You naysayers will not take that away from them. How loud you will cry will mean nothing for them in the end
The journey have come to the end. For me, it was a good one. However, as you expected, this end did not come without very loud complains and armchair critics writing about what kind of ending should have been better. Someone even have gone as far as suggesting that Ushio dying, then Tomoya jumping off a roof to his death, in order to reach his happiness, SHOULD have been the ending.
I am not really feeling like going into a huge post to justify the end. It was confusing to anyone who have not fully accepted the supernatural elements of Clannad; yes, I meant Fuuko and Cat-Shouta. However, I’ll just say that the “clues” were here all over the both seasons; it is your loss if you 1. forgot them. 2. denied them. 3. Anything else. Could the Donnie Darko-Butterfly Effect style time travel should have been done better? It certainly could.
Animated After Story have shown a weak start, as much as I liked the Sunohara siblings arc, I could not help but feel that it should have been done better, especially in the characterization department. Yukine arc was shown to be the weakest of all early arcs. I have heard that it is mostly written by KyoAni staff itself, with Munto being aired at that time, it did show one weakness of KyoAni: writing. KyoAni definitely needs a writer and a good one. Let’s talk about timelines in Clannad for a little bit.
In a anime vs game perspective, KyoAni was faced with a big challenge, weaving a multipath storyline into a linear single story was bound to meet several obstacles. One of the most important was the limit of budget and time allowed by a given episode counts. The management of this episode count have highlighted one of KyoAni’s weaknesses, the pacing, not just in season one but also in After Story (it is not as bad as JC Staff at times tho (I can count Azumanga Daioh as one of the few anime by JC Staff with proper pacing)). Another one was the sacrifices having to be done when one character’s path plain conflicted with the aim of the show, Tomoyo and Kyou being two of those. Now back on the timeline talk.
While the multi-storylines of the game have shown different timelines in a quantic fashion, the anime have shown two timelines coexisting (lack of a better word) with the help of a third exterior or transitional world (the illusionary world)
It’s slightly exagerrated to draw comparisons with Donnie Darko, but there are similarities. Donnie Darko was world weary, like Tomoya in the beginning. Both their actions change the lives of people around them, and their actions paid off in the end, in different ways. Tomoya, unlike Donnie Darko, is not told to do some deeds (we can argue that Frank the Rabbit have his own egostical motives when he warned Donnie). However, Tomoya helped to solve others’ problems for a lot of reason because: 1. Until a late point of the story, he did not want to deal with his own father. 2. Somehow, he felt that he had to do something about Fuuko/Kotomi/Tomoyo/Sunohara/Yukine (I can argue that he was not doing so good with the two latter). In the end, the very bitter kind, their actions finally pay off and bring their own idea of what is better for them to fructition.
It’s hinted by Akio that the town could be a supernatural entity on its own as it granted his wish, bringing Nagisa back to life when she was a child. In that regard, seeing Nagisa getting sick as the town itself have gone through changes does not seem that convoluted (relationship of interdependence between an individual and its environment). Klashikari from Asuki explains the deal about Nagisa, Ushio and the Town better than I could. However, the way it was shown in the anime made it appear whimsical and cruel especially in the case of Ushio, I can’t argue against that.
It is clearly said by Yukine that an orb of light can grant a wish. Ushio saw one back in the episode where Tomoya made his peace with his father. As implied by the revelation in the last episode about the Girl of the Illusionary World, Ushio have more than likely used that light to create this transitional state where Tomoya is the robot and must realize the importance of the lights, therefore the happiness of the people.
Those are the two most important hints about what will be about to happen in that 22nd episode. In no way, the miracle have come out of left field, unlike what the naysayers are desperately trying to say. The hints were here, however it should have taken one more episode to help the watchers to piece the things together. Unlike Air that devoted a full arc to explain the background behind Misuzu’s curse, the supernatural elements about the town, its relationship with Nagisa and Ushio and the lights were spread all over the 40+ episodes of the anime (Clannad and Clannad After Story). In that regard, I personally think that this will come out better to a watcher when he marathon the series, instead of having to wait one week between each episode and over five months between Season one and After Story.
