Clannad 15, Sunohara is FABULOUS
January 25th, 2008 by Shirukii
All the more hilarious since there actually is a Sunohara route in the Clannad VN
This episode was a little weird, I’ve praised KyoAni for managing to merge comedy and drama before, but it didn’t turn out very well this time. The back and forth of comedic relief and what was supposed to be intense drama ended up taking away from both aspects. And it doesn’t help much that I don’t really like Nagisa as much as the other Clannad leads, so this mix up happening in an episode that focuses on her isn’t doing much to help her cause.
Episode Rating: 7.5/10
Sunohara and Tomoya head to the drama club room as Sunohara talks about joining the drama club in name only, to help Nagisa reach the numbers she needs to reestablish the club. Unfortunately, he gets beat to the idea by Kyou, who gets Kotomi and Ryou to join her, meeting the minimum number of students needed. The other condition that must be met is that the club needs a teacher supervisor, and apparently the only teacher who isn’t already in charge of a club is Koumura-sensei. However, this is where things get a little messy, the music club, led by Nishina, the one who lent Kotomi the violin from the music room, is also trying to reestablish themselves to form a choir, and have also asked Koumura-sensei to supervise them.
School ends and Tomoya heads over to Sunohara’s dorm to kill some time when Misae comes in with a call for Sunohara from his little sister, Mei, but he’s still at school, knocked out in the drama club room. Figuring his sister would be just as weird, Tomoya takes the call and pretends to be Sunohara, apparently she’s not so bright and doesn’t notice going on to tell Tomoya that she is going to be visiting in a couple days, as Tomoya is about to come clean Mei suddenly rushes off and hangs up.
The following day, Sunohara and Tomoya see Nagisa sitting outside reading something, Sunohara grabs it, jokingly suggesting it might be a love letter, but the reality of the situation is far more disturbing. The letter demands that Nagisa give up on the drama club or face painful consequences. The obvious conclusion is that one of the music club members wrote the note, but Nagisa refuses to believe that Nishina or her friends would do such a thing, but Sunohara isn’t convinced and goes to investigate.
In the end it turns out that his suspicions were right, the letter was from one of the music club members, Sugisaka, he calls her out to talk with Nagisa after school. After establishing that she acted alone, Sugisaka goes to explain that Nishina used to be an incredibly talented violinist, her talent was widely recognized and she was on her way to becoming a professional, but then she got into a car accident that left her with an injury that weakened her grip. Now, all she has left is her voice, she may not be able to play violin but she can still sing, so Sugisaka implores Nagisa to give up on the drama club on her behalf.
The story pisses of Sunohara, saying that people who use pity tactics are thoughtless, trying to get what they want with sympathy tactics. He tells Nagisa to ignore everything she’s said and continue fighting for her own dreams, but Nagisa isn’t the type of person who can forget such a story, and ends up agreeing to give up on the drama club.
Afterwards, Tomoya explain to Nagisa why Sunohara got so angry, his situation is similar to his own, he was formerly part of the soccer team until he got into a fight with one of his teammates and had to quit. Nagisa thanks Tomoya for all the help he’s offered her and, naturally, starts to cry, Tomoya goes to comfort her but is interrupted by Kyou who heard the news from Sunohara and bluntly yells at Nagisa, telling her that she’s far too considerate of other people instead of focusing on her own dreams.
Still annoyed, Sunohara suggests going somewhere to fool around, but Tomoya spent all his money on the best Harvest Moon simulator ever, and is thus broke. Luckily, there’s a place they can relax close by, the reference library under Yukine’s care where you can kill some time and enjoy her well brewed coffee. While there, Yukine reads Sunohara his astrological fortune, which says that he’s a very considerate friend and that his lucky word is basketball, this sparks something in Sunohara’s head and he runs off to do some preparation.
On his way home, Tomoya comes across Tomoyo being harassed by the judo club leaders to join the judo team. However, Tomoyo wants to run for student counsel president and isn’t interested in judo. Fuko to the rescue! Like before, she randomly appears to try and solve the situation at hand, but ends up leaving without accomplishing much. In the end, Tomoya stares down the judo leaders and runs off with Tomoyo, who is surprised at what a nice and dependable person he is.
