Summary:

Despite his father being in jail, Tomoya shows up at the Furukawa house to talk with Akio about something serious. In response, Akio challenges him to a baseball match where Tomoya has to hit Akio’s pitch. If Tomoya is able to do so, then Akio has to unconditionally accept what Tomoya has to say, but if Akio wins, then he doesn’t have to listen to it. Unfortunately, Tomoya fails to get a hit, but he decides to keep practicing whenever he can and continues to get Akio to come out and pitch to him. After failing at what Akio called the last chance, Tomoya gets the feeling that Akio is trying to tell him that he’s still a kid who can’t protect anyone. Nevertheless, Tomoya continues practicing, and Akio gives him one more chance on one very rainy day. This time, Tomoya gets a hit, and immediately afterward, he gets down on his hands and knees to ask Akio for his daughter. This reminds Akio of how similar Tomoya is to him, and he implicitly approves by telling Tomoya that he’ll take his daughter back if she becomes sad. Sanae follows this up by stating that happiness for Tomoya and Nagisa is now her and Akio’s dream, so she urges them to seize it.

Fall soon turns to winter, and come Christmas-time, the family gets together again for some drinking. In this situation, Nagisa quickly gets drunk and confronts Tomoya about his interest in her mother, much to his embarrassment. As the winter days go by, Nagisa gets sick again, but this time her attendance is high enough to graduate even with all of her absences. The main problem is that she has to stay home on the day of the graduation ceremony, and because of this, Tomoya calls up his friends – including Sunohara – to arrange something. Then, on one spring day, he takes Nagisa to school where all of their old friends are waiting. They’ve come together to have a private graduation ceremony that’s presided over by Koumura, and he hands Nagisa her certificate of graduation. Nagisa subsequently makes an emotional speech reflecting on all that she went through in her high school years and how she loves the school. With this chapter of their life now over, Tomoya and Nagisa then pay a visit to his father in jail where they announce their intention to get married. Tomoya’s father gives them his best wishes, and the two submit their marriage registration, making Nagisa’s official name Okazaki Nagisa.

Preview

I thought the first half of this episode was a bit predictable – it was pretty obvious that Tomoya would have to persevere and would eventually succeed – but I liked what Sanae said afterward about Tomoya and Nagisa’s happiness being her and Akio’s dream. I was also very amused by the drunk Nagisa scene and by Sanae’s take on banana bread, though the best (and most touching) part of the episode was the graduation ceremony that Tomoya arranged for Nagisa. The speech wasn’t quite enough to make you cry (at least that wasn’t the case for me), but it was still good, and the music during that scene was perfect.

Now that Tomoya and Nagisa have registered their marriage, does that mean that there’s going to be a separate wedding episode or is this it? I’m going to assume it’s the latter since the preview seems to imply Tomoya and Nagisa already getting used to living together and newlywed life. I also have to say that it’s amazing how much more mature and better Nagisa looks just by changing her hairstyle. She should keep it that way for the rest of the series.

67 Comments

  1. I don’t understand this anime. What is it trying to tell us? Is this anime trying to give its audience a sense of morals and virtue? Is it trying to be didactic? Is it trying to move its audience emotionally? Is it trying to be a comedy? And are the Japanese so sad as to need an KYOANI ANIME to teach them about family morals? Really? Seriously? How disappointing.

    olivia
  2. @olivia:

    This anime isn’t about morals or whatever you’re spouting. It’s purely for the story and the people in it, and how they interact with each other. This anime, including first season, focuses solely on Nagisa’s path and the ups and downs she and Tomoya go through. The story wasn’t based on some oft-repetitive H-game harem, which if memory serves me right was criticized by fans of Key’s previous works for being a non-H-game. After that, they released Tomoyo After which was an H-game itself.

    I’ve stuck by Clannad since the first season. I have played part of the game so far but not all of it. (Having to reformat my PC three times in the past two years didn’t help me finish it either…) Anyway, I’m mostly watching this anime purely for the story and the characters in it. It’s my primary reason I watch anime more now than some dumb ass American cartoon that one would see on the Cartoon Network or KidsWB. Animes have better stories that are much more enjoyable to watch. Clannad is one of them.

    If you don’t like it, then don’t watch it– simply put.

    =====================================

    Going back to the episode, this was actually pretty good.
    Show Spoiler ▼

  3. Olivia, why the hell are you watching anime if you’re looking for realistic and rational looks on life? 😉

    You go out and talk to real people for that… or wait for the next thanksgiving dinner, hehe… seriously, there are better things to do than find reality in fiction…

    – T

    tolitz
    1. I LOVE FUKO but i dont understand why everbody was forgeting her and when they did what happened when she poped up randomly in the middle of a bad situation. Also tell why there was twoo fukos and if shes in the hospital then get rid of one of them and how come her sister couldnt see her? plz answer me Ithekro

  4. Well at least the pace is going great. Tomoya still has a helluva lot of work to do if he’s going to save Nagisa. I wonder if they’re gonna get all metaphysical on us like Kanon & the game cause they gonna have to connect those orb scenes to the regular anime some kind of way.

