CLANNAD / First Impressions

Summary:

Standing in a field of wheat, the robot sees lights rising around him and remembers that he was in a different world either a long time ago or in the distant future. When the girl next to him asks him about what kind of place it was – if it was more wonderful than here, if there were a lot of things there, and if it was not lonely like the world they’re currently in – the robot thinks that all of these were true. The robot observes that this girl has been alone for a long time in a world that’s ended, and he thinks that he was born here because he knew that this place has nothing, is joyless, and is lonely. The girl then asks him if he wished to be born in such a world, and instead of answering, the robot holds her hand. Back in the real world, Sunohara brings up the idea of lending his name to the drama club so that Nagisa will have enough people to be recognized by the student council, but it turns out that Kyou and the other girls had already thought of the exact same thing. They go to Koumura to ask him to be their adviser, but Koumura refers them to Nishina Rie – the same girl who lent Kotomi her violin. As it turns out, Nishina had asked Koumura to be the adviser to the choir club, however since he was originally the adviser to the drama club, Nishina is willing to let Nagisa have him.

That night, Tomoya is in Sunohara’s room when Misae comes looking for Sunohara because his little sister is calling on the phone. She has Tomoya answer for him since he’s not around, and Tomoya jokingly pretends to be Sunohara over the phone. Sunohara’s sister, however, believes him, tells him that she’s coming the day after tomorrow, and hangs up before he can reveal the truth. The following day, Tomoya and Sunohara find Nagisa reading a threatening note that tells her to give up on the drama club. Sunohara thinks that the culprit is someone from the choir club, but Nagisa refuses to believe this without proof, especially since those girls were so kind to Kotomi. Because of this, Sunohara decides to investigate on his own, and he reports later that it was a girl named Sugisaka from the choir club. His proof comes from the fact that someone had seen her putting something in the desk of a third-year student. Sunohara even called her out, and she arrives alone to face him, Nagisa, and Tomoya. Sugisaka takes responsibility for the letter, saying it has nothing to do with Nishina or the others, but when Sunohara doesn’t believe her, Nagisa personally steps in to talk with her.

According to Sugisaka, Nishina has played the violin since she was young and had won many competitions. Nishina was set to go study overseas, but she was then involved in an accident that weakened her grip and prevented her from playing the violin as well as she used to. Sugisaka notes that Nishina was lonely when she entered this school, and they want to create the choir club so that she can sing even if she can’t play the violin. She begs Nagisa not to get in the way, but before Nagisa can respond, Sunohara angrily tells her not to listen to Sugisaka. He feels that someone who tries to get sympathy like that is a coward, and he’s angry with her for using the handicap. Nagisa, however, decides to give up on the drama club because she believes that, in comparison, the choir club is more serious about what they want to do. This frustrates Sunohara, and Tomoya privates explains to Nagisa later that Sunohara is the same as him in how they both entered the school on sports recommendations but had to quit the sport. In Sunohara’s case, it was fighting with an upperclassman in the soccer club and being forced to leave. Because Sunohara had to give up his dream halfway, he can’t forgive people when they try to take advantage of circumstances.

When Tomoya asks Nagisa about being happy with her decision, she starts talking about how much fun it was working together up to now. Though she couldn’t reestablish the drama club, she found many more important things, including becoming friends with him, Kyou, Ryou, Kotomi, and Sunohara. She attributes her being able to work hard until now to Tomoya, but he feels that she’s personally become stronger compared to how troubled she was when they had met at the bottom of that hill. Nagisa still thinks that she wouldn’t have been able to do anything without him, and she starts crying, so Tomoya tries to comfort her. Unfortunately, as soon as he touches her shoulders, the two get interrupted by Kyou who had heard about what happened. Kyou scolds Nagisa because she thinks that Nagisa’s dream won’t be realized if she’s only considerate of other people. A little later that afternoon, Sunohara expresses his frustrations to Tomoya and talks of destroying the choir club. Since Sunohara wants to go have some fun somewhere, Tomoya takes him to the see Miyazawa Yukine in the library reference room so that they can have coffee and kill some time.

