Clannad 08
November 23rd, 2007 by Shirukii
DOZO!
With Fuko’s arc almost at its climax, the balance of comedy vs drama in Clannad has finally shifted towards the latter, there’s nothing funny about an exercise in futility. No smart ass pre-jump remarks this time around, on to the summary:
Episode Rating: 9/10
Fuko’s starfish campaign continues on, with just about a week left until her sister’s wedding. However, things aren’t going so well, despite her surge in popularity during the school festival, Fuko isn’t gaining many supporters these days, worse than that, she’s being ignored, or perhaps more accurately, not noticed at all. Even the people who did accept her invitation are beginning to forget about Fuko, Tomoyo greets them as they’re handing out stars, but takes a while to remember Fuko and the gift she received from her, noting it’s not like her to forget accepting a present.
After school, Tomoya and Nagisa try to cheer up Fuko, faced with a bag full of unaccepted stars. Nagisa gives her a hug and Fuko goes into one of her classic space outs, but just as Tomoya stands up to take advantage, she snaps out of it and hides behind Nagisa. It appears her body has developed a self defense mechanism to protect her from Tomoya who Nagisa confirms is the one playing tricks on her when she spaces out. Confirming what she’s thought all along, Fuko says that Tomoya is indeed “petit horrible”, the petit added to soften the blow of the insult.
Suddenly, the three of them see Mitsui off in the distance and call her over. But they’re shocked to see that she’s forgotten about ever accepting Fuko’s star and the invitation to Ibuki-sensei’s wedding, she can’t even acknowledge Fuko’s presence among them. Tomoya and Nagisa do their best to keep Fuko in high spirits, but it’s apparent that it’s slowly getting to her…
But at least things are still normal at the Furukawa house, Akio and Sanae still remember Fuko and continue helping to make the stars, all the while Nagisa doing her best to hold back tears. When a customer comes to the store, Nagisa and Tomoya are forced to attend to her, Akio somehow managing to step on a carving knife. Afterwards, Nagisa finally breaks down and cries, saying she’s scared that one day she and Tomoya will forget Fuko as well.
Before heading home, Tomoya goes to check on Sunohara, who has been skipping again class lately, getting his usual greeting from Misae chasing a herd of guys out of the dormitory. He takes the chance to give her a star and invite her to Ibuki-sensei’s wedding.
Rather than lazing around like he usually does, Sunohara’s days of skipping were spent rather productively, researching Ibuki Fuko. He is now certain that Isogai Fuko is a fake name for the Fuko they know, but also knows that Ibuki Fuko is still in the hospital. Unsure of what’s what anymore, Sunohara is determined to go Fuko’s hospital and see for himself. Tomoya asks him not to, feeling that if he sees Fuko in the hospital, he might forget about the one at school, but Sunohara’s mind is set.
The next day it’s apparent that Fuko’s star campaign is becoming increasingly futile, even guys who were once members of her fan club can’t see Fuko anymore. Suddenly, Sunohara shows up, in a rather cheerful mood. He tells them that he just got back from a hospital out of town, but has no idea why he went there, he just remembers walking out, nothing before that, and just as Tomoya predicted, he’s forgotten about Fuko…
Kyou and Ryou show up too, Kyou yelling at Sunohara for being late, causing problems for Ryou as his class rep. When Tomoya asks the Fuijbayashi sisters about Fuko, they don’t seem to remember much about her either. They vaguely remember the scene of being given a star sculpture, but it’s more of a distant frustrating to remember memory than anything concrete.
Luckily, things are holding together at home, Akio and Sanae still helping to make the star sculptures. But Nagisa senses the inevitable, she’s scared of forgetting Fuko, scared that she won’t be friends with her anymore. Tomoya reassures her that she’d be the last person to forget Fuko, even if he were to forget, no one was closer to or spent more time with her than Nagisa, no matter what, she won’t forget.
The next day at lunch, Sunohara shows up after another defeating star hand out session, asking if they want to go grab lunch. Tomoya knows he’s not doing it on purpose, but gets annoyed when Sunohara doesn’t include Fuko in his address. But when Sunohara remarks what a bad mood Tomoya is in, he mentions Fuko by name. The three of them jump, trying to get him to remember her, and he even accepts one of Fuko’s star, but it’s clear that it’s not easy for him to bring back the memories, as he struggles to remember the friend he once knew. They tell him not to push it, that his efforts are more than enough.
