Clannad 07
November 16th, 2007 by Shirukii
;_;
Looks like Clannad is finally shifting focus from its comedy-like beginnings and preparing to go into all out ‘BAAAAW T_T’ mode. I think they’re handling it quite well, using funny scenes as comedic relief so the shift to heavily dramatic scenes are that much more pronounced. The only thing I’m still finding out of place are those random “Mastered _______” inserts. However, that being said, Clannad isn’t hitting me as hard as AIR did, in terms of tear inducing drama, but with the exception of Makoto’s last moments, Fuko’s arc is getting to me more than Kanon ever did.
Episode Rating: 9/10
Despite their big plan to have Fuko reunite with her sister, when Ibuki-sensei shows up to the festival and is greeted by Fuko, Nagisa and Tomoya, she only sees the latter two. Nagisa tries to say something about it, but Fuko stops her. Instead the three of them listen, Nagisa on the verge of tears, as Ibuki-sensei asks them if they’d get along with Fuko if she were a student like them. Suddenly, Tomoya tells Ibuki-sensei to go through with the wedding, that he’s sure that’s what Fuko would want and it would be more selfish of her to hold back on her happiness for Fuko’s sake, Ibuki-sensei feels a strange power from his words, almost as if they’re Fuko’s true feelings, and agrees to do her best to become happy.
Afterwards, Tomoya and Nagisa feel guilty that they didn’t believe Fuko when she said her sister wouldn’t be able to speak to her, but Fuko’s spirit is as strong as ever as she continues to hand out her stars to random passerbys, even giving one to Botan.
On Tomoya’s suggestion, they even head to the library to give one to Kotomi, who impresses Fuko with her extensive knowledge on starfish, despite being a member of the Star Alliance.
After they leave the library, Tomoya notes that Fuko and Kotomi would make great friends since they both space out easily and generally look out of it. Fuko takes that as a challenge and says that she’s more dexterous than Tomoya. He accepts her challenge without hesitation and sets the stage with a tongue twister competition, repeating the phrase “Tokyo Tokkyo Kyokakyoku!” three times in rapid succession. Fuko-chan countering with a miserable mashing of “Kyoukyo kyokkyo kyokyakyoku…etc.”
But their fight is soon interrupted by Sunohara, oblivious to the situation. Fuko then issues a warning, that a disaster will follow if they do anything to bother her. Not one to back down from a challenge, Sunohara starts to poke away at Fuko, wondering what this disaster might be. With fair warning, Fuko takes a step back and lets out a loud two-finger whistle…or not. But nonetheless, her fanclub comes rushing to them, carrying Sunohara off for an unknown punishment.
That day after school, Tomoya asks Fuko to go home without them again, taking Nagisa with him to talk to Ibuki-sensei some more. Turns out that Tomoya just wanted to make sure Ibuki-sensei hasn’t lost her resolution to go through the wedding, his worries are reassured when he hears that Ibuki-sensei has already talked to Yuusuke about it. The only problem now is that they can’t find a wedding hall, Ibuki-sensei noting that initially she wanted to have the wedding at school instead, surrounded by teachers and students.
Changing topics, Tomoya asks Ibuki-sensei what Fuko was like before her accident, remembering that she said Fuko had trouble making friends in the past. Ibuki-sensei tells them stories of when Fuko was smaller, how she would opt to play with starfish by herself despite meeting a girl her age at the beach. Her social problems continued through middle school where she never took the initiative to talk to others. In an attempt to encourage her to make friends with classmates, Ibuki-sensei tried purposefully avoiding Fuko during school breaks, pretending to be too busy to play. And finally, on the day of her high school entrance ceremony, Fuko said to her with a smile that she’d try her best to make friends…only to get into a car accident that day on the way home ;_;
The next day at school, the gang gets together for a strategy meeting. More people are starting to accept Fuko’s stars, but there’s still a lot of people rejecting them, so Tomoya suggests handing out something new. Fuko doesn’t like the idea, thinking her starfish are fine. Nagisa suggests, despite Tomoya’s preemptive rejection, dango daikazoku sculptures. This prompts a rather heated battle between Fuko and Nagisa as to which are cuter, starfish or dango, the two going as far as singing theme songs for their preference, in the end, they call it a tie.
