[Ascaloth] CLANNAD (TV), Episode 06 at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

[Ascaloth] CLANNAD (TV), Episode 06

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Popularity: 8% [?] Published by Ascaloth November 10th, 2007 in Ascaloth, Anime

"I’m in despair!!! TJ Han’s superior culinary skill has left me in despair!!!"

CLANNAD (TV), Episode 6.

This episode was actually rather muted in the comedy department compared to the previous ones; a sure sign that CLANNAD is diving into the sentimentalist portion of its story, or to be specific, Fuuko’s story. Nevertheless, there are still some signs of it peppered around the episode, ensuring that the story doesn’t indulge too deeply into the sad mood as yet.

(On another note, I’m surprised that TJ has made it this far into CLANNAD to see the Starfish Bread scene. I figured he’d have dropped this a couple of episodes ago. And who knows, perhaps he has; he didn’t specifically state he’s still watching it, and for all I know, he came across the scene by chance.)

Yup, the cable guy indeed has a part to play in the overall story, after all. There’s something about Tomoya’s "Your name is Yuusuke, so you must be the Yuusuke" line of thought that feels slightly cliched, though. Even though his guess is correct, is it true that most of us would think this way?

Oi, Oi, Nagisa-chan!!! You’re not supposed to start crying before I do!!!

I am reminded of the worst excesses of the Shuffle! fan clubs…..*shudders*

There’s always something to be said about a pair of meido twins. What are the odds that KyoAni will insert numerous CLANNAD references in a second season of Lucky Star?

This scene really creeped me out, not least because of the uncharacteristically cheery dream-Okazaki. Brrrrr. Nice swimsuit on Fuuko, though.

As the CLANNAD anime begins to delve deeper into the story, there are fewer individually interesting scenes to comment upon, but more opportunity to give my thoughts on the handling of the story thus far. So I will begin my brief discourse on the storyline with this: The Fuuko arc just isn’t grabbing me at the moment.

Many Kagikko have voted for Fuuko’s arc as one of the saddest in the CLANNAD game, but from what I personally have seen of the KyoAni adaptation, I’ve not been able to invest as much emotion into Fuuko’s story, as I have been with the AIR or the Kanon characters. And it is the same case with a good portion of the CLANNAD anime viewerbase, as well; one reason they gave, is that Fuuko’s story is shaping up to be too similar to Ayu’s.

While that is certainly a plausible reason for the lack of emotional investment, I don’t think it is the case with me personally. After all, I’ve always believed that what really matters is not so much how original a story is, but how it is handled. Yet despite that, there’s something about Fuuko’s arc that’s lacking in the sense of tragedy that Ayu’s story had, and there has to be something to that.

For me, I believe that the main reason that most people don’t feel the tragedy in Fuuko’s arc, has a lot to do with the fact that Fuuko herself doesn’t seem to comprehend the nature of her tragedy thus far. From what has been seen of her, Fuuko seems strangely single-minded in her drive to give out wooden starfishes in order to persuade people to come to her sister’s wedding, and in fact, it’s as if she hardly thinks about anything else. What really hurts Fuuko is the lack of exposition on her part; she hardly emotes even when she’s talking about how she’s unable to talk to her sister, and while it is clear that Kouko’s wedding is important to her, what we don’t know is why. Why is her sister’s wedding so important, that it takes precedence over her own condition? There’s hardly any indication as to what Fuuko is really thinking at any particular point in time, or even any indication that Fuuko is thinking at all, and perhaps, this is probably why so many CLANNAD viewers don’t seem very taken by her story, at this point in time.

Maybe all this will change by next week, with what looks to be the conclusion to Fuuko’s arc by all indications. So what do you guys think of the Fuuko arc, as adapted by Kyoto Animation? Are you emotionally invested in her, or not so much? Perhaps, you think that the real tragedy in her story is yet to come? I’d like to hear your views. (Of course, I once again reiterate, no spoilers or even pseudo-spoilers, please.)

That is all. Until next week, Ascaloth, out.

Popularity: 8% [?]

8 Responses to “[Ascaloth] CLANNAD (TV), Episode 06”

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1 Mirrinus 13 comments Nov 10th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

I don’t see why the story HAS to be a tragedy every time…for now, I’m enjoying how Fuuko is simply trying her best to make her sister’s marriage a joyous one. I’d bet that I’d feel more emotionally involved if Tomoya himself were emotionally involved, like in the actual VN, where there is actually some form of romance in between Fuuko and Tomoya. Instead, Tomoya doesn’t seem all that terribly interested…but Nagisa is. We as viewers are used to seeing the story through the eyes of the male protagonist, because that’s how AIR and Kanon went. But this time around, it seems like Nagisa could be considered more of a main protagonist in her own right. After all, even in just the episodes of Fuuko’s arc, Nagisa has still had nearly twice as much screentime as even Fuuko herself. I’m currently trying to see things as Nagisa does, not as Tomoya does, and with that I can kind of feel something for Fuuko’s plight.

However, my favorite thing about the story is still the development of Nagisa and Tomoya’s relationship. Her story is being used to demonstrate the partnership that Nagisa and Tomoya are forging, a much better formation of romance than what we usually see in anime. As a person who care primarily just for the story of Tomoya and Nagisa, I couldn’t be happier with this particular aspect.
2 tj_han 1442 comments Nov 10th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

I’m still watching. Mainly for the twins and the comedy though. It’s getting a bit boring now that the artificial sadness additive levels are rising.
3 PS 20 comments Nov 10th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

mmmm, twin meidos ftw. And no second season of Lucky Star please, even if they did insert Kyou Ryou Tsukasa Kagami double twin meidos, I’ll be perfectly content with one recurring Mikuru meido.

But I won’t mind a Lucky Star OVA featuring all of Kyoani’s twins in meido outfits and duking it out Battle Royale style though…
4 0rion 52 comments Nov 11th, 2007 at 1:43 am

Um…I second the motion for another season of Lucky Star kthxbye.
5 velocity7 6 comments Nov 11th, 2007 at 3:23 am

The thing though is that in Fuuko’s route, you could either hold a friendship or a romance relationship with Fuuko by the end of the route and still clear her story. All things considered, the friendship aspect of the route is a lot more important to Fuuko than a romance.
6 FlameStrike 52 comments Nov 11th, 2007 at 8:38 am

I’ll agree with you that I’m not emotionaly invested in Fuuko’s arc either, but that doesn’t mean I’m enjoying it any less. You are right about how Fuuko not feeling the tragedy herself effects the viewers, for me it’s like “Hm so Fuuko was hit by a car and is in a coma, well she seems fine as an astral projection so I’ll just enjoy the comedy”. Clannad is still good though, there doesn’t HAVE to be a tear jearking tragedy every arc…
7 Somatic 33 comments Nov 13th, 2007 at 2:26 pm

Why has there to be a cross refrencing to other Kyoani production?
Its like taking Kyoani’s work on Key is equal to Sad
Why cant you just watch without the comparison of Clannad to Air, Kanon?

1 [Ascaloth] CLANNAD (TV), Episode 09 at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts Pingback on Dec 1st, 2007 at 12:27 am

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

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