    As for the trolling…just GTFO. There are way too many anime out there that’s way more desevring of it. Trolling this anime is unforgiveable & punishable by an eon spent in Purgatory and/or an $1,500,000,000 fine. Please make all checks out to Emma Megas. All trolls have been warned 😛

    Megas
  5. @Megas I hope so, they have already gone metaphysical with Fuko’s arc, and instead of just killing her off(leaving her in a coma until the end) she keeps popping in for bits of random silliness. If they take out the metaphysical now, most who know of the bad endings in the game as well as that crappy ending in the movie know that this is going to end sadly without some kind of magic fix.

    @Olivia, you must enjoy looking foolish…LOL BAKA…

    Max_Otaku
  6. @olivia

    The point of this show is to get a central message across:
    What is family? What defines a family? Does a person who comes from a broken home and family have to put his children through that? Or is it possible to change that to give the children a chance in life.
    Thats the big moral and the theme of this show.
    Furthermore. I played the game through and through before I watched the anime (EPisode by episode since season 1 was released. I first saw the ad for clannad at the end of kanon 24 which was also a great series.)

    The thing you will notice is Tomoyas character development given the situations. You will of course notice his progression from stoicism to the kind person we all know and see now. However, just to make certain we also have a grasp on what it is to reconize, repent, and grow as people, you will notice some character storylines have a sort of natural progression. Some of their storylines tend to be metaphorical (FUuko anyone?) others more realistic (alternate reality tomoya and tomoyo ) all of which focus on differant aspects of life. FOr example, how do you establish which is more important? Your love or your education. ETC.

    If that doesnt clarify then I’ll just say this:
    The theme of the story is the importance of family.
    There. everything else is conjecture.

    Dan
  7. pp who have replied:

    If your defense is to say that “this is fiction so it can get away with not providing a focus,” then that’s an extremely poor answer. Also, a comment like “you must enjoy looking foolish” when that writer himself (I assume) doesn’t provide any intelligence or insight to that particular comment, is just, well, foolish.

    I have not yet received an adequate answer. Anything w/ a plot (movies, stories, poems, even songs) needs a focus: a theme. A story about the ups and downs of a character is just not enough. And so far, only Dan has answered my question in a somewhat relevant fashion. But my point is, again, “why do we need to show a theme like this in anime?”

    But then again, some are just watching this for the moe.

    olivia
  8. Don’t see why olivia has to impose your own demands on anime on others. I doubt there is any universal standard for judging what should be shown, or otherwise. There is a wide-range of anime out that being catered to people of different tastes. If you disagree with Clannad’s portrayal, or ridicule its theme, I do think it is being respectful to yourself and the others who enjoy the show, to allow them to enjoy what they do, and watch other anime instead.

    In my opinion, your insistence that every media needs a focus, a theme – is subjective. And it being subjective means is your own opinion, which you are perfectly entitled to have, but perfectly not entitled to impose on others. Some sublime media out there has multiple themes – does that mean they lack the focus which you talk about?

    Some watch anime for the plot, some for the character development, some for the pure animation or dazzling music. Whatever the reason, anime does not have to be produced to convey some moral message, or preach some sermon. As long as the people watching it enjoys them, I feel that is what matters. You might not enjoy it, fair enough, but that does not mean that others are being mistaken in their enjoyment of the show.

    Umineshi Kai
  9. I thought that Clannad, as already mentioned, does have a theme: family. Although if you (olivia) personally don’t recognize it as a theme, then thats fine–others should understand that as well. When you (second person plural… you… like ‘vous’) read poetry, does everyone end up taking away the same things? No. Thats one of the great things about poetry. It’d be nice if olivia could see the appeal (beyond ‘moe’) of Clannad that others see, though.

    And as Umineshi Kai said, there are no universal tastes–this is why niche markets exist, broadly defined.

    Even if Clannad doesn’t have a theme, anime, as a subset of culture, is not rigidly defined by any institution that stipulates that “anything with a plot needs a focus: a theme”. One of the quintessential requirements for cultural works, I think, is simply does it mean anything for anyone? Obviously it does mean something for a lot of people. So at best, all you (from this point, you = olivia; I really need footnotes…) may claim is that you would prefer animes that have strong themes, which is fair enough if it is left at that.

    So rather than “this is fiction so it can get away with not providing a focus,” I would claim that this is a part of culture, so it can get away with not providing a focus–if it indeed does not. I am inclined to say that it does, although perhaps to a less degree than the animes that you prefer.

