Clannad~After Story – Episode 22 [END]: A good story of multiple worlds

Before I proceed, I guess it’s only fair to give a spoiler warning especially since I’ve been hearing a lot about people who want to avoid discussions and what-have-yous on Clannad (though my gallery will defeat the purpose anyway). Other than that, please read on!

Anyhow…yes, no doubt Clannad After Story is probably the best series ever from Fall ‘08 season. Needless to say, this series alone was able to save me from insanity induced by the retardedness of the Winter ‘09 session anime series. Yes, I’m quite happy with how it wrapped up things together, considering how Episode 22 proceeded to the ‘good ending.’ Oh by the way, have I told you I have yet to play this VN? Apparently, I’m the type of person who feeds on spoilers across the web. Shame on me indeed!

If anything, Clannad ~After Story would’ve been the ideal melting pot of dorama, comedy (both slapstick and implied puns), a bit of fantasy, and lately, some sense of pseudoscience! Yes, if you haven’t noticed yet, the last couple of episodes have somewhat crossed the border of science fiction, and that’s exactly what I’m going to dissect on this post.

Picking up from the fuss I made from the previous episode about the identity of that illness, it is rather unfortunate that I wasn’t able to find its real life counterpart (yes, I’m quite aware that the illness wasn’t intended to have a RL counterpart. I can’t believe I actually got told by this in a comment last post -_-). But that’s okay, because that verifies its purpose as an agent of doom necessary for the not so good ending.

Speaking of endings, I was actually looking forward to Kotomi to explain what was going on since she was the one who came up with a theory to all of this anyway; not illusionary Ushio. But that shouldn’t be the main concern since Ushio’s explanation went smoothly, in my opinion; my main concern should be the content of her explanation. Initially, all I was certain was the fact about a miracle taking place when sufficient amounts of those glowing dangos orbs are amassed [PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL MY PREXISTING KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENDINGS ARE FROM THE SPOILERS I FEED ON]. Other than that, I’m simply…’ lolwut.’ Apparently, spoiler info is insufficient.

There are a few things that I’ve noticed though. First, there appears to be three worlds, each with its own distinct time and space…(1) The world with the bad ending, (2) the illusionary world and, (3) the world with the good ending. Second, from what I can understand, it seems like world 2 is a direct consequence of Ushio’s death at world 1. In other words, the fact that the illusionary Ushio exists is a consequence of her death somewhere/some time in the past. But wait, isn’t that paradoxical? How can you have two instances of deaths (one that gave rise to illusionary Ushio, and one that we actually saw on episode 21) without creating two Ushios in the illusionary world? Well, whatever may be the case, at least the fact that the three distinct worlds existed explains why Tomoya gets notions of seeing a bizarre dream – that’s because his consciousness actually exists in both worlds 1 and 2.

Now here’s something to ponder about…did Tomoya have any form of recollections from the two other worlds (more specifically, recollections on world 1 after Nagisa’s death) on the good ending (world 3)? From the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like it. But that would mean all the things he experienced after Nagisa’s death like the reconciliation he had with his father would have been for naught. I was wondering why there weren’t any aftermath images of his father, save for the recollection Tomoya had with him as a little boy while walking in a field of flowers.

And seriously, I’m still trying to figure out what world Fuko was in at the near end of the episode. She doesn’t seem to recognize Ushio…but maybe that’s because Ushio existed as the illusionary form? There’s also her unmatched affinity for her, being able to “smell” (lolz) her cuteness from very far away.

Ugh, I don’t know anymore. Maybe I should’ve gotten the VN, no?

Other than that I simply cannot emphasize enough how I enjoyed this episode. While I am am saddened and completely unable to accept that we’ve already hit the conclusion, I am impressed by how they ended it. The spam of vivid imagery along with the very touching soundtrack is just very emotion-invoking, enough to make me feel multiple emotions simultaneously. Just as when I’m trying to recover from all of that emotional intensity, they smacked a lolwut Fuko moment; my heart broke out of order. -_-

Apparently, the subsequent reference to the dango had an ultimate purpose – that is, the entire town along with its residents can be thought of as one bigass dango family.

Afterstory Screencaps

From top to bottom, left to right

Kyou-sensei will be forever in my heart
I’d go to nurse Ryou first before I go to a doctor for anything…even when I’m not sick
Kotomi is now the new Elton John, or John Lennon for that matter
Tomoyo is working as a model, methinks….
Sunohara’s a bad driver…
Mei is redefining the definition of a loli (take note of the lolis their eating)
Yoshino is trying out for Battle of the Bands
Sanae’s bread is still and always will be bad no matter what world she’s in
Yukine will be starring as a mafia boss in the upcoming game, Grand Theft Auto After Story
These two are as cute as always
Shima the cat is still around Misae
Koumura-sensei is enjoying his retirement