mode. I’m about 50% jealous, 30% sickened, and 20% “Ah, so sweet!” When I was going through the visual novel, I was probably more 80% “Ah, so sweet!” and 20% jealous. Ah the power of point-of-view!
Don’t they seem like a much better couple, than, oh… this.
Tomoyo wins! Tomoyo wins! Honestly, she’s a much better candidate than either Obama or McCain, and even though she’s a fictional character, I’d still love to hear her energy policy as well as her ideas for economic stimulus. Especially if she’s gone meido.
“You’ll always be with me from now on, right, Tomoya?”
At least a 17 out of 10 on the lovey-dovey scale, and Tomoyo’s about a 20 out of 10 on the cute scale right now.
Just to be safe, better make it an even blackjack: 21. She’s the best.
I appreciate the BGM a little bit more now after hearing it for hours while reading the visual novel. I recognize this “killing time” music.
Sunohara is shining! He reminds me more and more of a failed prototype for Kamina. He has the same attitude, only his persona is less effective at properly conveying it. He’s like the Windows 95 to Kamina’s Windows NT.
Ugh. I’m beginning to think that they’re compressing too much with this episode– this really should have been two episodes with the first being the lovey-dovey one and the second being the more heart-wrenching one. The thing is that the whole story works well because of the repetition of the happy days that Tomoyo and Tomoya get to spend together. Every day, Tomoyo comes over, wakes Tomoya up, has lunch with him, and then walks him home. It gets ingrained with the repetition to the point where one almost takes it for granted… and… then… well… it gets ripped away. It makes for a stronger point and feeling.
Also, little things get left out where like how Sunohara gets gradually more and more paranoid that Tomoya and Tomoyo are of the same mind. Not to mention the gentle breaking of Sunohara, who goes from violently protesting Tomoyo having lunch with them to looking forward to her bento.
(But Sunohara doesn’t shine this much in the visual novel… so I guess that’s a trade-off.)
When the girl goes “How gross!” I got a mental image of a Tomoya unbuttoning his shirt while a Tomoyo stood at the bow of a cruise ship wearing a red dress with a plunging neckline. Works for me!
(See, in America, no one cares if you are a couple in high school and dating. The gossip, to have any effect, would have to be: “I dunno. They seem to be getting closer. / I heard that her nickname is ‘finger-cuffs.’ / How gross!”)
When your popular girlfriend goes on the PA and announces some lovey-dovey message directed at you over the intercom, do you:
(A) Facepalm.
(B) Facepalm.
(C) Facepalm.
(D) Make like an ostrich and dig your head under something.
Voted in for humor? Tomoyo? Gimme a break. I’d vote Hillary in for humor (just to get Bill back in the White House) and maybe even Obama (to see how long it takes him to start smoking again) or even McCain (old people jokes rarely get old) but not Tomoyo. If I were to vote someone in for humor, you know exactly who I’d vote for: (ノ゜▽゜)ノ☆ã©ã†ãž
You can probably guess where this story is going by now: everyone is slipping them subtle and not-so-subtle hints that they should break up because Tomoyo is awesome and Tomoya is not-so-awesome. In all my years of watching anime, this is probably the first time I’ve heard this logical advice since Skuld told Belldandy, “What the fuck are you still doing on earth?!”
Even though anime does pair up a lot of awesome female haremettes with loser male leads, they usually don’t break up because one is too awesome for the other. Except… one case… and that was when Cagali realized she couldn’t have a relationship with Athrun and still be Orb’s leader, so she dumped him. Now if Athrun actually piloted a mobile suit as well as Setsuna F Seiei Alto-kun, maybe things would have been different.
Just enjoying the scenery. I like sunsets…
… especially featuring a glassy-eyed Tomoyo.
(Those were at least “Kiss me; kiss me now!” eyes. Maybe even the Chihiro “Love me; love me multiple times!” eyes.)
I was disappointed that we didn’t get Itsuki or Ren-san as other members of the student council. That would have been awesome… and, yes, if we made a Kyoto All-Star Student Council, I’d definitely have Tomoyo as the president, Itsuki as the vice-commander, Ren as the treasurer, Sayuri as the secretary, and Munto as the dog.
The “Tomoyo as an effective president / not spending time with Tomoya” montage. Too bad they didn’t throw in the phone call where Tomoyo apologizes to Tomoya for not kissing him earlier.
(I kept looking for an ENOZ sign. Looks like Kyoto is over their “pimp our other shows in the current show” phase.)
See, if Tomoyo’s route were two episodes, Kyoto could have properly fleshed out this scene where Sunohara wants to hit on the girl with the ponytail. There’s two ways to go here, and both would have been tremendously funny. The first is just to re-enact the scene from the visual novel where Tomoya basically sabotages any chance Sunohara has with the two cute girls. Tomoya makes a very lousy wingman. The second way is to pull a Lucky Star and embrace the Kyoto Kool-Aid. I present ponytail girl A and ponytail girl B for Sunohara to hit on.
Even when I was going through the visual novel, I kept thinking to myself, “She really should have been in a Bonta-kun outfit. She really should have been in a Bonta-kun outfit.”
Tomoyo… if you look at me with those eyes… I… I…
(A) Will rank you firmly above Kyou.
(B) Will blog Clannad After Story instead of Gundam 00 S2 this fall.
(C) Will write a doujinshi about how you got your “finger-cuffs” nickname.
