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Summary:
Knowing that Tomoya has been working hard on the yard, Nagisa, Kyou, and Ryou bringing him a boxed lunch one morning and wonder if he’s been at it all night. Tomoya claims that he goes home at night, but the girls still want to take a day off from school to help. Since Tomoya disapproves of this, Kyou instead yells into the house, asking if Kotomi is sleeping and eating properly, and she wants Kotomi to have fun with them on her birthday. There’s no indication from inside the house, however, that Kotomi heard her. Regardless, Tomoya continues what he’s been doing, and the girls rejoin him that afternoon. They work until it’s dark outside, and Tomoya intends to carry on through the night to finish the yard, so Nagisa volunteers to join him. Tomoya, however, refuses to let her and cites what her father would do if she got sick. Once he’s alone again, Tomoya takes a break and notices the upstairs curtains moving, making him realize that Kotomi was watching. As he then looks up at the star-filled sky, he thinks about what the old man had told him about the hidden world.
The next morning, Tomoya looks over the completed yard and garden. With nothing else to do, he takes out the book that Kotomi gave him and starts reading. Tomoya soon realizes that the story includes the rabbit/dear/you line that Kotomi had been using previously, so this book must be where she got that from. He has a hard time staying awake though, and he soon falls asleep and starts dreaming of his past with Kotomi. Back then, he had gotten lost and wandered into her yard, and that’s how the two had met. In those days, Kotomi’s mother had urged Kotomi to play outside, and she had meant the outside world beyond their yard, but Kotomi had resisted the idea. When Kotomi’s birthday had come around, Tomoya had offered to bring his friends for the party, but as he later found out, his friends didn’t want to go to the birthday party of some girl they didn’t know. This left Tomoya feeling that he was unable to face Kotomi, and it wasn’t until after the sun set that he decided to go to her house after all.
There, Tomoya had found Kotomi crying inside her father’s study with the flames from burning the envelope starting to spread out of control. Tomoya had tries to douse the fire with glasses of water that he repeatedly brought up from downstairs, but this wasn’t nearly enough. It was not until the old man and his colleagues had arrived that the fire got put out, and since Kotomi was crying over how she had burned the thesis, the old man had told her that this hadn’t been it. According to him, what was burned was actually something for her, but Kotomi kept crying. Tomoya remembers that he didn’t see Kotomi again after that, no matter how many times he went to try to see her. All of his time with her seemed like a dream, and so he eventually forgot it all. Tomoya now wakes up to find Kotomi watching over him, and she admits that she had always been waiting for the boy who she had really liked. He had been her only friend – the “you” that the deer/rabbit/you line was referring to. Hearing all this causes Tomoya to start to cry, and he tells Kotomi that he came to get her and that everyone is waiting. After taking his hand, Kotomi then notices how beautiful the sky is.
The next day – Kotomi’s birthday – Kotomi comes back to school, and Tomoya and the girls are waiting for her at the school’s front gate. Since the violin is still being repaired, they can only give Kotomi a slip of paper promising it as a present, but Kotomi is still very happy. She is then approached by her teacher who explains that her guardian is coming here today with something to give her. Seeing Kotomi looking a little down, Tomoya reassures her that the old man isn’t that bad a guy, and Kyou suggests that they have him come to the drama clubroom so that Kotomi can be more relaxed. To Kotomi’s surprise, the old man ends up bringing with him a suitcase that had belonged to her father. It turns out that this suitcase had arrived at the research laboratory the previous night, and after the old man had confirmed that it belonged to her father, he felt that he had to give it to her today. Kotomi thinks that her parents’ thesis might be inside, but instead, she finds a teddy bear along with an envelope. The front of the envelope had “if you find this suitscase please take it to our daughter” written on it in English, and it was signed “K&M.”
As the old man explains, these initials belong to Kotomi’s parents, Ichinose Koutarou and Ichinose Mizue. He theorizes that the suitcase washed ashore somewhere and was found by someone. That person opened it, noticed the letter, entrusted the suitcase to someone else, and the suitcase had been passed from person to person and from country to country until it finally got here. The old man then brings up how Kotomi still doesn’t know what was inside the envelope that she had burned on that night. It wasn’t the thesis that Kotomi thought it was because there never was a duplicate – her father had continued to make revisions to it until the very end, so he never got the chance to make a copy. Instead, that envelope had contained a stuffed animal catalogue. Even now, the old man remembers how her father had happily talked about how this was the first time his daughter had said she wanted something. As for the actual thesis, he directs Kotomi to read the letter inside the envelope that was in the suitcase. The letter is addressed to Kotomi, and she immediately recognizes that it’s in both her father and mother’s handwriting.