Back on topic, Fuko maintains that her starfish are fine, but ends up spacing out as she absentmindedly starts poking at one of her sculptures. Never passing on a chance at toying around with Fuko, Tomoya takes Fuko’s starfish and replaces it with Sunohara’s face. When she snaps out of it, she unconsciously keeps poking at, now Sunohara’s face, and when she finally realizes what she’s doing, she ends up repeatedly smashing his face in with the starfish sculpture. Ouch.
Afterwards, Tomoya and Nagisa head to see Koumura, the head guidance counselor. Despite his own admission of a poor memory, when Tomoya mentions Ibuki-sensei and her planned marriage, he instantly remembers talking to her before and guesses correctly that they came to ask if she could have her marriage at school, agreeing to talk to the principal about it right away.
But when they go to tell Ibuki-sensei the good news, they’re met with a depressing development in return. Having returned from anothe hospital visit, Fuko’s doctor told Ibuki-sensei that Fuko’s condition has taken a turn for the worse and that she will probably never wake up. Managing to hold it together only until they get to a nearby park, Nagisa breaks down in tears, shortly followed by Tomoya.
That night, Sunohara notices Tomoya seeming a little down and begins to piece things together. Despite Tomoya’s insistence that the Fuko they know is Isogai Fuko, Sunohara knows the rumor about Ibuki Fuko, supposedly in a hospital after a car accident. After they had left that day, weird things began to happen, despite Fuko’s campaigning and handing out stars, students have begun to forget her. And even with Fuko in plain sight, offering them a star, some students in all seriousness cannot see her…
Thoughts
So, it looks like it is Fuko and not Ibuki-sensei who is a victim of the supernatural here. I figured that since everyone except Ibuki-sensei could see her, Fuko might have been completely normal and it was just Ibuki-sensei who was unwilling to acknowledge her existence, perhaps forcing an AIR reference, heh. But alas, it looks like it is the little moe-blob who’s the weird one after all, now being forgotten by those who accepted her star and her presence not being acknowledged at all by a bunch of students.
Hate to sound like a broken record skipping cd fragmented .mp3, but again, this episode was a great mix of comedy and drama, a little heavier on the latter this time around. I found the Kotomi scene to be particularly funny for some odd reason, her complete lack of social skills and real world knowledge makes her hilarious to watch. Along with a mellowed out voice courtesy of Mamiko Noto and her geeky tendencies to overflow conversations with useless trivia, I lol’d hardily.
The other comedy scenes were pretty win as well, everything from Fuko smashing Sunohara’s face in with her starfish carving (lol, ninja star) to Botan somehow managing to keep the star perfectly balanced on his head despite running and bouncing around.
As for the teary scenes, although they were well placed and quite well done, they just aren’t giving me that sinking depression feeling that AIR did with its ending. Perhaps it’s because they’re being too generous on the waterworks? If I remember correctly, there wasn’t any crying in AIR up until the very end, and even Kanon held back on the tears until Mai’s arc. It sort of felt like emotional catharsis was being reached on screen, so I felt less impacted it as a viewer. But I’m sure that this is only the beginning and Clannad will soon have me in a state of hopelessness and despair.
Plot wise, I’m guessing Fuko will continue to fade from the minds and memories of those around her, more slowly by those that are close to her, but perhaps even with them, she’ll eventually be forgotten. The ending of Fuko’s arc probably has one of two outcomes, ‘True’ and ‘Good’ to those of you have played visual novels before. ‘True’ would be something like Fuko fading from everyone’s memories, perhaps slipping into eternal sleep, but managing to have one last happy reuniting moment with Ibuki-sensei beforehand. ‘Good’ would be along the same lines, but Fuko would come out of the coma, alive and well. The latter is more likely, but less impactive in my opinion. But you never know, after all, KyoAni did choose Makoto’s true end in Kanon.
I suppose only time will tell.
