This episode begins with Eiji laying out the rules for winning the game between the Sakura-dan group and them to Yayoi, Rina, and Yuki. Basically, they have to sell many more seats (a lot more) than the Sakura group to have a victory, to which Rina responds that she feels that she’s been tricked by her brother. After the meeting Rina confronts Yayoi about the torn up letter, did she do this, and why? Yayoi makes no bones about tearing up the letter saying that it’s her job to remove all obstacles to Yuki’s success. Rina says what about their feelings? Yayoi says she didn’t read the letter and asks if Rina herself has become emotionally involved? Rina says that she’ll do what she can for Yuki, and that for now Yuki needs Yayoi to succeed.
Then Touya makes a stop at Echoes and asks the master to return the poetry book to Misaki and Akira, because he’s too busy to do it himself. Rina picks him up and they go to the stadium where she’ll be performing. As Rina is doing some preparation on the field, Touya starts thinking of Yuki doing her show. Then Rina goes back to the studio where she and her band works at perfecting her upcoming performance, and after practice Rina has Touya join her for dinner. Touya asks her if he did something wrong, he hasn’t gotten a single message from Yuki? Rina says that they’re in concert mode, and have to shut out all distractions. Touya tells Rina that he hasn’t done anything yet, but she tells him that this is his job.
Then the scene switches to Yuki, she seems to be having problems with her nerves when she tries to think of herself in front of the concert crowd. We see Yuki holding a phone receiver with it’s cord cut while she’s trying to make a call (to Touya?), in a daydream. It’s seems that all this was occurring in Yuki’s mind while she was riding in Yayoi’s car. Then Yayoi’s phone rings, and she tells Yuki it was from the president, he’s picked out Yuki’s final song (but was the call really from Touya?). Yuki asks Yayoi if she gave Touya her letter, and Yayoi tells her not to worry, Yuki is very thankful.
Later, at Mana’s house, she finds out that Touya is now Rina’s personal assistant. She asks Touya if it’s OK with Yuki’s concert coming up? He tells her is not about OK, or not OK, Yuki didn’t even tell him any info about the her concert. Mana then tells him to leave. Walking out the door, Touya sees than Haruka has shown up to meet with Mana, as Haruka rides her bike Mana jogs with her. Later, Mana and Haruka talk, Mana tells her that she should give up on the idea that Touya is her boyfriend, she keeps calling her Yuki. Mana tells her it was cute when he insisted that Yuki was his girlfriend, but claiming he works for Rina is too much. Haruka thanks her and then she properly introduces herself to Mana.
Then we see Yayoi pick Touya up, and they talk about his job as Rina’s manager, he tells her that all he does is stand around and watch. He tells her that he overheard the band calling him Rina’s mascot or pet, and they think that Rina’s changed. Yayoi asks him if he knows why? No idea. He also talks about Mana and Haruka’s new friendship, and Masaki and Akira’s romance. When Yayoi ask him if not going to talk about Yuki, and Touya breaks down in tears. As he’s crying about not knowing Yuki’s feelings, Yayoi leans over and licks his tears and begins to kiss him. The next morning we see that Touya is still in Yayoi’s car.
During rehearsal, Rina suddenly stops singing and calls Yuki, she tells her she’s stuck. They talk for a while, Yuki asks if Touya has mentioned her and Rina tells her “no”, do you want me to get him? Then we see Rina waking Touya up, and she tells him it’s time to go home, and she asks him if he free for dinner in a few days? No, he already has plans. With Yuki? No, with Yayoi, Rina seems really shocked. Well, that’s all for this episode.
After watching the first ten episodes of White Album I’ve become quite annoyed by most of the main characters and somewhat bored by the storyline. But, this episode kind of got me slightly interested in the plot once more. Like I’ve said in previous episode reviews, I really don’t like Yuki or Touya, they do more whining and pouting and anything else, but I’m quite fascinated by Yayoi’s and Rina’s motivations and actions.
