Clannad 21, Lost Dreams, Lost Hope
March 14th, 2008 by Shirukii
We start with Kyou, just because =P
Sorry for the lateness of this entry, blame five straight hours of SSBB, which my friends and I have concluded is vastly inferior to Melee.
Anyways, I digress, great episode, unlike Hinano, I thought the Kyou and Tomoyo scenes were time well spent. But I do recognize the point she makes and am equally scared how they’re going to pack everything that has to happen in order for a satisfactory Nagisa arc into their few remaining episodes.
With the school festival fast approaching, the drama club kicks their activities into high gear. With coaching from Koumura-sensei they begin to make their way through the paces of getting a decent play up and running. Everything from fancervicey gym stretches to eternally long tongue twisters to more practical things like sounds and lighting, the drama club finally is starting to look like one rather than a random after school gathering of Tomoya’s harem.
Sanae and Akio are getting into it too, with no one else to turn to, Sanae is counted on for sewing the costumes, Akio helps out by bringing a video of a play for reference, helpful since Nagisa doesn’t remember ever having seen an actual play! Afterwards, he helps Tomoya look for the book that Nagisa’s play might be based on, finding nothing but her bedpan and some buried memories, which are then placed dangerously close to the shed opening.
After seeing a video of a play and almost being moved to tears, Nagisa suddenly decides that she wants to incorporate a song into the play’s climax. She gets Rie and the drama club to help her pick out a song of her vast music collection and gets to work on it immediately. As he sees Nagisa putting her heart into this play, Tomoya can’t help but be amazed by this girl, once deathly shy and unable to make friends, now surrounded by people who support her, in more ways than one, as shown by Tomoyo’s little speech, which I’ll talk about later.
With the play essentially written, everyone’s jobs decided, the drama club along with the rest of the school push onwards towards the school festival.
The day before the school festival arrives, also the first time the club will be running through a full rehearsal of the play. Nagisa has some pre-performance jitters which are calmed down with the support of the club, in particular some stupid techniques for dealing with anxiety from Sunohara. Putting their hands together for a cheer, Nagisa heads out to the stage.
Apparently rehearsal goes well, Tomoya telling Sanae and Akio that no problems were encountered during the performance. Cheering on their daughter, Sanae and Akio go a little overboard on the enthusiasm and garner some sarcastic remarks from Tomoya, which are responded to by Nagisa saying that Tomoya will surely be the same when he’s a parent, since he’s a lot like Akio.
Later that night, too tense to sleep, Nagisa visits Tomoya’s room to talk for a while. Nagisa voices her concerns over the play and the conversation again drifts into her feeling that she did something terrible to her parents when she was small. Tomoya tells her that she can’t always be thinking that everything is her fault, that she has to let it all go and concentrate on the play.
Before going to sleep, Nagisa makes sure to pack everything she needs, heading out to the shed to pick up a flashlight to illuminate things backstage, she knocks over the box filled with Sanae and Akio’s past. It isn’t until hours later when Tomoya gets up to go to the bathroom that he finds Nagisa reading her parents’ diary and going over pictures of their younger days when Akio was an aspiring actor and Sanae was a teacher. Tomoya tells her to get some sleep, reminding her what he said earlier about concentrating on what’s in front of her, but the damage is clearly done. Akio walks in on Tomoya cleaning up and can’t believe how bad the timing was on this disaster.
Thoughts
Poor Nagisa, that expression she had when she found out she was the cause of her parents’ abandonment of her dreams was crushing. Again, I’m loving the “new” Clannad that concentrates on themes of family more than the harem ffa of the first 19 episodes. Families are an interesting social unit, they can be in constant conflict, constant harmony or anywhere in between. Spending so much time with the same people guarantees conflict, there’s no escaping it, certain families will overcome it and come closer together, while others will be torn apart because of it. Nagisa blames herself for doing something horrible to her parents, her parents blame themselves for neglecting Nagisa, neither is a justified cause for self-loathing, but they agonize over it anyways. The angst that can come out of a family’s problems, and every family has problems, is arguably more genuine than anything than you could cook up in a love story.
But that said, I still like the throwbacks to the good old harem days. Tomoyo coming into the drama club room, blushing up a storm in the presence of Tomoya and then essentially congratulating Nagisa for winning his heart was a bittersweet moment. It’s sad to see the defeated reminded about their loss, but nice to see that they’re slowly moving on. I’m just glad that KyoAni hasn’t completely abandoned what they spent well over half the series developing. Hell, who am I kidding, I’m just happy to get more Kyou and Tomoyo screentime. Kyou = perfect girlfriend material, Tomoyo = perfect waifu material. Nagisa? Moe cockroach?