The old man thinks that Kotomi’s parents threw everything inside the suitcase away, including the thesis, and replaced them with the teddy bear and the letter. He knows that they tried to describe the way the world came about as beautifully, as purely, and as concisely as possible, and he’s never encountered words as beautiful as they are in the letter before. It made him realize that her parents were wishing for her happiness even until the very end. Picking up the teddy bear and hugging it now, Kotomi directly addresses her parents, saying that she had waited and had cried alone at home for a long time. But then Tomoya came for her, and so she’s very happy right now. Unable to hold back the tears any longer, Kotomi welcomes her parents home. Tomoya meanwhile thinks to himself about how this suitcase traveled all over the world: from desert towns to islands of ice to steep mountains to green lands and from person to person with care. The letter itself starts with Kotomi’s father talking about how the world is beautiful even when filled with sadness and tears. He wanted her to open her eyes, do what she wants to do, become what she wants to become, look for some friends, and not rush growing up. Kotomi’s mother, on the other hand, had written about how they had found the teddy bear inside a gift shop and how this was the biggest one they had seen, but they didn’t have time to send it to her from the airport. Both of them had wished her a happy birthday.
Sometime later, Tomoya and the girls arrive at Kotomi’s house with the repaired violin, but since they’re going to be holding a party for her with all their friends, they decide to give it to her during a presentation ceremony once everyone has gathered. Kotomi had made a lot of sweets for this, causing Tomoya to wonder if she made too much, however Kyou thinks it’s okay because of how many people are coming. This causes Tomoya to worry that there’ll be too many people, but Kotomi feels that it’s fine because she has a big yard.
Preview:
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Well, I don’t see how it’s possible to watch this and not want to cry or get choked up. The first half had some pretty scenes to look at and answered a lot of questions, but it didn’t really conjure any emotions. I was starting to think that there wouldn’t be anything that would do so, but then the old man showed up with the suitcase and the teddy bear, and that entire scene ended up being so incredibly sad. I have to commend Key for writing stories that always seem to be so touching and Kyoto Animation for capturing all of that in the anime adaptation.
The only thing I would have done differently is cut down a little on the foreign languages during the suitcase journey scene – it ended up being more distracting than helpful (partly because of some of those accents). I only bring this up because I went from wanting to cry to trying to figure out the languages and then back to wanting to cry. Maybe it was just me, I thought using just a couple of languages spaced out over that scene would have had done just as well since a lot of the impact was from the images and the music.
Anyway, I still loved the episode and the arc (more than Fuuko’s even). It seemed to go by really quickly though, and I’m not quite sure why. Maybe it was because it didn’t feel like the story was entirely focused on Kotomi until around episode 12. There also was a lot of Ryou and Kyou stuff at the beginning, which made me think that the next arc would be about them, but from the next episode preview, that doesn’t necessarily appear to be true. The preview instead seems to be focused on both Sunohara and Nagisa, and looking ahead, episode 16 appears to be about Sunohara’s sister, so I don’t know what direction we’re going now. That doesn’t matter too much though since I’m confident they’ll do a good job with whoever’s story they tell next.
crazy!
I can’t wait to watch it… I wonder if Kotomi’s arc is finished… If it is, I wonder who’s next?
I’ve quite possibly seen more orange in anime this week then I have in my entire lifetime.
So her arc ended?
very good episode ^_^, so who’s arc is next?
I’m about to watch this.. And what’s with the next episode.. O-O?
>> I’ve quite possibly seen more orange in anime this week then I have in my entire lifetime.
If you meant the color, what’s your point? I’ve seen a lot of shades of blue in Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s works and I didn’t feel like complaining about it ever -.-
Next episode is Nagisa with some Sunohara, won’t spoil but things will start to get more interesting.
Judging from the titles, next arc is bringing focus back to the Drama Club.
Who says I’m complaining? Don’t worry though, I’ll give you something to counter again soon Sheba. 😛
;____;
Re: -Is the next arc not about Ryou/Kyou? The preview seems to be focused on both Sunohara and Nagisa.
I can’t see how they can do full justice to the Kyou ark without compromising the Nagisa ark.
