Post by glitch on Oct 12, 2010 9:32:04 GMT -6
SPOILERS BELOW!
Don't read unless you've seen both Clannad and After Story, unless for some reason you're ready to be spoiled.
Don't read unless you've seen both Clannad and After Story, unless for some reason you're ready to be spoiled.
So back when I first finished Clannad, me and a friend went back-and-forth about the supernatural of Clannad and how Ushio and Tomoya are the girl and the robot in the other world. I wrote this really tl;dr post about the timeline of Clannad and the transfer of Tomoya, Ushio, and Nagisa to different realities. I'll quote the post here in case anyone's interested. It's really long and filled with spoilers, so don't read it unless you've finished both seasons of Clannad. Some of this is a quote from my friend (Mac) and part of it is me. I left spoiler tags in there, even though they don't work with this bbcode, so at least there's some warning.
Quote from Mac/
This is actually a good run down of the technicalities of the Illusionary world in Clannad and everyone's tie to it.
Also the fact that an alternate reality exists we can assume that the laws of that place differ from the laws here.
This is actually a good run down of the technicalities of the Illusionary world in Clannad and everyone's tie to it.
IW = illusionary world CV = clannadverse
Events not run "chronologically", as IW is not bound by time and space, but run in the order that they occur.
1. Akio runs to the big tree in the mystical open plain and makes a wish to save Nagisa. The Town grants him this miracle by using the light orbs within the IW to save her. But in turn, this binds her life to the town. In a way, the IW now "feeds off" from Nagisa's attachments towards the town, resulting in her fragile health.
2. Tomoya and Nagisa meet and fall in love. This unintentionally causes Nagisa's attachment to shift from the Town towards Tomoya, as a result, the IW would "extract" the lifeforce from Nagisa in order to maintain its existence. (Before Akio made the contract, the IW had always been just a container for the light orbs. )
3. Nagisa dies, and Ushio inherits Nagisa's contract with the Town.
4. Ushio dies.
5. Due to her unique existence with the IW, and her subconscious will to save her mother (this is mostly speculated), Ushio is reborn in the IW and binds her will to it. Though she loses her memories in CV.
6. Tomoya, either through death (from grief, suicide?) or through a very strong will, also arrives in the IW, as a light orb (also losing his memories in CV).
7. Ushio sensed an orb that somehow seems more sentient than the others, and thus creates a body for that orb (Tomoya/the Robot).
8. Both Ushio and the Robot begin their life in IW.
9. The Robot somehow remembers something, but can't exactly place what it is, and is compelled to want to take Ushio out of the IW. As Ushio's will integrates even more with the IW, winter arrives.
10. Ushio now remembers part of her memories in CV and her desire to save her mother.
11. Ushio tells the Robot (Tomoya) about the light orbs, and sends him back in time, back to when Tomoya first met Nagisa, in order to collect as many orbs as possible.
12. Tomoya returns to that point in CV, but loses his memories in IW. Ushio becomes one with the IW, collecting the orbs as Tomoya receives them in various alternate timelines.
13. In the various alternate realities (as seen in the game, and in the DVD special episode 24, where Tomoya ends up with Tomoyo instead), Tomoya collects the various light orbs for every happiness he, or someone else he helps, attains.
14. Ushio in turns receives them, and "resets" the world to that point for every orb collected so that Tomoya may go and collect more. As there are more orbs, the IW regains its ability to sustain itself.
(Points 15-17 in the original refers to mechanics more relevant to the game players than the anime watchers, which I feel would be redundant, so I'll skip to point 18)
18. And finally, Tomoya enters the timeline we see in the anime, where he meets and marries Nagisa. Nagisa still dies in this timeline, but he still manages to collect a few more orbs before coming to CV Ushio's death.
19. As Tomoya now collected quite a lot of orbs, IW Ushio is now able to perform the miracle by sending Tomoya back to when CV Ushio is born, and with the power of the orbs, saves Nagisa's life again.
20. As history has been altered, the Ushio born in this CV is considered a different person than IW Ushio (though their souls are linked, think Tsubasa Chronicle for this one, i.e. same soul, different bodies).
21. Due to the family love created by the Okazakis, the IW is able to sustain itself, and CV Ushio no longer falls ill.
22. Her task completed, IW Ushio travels back to CV, where her soul "fuses" with CV Ushio, and she is found sleeping under the tree, where Fuuko (from her residual memory from previous timelines) manages to find and befriend her.
Events not run "chronologically", as IW is not bound by time and space, but run in the order that they occur.
1. Akio runs to the big tree in the mystical open plain and makes a wish to save Nagisa. The Town grants him this miracle by using the light orbs within the IW to save her. But in turn, this binds her life to the town. In a way, the IW now "feeds off" from Nagisa's attachments towards the town, resulting in her fragile health.
2. Tomoya and Nagisa meet and fall in love. This unintentionally causes Nagisa's attachment to shift from the Town towards Tomoya, as a result, the IW would "extract" the lifeforce from Nagisa in order to maintain its existence. (Before Akio made the contract, the IW had always been just a container for the light orbs. )
3. Nagisa dies, and Ushio inherits Nagisa's contract with the Town.
4. Ushio dies.
5. Due to her unique existence with the IW, and her subconscious will to save her mother (this is mostly speculated), Ushio is reborn in the IW and binds her will to it. Though she loses her memories in CV.
6. Tomoya, either through death (from grief, suicide?) or through a very strong will, also arrives in the IW, as a light orb (also losing his memories in CV).
7. Ushio sensed an orb that somehow seems more sentient than the others, and thus creates a body for that orb (Tomoya/the Robot).
8. Both Ushio and the Robot begin their life in IW.
9. The Robot somehow remembers something, but can't exactly place what it is, and is compelled to want to take Ushio out of the IW. As Ushio's will integrates even more with the IW, winter arrives.
10. Ushio now remembers part of her memories in CV and her desire to save her mother.
11. Ushio tells the Robot (Tomoya) about the light orbs, and sends him back in time, back to when Tomoya first met Nagisa, in order to collect as many orbs as possible.
12. Tomoya returns to that point in CV, but loses his memories in IW. Ushio becomes one with the IW, collecting the orbs as Tomoya receives them in various alternate timelines.
13. In the various alternate realities (as seen in the game, and in the DVD special episode 24, where Tomoya ends up with Tomoyo instead), Tomoya collects the various light orbs for every happiness he, or someone else he helps, attains.
14. Ushio in turns receives them, and "resets" the world to that point for every orb collected so that Tomoya may go and collect more. As there are more orbs, the IW regains its ability to sustain itself.
(Points 15-17 in the original refers to mechanics more relevant to the game players than the anime watchers, which I feel would be redundant, so I'll skip to point 18)
18. And finally, Tomoya enters the timeline we see in the anime, where he meets and marries Nagisa. Nagisa still dies in this timeline, but he still manages to collect a few more orbs before coming to CV Ushio's death.