When I first observed Yayoi’s interactions with Touya I thought that she was only spending time with Touya to keep his horny ass away from the virginal Yuki. Then as time went on, I thought that maybe she was getting something out of fooling around with Touya because she really doesn’t seem to have much of a life outside of work. So, I figured that even though Touya is a loser, maybe Yayoi figured that sex with a loser is better than no sex at all. But, now I’m back to thinking that as soon as either Yuki or Touya decides to end their relationship then Yayoi says bye-bye to Touya and she’s back to her lonely lifestyle. But, Yayoi is playing a very dangerous game, if Yuki discovers that Yayoi never delivered her letter, or she’s banging her “boyfriend” then I think that Yayoi’s career as Yuki’s manager is over.
Rina’s position in the mess is quite interesting and fraught with danger. I think that Rina is really trying to be a friend to Yuki but the whole Yuki/Yayoi/Touya triangle is a no-win situation for her. Rina knows that Yayoi is doing everything in her power to ruin Yuki’s and Touya’s relationship, she’s knows that Touya still cares about Yuki, and that Yuki still cares about Touya, so if she mentions the undelivered letter to either Touya or Yuki it could lead to Yuki finding out everything. Yuki is in such a shaky career and emotional position that the news could possibility destroy her career and personal life. I really don’t envy the position that Rina is in.
Oh, in closing, Touya is a even bigger wimp than I first thought, the nerve of him to cry about his girlfriend in front the woman he’s cheating with, he doesn’t deserve any of the harem that surrounding his loser ass.
This episode begins with Touma getting soaking wet while walking to Chiaki’s house. When Haruka see her state she has Chiaki run a bath for her, and Haruka and Kana proceed to fawn over her. Chiaki doesn’t like the attention Touma is getting and feels that she’s not being grateful enough. So, when Chiaki finds out that Fujioka is coming over she refuses to let Touma borrow clothes from her or Kana until the last moment when Touma says “please”.
Then the next skit takes place between Kana, Chiaki, and Uchida. As Uchida is about to eat a candy Chiaki makes the comment that natural colorings often come from insects. Well, this information causes Uchida to stop with the candy in her mouth and she refuses to finish it. After Uchida spits it out, Kanaasks Chiaki for some trivia that’s not scary. So, Chiaki starts telling the girls about the honeymoon practices of flying black ants, and soon Kana points out that Uchida is plugging her ears. So, Chiaki decides to lie down, and she thinks to herself that a flying honeymoon is romantic.
Soon, the doorbell rings and Kana tells Uchida that she can tell who’s ringing the bell, Yoshino. But, when she opens the door it’s Fujioka, and she tells Uchida that she said that Fujioka was at the door. As soon as Chiaki sees that Fujioka has stopped by for a visit she rushes over and starts clinging to him, Uchida is worried that Chiaki will scar him with her trivia. But, when Uchida sees that Chiaki’s “normal” trivia is going over well with Fujioka she goes off about why Chiaki only talks about gross stuff with her.
A while later, Touma also shows up, and while Chiaki sits in Fujioka’s lap Uchida makes the comment that Chiaki really likes Fujioka, this gets Touma thinking. So, when Chiaki has to leave the room Touma takes Chiaki’s place on Fujioka’s lap, look out Touma! Chiaki calls Touma over to her, telling her to properly introduce herself to Fujioka, OK, and she proceeds to plop right back down in is lap. Chiaki calls Touma back over and asks her if she’s let Fujioka know what her gender really is? No. Well, Chiaki asks why Touma acts like a guy around Fujioka, and she tells Touma that Fujioka’s lap is her spot. After Touma tells Chiaki that she’s acting strange, Chiaki pushes her, and soon Touma and Chiaki are fighting. Fujioka jumps up and grabs Touma off of Chiaki and yells at him that boys don’t fight with girls, and that for all his talk about soccer he has extra fat around his chest.
Fujioka points to Touma’s chest and says it’s time to condition and re-tune his body, she looks to Chiaki for help, but Chiaki doesn’t say anything. So, the next day at school, Chiaki sees that Touma is very tired, and Touma tells her that Fujioka came over first thing in the morning for a round of conditioning. Chiaki gets angry at Touma when she says it’s a pain, she says why bother going if she not using such a good chance, and when Touma asks her what she means by that and she iinvites her to come along, Chiaki gets very quiet. Later, we see that Chiaki is back in her place and enjoying it very much.
