Clannad ep.23

March 28, 2008 | 17 Comments

I think by now everyone must be aware that After Story will be animated as well. I hope this will tie up many of the lose ends that weren't covered in this arc. Judging from the preview, it looks rather angsty than comedic in comparison to this one. As a side note, I never realised how good-looking today's digital animation really are. Most of the time, I watch anime using my crappy CRT monitor or my old HP laptop. Recently, however, I acquired a brand-new MacBook Pro. The difference is unbelievable. The colors are vivid and even better than I thought possible. Unfortunately, this also means that some DVDs which have awful source or been badly compressed are more noticeable than ever. But still, I'm kind of excited to see how other titles would look like on this laptop.

It's summer vacation but Nagisa and Tomoya still go to school for supplementary class. Tomoya suggests that they bail out and go to sea instead but Nagisa refuses because they are going to have exam soon. Because of this Tomoya suggests that they hold hand since they are now going out. Before they can do this, however, Kyou appears and dashed that thought. Later on inside the drama club, the girls gathered only to find that Tomoya is not there. Tomoya is actually at Sunohara's house, complaining about how he still hasn't even holding hand with Nagisa. That day, Sunohara's sister comes to town, so she ends up staying at Nagisa's house as usual. The next day, Nagisa and Tomoya offers to take care of the bread shop for Akio and Sanae. When Sanae brings out her baked bread, Mei manages to smile and pretend that it's delicious. Because no one comes to the shop, Mei goes out to look for customers. After a while, a bunch of guys start coming in to look into the store and buy bread. Much to Tomoya's chagrin, it turns out Mei has been saying that there is a cute girl inside the store. Despite Tomoya's objection, the tactic works and the store racks up a lot of money at the end of the day.

Since Nagisa and Tomoya are still shy with each other, Mei thinks she should try being cupid for the two of them. Tomoya at first mistaken the idea with Mei being enamored with her own brother and him wanting to do hot oil wrestle with Sunohara. After Mei explains her intention, however, she asks Tomoya what he wants from Nagisa. Tomoya tells her that he wishes Nagisa could be more confident. Just in time, Nagisa appears to ask Tomoya to walk with her. She tries to be confident by saying flattering things about herself and generally playing hard sell. She pretends that they are on a date and Tomoya is buying her a bread. After a while, however, Tomoya is weirded out by the whole charade. Because of this Mei comes out of the tree and admits that this was her idea. Nagisa tells Tomoya that she thought she should be braver but now she wonders if Tomoya hates her. Tomoya assures her that he doesn't by holding her hand and asking her to go with him. In response Nagisa tells her that she'd go as long as she'd always be with him. To be continued...in Clannad: After Story.

Impression:

This is a much better ending than last week's episode even though it has that 'side story' feels to it. The ending definitely has a 'To be continued' feel to it, especially since now we know that the story will continue in After Story. This episode is primarily about Tomoya/Nagisa and Mei. The comedy isn't as funny as I hoped it to be but it's not too bad either. For some reason, Nagisa being over-the-top confident end up being weird instead of funny. It's probably because it's hard to know if Tomoya is angry or amused to see this and his facial expression suggests the first one. I did find Sanae's hot Tako bun to be amusing though. I mean, who on their right mind would stuff a full octopi into a sausage bun? I was also amused with Mei's ability to keep a straight face and lie like an expert. But then again, I never understand why Tomoya nor Akio find it hard to keep their mouth shut and pretend that they love the bread anyway. Anyway, since After Story is next on KyoAni's project I guess it won't be long until we see the continuation of this story.

After Story Preview

© memento 2003