(D) All of the above, except I’ll charge for (C) and blog Kemeko DX instead of either.
Kissing demon 4tw!
Why am I not surprised that Lulu showed up to cockblock? The way Lulu talked to Tomoyo reminded me of him talking down to C.C., even though C.C. owns his ass. (Figuratively, Suzaku owns it in reality.)
The second year student (never visually shown in the visual novel) shows up from time-to-time to harass Tomoya about this relationship Tomoyo. For the visual novel, I got the feeling that this guy wanted to be with Tomoyo and hence wanted to split Tomoya and Tomoyo up. Yes, he denied it, but so did the guy from Ghost. But, now, after finding out Kyoto’s choice for his seiyuu, I tossed that theory right out the window. (Scene reminds me a lot of Kyon and Itsuki for whatever reason.)
This also begins the full court press on Tomoya to break up with Tomoyo because she is such an awesome girl and he’s a typical male harem lead character. I find it kinda funny that so many random people feel the need to meddle in someone else’s private matter, and that Tomoya doesn’t strike back by parading Fuko in front of them and go, “Fuck off, I helped this girl give out a few hundred starfish; I deserve to suck face a little with Tomoyo.” (I’m, of course, assuming that episodes 1-12 have occurred and that we’re going by the anime storyline since this is the anime and all.)
I know more than one anime uses train track gates as a metaphor for a relationship, but right now only two come to my mind: ef ~a tale of memories~ and Haruhi Suzumiya. I know there’s more, just can’t think of any right now. If you can, give yourself +1 fanboy point for each.
(The moral of this story: there’s a lot of train track gates in Japan.)
Passing up this for Nagisa is like passing up a steak dinner at Ruth’s Chris for a Double Whopper at BK’s. The number of “Wait, Nagisa is the end girl?” metaphors I can come up with is almost as great as the number of “Wait, Lulu can’t be straight, can he?” metaphors. And the only reason why I keep going back to this well is not because I dislike Nagisa (as I said before, I think she’s fine, just not as an end girl when superior options abound) but because I can. Gosh, I feel like Jim Rome doing his “I take this many vacation because I get this many vacation” spiel.
(I like the shadows. Nice animation touch.)
Any girl who jumps into action to wipe ice cream off of your inner thigh is a keeper. That’s just a life lesson, much like “don’t split two face cards in blackjack.” Though I’d even toss in a “don’t break up with a girl who is currently wiping ice cream off of your inner thigh” and “never ever date a girl with more tattoos than you do” as well.
If you put the scene in slow-mo, you can almost pinpoint the microsecond when Tomoyo’s heart skips a beat when Tomoya asks to break up with her. (If anything, I’d love to see her reaction to Tomoya if he said, “Tomoyo… let’s break up. I’m madly in love with the girl with all those wooden starfish.”)
I give Tomoyo’s first “Yadda!” a 9 out of 10…
… the second, a 15 out of 10.
Tomoyo sure makes it seem like she’s his mom… “Who is going to wake you up in the morning? Who is going to make sure you do your homework? Who is going to pack you lunch?” Maybe if she had gone with the “Who is going to wear that French meido outfit? Who is going to give you a full body massage? Who are you going to call ‘finger-cuffs’?” argument, she would have done better.
Tomoya tells Tomoyo that he doesn’t love her (out of necessity), and it just feels like a really devastating scene for poor Tomoyo. Though I’m not sure who it is harder on, it’s obvious that Tomoya does love her just because of this anguish he’s putting himself though. So many old cliches to choose from… if you love someone, you can let them go… to feel love is to feel pain… etc.
It just dawned on me, seeing Tomoya this pathetic, that we didn’t get a scene where Tomoyo comes over to cook for Tomoya, but he’s too busy fantasizing about ways he wants to attack her while she’s in her apron and cooking. Cooking simulation 4tw!
(But unlike Hosaka, Tomoya’s cooking simulations actually led somewhere. Besides the mental hospital with all those nice doctors.)
With the next montage, they really sped up (and changed) the story. In the visual novel, Tomoya and Sunohara eventually return to their no-good selves after Tomoyo and Tomoya break up. There was a really powerful line where Tomoya eventually returns to his old sleeping habits and remarks that, “The last thing that Tomoyo gave me is now gone.”
In the anime, Tomoya is actually keeping with the lifestyle that Tomoyo wants for him instead of his old lifestyle. I felt the old line was a lot more powerful, and Kyoto could still have salvaged what they wanted to do by having Tomoya become pathetic again, realize it, but then be self-inspired to live up to what Tomoyo wanted. I probably would have written it that way since it feels appropriate– Tomoyo’s route’s theme seems to be redemption, for Tomoyo coming to a new school and shedding her past and Tomoyo redeeming Tomoya.
Odds that Sunohara is going to put in a gay pr0n tape instead of a Maria Ozawa video has been taken off of the books in Vegas.
All hail Tomoyo Engrish!
(Not sure if Tomoyo’s moe increases with the glasses. On one hand, glasses is a potential moe mode. On the other hand, that kind of skinny, low-riding glasses coupled with her gray hair makes her look like the world’s only GILF. You can probably guess what the G stands for, but it’s still a frickin’ G.)
