The only problem I had with episode 18 was how it reminded me that there would be no Kyou End. A nail in the coffin for the silent fan in me, whom, like many others, got captivated along the way, whether by means of gym storeroom escapades, a potent combination of character design and voice acting, or both. Needless to say, there will never be another game of tennis in anime with such heart-rending implications ever again. I suppose this will only make the widescreen re-watch some time in the future all the more bittersweet, but that’s the price you’ve got to pay for taking sides…
what she said
It’s a mark of either greatness or mania when you’re attached to a character so much that you begin to support him or her, and I’m going for the former in this case. The hopelessly one-sided affair of wanting the best for a two-dimensional person, even if “best” isn’t necessarily the most optimal resolution for an anime. Which brings us to Kyou Fujibayashi, captivator of a million hearts, and one of the characters whose routes I’m definitely shooting for first when the game’s patch is completed, if only to reaffirm that illogical attachment that I now share with all of you.
More importantly, though, what this episode had that both Kanon and Air failed to attain was a respectable degree of realism. I’m talking about real life, the antithesis of eroge which, with its choice of a route for each girl, is akin in contemporary terms to that of parallel-world polygamy, an exploration of the other “what ifs” that us living, breathing people will never be able to do. Let’s forget about those farcical polyamorous people for a second, since they’re in the minority and hardly count — the rest of us normal folk? Well, we only get to choose one person to live the rest of our lives, forsaking all others. Only one.
「そんな顔するんだね」
This can only mean that there’s no way any game with a sufficient amount of finality and resolution such as Clannad — what with its After Story to contend with and all — can be brought to the screen unscathed. I mean, if he’s going to live happily with all five girls in five separate worlds there’s no way those endings can all come together that well, can they? While Fuuko and Kotomi’s arc emphasis were on “resolution” and “moment” respectively, Kyou and Tomoyo’s climatic scenes in the game had an absolute air to them, an ending mutually exclusive with that of Nagisa’s.
The only way anyone could extricate themselves from this impossible wreck of alternate worlds, then, would have to be in the form of an anime-original episode. We’ve all seen what that did for Fuuko (whose scenes in the game lacked Nagisa’s presence), and the way it worked itself out this time was nothing short of brilliant. One for the books. A scene to be remembered above all scenes, partially because of what was being said between the lines and how convincingly real it felt — sometimes an outright rejection isn’t needed so much as a marked demonstration for interest in other places is, and that’s how this round played out.
「見てるだけなんても嫌よ」
KyoAni’s emphasis on holistic development rather than an artificial, contrived approach has won me over with its efforts, and while I was just beginning to warm to Tomoyo’s charms and backstory that had me tearing before I knew it, I suppose ending it here was for the best. Stopping short of going just that little bit further — that’s life, isn’t it? Drawing boundaries because you’re holding a torch for someone else, so that you don’t string along more people longer than necessary.
This version of Clannad says a lot more than its game incarnation and predecessors did about relationships with the fairer sex, closing off your heart against those you’re not interested in, and basically about not dicking about with more than one girl if you’ve got the nerve to call yourself a man. One thing I’ve always liked is the way in which Tomoya’s heart’s steered ever so slowly towards Nagisa’s, with none of that foreshadowing, childhood promises, or overtly forced methods in which protagonists of this genre are usually prone to.
「曖昧な優しさなら余計傷つく」
He’s actually had to work for his girl, and it wasn’t like she’s been presented to him on a silver platter or anything either. There’s a huge contrast between shows where the protagonist and the main girl are forcefully juxtaposed for the sake of story with no attempt as to realism, and Clannad, which has shown development of both Tomoya and Nagisa in a form nothing short of amazing. Has KyoAni set a precedent by which all other eroge adaptations will inevitably be measured against in the future? I hope so.
Kyou’s image song, Over (based on her theme Sore wa Kaze no Youni), was the icing on the cake. It was a great way to wrap it up, and the entire scene screamed understatement in a way I doubt many appreciated. Here was the sum of 18 episodes of gradual development and two arcs coming to a head for the sake of a Nagisa End, and the best part about all of it was how it all worked so well — the eyes widening in shock or realisation, the downcast gazes, the twins groping for words — every bit of it.
this is the way the harem ends/not with a bang but a whimper
My doomed support of Kyou doesn’t mean that the rest of the show’s going to be a drag for me, at any rate. I’m still not done with all things Clannad, and the less said about the double reference-cum-pun in the post title, the better. I’ve only got one complaint though: where’s the two Kyou scenes promised in the OP? I must have missed the part where Tomoya walks her back while she pushes her bike, or the part where she’s standing in a flurry of sakura petals, but my guess is that they threw that in as a nod-wink to the fans who’d played the game. There’s always a chance that I missed it, although that doesn’t explain how Botan and the basketball scene made the cut.