The next day, Sunohara’s brilliant plan is revealed, he wants to have a match against the basketball club to make the music club see how dedicated they are so that they’ll hand over Koumura-sensei. Flawless logic, Sunohara, absolutely flawless. He follows Tomoya around the whole day pushing the idea. Nagisa wonders if it’s alright for Tomoya to be ignoring Sunohara, so he decides to play around with her a bit, telling her that Sunohara is actually in love with him. When Sunohara catches up to the two, Nagisa suddenly gets protective, telling Sunohara that there are limits that shouldn’t be crossed, as a last resort, she claims that she’s dating Tomoya and won’t give him up. Sunohara is rather shocked by the news and runs away crying, leaving Tomoya and Nagisa in an awkward silence, given what she just did. But their raburabu moment is interrupted by a loli who introduces herself as Sunohara Mei, Tomoya suddenly remembering the phone conversation he had with her…
Thoughts
Damnit I need to find some way to cut my Clannad summaries shorter, this is killing my wrists.
Anyways, as I said, really weird episode. There were a lot of high tension scenes revolving around the rivalry between the drama and music clubs, broken up by random comedy scenes like Tomoya’s usual joking. The result was an inconsistency in the mood of the episode, one moment we’re in high suspense, worrying about what will become of Nagisa and her dream to restart the drama club, the next we see Tomoya spazzing out at a cat. Comedic relief works in moderation, used to release viewer tension and simultaneously strengthen the impact of drama to come, but when you jump back and forth between the two, the effect is ruined. When a clear emotional focal point isn’t defined the effectiveness of any individual scene will suffer. Or so I thought *shrugs*
Another complaint about this episode, I have no idea what purpose it served plot wise. It seems as if it was the beginning of Nagisa’s arc, but I’m not sure that’s the case. If you take a look at the preview you’ll notice that it was left completely open ended, you had Tomoyo questioning Tomoya on his love life, then the Fujibayashi sisters doing the same and at the end Nagisa and Tomoya are alone in Sunohara’s room. Also, the subplot of the alternate world was brought back, all these possibilities jumping at us right after the conclusion of Kotomi’s arc is too much, there needed to be some cool down time. No doubt where this is all heading will be explained next episode, but without any indication of what this episode did to advance the plot, it just seems like a huge waste of time at the moment.
Case and point, Fuko’s scene…why? It accomplished nothing, literally. I have nothing against Fuko, but she needs to stay in her coma and wait until the epilogue to show up again.
Despite all the ranting I did this week, by no means was this a bad episode in league with R+V or H20, just a disappointment on Clannad standards. And I may end up eating my own words if this all plays very well into the story at hand.
Finally, for people who have played any or all of the visual novel, I’m hearing a lot of people say that much of the Fujibayashi route is creeping into the anime, can you guys confirm this? I know that Nagisa end is most likely, especially since the animators have all but said they plan to animate portions of Nagisa’s After Story baaaawfest, but “LOL, WHAT A TWIST!” endings seem to be all the rage nowadays. Is there hope for delicious Kyou ending?
Onii-chan? *melts*
~ Shirukii ~
34 Responses to “Clannad 15, Sunohara is FABULOUS”
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Strange. I found this to be one of the better episodes. Random Fuko-ness is awesome. The way they introduced romanitic tension in the Nagisa x Tomoya relationship was pretty good.
I guess it just depends on what kind of mood your in.
Originally I thought is was going to be Nagisa arc then almost towards the end of the episode maybe Sunohara’s because of his sister and emotional outbreak. Then the preview didn’t help the cause either so i have no idea now ;_;.
More Tomoyo please, I hope she gets a mini arc or something because I like the kickass girls in anime ^^
I don’t like the new uniforms, but fortunately Fuko still has the original one.
Huh…I can’t really tell whose arc belong to in this episode. I can understand that Clannad has so many support & side characters and they somehow have to put some of their screentime sooner or later. By introducing Mei, we probably will see more of Sonohara’s character development. Even though, it doesn’t seem too exciting, but what can we do because after all the theme of this seires is “Family.”