(This part of the story with Tomoyo and Tomoya broken up was kinda sad, if anything because it shows that Tomoya only had Sunohara to turn to. I think that’s the case in the visual novel, but if we’re going by the anime backstory for anyone who hasn’t read the visual novel, shouldn’t Kyou, Kotomi-chan, and Fuko be comforting him by now? At least Kyou should be going, “CHANCE!” Being solely comforted by Sunohara is a bit… uh… sad. But, again, this is only 24 minutes long when it really should be have a double episode at the very minimum.)
(Even in the visual novel, Tomoya had befriended others outside of Sunohara and Tomoyo thus making the renkei on Sunohara possible. He could have easily gone to the storage room and got dance lessons from Yukine.)
Today we have replaced regular Sunohara with Folger’s Crystals. Let’s see if anyone notices.
This anime version does make it seem a lot less sad and pitiful than the visual novel. Probably because there’s less self-loathing from Tomoya. I’ll just chalk it up to time constraints because by making it sadder during this portion, it only contrasts the next portion more…
In front of me, the girl who likes me stood.
Very happy Kyoto didn’t skimp out on this final scene. Everything else I can forgive, but I really liked this snow scene. Kyoto kept a good portion of the dialogue, including the small talk. Love how Tomoya continues to play a bit coy while Tomoyo is gushing about how much more she loves him now.
Cue Ana (RS | MF) from the soundtrack. Fantastic song; A+ Engrish… “The place changes and goes, like a wind, like clouds.” Let me repeat what I wrote originally about this scene again: 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.
Train gates! Dun dun dum!
“I’ll go to where you are, Tomoya!”
Great scene. The closest Clannad will get to Chihiro’s “But how can I forget!” scene in ef.
Sad girls in snow! Oh, wait, she’s not crying because she’s sad?
Tomoyo’s turn to bawl, only she won the prize.
*sniff*
Excellent episode, even though it condensed enough material for at least two episodes into one, all is forgiven with how well the last scene came out. And I hope Kyoto wises up and gives the fans what we really want: Tomoyo After OVA!
(I’ll even overlook the fact that Takafumi isn’t in this final scene.)
(Wait… turtleneck?!)
79 Responses to “another world, tomoyo chapter”
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I Loled at the train gates at the end.
The drama aspect of the episode wasn’t as awesome as i expected it to be. For some people, mainly those who haven’t read the visual novel, they wouldn’t see the repetition that Tomoyo does in the morning/lunch. You pointed that out and I realized it was that element that was missing from the episode.
Too bad they didn’t listen to the pron tapes
This is the point where I refuse to comment, and wait for Haesslich to come in and derail things. ;)
Manabi Straight, had a train track scene, but it was more about friendship than romantic relationships.
Still haven’t seen this episode mostly because I want subs, but one thing I will say: Tomoyo is wonderful, I am very happy we got to see her story … but now can we have the Kyou arc animated please!
Train track scene?
byousoku 5cm will be a good example
Finally. I’ve always liked TomoyaXTomoyo better than TomoyaXNagisa.
Aren’t you supposed to be thin slicing? Some shows are almost halfway over.
Yitza: If you like the romance angle, sure, Tomoyo’s route is okay, a little more than Kyou/Ryou’s route. Maybe. I found it so-so, but again, as I mentioned in a previous post relatively connected to this one, I’m not the type of person these kinds of games are made for. ;P
Also, I don’t think the OVA follows the anime at all (as Jason infers), and instead draws directly from the game (since we see ZILCH from everyone else). So, very likely no wooden Starfish distribution.
AC: Thin Slicing, NOW? Surely you jest.
afaik this episode is set in a parallel universe, so nothing of the anime has happened before. Else it really wouldn’t make sense for none of the other characters to appear, because in the anime Tomoya was already friends with Kyou and Ryou, two model students, and a genius girl. So his reputation can’t have been that bad. The title of the episode is also “another world”.
And this was indeed too short … but probably the best episode of Clannad TV >.< This should have been made into a movie instead of more Nagisa xD
There was still a bit of pseudo-drama, but by far less than the drama club-stuff. And Tomoyo’s motivations at least are a lot more “real” than Nagisa’s. In fact, is the TV series or the movie closer to the novel? (since Nagisa’s motivations are quite different.)
This ep just made me look forward to the after story even more, ugh… I had hoped it would be ready for the summer.
Minikui: Both movie and TV adaptations are just that, adaptations, and none are really ‘close’ to the original game. For one, as mentioned probably by numerous commentators aside from myself, each of the ‘arcs’ in the game are largely self-contained; if you anally stick to one girl, there will be very little interaction with all the other girls. I noted the conspicuous lack of Nagisa in Fuuko’s path, for example.
I demand a Kyou episode. Or two. Hell, just make an entire “Another World: Kyou Chapter.” It would sell DVDs as fast as a girl with an angel-winged backpack steals taiyaki.
Chumara: Summer? Not likely. Fall or Winter 2008 is the estimate for After Story.
Daniel Hawking: It wouldn’t work as well though, since all the tsundere moments from Kyou people like, ironically, barely happen in her route at all. What we DO get though is Kyou convincing Tomoya to date Ryou, all the while trying to ignore her own feelings… And failing miserably. Cue part where Kyou pretends she’s Ryou.
Yeah. In the real world, I would never be friends with her.
@Myssa: Hopefully KyoAni could work their magic to do… something to recover these sequences. I dunno. The script writers did a hell of a good job making things happen faster and with more impact during the storeroom sequence, at least.