☆-(>.<)-
Edit* Looks like Totali over at Subculture is campaigning for support for the Starfish Alliance. In the age old tradition of fighting fire with fire, head on over there and show some love for the Star Alliance! (Or maybe the newly formed Dango Alliance)
~ Shirukii ~
31 Responses to “Clannad 07”
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No !!! Don’t cry, Nagisa. You make me cried too. Wow, that was very emotional episode and yet they still manage to add some humour to balance it out. Good job, Kyoani. It seems like the Fuuko’s arc is about to end in the next episode. I wonder whose arc is up next.
@Siva: Based on this episode, maybe we should add one more group call “Dango alliance.” lol
But too bad I alerady join Starfish alliance.
I cried when Nagisa did. Myaa! I dun want Fuko to vanish…I’ll end up crying again. She’s so damned cute!
Especially when she smashed Sunohara’s face with the starfish. :3 I laughed.
Hi, I’d like to join the Starfish Alliance. Thanks!
I don’t mean to contradict what you were saying earlier, with the crying scenes taking a bit away from the overall dramatic effect, but I think there’s something deeper here.
I feel that, at least so far, it’s safe to assume Tomoya is becoming connected to Nagisa whether he knows it or not yet, and the scene where the two break down is an important step in recognizing that Tomoya feels emotionally connected to Nagisa. Perhaps I’m alone in this, but I felt this scene was moving specifically because Tomoya was so moved by Nagisa’s loving nature.
I can’t help but agree, as well, that the series is going to have a dam-breaking ending for the walls within tear ducts. Seems to be an ongoing pattern with the KyoAni.
It’s a good series so far, and I’m disappointed to read so many others complain about Fuko’s arc “taking away from the story”. Reiterating what I said earlier, Fuko’s arc is critical in analyzing Nagisa and Tomoya’s relationship as it develops…I mean, who could say it wasn’t completely “Kawaii” (sp?) when Nagisa made a reference to Tomoya and herself acting like Fuko’s father and mother? She’s such a sweet girl, the series has alot in store.
Keep up the amazing reviews, ~Pyrrhus
Well put, Pyrrhus. I too think that the Fuuko arc is doing wonders for displaying the deep relationship that’s starting to form between Nagisa and Tomoya. I really prefer the method that Clannad is using over what went on in Kanon, where Yuuichi alone pretty much worked through each girl’s problems. Here, Nagisa and Tomoya are acting as partners on Fuuko’s behalf, and that makes their eventual relationship with each other all the more believable. They are comrades before they are lovers.
From the looks of it, we are comming to the end of Fuko’s arc. Time to buy some tissues.
Oh Goddess of Nagisa! they make it once in ep 6 was so win and now they make it twice and this is even much better than the last one it was so killing. The most cuteness crying scene even Tomoya couldn’t stop the flow of his tear LOL.
OMG! Kotomi, she only used up 1:30 min of the episode but create another interesting scene out of her character XD. Oh yeah! Kotomi is a member of the Star Alliance (even a genius girl said it was a star, what else do you have to argue?)
@Kari: How can we disagreed with that? :D
@Pyrrhusonline: >> “with the crying scenes taking a bit away from the overall dramatic effect, but I think there’s something deeper here.”
you are right about it and i think it is what KyoAni intend to do from the beginning to make Fuko arc less drama. As we can see that they make half of this episode become comedy instead of having drama arc for a full episode. I think they want us to save the tears as many as we can for latter episode.
People can complain about anything as much as they can but they forgot what they see and got from these past episodes of Fuko arc. As you mention above they did pretty well about the relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa, and Sunohara did a pretty good job at the end of this ep too despite he is idiotic for the whole time.
@Mirrinus: “They are comrades before they are lovers.”
LOL it is look the opposite way of Naruto “They are enemies before they are comrades.”
@kenshin514: I guess it is alittle too late to add it now but i will make another poll.
Now it is time to make your decision about what do you think which one is cutter Dango or Starfish.
Star Alliance VS Starfish Alliance
Star Alliance = 6 (Shirukii, Siva, Nightingale, Fuzzims, ItAintEazy, Fuzzims)
Starfish Alliance = 5 (Kanon_fan82, Totali, We be anon, Agis, kenshin514)
Fuko-Fan Club
1. Siva
2. kenshin514
3. Fuzzims
4. We be anon
*Note* These polls will end after Fuko arc finished.
