CLANNAD / First Impressions

Summary:

Tomoya and Nagisa decide to go to the former teacher Ibuki’s house to see if Fuuko is really her sister, but Fuuko opts not to go with them. This makes Tomoya suspicious of her even though he’s sure that she’s human, and he thinks that there’s some reason she insists on her identity or is convinced that’s who she is. The two of them do end up meeting Fuuko’s sister outside her home, and Tomoya recognizes her as the lady he gave bread to a few days back. She in turn thinks that he’s Nagisa’s boyfriend, but Nagisa immediately denies this and gets quite embarrassed when Fuuko’s sister suggests that she has a chance with Tomoya since he isn’t going out with anyone. Nagisa changes the subject by congratulating Fuuko’s sister on her engagement with Yuusuke, but this surprises Fuuko’s sister because she hadn’t told anyone except for Fuuko who’s been asleep for a long time. Hearing this, Tomoya makes up the excuse that they heard it as a rumor from someone who saw her with Yuusuke. Fuuko’s sister then admits that she doesn’t know if she’s going to get married or not given how Fuuko is doing; she doesn’t want to get married and by happy by herself.

After parting ways with Fuuko’s sister, Nagisa reveals that she almost told her that Fuuko is at school right now. Tomoya thinks that this could have been for the best, but Nagisa feels that it wasn’t something she could say so easily and cites how Fuuko was against it too. Although Tomoya still remains suspicious of Fuuko, Nagisa believes that Fuuko wasn’t lying and is determined to help her. Seeing Nagisa like this, Tomoya decides to help too, and the two bring Fuuko to stay temporarily at Nagisa’s home. Tomoya wants Fuuko to think up a new last name since Nagisa’s parents know her sister, but Fuuko ends up choosing Isogai, which is also name of Nagisa’s next-door neighbors, so Tomoya has to cover for her by claiming that it’s just a coincidence. Once Nagisa’s parents accept her, Tomoya heads to Sunohara’s dorm and almost gets run over by the rugby club as it flees from Misae after she caught them peeping again at the girl’s dorm. Misae also beats up on Sunohara, and Tomoya later tells him that they’re putting off doing anything with the drama club for a while so that they can look after a ghost girl.

The next morning, Tomoya arrives at Furukawa bakery and the family carving wooden stars. As it turns out, however, that the carvings are not supposed to be stars – according to Fuuko, they’re starfish. This makes no sense to Tomoya, but it seems even Nagisa had known this from the very beginning. At school, Fuuko is hard at work distributing the starfish, and Tomoya asks her if she doesn’t want to see her sister over doing this. Fuuko admits that she does want to, but she’s not sure if her voice would reach her sister. Since Tomoya doesn’t understand what she means, Fuuko explains that she thinks she’s doing all this because she can’t see her sister and because her voice can’t reach her sister. In any case, Tomoya and Nagisa help Fuuko give out more wooden starfishes, including one to Yukine, and although Fuuko is very fond of Nagisa, she still treats Tomoya as the enemy. At one point, Fuuko goes into her happy state because Nagisa hugs her, so Tomoya calls over Ryou to pretend to be him. He wants Ryou to tell Fuuko that he turned into a girl and, when Fuuko asks why, to say that it occasionally comes off. Ryou goes through with this once Fuuko snaps out of the happy state, and Fuuko is totally convinced. The fun ends when Kyou shows up and threatens Tomoya for using her sister for a joke, and Fuuko gives the twin sisters a pair of starfish.

The one blemish during their starfish carving distribution comes when Fuuko tries to give one to a girl named Mitsui who she had talked to back during the entrance ceremony. Mitsui turns it down because she can’t come to Fuuko’s sister’s wedding since she’s a senior who is busy with exams. This gets Fuuko a little down, though she feels that it can’t be helped because she had only talked with Mitsui a little and because she hasn’t attended any classes. Hearing that Fuuko wants to attend at least one class, Tomoya contacts his friends and gets a special class set up on one of their days off. Nagisa’s mother comes as the teacher, and Kyou, Ryou, Sunohara, Nagisa, Tomoya, and Fuuko are the students. Each of them introduces themselves like they would on the first day of school, and Nagisa even nominates Fuuko to be the class representative. Nagisa’s mother then makes Fuuko realize that everyone around her is her classmate and friend, and it makes Fuuko quite happy. Watching her take part in the class, Tomoya thinks that Fuuko is a little unusual, but she’s still in every regard a normal girl.

Preview:

Tomoya having Ryou switch places with him and pretend to be him in front of Fuuko was hilarious, as was the quick-fire Isogai name realization scene with Tomoya. The comedy aspects thus remain quite good, and Nagisa getting embarrassed about Tomoya being mistaken for her boyfriend was cute too, however I’m a lot less enthusiastic about Fuuko’s actual story. Maybe we’re not far enough into it yet for me to appreciate it, but it kind of feels like it’s dragging on a bit too much right now. Admittedly, I didn’t really appreciate some of Kanon’s arcs (such as Makoto’s) until their respective ends, so it might just be too early. There’s no question though that the story is now almost entirely focused on Fuuko since we don’t get much in terms of other characters this week (aka. no Tomoyo adding to her combo against Sunohara). I’m a little curious what will happen if Fuuko actually meets her sister – or if that’s even possible – and it looks like we might find out next week thanks to Nagisa.

40 Comments

  5. So.. looks like Fuuko’s arc will be dealt with first eh? Kind of a shame she’s my favorite character – so I hope they don’t write her off completely once her arc is over, like they did with Air and most of Kanon (unless she dies/is death ; ; ).

    Ronny
    Reply

  10. After watching this on Nico Nico, I’d have to say the best moments (comedy-wise) are when Fuuko’s introducing herself to Akio and Sanae, saying her last name is Isogai (but apparently, the Furukawa residence’s neighbors are the Isogais), and the whole scene when Tomoya told Ryou to trick Fuuko into thinking he turned into a girl. Oh god, that was awesome.

    Zeroblade
    Reply

  21. ahh CLANNAD is nothing if sunohara is always not getting busted around hehe and since i did not know fuuko’s route sep for some parts… i guess i cant actually post anything here

    Algester
    Reply

  27. I liked this episode more than the previous ones… whereas the kicking jokes were getting old (save for the Chain Combo) the humor in this one was much more discrete and normal. Plus we get character development for many, and plot development… wish SNS II was a bit more like this anime pace wise :\

    RandomGuy
    Reply

  28. Yeah, SNS has been rather disappoint compared to Clannad this season…and I was so looking forward to Shana too. But all we got was Konoe, who annoys me more than Yoshida does…

    Anyway, back to Clannad, I’m kind of saddened by the fact that Kotomi is missing this episode…but at least the Fujibayashi twins can redeem it.

    Mirrinus
    Reply

  29. Still too early so far, but more hints about Fuuko’s identity.

    As for the Shana comments… Uh, given the fact that Shana is based on light novels, and the novels (the ones I’ve read anyway) spend around 80% of their pages on buildup (and yes, the ‘normal’ side of Shana’s cosmonology), it *is* going to be a little slow going.

    Myssa Rei
    Reply

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