Clannad 13
January 11th, 2008 by Shirukii
The Clannad dryspell is finally over! After three long weeks in its absence it’s great to see it back in its usual Thursday time slot. This week saw a lot of character development for Kotomi and not much else, but that’s not a bad thing at all. One thing that caused me to roll my eyes though is Tomoya having Key’s trademark childhood amnesia, it’s a worn out technique and although I saw it coming it was still a disappointment that such a cliche method was used to progress the story.
Episode Rating: 8.5/10
The first half of the episode was one huge flashback where we get to see Kotomi’s, and to a certain extent Tomoya’s, childhood days. Kotomi spent her days as a kid mostly with her parents, like her current self, she wasn’t very sociable at school and therefore didn’t make many friends. However her parents were company enough and so Kotomi never really felt a sense of loneliness. But one day a young boy around her age came wandering into the garden after getting lost while bug catching, Okazaki Tomoya, became Kotomi’s first real friend.
Around that time, Kotomi’s birthday was fast approaching, not really knowing what she wanted Kotomi mimicked the wishes of a girl in a book she read and asked her parents for a stuffed bear. However, soon before her birthday Kotomi’s parents were suddenly called out onto a business trip and wouldn’t be able to make it to her party. Despite their attempts to calm Kotomi down by telling her they’d bring a souvenir and make food for her party, Kotomi selfishly wants them to stay, saying she hates them for lying.
Kotomi’s birthday came and no one showed up to her party, not even Tomoya. When the door finally rang it was a stranger who appeared on her doorstep bringing bad news, that her parents had died in a plane crash, taking with them a copy of a thesis containing their research results, an invaluable piece of research that many people would soon want. Isolating herself in the house, Kotomi prays for her parents to come home, listening to the news and hearing reports about the crash Kotomi eventually comes to the conclusion that it’s the thesis that her parents wrote that was the cause of their disappearance. Naively thinking that they would return if it hadn’t existed, Kotomi burns the only remaining copy.
Ever since, Kotomi has been lost in life, studying with the faint notion that she might succeed her parents one day, but not entirely sure. When Tomoya first came to her in the library she was happy to see him again, only to realize that he had forgotten about her. But as the days passed and they became friends once again, Kotomi was unsure whether to remind him of the time they spent together as kids.
The following day Tomoya goes to the teachers’ lounge to get a status report on Kotomi only to find that she plans on taking some time off from school. Not only that, but she has begun to show interest in studying abroad, an offer previously extended to her that she had declined.
Not knowing what else to do, Tomoya skips school to visit Kotomi, but when he gets to her house he figures she probably needs some time alone. So with nothing else to do he makes a Harvest Moon game out of Kotomi’s front yard, slowly clearing the weeds away. Nagisa, despite being told to stay at school, shows up not soon later and lets slip the plans to hold a party for Kotomi’s birthday the coming Saturday to cheer her up.
Continuing his garden project, Tomoya soon realizes he’s in way over his head, he pulls some funds from the bank account which houses the funds he plans to survive on when he leaves home and buys some new tools and a gardening handbook. Lounging around reading the book he runs into Nagisa, Kyou and Ryou, who just picked up and not soon after destroyed Kotomi’s birthday present. After getting permission from its previous owner and the music club they had planned on giving Kotomi the violin she used during the recital. Unfortunately, on the way to getting it tuned they were sideswiped by a biker and in the commotion cracked the violin in half. They spend the rest of the day visiting and pleading with music shops to repair it, despite being told it would be cheaper to buy a new one. But for Kotomi it’s meaningless if it’s not this violin, eventually they find a store willing to try repairing it but are told it could take months, which would make it one hell of a belated birthday present.
And so with nothing else left they can do, Tomoya returns to his gardening project, Kyou and the others joining in despite Tomoya’s objections. In a moment’s rest Nagisa thinks she spots the curtains in Kotomi’s overlooking the garden room ruffle, with the reassuring thought that their efforts may be getting to her, the four of them work through the night, fighting a seemingly futile battle to restore the garden to its previous state.
