[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Clannad’s Tomoyo chapter: I liked it. No, really
Times shared at school lead to a gradual love blossoming as rumours spread among their classmates. Cut to…a lonely guy stands at the railway crossing, contemplating good times gone as the sakura petals fall. Cut to…a passionate embrace in the snow as the background song reaches a crescendo. Warm fuzzy feeling ensues. Wait a minute…bugger, wrong review*. Ah, so it’s more Clannad. In all seriousness though I really liked this bonus exploration of a Tomoya/Tomoyo pairing, especially given that the latter had been given so little attention during the series itself; being an alternate universe thingy it’s also distinct from the criticisms I levelled at the show as a whole. I can sit back and watch this sort of thing any time - the after-story will no doubt go back to following the Nagisa thread but aside from doing a what-if scenario I just enjoyed it as a romantic short standing on its own.
Whether it’s a manga adaptation, dating sim adaptation or something scrawled on the back of the director’s napkin while having lunch with his accountant, I couldn’t care less if it takes a story and tells it well. The relationship between the two feels natural and convincing - no small feat when we’ve been led down a Nagisa End path for twenty-three episodes! They are both quite stubborn and stoic in their own ways I suppose and not the most prone to outpourings of emotion; this, for me at least, made their romance more rewarding rather than improbable - I was able to come round to the idea Tomoya x Tomoyo with minimal effort actually.
It’s more than likely that the respective situations of the two of them would lead to a troubled relationship that wouldn’t sit too well with those around them - I’ve grown up in small towns for most of my life, exacerbated by a tendancy to be fiercely defensive about my sense of privacy, so the type of friction that results from this situation feels very close to people and circumstances I’ve seen in real life. I know it’s a quintessentially Japanese thing, namely that adage of “The nail that stands up gets hammered down the hardest,” (one which richly deserves a commonly-used English equivalent) but any rigidly structured corporate, social or educational structure breeds a culture of gossip and people who Should Mind Their Own Bloody Business.
The interference from those such as the crusty old teacher or the student council guy were motivated by their own perfectly valid agendas and interests but that didn’t stop my finding them irritating. That is to say I was annoyed by the obstacles on Tomoya’s and Tomoyo’s behalf but I don’t mean that they grated on me or hindered my enjoyment of the episode - maybe the short running time helped here. After all, we all know you can tell a very good story in twenty-five minutes flat, right?
*The use of this particular imagery was too much of a temptation to resist, and to my delight, resist it they didn’t
The artwork, music and direction were all well done: I particularly liked the additional songs and it looked really pretty overall. Additionally, the dialogue flowed smoothly and made the two leads behave in-character while still exploring the alternative way in which events could have played out. Being in love is I guess an instance in which you discover new sides to yourself; they were still the slacker guy and tough driven girl but were showing facets to their personalities that we (and they!) wouldn’t have seen come to light otherwise. That alone makes it a worthwhile watch in my view: I’ve always quite liked Tomoyo anyway, so it was fun to see, in more detail this time, her efforts to preserve the sakura trees for future generations to feel nostalgic over and note how fast the petals fall enjoy.
So yeah, this was a really enjoyable episode that I’d like to see done more often (will KyoAni cave into the Kyou fanboys too? The prospect doesn’t seem like such a bad one now). As I said earlier, the more expressive incarnations of Tomoya and Tomoyo have a charm of their own, although I’m sure it’s possible not everyone will like their softer sides being so emphasised.
Personally I found it a perfectly natural demonstration of how romance can creep up on you, cause awkwardness and give you that extra incentive to make a go of life in general…and it even has a cute ending. There was no Nagisa of course, but no Kyou, Ryou or Fuuko either - it’s a very simple story and purely about Tomoya and Tomoyo. I really think it benefited from this simplicity that gave a fascinating but previously under-represented relationship room to breathe. The dynamic between them was very different from the Tomoya/Nagisa equivalent yet it still felt right within the larger Clannad universe; interestingly it worked well as a stand-alone romantic short too.