It’s the day before the wedding, so after school, the three of them begin to plan out their day. They decide that since it would be too much trouble to go back and change before the wedding, that going in their school uniforms is fine, but there’s something too plain about it, so Tomoya suggest at least buying an accessory. After a bit of shopping around and some rejected, unfitting things like a pair of earrings, Fuko ends up picking out a simple birthday set…not exactly what I’d call ideal wedding attire, but Fuko’s tastes have always been rather questionable.
Afterwards the three hang out in the park for a while where Tomoya finds out that Fuko doesn’t hate him anymore, in fact she likes him as much as sea slugs, which is actually quite favorable in her rankings.
But the cheerful mood doesn’t last long. When they get home, the three of them are faced with another depressing blow, Akio has forgotten Fuko. He seems to have remnants of her still in his memory, but he can no longer see her and, like Sunohara, struggles when he tries to recall her. Yet more sad news when Sanae comes down to welcome them home, although she remembers Fuko in her mind, Sanae went to see Ibuki Fuko at the hospital and therefore can’t see the Fuko in front of her anymore. She breaks down in tears, telling Fuko that even though she can’t see her, she’s welcome to stay as long as she needs, and that she’ll always be a part of their family as far as she’s concerned.
With Fuko having faded from everyone’s memories except their own, Nagisa and Tomoya decide to wait out the night at the school with her, at least until tomorrow’s wedding day.
Thoughts
Argh, I can’t believe Clannad started out with such a depressing arc. It’s KyoAni’s style to draw viewers in with a highly dramatic arc like they did with Makoto in Kanon, but this one in particular really strikes a nerve with me.
Fuko’s arc is a literary template that always gets to me, what I call: an exercise in futility. They’re the types of stories where the characters try with all their heart, earnest and unrelenting in the pursuit of their dream, only to fall short in the end. It’s a rather grim reminder that things in life don’t always work out as you’d like, that no matter how hard you might try, some hurdles are unsurmountable.
In the context of everyday life, this isn’t too hard to cope with, the average person doesn’t pour their entire soul into their dream and usually have little problem in accepting the reality of the world and being content with what they can get. But when confronted with a story like Fuko’s, it’s hard not to feel sorry for her, seeing her giving it her all, only to be defeated by circumstance. It depresses me that the world has become a place a lot of people are not encouraged, or not free, to pursue our childhood dreams and are forced to quietly assimilate ourselves into established society.
But with that in mind, I wonder how Fuko’s arc will end. The way they’ve built it up so far, it’s plausible that we could see either the “true” or “good” ending, ie. Fuko waking up or not. It would be uplifting to have Fuko’s efforts realized and see her able to attend her sister’s wedding. But I think it would be more realistic, and more appropriate given the build up, to have her not wake up, but to see her sister’s wedding succeed anyways, that is, attended by everyone Fuko gave a star to. That way, we’re not completely depressed that Fuko’s efforts were in vain, but the bittersweet reality that not EVERYTHING can go right is emphasized by the one person who wanted it the most, Fuko, not being able to be at the wedding herself.
As for this week’s episode, the balancing of comedy and drama was a little awkward. The scenes themselves, like the ranking scene pictured above, were by all rights, quite funny. But they were misplaced, at least in my opinion. Funny scenes in drama anime usually serve as comedic relief, that is, to relieve tension in an otherwise serious development. But I found myself reluctant, with a feeling close to guilt, to laugh at anything this episode given the overall solemn atmosphere.
But regardless of how depressing things may be, Nagisa seriously has to stop crying so much ;_; It’s not hitting me right now, but I’m sure that sometime over the course of the series her bawling eyes are going to make me tear up as well T_T
The preview for next week suggests that Fuko’s arc will be coming to an end. The teaser shows Nagisa and Tomoya waking up at school with Fuko nowhere in sight. This still leaves it open as to whether Fuko will wake up or not, so rather than theorizing any further, I’ll just wait it out and see what happens.
And on that note, with the end of the Fuko arc will come an end to the cross animeblog competition between me and Totali over at Subculture. If you haven’t been reading the comments over the past couple of week’s, we’ve been rallying support for our respective Fuko alliances, ie. Star Alliance vs Starfish Alliance. So if you have the time, leave a vote in comment form as to whether you thought Fuko’s carvings were stars or starfishes, or alternatively, which you like better. Also, in response to Nagisa and Fuko’s argument of Starfish vs Dango, a competition has spawned on that front too.