    So to directly answer your question, “why do we need to show a theme like this in anime?”, I answer that we show an anime with such a theme because there are people who want to see it. What I don’t understand is why you are bashing what others support so strongly? Does this anime offend you in some way that I’m not able to see?

    J
  10. @olivia.
    Because that is what makes a show or movie good.
    When you get a series which makes you ask yourself about what they were conveying, their delivery, then being able to draw some sort of logical answer or even a lesson for life, you get a good series.
    Look at a few of the really good movies. In it, they always pose a central question without being outright obvious about it. Take forrest gump for example; in the movie a question was posed which went something like this: “If you strip away most of a mans intelligence, is he a fundamentally good or bad person?”

    However, I see what you mean on the clannad story.
    It goes something like this; Kyoani noticed early on that Key and Visual arts had high success rates in their visual novels because of how they set up their games so that it wasnt so much a story about the main character getting some, but a presentation of a central theme and question which over the course of the game evolved into a story which was worth following. The end result of this being that You could see the character change as a person and be able to relate to that better.
    This success (followed by the fact that kyoani hasn’t had too much luck with sterotypical stores (you know the classics))prompted them to look into The Visual arts, light novels, and other manga/media outlets for inspiration.
    If you will recall, Haruhi was a success not because of it just being an anime adaptation, but because of how they laid out a story which was non linear (on pourpose) but it also had a sort of progressive nature embedded in its chaos. Personally (I’ll be killed for this I know) I am not much of a haruhi (Or even lucky star) Fan. So I will leave it to them to draw out what made haruhi good in an intellectual way. I was drawn into this series because I was done with classic romance comedy, I wanted something which actually made me think.

    Hope this helps. I ramble far too much.

    Dan
  11. One last thing. I think in this time where family is a vauge and almost non existant thing, that we do need a good story about a family who suffers in a way (In the later parts you’ll understand But are able to endure due to strength in their love for one another, and their conviction to see things through. (Tomoyos story offers insight onto that one)

    If you have any further questions I will be happy to answer them.

    Dan
  12. I think people sounded the troll-alarm a little too early…

    Eh, this is kinda tempting me to download the second season and see for myself. Wasn’t such a big fan of the first but I’m sort of a completionist. Just wanna see the ‘resolution’ of what was started.

    Kincaid
  13. Nagisa is <33. Altho other character in Clannad might be more popular, it’s taken for granted that Nagisa what make Clannad so famous in the first place. And that’s why many fans has taken for granted that Nagisa should be kept as pure as possible, as told by Tony Taka in his latest Clannad doujin.

  14. What’s wrong with showing a theme in an anime? I think Dan has answered the question most adequately, so no point repeating what he’s said. If you want something that doesn’t require too much deep thought, there’s always other light-hearted shows out there which allows you to “turn off your brain”.

    If it’s all for the moe, people should have already stopped watching already, as they would have been rooting for Kyou, Fuuko and the others instead of Nagisa who, to be honest, would be totally beaten in the moe department.

    In fact, some of the more extreme supporters of those girls have been consistently bashing Nagisa simply because their girl lost to someone who is so “bland” and all, in case you haven’t already noticed. Nagisa has certain qualities that go beyond the moe, but her moe simply adds to her charm.

    Kinny Riddle
  15. No one here is under any obligation to convince naysayers about the merits of this series. If your not a fan of the series that is your choice, but don’t expect you intransigence to be of any consequence to those who are. If you don’t get what’s going on, that is your problem since where the story is going has been apparent to everyone else who has been watching the series from the start. This story is a slice of life about two lonely people finding each other and all the trials and adventures that they meet as they move forward together in life, if you didn’t get that you clearly weren’t paying attention. That said I suspect that this is more an issue of someone arguing just for the sake doing so without a genuine complaint. I have no time to waste on someone who is so desperate for attention that they have to make a nuisance of themselves, so I will follow the very wise advice to not feed the trolls.

    Max_Otaku
  16. @ Everyone replying to Olivia

    Stop wasting your time people. If someone doesn’t understand the theme of Clannad (it IS in the name you know…), they should keep watching it and figure it out for themselves. It’s going to mean a lot more for them to think it out instead of having other people tell them the meaning of something they’re watching.

    Dmo
  17. @linkinstreet
    See spoiler…
    Show Spoiler ▼

    @everyone who is either calling olivia a troll or telling people not to feed the troll.

    I believe the poor thing actually posed an honest question. The poster did not find the series all that great but at least had the tenacity to stick to the point. Posing a simple question: Do we need this kind of theme? By the way the answer is yes. Anime with simple yet poignant questions tend to be more enjoyable and worthwhile than your typical harem love anime.

    Dan
  18. @ Dan…

    Poor thing… Show Spoiler ▼

    .