I actually like Fuko. I mean, her appearance seems pointless, but still funny to watch (I guess). Yeah, I agree with you, Shirukii. Nagisa isn’t one of my favorite heroine either (IMO, she is my #4 after Kyou, Tomoyo, Kotomi and Fuko being last) and I doubt that we have any hope for Kyou ending =(
The new school uniform remind me of Tomoyo after life game. May be they can have some sort of tiny cliffhanger in the end of Clannad and then they can continue have Tomoyo ~it’s wonderful life~ as an OVA. I thought that will be cool.
FUUKO SAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
OK I know I should be commenting on the episode content itself…but did anyone else notice that Sunohara was drinking a Tiramisù flavoured juice box???????
I love Tirimasu, but in liquid form???? that somehow doesn’t seem right :P
Anyway, I think the purpose of this episode was to provide some comic relief and to introduce the romantic tension between Tomoyo and Nagisa……
I am surprised that with only 9 eps. left, KyoAni decided to do a Sunohara arc….even if it is a short one….they still have the twins, Tomoya, the main heroine……methinks this will end up being a rushed series :(
also LOL at Tomoyo spazzing out on the cat, I was laughing pretty hard…esp. when the land-lady was like “Could you please not scare my cat!?!?”
@Kanon_fan82: I think you have to switch between Tomoya and Tomoyo name in your sentences otherwise it doesn’t make sense. Don’t worry a lot of people got it mixed up too =)
Random Fuko Violence is not pointless. It is the most realistic depiction.
If there was a coma girl who had the ability to project herself, she would do exactly as Fuko is doing. As she does not have enough power to stay projected, she just watches over her friends and only materializes when she thinks she can help.
Fuuko should be destroyed.
Sunohara should be Okazaki’s boyfriend.
IIRC, the random Fuko encounters are also there in the Visual Novel after you accomplished something, so I think KyoAni is just doing an adaptation of that feature in the VN?
Nagisa and Nishina might create some stagnancy if there’re no characters like Sunohara or Sugisaka.. “I’m sorry to disturb you, I’ll cancel my drama club plan!” “No, it’s okay, it is I who should’ve backed off” “No, please!” “No, please!” etc ~__~
Also, finally played the VN, and finished the Tomoyo arc.. I don’t think KyoAni will take this arc.. Show ▼
Wow, Tomoya’s one yanchana aki dango, I tell ya what. What he did to Sunohara was just cold ;^_^. I don’t care what anyone else thought, I found myself chuckling all throughout the episode. Sure it’s not a classic standalone episode, but it didn’t disappoint either. And, God help me, the random Fuko cameo scenes are starting to grow on me.
Yes, the Fujibayashi route has been slowly eating it’s way inside ever since episode 10. Show ▼
@ kenshin514:
For some reason I thought the name ending in “a” was feminine…..hence mixing them up….confusing it with Hebrew I guess lol :P…..(fem. nouns usually take on the “ah” or “aww” sound in Biblical Hebrew)
I was too lazy to look it up at the time of posting…….but thanks for the correction :)
@ Roy Mustang: The Nagisa-Tomoya development was alright, I’ll give you that.
But the Fuko scene was just lip service to Fuko fans, she must be doing well in character polls or something, lol. I’d agree with your latter point, but Fuko hasn’t helped at all in the two times she showed up. The first time she won herself a plush star and this time she got confused and ran off. Though, I suppose that’s exactly what you’d expect of Fuko XD
@ proxyman: I miss the sweaters of the winter uniform, but the summer ones aren’t bad. But agreed on the confusion point, I have no idea whose arc we’re getting into next.
@ kenshin514: You never know, as I mentioned, the Fujibayashi arc seems to be heavily hinted at right now. And lawl, you didn’t even rank Ryou in your list XD
@ Totali: I figured you’d chime in with that =P
@ Kanon_fan82: Yea, I caught that too, weird choice, that can’t taste very good. I would have thought KyoAni would have used Misuzu’s peach pulp juice box in that scene like they did with Fuko’s pre-wedding celebration at school.
@ Michael: You need to read his route in the VN, it was freaking hilarious.