19. As Tomoya now collected quite a lot of orbs, IW Ushio is now able to perform the miracle by sending Tomoya back to when CV Ushio is born, and with the power of the orbs, saves Nagisa's life again.
20. As history has been altered, the Ushio born in this CV is considered a different person than IW Ushio (though their souls are linked, think Tsubasa Chronicle for this one, i.e. same soul, different bodies).
21. Due to the family love created by the Okazakis, the IW is able to sustain itself, and CV Ushio no longer falls ill.
22. Her task completed, IW Ushio travels back to CV, where her soul "fuses" with CV Ushio, and she is found sleeping under the tree, where Fuuko (from her residual memory from previous timelines) manages to find and befriend her.
Also the fact that an alternate reality exists we can assume that the laws of that place differ from the laws here.
Implying that the point that Tomoya exited the IW was in the past, ie before Nagisa died. Tomoya referring to it as miraculous is only because he doesn't understand it. And who can blame him, alternate realities are confusing as hell. The only real miraculous thing that happens is that Nagisa's illness is gone, thanks to all the light orbs that Tomoya had collected.
Quote from me in response.
What an amazing post, Mac. Seriously. I had to read through everything you wrote 4 or 5 times to understand it all because it was so difficult to understand... but once I got it, everything fit into the tiny crack where it could have possibly fit that I would have never seen and just overlooked. I decided to rewrite it more detailed for myself and save it just so it would make more sense, and I figured I might as well post it here and make sure I got it all right. Point-by-pointing to make more sense; not used in a negative manor. ha. Clannad and After Story spoilers. You know the drill duds.
omg that was soooo long. If you have a chance to read it Mac, I'd love to know if I got anything wrong. haha
What's difficult when talking about alternate realities, dimensions, universes, worlds, etc. is that you need a solid place to start from that really is reality, because all of them but one aren't true reality. ... Yet they are. That's what's so difficult to comprehend. There's the main world where people live their lives all the way through to the longest they do out of all their other lives, but the other worlds are just as real. In other realities, people also exist, and so there is one soul in many, many bodies in many different worlds, all [worlds] of which have different fates for those living therein. Therefore, the only one that truly is real reality is the one that we saw where they were a family and Nagisa lived, and there's really not a specific way to define it except just being the best one, because it is ultimately the one that the souls return to in the end. All of these alternate realities, though, are actually reality, just in a different world, and sometimes the knowledge and wisdom that the souls acquire in those alternate realities transcend into the main world and/or other worlds. So while Tomoya-kun experiences many different alternate realities in his soul's existence, he really only remembers one, with only a little bit from the other worlds that he previously existed in (very little), he still lives his life many times over and over again, just not realizing it, in different worlds. So on to the first point.
When Nagisa-chan is left home alone with her sickness and falls into the snow, then found by her parents who almost lose her, Akio-san goes to the big mysterious tree in the middle of the snowy plain, and begins to pray. This tree could represent the power that transcends lives into other alternate worlds. So as he is praying he makes a wish that Nagisa would live, the mystical power agrees to what he pleads for, but at a price, that being that Nagisa-chan's life is now saved by a miracle of the light orbs, which originally resided in the snowy world that Ushio and Tomoya-kun lived in for so long. The light orbs from that place healed her need to have some sort of power to sustain their alternate world, and they decide to pull that sustenance from the attachment and love Nagisa has to the town. This means that Nagisa's life now depends solely on the amount of love she has for the town they are living in, because the love she has for her town is what fuels the existence of the world that houses the lights, which in turn saved Nagisa. So it's a cycle that goes around, and if one of them fails, Nagisa dies. As parts of the city change and Nagisa doesn't like the changes, her condition worsens, because her love for the city has decreased. That is the cause of the illness she has, and exactly why doctors cannot explain it.
This shows why there has to be one of the worlds that is superior to the others, and that's because the world that Tomoya and Nagisa fall in love in determines what happens in other worlds, because when Nagisa falls in love with Tomoya her affections shift from loving the town so much to loving Tomoya, and that causes her condition to worsen because the alternate world with lights is altered by the world we saw in season 1. So because her love begins to shift more to Tomoya, the lights begin to have to pull their life force from Nagisa herself, causing her to weaken.
Nagisa dies because her love has completely shifted from the city to Tomoya, and because of that love, they had a child, who is the result of the shift in emotions that caused Nagisa to die, and therefore, Ushio, as the result of the emotional change that Nagisa had, becomes the one who's love for the city now fuels the light world.
This is quite obviously because Ushio, being the one who inherited her mother's condition, does not love the city like her mother did (being a child who doesn't know much about it yet), and therefore cannot sustain the light world which is sustaining her. So she dies.
This one was a little hard to decipher for me because her existence in the light world (that's what I'm calling it if you haven't picked up on that already) can't be the cause of why she was there because her existence comes after her birth into that world. So let me see if I can make sense of this... After Ushio dies, she is sent to the light world because she was the one that inherited this 'contract' with the town. The only problem with that theory is that if Ushio is sent there when she dies because of the contract, why wasn't Nagisa? Perhaps it was because she passed the contract and was no longer bound to it, and therefore simply died without her ever existing in that light world. So Ushio goes into that world because she inherited the contract, and she lives there and her will is bound to it, basically making her the controller/god of that world by her subconscious. Her purpose in being there is to collect light orbs to save her mother, Nagisa, but in the transition from the primary world to the light world she loses her memory and doesn't know why she exists in the light world.
Tomoya-kun, for some reason, didn't receive the contract from Ushio when she died because Ushio, unlike Nagisa, was reborn into the light world. Tomoya-kun dies, how he does so we are clueless of (probably suicide), and he is then born into the light world; why he is we have no idea either. But his death had some relationship to the contract either from his hatred of the town or his love for Nagisa/Ushio that it brought him there. Idk... confusing, but Tomoya's reborn into the light world.
In the light world, Ushio finds one orb that particularly stands out to her because it's the incarnation of her father's soul. She works endlessly to build a robot body for it which just so happens to be the same creature (a robot) that Tomoya had picked out for her while she was still alive. How cute. <3 Tomoya takes the body and is now the robot, and soon thereafter remembers something from his previous life in the previous world. The same happens with Ushio, but to a greater extent, and she remembers Nagisa, and she now knows why she exists in that world of lights, and that's to save her mother in the previous world.
So in order to save her mother, Ushio sends Tomoya back to when he met Nagisa and has him live his life like he normally would, just making sure to collect light orbs to send to Ushio to save Nagisa in that future. In a sense now, Nagisa's life is now dependent upon Tomoya's happiness instead of her love for the city, because her love for the city failed, and changed to love for Tomoya... but that in fact makes Tomoya happy (that she loves him) and therefore he is able to collect light orbs and send them to Ushio who then uses them to save her mother! PHEW. Confusing.
Tomoya lives his life collecting the orbs and sending them to Ushio, and in turn the lights are able to sustain the world on their own and don't have to draw from Nagisa's love for the city any more.