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February 16th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
What’s this anime again?
[I think I've discovered the art of trolling through invincible ignorance.]
Seriously speaking, this was an interesting read considering the thorny problem of emotional attachment to a character who ‘loses’. (Need I point out that this entry is built around contrasting the specific features of Clannad with the features of its genre?)
February 16th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Invincible or invisible, IKnight? Sounds more like the latter to me. :x
Neither do I get why a lot of people took my post to be denouncing genre altogether (lk was one such one); I mean, it’s definitely useful when it comes to comparing within conventions, to be sure, but my beef was with people judging an anime to be genetically faulty, which is “genre” in that sense. Yes, it’s ironic if you’re looking at it in the misunderstood way, so on and so forth. But you knew that already.
Also, no prizes to whoever gets the Japanese lyric reference in the middle, since it’s an anime that’s airing currently.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
I gotta say, I’m someone who usually “loses” when it comes to Harem shows. Probably a good 90% of the time, my preferred pairing just doesn’t happen. It’s something I’ve learned to live with, but I usually feel genuinely unhappy with the way the romance went, because it usually does come across as cliche or forced, with any characters the lead has built a genuine rapport with or would seem to be more compatible with personality-wise pushed aside in favor of the “chosen one.” Not because she’s the BETTER choice, but because she’s the ONLY choice, even if she is a flat, uninteresting character, or a crude, abusive one.
I gotta say, in Clannad, that really hasn’t happened, and I DO feel genuine happy for Nagisa and Tomoya despite being more inclined to root for Tomoyo or Kyou. I think it is probably because of what you mentioned. The two weren’t bought together by artificial childhood promises or destiny or anything like, but because of a slow, gradual, organic building of a very real relationship. Akamatsu could learn a lot from Clannad.
Good read.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
The difference between a hack writer like me and a truly experienced anime blogger like Owen S, is that while I struggle to put in words what I like about Episode 18, Owen S describes it in a truly intelligent and enlightened manner. :)
February 16th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Yea, too intelligent for me..
I can only understand roughly 60% of what Owen S said..
So I can only write posts/comments with simple words..
I guess I need to improve my english more…
I didn’t know that the song is Kyou’s image song..
A good song to end the episode with..
February 16th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Indeed, I liked the way KyoAni does things. In visual novels, each girl has a separate story, most of which contradict each other - there is no way, at all, to properly integrate every story in an anime adaptation without having to sacrifice some things. Similarly, the way they kept everyone within the story, no matter whose route it was - Nagisa’s sudden disappearances under the premise of “being sick” notwithstanding - made it all the more real. That topic’s already been done to death though, so I’ll just shut up about that.
One thing I didn’t like about the adaptation, and I know that many Fuuko and Kotomi fans will hate me for this (I do like Kotomi though), is that they got 4-5 whole episodes centered on them, while we barely had any truly Kyou/Ryou/Tomoyo-centric episodes. Now of course, being in 18 episodes are good, but surely, KyoAni could have diverted a bit more of the show’s time to focusing on any of the other three.
And now that this is the eighteenth episode, how exactly will they fit oh say, 10 other characters’ stories and the after story? 6-8 episodes for all of that seems quite a bit of a stretch.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
You are entirely correct about the show– KyoAni does such a great job of making the viewer care about Clannad’s characters without resorting to the various overused devices. As you stressed, a huge part of it is how real it felt, and a “real” that is of the “kind of like real life” variety. To illustrate: towards the end of the scene when Kyou and Ryou started crying, one of the thoughts that went through my mind was “all of those random people watching must be like ‘wtf is going on here.’” That is the extent of realism that KyoAni has managed to portray here. It also helps that KyoAni once again demonstrated its mastery at drawing convincing facial expressions and, well, pretty much every other visual element.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:28 am
I both love and hate KyoAni for giving us all that false hope for Kyou, it was great to see her get more screen time and the end of the harem games was an amazing emotional catharsis. But at the same time I feel betrayed for having Kyou dangled in front of my face only to get card crushed at the last second.
February 17th, 2008 at 4:56 am
[...] through episode eighteen are already well aware that the episode was definitely something special. Owen has already done a darn good job of covering its merits as far as realism and content, so I’ll be focusing on what made the [...]