The current standings are:
Star Alliance vs Starfish Alliance
Star Alliance = 8 (Shirukii, Siva, Nightingale, Fuzzims, ItAintEazy, Levan Polkka, Hopey, Kei-clone)
Starfish Alliance = 7 (Kanon_fan82, Totali, We be anon, Agis, kenshin514, hazy, Michael)
Starfish vs Dango
Dango = 11 (ItAintEazy, Pyrrhusonline, Siva, Levan Polkka, Shirukii, Michael, Nightingale, Kay_kay, Orange-kun, We be anon, Kei-clone, Kanon_fan82)
Starfish = 3 (kenshin514, Totali, Avisch)
Stars ftw!
~ Shirukii ~
25 Responses to “Clannad 08”
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Heh, a commenter just pointed out how the rubber ducky looks pretty similar to the rubber ducky in that other KyoAni series. Is it lazy animation, or just another one of those smarmy self-reference they’ve been known for?
Also, if I were a betting man, it’s my daughter’s college money that the next episode won’t be the last we see of Fuuko. Count on it.
I really only laughed at what Tomoya was wearing in the illustration of Fuko’s favourite things xD No matter how sad everything is supposed to be, Tomoya wearing that ridiculous outfit was hilarious. I watched watched the scene twice just to laugh xD
I haven’t cried once this arc, though, which I find surprising. The end just might do it, especially if Fuko doesn’t end up waking up.
As for voting, I thought it was a Star when I first saw it. I dunno how to vote for the other one. Although dango’s got a song, Fuko did a nice imitiation for Starfish xDD You can eat dango, though…Maybe I’ll vote next episode and end up voting starfish out of pity xP
The most interesting part in this ep must be go to Sunohara(at least for me). They made a fool of his character for 7 eps and now they changed him from black to white, wow! Is KyoAni seriously about picking a fight against Shaft? I wish it is real, so we can see the real masterpiece both from Clannad and ef.
@ItAintEazy: Your bet is not going to lose because the next ep will be the unfolding secret behind Fuko arc and episode 10 will be about the reaction of Nagisa and Tomoya going to do whether Fuko will wake up or not. If i have to put my bet on it will be a good ending for Fuko because i can’t image what Nagisa will do if Fuko will never wake up again.
@Whispered.Hope: “end up voting starfish out of pity” You will never become a King or a good leader. Show ▼
Can someone explain to me why nobody can remember Fuko? O__O
Oh, and why shes handing out stars and the whole hospital thing….and the wedding.
The plot is getting a bit strange. Oh, and starfish alliance + Dango for me.
@Kaelyn:
1. You need to remember that Clannad is not a normal series it is supernatural.
2. We only know what we have seen so far.
3. We are going to explore it soon, next episode?
@Michael: About alliance thing, I will have Shirukii do the rest of the work from here on because he is the senpai.
@ ItAintEazy: Definitely a self-reference, they wouldn’t reuse renderings, lol.
Orly? Fuko arc not done yet? But what could there possibly be after the wedding? Maybe a half episode epilogue?
@ Hopey: Yea, that was…haha, weird, to say the least. Reminds me of Jun’s outfit in Kanon.
Fuko not waking up would be an appropriate ending for her arc, I’ll probably cry like a school girl if it happens.
@ Siva: Haha, cross studio referencing is getting more common, but I doubt KyoAni is trying to steal Shaft’s spotlight, they’re two very different production companies, stylistically.
@ Kaelyn: Fuko is handing out star carvings to get people to celebrate her sister’s wedding. Fuko is Ibuki-sensei little sister who got into a car accident the day of her high school entrance ceremony and has been in the hospital ever since, the one we see walking around is a physical projection of her spiritual self, or something along those lines. People are starting not to be able to see her because her condition (the Fuko in the hospital that is) is getting worse, so she’s fading from people’s memories.
@ Michael: This is actually quite normal for a Key based anime. More normal than a fox turned human anyways.
Stats updated, no change in the battle of the alliances, dango pulls further away from starfish.
I really hate these teaser arcs. It’s like, ‘don’t go to the hospital’, but on the flip side of all of that, there is obviously, ‘go to the hospital to figure out what’s going on’ and what’s going on is amazingly confusing, we see a girl who is both eccentric, childish and cute.
now what started out as a campaign to revive folks to see her sister has translated into something failing without any explanation. I can feel my mind just halting or apart of me screaming a tad when the credits roll, this is an arch which while increasingly depressing much see an end.