*Warning* Totali is being warn as a cheater XD
“Please do NOT cheat the system!”
Lessee, the dangos are cuter because they are more appropriate for the whole series. The series is called “Clannad”, not “Crosóg Mhara” The expected conclusion of this series is for the main characters to come to terms with their own families and their various dysfunctions, thereby fulfilling the message of the “Dango Daikazuku” song. If I got any meaning out of the whole starfish nonsense it is have seaside clambakes with faceless spawns Patrick. For that reason alone, the Dango alliance will prevail while the Starfish alliance will succumb to irrelevance, sorry Fuuko fanclubbers :^P
@ kenshin514: > It seems like the Fuuko’s arc is about to end in the next episode.
Really? The preview didn’t really make it seem like things are over just yet. But hey, the faster we get to Kyou, the better =D
@ Kari: lol, no one has any sympathy for Sunohara, poor guy. As for the crying, I have a feeling this is only the beginning, things tend to get more depressing the further you get into KeyAni series.
@ Totali: Haha, nice try =P
@ Pyrrhus: I definitely don’t see Fuko’s arc as a waste, it’s doing an awesome job in establishing initial connections that will be needed throughout the story. And I agree that Tomoya crying along side Nagisa shows how close he’s grown to her.
But, at least for me, it still felt like the show was expressing the emotion that it was trying to incite in me. Just like a laugh track, having characters cry on screen is a visual and emotional cue that you should be feeling sad. While this may work on some, for myself it sometimes (not always) has the effect of dampening my feelings. Especially when Nagisa has been shown on the verge of tears numerous times.
@ Mirrinus: Yea, the bond that the two are building up is probably going to have a huge impact when Nagisa’s arc finally comes around. To what effect remains to be seen.
@ Alias: Huh, am I the only one who sees a good 2+ episodes left in Fuko’s arc…or am I missing something really important. Keep in mind I rarely watch previews lol.
@ Siva: Exactly! We have the genius Kotomi on our side, Star Alliance will prevail!
@ ItAintEazy: lol, on a grand scale you’re definitely right, dangos are a much better mascot for Clannad. But this whole Star vs Starfish deal is just what people think Fuko’s carvings are, once her arc ends, it’ll all be over.
I am quite surprised with what Ibuki-sensei said in the last seconds of the preview. For some reason I felt a sad end is going to come soon..
At any rate, is it just me or Fuko’s existence reminds me of Sonzai no Chikara in Shakugan no Shana?
Starfish SMASH! (+10 more damage than a falcon punch)
POKEBALL, GO!
Sunohara has been captured.
I’m glad I always had my kleenex ready at hand. =D
I hope Fuuko in the hospital would wake up soon and realize how much she is loved… what? I prefer happy endings.
Starfish alliance? Since I always thought it was a starfish anyway, count me in! xD
Sign me up for the Dango alliance!
I’ve been recently uploading the anime to Veoh because the other uploaders tend to take awhile to get the job done when I see the subbers have it available around noon or so by torrent.
@all: I’m seriously loving this blog, I first saw it when I searched up information on the series, and enjoy both the comments and the summaries and analyzation.
I’ll make sure to stop by more often =)
@Shirukii: Many people might though it already come to an end of the arc but at least you and I only see it just half way of Fuko’s arc and 2+ episodes more is fair enough. If you watch the previews you will see that the next episode is about how Tomoya reacts to what he is going to do about Fuko as the way it is now and they still have alot of things to let us know before they end it.
@albert_2mb: It is not just you i think most of ppl does and I think it just a little bit similar but in Fuko’s case I think it has something to do with “Wish” which is Nagisa mentions about it earlier at the beginning of episode 2.
@Michael: LOL, at least he came back.
@hazy: Happy Ending or not only time will tell. But i have no idea how do you always thought it was a starfish.
@Pyrrhusonline: I am sure that Shirukii and the others will be glad to hear that.