I’ve also wondered at points when the blogosphere has been speculating on how KyoAni would handle the story: does the branching narrative structure of a visual novel also offer its own advantages over standard linear plotlines? There are plenty of alternate history-type stories around of course, from glib descriptions like Pratchett’s Trousers of Time to more serious ones, but “what if?” takes on a greater meaning when long-running relationship stories are concerned. From Key’s and KyoAni’s point of view there’s plenty of opportunity to sell OAVs and bonus episodes like this one, which I’m all in favour of, that explore the alternate avenues; but what about thinking outside the box as it were and having a Clannad-style romance story with the alternative universes clashing?
It might not be THE end, but it is a good end nonetheless
Maybe I should stop letting that idea run away with me before I get lost in “Clannad meets The Man in the High Castle“…even so, visual novels are a very different animal as source material from graphic novels, traditional novels, other movies and so on - there is I think a lot of potential in what is essentially a dating sim. Maybe that’s why so many shows like Clannad have been made in recent years but with this episode in mind maybe that’s not such a bad thing after all.
Posted on July 21st, 2008 @ 2:00 am
I really loved this pairing also because they seemed so natural together, and I also don’t mind if we got another Tomoya x Kyou ending. Sims is fun to play as well, lols, and I can’t wait until Sims 3 comes out.
Posted on July 21st, 2008 @ 6:45 am
Good lord, I’ve never even heard about this ep!
Posted on July 22nd, 2008 @ 12:35 am
@blissmo: somehow their personalities go well together - I know ‘opposites attract’ but in reality people gravitate towards similar personality types, or personalities that compliment their own in some way. I can easily see how Tomoyo and Tomoya would drift closer, so this ep worked really well for me. I’d even recommend it to people who have no interest in Clannad at all actually.
@Peter S: given how the entire blogosphere were falling over themselves to write about Clannad (myself included!), it strikes me as odd that this episode hasn’t been talked about much. Maybe it’s the fact that we have a new season starting…ironically this was possibly my fave Clannad episode of the lot! I really recommend you find time for it, if the post above doesn’t ephasise my enthusiasm for it already.
Posted on July 22nd, 2008 @ 5:42 am
Saw it. I wasn’t blown away by it, mainly because I thought maybe Tomoyo should drag him up with her rather than Tomoya dragging her down. But I guess there’s plenty of time for that once she graduates. Start plotting, Tomoyo!
But we get Kyoto’s lush and elegant work again, both in the animation and the storytelling. So I’m not complaining too much. When the railway gate flew up I actually gasped.
Yeah, and I don’t think this Clannad world is the place to introduce clashing futures! But if they want to more alternate endings I’m all for it.
Posted on July 26th, 2008 @ 3:00 am
@Martin: My science teacher told me that women are attracted to men who have DNA or immune system that’s most dissimilar to them, or something along those lines. I agree with you that it’s easier to get along with someone who’s almost like you and shares the same interests, while falling in love with someone opposite to you actually takes a while and before that, you’d also get into a lot of fights. I don’t know any couple in real life who are totally opposite to each other, but I suppose that there’s always at least one thing that two people will have in common. And I never personally enjoyed CLANNAD at all, and stopped watching it at episode 5, but then I checked out the last episode and this Tomoyo Chapter, and was absolutely mesmerized by the beautiful artwork. Also, I didn’t find it horribly corny, which is rare lols.
Posted on July 26th, 2008 @ 11:42 pm
I’m ashamed to say it, but yeah, I too enjoyed this episode, more than the series (which is perhaps more than I should have). The relationship felt more believable minus Nagisa’s disturbingly submissive character - I always felt Tomoyo was a better match.
I watched the episode expecting light entertainement, but it actually left me feeling weirdly depressed. Still, I suppose this is a sign of greater quality than the usual lulz I get from this show.