Subculture Anime Blog

Hey Toei, Kyoani called. They said their animation was better than yours.

Summary:

Waking in the morning, Tomoya thinks to himself that he has always felt as if someone was with him. However, he knew that this wasn’t possible. Going out to school, he passes by a picture of his now absent mother and then his father who has just gotten back from work. Although there was no real place for him to go, Tomoya continued to go to school. Passing by the Sakura trees, Tomoya meets Nagisa. He is amazed at how enthusiastic she is about the happenings around her, but starts to leave her coldly. Nagisa stops him, however, hoping that he could join her later by the Sakura trees. Tomoya could not come up with an answer, because he was only concerned with living for himself. However, this was the first meeting that would cause change for him. Nagisa is finally able to get Tomoya’s name one day after introducing herself at the entrance, then thanking him for allowing her to finally make it that far.

During class, Tomoya is forced to wake Youhei up. Shortly after, everyone rushes out of the classroom to enjoy lunch. Tomoya gives Youhei some money to buy bread, then making his way to the school rooftop. Nagisa happens to be there as well, enjoying herself at the location for the first time. When Youhei arrives at the rooftop, he disappointingly expresses that he was only able to get anpan for Tomoya. Tomoya will not eat this, but he gives it to Nagisa since she had just stated her liking for it. As club activities go on throughout the school, Youhei wonders about Tomoya’s relationship with Nagisa. Tomoya states that he only knows her name, but Youhei believes that this is already a big accomplishment. Tomoya eventually asks Youhei to return his money that he had irrationally wasted, before heading back home alone.

In Tomoya’s dreams, he had decided that no one could find him in the desolate world, because his body was not visible. He had finally found a body for himself, but this wasn’t enough to help him meet someone. Tomoya’s father arrives slightly earlier on this day, hoping to have breakfast with his son. However, Tomoya coldly denies the need for this as he heads to school. Tomoya’s mother had died in his early childhood, leaving him only with his father. Tomoya was forced to become responsible for himself, and he also had a position in the school basketball team. Tomoya’s father one night returned home drunk. When Tomoya violently refused the offer of food he offered, his father forced him into the nearby glass. This severely injured Tomoya’s arm, forcing him to quit the basketball team.

Nagisa continues to asks Tomoya to help her climb the Sakura trees, but Tomoya insists that there are many other options besides seeking him for help. Nagisa eventually expresses her fear about not having any reason to exist in the school, so Tomoya simply suggests anpan until she finds a real reason. Youhei relays information he had found out about Nagisa when he meets Tomoya again, but expects something in return because of it. Tomoya recalls that Youhei was once in the soccer club, but because of various circumstances, he had become a delinquent like him. Youhei offered one good thing for Tomoya, which was the small apartment room he constantly stayed in.

Awhile after the pink color of the Sakura trees has faded, Nagisa meets Tomoya again after a short absence. Still attached to Tomoya, Nagisa expresses that she has finally found a reason for herself at school. On the school rooftop later, Tomoya and Youhei find that Nagisa has decided to start a drama club. The poster she has designed is based on a cartoon she enjoyed as a child, The Dango Daikazoku. Tomoya is unable to get the happy image of Nagisa out of his head while walking in the rain, when he is picked up by Yoshino. Yoshino expresses all of the worries everyone has had about Tomoya, and Tomoya is only able to apologize. However, when Yoshino even mentions Nagisa, Tomoya runs out of the car in panic.

At school later, Youhei alerts Tomoya of one of Nagisa’s posters that has been ruined. With the information gained from Tomoyo and Kyou, Youhei and Tomoya search for the culprits. A large crowd follows, as the two continue to find ruined posters throughout the school. Tomoya sees that Nagisa has witnessed one of the posters, yelling for her to meet them at the rooftop later. Tomoya is forced to leave, however, as Youhei has finally found the culprits. Youhei causes a panic by quickly assaulting the men in charge of doing this, but he is swiftly stopped by Koko. Youhei recalls the name of this teacher later, but he is rather excited about it.

Tomoya and Youhei meet Nagisa on the rooftop, but find that she simply believes that she can redo the posters. Because she has already decided on it, Nagisa believes that she can properly start the drama club. Tomoya wonders why Nagisa is so determined on making the drama club, but she cannot tell him the reasons right away. Tomoya gives Nagisa his support, so Youhei becomes very excited at the idea of making copies of the posters instead. They are interrupted when Kyou, Tomoyo, and Koko arrive on the rooftop. The group learns that Nagisa knows Koko quite well, and Koko even gives her support towards creating the club. Many posters are set up throughout the school, but the plan fails in the end.