You know what? Screw this. I want to see the storeroom sequence with Akio, animated and in high speed.
@Myssa:
I’ve never played the game and thus know nothing about it. However, I just like the TomoyaXTomoyo pairing better, TomoyaXNagisa just feels kind of unnatural to me.
So I was re-looking at all the pretty picture to eyefap to tomoyo, and then as i went past the third picture, this thought flashed in my head:
“Holy crap, Tomoya has a huge…oh wait that’s his knee.”
This blog has done horrible, terrible things to me.
Is it bad I also re-read this post to see if Jason had messed up Tomoya and Tomoyo’s name at some obscure small point?
Yitza: Unnatural? UNNATURAL? Ha ha, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
(laughs like Queysar Ephec in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related)
Someone must dislike the adaptation, but such are things when the source material is a multi-path visual novel. An adaptation has to strike a middle ground, and choose a path that the unified plot can be built on, so it’s not going to please everyone. Unfortunately for fans of the other girls, Nagisa’s path is pretty much the one where everything else can be squeezed in without utterly destroying/derailing it. It’s very hard to squeeze in Kotomi’s story if Kyou/Ryou’s arc was used as the central plot line, for example (Tomoya starts dating Ryou fairly early on), or indeed Tomoyo’s.
In all good humor though, not one of the relationships followed by each of the CLANNAD game paths struck me as anything but natural (barring Fuuko’s of course), since the player can more or less focus on one girl and ignore everyone else without repercussion. Of course the relationships progress ‘naturally’.
Nagisa’s story is no less ‘natural’ than everyone else’s in the game, but in the adaptation, well, I’m no fan, but I found that it felt more ‘normal’ how Nagisa and Tomoya’s relationship (with all the awkwardness you’d expect from high schoolers) progressed.
Then again, feel free to ignore the ravings of this ‘old’ girl. ;P
Daniel Hawking: It would be very hard to do so, since Tomoya and Ryou start dating for most of Kyou’s arc. Kyou acting tsundere while her sister and Tomoya are technically all lovey-dovey (by HER doing) wouldn’t come off as cute, trust me… It’s one of the reasons why I found doing her route an utter chore, as it made her seem less like a kind and supportive sister (to me), but rather as an insincere (to her own feelings) and manipulative potential boyfriend-stealer.
And when the walls come crumbling down, well, there was no turning back. Kyou’s route is one of the more romance-themed arcs of the game, certainly, but when I finished it I had so say, it lowered my personal opinion of her as a person. Time heals all wounds, but sisters (as I’ve learned in my own family) never forget.
(For those not familiar with my manner of posting, all my posts are being done in good humor. Don’t let the caps fool you, I’m doing all this with a gleeful smile on my face.)
Tidal: Believe me, I did a quick spell-check on my post before I hit submit, since I was afraid that I’d type in “…since Tomoyo and Ryou were dating for most of Kyou’s arc.”
Somebody needed to mention KareKano, with reference to train-gate metaphors.
My work here is done.
>Tomoyo and Ryou were dating for most of Kyou’s arc
oddly enough, I don’t think i’d mind seeing that happen.
Oh yeah, personal opinion, but i think its better to smush everything in one post rather than several posts. Makes the no. of comments skyrocket, thus making jason look more popular than he should be…
I’m trying to figure out if the last part is a good thing.
Tidal: You’re not from around here are you? This is nothing. Just wait until Haesslich comes in, and THEN watch the posts skyrocket.
Also, I don’t do ‘stream of thought’ typing, since it kind of dilutes the point of some posts.
There’s train gates in the Nabari opening too, with Yoite and Miharu.
Speaking of things that are in every anime-
sound of cicadas (i hate this sound)
traffic signals
Haven’t watched this yet but I’m sure it will be good. Still wish KyoAni was doing something else. Such is life.
This was an excellent post, jason. You should use your analysis skills on some serious anime. I’d love to see episode by episode posts for Mushishi.
I think the lyrics for Ana fit After Story better.
5cm per second.
GILF? More like GGILF.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/.....me-63.html
Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo had train gates as well, but they weren’t used in a romantic context.
∑(ﾟДﾟ；) You took the Starfish Face!
By the way, thanks. Thanks a lot. Now that you called Tomoyo a GILF, I can’t stop seeing her as a G…. You’ve single-handledly managed to ruin Tomoyo for me completely…orz
Though now I can’t stop trying to figure what on earth “finger cuffs” could possible mean either…What DOES that mean….
As for the episode, the wavering of the eyes in that sunset seen did it for me. Or the slight quiver in his voice and the way they showed him bearing it all in. Little things like that to convey their feelings during the scene…only Kyo-Ani.
It really is lacking lead in to the two of them dating, though I think the little things Kyo-ani does still does a good job making up for it even in this second-half episode. Even if you don’t share his emotion at first as the viewer, the little things really help convey both of theirs I think.
Anyways, I prefer (ノ゜▽゜)ノ☆ã©ã†ãžï¼over a GILF any day of the week… GILF…*shudder*… If you’ll excuse me I need to try and cleanse that from my brain… now where’s my Nanoha Image folder… from the first season….
>sound of cicadas (i hate this sound)
that sound is not only in every anime, it’s all over Japan during summer. You can hear them all day long, and they are freaking noisy.
Train tracks: also in the OP of Koi Kaze. (Club showed 3 eps of it – kinda creepy.)
