A Room Without Anyone, aka Trapped In The Closet part 29
They say these “slice of life” shows aren’t really about anything.
Sweet animated Christ, if only that were true.
In the case of these Key shows, they’re about the inherent pain that is life. And about foisting that pain upon hapless viewers. Sometimes it’s in the form of senseless tragedy. Sometimes it’s a more brain-oriented, dull nagging hurt that comes from being completely unable to pull a shard of sense out of the tangled wreckage of plot developments.
You can has recap?
Just when I thought things were getting tolerable — thanks to some clever humor and actual character development, #16 was really enjoyable — they pull some fucked up shit in the beginning of this one.
I had almost forgotten Nagisa’s health “issue.” That unspecified, horribly tragic and ultra-vague disease that definitely kills you and that at least one character in all of these fucking shows gets. I think it’s called moe-itis.
And it’s bringing me down.
I’m not the least bit sad about the inevitable, although if they step up their game I might be. I’m just frustrated about these old-hat Kanon tricks. So anyway, she collapses and has to be out of school for a while, thus very transparently freeing up the storyline for other girls who, in the end, are less boring but won’t matter as much as her.
You know what? This isn’t working, so I’m going to break it down into the series of completely ludicrous situations that essentially make up this episode. It’s not that I require total believability in a show. After all, the original Fuko story was very supernaturally oriented. But things have to be believable within a given set of circumstances or internal rules — and Clannad keeps asking me to accept round after round of new and hackneyed circumstances.
Preposterousness, Instance 1
Tomoya reveals that he doesn’t date because he is indeed that noble eunuch I once suspected him of being: his dad is messed up, he’s a delinquent, why should he go all the way to “hardened criminal,” which losing his virginity would no doubt drive him to? He’s no good for the ladies. And you know what, ladies? If he keeps telling you that, there’s a good chance you should believe him.
Preposterousness, Instance 2
Tomoyo is an ass-beater, we all knew that. Now she’s coming into T-dog’s house in the morning to wake him up, which is both funny and a little cute. That’s OK, although she is younger — tsk, tsk. But turns out she’s the star of a major Hong Kong action flick that happens to take place in real life. Sunohara fucks everything up by parading her around like his bodyguard, so approximately 8,000 street toughs come to jack her after school. Ghosts, sure. High school “Street Fighter” characters? I just don’t know.
Preposterousness Instance 3
The mother of all inanity. The closet incident. If you could only hear. my. teeth. grinding. as I write.
The reference library girl with the coffee and weird books gets Tomoya to do some sort of magic charm where he balances two 10-yen coins on top of one another and will magically get locked in a gym closet with a girl of his choosing. And just to show you that I’m capable of suspending disbelief, I’ll let you know that this Dictionary Definition of Plot Contrivance doesn’t bother me.
It’s clear he would have chosen Nagisa had she been at school, but I’m thinking it’s probably because she’s all safe and shy and not because he actually likes her. I’m not certain though, since he does spend a lot of time pining for her in the club room. I thought this episode was going to be about the debate in his head of whether he digs her or not. I’m still not sure what it is about, actually.
So anyway, he seems to default to Kyou, and it works. Gross gym uniform shots ensue, she wonders aloud where such a specific charm came from, and there’s lots of beyond-awkward shit I can’t quite bring myself to watch again. She’s flattered that he’d pick her and she’s clearly (creepily) into it, but ashamed because her weaksauce sister is still trying to close the deal. Well, not trying, so much.
Thing is, in the end it boils down to one of those situations that we, as anime viewers, are going to be expected to largely forget because it doesn’t change anything.
The other sad part is that if Tomoya does end up with one of these girls, it really would be great if it was Kyou because she’s the only character with a shred of personality (and hopefully they’re just teasing us with the tsundere bullshit, they seem pretty self-aware of it). But that’s not how these things work. It’s just not pathetic enough.
Best we can hope for is that he realizes some deep love for Nagisa from his darkest past, just before she succumbs to her acute moe-itis in a long and drawn-out series of 87 episodes.
What We’ve Learned
Nothing! I feel dumber having watched this episode! I was right after all that both Tomoyo and Kyou are getting story exposure, but Tomoyo, fun as she is, is a walking cartoon (and yes, I realize the delicious ironing in saying that, seeing as how this is a fucking cartoon show) and Kyou’s “sex-me-ok-seeya!” routine in the closet was frustrating and ridiculous. I guess we did learn that the motivation behind Kyou’s lunchtime recruitment of Tomoya was in fact Ryou, but will she step on her sister’s toes? Do I care? I don’t know anymore.
One good thing I can say: Covering two, possibly three girls’ stories at once is unpopular with the gamers, but I think it’s a great move that should keep the formula from getting too tired.
Oh yeah!
Fuko appears again. And it’s still not funny. Too bad no one remembers her, someone could go to the hospital where she’s laying comatose and snuff her out. Was that mean? Sorry, she was a good story (when she was called Ayu in Kanon…) but I don’t dig this coming back for (ostensible) comic relief.
In Summation…
When I want to say, “I can’t believe I waited a week for this,” usually Lost is the only show to turn to. Thanks, Clannad! Ultimately, I the problem is that I do like this show, and I think it’s capable of doing great things. Like your mom always told you, I’m not mad, I’m just… disappointed.