After visiting a family restaurant, Nagisa surprises Tomoya and Youhei by offering them applications to join the drama club. Tomoya and Youhei are forced to decline because of their circumstances, but Nagisa tells them not to worry about it. Nagisa’s spirits are lifted when she finds a dango daikazoku doll in a store, and the shop owner even lets her take it before paying. The next day at the school, Koko allows Nagisa to start off on her own in the now messy drama club room. Koko becomes excited after hearing that Nagisa plans on doing an original story, then leaving Tomoya and Youhei to clean the room.

Tomoya finds that Nagisa wishes for the two boys to meet her at her house for club activities. Tomoya chases after Youhei when he seemingly avoids the situation, but learns that he has actually picked up a job. When Tomoya reaches Nagisa’s house, he is surprised to find that it is a bread shop. He meets Nagisa’s energetic mother Sanae, and is soon forced to play a baseball match with her father Akio. Tomoya finally plays along with Akio, but he kicks the baseball back instead of throwing it. With this, he explains to Akio that his arm is unusable. Tomoya experiences the Furukawa family’s energetic dinner afterwards, along with several of Akio’s jokes. Tomoya prepares to leave after accompanying Nagisa while she writes her scenario, but finds that the Furukawas would like for him to stay the night.

Tomoya is forced to sleep in the same room as Akio, but he takes the chance to leave later that night. He finds that Nagisa was unable to sleep either, so he accompanies her on the veranda to talk with her. Nagisa is delighted to finally see Tomoya smile, expressing what a kind face he had despite his denial. Nagisa explains that although she knew what she wanted to write, she could not do it well. She was also excited about having Tomoya close to her, so she could not sleep. When Nagisa states that she has a dream, Tomoya tells her that he has always had one too. However, it is not a pleasant one that he would like to talk about. Tomoya takes the chance to thank Nagisa for the enjoyable night, so Nagisa is put to tears in her happiness.

For awhile after that, Tomoya continued to see his horrifying dream. However, it was not the hopeless one that he has always had. In the distance was a bright Sakura tree, the promised tree that offered him the hope of finding what he has been searching for. Tomoya continued to run towards it, but he woke before he was able to reach his goal. Tomoya finds out in the morning that Youhei has actually been working under Yoshino. Yoshino offers Tomoya work as well, before leaving him with time to think about it. Youhei later explains that Yoshino was actually a member of a popular rock band, but he had dropped out to return to the city in the present. Youhei apologizes for being unable to help with club activities, but Tomoya expresses that Nagisa is doing her best despite her challenges.

The day of the school festival finally comes, but Nagisa explains to the group that she was unable to finish her scenario. Despite this, however, Nagisa still plans to attend the stage. Koko agrees to allow this, believing that Nagisa’s story will be wonderful. Tomoya finds Nagisa on the roof, who does not feel as if she can eat anything out of nervousness. When Tomoya gives her a great amount of encouragement, however, she suddenly feels hungry. While eating with Tomoya and Youhei, Nagisa finally explains why she wanted to do the play. In the past, Sanae and Akio were forced to give up on their dreams because of the birth of Nagisa. Nagisa’s health was not very good, and her parents opened a bread shop so that they could always be together. Nagisa wanted to use the stage as her way of showing her parents that she is doing well, and thanking them. Tomoya expresses his awe about Nagisa being able to do this, stating that it is not a world he would be able to reach.

Finally heading towards the stage, Tomoya and the others learn that Yoshino actually has a relationship with Koko. When the play finally starts, Akio realizes that Nagisa is wearing Sanae’s wedding dress. The story Nagisa tells is of the desolate world, as she searched endlessly through the turmoil. She eventually heard a warm voice calling out to her, however, which she ran towards in hope. Tomoya becomes unable to continue his audio work due to Koko’s orders, because of the play’s shocking resemblance to his own dreams. When Nagisa reaches the part about the promised tree, Tomoya is unable to believe that Nagisa shared the same cold dream as he. Unable to stop himself by the end, Tomoya rushes out to embrace Nagisa. As the crowd applauds around them, Tomoya states his love for Nagisa.

Later, after Nagisa’s graduation, Tomoya had started living in an apartment with her. However, he now returns to the apartment alone. Tomoyo visited Tomoya one night to help him with dinner, recalling that Tomoya has not been to the Furukawa shop in awhile. Youhei eventually arrives from Tokyo, finding that Tomoya is still as down as ever. The three sit down to have dinner, but Youhei and Tomoyo realize that it is time to pay their respects to Nagisa. Nagisa and Tomoya had lived happily in the apartment, both obtaining jobs. Before Youhei had left for Tokyo, he would constantly visit Nagisa at her workplace to tease her. One day, everyone that Tomoya and Nagisa knew visited their apartment. On that day, they enjoyed themselves to their fullest.

