CLANNAD - Tomoyo Chapter July 17
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Summary:
Tomoya and Tomoyo have been dating for a month, and today happens to be the day of the student council elections. When Tomoyo gets elected to be student council president, the two are very happy, and Tomoya reminds her that her goal is to preserve the row of sakura trees that line the way to school. It quickly becomes clear to him though that his girlfriend is quite popular amongst the student body, yet everyone sees him as a delinquent and questions what relationship he has with her. To make matters worse, Tomoyo becomes incredibly busy in her new role, and she creates a minor incident when she uses the school’s PA system to tell Tomoya not to wait for her after school one day. This gets the two in trouble, and in light of it, the faculty raise concerns about her past and about her relationship with Tomoya. Tomoyo doesn’t let it get to her, but it bothers Tomoya, and as the school festival rolls around, the two spend less and less time together. On the day of the festival, he finally gets some alone time with her, and the two nearly kiss, but they’re interrupted by the vice-president who’s here to force Tomoyo to go take care of more duties that require her attention.
Tomoyo has no choice but to go, and after she leaves, the vice-president warns Tomoya not to continue hanging around her. Tomoya thinks that the vice-president is jealous, but the vice-president claims that he merely thinks that Tomoyo is someone who can reach high places and that Tomoya is dragging her down. He also points out that Tomoya should know that he can’t do anything for Tomoyo, and Tomoya doesn’t have an answer for that. The teachers also put pressure on Tomoya, and the final straw comes after the vice-president informs Tomoya that one of the alumni supporting them for preserving the sakura trees had heard a bad rumor about Tomoyo leaving Tomoya’s house in the morning. Tomoyo herself tells Tomoya that it’s not a big deal, but Tomoya decides that they should break up, citing how she has a goal and how she probably won’t reach it if she stays with him. Tomoyo attempts to argue that Tomoya would be lost in his life without her, however Tomoya feels that he’ll do fine and notes how he’d rely on her for everything if she was around. Even when Tomoyo confesses that she loves him, Tomoya claims that he hadn’t felt love for her, and she finally accepts the break-up. Shortly after Tomoyo walks away, Tomoya starts crying.
In the aftermath, Tomoya begins applying himself to school and righting his life, and every now and then, he hears of how Tomoyo is excelling. As winter arrives and graduation time nears, he and Sunohara both apply for jobs, and he finally finds one inside the city. It’s not until graduation day when he goes home early that he runs into Tomoyo again on the path lined by the snow-covered sakura trees. She had been waiting for him because she wanted to tell him that it had finally been decided that the sakura trees wouldn’t be cut down. Tomoya thinks that her dream was fulfilled, but Tomoyo notes that she lost something in exchange for it: she hadn’t been able to spend time with the one she loved. Upon hearing that she loves him even more than before and that she had been watching as he worked hard through the months without her, Tomoya tells her about the job he got at a thrift shop inside the city. He then explains that the two of them can’t move forward together because she will definitely go far after she graduates whereas he’ll still be in that city. To Tomoya’s surprise, Tomoyo vows to be at his side, and when he tries to tell her that she has higher places she can reach, she reveals that being with him is worth more than any such place. These words make Tomoya feel that an obstruction in his path has finally been lifted, and he promises that he’ll go to where Tomoyo is too. Both crying now, the two embrace.
Sometime later in the springtime, Tomoya heads off to work and is met by Tomoyo carrying a bento for him.
Seeing how this was an alternate world, I was rather tempted to title this “CLANNAD PARALLEL WORKS.” In all seriousness though, I think I prefer this world to that of the main story. For whatever reason, TomoyaXTomoyo feels much more natural to me than TomoyaXNagisa. Maybe it’s the fact that the two are already so far in their relationship here (helped along by how they started the episode already together and then by the quick passage of time) whereas Nagisa and Tomoya just don’t feel like they’re quite at that point yet. After Story may very well change my mind about that, but I’m sure it could change right back if Kyoto Animation ever animates Tomoyo After.
Overall, I found this episode good, if a tiny bit predictable - i.e. it was fairly obvious that the two weren’t going to stay separated by the end. I attribute that less to bad writing and more to just the constraints of trying to fit everything into a single half-hour. Regardless, I definitely still enjoyed watching it and am glad this got animated. It would have been nice for this to be stretched out over two or three episodes, but beggars can’t be choosers. I might even go as far as to say that this makes up for how abbreviated Tomoyo’s part ended up being in the main story (though not Kyou and Ryou’s). Just as importantly, this also got me interested in CLANNAD again with only a few months until After Story airs (this Fall according to MOON PHASE’s list), so I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Dango at 3:58 am on July 17th, 2008
http://randomc.animeblogger.net/image/CLANNAD/CLANNAD%20-%20Tomoyo%20Chapter%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
Reminds me of Itoshiki-Sensei….
