E! THS: The rise and fall of Yoshino Yusuke?

With all the advice and impassioned speeches Yoshino Yusuke gives, there’s bound to be some sort of epiphany that got him where he was now. Long established to have sung and all of a sudden stop, some long-awaited insight is finally given: similar to Tomoya, Yusuke grew up to have a sort of delinquent, doing whatever he pleased without anyone to point him in the right direction, but because of his growing interest in rock, he was able to meet Kouko who would be the only one among his school to actively support and believe in him, not dismissing his goals as something unattainable like the laughter of his classmates implied. He went on to move out of town to pursue his dream, continuing to sing for himself until he reached the realization that his songs were more to the peopole than he intended, going on hiatus because he could not longer write songs, feeling guilt that one of the most entusiastic of the fans he met commited an unforgiving crime, and returning to sing songs that the public didn’t deem as good as before in order to help soothe his guilt and atone for what he thought caused it until he finally gave up and succumbed to drugs; despite this, upon his return home and meeting Kouko again after an undisclosed amount of time happened who still continued to support him, did he realize what he hadn’t just been singing for his sake, nor anyone else, but for the person he loved and cherished the most. Thanks to her, he saved himself and became the hard working person he is now.

With all this backstory explained, it’s all so surprising yet makes sense that all of it is so similar to what Tomoya has been going through the entire series: a delinquent who cared for nothing and did whatever he wanted until Nagisa entered his life and eventually finding solace and support from her, and changing his perception and personality from it as well. Yusuke knows how things can’t always go the way they plan it to, to the point where it’s almost the exact same story once you take away the outside details (I guess the phrase “I went through the same thing at your age” actually has meaning here?), and look on what’s important in each one. Of course, Tomoya’s story is far from over, so we can’t automatically assume things will go well for him from here on out.

Especially with Tomoya’s father finally back in the picture after 12 episodes; I’m not really sure how bad of a crime he commited so much so that Tomoya lost his promotion to another company and bigger paycheck considering how broken and drunk the guy looks (remember in “The Dark Knight” how the Chinese guy was involved with the mafia, and Morgan Freeman used that rumor as an excuse to cancel the partnership with Wayne Enterprises? I’m thinking THAT BAD. o.o), but it’s also mirrors how the incident with Yusuke’s fan had a hand in leading to his eventual fall from the spotlight. That was more indirect than this one, though, so maybe there’s more hardships involving that to come?

And this last scene…beautiful. Drawing more similarities between the previous couple, Tomoya’s frustration and sorrow at his current situation leading Nagisa to step in and save him from it. It’d be nice if we could see the two finally kiss after seeing how much they’re comfortable with each other, so much so that they can talk about Nagisa in a swimsuit and hold hands without either one becoming red to the point of exploding, but the marriage proposal and tearful embrace seems to flow pretty well without one. I especially teared up during the last few seconds when Nagisa proclaims to always be with him…Show ▼

Shirukii’s Thoughts

As the main “Nagisa After” arc progresses, I’m beginning to find that, on a whole, Clannad After is weakening as a series. While the relationship between Nagisa and Tomoya is an interesting one to follow, highly emotional and very compelling, it makes me question everything else and why they even bothered.

The main theme of Clannad, and Key novels in general, is hope. In AIR it manifested as a story of two souls struggling against their cursed fates, never giving in despite what seems to be insurmountable odds and inevitable failure. In Kanon we have the story of two young children who fall in love only to have it ripped away by a tragedy far past the scope of which they could be expected to cope for and the eventual reunion at the hands of hope fueled miracles. And in Clannad we follow the blossoming love of a sickly girl and a delinquent boy, who support each other through hardships, and etc etc.

Now, the problem I have with Clannad is that the arcs are so disjoint from each other that anything other than the main plot comes off as just meandering around killing time. The first season was sorta justified in that Tomoya was a jaded delinquent and he needed the experience of making true friends who will be there to support him, we came out of the series with a new and improved Tomoya, there was character growth as a direct consequence of the events in the series. But in After Story, the first 10 episodes or so were a total waste of time aside from acting as a transition from harem comedy to the incoming BAAAWfest, which could have been done in two or three episodes.

I don’t care about Sanae and her cat, or Yuki-nee and her thug friends, I want Clannad After to be a gigantic lead up to the climax of the Nagisa After arc, I want to get to know Tomoya and Nagisa as well as I can so I can celebrate with them when they find their little slice of happiness in a world hell bent on denying it to them, and so I can sympathize with them when it’s eventually torn away. And I know there is enough content for twenty some odd episodes worth of Nagisa-Tomoya interaction. But I digress, I hope that the BAAWfest is delivered and that I don’t resent the wasted time, even though that nagging voice in the back of my head is going to tell me it always could have been better had the time been spent on developing the subtleties of the character dynamics between Nagisa and Tomoya, instead of some meaningless sub plot about Sunohara playing soccer.

That aside, this episode was mostly relevant! I was mildly irked by the extent of the attention given to Yoshino’s subplot, ESPECIALLY since it’s such a damn overplayed scenario. Revered rocker who falls victim to the allure of drugs?! Seriously Key? Come on now, you’re better than that. However, I’ll forgive it because Yoshino is a mentor to Tomoya, bordering on father figure, it needed to be established that why he is able to relate to him so well.

As for Tomoya’s actual father, it’s stuff like this that annoys me to no end, not with regards to the anime itself, but Japan’s culture in general, people having to bear the cross of others because of association. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” may have some truth, but it clearly doesn’t apply in this case, it’s pretty bs that he has to suffer because his dad did something stupid.

But of course, the main thing is that all this only serves to strengthen the bond between Tomoya and Nagisa, who really are perfect for each other. Nagisa is almost submissively understanding when it comes to Tomoya, but will always stand her ground and persevere when he refuses to do something for his own good. In turn, Tomoya gets a reason d’etre, and a level headed voice of reason to guide him. Now that they’re engaged, Ushio tiem is imminent!

Jay: Ushio… ;_;

PREVIEW

With the rumor surrounding Tomoya’s father circulating, it’s not surprise that Akio and Sanae find out about it as well. Some pep talk from Sanae while Akio states how similar he was to Tomoya as well, so we may find out a few more details about his personality when he grew up. Sanae is accompanying Tomoya back to confront his father once more, and hopefully make better progress with her as a mediator. And since the episode is titled “Graduation,” I’m expecting another time skip and Nagisa moving into the apartment to finally start her adult life as well.

…Dammit… ;_;

-Jay