So the worlds that we've been talking about both up until now are not shown in the anime, it's the light world and the real world, and now we come to the completely real world, which is just the same as the real world; everything really does happen, except this time, when Tomoya-kun dies after the other two Okazakis, he doesn't get sent to the beginning of the time he spent with Ushio in the light world, but instead, is sent to the end of his time with Ushio in that world, where he is actually able to communicate with her with words. They then leave that world, both of them going back in the time of this completely real world where Nagisa and Ushio both die and Tomoya-kun is sent to the end of the end of the light world, and Ushio alters history by saving both her mother and herself with the power of the light orbs that Tomoya-kun collected in the real world (not the completely real world, just the real world).
Ushio is born and doesn't remember anything because she lost her memories and isn't even the same person. There are two different beings Ushio's soul inhabits: light world Ushio and completely real world Ushio. Completely real world Ushio doesn't know anything about light world Ushio.
The light world no longer draws from Nagisa's love for the city, nor Ushio's love for the city, nor Tomoya's happiness, but instead, draws it's power from the love that the Okazaki family share together, and therefore Nagisa is no longer sick, and in the completely real world, Ushio never gets sick at all with her mother's condition.
Light world Ushio no longer must do anything to save Nagisa or herself or Tomoya-kun, and so she is free to fuse herself with the Ushio in the completely real world. Completely real world Ushio doesn't remember anything from the light world yet, but when she gets older she might actually recall her previous existence, kind of like Nagisa remembered the whole story for the play because her family were the ones that were the subjects in an alternate reality, or like Tomoya-kun remembers little bits and pieces of the real world while he's in the light world.
1. Akio runs to the big tree in the mystical open plain and makes a wish to save Nagisa. The Town grants him this miracle by using the light orbs within the IW to save her. But in turn, this binds her life to the town. In a way, the IW now "feeds off" from Nagisa's attachments towards the town, resulting in her fragile health.
When Nagisa-chan is left home alone with her sickness and falls into the snow, then found by her parents who almost lose her, Akio-san goes to the big mysterious tree in the middle of the snowy plain, and begins to pray. This tree could represent the power that transcends lives into other alternate worlds. So as he is praying he makes a wish that Nagisa would live, the mystical power agrees to what he pleads for, but at a price, that being that Nagisa-chan's life is now saved by a miracle of the light orbs, which originally resided in the snowy world that Ushio and Tomoya-kun lived in for so long. The light orbs from that place healed her need to have some sort of power to sustain their alternate world, and they decide to pull that sustenance from the attachment and love Nagisa has to the town. This means that Nagisa's life now depends solely on the amount of love she has for the town they are living in, because the love she has for her town is what fuels the existence of the world that houses the lights, which in turn saved Nagisa. So it's a cycle that goes around, and if one of them fails, Nagisa dies. As parts of the city change and Nagisa doesn't like the changes, her condition worsens, because her love for the city has decreased. That is the cause of the illness she has, and exactly why doctors cannot explain it.
2. Tomoya and Nagisa meet and fall in love. This unintentionally causes Nagisa's attachment to shift from the Town towards Tomoya, as a result, the IW would "extract" the lifeforce from Nagisa in order to maintain its existence. (Before Akio made the contract, the IW had always been just a container for the light orbs. )
This shows why there has to be one of the worlds that is superior to the others, and that's because the world that Tomoya and Nagisa fall in love in determines what happens in other worlds, because when Nagisa falls in love with Tomoya her affections shift from loving the town so much to loving Tomoya, and that causes her condition to worsen because the alternate world with lights is altered by the world we saw in season 1. So because her love begins to shift more to Tomoya, the lights begin to have to pull their life force from Nagisa herself, causing her to weaken.
3. Nagisa dies, and Ushio inherits Nagisa's contract with the Town.
Nagisa dies because her love has completely shifted from the city to Tomoya, and because of that love, they had a child, who is the result of the shift in emotions that caused Nagisa to die, and therefore, Ushio, as the result of the emotional change that Nagisa had, becomes the one who's love for the city now fuels the light world.
4. Ushio dies.
This is quite obviously because Ushio, being the one who inherited her mother's condition, does not love the city like her mother did (being a child who doesn't know much about it yet), and therefore cannot sustain the light world which is sustaining her. So she dies.
5. Due to her unique existence with the IW, and her subconscious will to save her mother (this is mostly speculated), Ushio is reborn in the IW and binds her will to it. Though she loses her memories in CV.
This one was a little hard to decipher for me because her existence in the light world (that's what I'm calling it if you haven't picked up on that already) can't be the cause of why she was there because her existence comes after her birth into that world. So let me see if I can make sense of this... After Ushio dies, she is sent to the light world because she was the one that inherited this 'contract' with the town. The only problem with that theory is that if Ushio is sent there when she dies because of the contract, why wasn't Nagisa? Perhaps it was because she passed the contract and was no longer bound to it, and therefore simply died without her ever existing in that light world. So Ushio goes into that world because she inherited the contract, and she lives there and her will is bound to it, basically making her the controller/god of that world by her subconscious. Her purpose in being there is to collect light orbs to save her mother, Nagisa, but in the transition from the primary world to the light world she loses her memory and doesn't know why she exists in the light world.
6. Tomoya, either through death (from grief, suicide?) or through a very strong will, also arrives in the IW, as a light orb (also losing his memories in CV).
Tomoya-kun, for some reason, didn't receive the contract from Ushio when she died because Ushio, unlike Nagisa, was reborn into the light world. Tomoya-kun dies, how he does so we are clueless of (probably suicide), and he is then born into the light world; why he is we have no idea either. But his death had some relationship to the contract either from his hatred of the town or his love for Nagisa/Ushio that it brought him there. Idk... confusing, but Tomoya's reborn into the light world.
7. Ushio sensed an orb that somehow seems more sentient than the others, and thus creates a body for that orb (Tomoya/the Robot).
8. Both Ushio and the Robot begin their life in IW.
9. The Robot somehow remembers something, but can't exactly place what it is, and is compelled to want to take Ushio out of the IW. As Ushio's will integrates even more with the IW, winter arrives.
10. Ushio now remembers part of her memories in CV and her desire to save her mother.
8. Both Ushio and the Robot begin their life in IW.
9. The Robot somehow remembers something, but can't exactly place what it is, and is compelled to want to take Ushio out of the IW. As Ushio's will integrates even more with the IW, winter arrives.
10. Ushio now remembers part of her memories in CV and her desire to save her mother.
In the light world, Ushio finds one orb that particularly stands out to her because it's the incarnation of her father's soul. She works endlessly to build a robot body for it which just so happens to be the same creature (a robot) that Tomoya had picked out for her while she was still alive. How cute. <3 Tomoya takes the body and is now the robot, and soon thereafter remembers something from his previous life in the previous world. The same happens with Ushio, but to a greater extent, and she remembers Nagisa, and she now knows why she exists in that world of lights, and that's to save her mother in the previous world.