Thoughts
Ahhh, finally Clannad returns, fighting off the temptation to read the visual novel these past three weeks hasn’t been easy. Especially when there’s a thread on /a/ about it nearly every hour.
I thought Kotomi’s childhood was a pretty stereotypical drama past and as such I’m sort of desensitized from feeling any sympathy from her. But the toll that it must have taken on her is pretty harsh, not only did her parents die, but the last words she said to them were “I hate you”, that’s never fun to think of in retrospect. It was surprising to see Kotomi’s loli form being such a spoiled little kid though, a huge contrast from her current self who would sooner cower in fear than scream out words of hate. Seems like her tendency to let loose the waterworks at a moments notice hasn’t left her though, God there’s a lot of BAAAWing Clannad.
Another thing that I’ve begun to wonder about through this episode, how exactly is Kotomi supporting herself? Her parents died and it wasn’t until some random stranger came knocking on her door that she heard about it, does she not have any relatives? Afterwards she locked herself in her house, fearing that “bad guys” would be coming after her parents’ thesis, how did she feed herself in this time? And finally, in her current situation she seemingly lives alone, who’s paying for the mortgage on her house? Utilities? Food? Can’t be the creepy stalker dude, Kotomi would never accept money from him.
And lol @ the explanation Kotomi’s father gave of the world being a harmony of harps (strings) whose melodies (vibrations) being responsible for the intricate beauty of the world. This and the title of the next episode “Theory of Everything” must be making string theorists drool. Hate to break it to you guys, string theory will likely NEVER replace good old Newtonian mechanics as the governing theory of the universe. Sure Newtonian physics may fail at uniting principle forces and it may fall apart at the quantum level, but at least it’s observable and not just based on mathematical ideals. Enjoy your 10+ dimensions and ridiculous formulas that will never amount to anything concrete.
I wonder how long the Kotomi arc will stretch for, it’s been three episodes of her already and I don’t really see it ending any time in the near future. She’s great and all, but we need moar Kyou! I hope the Fujibayashi sisters are up next and not Tomoyo.
Zettai ryouki <3
~ Shirukii ~
19 Responses to “Clannad 13”
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Kotomi loli
Harvest Moon owns.
I have a theory on the male protagonist amnesia. Essentially, it’s a form of Multiversal Karma.
Specifically, I am proposing that, in Keyverses, baby seals club young boys. This would explain the memory losses perfectly.
—
Seriously, though…
In Tomoya’s specific case, perhaps the reason he forgot was due to the overwhelming problems in his own life. His entire relationship with his father and his slide into delinquency probably take up a lion’s share of his mind. And even though you’re a big Kyou fan, even you have to admit that dodging 90mph dictionaries requires significant attention.
Given this, it’s not that Tomoya forgot about Kotomi. It was probably the 827th thing on his mind, right after “Are we as a nation eating too much garlic?” and “Why do all those girls flock around that Itou bastard?”
Come on, you gotta admit, of all the amnesia themes in Key anime, this one has got to be probably the most. . . no you’re right, it’s still contrived and facepalm inducing.
Man, you never see those kind of views on american subways/metro.
We need more private schools here.
It never occurred to me about the re-use of Kanon’s childhood amnesia during my playthrough of the game, but yeah, it can feel redundant.
The whole Kotomi’s past was extremely depressing when I played thru the game. It’s too bad they had to left out some stuff that made even more depressing from the game due to time constraints, but still, I think Kyoani did a good job showing the essentials.
And yes, it was a mystery to me as well how Kotomi lived all those years without her parents, but her housemaid was absent due to illness during that time, so maybe she came back later on and took care of things. I doubt Kotomi would have locked her out as well, as opposed to that guy with the freaky appearance.
Incidentally, just why the hell did he had to dress like that? Any kid would have freaked out when a guy who wouldn’t show his face approached like that.