Tomoyo and Youhei finally leave Tomoya, unable to brighten his mood. Youhei is unable to fight his tears outside, but Tomoyo tells him that it is only a mater of time. Previously, Tomoya had rushed to he hospital to find out about the condition of Nagisa’s baby. The doctor expresses that although the baby was healthy, there was more of a problem with Nagisa’s health. Sanae and Akio had decided that they would have to tell Nagisa, but they found that Nagisa was still cheerful when they met her. She had come up with a name for her child, Ushio, a child that she hoped would have a much more wonderful life than her. On the day that Ushio was born, Nagisa was able to see her. However, her life began to fade in the images of her enjoying time with her friends and family. Nagisa’s last words were of her loving of Tomoya, and thanking him.

After Nagisa died, Tomoya believed that his life had become a continuation of his horrifying dream. He lived in an empty world, where the morning would not come. Tomoya’s father one night visits his son, in hopes of talking with him. Tomoya’s father makes Tomoya realize that he is becoming like himself. When his wife died, he could only despair. His son had slowly become further and further away from him. Tomoya forces his father to leave despite this, not wanting to see his face. Tomoya panics at his predicament afterwards, falling into despair. One day, Yoshino and Koko appear at Tomoya’s apartment to take him away. They meet Youhei along the way, who has tickets for everyone. Tomoyo and Kyou are picked up as well, with lunches for everyone.

On the train, Tomoya finally finds that they are traveling to a Dango Daikazoku camp. Tomoya is enraged, however, reminding everyone that Nagisa is no longer there. Yoshino explains to Tomoya that this plan was devised by someone, but he refuses to tell him who. Of course, this was Tomoya’s father who wished to save his son. Finally reaching their destination, the group sets Tomoya up to meet Sanae and Akio. In Akio’s arms is Ushio, who Tomoya does not wish to see. The rest of the group stops him before he can leave, and Ushio offers Tomoya a dango doll. Seeing that she will fall, Tomoya rushes to catch Ushio in the nick of time. Finally smiling at the sight of his daughter, Tomoya is able to see the continuation of his dream just for a moment. Under the promised tree, Nagisa waited with a smile on her face.

ED: We’re given a eufonius song and some shots of scenery from the Clannad world. It’s definitely fitting, and not really bad at all.

Impression:

Ahhhh! It’s the Shana movie all over again! Luckily I’m enjoying the last few days of my Spring Break right now, or I definitely wouldn’t have taken the time to do this. Now, I know you guys aren’t planning on reading that long summary, so I guess I’ll just have to lay out all that was bad about this movie. First of all, the animation was horrible. We all know that Toei gets bad rap, but this was seriously bad. It really made me appreciate Kyoani’s work even more. This wasn’t even up to movie standards, and I’ve seen much better on broadcast anime. With shots like this, I had no idea what they were thinking. Even with the amount of time provided for the movie, the directing was pretty bad too. It seemed like the entire thing was just thrown together with random situations from the game. Scenes that were suppose to be dramatic came off as just really stupid, and the random style changes didn’t help. The split screen thing that they constantly used in particular made me facepalm.

As far as the story goes, it was quite different than the one that is being presented in the anime. They only went through Nagisa’s story, making it much more linear. Yes, this means there were spoilers for those who haven’t played the game. This includes me, but I’ve never really been bothered by such things. I will admit that I still found the ending touching, but I think the anime will provide for a much better effect. That is, if they do animate the after story (Cool, I know what that means now!). There were a few differences with all of the characters too. Kyou worked as a student council member with Tomoyo, and their roles seemed a lot more distant than in the anime. Kotomi was only given one shot were she led a choir, and Fuuko wasn’t even mentioned. Koko turned into a super tough teacher, and she was the one that helped Nagisa with the play. Others like Nagisa’s parents and Youhei played more familiar roles, but they seemed less fleshed out.

I’m not sure what else to say about the last four hours I just spent with this movie. I can’t say I would recommend it, since the anime does the series a lot more justice. I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest Clannad fan in the world, so I’m not sure if I would say dedicated fans should watch it either. It did give me an insight to what will be happening with the rest of Nagisa’s story in the anime, but I would have found that out within a month anyways. There were a few parts in the movie that still made me smile, but for the most part, I’d only recommend this if you want to see how bad Toei can manage to make a Key adaption.