11. Ushio tells the Robot (Tomoya) about the light orbs, and sends him back in time, back to when Tomoya first met Nagisa, in order to collect as many orbs as possible.
12. Tomoya returns to that point in CV, but loses his memories in IW. Ushio becomes one with the IW, collecting the orbs as Tomoya receives them in various alternate timelines.
13. In the various alternate realities (as seen in the game, and in the DVD special episode 24, where Tomoya ends up with Tomoyo instead), Tomoya collects the various light orbs for every happiness he, or someone else he helps, attains.
12. Tomoya returns to that point in CV, but loses his memories in IW. Ushio becomes one with the IW, collecting the orbs as Tomoya receives them in various alternate timelines.
13. In the various alternate realities (as seen in the game, and in the DVD special episode 24, where Tomoya ends up with Tomoyo instead), Tomoya collects the various light orbs for every happiness he, or someone else he helps, attains.
So in order to save her mother, Ushio sends Tomoya back to when he met Nagisa and has him live his life like he normally would, just making sure to collect light orbs to send to Ushio to save Nagisa in that future. In a sense now, Nagisa's life is now dependent upon Tomoya's happiness instead of her love for the city, because her love for the city failed, and changed to love for Tomoya... but that in fact makes Tomoya happy (that she loves him) and therefore he is able to collect light orbs and send them to Ushio who then uses them to save her mother! PHEW. Confusing.
14. Ushio in turns receives them, and "resets" the world to that point for every orb collected so that Tomoya may go and collect more. As there are more orbs, the IW regains its ability to sustain itself.
Tomoya lives his life collecting the orbs and sending them to Ushio, and in turn the lights are able to sustain the world on their own and don't have to draw from Nagisa's love for the city any more.
18. And finally, Tomoya enters the timeline we see in the anime, where he meets and marries Nagisa. Nagisa still dies in this timeline, but he still manages to collect a few more orbs before coming to CV Ushio's death.
19. As Tomoya now collected quite a lot of orbs, IW Ushio is now able to perform the miracle by sending Tomoya back to when CV Ushio is born, and with the power of the orbs, saves Nagisa's life again.
19. As Tomoya now collected quite a lot of orbs, IW Ushio is now able to perform the miracle by sending Tomoya back to when CV Ushio is born, and with the power of the orbs, saves Nagisa's life again.
So the worlds that we've been talking about both up until now are not shown in the anime, it's the light world and the real world, and now we come to the completely real world, which is just the same as the real world; everything really does happen, except this time, when Tomoya-kun dies after the other two Okazakis, he doesn't get sent to the beginning of the time he spent with Ushio in the light world, but instead, is sent to the end of his time with Ushio in that world, where he is actually able to communicate with her with words. They then leave that world, both of them going back in the time of this completely real world where Nagisa and Ushio both die and Tomoya-kun is sent to the end of the end of the light world, and Ushio alters history by saving both her mother and herself with the power of the light orbs that Tomoya-kun collected in the real world (not the completely real world, just the real world).
20. As history has been altered, the Ushio born in this CV is considered a different person than IW Ushio (though their souls are linked, think Tsubasa Chronicle for this one, i.e. same soul, different bodies).
Ushio is born and doesn't remember anything because she lost her memories and isn't even the same person. There are two different beings Ushio's soul inhabits: light world Ushio and completely real world Ushio. Completely real world Ushio doesn't know anything about light world Ushio.
21. Due to the family love created by the Okazakis, the IW is able to sustain itself, and CV Ushio no longer falls ill.
The light world no longer draws from Nagisa's love for the city, nor Ushio's love for the city, nor Tomoya's happiness, but instead, draws it's power from the love that the Okazaki family share together, and therefore Nagisa is no longer sick, and in the completely real world, Ushio never gets sick at all with her mother's condition.
22. Her task completed, IW Ushio travels back to CV, where her soul "fuses" with CV Ushio, and she is found sleeping under the tree, where Fuuko (from her residual memory from previous timelines) manages to find and befriend her.
Light world Ushio no longer must do anything to save Nagisa or herself or Tomoya-kun, and so she is free to fuse herself with the Ushio in the completely real world. Completely real world Ushio doesn't remember anything from the light world yet, but when she gets older she might actually recall her previous existence, kind of like Nagisa remembered the whole story for the play because her family were the ones that were the subjects in an alternate reality, or like Tomoya-kun remembers little bits and pieces of the real world while he's in the light world.
omg that was soooo long. If you have a chance to read it Mac, I'd love to know if I got anything wrong. haha
And also slightly on the topic, this was my sloppy review of Clannad with just some review of my favorite scenes. It's got like an anime testimony or whatever if you wanna call it that. xD Note: Ataru @ LAF = Sunohara @ ClannadRP.
Quote from me.
Konichiwa!
Omg, Ataru, I know. And I went to bed at the worst part I could have possibly chosen to. But it was already almost 2 here and Dad was telling me to go to bed for like an hour so I didn't have much of a choice; that and the fact that I had school tomorrow and was already starting to get sick from too much crying. So anyways. Here we go with my post about After Story. --I wrote the next six paragraphs, then came back here to put something in-- Turns out that I went into a big detailed story of my anime story thanks to Mac, Ataru, and FLS. If you're bored and want to tl;dr it, just skip the next 6 paragraphs.
As much as I want to exaggerate and scream, "CLANNAD WAS OVER 9000 TIMES BETTER THAN ANGEL BEATS!!!!!!!!!!" I'll be civil and tell you all that watched Angel Beats (Tegan... Casey...) and not Clannad yet that this was like 3 times better if I'm gonna be realistic. If I don't over exaggerate then maybe you'll take me seriously. But really, it starts so unbearably slow, but in the end, it's so worth it.
As I sit here writing my review with Dango, Dango, Dango, Dango, Dango, Dango, Daikazoku playing in the background looking back upon the anime, I can't do anything but just thank Mac and Ataru for starting this thread... for talking about anime on LAF... and for showing me Angel Beats. If it weren't for Mac's GIF of the fight in Angel Beats, I probably would have never considered watching. That one GIF of Kanade and Yurippe fighting at Guild, in combination with the fact that AB was only 13 episodes so I wouldn't have to spend too much time on it, opened the doors for me to see that just because something's in Japanese, has subtitles, and the characters all look the same, doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it.
Before, I had a negative outlook on the fact that it was in Japanese because I thought that the whole idea of watching a show in a different language was just ridiculous. I've quickly come to see what an absolutely beautiful and amazing language Japanese is... It flows amazingly, and I've learned quickly how to read the romanization of words in Japanese. It's such a beautiful language, even if I don't understand all the words in it. What was funny is that I've been watching so much lately that I found myself answering my sister yesterday when she asked me a question with "Hai" instead of "Yes." ha.