;_;
The next episode is going to be epic… it has to!
Massive props to Sunohara for actually taking things seriously this ep.
I have never been much for eating fish and it’s ilk, so it’s Dango for me!
I SUPPORT THE DANGO ALLIANCE!!!!!
@ Siva & Shirukii:
Show ▼
Pardon the above post. My brother has been wrecking havoc with my comp lately.
Anyway, this episode still manages to maintain a somewhat good balance between the Continuity and Comedy for the first half of it, but the second half is starting to resemble the whole forget about stuff arc in episode 8-9 of Kanon. I’m pretty sure the next episode is going to be the final or second last ep in this arc, which brings a new problem.
Spoilers ahead.
Show ▼
Sorry for the double post. I was refering to Orange. Appearently, someone posted while I was typing.
@IAintEazy
Show ▼
Waaaa i cried soo much when sanae was trying to remember fuko, the wedding eppisode is deff going to need a box of kleenex!!
Oh and DANGO FOREVER!!!!
Oooh snapz theres a new alliance!
Starfish or Dango…. Hmmmmmm…………
*After some brain twisting and wretching*
Dango +1!!!
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I dont think i can say anything this episode because i fear that whatever i say will become spoilerish…. i’ll just keep it to myself till next episode *zips mouth*
@We be anon: The next episode will be the true beginning of Clannad.
@ItAintEazy: O_O did i just read ur spoiler? For me i think there is 75% in the anime for Fuko will wake up.
@Alias: O_O did i just read another spoiler? I think most people already think that way and those 3 girls, Tomoyo, Kyou and Kotomi are going to have a big hit with Tomoya. Without a doubt that Kyou is going to be a biggest one. She haven’t show anything big deal toward Tomoya yet but her direction as a tsundere is there since episdoe 1. And how r they going to pull it off is what Shirukii dying to see it the most XD
@Nightingale: -_- Your zip is broken you need a new one.
@Kay_kay: I always have one in my room just in case :D
(Currently marathon Full Metal Panic episode 12)
As much as I love/support the Starfish Alliance, the Dango song is WAY MORE addictive and I find myself singing it at random points during the day after I watch a given Clannad episode :)
Dango +1
And seriously, aside from the fact that Nagisa always has the waterworks……she is KAWAIIIIIIIIIIII! :) Especially when she’s always hugging/protecting Fuko……..so cute :)
hmm…interesting analysis of Fuko’s arc. Never thought of it as a futility exercise, probably because I don’t really get the impression that Fuko is trying hard. I mean she is devoting her entire existance to it yes, but we haven’t seen her do anything else, so I’m not getting the impression that effort is required on her part. That’s what made me feel that Fuko’s arc was the weakest in the game, because it felt more like a contrived premise of having her suddenly disappear. There was nothing that we could relate to that ties back to real life, like the rest of the arcs in Clannad and most of Kanon.
anyway, Dangos + Stars ftw~
Whoa that’s a lot of spoiler tags, I’m going to go ahead and avoid every single one of them, haha. Leaving me with nothing to reply to ;_;
I’m guessing that the spoilers being thrown left and right means we have a few people who read the visual novel, or failing that, lots of theorizers, either way we’ll be finding out soon enough!
Alliance stats updated, Star Alliance pulls out marginally ahead of Starfish, who are getting their butts handed to them by dangos.
@Kanon_fan82: Nagisa is the best at hugging Fuko but how about a hug with Tomoya? XD
Man i can feel the warmth everytime Nagisa gives a hug to Fuko.
@kei-clone: wow! I think Kei was getting so bad in ef: episode 7 but there is still one more here :)
@Shirukii: Nah, it wasn’t a completely a big deal of spoiler it just something is in ur range of what u expect to be happened in the next episode even u read it or not nothing will changed for u.
BUT……
Hail! Star Alliance! , and Hail! Dango!
The color of the badge seems to denote their class
Ichinensei
Ninensei
Sannensei
Is this also rotated like in Kanon ?
i wouldn’t say that fuko’s efforts are futile, her actions must be leaving some sort of mark on everyone
if not, then next episode will surely be a depressing one
sign me up for dango and star alliances
@Siva: lol I’ve been using this handle for over 4 years