While they’re there, Yukine pulls out an astrology book and starts reading out stuff from the entry corresponding to Sunohara’s constellation. After she mentions that his lucky word is “basketball” and that people are moved when he challenges the impossible, Sunohara realizes something and runs off. Leaving the reference room, Tomoya then runs into two members of the judo club trying to recruit Tomoyo. Before Tomoya can step in though, Fuuko suddenly appears to help because Tomoyo came to her sister’s wedding. However, Fuuko quickly realizes that the two judo club members also came, meaning that she can’t take sides here, and she vows to show up again some other time. After Fuuko walks off, Tomoya gives a threatening glare to the male judo club member before pulling Tomoyo away. Tomoyo is impressed that he stood up to the judo club captains, and she goes on to explain that she’s going to be busy with student council president elections. Hearing this, Tomoya thinks about how it’d be easier to reestablish the drama club if someone like her was the student council president, and Tomoyo then compliments him on being a good guy.

The next morning, Tomoya and Nagisa find out that Sunohara plans to play a game against the basketball club. Remembering what Yukine had read from the astrology book, Sunohara thinks that if he can win against the regular players, then he can make the choir club understand that handicaps don’t mean anything. And with Sugisaka and Nishina emotionally moved, he thinks that they’ll hand over Koumura. He needs Tomoya to help, but Tomoya ignores his repeated requests to play basketball. It gets to the point where Tomoya has to run away after class to escape from him, and he drags Nagisa with him. The two of them don’t stop until they’ve gotten some distance away from the school, but seeing that Nagisa is worried about Sunohara, Tomoya pretends that the truth is that Sunohara is in love with him. Tomoya matter-of-factly states that he can’t fall in love with another man, and he claims that getting Sunohara to give up quickly is for Sunohara’s own good. When Sunohara catches up with them, Nagisa misinterprets everything he says in the love framework that Tomoya just created, and she uses the excuse that Tomoya is her boyfriend to get Sunohara to give up. This succeeds in causing Sunohara to run away crying, and afterwards Nagisa apologizes to Tomoya and explains that she felt that she had to protect him. Tomoya thanks her, saying that he’s happy, but their moment together is once again broken up, this time by the arrival of Sunohara’s younger sister Mei.

Preview:

So why can’t they just share Koumura or something? I don’t think that being the advisor for two small clubs would kill the old man, and they could avoid this zero-sum standoff. On the plus side, this situation gives Sunohara’s some more character development, and it appears to reinforce Tomoya and Nagisa’s relationship. Perhaps not as much as the game though since I’ve been told that Tomoya actually confesses to Nagisa in in this scene in the game. The animated version probably can’t do that since it’s trying to cover as much as possible and not just focus on Nagisa’s story path.

On a different note, I wish they would stop having these random Fuuko moments. They’re only mildly amusing (Tomoya claiming Sunohara loved him was tons funnier), and I still think it takes away from the ending to the Fuuko arc. Tomoyo, on the other hand, is someone I’d like to see them spend more time on (the summer uniforms incidentally make me think of Tomoyo After), though I’m not sure that they will at the rate they’re going. From what (little) I know about the overall story, there’s still a lot left to cover, and not that many episodes left to do it in. For now, next week looks like it’ll be about the basketball game and probably Mei (Tamura Yukari is perfect for that role).

60 Comments

  21. If my horrid translating is right then right before that scene that >>20 showed,Show Spoiler ▼

    Sunohara said something along the lines of tomoya choosing nagisa over him then a rant I couldnt understand then ran off in a fit of melo drama.

    Frankly, I found it hilarious when she said that.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Dan-Dan
    Reply

  25. lol. Clannad’s comedy recovery uuuuuuup!