@ albert_2mb: Yea, the stalemeate that would have arisen from Nishina and Nagisa would have been funny, but endless. Characters like Sunohara and Sugisaka are entirely necessary in these situations.
Also, I really doubt we’ll get a Tomoyo end, she hasn’t gotten a lot of screen time overall. She’ll probably be another character like Kotomi, she’ll come in and do her stuff then be relegated to background scenery with the occasional one-liner.
@ ItAintEazy: I’m surprised how well Sunohara fell into his trap. He must look extremely gay in Nagisa’s eyes right now.
@ Alias: So I’ve heard. Which makes me all the more hopeful that KyoAni will finally animate a rivalry between the girls instead of copping out and just handing Nagisa the prize. Judging from the preview, it’s a possibility.
Completely random: Isn’t Nagisa’s hair a lot like Sekai’s?
I vote Kyou everytime I see the poll, but it still stays at 32%
I think its broke o.0
Also, I just went and saw myself some Rambo 4… so I present to you another chart:
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7829/rambochardlatimesjv9.png
Notice the increase in superior killing speed all while maintaining abstinence in a time of war…I see lifetime achievement award in the future
A bit off topic I think, but eh.
As someone who understands little Japanese, and cannot read Kanji/Kana, is there any groups out there doing a fan translation of Clannad, akin to Mirror Moon doing F/SN? Or perhaps, has any company professionally translated it into English and brought it stateside?
@ TheChichiSlaughterHouse: Minus the tie at the back, yea, I can see where you’re ocming from.
@ Servbot: I only see two votes for Kyou registered from you on the poll, remember that same ip votes are discounted.
And lol, that’s some extremely high death/min ratios. And surprisingly no sex, how was the movie anyways? I heard it sucked.
@ Einzbern: There’s an unofficial translation project, most of it is done, minus the after stories, since…you know, they’re freaking loooong.
I lost the link I got it from, but I’m sure some googling will find it for you. If you’re having trouble, I’ll try and track it down again. Or if you want a quick response, you could always ask 4chan.
Regarding a potential come-from-behind win for Kyou…
Show ▼
Regarding the mood and flow: I get the feeling that KyoAni is trying to alter/break their “Okay, it’s this girl’s turn now” that they used in Air and Kanon. Though it is too soon to tell, this could lead to a three-plot pile-up, and we can all forget about mood consistency. Or any consistency.
And I’m surprised that you didn’t applaud Kyou’s interference. I’ve read in other blogs that the Nagisa-cry/Tomoya-hug scene is where he confesses to her in the game. Kyou charing in to yell at Tomoya stopped that cold.
In conclusion, Fuuko is Keyser Soze. Thank you, and good night.
Hmm, I liked Rambo 4 but dont take my word for it.
Watch the official trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M1KiXWWTxg
Nooooooo. Why Kyou, Why did you have to interfere them?? Just give it up, this show will end in Nagisa!!
Jokes aside, the current track seems to be that all three arcs (Nagisa, Fujibayashi sisters, and Tomoyo) will be progressed in the same time. Mei will appear on Nagisa’s route if you’re deep down to Nagisa’s route and you choose to receive the phone call in the game. Also, you may already know this, but given the way Fujibayashi sister’s arc and Tomoyo’s arc is, Kyoani can’t make one of them take the entire focus of the episode without compromising the main theme. Most romantic moments are kept to a minimum at this point to emphasize more on the main theme.
Fuko and Kotomi’s arc doesn’t have such problems, since they are the arcs where Nagisa takes quite a big role on those arcs, even in the game. Besides, they are the ones that ties very closely to the main theme.
And there’s another problem with the “secondary” characters, which are given their own story as well in the game, and some of the are even mandatory to progress the game, like Sunohara siblings.
I’m pretty confident that Kyoani will do a good job mixing the arcs together. It’s way better than doing it piecewise.
On a side note, Fuko’s random appearance is mostly on Tomoyo’s arc, so that was inevitable. Still, I find it pointless, as she does not originally appear on that scene in the game.
“@ ItAintEazy: I’m surprised how well Sunohara fell into his trap. He must look extremely gay in Nagisa’s eyes right now.”
