I felt the ending for Fuuko was really well done myself, and the elements which made this fantasy were really what made me even like keys genre in the first place. The overall metaphor and in joke use is really a good way of connecting a base roblem then elaboratly resolving it. Take fuuko, when you remove the projection issue you find a simple case. a sort of misfit school girl of whom nobody notices. Then when she actually tries to interact, people come to know her. but the overall fragility of popularity is noted when people begin to forget her. I believe this says (or alludes to if the term even applies properly) that if you do seek out to become popular yet you don’t continue to enhance sustain these friends of yours, you will find yourself alone once more.

I could be wrong. But I find the themes and the metaphors to be quite rich in the series. the plot devices, the escapist notions and other such manners used to deliver this series is a bit more complex. Fortunatly though, Clannad, unlike kanon (and I can’t believe I am saying this) Has a more complex character style. Instead of an emotionally stale and overly stereotyped character style, you have actual working characters. But then I guess the leve of complexity with Kanon when it was first made was seen as something new and revolutionary with only select cases out of all that anime in which the chars were as well developed (sadly enough that says a good deal about effort as some of the greatest anime of all time had excellent character presentation)

I think I’ve ranted and usd my little soap box enough though. I am glad to see you are following this series and find the rest of it enjoyable. After todays eppy for example. I have to say that I am enjoying the series a bit more each time. Especially with the kyou/ryou situation.

@Mirrinus: ironic, why? Sorry for any misunderstanding but my point was that, after the less-than-subtle (’manipulative’) scenes of Nagisa turning on the waterworks, the portrayal of Fuuko’s situation did a more effective job at evoking a reaction. For sure, all stories do this but it’s the execution that varies - I was trying to draw attention to how these episodes ended up doing it in a more subtle and effective way than I expected them to.

@IKnight: you beat me to it there. I’m not well versed in literary criticism and arguing - I’m more of a thoughts-and-observations kidn of blogger I’m afraid.

And no, that’s not falling into the intentional fallacy. If we accuse Kyoto Animation, rather than the show, of being manipulative, it would be.

Regardless though, Clannad 9 was a fantastic conclusion to Fuuko’s arc. I’m pretty amazed at how many people reversed their opinions on Fuuko after that.