CLANNAD ~After Story~ 21″And now, to the finale…”
March 9th, 2009 by Jay
Upon confirmation from the doctor that Ushio’s condition matches that of Nagisa’s, and that the cause is unknown, Akio has Tomoya reaffirm that he is Ushio’s father and has to keep his head up. As a result of her illness, Ushio and Tomoya miss sports day.
A month passes without Ushio’s condition getting better. Tomoya decides to quit his job in order to be with Ushio more, compensating the cease of income with the money saved up for Ushio’s schooling. Yusuke wants him to return working when Ushio gets better, and the two exchange screwdrivers as a promise to do so. When Tomoya asks later if Ushio would like anything, she replies that she wants to go on another trip with Tomoya, and complains that she wants to go now when Tomoya states that they’ll go as soon as she’s better. Disheartened that he can’t do something as simple as that for his daughter, Tomoya asks Nagisa what he should do, and ponders that his family seem to always be screwed by the town.
Akio and Tomoya go out shopping together while Sanae and Ushio stay at the apartment. The two stop by the hospital built on the forest Akio took Nagisa the day her conditioned worsened, and Tomoya asks what else will be changed; Akio responds that a shopping mall is being constructed on a hill near the outskirts. Tomoya wonders if the changes going around the city are causing it pain, and if people’s deaths are to be accepted as part of “change.” Akio instead states that the city and it’s inhabitants should be blessed.
Winter has come, Ushio is still in bed, and Tomoya looks exhausted. Ushio once again brings up her wish to go on a trip again, back to the flower field they went to, and that it has to be now. Finally convinced, the two set off, Ushio refusing to be carried and opting to hold hands and walk with her father. Her lack of strength, however, causes her to walk slowly and almost trip. It begins to snow, and Tomoya asks if Ushio likes the snow; Ushio says she does and asks him the same question. Remembering the winter Nagisa died, Tomoya states he does like it. Ushio insists they keep walking, but soon she soon gives in to her weakness. Responding to her questions, Tomoya holds her in his arms before she utters her last words.
“Papa, I love you.”
Not wanting to accept this, Tomoya cries out to Nagisa to save her…
In the Illusionary World, the girl and the doll keep walking, with the girl becoming very cold. At the same time Ushio dies, the girl also collapses. The doll, however, is able to bring her to her feet, and they keep walking. The doll wonders how long it’ll take for them to get there. Soon, however, the girl collapses again.
On his way to school, Tomoya sees a strange-girl talking to herself. He knows that if he talks to her, they’ll date and get married, but that maybe it would be better if they don’t…
Thoughts
So wraps up the 2nd to last episode (not counting the Extra or OVA bound to come after this). Ushio’s death signifies the absolute lowest things can possibly get, and now it’s time for the Key miracle to take place. How they’re going to wrap all this up in one 21-minute episode, I have no idea. I’m guessing the girl from the Illusionary World is supposed to represent Ushio while the doll is somehow supposed to represent Tomoya, but only the Ushio comparison really makes sense to me as they both collapsed from the snow; I was almost ready to assume the doll was Ushio because it was the one that wanted to leave while Ushio was the one who wanted to go on a trip. Now let’s see if Tomoya’s light orb can affect his Illusionary World persona and hopefully change the fate of the family he once had…
…and here I was thinking, if Ushio didn’t die, Kyou would’ve taken over as the wife. Fuck dammit.
PREVIEW
The girl and the doll are seen lying in the snow…
Fuckdammit, every fucking time.
-Jay
10 Responses to “CLANNAD ~After Story~ 21″And now, to the finale…””
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Really, they didn’t learn from the last time they sequed into the Nagisa Dance Party (® MissingShota) after a tragic episode.
But this time around, I just about lost patience. It’s one of the reasons I couldn’t get into Kanon. When people get sick and can’t seem to get better, there are places called h-o-s-p-i-t-a-l-s where you take the sick person. Really, you can’t do x-rays, MRIs, CAT scans or any of the other batteries of tests to see what’s wrong with a patient in an apartment. Oh well, hopefully Ushio will maaagically recover thanks to the maaagical flash of light.
Well, they already mentioned there was no point going to the hospital since Ushio’s sickness was the same as Nagisa’s, which they had already tried to solve by going to the doctors, which resulted in the doctors having no clue what to do.
Therefore, if Ushio’s sickness is the same as Nagisa’s, going to the doctor would be a waste of money.
And they concluded that with what looks like a home visit with a stethoscope? At least when they hospitalized Nagisa, she was kept alive long enough.
Well, it was possibly the same doctor as the one who checked up on Nagisa back then, so he probably knew what the symptoms of Nagisa’s illness was.
Then again it’s just a theory.
Yes, you can do all those x-rays, MRIs, or whatever techniques that you can think of – if you can afford it or had any kind of insurance. Without it, it costs a fortune to perform those scans, and since Akio/Sanae or Tomoya isn’t the richest people around, I think we get the point.
this episode go the most tears out of me. :( it was so sad that Ushio knew she was going to die :( just an innocent little kid.
tomoya has one tragedy after another. it’s so hard to watch him suffer like that.
i too thought well..Kyou would make a good step mommy XD
i hope they are able to wrap the series up in one more episode. and not bleed me dry in terms of tears.
@solgae:
Welp, so much for the Japanese national health-care system.
Downer ending…*sigh*
Well, this represents the absolute low point of all Clannad Afterstory. It felt really similar to Nagisa’s death, and was visually similar to Show ▼
Even though she appeared in only a few episodes, her death really pulled at my heartstrings, almost as much as it did with Nagisa. I had really grown attached to Ushio as a character. Not only was she too damn adorable, her struggles with Tomoya really put the theme into Clannad. That last scene with Ushio…it killed me. When I saw the scenes from the first episode of Clannad, I knew what was coming. Tomoya had alluded to it…when I heard “Anpan”, aside from the nostalgia, I felt sad because I knew that all that followed would be an uncomfortable silence.
@ItAintEazy
Aside from the mentioned reasons, the disease was probably linked to all the mysticism around the Clannad-verse. No hospitals could have helped her…even with Nagisa, hospitals didn’t help. I don’t even think it was shown onscreen that she ever went to one. After all, we learned only a few episodes ago that Nagisa was only saved when she was five when Akio went to that field. Sure, it’s debatable whether or not it was really this, as each character’s well-grounded reality makes them look for acceptable answers, but the Clannad-verse spells it our clearly that there had to be some magical/mystic/etc force at work here.
Ushio’s death hit me even worse than Nagisa’s. And her last words! “Are we in train?” Back then, I didn’t cry when Nagisa died but Ushio… and I share the same feelings about her with Some guy.
I drowned sorrow really! It’s too much. I cant stand thinking of Tomoya’s terrible suffers… Why does he have to live though these? Really why this town playing with his life? How happy and cheerful and blessed when he moved out his apartment with Nagisa! I’m getting too much grief when I think of it. T__T
man, I’m damn depressed!!
PS: I don’t believe that they didn’t try every sort of solution. Clannad is a very realistic anime –of course I don’t mean it doesn’t include magical stuff but in real life It’s too realistic in everything. so I’m sure they had thought over hospitalization of Nagisa. Just like they had for Ushio.
Interesting blog :) i have one too is smaller than ures cause i’ve only began but.. is pretty nice
Keep up the good work :)