Let’s confront the anime vs game perspectives.
In an anime perspective, Clannad is told from a third person perspective, you may know about Tomoya’s thoughts, but you cannot help but have your own expectations and demands about how the story should end as more of the story is unveiled. So when the time to make the wish, you do not think “what is best for Tomoya?”, you think, perhaps not out loud, “What should be the end? This is how I want it.” You don’t put yourself in Tomoya’s shoes. But as I said, it is more a matter of perspective.
In a video game perspective, the Clannad Visual Novel makes yourself Tomoya. The story being told in the first person, it is a bit easier to put yourself in his shoes, knowing his train of thoughts and reasoning. So when the time have come, you think for yourself, “What is the best for Tomoya?”
In Tomoya’s perspective, it makes sense for him to wish his daughter AND his wife to come back if he have been given the opportunity. It have come and he have seized it. Even in the anime, he could see in a photo how it could have been if Nagisa was still alive. At least he did not have to sell his soul to the Devil of the crossroads like the Winchester family.
One thing I could add is that Clannad sit in the idealistic end of the idealism vs cynism scale. Before you tell me, “What? You mean they are virtuous and fails because of a fatal flaw?”, I’ll bitchslap you and ask you to THINK of the former events of the former arcs. In a cynical world, would Fuuko survive and would Kouko be able to see her sister’s spiritual projection the day of her marriage? Would a random third world guy decide to pass a suitcase found on the shore to random people from all corners of the world so the case make it back to Kotomi? Would the students elect a student rumored to be a former delinquent? Would Tomoya finally be able to understand his father after a talk with his grandmother? I don’t think so. Even Tomoya and Nagisa, as flawed as they can be, are portrayed under a idealistic light. Nothing like the Al and Peg Bundy, nothing like the alpha couple of White Album. This is Clannad being Clannad, not White Album or another angst fest. It is not realistic, it was never meant to be. And KyoAni have mostly stayed true to the source so expecting a made up ending was expecting too much already. If Gainax was in charge of Clannad After Story, we MAY have seen the Gainax style ending. But this is ENOUGH if, let Gainax be Gainax and KyoAni be KyoAni.
It is certainly not the best end from the point of view of an anime watcher who takes the stand of a armchair critic pretending to be a Pulitzer. It could have been brought better, I’ll not say the contrary. However, when you look at the whole thing, it all piece together and form a large picture, a tapestry that you can appreciate for what it is, because in the end every single pieces have counted. The joys, the sorrows, it all paid for Tomoya and his family.
Now if you asked me what could have been perfect for After Story episode 22, I’ll answer that it should have moved one scene from before the Fuuko scene to small seconds just after Torch or in the last seconds of Torch. It is a small scene that made my heart feel too big for my ribcage and made my throat aching. Because other than Ushio, Nagisa and Tomoya, it was the one thread that left me hanging for the whole story:
Yes, that one. Move it in the last seconds of Torch or after, it would have nailed it just right.
But it did not spoil my enjoyment of After Story, on the contrary. Overall, I loved the journey even with its weak times. Because I am not a blogger who have the pretention to be objective or to be writing for a high profile magazine. I want to watch an anime to cheer when two men clash together in a brawl or swordfight of epic proportions, cry when someone dies or make his own peace, laugh when the scene made me laugh or get my nerdgasm over awesome scenery. To hell with serious business social commentaries! Let the epic hero journeys be epic hero journeys! Let emotional stories be emotional stories! I am way too old to give a shit about the petty polarization between implicit and explicit storytelling, realism vs less realism. It works not if I don’t give a damn about the characters or the story.
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Where’s MAH Ryou chan arc? ;___;