But given that Nagisa has won the harem, it sure is taking them a while to solidify their relationship. Another Tomoya confession checkpoint arrived at and driven by, lol, “save it for later”. The blood of Nagisa fans must be boiling over these two. Even Akio has pretty much resigned his daughter to the guy, just get together you two!
I haven’t seen the Clannad movie yet, but I know roughly what happens in it, how is it that the events of that movie could possibly transpire within the…what, two episodes + OVA we have left. Barring some hueg time skip, I don’t see it happening. Will they end Nagisa’s arc prematurely at the end of the school festival or shortly after it? I don’t want to doubt KyoAni’s pacing of Key adaptations because they’ve done fairly well with them in the past, but I seriously see no way they’re going to pull this off, unless we’re in for another 1-2 cour season. Anyone care to think of another way?
In any case, next week will be the school festival episode, from the preview, Nagisa looks like she’s a total wreck after learning about what she did to her parents.
Ah glasses, exponential hotness multiplier on almost any anime girl
~ Shirukii ~
29 Responses to “Clannad 21, Lost Dreams, Lost Hope”
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SSBB? even forgot to watch Clannad?
Someone’s gotta bring down the hammer of fangirl rage…otherwise we get everyone’s posts about how moe X Y Z is :P
“…concluded is vastly inferior to Melee…”
What!? NO U!
…..I’m leaving the fanclub……..I’m leaving!!!
“…which my friends and I have concluded is vastly inferior to Melee.”
I demand an explanation for this. NAO.
Anime glasses defy logic even further with how small they are with respect to anime eyes. XD Those have to be just for reading.
Do people get pet a lot in Japan for praise, or is that really just an anime girl thing?
@ Siva: Not that I forgot, just didn’t have enough time ;_;
@ Hinano: Exactly why I continue to frequent your blog, always nice to have someone playing foil to OH GOD KYOU IS HOT, and etc.
@ totali/RMX: Noo totali, come back ;_;
Haha, I figured this would happen really quickly. Ok, first off, note that it is inferior to melee as a fighting game, not as a game in general. It’s a fun party game and all, but as a fighter, loses out to Melee in every way possible.
They slowed down game play in SSBB, when I jump there’s HUGE hang time. The characters in general move slower and feel a lot heavier. Single hits are more devastating and combos aren’t as encouraged as in the past, Ike anyone?
And now for the tournament goers and high level players…
Removed from the game:
Crouch-Canceling
L-Canceling
Jump-Canceling
Short Hop
Directional Influence
Wavedashing
Dash Dancing
The ONLY one I can understand being removed is wavedashing, as it was a huge advantage to those who knew how to use it and a glitch of the game’s physics engine. The removal of short hop l-cancel really killed me, as it makes SHFFLing impossible.
We actually went back to Melee after those five hours and wow was it ever a blessing to be able to tech it up again.
I can see why the average player would like brawl more, the characters are better and game play more friendly. But it’ll never develop into the awesome tournament game Melee is right now.
Anyways, SSBB rant, over. XD
@ Crisu: I am now lol’ing at what their contact lenses would look like.
Also, I’ve pet girls over the head while praising before, more jokingly than anything, but still.
So…this is ending on episode 22 (minus the OVA)? I’m guessing a second season to cover the After Story. I’d like to see it covered in a longer timespan and in better animation, because Toei sucks. o.o Yu-Gi-Oh Season Zero and what else?
And Shirukii, I think you’re just mad because you can’t be a wavedashing whore like in Melee, and thus can’t Waveshine spam with Fox. ^^; My (ungrounded) retorts to you aside, friend code plox?
Well, I’m that next episode will probably be a big angst fest with Nagisa with Tomoya or her family telling her she’s not to blame, and the confession of love that should have happened way back in the episode Mei was introduced. Bah, I’m done with Clannad for the moment, True Tears tomorrow yay!
I feel the same way about Brawl Shirukii…I went back to Professor Layton on the DS…
But then recently I bought a 63″ Samsung panel and I can forgive. Forgiveness is great. Im currently waiting for Little Big Planet. BTW, have some AAABBBAABB youtube.com/watch?v=XRi-KeO7bvc
Since her focal point is far above the frames, Tomoyo is going to have trouble seeing out of those glasses. But they do make her appear more mature and sexier.
Mmm, have some Clannad x Lucky Star MAD albeit short, youtube.com/watch?v=rhGzXWIWkgI
Re SSBB: What did you think of “The Subspace Emissary?”
Re Clannad: I admit that I was flummoxed when I saw “Final Episode” in the preview for ep. 22, what with there being quite a few loose ends to resolve. I wonder if even two OVAs will be enough to cover all the bases.
And now, spoilerguard:
Show ▼
One other thing: Air TV had Kanon cameos, and Kanon 2006 had Air cameos. Has anyone noticed any Key cameos in Clannad? Right now, I’m wagering that I’ve either missed it or forgotten it.