I also didn't like the fact that there had to be subtitles. I made excuses that I couldn't focus on what was going on if I had to read words at the bottom of the screen the whole time, but through watching Clannad and Angel Beats I've been able to learn how to read and focus on what's going on at the same time. At the beginning of Angel Beats I had to pause every now and then to read, but I've gotten better at it and rarely have to any more. I found the English dubbed version of Clannad and watched a little, but in fact, it turns out, I prefer the Japanese version with subtitles. Not only is the acting better, but the characters seem more real and original to who they really are, because their voices are the true ones that the animators originally used.
One final reason that I refused so stubbornly to watch anime was because any time I saw fan art or drawings or screencaps, all the characters looked identical to me and I could never recognize anyone. After watching, it's obvious that just because all the characters' hair color may be the same, and the animators all use similar drawing styles in anime, it's no different than the way we draw cartoons here in America; they all look just as different as people do in anime once you get to know who they are. I could easily point and tell you that that's Okazaki, that's Nagisa, that's Kyou, that's Fujibashi, that's Sunohara (even with black hair...), that's Akio-san, etc. etc. and on and on down the list of tons of characters.
So I overcame all three of those things, thanks to Mac's pushing me, and Ataru and FLS's support by just being there to talk to about it. I'd also like to apologize for giving play-by-plays, as FLS and Iroh noted earlier today, via chat. I just love talking to people about what's going on, especially in that "OMGOMGOMG!!!" moment, ya know? So I'll do my best to keep to actual discussions and not play-by-play monologues, and I'll do my best not to spoil anything in the future as I watch more.
Now onto the actual Clannad ~Afterstory~ discussion. Clannad, Season 1, was quite an awesome show, and while it was slow at first, and I nearly gave it up at episode 9, I am so glad I didn't. What is so special about the first season to me now that I've seen After Story is that all the time spent in season 1 where it seemed like the plots were so insignificant was an amazing time that the characters were developing in front of our eyes, sharing their stories and their pasts, and the entire first season of insignificant plots (as compared to After Story) was an absolutely amazing way to get the viewers' hearts intertwined with the main characters, especially Okazaki, Nagisa, Sanae-san, and Akio-san. The story served it's own purpose standing alone, and without the second season, it is still an amazing show with great characters, but After Story really took what the first season had created so carefully and slowly, and ran with it, speeding things up and increasing the intensity and significance of the overall story and plot arcs. If After Story would have been a show all on it's own with no previous season, it would have still been amazing, but the combination of the two seasons together make the show as beautiful, tear-jerking, and heart-moving as it is. Now I'm going to go into some of my favorite parts of the story, so be warned of extreme spoilers below. I saw/read some spoilers for After Story over both DeviantArt (when I searched for a pic of Okazaki and Nagisa to post in the Gen. Shipping thread... my fault) and Wikipedia (when I searched for the really strong girl [Tomoyo] to find out what her name was to post in the Gen Shipping thread as an alternative to Okazaki/Nagisa... my fault), and nearly lost control of myself because of it when I read. Thankfully, when I read it, I closed the tab as quickly as I possibly could, and didn't read a final spoiler which took me by surprise, so I didn't actually ruin the entire show for me at all. I only thought I had. All that to say, spoilers follow. If you plan on watching, I'm begging you... do not click this button.
That's pretty much it. After Story was even more amazing than the first season, by far, and my overall rating for the second season has got to be a 9.9/10, only limited by the things in the previous paragraph. The series altogether with both seasons I'll give a legit calebrating of 9.7/10. Beautiful series, and I encourage everyone to watch it. So much that I just denied the chance to use a meme. Ha.
Another thing I discovered is that as I watch more anime, my rating system is altering. Where I ranked Avatar as a 9.5/10 before, that was because it was the best I had seen. I've seen two of Key's animes now, and plan on watching plenty more anime. Both Angel Beats and Clannad were much better than Avatar in my opinion, nothing against the series, but it made me have to rescale Avatar down to about 7.5, where Angel Beats has an 9 and Clannad has a 9.7. I hope that I find many more series that are as good as Clannad, and I look forward to more Key productions. Onwards to Angel Beats! Season 2!
[/edit]
And now I have to go to bed. Clannad made me sick, because I went to bed at the worst time (right after episode 16) and couldn't sleep. I got 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night, and all the crying gave me a sore throat. After episode 16 I didn't eat anything until I finished the series, which was 4 meals later (25 hours to be precise...). Now my eyes are dry and I can't even make any tears because I cried so much today. I'm gonna go recover and write the rest tomorrow.
Mac and Ataru... You have my solute.
Arigato goza imasu. <3
[edit] My favorite scene from Clannad. Such an awesome part. Warning: Again, don't even click the spoiler button if you plan on watching. It's just a video and you can wait.
Konichiwa!
Quote from Ataru.
I can't believe you tried to sleep without watching the end of After Story. Jeez.
I can't believe you tried to sleep without watching the end of After Story. Jeez.
Omg, Ataru, I know. And I went to bed at the worst part I could have possibly chosen to. But it was already almost 2 here and Dad was telling me to go to bed for like an hour so I didn't have much of a choice; that and the fact that I had school tomorrow and was already starting to get sick from too much crying. So anyways. Here we go with my post about After Story. --I wrote the next six paragraphs, then came back here to put something in-- Turns out that I went into a big detailed story of my anime story thanks to Mac, Ataru, and FLS. If you're bored and want to tl;dr it, just skip the next 6 paragraphs.
As much as I want to exaggerate and scream, "CLANNAD WAS OVER 9000 TIMES BETTER THAN ANGEL BEATS!!!!!!!!!!" I'll be civil and tell you all that watched Angel Beats (Tegan... Casey...) and not Clannad yet that this was like 3 times better if I'm gonna be realistic. If I don't over exaggerate then maybe you'll take me seriously. But really, it starts so unbearably slow, but in the end, it's so worth it.
As I sit here writing my review with Dango, Dango, Dango, Dango, Dango, Dango, Daikazoku playing in the background looking back upon the anime, I can't do anything but just thank Mac and Ataru for starting this thread... for talking about anime on LAF... and for showing me Angel Beats. If it weren't for Mac's GIF of the fight in Angel Beats, I probably would have never considered watching. That one GIF of Kanade and Yurippe fighting at Guild, in combination with the fact that AB was only 13 episodes so I wouldn't have to spend too much time on it, opened the doors for me to see that just because something's in Japanese, has subtitles, and the characters all look the same, doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it.
Before, I had a negative outlook on the fact that it was in Japanese because I thought that the whole idea of watching a show in a different language was just ridiculous. I've quickly come to see what an absolutely beautiful and amazing language Japanese is... It flows amazingly, and I've learned quickly how to read the romanization of words in Japanese. It's such a beautiful language, even if I don't understand all the words in it. What was funny is that I've been watching so much lately that I found myself answering my sister yesterday when she asked me a question with "Hai" instead of "Yes." ha.
