When I first heard that Kyou’s route was finally going to animated a few months back, I was elated, fucking ecstatic. You see, I’ve been waiting for this ever since the route had been curiously absent in the first series. So in celebration, I went back, loaded up a save on the Clannad visual novel and started replaying her route again. As I was progressing through the game I suddenly remembered that Kyou’s route was… well, disappointing.
Yet, I still anticipated this OVA, of my favorite (just a tad bit more than Tomoyo) Clannad female. Despite my complaints on Kyou’s route, did I enjoy this episode? Heh, you fucking bet I did. And maybe other Kyou fans share the same sentiments.
So, a couple things about this episode:
1. Delicious tears
Yeah
I knew prior that this episode was going to be filled with teenage angst and depression, but Jesus Christ, I felt like I was rewatching School Days ( okay, maybe I’m exaggerating). Then again, the plot of this route is eerily like the one in School Days, minus promiscuity.
Despair
Suddenly, chance encounter!
Commence cheering in 3, 2, 1...
*anticipation*
...damn it
It was kind for KyoAni to, I guess, summarize Tomoya and Ryou’s boyfriend, girlfriend antics in somewhat of a 30 second montage (more screentime for the better Fujibayashi twin). However, at the same time, several key scenes from the visual novel were omitted (fortune-telling, gemstones). And because some of these aspects of the route were missing from the OVA, viewers who haven’t played the visual novel won’t get deeper details of the situation between Fujibayashi and Tomoya, than what was provided.
Other than the missing scenes, and other alterations, KyoAni, for the most part, stayed true to the visual novel. It’s rather impressive how they were able to condense the entire route into a 20-minute timeframe though. Bravo.
Bro
Mad fucking props to Sunohara. When Kyou tried coming onto him, he remembered the cardinal rule of bro’s before ho’s. One of his best moments. He thought of Tomoya’s feelings over his own, true pal.
I had to rewind multiple times in this scene because, ohmagod. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the above is the first, clear onscreen kiss in the entirety of the Clannad anime. (Fuuko’s kiss way back when doesn’t count.) But why Ryou? Ah what the hell, she deserves something.
What’s with KyoAni and their lack of onscreen intimacy anyway? Up until now all we’ve seen are some hand-holding, caressing, hugging…glomping. We didn’t even see Nagisa and Tomoya kiss.
See what I mean? But damn, does that look so pretty.
True to Kyoto Animation fashion, we have fantastic animation (god this is redundant). And especially towards the end of the episode, my eyes were pleasantly assaulted with lovely visuals, and grotesquely beautiful backgrounds that I considered making my desktop.
Noooooo! Kyou! Your beautiful, long, flowing purple cascade of locks of hair! On second thought...
At last! Closure!
D'awwwww
Now, let’s look forward to KyoAni’s future projects
K-On 2! Little Busters
(seriously though, I want more K-On)
Loading ...