    @Olivia

    I think if you haven’t got the idea of the anime this far you should probably stop watching. I does have a theme.To your question “why do we need to show a theme like this in anime?”… because like books anime go for a market. The people watch or read it because there’s something that they find familiar or that they desire in story being presented. This is not to teach morals or values to anybody. I don’t think the authors even thought about “Oh lest teach some morals to all those damn kids and adults with this anime”. Now, why people watch it… like many told you before there are different reasons. My personal one: I enjoy a story that have something behind and family to me is very delightful theme. I like the feeling of finishing an arc and think “that was very nice story, very sweet”.

    I understand that you would have a question, but you have to know how to make the question… that was kind of offensive and that’s why you got the reactions you did. And I don’t think it is very intelligent of you to say “And are the Japanese so sad as to need an KYOANI ANIME to teach them about family morals?” and for this I will call you FOLLISH. I think: 1) you are generalizing here by calling all japanese sad people just because SOME like this anime, and 2) I think it is more sad for a culture not to have different ways to teach family morals. When people read a book to their children don’t they look for something that is going to teach them something? why not to take advantage of anime? or does anime MUST to have a certain theme to fulfill being anime? nothing else, nothing more?

    Like I said… I don’t judge the question… I do judge the way you asked. People get what they look for.

    Asoch3
  19. @linkinstreet: Read the spoilers.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Jairo
  20. @Fumika: An ex-workmate of his dad called Tomoya to tell him his dad was jailed because of being found by the police in some “not-very-descent business”, to call it that way. And because of that Tomoya lost a good opportunity to get a better job with better pay and best suited to him. All that because the news about his dad being jailed spread very fast.

    Jairo
  21. I really hope someone dies in the end. I don’t think it would be nearly as powerful a show if someone didn’t die. I have no idea who, but somebody better die in after story…

    On a side note though, I do hope it has a happy ending after someone dies.

    Camarilla
  22. Why did they make the anime exactly like their previous work: Kanon 2006?
    Characters are almost exactly the same. Clannad is a good show, but Kanon 2006 had a better story and better animation.

    Clannad does seem to be about family, cause that about all I’m seeing from the show. I played both Clannad games, and I understand why they chose the Nagisa chapter, episodes can drag out longer. But the Tomoyo chapter was a lot more emotional, especially the after story. If Nagisa chapter/afterstory isn’t about family or morals then what are the other girls chapters for?

    qaz
  23. If you’ve played the Clannad games, you should know the answer to your question.

    Characters are similar to Kanon because Clannad’s characters are darker twists on Kanon’s characters.

    Kaisos
  24. @qaz

    Thats all conjecture. The storyline and plot dynamic are more intricate than kanon could ever hpe to be. Furthermore, if you look at how the characters are crafted from their very development on up to their final (As in end of story for each) levels, they have a level of intricacy to them which leaves the girls from kanon seeming rather 2 dimensional by comparison.

    Nagisa for example. You see her as an initial impression of weak girl who is not as adept at doing what others can, being unable to really socialize. However, as the story goes on and tomoya gets to know her, befriend her, then finally falls in love with her. You get a MUCH better idea for who she is as a person than you could hope to have with any of the girls from Kanon. There doesnt seem to be much driving force to the girls from kanon other than initial attraction to the main character. Whereas with Clannad, you get the sense that the main char is regarded from any level: initial attraction (Kyou) crush with no substance (Ryou) initial disdain (Fuuko) Stranger who seems to just hang out with annoyance: (Tomoyo) and kid who just happens to be extroverted enough to talk to you (Misae)

    So you see a multitude of entry level relationships which then grow from there from friend zone: Misae to outright lovers: (Nagisa, tomoyo, Kyou)

    You don’t see this level of intricacy in kanon. Kanon is a simple tale which revolves around lost memorys and long ago friendships. Clannad takes the concept of moving from day 1 to changing your own life by discovering the importance of family and growing from being intriverted due to disdain at the world and moving onto hope and persistance for the future.

    Not something you find in kanon eh?

    Dan
  25. @Azbaby

    CONJECTURE< THEORIES AND OF COURSE, GAME END AHEAD DO NOT READ UNLESS IF YOU LIKE SPOILERS
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Yeah… Epic end if they do it that way…

    Dan
  26. Ah the old gang’s back. I hope we get to see more of them. It’s frustrating seeing the main girls in the opening all the time!

    LOL Sunohara can NEVER dye his hair in ANY of the alternate worlds, can he??! 😀

    starss
  27. I FREAKING LOVE THIS ANIME TO DEATH , I WOULD DIE SO IT COULD CONTINUE BECAUSE IT MADE ME CRY SO HARD WHEN NAGISA DIED AND THEN RIGHT AFTER THAT USHIO!! NO FREAKING WAY I AM SO EMOTIONAL ABOUT THIS SERIES AND I JUST WISH THERE WAS A MIRACLE WHERE THE WOULD KEEP WRITING MORE!

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