Myssa Rei: given that you’re responsible for 20 posts out of 32, I declare thee Broken for Tomoyo. Good for you.
And given the lack of twins, I say they definitely are going the game route, where you never met Kyou and company due to missing that flag with the Kotomi encounter. Any bets on breakup boy having made a rub on Tomoyo post-Tomoya? I give him a 30% chance of having succeeded, which is why Tomoyo loves Tomoya even more now (she’s seen the alternatives).
>> This blog has done horrible, terrible things to me.
(ノ゜▽゜)ノ☆ã©ã†ãž
>> I demand a Kyou episode. Or two. Hell, just make an entire “Another World: Kyou Chapter.†It would sell DVDs as fast as a girl with an angel-winged backpack steals taiyaki.
I thought that the problem was she wasn’t that fast… my current fanboy goals are still to (1) become a scriptwriter for Sunrise (2) convince Kyoto to use a Tomoyo After OVA as their first dab into the H market and (3) become the anime staff writer for the NYT.
>> Though now I can’t stop trying to figure what on earth “finger cuffs†could possible mean either…What DOES that mean….
It’s a parable. There once was a guy with a girlfriend, and he kept hearing rumors about her nickname being “finger cuffs.” He couldn’t figure out why, so he asked around. And it turned out to be… Worst. Decision. Ever.
(But I think the ascii art is awesome. I’m going to use it more often. Thanks.)
>> afaik this episode is set in a parallel universe, so nothing of the anime has happened before.
It has to assume that Tomoya and Sunohara has helped Tomoyo reach the student council by doing their sports-a-thon. My guess is that during the tennis match, Nagisa was killed by one of Federer’s serves.
Even in the visual novel, Tomoya has met and interacted with a lot of other characters, but they all disappear once Tomoyo and Tomoya break up. It was disappointing not seeing Kyou swoop in at that point because earlier she challenged Tomoyo to a fight over Tomoya.
>> For those not familiar with my manner of posting, all my posts are being done in good humor
Could have sworn that you are drunk. Drunk fangirls + Canadians = bad for my blog. ∑(ﾟДﾟ；)
(Kouryuu, you should be proud of being an ascii art supplier. Really.)
wow, animation of gorgeous girl is gorgeous.
I always felt that Tomoyo was a stronger character than Nagisa; I just didn’t like Nagisa’s lack of willpower and no amount of moeness will change that. However, she is the reason for my love of the Dango Dai Kazoku, and for that I tip my hat to her ^_^.
I just watched this at work…about 40 min ago…
Forget the after story! I WANT TOMOYO AFTER!!!!
I might be just weirded out, but something seemed different about the faces in this episode. Especially male characters. I might just hadn’t watched it in a bit, but Tomoya’s eyeballs look a bit different, and Sonohara’s eyes looked more like the other male characters (not much) then being the only male guy with frontal-lobe impounding eyeballs.
As for Nagisa winning, as I think on it, it might be tie-together. How much do you see Nagisa, Kyou, Kotomi, and Fuuko in the other plots with Tomoyo? From what I can gather, since Nagisa is sort of the “title girl” in the video game as well, she has a plotline that overlaps more. Which leads to easier adaptation on Kyo-Ani’s part.
Or something, might be wrong. Though, despite Nagisa being a bit annoying, I found that with Tomoya it was a bit of him sort of wanting to be nice and then eventually kinda getting attached. Tomoya seems to me to in the anime just have outright more confidence and stuff then in the game. As you noted, less emo-ing out. He seems to put more blame on his pops then on himself for a lot of anything in my gathering.
And also on the end canon plot, I will say Nagisa > Ayu at least. She’s sickly, but not in a coma, has some talents besides theft it seems, and parents who probably aren’t as big on the cock-block as some anime families.
And stuff.
There were so many things I missed the first time through.
Like, how the break up Tomoya folded his ice cream into the shape of a heart. Or, just how many times they showed the Sakura trees, and how their condition matched the relationship; the seasons in general fit perfect in their story.
But, what got me the most was the fact that Tomoyo does indeed watch Tomoya whenever he’s around, even though she says nothing at the time.
I almost don’t want to see a Tomoyo After OVA. If I think of this as the end, I can be relatively satisfied.
Jason, you must have been using the “I can see the ending!” ability too much. The future that you have already foreseen is already history. But what the hell, I also have been dissapointed far too much by anime plot endings and whatnots (Evangelion, Gundam and others). It must have been Japanese…hahahha…^_~
I myself have been gunning for a quad fest between kyou, ryou, tomoyo and nagisa quad-fest (w/o tomoya of course…^_~) but the powers that be are…Japanese and they have a different (crazy but…’the bible black was awesome’ kind of…) way of thinking than others.
The best path that Kyo-Ani can do is to release a hardcore pron version of each possible ending with multiple crossover pairings to satisfy fanbo…err, market demands…would’nt it be great if the twins paired up with tomoyo-chan for the ultimate girl-to-girl trifecta action??…now that’s just me thinking out loud…hehehhe…^_~
ciao!
“Are you bullying me?”
Do want.
I also found this episode to be excellent.
I feel I could watch this this instead of the whole series….ok I’m half joking. But I do feel that the anime prolonged some emotional moments too much.
“Would have loved to see a Tomoyo-centric OP… and I know you do too.”
Yeah you read my mind.