    Just like it thought. Clannad’s comedy is the best. Hopefully they are able to plan ahead this time for the sad moments. So Tomoyo is the next target, huh…..

    banzemanga
    Reply

  30. How exactly does KyoAni plan on finishing Clannad? There are 9 episodes left with Kyou, Tomoyo, Yukine, Youhei, and Nagisa’s arcs still floating about. That’s not including the after story…..

    MooMooCow
    Reply

  31. @MooMooCow: I was wondering the same thing. I’m thinking they might plan on putting the arcs all in one maybe. T3T I wish Clanand was longer.

    And yay for Fuko! ^_^;; She’s so cute; she’s even wearing the wrong uniform. ^w^

    Jenn-Jen
    Reply

  37. In the game if you leveled up all of her ‘specials’ (drinking through nose, replace someone else) to Ninja level, she will apparently appear every now and then when you replay the ‘After Story’ section.

    Kinda cute way to put her in the show even though her arc is done. At least it’s not like other shows where one girl is completely ignored once their arc has ended.

    Fat Cat Lim
    Reply

  41. @DarkReign:

    What happened there was:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Yay, Tamura Yukari’s in CLANNAD as Sunohara Mei!

    divine
    Reply

  44. The summer uniforms are cute – they look like a cross between Evangelion and Haruhi.
    The winder uniforms are awesome, they are what grabbed me in the first place, but these are very cute too.

    Phil
    Reply

  45. Rather than share advisors for two clubs, why not make it one large club? From what I can tell, Nagisa is the only one who actually wants to act in the “drama club”… everyone else is there because of her. For Sugisaka-tachi; it looks like their situation is kind of like Nagisa-tachi’s where the others are there to help one person accomplish what she wants in life?

    The confession… that would have been SO awkward in real life… but it was very interesting to watch.

    cbhl
    Reply

  48. Great episode overall, but I really didn’t like the random Fuuko moment, like she’s in for no reason then she’s out. Still more Tomoyo is great and Tomoya lieing about Sunohara was funny as hell.

    FlameStrike
    Reply

  49. please please please please please let there be a 2nd season!! otherwise nothing is going to fit. Just so you know,I did a bit of counting and Im pretty sure that clannad is longer than all the shakesphere plays combined.

    hypertoast
    Reply

  50. Is it just me or do I notice one of those lights form the title showing near Nagisa?
    I think the time was around the 8:00 min mark. Maybe she could be related to the girl from the other world? (just a guess….I never played the game before ^^)

    Yuuzora
    Reply

  53. Why can’t the theater club and choir club just merge into one and they can have a “Musical Theater” club?!?!!? Then they don’t have to worry about having Kyou and her sister, Kotomi, and Tomoya lend their names but not be involved. The choir girls get to sing, plus act…and Nagisa gets to act, plus sing. It’s a total win-win! Geez, nobody thinks in anime anymore….hehehehe

    JRyan2K
    Reply

  54. Tomoya should just go for the Fujibayashi sisters! lol since most likely both of them has feelings for him, so it is the better choice among the other girls, well since i heard there’s already a TomoyaXTomoyo pairing for a whole separate game, and the default is already Nagisa in Clannad, so why not the Fujibayashi twins or Kotomi for the anime.

    X
    Reply

  60. @X

    I agree with you, Tomoya should go one of the girls. Exspecially Kotomi ^^. love that girl. Wish they made games for Kotomi and Kyou focus only. They did it with Tomoyo, so they might as well.

    However, unfortunately, Clannad story is all about Nagisa. Don’t wanna spoil, so just read the Wiki and you can see why they can’t randomly decide who will be cannon like they did in Shuffle.

    Anyways, Fuko moments are really random -.=. It’s great that she’s a lively ghost, but keep on doing this and FUko will start losing significance and favor in audeince. Maybe they should make her randomly wake up in one episode so they dont’ have to do it ^^.

    Sora no Kaze
    Reply

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