I think they will probably use some of the Ryou elements from the Kyou ark to help move the Nagisa ark on while leaving out the Kyou/Tomoya relationship.
In Kanon they could do this quite easily since each girl had a story and problems that didn’t need them to become romantically involved with Yuuichi to solve.
In Clannad that approach is hardest to do with Kyou when assuming a happy Nagisa ending (by no means certain it has to be said).
Kyoani have done a great job so far so I expect to be impressed however they handle it.
according to a few spoilers out there, episode 15 and 16 are about nagisa, before episode 17 launches into tomoyo’s story.
So did time reset after Kotomi’s chapter or did Kotomi and Okazaki somehow manage to be friends or something?
This would have to bee the first show to make me choke/tear up in a LONG time.
TRAVELING BAG ^_^
wtf…this completely changes me ideas on Kyou arc being the next one in line!!! hmm now im intrigued
Waiting for subs now…looking forward to it. >.
https://randomc.net/image/CLANNAD/CLANNAD%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
That’s so pretty! And I usually don’t like sunset-ish kind of stuff.
This is going to be the best anime or at least drama of 2008, I just know it. >_>
“The first half was pretty to look at, but it didn’t really conjure any emotions (instead answered a lot of my questions), and I was starting to think that there wouldn’t be anything that would…”
That’s because the whole TomoyaxKotomi childhood relationship is not the focus of this arc. We all know that such element is way overused, and apparently Key knows that as well. Rather, the real focus is on Kotomi and her parents. Notice how the title is “CLANNAD”?
Incidentally, the guy with a suit needs to learn how to approach a kid the first time, especially when you’re carrying the news that his/her parents is dead.
damn…………….that 2nd half is getting to me…………*sniff**sniff*
omg omg omg I can’t wait until I see the sub tomorrow or on Saturday. I purposely didn’t read the summary because I don’t want it to be spoiled… UGH I can’t wait until I watch this. So is this the official closure of the Kotomi arc?
CALL me a sicko!! but kotomi looks mega cute in that second preview pic where shes crying…i can hear it ” Waaaaaaaaaaah!!. must see
This is the second time Clannad caught me off guard. They make you think an episode is really going at its own pace and then *BAM*, waterworks scene comes up. T_T
And thus the lesson is not to get caught off guard. This is Key, you have to expect pathos.
Speaking of which, for those that don’t understand sufficient Japanese and aren’t watching the raws, aren’t you really spoiling it for yourself by looking at Omni’s screenshots and his quick thoughts (and subsequent summary) and then waiting for subs? I think the show (and especially this episode) has a lot more impact if you watched it while you’re completely oblivious of what’s going to happen.
@Kaioshin
Yes, I’m familiar with Key, but to me, Kanon never really caught me off-guard like this and AIR didn’t really do much for me at all. It’s just that CLANNAD has a tendency to wrap the whole arc up with a tear-jerking ending in less than half an episode.
E.g. The Fuuko arc wasn’t touching until the very end of episode 9. Also, Kotomi’s arc wasn’t really touching until the very end of this episode. The writers just hit you hard with a “somewhat” unexpected/unforeshadowed outcome that you just can’t help but sympathize for with the characters, especially after you’ve been familiarized with them. At that point, add in the music for dramatic effect and the emotional level just sky rockets.
If i’m right they’re probably either going to do the sunohara secnario or the basketball game next. Judging from the second preview pic it’s probably the sunohara ending. And by sunohara’s scenario i don’t mean the bad end but the one that involves his sister. And as to the confusion of the allusion of kyou and ryou being the arc after this, the twins were involved in kotomi’s arc.
But i’m kinda surprised that they chose to do tomoyo next considering that her scenario was much better than Kyou’s and Ryou’s. It’s too bad clannad didn’t get more episode because there’s a LOT of things they could have put in the anime.
So… it’s the end of Kotomi’s arc? Damn! More Kotomi!
Ooh, looks like they’re switching to summer uniform in the next episode!
yay! at last, it’s Sunohara Mei-chan!!
another tearbreaker….
MANLY TEARS THAT ISSS
SuitsCase lol
Pity that made me crack up right when it was getting really sad, so I didn’t think this episode was that sad. The whole episode was done so well though.
BTW, all the phases said in foreign languages all mean the same thing as the original message: “if you find this suitscase please take it to our daughter.”
And LOL at misspelling suitcase, indeed.