Well didn’t he also fall for Tomoya’s trap during episode 7 when Tomoya told him to put his face on the desk for Fuko’s prank? And also during episode 4 when he does exactly what Tomoya tells him to do and only realizing what a stupid thing to do when it’s too late? Sunohara’s dumbness is legendary, and if he’s dumb enough to do what Tomoya tells him to do without second guessing, he probably deserved to get chastised by everyone.
LOL at Nagisa’s shock scene. Like mother, like daughter.
@Solgae: I pretty much had a hell of a laugh when I saw her shock scene, not going to lie =)
YAY!!! FUUKO!!! *not about to complain*
There really is a Sunohara route in the VN? Thought that was a joke…
A sweet moment ruined. I was all starry-eyed when Tomoya was just about to comfort Nagisa only to find myself shouting “DAMMIT ALL KYOU!!!!” >.<
@Kari: The Sunohara route involves getting Sunohara a girlfriend, though it ends the same even if you attempt to put him together with different girls; he’d get rejected.
And as for the story plot, it’s actually getting a 4-in-1 arc thing, as solgae has pointed out. In Nagisa’s arc, you have to play a game of basketball to determine who gets to create a club, but you as the player has the choice of deciding who gets the third slot (Tomoya and Sunohara are the first two). By letting either Tomoyo or Kyou play in the basketball game, it creates character development for them. Tomoyo’s arc involves getting closer to Tomoya and Sunohara (I think), so there’s the possibility of her being selected, but in the OP scene, Kyou was seen bouncing a basketball, so it’s still undecided.
The scene about whether Tomoya had a girlfriend or not is the beginning of Kyou’s/Ryou’s arc. This would mean development for Nagisa too, since she’s the chosen girl.
As for Sunohara, his arc would be done at little bits at a time instead of at one go. The same would go for others like Yukine.
I sorta skimmed through the comments, to be honest, so pardon me if I’m repeating what others have already stated.
@Sylon Beta: So many spoilers =x
But you pretty much helped clear the confusion some people had on the difference between development and female lead switch; there was no repetition in your paragraph.
Thanks for that =)
GO YUKARI TAMURA!
Though really. This role sounds nice for her.
I liked Sunohara’s emotional scene this episode.
And woa I have commented on CLANNAD in a while….
Tomoyo in her summer uniform looks GOOOOOD! Yeah I really like the artwork for Tomoyo after.
Fuko here seemed more…..unnecessary than last time.
Yay! you can edit comments!
@Pyrrhusonline: Spoilers? Where? I can’t find any, but perhaps I can’t find it since I don’t find anything new in the info. Either way, I’ll put spoiler tags next time, sorry for the spoilers (Though I don’t get them, but if you feel that something was spoilt, I apologise).
@Sylon Beta: Well they could be misconceived as spoilers, my apologies for making it sound over the top! The Sunohara route hasn’t really been discussed up until this point, but it doesn’t really give anything away. The Tomoyo and Kyou information could be misconceived as well, it all depends on how one takes the given.
Once again, my bad =x
Hmm, there have been so many references from the game in the comment section i wonder if anyone knows what does the next title *3 on 3* could possibly mean? A 3 on 3 mini basketball game?
@Nefesco: Yes, that is what is anticipated. However, I did not see a basketball in the preview, only a bunch of dating questions and a Nagisa-Tomoya love nest.
The tittle “3 on 3″ is pretty interesting but i think “Theory of Everything” is the best one so far, LOL.
@ Pyrrhusonline
Guess we just needa wait for the next ep… ouch!
@ Siva
Yeah i like *Theory of Everything* too! Thought Clannad gonna turn into Haruhi ep13 with all those Morpheus’ mind boggling revelations about our Matrix reality :P
The great thing is that Sunohara-imouto is the Kyon of this show.
@Siva
Kotomi’s father seems refering to String Theory, but the theory doesn’t yet concluded to be be a Theory of Everything or a Theory of Nothing. Anyway I really salute the person who do such research to make a good VN.
Btw, this episode seems better to me than the previous one. But everyone’s mileage may vary. The Sunohara is bi part is especially funny.