Then the scene switches to the other Minami household, Touma walks in on while Natsuki is getting chewed out by his other two brothers for his demeanor, he’s not polite enough and doesn’t smile enough. Tomoya makes some comments about how Natsuki should avoid neglecting Chiaki and avoid Kana all together if he ever goes over there. So, Natsuki goes and buys a gift for the Minami sisters, and he stops over their house to asks a favor, while giving them the gift he remembers to smile and drops a real creepy smile on them. He asks them if they could speak to Touma about how late she comes home, when Kana tries to speak to him he takes Touma’s advice and just ignores her. Then when Chiaki tries to talk with him he takes Touma’s advice but creeps her out too, and his continual smiles really creeps out Haruka. Finally Haruka agrees to talk with Touma, who happened to be right there the whole time, she never payed any attention or even notice that everyone was talking about her until Haruka speaks to her. Well, that’s all for this episode.
Well, this was a very enjoyable and funny episode, all the skits were well written, well executed, and very humorous. Uchida had a great point when she jumped on Chiaki about saying gross and scary things when she talks with the girls, but as soon as Fujioka shows up, she talks about the sky and clouds. Kana you better watch out, your sister is growing up, she even considers Touma’s alone time with Fujioka as a “chance”, and she’s spending more time being nice to your “boyfriend” than you ever have.
What I also found interesting is that while Touma plays a boy around Fujioka, she also seemed like she was enjoying her turn on the Fujioka lap seat, very interesting. Fujioka comes off as quite naive again, give me a break, I don’t believe that he can’t tell the difference between a guy being a little flabby and a sprouting rack on a girl. No guy would have reacted the way Touma did if another guy had pulled them off of someone then made a flabby comment, I’m beginning to wonder if Kana’s stupidity is starting to infect his brain.
But, the real show stealer in this episode was Natsuki, the combination of taking Touma’s advice and him trying to act against his nature made him quite funny. His forced smiles made him rise to a creep level previously reserved for his sempai Hosaka, maybe when Hosaka graduates at the end of the year Natsuki will take his place. Also, Natsuki’s interaction with the food vendor at the end of the episode was also classic Hosaka.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but does the series seem to be adding a much higher level of sexual tension? In the first season it seemed that the only hint of sexuality was when the girls watched the Ninomiya-kun & Sensei TV series in the evenings, and even then Haruka changed the channel if things got too steamy. Speaking of steamy, I found a couple of adult Minami-ke dojins, so if you click here you can find some Minami-ke cake.
In this post I’ll just be reviewing episode 22 and it’s content, but I’ve got a very large meta review of Clannad/Clannad ~After Story~ in my drafts bin. So, in one to three weeks (hopefully), I’ll be posting the meta review and it will cover Clannad, magic, and the art of storytelling.
This episode opens in the dream world with the junk doll holding the hand of a unconscious girl, and he wonders where he is? The doll soon remembers that he’s always been with this girl, and they’ve always been alone in this sorrow filled world. As the girl is being covered by the blowing and drifting snow, the Doll asks himself if it would have been better if he had never taken the girl on this journey, if all he’s doing is making her suffer?
Then in Tomoya’s mono-colored world he also asks if it would have been better if he never had called out to Nagisa on that fateful day? Tomoya asks himself if Nagisa had never had met him maybe she would have …….(?). Then back in the dream world, as the Doll and the girl are about to be buried in the snow, the doll asks himself if this is the end of the journey? No, he doesn’t want to give up like this, he doesn’t want her to die in such a cold place.
Then back in Tomoya’s world Nagisa turns around and walks past Tomoya, while in the dream world the doll begins to drag the girl onward through the snow storm. The girl awakens and comments to the doll that he’s still here, he says he’s always with her, she thanks him, and tells him that now she can finally hear his voice. She tells him that she had a dream and now she understands their relationship, and that soon she won’t exist for much longer. She tells him that they are both from another world, close but maybe far away, he tells her that they should leave together, but she says that she has to remain behind. Why? Because I am this world and if I leave, this world will disappear and the lights will fall into despair.