It really got to me, watery eyes are the best
@solgae:
A sort of expected typo from a Japanese standpoint, given that “suit” is written “suutsu” (スーツ). “Suitcase” is written “suutsukeesu” (スーツケース), which sounds like “suits case”.
https://randomc.net/image/CLANNAD/CLANNAD%20-%2014%20-%20Large%20Preview%2002.jpg
At first I thought this was Tomoya staring down one of the basketball players (Nagisa route) or one of the soccer players (Sunohara route) but on second thought, this looks more like the scene with the Judo club member (Tomoyo route), which is good as Tomoyo has been barely gotten any attention lately.
@Kagekyuubi
I always felt that Tomoyo’s would go before Kyou’s.
Show Spoiler ▼
as expected it does make my tear flow T-T, althou it a little bit better in the game the bgm is just so well timed. so anyway up to now we already get 3 orb of lights(maybe ibuki fuuko, ibuki kouko, and kotomi) makes me wonder what they gonna do to get all 15(if i’m not mistaken) orb of light within the remaining episodes.
if any one wondering where to see the orb of light it is when they show the tittle of the episode
as in the game Show Spoiler ▼
Lisbon(Portugal) made an appearance in that language part but the people were speaking pt-br (Portuguese-Brazilian), not the European Portuguese. It is becoming an common mistake to associate the Brazilian language to Portugal. Portugal is not that small (yes it is)!!!
Can’t wait until next week
“The only thing I would have done differently is cut down a little on the foreign languages during the suitcase journey scene – it ended up being more distracting than helpful (partly because of some of those accents). I only bring this up because I went from wanting to cry to trying to figure out the languages and then back to wanting to cry. Maybe it was just me, I thought using just a couple of languages spaced out over that scene would have had done just as well since a lot of the impact was from the images and the music.”
I think that scene should have been skipped alltogether. It was explained well enough without actually seeing it. Hearing it mentioned briefly carried alot more emotion. With all the funky pronounciation it pretty much turned into a parody. I started laughing 😐
Well in regard to those languages. For me being dutch the dutch line was damn hard to figure out. I only heard 3 words actually, ‘vind’ ‘koffer’ and ‘dochter’ respectively translated to ‘find’ ‘suitcase’ and daughter’ and since there was like 1 or 2 words between the last 2 which seems wrong heh. ah well…
“Se encontrar esta mala, envie para nossa filha”
Portuguese one =D
The Portuguese phrase was well spoken, at least =D
It was a beautiful arc. I got distracted so the strong emotions and the song didn’t have much effect on me… sadly. But then again it was really good. Almost as good as Fuko’s arc.
@Hazuki
That was a Portuguese monument, they should speak European Portuguese, not the Brazilian one. But it was a correct Brazilian, that was right, just it wasn’t related to the picture…
@aegd
I agree, before showing the languages scene, hearing the the man saying it carried a lot more emotion, seemed really epic. The scene did not have the same impact.
Anyway, in my opinion I think kotomi’s ark was better than fuko’s.
I must be messed up somewhere, since during the suit case secene I was basicly …. ZzZzzzz oh it’s still going? *sigh* I don’t know but the arrow missed me.
Now it’s time for Sunohara’s arc, apparently? (haha!)
I sort of hate myself. I spoiled the story for myself earlier on by reading wiki and other sources, and it doesn’t seem very “omg i can’t believe that happened” anymore. Also, would it mean I’m cold hearted if i didn’t cry at all during the episode?
Touching Episode! Almost made me cry. xP
@ Ignite
______ vs ____ conflicts??? That all better be in the anime, I agree that she hasn’t received a lot of screen time as of late. 🙁 But those are both characters with strong personalities… this sounds good…
when the old man show the suitcase and the teddy bear. I feel i wanna to cry.. but the foreign language scene distract me… ~~.
I only got around to watching the episode today. Maybe it’s because so much time passed since I last watched Clannad, but I wasn’t particularly moved by this episode. The overall pace seemed a bit too jumpy or something. I think I liked the ending of Fuuko’s arc more than Kotomi’s arc, but I enjoyed the buildup of Kotomi’s more than Fuuko’s.
Also, I thought that Kotomi would be going to America by the end of her arc since there was some mention of a study abroad opportunity and Key has a tendency of getting rid of a girl once her arc was over. I guess I was wrong, but hopefully this means that we’ll be seeing Kotomi in the future episodes. 😀