Was anyone else wondering why the club members were preparing for a KKK rally?
SSBB has eaten my soul too @.x FUN!
KyouAni can go both ways. The ending to AIR was incredible. The ending to Kanon felt rushed and was a let down.
That is one awesome picture of Kyou. We need a Kyou After story….
http://animearimasu.animeblogger.net/image/Clannad/21ClannadKyou.jpg
Okay, now we are finally getting some seriousness to a primarily comic relief character. Clannad is really surpassing itself lately, especially the intricate character interactions and backstories.
BTW, does anyone notice how the costume looks just like a recoloured version of the uniform in Kanon?
@shirukii
A couple of things:
1. They did not take away short hopping. Heck the site even deems it as “small jumping.”
2. You can still shffl although this time it’s more aerial specific. It’s also one of the reasons marth is still great as his aerials benefit hugely from this to the point he literaly hasn’t changed much from his melee state.
3. Combo’s are not being ignored, infact they’re being more encourged due to stale move negation. If you rack up damage by using smash attacks, those same attacks will lose their K.O ing ability due to repeated use. Brawl forces you a times to save your smash attacks and rack up damage anywhere else.
4. This isn’t SSBM 2, this is SSBB. Expect it to feel different just as SSB was different compared to SSBM. Also they may have taken out some advanced techniques, but slowly they’re being replaced with other’s such as RAR’s.
5. You don’t know if this game is tournament worthy as melee. For starters, the game isn’t even 2 months old overall and not even a week old in the US. I’m not saying Brawl can’t fail but it’s too early to say anything at this point. Melee’s tournament reputation wasn’t built instantly; it took many years of trial and error, as well as scorn from other communities, to get to the point where it is today. All I’m saying is to give Brawl more time before you completely write the game off. Again there is just not enough to get a sense of what direction the game is going to take the tourney scene to. To illustrate look at Street Fighter 3: third strike. Many people at first hated it because it was not “Street Fighter 2″ and as a result, it had low turn outs after it was just released. But eventually people started to fool around with the game and now it’s most popular street fighter in tournaments today. Who knows Brawl could share a similar fate, or it could be a complete catastrophe, but right now it’s too early for brawl to be indicative of something.
6. If you wanted to emphasize your distaste in brawl by contrasting it with something on the other end of the spectrum, then this was not the episode of clannad to do it. Uninspiring Drama that felt forced coupled with useless scenes (do we really need to see a bunch of girls stretching at this point?) and you’ve got a recipe for a mediocre episode, as shared by other bloggers. It’s strange the this is the second to the last episode, but IMO it sums up this adaptation of Clannad really well: A disorganized mess with some great points here and there.
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Ah, another one bitten by the RL- I mean, SSBB bug. :P Sheesh.
I’ve looked at spoilers from the movie too, and there’s good reason to believe that the After Story’s going to be animated, yes, and probably substantially at that considering the length of it or something. I wouldn’t jump the gun at this point, raving fangirls aside. We’re talking KyoAni and their surprise Clannad announcement here, what’s stopping them from announcing an entire cour of After Story once this ends? Nothing.
I don’t have much to say about SSBB…..was never a huge fan of it in the first place…….it is fun….but Playstation and X-Box FTW! :)
As regards the episode……I liked it…..I’m just not as emotionally invested in Clannad as other KeyAni series……
thus far there hasn’t been enough BAW T_T moments like Misuzu’s GOOOOOAL……or Makoto’s…..”Yuichii I want to….marry you….so that we’ll always be together” in Kanon…….
Who knows what the final ep. has in store though :D…..it still has a shot at exceeding my expectations.
@ W4:
I’m too lazy to check right now, but I’m pretty sure one of the early episodes had a Misuzu juice box :)
Moéganekko Tomoyo FTW!
Eeeh, I wonder if they could really resolve everything in next week’s final episode… the Episode 23 extra looks more of epilogue that I’m not expecting too much in terms of storyline from it.
Is the only point of the other world to serve as the showing of the story Nagisa wanted to act out? If so, it’d be a little disappointing, IMO. It’s not so much of a supernatural series anymore, then, but a regular school-based show with harem qualities and family issues. Which is still cool, but y’know xP
But I digress, least the last two episodes surprise me. Hopefully they won’t downplay the story with Tomoya’s father and speed through Nagisa’s revelation.
@ RJ: Yea, Toei’s animation seems to be stuck in the 90s, I saw screens, terrible character designs. Next ep will certainly be full of angst, still curious to see how it plays out though.
And uh…I don’t have a Wii, I just go to a friend’s house whenever we have free time. Fox was my first main, more than waveshine whoring, I miss the basics, like SHFFLed n-air spam and drill shine. I main Marth now, who admittedly hasn’t really changed much, it’s still all about spacing and timing, though, chain grabs are harder to pull off without wavedash.