I also didn't like the fact that there had to be subtitles. I made excuses that I couldn't focus on what was going on if I had to read words at the bottom of the screen the whole time, but through watching Clannad and Angel Beats I've been able to learn how to read and focus on what's going on at the same time. At the beginning of Angel Beats I had to pause every now and then to read, but I've gotten better at it and rarely have to any more. I found the English dubbed version of Clannad and watched a little, but in fact, it turns out, I prefer the Japanese version with subtitles. Not only is the acting better, but the characters seem more real and original to who they really are, because their voices are the true ones that the animators originally used.
One final reason that I refused so stubbornly to watch anime was because any time I saw fan art or drawings or screencaps, all the characters looked identical to me and I could never recognize anyone. After watching, it's obvious that just because all the characters' hair color may be the same, and the animators all use similar drawing styles in anime, it's no different than the way we draw cartoons here in America; they all look just as different as people do in anime once you get to know who they are. I could easily point and tell you that that's Okazaki, that's Nagisa, that's Kyou, that's Fujibashi, that's Sunohara (even with black hair...), that's Akio-san, etc. etc. and on and on down the list of tons of characters.
So I overcame all three of those things, thanks to Mac's pushing me, and Ataru and FLS's support by just being there to talk to about it. I'd also like to apologize for giving play-by-plays, as FLS and Iroh noted earlier today, via chat. I just love talking to people about what's going on, especially in that "OMGOMGOMG!!!" moment, ya know? So I'll do my best to keep to actual discussions and not play-by-play monologues, and I'll do my best not to spoil anything in the future as I watch more.
Now onto the actual Clannad ~Afterstory~ discussion. Clannad, Season 1, was quite an awesome show, and while it was slow at first, and I nearly gave it up at episode 9, I am so glad I didn't. What is so special about the first season to me now that I've seen After Story is that all the time spent in season 1 where it seemed like the plots were so insignificant was an amazing time that the characters were developing in front of our eyes, sharing their stories and their pasts, and the entire first season of insignificant plots (as compared to After Story) was an absolutely amazing way to get the viewers' hearts intertwined with the main characters, especially Okazaki, Nagisa, Sanae-san, and Akio-san. The story served it's own purpose standing alone, and without the second season, it is still an amazing show with great characters, but After Story really took what the first season had created so carefully and slowly, and ran with it, speeding things up and increasing the intensity and significance of the overall story and plot arcs. If After Story would have been a show all on it's own with no previous season, it would have still been amazing, but the combination of the two seasons together make the show as beautiful, tear-jerking, and heart-moving as it is. Now I'm going to go into some of my favorite parts of the story, so be warned of extreme spoilers below. I saw/read some spoilers for After Story over both DeviantArt (when I searched for a pic of Okazaki and Nagisa to post in the Gen. Shipping thread... my fault) and Wikipedia (when I searched for the really strong girl [Tomoyo] to find out what her name was to post in the Gen Shipping thread as an alternative to Okazaki/Nagisa... my fault), and nearly lost control of myself because of it when I read. Thankfully, when I read it, I closed the tab as quickly as I possibly could, and didn't read a final spoiler which took me by surprise, so I didn't actually ruin the entire show for me at all. I only thought I had. All that to say, spoilers follow. If you plan on watching, I'm begging you... do not click this button.
So yeah. I'm gonna talk about my favorite parts of the second season. First starting with nothing but the opening scene, when Nagisa-chan jumps on Tomoyo-kun to save him from the baseball Akio-san hit. I remember in season 1 that I wished that they would have been closer to each other. They never even hugged. It seemed that they were both nervous about getting close to each other, and I just wanted to see the hug each other tight. So it wasn't the fact that she was leaning over Tomoyo in a strictly suggestive pose (though that was pretty cute xP), it was the fact that she was no longer as nervous about being close to him. While that was the case for me, I also found it so cute that Nagisa was so worried and concerned and even embarrassed to hold hands with him. It was so sweet.
The next scene that stood out enough for me to remember was in that same episode (don't worry, I'm not going to rant about a ton of scenes in every episode, I just loved the first XD), and that was the baseball game. I loved seeing Akio-san pitch to Sunohara and Sunohara nearly falling apart. Later, Sanae-san and Sunohara faking a couple was also hilarious.
Next, the two gangs fighting, and the whole soccer deal. The fight between Okazaki and Sunohara was epically epic and too see them the next day just laugh at each other was awesome.
Graduation, and Nagisa's ceremony. I was so happy to see them all get back together to see Nagisa graduate in their own little ceremony.
OKAZAKI'S JOB. Oh man I loved that he changed his entire being to be a guy who works hard at life to provide for a family. He had a goal in mind: to move out... to marry Nagisa... to start a family. He had that goal. And it kept him going. That was probably one of the best moments to see him at, when he was working hard, then came home to his girlfriend who had dinner ready. He was so happy and actually content with life.
Okazaki's proposal was so wonderful. After that great pain with the incident with his dad in prison, and then punching the wall until his hand was so scratched up, then stopped by Nagisa... it just demonstrated what an amazing person she was to him. She was able to comfort him in his worst moments. And then as they just sat there, Okazaki: "Nagisa..." Nagisa: "Mm?" Okazaki: "Let's get married..." ... Nagisa: "Ai." Man it was just such an awesome moment. And then that look upon Okazaki's face just told everyone exactly what he was thinking before he even said it. "Why would you want to marry a bum like me, the scum of the earth?" It was so amazing. Then following that up, baseball so that he could talk to Akio-san. His motivation kept him going so much, and he worked so hard... and I was waiting for something proud and grandeur, like "Please allow me to have your daughter's hand in marriage," yet he was so humble and plead with Akio-san. As soon as he hit the baseball, that exact same second, he ran through the mud, fell down on his face before Akio-san and begged him to, "Please let me protect Nagisa!" It was such a beautiful question that I was kinda disappointed with at the moment he said it, but very quickly I saw why he was being so humble... and it was a beautiful thing.
[edit 8/26] Alright, here's the rest. Starting with Nagisa-chan and Tomoyo-kun getting married. I was kinda sad that we didn't actually get to see their wedding, and it was kinda hazy for a little bit on when they actually got married, but the being together was such a special time, especially considering that they only had about a year left together. (Or... SUPPOSEDLY. ha) Then Sanae-san telling Akio-san and Tomyo-kun that Nagisa was pregnant. That scene was friggin hilarious, especially Nagisa. Akio-san's like, "Well the stork must have delivered this." And Nagisa was all...
"Uh, dad, no... I mean come on, we're both two grown adults, in love, married, and living together... So... So I... we..." And Tomoyo-kun LOL. "Oh no... she's gonna say it, isn't she?" Nagisa-chan: "WE SLEPT TOGETHER!" LOLOL. Like it was some huge deal or surprise to her parents that they had. It was so hilarious.