February 17th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Thanks for your comment over at BH. ^^ I didn’t know it was Kyou’s image song, which does make the entire scene even more significant.
The truly real feeling of this scene — the rejection, and Tomoya’s genuine development with Nagisa — is what makes this episode great and brings new life to the whole series. It keeps Clannad in line with the also-greatness of true tears, which has real feelings (the love and betrayal parallels) throughout its presentation.
February 17th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I was rooting for Tomoyo. I guess we’ll just have to chalk it up to invincible/invisible ignorance, neither of which makes sense to me.
My favorite bit from this episode is presented in one of your screen-caps. When Tomoyo meets Nagisa, at the tennis court, she immediately understands everything. The expression was perfect. It was that bit of surprise followed by, “oh, I get it now.” Excellent. It was worth 18 episodes simply to see that.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
What I liked most about Clannad so far is how Tomoya and Nagisa’s relationship is displayed more as a partnership than how most other shows display romance. A lot of romance shows nowadays don’t seem to explore or explain romantic relationships beyond just a warm and fuzzy feeling that you get for someone (or in the ever-increasing cases of yanderes, an obsessively lustful urge or something). That disappoints me greatly, as I’ve always felt that romance should be more meaningful than mere feelings that are as effervescent and temporal as steam. I couldn’t help but think, “Man, if a relationship developed like this in the real world, I wouldn’t be surprised to see break-up or divorce not too far down the road.” There needs to be something much more substantial than simple feelings of tenderness, as sweet as that sounds, to make it a romance that catches my interest. And a portrayal of a romance as a working partnership happens to accomplish just that. When the fuzzy emotions fade away, the bonds of partnership still remain, maintaining the consistancy and devotion of each member, having been founded upon solid actions instead of fleeting feelings.
For some reason, Clannad has reminded me of my favorite Thomas Hardy novel, Far From the Madding Crowd, which I regard as a model for romantic relationships that I particularly enjoy. Nagisa and Tomoya’s relationship strikes me as being similar on a loose yet important level. Both stories present one character with multiple suitors, yet the ideal relationship for both in the end is the one who acts as a partner, with the idea of each completing the other and becoming whole, by filling in each other’s weaknesses and flaws. This is established through the characters working together as a team in mundane tasks, all the while learning of each other’s facets of character. I feel that Tomoya and Nagisa have really accomplished this throughout the series thus far. Nagisa needed confidence and encouragement; Tomoya needed a sense of purpose and belonging. I am particularly reminded of two scenes: the one in episode 3, where Tomoya eats the part of Nagisa’s bread that was soaked with her tears, thus providing much emotional support and encouragement; and in episode 5, where Nagisa took the stand to help Fuuko’s situation, thus giving Tomoya direction and motivation. Each fulfilled the other, and Fuuko’s arc was a great demonstration of what the two could accomplish when they complete one another as partners. This theme continued in Kotomi’s arc, although one may argue it was slightly diluted by the inclusion of Kyou and Ryou as well.
Rewatching some of the earlier episodes, I couldn’t help but feel as though the show could have plausibly gone straight into the Nagisa/Tomoya relationship at a much earlier point. In a way, waiting till episode 18 to resolve all of this is already stretching it quite a bit.
Anyway, great write-up, Owen. Yeah, I too preferred Kyou as my favorite character, yet I can’t help but cheer on Tomoya and Nagisa here. I was also pleased with how Kyou and Ryou finally unburdened themselves with each other, realizing that both were straining their own sisterly relationship by their mutual crush on Tomoya. I’m glad that was resolved; I think it was all for the best, lol.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
The directing in this scene is what really clenches it for me. Every single shot is set up perfectly, from the block to the shock.
Well, I think that was possibly the cheesiest thing I’ve ever written…
But, yeah, this episode was nothing short of masterful work from Kyo-Ani. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do with the rest of the show. Nagisa is totally the best, by the way.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
[...] 18 - totally awesome. 17 02 2008 Since people like Owen and JRoxas have posted much, much smarter entries regarding this episode, I will refrain from that [...]
March 16th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
[...] what the experts have been saying: Jen thinks that love is over after reading spoilers (much like any chances that Kyou et al had of hooking up with Tomoya in Clannad circa episode 18). Michael thinks that he can see it just a little (like all good shounen protagonists do their [...]
March 31st, 2008 at 5:46 pm
[...] didn’t mind that two arcs got cut short, and won’t lose any sleep about it at night considering that I know that said endings are [...]