Star Alliance VS Starfish Alliance
Star Alliance = 6 (Shirukii, Siva, Nightingale, Fuzzims, ItAintEazy, Fuzzims)
Starfish Alliance = 6 (Kanon_fan82, Totali, We be anon, Agis, kenshin514, hazy)
Fuko-Fan Club
1. Siva
2. kenshin514
3. Fuzzims
4. We be anon
Dango VS Starfish
Dango = 4 (kenshin514, ItAintEazy, Pyrrhusonline, Siva)
Starfish = 0
*NOTE* “Make sure you guys have your name on the list where you want to be in”
STARFISH IS CUTER!!!! :D *proudly displays wood-carved star*
Demo….DANGO HAS A THEMESONG! *sticks tongue out*
lol, classic.
@ albert_2mb: Power of existence? Ie. Fuko resembling a torch? I can see where you’re coming from, there are similarities, especially with her disappearing from everyone’s memories.
@ Michael: Go to your nearest pokecentre and release it, Sunoharas are weaksauce.
@ hazy: I like happy endings as well, but a depressingly bad end once in a while is fine too.
@ Pyrrhus: Glad you like the blog, a lot of the commenters here are regulars so discussion tends to carry on as the weeks pass by, hope you stick around =D
@ Siva: That’s what I was thinking too, that we’re at the halfway-ish point of Fuko’s arc, seems like there’s still quite a bit to cover.
Interesting how the tallies are going. For dango vs starfish, Totali should be listed under the latter, he’ll no doubt support the starfish.
@ Kari: Now I’m confused, you said starfish are cuter but called Fuko’s carving a star, which one are you rooting for haha
Dango, dango, dango, dango. Dango daikazoku~
Damnit, not again ;_;
Siva: hey, dude. Since when did I joined the dango alliance? I already join the starfish side and that should be enough for me. By the way, why are there two Fuzzims names in your group? Are you guys don’t have enough people? lol
It’s just the matter of time by the end of Fuko’s arc. Our starfish alliance will show you who’s on top?
@Shirukii: I am dying to see what kind of resolution that Tomoya can come up with in the next episode.
Do you want me to put you on Dango list of “Dango VS Starfish” ?
Starfish, Starfish, Starfish, Starfish. Starfish Daikazoku~
Aww, I sing the wrong theme XD
@kenshin514: O_O lol, sorry i am a little sleepy last night when i post it.
New Patch: bug fixed. (thx kenshin514 for report bug.)
Star Alliance VS Starfish Alliance
Star Alliance = 5 (Shirukii, Siva, Nightingale, Fuzzims, ItAintEazy)
Starfish Alliance = 6 (Kanon_fan82, Totali, We be anon, Agis, kenshin514, hazy)
Fuko-Fan Club
1. Siva
2. kenshin514
3. Fuzzims
4. We be anon
Dango VS Starfish
Dango = 3 (ItAintEazy, Pyrrhusonline, Siva)
Starfish = 2 (kenshin514, Totali)
*NOTE* “Make sure you guys have your name on the list where you want to be in”
Mwahaha who’s winning now! >:3
*sigh* This can’t be happening. . .
Wow…Not much to comment on when there’s been this many comments.
“However, that being said, Clannad isn’t hitting me as hard as AIR did, in terms of tear inducing drama, but with the exception of Makoto’s last moments, Fuko’s arc is getting to me more than Kanon ever did.”
Back when Kanon was airing. I felt Makoto’s arc’s only flaw was being drawn out a bit. But yeah Fuko’s arc has gotten very good.
I want to know why I prefer both Kanon and CLANNAD over Air. I think Air was good, but I don’t seem to enjoy it as much as I did for the latter series. And I think i t’s fair to say that Kanon and CLANNAD are very similar. Besides their general theme (Kanon’s being miracles, CLANNAD’s being “family”)
And Siva. Put me down for Starfish on Dango vs. Starfish
I actually watched (from start to finish >(or rather, the fox which impersonated the “actual” Makoto), and I think the second most touching scene of the series belonged to the Show ▼
, second only to the final scene where Yuuichi cares for Ayu.
***Sorry, I don’t know whether or not to put spoilers on another series for this blog, but I felt I would for the sake of late bloomers (like myself).
