Comments on: Clannad’s Nagisa arc: the bishoujo cake isn’t a lie after all

By: ChronoReverse

ChronoReverse — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:48:41 +0000

I feel that in the end it’s not so much what Nagisa has done for Tomoya but rather what they represent to each other. People similar to Nagisa (but not exactly) do exist but of course are a rarity.

Being anime, the characters are exaggerated. For instance, tsundere wouldn’t exactly be a common thing IRL.

In any case, Tomoya should be 17 and Nagisa should be 18.

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:45:20 +0000

@Owen S: I’ve always had an issue with age gaps unfortunately! Try having a conversation with someone ten years younger than you and you’ll find you can’t relate to one another at all. That might explain my issue with high school shows in general actually.

By: Owen S

Owen S — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 08:43:39 +0000

Wait, what? Martin, they were talking about what they want to do after they leave school, remember? Wikipedia says they’re in their third year of school. This puts them at 16 at least, or 17 even (not that sure about Japanese schools myself), which is the age of consent in the U.K!

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:47:54 +0000

@IKnight: *sigh* don’t make me think about this! Okay, since you ask: once you narrow it down to those who are 1) not under-age and 2) unmarried by the end of the series, that doesn’t leave me with much! The lass who runs the dorm perhaps? She seems unattached but old enough to vote…

@Jayme: I’ve considered starting Kanon but I don’t know whether I’d enjoy it as much as this one. It might be worth the rental as and when the DVDs come out.

@Peter S: the fact that the ‘main girl’ is so bland was a bit of a disappointment for me - she could have done a bit more to win Tomoya’s heart but there you go. I’m withholding my final judgement on her for the after-story I think.

@Wildcard: agreed on all counts. Nagisa’s parents were pure hilarity! I enjoyed it all right, but I’m making no promises about revisiting KyoAni’s Key adaptations in the future.

@TheBigN: I think Clannad would have been really heavy-going and almost depressing if it had forced me to feel sad about all of them. That comedic segment before Nagisa’s arc was all too short but came at the right time, even if the pacing suffered a bit for it.

By: TheBigN

TheBigN — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:56:00 +0000

I actually didn’t feel like I was forced to feel sad for any of the characters save for Fuuko. And I’m grateful to CLANNAD for not continuing to do that. I thought it worked better than AIR precisely because it didn’t try to yank emotions out of me, and the fact that most of the show was down to earth and felt more slice-of-life than anything else a lot of the time helped out as well.

By: Wildcard

Wildcard — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:11:57 +0000

Clannad was something of an experiment for me too. I remember seeing the opening the first time and being immediately put right off. Still, I found the first episode surprisingly funny so I stuck with it and it wasn’t half bad. Certainly not the kind of thing I’d normally watch but generally alright.

Oh and Nagisa’s dad was the best character without a shadow of a doubt. Everything he says has me in hysterics! What a nutjob…

By: Peter S

Peter S — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:33:48 +0000

It’s just that Nagisa is the dullest character in the show. All the other girls had more memorable personalities. I know, I know, I can see how Nagisa brings out Tomoya’s supportive side, but the only interesting things about her are her parents. I suppose giving Tomoya a stable family life is useful to him as well, but still … Tomoyo! Kyou! Kotomi! I’ll leave Fuka out of this rant.

By: Jayme

Jayme — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:11:01 +0000

Nice.

To do with the fact that a character like Nagisa will never exist is the 100% truth, Although, I think characters like that seem to be a exaggerated version of the Japanese women [stereotype] in the sense of politeness. I can see that the whole moe thing may seem to come from the quietness/shyness/politeness/happyness of some women (and men) in RL… or maybe not, and its a entirely new concept taken from the otaku surveys wanting high-school girls to be like that.

I hope to see you watch Kanon (2006) and see your judgements upon that, The supposedly best KyoAni adaptation (according to the majority) - I personally enjoyed Clannad more. ;p

By: IKnight

IKnight — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:57:48 +0000

But which girl would you choose?