Clannad After Story Episode 23 and Series Review

This is the last episode of Clannad. *insert sad tears from many loyal viewers* Technically episode 22 was REALLY the last episode and this one is just extra. More like a bonus episode for all the dedicated fans across the globe.

This is how all the great romances start, with one person unconscious!

Instead of this episode revolving around Nagisa meeting Tomoya in his third year, it revolves around the beginning of her FIRST third year and his second year. X_X Which made things interesting. And different. Much different than I thought it was going to be.

But it's Clannad and I will blog Clannad to the end! So some spoilers ahead and a slight review on how awesome the entire series was. XD Hopefully everyone else feels that way too.


Nagisa spent most of the episode sad. On the first day of school she realizes she is in a classroom with none of her friends. Her old friend tries to give her encouragement but runs off. Tomoya then runs into Nagisa and Nagisa apologizes to him. He brushes it off and Nagisa goes back to being sad. Akio kept trying to give her advice on how to make friends. Most of the advice was pretty bad, like to call the teacher mom and feed them all Sanae’s bread of doom. He eventually tried to make it a math problem..because out of ALL those kids someone should want to be her friend. Sanae’s contribution to the episode was running out crying because her bread sucks. Nagisa continued to just sit in class and not speak up to make friends. She tries to make an effort to go to the theater club but she doesn’t make herself known and is easily forgotten. She even tries to turn down an old friend’s invitation to hang out. She smiles through this all, but deep down she is lonely. It is puzzling how she is so alone given this is her third year at this school. You would think that SOMEONE would be in her class.

High school is serious business.

Tomoya and Sunohara spent this episode being ACTUAL delinquents. It was finally explained that yeah, they do try to skip class and cause problems. After trying to escape out a window Tomoya and Sunohara are punished by doing some work for opening ceremonies. The class representative is in charge of watching them and that turns out to be Kyou. She is unhappy about being around this duo and refuses to be nice, despite Tomoya saving Kyou from being squished (and totally allowing Sunohara to be nearly killed by the planks of wood). While searching for Tomoya because he is skipping class, Kyou stares a little too long at Tomoya and thinks he is cute. Sunohara catches this moment and makes a huge scene. He then decides that he is going to prank Kyou by leaving her a love letter and sending her running all across school to find this dreamboat. They are eventually caught and are made to suffer.

Her love for Tomoya runs really deep. See the passion in her eyes!?!

Sunohara decides that he is not done pranking and will focus on some stupid 1st year kid. He and Tomoya make this piñata type thing and attach a cord to the bottom saying pull here for something interesting. They wait and watch for some stupid kid to pull it. Enter Nagisa. She pulls the rope (much to Sunohara’s joy and Tomoya’s shock) and this huge pan falls out and smacks her on the head. DOWN SHE GOES! Everyone around her panics and takes her to the infirmary. When she wakes up a girl from her class is there to greet her. This girl has been watching Nagisa and wanted to make friends but apparently was too scared to make the first step. But now that Nagisa was nearly killed she had the perfect opportunity. Nagisa comes home and tells her family she has made a friend. And she thanks the prank Tomoya pulled on her and decided to keep the message inside the ball as something to motivate her in the future. Oh and random fan service scene of twins in the bath together. THE END!

Welcome to the rest of your life Nagisa. It's going to be a bumping ride.

To say the least…this episode was not what I was expecting. But since I tend to go on and on…perhaps I will expand on that comment.

So I was mildly disappointed this was not Nagisa’s version of bumping into Tomoya on the hill. Totally my fault as I misunderstood “event from one year ago”. That now makes more sense to me so it’s my fault I was disappointed.

But…I still fail to see why they made this episode. Sure it was a cute way to explain how Tomoya and Nagisa met, but the events leading up to that BOINK moment were painful at times. Painfully boring. I would not choose to end a great series like this, with such a weak episode. Slice of life is one thing, slice of boring is another.

Attention: Boobies. That is all.

The entire episode wasn’t boring. Just the parts with Nagisa were. And perhaps boring isn’t the right word. Maybe I mean to say frustrating. I think every single viewer understood that Nagisa was lonely when Clannad started. She had really lost every single friend as they had graduated and she did not. That made people feel sorry for her and understand her loneliness.