He asks her if she means those lights they saw? She tells him that those lights are the feelings of the people from the other world, and she tells him that even he is one of those lights. She tells him that he exits in both worlds and that he passed through (between) the world so that they could meet. She tells him that he will soon lose fall asleep in this world and will awaken in the other world where he’ll meet lots of people and that they’ll meet again. She tells him that when she disappears she’ll disolve into bits of lights. Like those lights? Yes, my feelings also show up as those lights, those lights may seem small but if you gather them they’ll create a mysterious power. As the storm starts breaking, the girl begins to hum the dango song. The doll tells the girl that he knows that song. Yes, it’s the one you always sang to me. A great blast of energy strikes the dream world, and as the doll and the dream world are being torn apart, the girl tells him “goodbye papa”, then she disintegrates into balls of light.
Tomoya awakens to a color filled world, he turns and screams out Nagisa’s name, and he runs to Nagisa and embraces her. Nagisa tells Tomoya that she’s glad he called out to her, she was afraid that he would have wished that they had never met. Tomoya just embraces Nagisa even tighter as she tells him that she’s glad that they met and that she enjoyed her life. Nagisa tells him no matter what happens please don’t regret that they met, a tearful Tomoya says that she’s right, and he embraces her again.
Then the world turns blurry and we travel through the school and other places as Nagisa asks Tomoya if she can take him to the place in the city where wishes come true? Tomoya says yes, this is where the long journey ends. Tomoya awakens to Ushio’s cries, and he’s holding Nagisa’s hand. Tomoya calls out to a unconscious Nagisa, but this time she awakens after giving birth to Ushio. Tomoya asks her if she’s really with us? Yes, of course, I’m always with you, just like we promised. The midwife tells Tomoya that he no longer has to worry about his wife or child, and Sanae suggests that he give Ushio her first bath. Following the instructions of the midwife, and under Nagisa loving gaze, Tomoya bathes his daughter for the first time.
Afterwards, Nagisa says that she would like Ushio to grow up strong, and Tomoya tells her not to worry, she’ll be strong of mind and body. Nagisa tells Tomoya to look out the window, and as he opens the shades he sees many orbs of lights rising from the city. As Tomoya and Nagisa sing the dango song to Ushio, orbs of light continue to rise from the city, and Nagisa says that perhaps the city has the same will as it’s peoples’ hearts, and if we bring happiness to the people who live here than maybe the town made this miracle? If we love this town, maybe it will love us too. Tomoya makes the observation that maybe the town is like one big family, Nagisa says, yes, like the big dango family.
Then we flash through time with Nagisa, Tomoya, and Ushio experiencing the joys of living together as a family in their town. Nagisa, Tomoya, and Ushio take a train trip to the flower covered field, and they take great joy in watching their daughter playing among the flowers. The we see a little bit of what happened to Nagisa’s and Tomoya’s other friends; Kyou is still Ushio’s kindergarten teacher, Ryou has become a nurse, Kotomi is traveling in America, Youhei is learning to drive, Mei has grown up and is hanging out with friends, Tomoyo looks strong but alone, Yoshino is singing again, Sanae and Akio are the same as ever, Yukine is still looking after her gang friends, Misae is still with her cat, and Tomoya’s grandmother seems to be doing fine.
Then we see Kouko and Fuko walking down the street, and Fuko is complaining that she’s tired of people treating her like a child, Kouko tells her that she’s small and she’s not as adult as she thinks. Well, Kouko tells Fuko that if she stopped calling herself Fuko and used “I” instead she might sound more adult, but Fuko having none of this. So, they decide to stop at a restaurant after Fuko has her medical examination, of course Fuko wants to eat instead of having the exam. As they approach the hospital, Fuko stops in her tracks and says she smells something, …..something cute, she smells someone who wants to meet Fuko. She says that there’s someone who’s sleeping out there and waiting for someone to wake them up. Fuko rushes away from Kouko saying that there’s someone sleeping under a tree waiting to meet Fuko. As she moves through the woods we get a vision of the girl from the dream world, and as Fuko gets closer we see that the girl is Ushio, Fuko says that all fun things start now. That’s all for this episode. The next episode preview looks like it’s a episode about Nagisa’s prospective of meeting Tomoya (?).