According to the recent interview, it seems like they’ll move on to Fujibayashi sisters story, then to Tomoyo’s story.
This episode didn’t meet my expectation that much. I have been waited for 2 weeks and all I got was how to garden properly for like 10 minutes? Man, that was lame.
Well, I could see that this suppose to be emotional episode, so I’ll let that slide by . Man, they need to come up with better way to have an accident. You know, something other than plane clash, car clash, etc.
At this rate, I don’t think the next episode will be the end of Kotomi’s arc just yet, but we’ll see. I mean, sooner Kotomi’s arc done then I can see more of my Kyou faster =)
Then again, I still want a proper/emotional ending for Kotomi’arc just like what they did to Fuko’s arc.
@ Michael: Plays the violin better than non-loli Kotomi, who would have thought.
@ Totali: Harvest Moon 64 was one of the best games I’ve ever played.
@ W4: I wish girls would throw dictionaries at me in a feigned attempt to get my attention =(
@ ItAintEazy: Pretty much, yea.
@ Servbot: 2D > 3D, I don’t ever expect to see anything remotely as awesome in my entire life.
@ solgae: Ah, I forgot about the mention of the maid. Who would be paying her though?
The bad guy’s look isn’t that bad, it’s the sunglasses that are making him seem stalkerish.
@ kenshin514: Agree’d, they need to end Kotomi’s arc asap and as well as possible, we need Kyou!
Tomoya should have used the golden sickle, it can cut 9 squares of grass per slice; definitely faster than weeding.
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Gah, spoiler tags didn’t work, sorry about that.
@Shirukii: I’m neither a physicist nor a biologist, but I’m pretty sure that a 90mph dictionary to the head would kill you. If death by affection is what you truly crave, I’d recommend Marshmallow Hell as an alternate.
@Sylon Beta:
It’s alright, they sorta spoiled it in the opening anyways.
The pace of this episode is pretty slow..
And not much excitement going on..
Yea, Harvest Moon owns..
Kyou -was- particularly hot this episode.
Even if the entire neck and fingerboard of the violin needs replacing, I don’t think it would take 6-12 months for it. A few weeks, sure, but…
And I agree with W4 that Tomoya forgetting Kotomi is at least a little more realistic in this case than Yuuichi forgetting five entire girls .. like.. entirely. I do wonder why he missed Kotomi’s birthday party, though. Maybe next ep will tell.
Ok……..I’m scratching my head at Tomoyo’s reasoning here:
internal dialouge=”Kotomi feels like shit………so let’s……….fix the garden?!?!?…..that makes SO much sense :P
Now I get that he’s probably cleaning it up for the surprise b-day party…..but it was never explicitly stated and u just see Tomoyo start pulling up some weeds……..
shame on KyoAni for shoddy transition work :P
re: chibi-Kotomi supporting herself-Have you guys never read Matilda by Roald Dahl????…….sure it would never happen in the real world, but this IS a novel :)
re: financial upkeep of the house-bet you any money, the creepy old dude with teh glasses is paying the bill
Sylon Beta: Golden Sickle is not something you can acquire in one day of work. Otherwise i can finish Harvest Moon game in less than a week.
LOL nothing i can say here because everyone seem dont like this episode that much. Need more KYOU? I guess so.
This is what i have in mind. I think Tomoya is still holding a big flashback in his role which we are not going to learn it soon until Nagisa’s arc. And that may explain why he became amnesia.
Wish the next ep will make much more sense than this one.
Seriously? Six months? What will he be doing with his time that it would take that long?
Hmm. I knew this episode would be drama focused. Though I think I already had forseen that I wouldn’t this particular episode.
I enjoyed Kanon’s drama and Air’s drama to an extent. But I found Kotomi’s story kind of predictable.
But hell you can’t skip episodes of CLANNAD. You need to get everythign as a whole.
I LOL at your last image caption cuz I thought the same thing.
Is it just me or is Kotomi a little chubby? She needs to lose some weight.