Ushio's birth, Nagisa's death. Episode 16 was the worst episode in the series, but it's easily in my top three favorites. It's the worst because of how sad the ending is. Not only did Nagisa die, but Tomoyo-kun wished he had never met Nagisa... I was just like... What. The crap. What was so bad was that I went to bed right after watching this episode. So it was miserable for me. The thought crossed my mind to just abandon the series there, but I am so glad I didn't. What kept me from leaving it was everyone saying that it was so amazing, so it had to have a good resolution. But the scene with Ushio being born was just so heart-wrenching, even before Nagisa died. Seeing Tomoyo-kun so happy to have his daughter with him at last was enough to make me cry for an eternity. His face in that one shot. I only wish that the hadn't done that awkward white overlay to make the scene more hazy. I want to see it in full light! lol
Next scene, the one with Ushio and Tomoyo in the field, and Tomoyo apologizing to her for being such a 'terrible daddy' all these years. I was so sure that Clannad was going to end with Tomoyo taking to Nagisa's death as a way to keep him going and pushing him to be an amazing father, and giving the viewers a resolution with the two of them being in a great relationship from father to daughter. I was not expecting them to have another entire plot device with Tomoyo being a terrible father and dumping Ushio onto Akio-san and Sanae-san for five years. At that point things just couldn't get any worse at all. And sure enough, they did, with Ushio dying. So to see them together, and to see Tomoyo not being able to help himself from having those little moments where he loves his daughter was just heart-warming. I thought that it was impossible to come to a great closing end without Nagisa being in the picture, and sure enough, Key did! Tomoyo and Ushio developed such a beautiful relationship that I was content if Nagisa wasn't in the rest.
Ushio's death, and thankfully Mac explained to me, Tomoyo's death as well. After all that, and me thinking that it just can't get any worse, it did. Ushio insisting that they had to go on a 'trip' and Tomoyo not being able to resist, and then her dying on the way out was just... ridiculously torturous. And then it's represented that Tomoyo dies, hence the end of the lonely world. The girl being Ushio and Tomoyo-kun being the robot that the girl builds. What I find so interesting about it is that the story that starts in the first episode of this lonely world actually takes place after the events that happen in the end of the dream Tomoyo has (which ends in the last episode). Ushio dies, and is represented in the next world by the girl, and then she begins to build a friend because she is lonely, and that being's soul is Tomoyo-kun. So that obviously means that Tomoyo-kun somehow dies after Ushio does in his dream; whether that's from him just dying right there of sadness
, staying there until he freezes to death, or commits suicide, we don't know... but as they come together in the new world, then realize who they are, the lonely world ends, and Tomoyo-kun is transported into the third phase of his dream (1. Main world. 2. Lonely world. 3. Going back in time.). He goes back in time to when he and Nagisa meet and is able to witness it all over again in the final part of his dream. And it's his choice on whether or not he wants to meet Nagisa. She walks by him and he ignores her, and my heart just totally stopped. Just... entirely. When he turned around and screamed her name I was so happy.
Finally, the ending half of the final episode, when Tomoyo snaps out of his dream/day dream and realizes that Nagisa is alive. Key was amazing in the fact that it ruined their story entirely, but then restored it completely. They killed off Nagisa-chan, and Tomoyo-kun was a horrid father. It was just what went along with the plot. I was waiting for it to somehow resolve with the two of them being an amazing family despite Nagisa's absence. And so that plot was completely resolved. Then they went the extra mile, and made Clannad what was so special, and made everything even more perfect than I could have ever expected to happen. Nagisa was alive! He woke up from the dream and it was all better! I was so happy and shocked and just... a huge jumble of emotions for them.
Overall, I loved the series, and was only slightly disappointed in three minor areas, but not enough to make me dislike the series at all. Those three areas were that we never got to see the Okazakis get married, we never got to see the Okazakis kiss, and we never got to see the three Okazakis spend time together as a family except in cut-scenes. As much as I enjoyed seeing Fuu-chan at the end, I would have been so much happier if they had replaced it with a happy and detailed scene of the three of them going to the beach like they promised. I wanted to see more of Nagisa at the end, cause I had expected her to be gone, and then suddenly, boom! there she was again, a major character in the story, but the ending didn't show her actually living afterwords, which I would have liked because even though she never really was dead, and wouldn't be thankful to be alive as much as she would if she walked the line between death and life (yeah she did but like she did in the dream... it makes no sense but whatever. lol), it would be great to see her loving life even more than before, and loving Ushio and Tomoyo. And that trip to the beach, which was in a cut scene, would have been so nostalgic if it had been in depth. BUT, all that doesn't make me really all that sad or anything, because I can't ask for more when Nagisa was actually alive.
The next scene that stood out enough for me to remember was in that same episode (don't worry, I'm not going to rant about a ton of scenes in every episode, I just loved the first XD), and that was the baseball game. I loved seeing Akio-san pitch to Sunohara and Sunohara nearly falling apart. Later, Sanae-san and Sunohara faking a couple was also hilarious.
Next, the two gangs fighting, and the whole soccer deal. The fight between Okazaki and Sunohara was epically epic and too see them the next day just laugh at each other was awesome.
Graduation, and Nagisa's ceremony. I was so happy to see them all get back together to see Nagisa graduate in their own little ceremony.
OKAZAKI'S JOB. Oh man I loved that he changed his entire being to be a guy who works hard at life to provide for a family. He had a goal in mind: to move out... to marry Nagisa... to start a family. He had that goal. And it kept him going. That was probably one of the best moments to see him at, when he was working hard, then came home to his girlfriend who had dinner ready. He was so happy and actually content with life.
Okazaki's proposal was so wonderful. After that great pain with the incident with his dad in prison, and then punching the wall until his hand was so scratched up, then stopped by Nagisa... it just demonstrated what an amazing person she was to him. She was able to comfort him in his worst moments. And then as they just sat there, Okazaki: "Nagisa..." Nagisa: "Mm?" Okazaki: "Let's get married..." ... Nagisa: "Ai." Man it was just such an awesome moment. And then that look upon Okazaki's face just told everyone exactly what he was thinking before he even said it. "Why would you want to marry a bum like me, the scum of the earth?" It was so amazing. Then following that up, baseball so that he could talk to Akio-san. His motivation kept him going so much, and he worked so hard... and I was waiting for something proud and grandeur, like "Please allow me to have your daughter's hand in marriage," yet he was so humble and plead with Akio-san. As soon as he hit the baseball, that exact same second, he ran through the mud, fell down on his face before Akio-san and begged him to, "Please let me protect Nagisa!" It was such a beautiful question that I was kinda disappointed with at the moment he said it, but very quickly I saw why he was being so humble... and it was a beautiful thing.
[edit 8/26] Alright, here's the rest. Starting with Nagisa-chan and Tomoyo-kun getting married. I was kinda sad that we didn't actually get to see their wedding, and it was kinda hazy for a little bit on when they actually got married, but the being together was such a special time, especially considering that they only had about a year left together. (Or... SUPPOSEDLY. ha) Then Sanae-san telling Akio-san and Tomyo-kun that Nagisa was pregnant. That scene was friggin hilarious, especially Nagisa. Akio-san's like, "Well the stork must have delivered this." And Nagisa was all...