So in this light, perhaps it will shed some understanding on where the animators will head…I have not played the visual novel, but from what I understand, there are two possible resolutions for the Fuko arc. Without a doubt they will both be touching, to say the least, but I hope they’re able to develop the rest of the characters well…just as they have been with Nagisa and Tomoya’s growing connections, as we discussed.
Wow…I think I messed something up when putting a spoiler tag. I meant to say I watched Kanon all day, from start to finish, and talked about how most of the development was put into Makoto’s character, and took away from the ability to develop the other characters. However, Yuuichi stays strong for the fox, Makoto, and the second most touching scene belonged to the wedding ^_^
@Totali: It seems like you are so happy about it (-_-)
@ItAintEazy: I can feel your pain because we are the same. We need more Alliance.
@Avisch: It is not hard to understand that you would prefer Kanon and CLANNAD over Air, if we compare those 3 together AIR is the most sadness and less comedy series of all these 3. And the reason Shirukii said “Clannad isn’t hitting me as hard as AIR did” maybe because AIR had the greatest Misuzu X Haruko arc which is the one that pulled off the most beautiful drama and tear.
@Pyrrhusonline: Tears will came out when you learned something is touching. You can deny your own feeling but you can’t deny your own tears.
Dango VS Starfish
Dango = 3 (ItAintEazy, Pyrrhusonline, Siva)
Starfish = 3 (kenshin514, Totali, Avisch)
Hello first time posting =)
I feel bad for Sunohara getting smacked around like crazy every appearance he gets. I mean that really gonna hurt XD
Oh and I still like the way they are going for Fuko(or maybe the crying too), even if it’s a little cliche in a sense but it’s good waterworks once in a while.
So… can somebody tell me what’s this alliance event going on here? Looks like fun~~
Siva san, sign me up for Star alliance, Fuko fan clucb and Dango alliance onegai shimasu XD
@Siva: I can’t agree with you more…I guess it takes alot out of me to say that I was indeed reaching for tissues when Makoto and him had the wedding atop Monomi hill, and again when I realized Ayu would be okay…
I’m normally quite reserved with tears, ask anyone I know…but Kanon was definitely a dam-breaker, even when it wasn’t from those two scenes.
It feels good to cry every now and then, eh? ^_^ Best part was…I got to enjoy a few shooting stars from the Leonid Meteor Shower when I finally finished the series. I walked outside into the large grassy field-type-place and had myself a good ponder.
@Levan Polkka: You dont have to feel so bad for Sunohara because his character is exist to accept that fate.
Nothing much about this alliance it just something for Fans to enjoy their poll.
@Pyrrhusonline: Aww!! Did i just said something wrong? I am pretty sure i didnt say anything bad about Kanon. And I actually did cry a lot in Makoto arc.
Star Alliance VS Starfish Alliance
Star Alliance = 6 (Shirukii, Siva, Nightingale, Fuzzims, ItAintEazy, Levan Polkka)
Starfish Alliance = 6 (Kanon_fan82, Totali, We be anon, Agis, kenshin514, hazy)
Fuko-Fan Club
1. Siva
2. kenshin514
3. Fuzzims
4. We be anon
5. Levan Polkka
Dango VS Starfish
Dango = 4 (ItAintEazy, Pyrrhusonline, Siva, Levan Polkka)
Starfish = 3 (kenshin514, Totali, Avisch)
(Finaly finished Elfen Lied “KOROSU! KOROSU!”)
No, no, no…. Siva you didn’t say anything wrong! I’m just commenting on how I thought the series was THAT beautiful and I was able to enjoy a good cry ^_^
lol Looks like things died down a little. Who’s excited for Friday? I should have it uploaded by noon to 2 on Friday, depending how fast Eclipse goes.
Give me a shout out if you want. I’ll be out of town literally until noon at Friday, at which point I will be racing to put it up.
PS: Dangos rock cotton socks =D
@Siva: Haha. I have no idea why I initially thought of it as a starfish to begin with. It just popped out of my fuzzy brain!
Even though the starfish song is a total ripoff of the Dango song… Starfish all the way! ^_^
@Shirukii: I agree. A shift from cliche is always refreshing once in a while. I just hope it won’t be too depressing! =)