Tomoyo is my favorite character of Clannad. I have never played the visual novel but that makes no difference cause I just like Tomoyo’s character.
>> The second way is to pull a Lucky Star and embrace the Kyoto Kool-Aid. I present ponytail girl A and ponytail girl B for Sunohara to hit on.
Thinkin’ the same thing. Although Sunohara has no chance with either.
No, drunk Canadians + drunk fangirls + various illicit substances + Key-game marathon = permanently Derailed by Readers Blog.
(Either that, or else we’d have a Siskel & Ebert thing going, with Jason’s blog hijacked, leaving him the role of Sixten’s nekomimi tsundere 12-year-old girl trying to whip the blog into a semblance of order).
Jason and Haesslich: I don’t drink, I was just trying to re-install Hellgate: London on my laptop (since the game kept crashing whenever I was in a party of more than 3 people), so I had nothing to do. ;)
Oh, and here, you broken duo: http://sos-dan.org/img/src/1216195231475.jpg
bLAh!: As a fellow Filipino (or someone who uses a Philippine-connected ISP) I say, for shame. While granted most of Jason’s readers are VERY LIKELY pubescent males, please don’t use the ‘p’ word…
In the case of adaptations…
Well, the producers had to choose a middle ground, and even if you ignore the fact that Nagisa’s paths (in the game) were central to the game itself, you’ll see that it’s pretty hard to squeeze in each of the other girls’ ‘paths’ to those of the more ‘popular’ girls (in this blog’s case, Tomoyo and Kyou ;p) — in both, Tomoya devotes a good chunk of his attention literally to romantic pursuits. Nagisa’s path (aside from possibly Yukine’s in the PS2 remake), despite being considered vanilla (by angry shippers) can survive the insertion of the other girls’ stories (more or less) intact. The other paths are pretty much incompatible with each other, which I understand can be annoying for devoted shippers who wanted the said paths to appear in the adaptation.
(I really hate to link to TVTropes here…)
I’m finding it hard not to make parallels to 40k armies here… Even as a newbie in the wargame, I’ve come to see that each of the armies in 40k each have their appeal, their strengths that attract players, and weaknesses that turn others off. Much like each girl in CLANNAD, in the archetypes they represent are supposed to arouse (literally and figuratively) the attention and eventual affection of the players (insert snarky comment here about lonely male otaku).
In my case, I play plain ‘boring’ Space Marines (for monetary matters mostly, since less models to paint = less expenditure for me), an army that many consider ‘middle of the road’, one that doesn’t excel in shooting or assault, but can do well enough in both areas (aside from some specialized army configurations or variations). They’re the beginner’s army, more or less, have a shorter learning curve than many of the other armies out there, and the margin of error during battles is more forgiving when a Marine army is played; minor and excusable screw ups for marine players can very likely turn into game enders for other armies like Eldar or Imperial Guard.
In something only remotely connected to the discussion… Yeah, I love Touhou, so by extension I love doujin games in general, so lookee what I found!
Miko-Miko Kagamin
http://chinchilla.xsrv.jp/game/kagamin/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmejLBYRdNc
And from the same group, a *gasp* CLANNAD RPG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omy-k5uYVTw
Myssa Rei: You do realize Hellgate London’s basically dead since their developer shut down and the license moved over to some other unknown third party, right?
… and you thought I’d derail this thread. Riiiiight….
I’m in despair! This moderation has left me in despair!
Haesslich: I wanted to finish the darned thing, that’s why. Since I suddenly found space in my laptop’s HD (finally found time to burn Baccano! to a DVD), I figured that I could use it to play the game on my breaktime. I’m still working on Act 3… Darn my rotten luck at drops.
… Plus I play single player anyway. *shifty eyes*
Between Warhammer and my ‘normal’ member of society expenses, I don’t need more stuff killing my savings.
Anyway, I have to ask the folk who have ACTUALLY bought the DVD the OAV was in… Was there anything else on there? You’d expect promotions for future series in these sorts of things as extras.
… Myssa, you realize that, out of 50 (counting this post) comments, you’ve posted a third of them, right? I’ve got like… 3. And you’ve brought in Warhammer and Hellgate: London.
… what was this about me derailing threads again?
I need to really hand it to KyoAni. They’re doing what should be done in every Harem, a short adaption for how it would have turned out for each Harremette.
It’s time we petition KyoAni to do a higurashi reboot for Nayuki.
Komidol: One aspect of CLANNAD that makes something like Tomoyo After (and this OAV) work is because, well, the whole Alternate World aspect of the various paths in the games is an actual plot point this time around (Kotomi’s arc in the anime gives a hint of this, plus the World of Illusion segments shown). It’s not really obvious the first time around, but with each path finished, you’ll note a glowing number of light orbs in the games starting screen. Just WHAT those orbs symbolize will only be made clear when the player stops mucking around and plays Nagisa’s arc through its *bitter* end in After Story. ;P
Emotional rollercoaster, this is.
Oooh, and a Nayuki fan. Well, unless it’s about Nayuki plotting to push Ayu’s wheelchair off a cliff, then I’m sure Jason is all game for that.
… Mind you, playing through Nagisa’s path without completing all the others’ (yes, even the SIDE CHARACTERS) is a recipe for disaster (or rather, a metaphorical kick in the gut care of Jun Maeda’s writing), and while it’s an interesting experience in how the heck Murphy’s Law can apply to visual novel plot development, it’s not something one needs to experience *twice* (as I discovered to my peril). So, yeah, enjoy everyone else’s paths, then try Nagisa’s, rather than what I did (I started with Kotomi).