Darkhaven0 at 3:59 am on July 17th, 2008
wow.. cant wait to watch this.. 1st Post
ULTRA MAN at 4:03 am on July 17th, 2008
http://randomc.animeblogger.net/image/CLANNAD/CLANNAD%20-%20Tomoyo%20Chapter%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
if this something about dreams things in dreams that bring u luck.
ULTRA MAN at 4:05 am on July 17th, 2008
i wonder if they will have a FukoXTomoya? that will definitely interesting
Mike at 4:05 am on July 17th, 2008
I hope they don’t do Tomoyo After, it just too sad man. Let the story stay like this and leave all of us a happy memories.
tPhan at 4:08 am on July 17th, 2008
Dang I cant wait for this to be subbed. Been waiting for days
Shinji103 at 4:18 am on July 17th, 2008
Huhwhat now??!! O.O I never would’ve seen imagined somethign like this being made in a million years… @_@
Now if only they’d do this with other based-on-dating-sim anime out there…I wouldn’t mind seeing a bonus episode of Fate/Stay Night focusing on ShirouxRin…
Chimasternmay at 4:27 am on July 17th, 2008
Yeah although Tomoyo after, was really good it was sad too… and if i want to be left with any good memories of Clannad i want it to be a happy one, so i think ill love After Story when it comes out… But then Also this episode story before any after story is the best…
kencute321 at 4:46 am on July 17th, 2008
Wow……….. TOMOYO AFTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEPEHHHHH
Chimasternmay at 4:50 am on July 17th, 2008
Awesome, wow ya my comment before was from the games, but i just finished watching it, yeah Thank god they made Tomoyo Chapter… it was sweet.
GrimaH at 4:56 am on July 17th, 2008
SUBS WHERE
Kaioshin Sama at 5:21 am on July 17th, 2008
Sounds like a consolation to Tomoyo fans who would burn stuff otherwise. That could explain it’s brevity.
Naakay at 5:51 am on July 17th, 2008
The snow scene at the end was something I really wanted to see animated, ever since I heard Clannad was getting an anime, and KyoAni did a good job with it so despite having an entire route shoved into a single episode, I’m glad they animated it.
Epyon at 6:07 am on July 17th, 2008
Wow and i was rooting for TomoyaXTomoyo cant wait for this
Yakamaru at 6:07 am on July 17th, 2008
Cool!^^
Still need to wait for subs, i guess..
Yakamaru at 6:09 am on July 17th, 2008
I soo gotta watch this even if subs isen’t out yet..
mutio at 6:22 am on July 17th, 2008
@Omni
Did this air or was it an extra on one of the DVDs?
Kaioshin Sama at 6:24 am on July 17th, 2008
The snow scene was rather low on colour and had a lot of distance and still shots so it doesn’t look especially hard to animate. It seems like an obvious choice and a fan pleasing one as well for it’s significance.
Actually I’m probably breaking taboo here, but the episode in general wasn’t all that incredibly animated in my opinion. As I mentioned, a lot of distance shots, behind the speaker views (to avoid having to animate lip flap) and still shots were used. It was par, but not outstanding, not like their reputation should entail. I don’t think it’s that Kyoani has gotten worse though, just that everybody else has stepped up over the past few years since Haruhi and many have even overtaken them like Satelite with Macross Frontier and Bones with their latest Bonen No Xamdou and Kyoani hasn’t really improved all that much from where they were 3 years ago. I guess you tend to stagnate as well when you make shows very similar in appearance like Haruhi, Kanon and Clannad are and when the setting doesn’t change substantially from episode to episode.
I also think that at this point I’ve tired and disinterested in the character designs they’ve had for Haruhi, Kanon and Clannad as well. The Kyoani look has sort of gone as far as it can for me and I think it’s really time for them to look into a new visual style in order to keep things fresh in the future.
Elis at 6:24 am on July 17th, 2008
So sweet…must watch this! coz my fav girl in clannad is nagisa and tomoyo^^ really like both of them…^^
waiting for the subs….
mutio at 6:32 am on July 17th, 2008
Never mind, it comes with a DVD~
Tomoyo FTW!