Or I feel sorry for her because that is her dad.

This last episode makes me feel less compassionate to her now. Or roll my eyes a lot. There was no reason for her not to make friends this time around. Almost all those kids had been around since 1st year. Even if they weren’t in the same class she still knew OF THEM. And we are to believe that she was separated from all her friends?! Not ONE ended up in her class?...That is some amazingly bad luck.

Apparently they can't be friends anymore and it's the end of the world.

I mean…I guess you can say Nagisa was shy and that is part of her charm. And I get that. Not everyone can make friends at the drop of a hat. I just feel as if Nagisa COULD try more after seeing her interact with other people. And now that I have viewed the entire series, I see all the girls as Tomoya’s friends and they liked Nagisa as she was around Tomoya. It is sad, but without Tomoya none of those girls would have gotten to know Nagisa.

Angry Tomoya is VERY angry. X_X

But that is not to say the other girl wasn’t to blame either. It’s not like Nagisa is some scary girl that is hard to approach. Nagisa was obviously having problems and that other girl should have come to her. It is sad that it took a clunk on the head to make her notice her…but then again this friend didn’t sound so great. I mean, no mention of her the entire series. But I guess it is good to know Nagisa’s first year of senior grade wasn’t like her third: Depressing and alone.

Because talking to people is really hard.

So in the end…I was trying not to get mad at Nagisa. It’s like watching your friend fail and you know she can fix it. You scream and yell but in the end all you can do is watch them fail. Not that she every got any good advice on how to make friends (but at 18 you would think that she would have already…learned how). By herself Nagisa doesn’t SEEM very interesting. Which isn’t fair to say because alone I might not be interesting either since I have nothing to bounce off of. I just think….it was hard for the viewers to grasp, Nagisa being alone AGAIN. Or the beginning.

But Tomoya’s part of the show was great. I was tired of the entire series Tomoya and Sunohara being called delinquents and all I saw them doing was being bored in class. But we finally got to see them skipping school and generally being disruptive in class. Now I apologize to all of those who stayed clear of Tomoya…as his reputation might have affected theirs.

They just needed fresh air DUH!

I was surprised about Kyou. I thought that she and Tomoya had known each other a lot longer than one year. They just seemed to have a great closeness (on some level) and I think it is odd that it all occurred within one year. It also makes Ryou’s dramatic tears about Tomoya choosing Nagisa even more over dramatic as she hadn’t been in love with him all her life and this new girl stole him. Also, in my head I like to imagine everyone being friends from a chibi age and it’s all cute and violent in my head.

Her thanks was very overwhelming.

So putting aside that they should have known each other a lot longer than one year…I thought Kyou’s portion of the show was funny and special. She wants to pretend she is a great student and she is above someone like Tomoya…but she can’t help but think he is cool and molest him in her mind. Then she spends so much time running around the school looking for this love letter writer which I am sure she hoped it was Tomoya. That makes me wish they did a Kyou arc like they did for Tomoyo…as I think Tomoya would probably would have ended up with Kyou if he hadn’t ended up with Nagisa.

This isn't creepy at all...

Sunohara was Sunohara. His scenes made me a little sad…as we hadn’t gotten that fun WTF part of the show since graduation. :( He was always pulling prank or generally being stupid and I miss that part of the show. His pranks did come off a little meaner this time (making a PAN fall on someone’s head?! X_X) but he was still fun to have around. At the very least he made life a lot more fun.

Let's take joy in the suffering of others YAY!

This entire episode was focused on the fact that Tomoya affected Nagisa’s life before he met her (bumping into her really isn’t meeting her). His tiny message in that prank (that could have killed her) gave her such encouragement she wasn’t mad that she was nearly squished. And in a way, I find it romantic. It would have been REALLY romantic if she wasn’t injured and could have been lying in a pool of blood, but not all great romances start with unicorns and butterflies. Sometimes it starts with humiliation and memory lose.