"Uh, dad, no... I mean come on, we're both two grown adults, in love, married, and living together... So... So I... we..." And Tomoyo-kun LOL. "Oh no... she's gonna say it, isn't she?" Nagisa-chan: "WE SLEPT TOGETHER!" LOLOL. Like it was some huge deal or surprise to her parents that they had. It was so hilarious.
Ushio's birth, Nagisa's death. Episode 16 was the worst episode in the series, but it's easily in my top three favorites. It's the worst because of how sad the ending is. Not only did Nagisa die, but Tomoyo-kun wished he had never met Nagisa... I was just like... What. The crap. What was so bad was that I went to bed right after watching this episode. So it was miserable for me. The thought crossed my mind to just abandon the series there, but I am so glad I didn't. What kept me from leaving it was everyone saying that it was so amazing, so it had to have a good resolution. But the scene with Ushio being born was just so heart-wrenching, even before Nagisa died. Seeing Tomoyo-kun so happy to have his daughter with him at last was enough to make me cry for an eternity. His face in that one shot. I only wish that the hadn't done that awkward white overlay to make the scene more hazy. I want to see it in full light! lol
Next scene, the one with Ushio and Tomoyo in the field, and Tomoyo apologizing to her for being such a 'terrible daddy' all these years. I was so sure that Clannad was going to end with Tomoyo taking to Nagisa's death as a way to keep him going and pushing him to be an amazing father, and giving the viewers a resolution with the two of them being in a great relationship from father to daughter. I was not expecting them to have another entire plot device with Tomoyo being a terrible father and dumping Ushio onto Akio-san and Sanae-san for five years. At that point things just couldn't get any worse at all. And sure enough, they did, with Ushio dying. So to see them together, and to see Tomoyo not being able to help himself from having those little moments where he loves his daughter was just heart-warming. I thought that it was impossible to come to a great closing end without Nagisa being in the picture, and sure enough, Key did! Tomoyo and Ushio developed such a beautiful relationship that I was content if Nagisa wasn't in the rest.
Ushio's death, and thankfully Mac explained to me, Tomoyo's death as well. After all that, and me thinking that it just can't get any worse, it did. Ushio insisting that they had to go on a 'trip' and Tomoyo not being able to resist, and then her dying on the way out was just... ridiculously torturous. And then it's represented that Tomoyo dies, hence the end of the lonely world. The girl being Ushio and Tomoyo-kun being the robot that the girl builds. What I find so interesting about it is that the story that starts in the first episode of this lonely world actually takes place after the events that happen in the end of the dream Tomoyo has (which ends in the last episode). Ushio dies, and is represented in the next world by the girl, and then she begins to build a friend because she is lonely, and that being's soul is Tomoyo-kun. So that obviously means that Tomoyo-kun somehow dies after Ushio does in his dream; whether that's from him just dying right there of sadness
, staying there until he freezes to death, or commits suicide, we don't know... but as they come together in the new world, then realize who they are, the lonely world ends, and Tomoyo-kun is transported into the third phase of his dream (1. Main world. 2. Lonely world. 3. Going back in time.). He goes back in time to when he and Nagisa meet and is able to witness it all over again in the final part of his dream. And it's his choice on whether or not he wants to meet Nagisa. She walks by him and he ignores her, and my heart just totally stopped. Just... entirely. When he turned around and screamed her name I was so happy.Finally, the ending half of the final episode, when Tomoyo snaps out of his dream/day dream and realizes that Nagisa is alive. Key was amazing in the fact that it ruined their story entirely, but then restored it completely. They killed off Nagisa-chan, and Tomoyo-kun was a horrid father. It was just what went along with the plot. I was waiting for it to somehow resolve with the two of them being an amazing family despite Nagisa's absence. And so that plot was completely resolved. Then they went the extra mile, and made Clannad what was so special, and made everything even more perfect than I could have ever expected to happen. Nagisa was alive! He woke up from the dream and it was all better! I was so happy and shocked and just... a huge jumble of emotions for them.
Overall, I loved the series, and was only slightly disappointed in three minor areas, but not enough to make me dislike the series at all. Those three areas were that we never got to see the Okazakis get married, we never got to see the Okazakis kiss, and we never got to see the three Okazakis spend time together as a family except in cut-scenes. As much as I enjoyed seeing Fuu-chan at the end, I would have been so much happier if they had replaced it with a happy and detailed scene of the three of them going to the beach like they promised. I wanted to see more of Nagisa at the end, cause I had expected her to be gone, and then suddenly, boom! there she was again, a major character in the story, but the ending didn't show her actually living afterwords, which I would have liked because even though she never really was dead, and wouldn't be thankful to be alive as much as she would if she walked the line between death and life (yeah she did but like she did in the dream... it makes no sense but whatever. lol), it would be great to see her loving life even more than before, and loving Ushio and Tomoyo. And that trip to the beach, which was in a cut scene, would have been so nostalgic if it had been in depth. BUT, all that doesn't make me really all that sad or anything, because I can't ask for more when Nagisa was actually alive.
That's pretty much it. After Story was even more amazing than the first season, by far, and my overall rating for the second season has got to be a 9.9/10, only limited by the things in the previous paragraph. The series altogether with both seasons I'll give a legit calebrating of 9.7/10. Beautiful series, and I encourage everyone to watch it. So much that I just denied the chance to use a meme. Ha.
Another thing I discovered is that as I watch more anime, my rating system is altering. Where I ranked Avatar as a 9.5/10 before, that was because it was the best I had seen. I've seen two of Key's animes now, and plan on watching plenty more anime. Both Angel Beats and Clannad were much better than Avatar in my opinion, nothing against the series, but it made me have to rescale Avatar down to about 7.5, where Angel Beats has an 9 and Clannad has a 9.7. I hope that I find many more series that are as good as Clannad, and I look forward to more Key productions. Onwards to Angel Beats! Season 2!
[/edit]And now I have to go to bed. Clannad made me sick, because I went to bed at the worst time (right after episode 16) and couldn't sleep. I got 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night, and all the crying gave me a sore throat. After episode 16 I didn't eat anything until I finished the series, which was 4 meals later (25 hours to be precise...). Now my eyes are dry and I can't even make any tears because I cried so much today. I'm gonna go recover and write the rest tomorrow.
Mac and Ataru... You have my solute.
Arigato goza imasu. <3
[edit] My favorite scene from Clannad. Such an awesome part. Warning: Again, don't even click the spoiler button if you plan on watching. It's just a video and you can wait.
I know that was probably extreme tl;drage for most of y'all, but you can pick-and-chose whatever you want to read if any at all. XD And Saska, the video is what stretched the page! Not me! ^^
