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
Apparently, all we ever got as an aftermath from Tomoya’s father is a flashback.
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I think you’re thinking through it too much, but allow me to do the same thing :p
World 2 (Illusionary World) was created after Tomoya lost Ushio (in 1). The Illusionary World, as we are told, is outside the realm of time. So it has always existed and will always exist and at the same time doesn’t exist at any given point in time (because for it to exist just for any given time would mean it was bound by time). So, after Tomoya loses Ushio, Ushio goes to the Illusionary World, but since it exists outside of time, it existed even as he was losing Ushio and even before he met her. And then at the ‘end’ of the regular world with the bad end (world 1 as you described it), the Illusionary World intervenes and sends him to the world with the good end (world 3 as per your numbering). I think Tomoya definitely had some recollection of what happened before, because when he came back to Nagisa giving birth to Ushio, he had a look that said he thought Nagisa was going to die all over again and then he was shocked when she said that she was ok.
But really, that’s way overthinking it. This is Key, in which characters are afflicted with diseases like KeyAIDS and characters can make KeyMIRACLES happen with KeyMAGIC. It’s not supposed to be thought through that much.
I don’t like reset endings and this is one of it. I feel that ending is just a cop-out to try and please the majority…it’s like ‘oh don’t be sad, they’re not really dead you see’, everything is temporary. The magical aspect and the illusionary/alternate world stuff could have been done differently other then bringing the dead back to life again. I’m sure lots of Clannad fans are happy but I certainly am not one of them.
If you think about it, there are actually 4 Clannad worlds,
1.Bad Ending world
2.Illusionary world
3.Good Ending world(actual ending of the series)
4.Tomoyo/Tomoya world which we saw in extra episode 2 of the first season of Clannad.In that world Tomoya doesn’t meet/have a reltionship with Nagisa and ends up in love with Tomoyo instead.
My favorite world is the real ending world(3)of course.After all the suffering i’m glad Tomoya/Nagisa were given the happiness they deserved.As for the where abouts of Tomoya’s father, they do show Tomoya,Nagisa, and Ushio visiting great grandma Onizaki which leads me to believe that Pops might have died at some point in that world.In world 1 wasn’t he was supposed to be living with Great Grandma Onizaki.Since he wasn’t there in the Ending world, that’s what leads me to believe he might have passed on.After all,it’s not likely everything in Ending world turned out in a good way.
Like Ayumikat, I hated this ending. Going the easy way and bringing back a dead character is something I REALLY hate…at least the Fuuko part was fun!
^ Like more than one person, I, too, disliked the ending. It wasn’t bad as much as it was… not great.
A predictable, true-to-its-Key-title deus ex machina at the very end of such an awesome series just doesn’t stick with me.
A sad ending, or at least this deus ex machina with moar emphasis on Tomoya/Nagisa/Ushio and at least SOME footage of a Naoyuki-Tomoya chat or at the very least, a frame of Naoyuki in this new world (whatever happened to the father-son resolution in this happy ending, or even Naoyuki in the first place? It’s like he died or something, really), would have been better than what episode 22 presented.
I really enjoyed this episode and I liked the ending. I’m not even going to attempt to pick apart the details I just enjoy it for what it is and was. I needed something happy to snap me out of the depression from when Ushio died.. I’m glad Fuko made an appearance in it too.
I really liked the ending of Clannad. I know. Bringing Dead people to life? I guess they did that so that Tomoya can restart his life. Or maybe because Nagisa was just resting and really didnt die. But anyways, I loved the Fuko part! SO KAWAII! Anyways, the ending was a good ending. I was sad when Ushio died. I think Tomoya is cursed. Lolz^^” But anyways, I liked it.
“A deus ex machina is a plot device in which a person or thing appears “out of the blue” to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable difficulty.”
The illusionary world, light orbs and other things “magical” were foreshadowed and alluded to multiple times by multiple characters and arcs since episode 1 of the first season. What makes me laugh is that many of those who hated the ending and pulled the deus ex machina card were the same people who whined and complained that the illusionary world sequences were boring, confusing or irrelevant throughout the shows run.
The illusionary world sequence in Ep 22 is (quite literally; watch the end of the sequence again) a moment for Tomoya/Robot, Audience and to a lesser extent Ushio/Girl to partake of the revelation, to see the light and for the veil to be ripped away.
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