Nagisa is still very special. Or this is the beginning of her specialness XD

So while I understand this episode….I don’t think it ended the series very strongly. Parts of it were cute and other parts made me x_x LIKE THE PART WITH NO KOTOMI! It’s like people are trying to kill me or something…But even when Clannad has an “eh” kind of episode…they are still pretty good.

So, putting aside this one questionable episode, this entire series was pretty great. This anime made me cry more than any other anime I have watched. But despite all the tears I found myself laughing at silly random moments as well.

Toilet seats are all the rage!

I don’t think it is a secret that Kotomi was my favorite character in the entire series. I wish she had more face time and hung out with the group more. She was weird in a cute way and it wasn’t overwhelming. She was just interesting and didn’t mean to do silly little things. XD I will miss you Kotomi and all your silly moments.

Kotomi love!

Tomoya was a great main character. His dry sarcasm was mostly lost by all the other characters, but that’s okay. We viewers go to experience his wit and one liners. He tried to come off as tough but deep down he was very sensitive. One of the most sensitive male characters I have ever seen before. I don’t think I have watched a series before that had the male lead crying so much.

He was fabulous!

But his tears never made him look weak. If anything it enhanced my impression of him and made him see much more real to me. Because I like to pretend that all guys can be great like this, that they have a deep sensitive side and they aren’t afraid to shed a few tears. Even that isn’t true…I still like how Tomoya was portrayed and went out of his way to help people.

First tears of the season!

Nagisa was very likable at times, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Some parts of her life seem so unnecessarily tragic, like no one joining her theater club (never understood why Tomoya, Sunohara, and Kotomi couldn’t pretend to join and make her happy…). She was constantly alone and sad in school. She kept repeating her third year even though…it seemed kind of useless. Once she got one second of happiness it was taken away.

But at least she got to perform.

And through it all she had a smile on her face. That’s what makes her likable. It also makes me want to scream in frustration…but it made her likable. When someone can still appreciate the good things in life despite all the bad…it makes me look up to that person (and or pity them). Plus….how can you not love Nagisa and her love of dangos?

All one million of them!

The characters were pretty interesting too. Some of their back stories were really good and others are okay. Tomoyo’s was probably the weakest for me (but I love her anyway) while Fuko’s produced the most tears. The stories that made up the first half of After Story all felt a little rushed and I think there was more potential for Yoshino’s arc (or…7 minute explanation).

Uncalled for violence is awesome!

The overall theme of family and togetherness was really hammered into our brains quite often but it was a gentle hammering. XD You wanted these characters to stay together and be close. Despite how weird each and every one of these characters were…they all made a great team and everyone was generally happy.

When you are with friends, you don't have to make sense.

One of the funniest moments of the show has to be Yoshino’s epic speech episode 1 of After Story. I think what made it even more epic was he was dead serious and wasn’t meaning to be funny. I think I rewatched that scene at least 5 times….truly very entertaining.

But we enjoyed your gift so very much.

Early on I found the random Nintendo scenes entertaining…and random. Almost every scene with Sunohara in it was pretty cracktastic. Sometimes Fuko got to be a little too much at times but that’s okay. She was still pretty cute. The Sanae bread thing got old after a while..but I kinda liked seeing what freaky bread she would make that day.

Game Play at 100 percent.

The main part of this series was Tomoya and Nagisa’s relationship. It showed how Nagisa and Tomoya grew as a person and how they really became each other’s world. They made the other one a better person which is what ALL relationships should do. It wasn’t an overly touchy feely romance, but the feelings were still there and that was the most important part.

Holding hands can be a very big deal!

Ushio was cute. That is all.

Almost makes me want to have kids..almost.

So I am a little sad that this series is now over. There is another episode next week but it doesn’t seem like that is going to give us any new information. So…no more Clannad. :( It seems as if I have been watching this series forever and I am sad that it’s over. But that means the series was successful, leave them wanting more and not wishing you had ended a long time ago.

I hope that everyone enjoyed this series as much as I did. I am sure I will compare this show to other new animes for a long time to come. XD And if they ever made an Ushio story I would be the first to watch it. But for now…Goodbye Clannad.

One last party for old times sake.