Shameful Otaku Secret!

Approximately 744 minutes wasted

I hate the opening girl and robot. I used to like it, but probably for its extreme smooth CG-ness. Now it’s a lot of empty pretense with nothing to back it up. It’s not like this is ef.

I hate the OP. I’ve always hated the Key OPs with their rundown of girls and their names. I think we can keep Airhead Mamiko Noto, Ass Beater, Weaksauce Main Girl, Tsundere and her sister straight. For real. So just continue fading scenes in and out like in a real drama. A real shitty drama I wouldn’t watch. And the music sucks. Generic and bland, with the barest hint of melody, it passes by so irritatingly inoffensively, it actually offends me.

That bland softness carries to the rest of the show, too. From friendly street gangs to Okazaki and Sunohara’s implied deliquency, everything seems to have a fluffy coating around it. Actual pain, trouble, and strife are for different anime. It’s almost as if Clannad is just representing everything that happens, rather than simply showing it to us. And maybe that’s a fault of anime in general, but maybe it just sucks.

I’m sure you can think of plenty more.

I just can’t deal with this silly chaste world anymore. American licensors like US Manga always used to run those commercials at the beginning of their tapes, with fun slogans like “this shit’s not for kids yarrrrrrrg” while showing some tooth-encrusted vagina-like orifice swallow up a guy (probably from Wicked City). How accurate that statement might have been, I dunno. But Clannad? Kids’ stuff. I’m gonna go watch Pokémon now.

The Tomoyo story

I’m probably the last person on the internet who spent his time blogging Clannad to write about the DVD-only episode, but whatever. I also cared less about Clannad than all those other people. As you probably know, the Kyoto Animation series is the third in their series of adaptations of Key/Visual Art’s visual novels. And in a visual novel, you can achieve multiple endings, with multiple females, if you replay the game. I don’t know much about that; to date the only visual novel I’ve played is Hinano’s RenAi Blogger, which was quite fun but weird because you may end up pursuing cartoonized versions of women in your Twitter contact list. It also took under an hour to play all paths, including the elusive Hinano Path, so I can’t call myself experienced.

Anyway, for Clannad’s DVD release, we get an alternative ending featuring Tomoyo. Of course Tomoya and Tomoyo is just too weird of a combo name to get my head around, but it seems to work in practice. In the story, our hero the deliquent Okazaki is dating student council president Tomoyo, and he is forced to break up with her because he’s holding her back. That’s about it, at the risk of saying more and “spoiling,” though I’m not sure how spoilable it is.

If you’re familiar with Clannad, or the other Key adaptations, you know what to expect, and you’ll get it: smooth and detailed animation, laid-back pacing, cinematic directing by Kyoto vet Tatsuya Ishihara (Air, Kanon, Clannad, Haruhi), and of a little bit of teary-eyed melodrama.

Clannad was rather short on the amped-up melodrama and super-tragic pathos that made Kanon or the final episodes of Air stick in peoples’ minds, but this faux episode 24 pretty much makes up for that. Tears? Yep. Kids breaking up in spite of still being in love? Here ya go. Sad girl in the snow? Fuck yes, you got it, son!

Was it good? I liked it just fine, although I’m not one of those shipping types or visual novel players who thought that Tomoya should have ended up with Tomoyo, or Kyou, or whoever. I thought Kyoto made a good story out of Nagisa, and that’s that. I’m in it for the anime. I can understand making the fans happy; after all, these guys made Haruhi. But is there any need to do multiple arcs? It feels sort of like going back on a commitment that you’ve made to telling a good story. Besides, aren’t we still waiting for the tragic-ass after-story OVA?

Ultimately, it was nice to see widescreen Clannad, and Kyoto Animation’s a fanboy fave for a reason — the execution really is a cut above. I mean, it’s really good, especially here on DVD. The lump in my throat was good too, but temporary and not really satisfying. It’s hard to build up a real emotional connection based on 23 minutes, especially if you spend 23 episodes building up a different one. Clannad fans, especially Tomoyo fans, should of course watch it, but don’t expect more than the little bonus treat it was intended to be.

What Happened Over Summer Vacation [post-final episode]

[no really, last link to Clannad info page]

Finally! I’m vindicated! Long ago, I accused Okazaki of being a eunuch, and almost went back on my word until this happened:

Now after the charming victory for Akio in the final episode, we get a nice light-hearted comedic recap before the OVAs, where the real tragedy can feel free to happen.

Recap after the recap

Not much to speak of here, the primary story is that Okazaki and Nagisa are moving unsurprisingly slowly in their relationship, much to the dismay of Sunohara and his visiting sister Mei — who takes to some hardcore meddling.

In the process, we get one of the best laugh-out-loud Akio and Sanae moments, a pile of cutely funny scenarios involving the awkward Tomoya/Nagisa relationship, and some real insights into how our deliquent’s mind works.

In the end, they finally make it to the dangerous step of Holding Hands. They’re not wearing bathing suits though, so I’m pretty confident no one will end up pregnant.

Thoughts

If you wondered about whether Kyoto Animation could learn a little something to apply to more “conventional” projects by doing the otaku-centric but totally hilarious Lucky Star, here’s your answer. Comedic pacing is right on, down to Sunohara’s dead thumping fall after the “cute girl looking for you” joke gets played on him for the second time in the series. Basically, this episode exists to make you laugh, and it has some of the best laughs of the series, so I guess it worked.

The preview for the upcoming vids looks more up the alley I expected when Clannad started. Horror, tragedy, bad things. So what happens now? Kyoto have teased about Full Metal Panic! and Haruhi Suzumiya getting new series this year, is that out the window? Who knows, but I’m guessing a couple OVAs aren’t going to spoil everyone’s lunch.