Still no answers to the extras that were included in the CLANNAD OAV DVD?
Hmm… I think if the drama club decided to stage a version of Chasing Amy, it would be fantastic. Especially if they cast Sunohara as Banky.
So are they doing a reboot for every Clannad female or is this it? Because I am totally ready for Lucky Star Season 2.
Yes, I went there.
First time poster but long time lurker.
@Myssa Rei
All the Clannad Limited Edition DVDs came with extra stuff, and this DVD (number 8) actually came with a little less.
All the LE DVDs had:
One 30-40 page art book
One special item related to the featured character
(eg: DVD 7 was Kyou, and the special item was a squeezy Botan keychain, Kotomi got a Dango Daikazoku Music Box, etc, etc)
One double sided post card with pictures related to the cover character (Nagisa’s Theater club notice, Kotomi’s recital poster, movie poster-esque Fuko Master poster)
On the DVD itself, was an interview of the actress behind the featured character, creditless OP and ED, and a second audio track with the cast commenting on each episode.
__________________
And on a unrelated note, I’ve noticed you’ve been giving Kyou a lot of flak for being the 3rd gear in the Tomoya x Ryou relationship. As a Kyou defender I feel the need to point out that Ryou was being the selfish one in both anime and the game.
She knew of her sister’s interest in Tomoya, but she ignored that and selfishly asked her sister for help in bagging him for herself. Kyou was being pretty selfless by stepping aside for her twin despite her own feelings.
You can’t really blame Kyou entirely for the whole thing blowing up in their faces later – even Kyou herself says so when she finally confessed in the game.
Komidol: This is basically it, as aside from the original CLANNAD game, only the alternate-timeline Tomoyo After was made. In this case, the quote Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment REALLY fits.
BEST. EPISODE. EVER.
Besides 17.
Ack. I meant to say DVD 8 not DVD 8) .
Almost forgot to mention. DVD 3 (Fuko) included a box to house the DVDs, while DVD 8 (Tomoyo) has a box to house the booklets of each DVD.
DVD 8 does not have the sepcial item related to the character, which is a pity. I suppose the OVA ep counts as the extra in this case?
cshard: Actually I was wondering about actual extra content in terms or animation or trailers for future projects (studios are supposed to like doing this for their DVDs). There’s a rumor circulating that I’d like to confirm… Or squash.
myssa: Nope, nothing of the sort. None of my DVDs have had any trailers as far as I can see, unless TBS Animation decided to hide the button in a really weird place.
cshard: Oh well, point goes to Haesslich then.
Back to CLANNAD (in general), I have to wonder about two things… First of course would be how the screenwriters will handle the ‘Alternate Worlds’ aspect of the game, as it’s a major plot point not only in its connection to the Lost Girl and the robot in the World of Illusion but ALSO in getting the true ending to After Story. In the game, after all, one can always just ignore the other paths and focus on the girl they like, without realizing what the heck those glowing orbs that come up in the title symbolize.
Less importantly, there’s the issue of how all the other characters (those who are not specificially Kyou, Ryou, Sunohara, or Fuuko) will figure into After Story. Kyou and Sunohara have slightly bigger than cameo roles, Ryou is mentioned in passing, while Fuuko, well… However, in the TV anime adaptation, there’s ALSO Tomoyo and Kotomi.
Oh well, wait and see it is, I guess.
(spoiler tag test)
To be nitpicky, it’s Shift_JIS Art, as I’m using the Japanese scripts which are 2-bit rather than your western 1-bit ASCII art. The starfish face was original-ish, but the above for example is standard Shift_JIS art. Anyone can use them–They’re available in drop drown menus on every Japanese Cell phones including the one below, lol.
@Myssa: Using the only real specials aside from things that come with the limited edition boxes would by little postcards or such differing store-wide. Eroge and other videogames tend to come with Pre-paid telephone cards featuring store-specific artwork when you buy/preorder the limited/first print edition product. But is the following what you’re looking for, cuz It’s being advertised all over Akiba:
ã‚タ――――＼（≧∀≦）ï¼â€•â€•â€•â€•!!!
September 26 sees the release of a Lucky Star OVA.
If that’s not what you’re seeking to confirm, ask? I might know or being able to find out?
On a completely different topic.
This video brings the interesting topic of clannad for the airforce.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
I lawled, god help me i lawled and i actually thought out how that might have worked as an actual romance anime.
Wow, surprisingly long moderation period for a comment I posted a few hours ago. ~_~
Kouryuu: Well, close but not quite. It’s about something Haesslich mentioned off-hand in another post, but that’s neither here nor there. Thanks anyway.
And I fear with great fear the Lucky Star Anime Tenshou OVA.
>> I almost don’t want to see a Tomoyo After OVA. If I think of this as the end, I can be relatively satisfied.
Then I probably shouldn’t tell you that a few of the hawter h-scenes in Tomoyo After lead to bad ends.
>> Almost forgot to mention. DVD 3 (Fuko) included a box to house the DVDs
Wait, so they made a Fuko-centric DVD release, and it didn’t include a wooden starfish as the bonus item? So wrong!
>> Hmm… I think if the drama club decided to stage a version of Chasing Amy, it would be fantastic. Especially if they cast Sunohara as Banky.
