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.