Well, I for sometime I was worried about how Clannad would end, would it be bittersweet like Air, would it be like Kanon with Ayu and Yuichi having a lot of work ahead of them, or would it be sad, leaving us fans in tears? But, Kyoani managed to wrap up Clannad in a very sweet, gentle, and loving way. By the end of the episode, I was giving a silent cheer for Nagisa and Tomoya, justice was delayed but not denied, and I felt that all was right with the world, the only thing missing from the closing screen was the phrase “and they lived happily ever after”.
The moment of possibilities, and the place where dreams come true.
It seems that after Ushio’s death, the world held it’s breath, and Tomoya temporarily existed in both the real and the dream world, he had sort of reached his Omega point. We discover that the girl from the dream world is his daughter Ushio, and she probably came into existence the moment Tomoya and Nagisa first spoke. When Ushio admits that she’s also a orb of light (an expression of happiness) it all fell into place for me, Ushio was Nagisa’s orb of light, her happiness, her expression of life, and her fondest desire.
When Tomoya first met Nagisa she stood rooted at the bottom of the school hill, she loved the town and school but she wished of change, she wanted to move forward, make friends, progress, but she was filled with the fear that nothing would change. So, when Tomoya spoke to her it was her fondest desire, time began to flow, nothing can stay the same forever, Nagisa began her path to happiness creating the dream of Ushio in the process.
I feel that Nagisa’s and Ushio’s relationship with the city was very different from Tomoya’s and the other city dwellers, when Akio begged for Nagisa’s salvation the land and the city granted his wish, but at a great price. Nagisa, and her daughter were linked to the rhythmsand emotions of the city, while this might not seem like a big deal, it was, Nagisa and Ushio are after all only made of mortal flesh. Everything requires balance, when Nagisa was saved without Akio using a orb of light, something had to be payed back in order to balance the equation, did Nagisa and Tomoya create enough happiness (orbs of lights) to pay the city back, or as the Beatles put it, “And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make”
When Tomoya shouted that he didn’t want this to happened, and for Nagisa to save Ushio, he actually held an orb of light in his arms (a dying orb) and Ushio reacted to Tomoya’s cry. When Tomoya fully enters the dream world he reached the point where all things are possible (the Omega Point) with the right choices. Because Ushio died in the real world and Tomoya is thinking about not speaking to Nagisa at the bottom of the hill Ushio’s ability to maintain her existence and the existence of the dream world was fading, and the only thing she could do to help Tomoya was to confirm that his and Nagisa’s love did mean something and was worth cherishing.
So, if Tomoya chose let Nagisa walk back home alone there would have been no Ushio, no dream world, no multiple orbs of light, Nagisa would have still died in the future, and Tomoya would have continued to live in his mono-colored world of misery. But, because Tomoya confirms his unconditional for Nagisa and finally throws away his doubts, the world let out it’s breath. In Omega Point theory the universe is considered to be a computer and all it’s living creatures, information inside the system, and when you reach the maximum informational and computational capacity, all things are possible, life and death, reality and fantasy become meaningless. So, once Tomoya reaffirmed his love for Nagisa he ensured the creation of Nagisa’s orb (Ushio) and all the other orbs and he was able to hit the cosmic reset button, Nagisa lives and she and Ushio’s illness is wiped out.
If you think that this is too far fetched, just consider the possibility that all of Tomoya’s pain and suffering from the moment of Nagisa’s death only occurred in his mind, in a dream, he just lived through all that possible pain in an instant. His wish might have been granted the very instant when he held Nagisa hand and thought she was dead, Nagisa lives and Tomoya’s vision of a horrible future fades like when you awaken from a terrible nightmare to find yourself safe under your covers.
All this is just my speculation, my stab at making sense, either way Clannad was a great series, bravo. Look for my meta review of the entire series in one to three weeks.