Hey, one person got my “finger cuffs” reference! Bravo. I think the two stories are quite parallel, if you replace “student council” with “lesbians”. The funny thing is that the threesome is a bad idea in either case, but while Alyssa was disgusted by it, I think Tomoyo would have gone along.
With Kotomi, you mean? Bullying her all the while? Because I hate to think of the alternatives.
I had five in the queue. By the way, you’re up to like 24 of 64 comments now. Derailed by Tomoyo? ;)
Nah, I really see them as it is. And you do you really have to dragged our nationality in here?? Woah…The shame (our nationality should have no effect on our reflective post unless you’re going to “raise the flag” for us)…dude, from what I understand here the game source for Clannad has many fanservice right? And on the same line of thought the “Japanese” (no offense meant to the Japs, what I just point out are the by-rpoducts of their culture particularly the anime H industry) do create anime’s like Bible Black and has spawned doujins on other anime’s…it is not as if I am treading on holy grounds in here…chill-out dude…^_~
There are only 4 decent paths for Clannad. One is a logically, well-scripted plot which gives all the girls a chance to be the end girl or pick one which the audience wants (in this case they have already chosen as is). The second one is a trainwreck and thrash filled plots on the level of code geass and gundam series (recent). The third one could be a soft or hardcore fanservice that depends on the level of censorship or the market demands (or you know what which is pron; in which the game is the source for the anime). And the fourth one is just the way it is which the anime has taken the route already.
But I stand on my last post earlier. I do want to see a perfect trifecta of Tomoyo-chan, Kyou and Ryou-chan…that would be awesome on the same level of C.C, Kallen and the Imperial Loli or Belldany, Urd, and Skuld or….others….^_~
By the way, Hellgate: London sucks Lulu. The graphics and the gameplay sucks Lulu. The only thing going for them are the weapons creation but even their weapons diversity sucks Lulu. In short, it was meant to be played by Lulu and Rolo in their mountain range…^_~
Try Doom 3. Or the Quake 2 (although it is old)…^_~
ciao!
bLAh!: Done note that not only am I a Filipino, I’m ALSO a well-educated and somewhat headstrong woman working in a rather stressful line of business (as of late), with relatively conservative leanings (stress on the relative — I watch anime after all as a hobby), so my opinions often clash with the folk that congregate in Jason’s blog. So, don’t expect me to agree with anything remotely related to moe. Oh no.
Except ponytails, since my friend Axel likes those…
To the darkness I bring light, to the helpless I bring hope, but to the false and faithless I bring holy fire and righteousness.
No worries though, I always post in good humor though. ;P
And I did mention I only play single player in Hellgate. Gives me something to do when my main PC is decoding stuff, or when Guild Wars gets tiresome.
Haesslich: Well, you should know about derailment, after all, you’re the master of it. ;)
Sometimes, I think I’m just too easily amused.
http://img504.imageshack.us/im.....oyoni5.png
I like the way that Tomoya and Tomoyo’s relationship was done here moreso than the visual novel. I appreciate the way that Tomoya pulled his act together and was able to start moving towards Tomoyo’s level, so it wasn’t just “Tomoya becomes the ineffectual and pathetic heroblob and Tomoyo is the lovely Belldandy who dotes on him at the expense of her own wishes”. It was more like they were two people who both contributed to the relationship, which I definitely like.
This OVA was really nice, though not up to par with the Tomoyo After manga, which has the most adorable First-Person-Perspective Tomoyo ever. Now if they’d (for some weird reason alien to my understanding) animate that manga, that would be awesome.
I kind of want to see a Kyou OVA now, though…. Although, I suppose I’ll never see it…
Actually I’d say Chasing Amy is sort of the inverse of this episode. In CA, the protagonist can’t get around his girlfriend past. Here, Tomoya breaks up with Tomoyo because he can’t get around (what everyone tells him ought to be) her future. (Tomoyo’s past is an issue, just not for Tomoya.)
The proposed solutions are opposite as well: Holden seeks to expand his horizons (among other things) in order to “catch up” with, or at least to try to understand, Alyssa’s past, whereas Tomoyo wants to give up her world-oyster and trade it in for a simpler life with the man she loves.
@Kouryuu (or anyone else who still hasn’t figured out what the finger cuffs thing means means or bothered to find out), here is the general, non-pop-culture reference (or at least, non-tv show related) explanation.
(Chinese) finger cuffs – aka chinese finger traps – are little cylindrical tubes usually made from woven bamboo. If you stick a finger into each end and then try to pull them out, the tube actually tightens due to shifting geometry of the woven strands. The trick is to actually push your fingers together and use your hands to remove one finger and then the other.
I will leave the explanation of how a girlfriend can be referred to as a “finger cuff” as an exercise for the reader…
Ahhh, the finger traps. Ok, that explains everything then. I’ve never heard of them called “cuffs” before though. huh.
In other news, Only 6 more days until Extasy!(sic)
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v14198310ECnfAbcq
Haha. Best last sentence (in this blog) ever.
Great episode. I can see why people like Tomoyo so much now.
Mmmm, Maria Ozawa…
Don’t worry Tomoyo, you’re still the best.
You know, its been years since I read this post/ watched the episode. Rewatched it today and I STILL cried my eyes out. Gosh I feel this scene will be like the trigger for my waterworks for a long long time