@ Servbot: Oh man I remember when I first saw that Kaiba thing, lol konami code. Nice lucky star/clannad crossover, though…Miyuki as Tomoyo? Lame.
@ W4: Insanely hard, the platforming aspect isn’t bad, but the random enemies that fly around have insane knockback. I like the CPU fights though, they’re actually challenging, if only because they’re very adept at dodging.
It depends on the nature of the OVAs, if they’re post-timeskip, then I could see the massive amount of drama being packed in.
*dodges spoiler*
Mizusu’s peach drink made an appearance earlier in the series, that’s about it.
@ ItAintEazy: I noticed that too, debated whether or ont to screenshot it, decided against it, lol.
@ Kari: Hehe, seems like everyone and their grandmother plays brawl.
@ Roy Mustang: Did anyone actually understand why she stuck her tongue out and who she was doing it to? I don’t remember any mention of contact lenses before.
@ Alias: Whoa, what? Summer uniforms or winter uniforms? The winter uniforms are completely different, I don’t remember Kanon’s summer uniforms though, as it was snowing most of the time lol.
@ dak22:
1. As it existed in Melee, short hopping is gone. The effective aerial time of a short hop fast fall in Melee was no more than a second. Sure you can vary the height of your jumps in Brawl, but the time spent in the air is far too long to be the pressuring force it was in Melee.
2. Short-Hop Fast Fall L-cancel. That L-cancel is crucial to SHFFLing, and now it’s gone. Try doing a drill shine with fox, it no longer flows as a continuous combo.
3. True. But they’re not as varied as they were in Melee. I main Marth though, and as you mentioned, he’s pretty similar to his Melee version, so I’m happy in that respect. I can still pull off the Ken Combo, though the timing is slightly different.
4. Also true, and I guess that’s where Nintendo had to make a decision. Either make a new iteration of the SSB franchise, or appease the tournament players of SSBM.
5. Remember, almost all the advanced techs of Melee were discovered within months of its release. And the first time I played Third Strike I instantly saw its potential with the addition of parrying. I just didn’t get the same feel from Brawl.
6. I didn’t intend this to turn into a SSBB discussion at all, lol. The point had no relation to the Clannad episode at hand, it was a digression, as I said, an excuse as to why the post was a couple hours late XD
@ Owen S: I would like nothing more than to see that happen. With all the hype over After Story being the best part of Clannad, I think it’d be stupid for them not to do it.
@ Kanon_fan82: Yea, there has been a serious lack of BAW worthy moments in Clannad despite many people saying that it would turn into a BAWfest. Again, most of it is in the After Story and we have yet to even begin addressing it.
@ mayoineko: Indeed. It gives her this air of maturity that I find extremely hot.
@ Hopey: The symbolism of the alternate world extends beyond inspiration for Nagisa’s play. Though I doubt it’ll be explained in the one episode we have left.
uh….. Is it a Clannad discussion or I join the wrong place? J/K XD
Ah too bad i didnt play this SSBB game otherwise you will see how crazy Siva could be.
According to popular rumor (aka myself entertaining my own ideas for the sake of discussion), while Clannad TV so far is full of “AWWW” moments (both sad and cute), the Clannad After Story is full of the BAWWW and “AWWW” moments (Awww because it’s beautiful).
I have a slight inkling as to what they will do with the OVA episode, but does anyone know if they announced plans for a second season to wrap up the after story? Want moar!
For a moment, I thought this was a SSBB discussion XD. Well, I demoed a few moments on the booth, and I just don’t like the Nunchucks Remote controller scheme. The Jump button placement (C button) threw me off a lot, and it was harder to execute throws. I figured out Z A, but I might be missing something that’s more easier to execute than what I was doing.
This anime adoption is just screaming for a second session or some sort for the After Story. Nagisa’s story is just incomplete without it. There’s a lot of stuff that’s still unresolved, such as Tomoya his father relationship and the meaning of the alternate world.
Also, why are the anime writers taking their sweet time bringing Tomoya and Nagisa together officially?
@Shirukii: how much did you rate this episode?
Hrm….there’s definitely a costume similarity between Nagisa and
http://www.myanimelist.net/images/characters/3/4295.jpg
Or maybe I’m just paranoid about KyoAni’s random insertions =)
>>scared how they’re going to pack everything that has to happen in order for a satisfactory Nagisa arc into their few remaining episodes.
Didn’t you know, the Clannad in Summer OVA is going to be six 45-minute episodes long.
@lolikitsune: What source stated that?
I’m just spouting nonsense. It isn’t called “Clannad in Summer” is it?
@lolikitsune: o_O
I strive to please.