The other white meat, apparently…
If there’s one thing that concerns me about Clannad going forward, it’s the fact that I enjoy the “normal” moments of the show so much that the “things are gonna get weird now” moments give me indigestion. I think I’d be perfectly happy to watch Tomoya and friends sit around and do their dango daikazoku act for the remainder of the series. But, “things are gonna get weird now” is the hallmark of every scenario in every Key game ever made, so I better make right with it and fast.
Looking on the bright side, Fuuko’s story was so simple and matter of fact that it never quite veered off into bizarro land. Which is kind of funny, of course, if you consider the particulars of her character. I’ll admit to waiting for a plot twist that never came. And, looking ahead, both Kyou and Tomoyo strike me as such normal characters that I can’t see either of their stories getting particularly wacky before all is said and done. Then again, assuming that Kyou’s story is defined by her relationship with her sister, who, at this point, is still a bit of a wild card, I suppose I should be prepared for anything. The same goes for Tomoyo.
Unfortunately, Kotomi’s story is shaping up to be standard Key fare (note that, since I’m following the 16:9 broadcast of the show, I’m still currently in the middle of this arc). I also have this gnawing feeling her story will turn out to be the weakest of the entire show. This, despite the fact she’s such a wonderful character. She’s hot moe infused with essence of sweet moe with a side helping of refined moe served on a dish made of moe mined in the moe mines of ancient Moetopia.
Kotomi’s eccentricity is not a problem in need of a solution. It is to be cherished.
And Nagisa? Well, I only hope all the character development she’s experienced so far isn’t thrown to the curb once her arc begins. She’s really come quite far in a very short stretch of time, and I’d hate to see that go to waste. Of course, given that she’s the original game’s “main” heroine and the likelihood that she’s connected to the dream world we’ve been seeing little snippets of, I’m assuming the non-stop tickets to bizarro land are already bought and paid for.
But, hey, if there’s one thing Kyoto Animation has abundant experience with by now, it’s Key adaptations. I’m sure it’ll be a comfortable trip.
True, the ‘normal’ moments are actually almost ’slice of life’-like with its simple jokes and simple fun. But, as you’ve said, things are going to get weird. And, judging by the remaining episodes (either 10 or 12), they would have to work through either Tomoyo’s or Kyou’s arc at a very fast pace. Not to mention the side arcs, but those can be wrapped up nicely in an episode.
One word, wait. Kotomi’s end is key-esque
Pretty much nailed it on the head, I think: Kotomi’s an absolutely adorable character, but her story is pretty weak. I want to say these two are related somehow; that she is moe because of her cliched story. It’s like, she hits all the usual emotional buttons, which triggers a sort of knee-jerk “moe~” reaction, but rationally, you look at her story and it’s kind of meh.
What’s all this worry about throwing the Nagisa development to the curb? Is that because of whatever presumed supernatural elements are to come? Personally I have faith that her character will remain strong, it’s just the suspension of disbelief we’ll have to hold on to in the trip to “bizarro land.”
With Nagisa, my concern is that all her character development has taken place in the midst of the other girls’ scenarios, and I don’t know if she had the same presence in those scenarios in the original game. She played a pretty important role in Fuuko’s story in the anime, so I assume the same was true for the game, but having not played it, I don’t know.
If you compare the Nagisa of the very first episode to the Nagisa of now, a lot has changed. Perhaps someone who has played the game could answer this for me: was it set up in such a way that Nagisa’s scenario was built upon all the other girls’ scenarios?
I, too, have been following the 16:9 version of the show, but with a three-day weekend on my hands (and having just finished a very successful, and very tiring, Rush week at the Duck U. Bookstore), I’ll admit to having downloaded the 4:3 episodes that haven’t come out in widescreen yet.
Now I have to convince myself that I want to watch them, instead of waiting.
It’s Clannad’s humor that’s making the show for me. I’ve actually laughed out loud at some of the scenes (repeated starfish blows to the face, for example, or the mahou shoujo Kyou), and I’ve been more amused at this dramatic series than I have at most of the comedies this year.
If Kanon ‘06 had more of Clannad’s humor, it would have been the best anime series ever. Your thoughts on the evolution of Key’s scenario writers were right on, I think.
Nagisa will have her own arc soon enough and as for Kotomi you’ll wish that it never ended.
As for me I’m just waiting for Tomoyo’s arc being my favorite character and all ;)
>>If you compare the Nagisa of the very first episode to the Nagisa of now, a lot has changed. Perhaps someone who has played the game could answer this for me: was it set up in such a way that Nagisa’s scenario was built upon all the other girls’ scenarios?
Being someone who has been throughly spoiled enough, I can say the answer to that question is yes, in a way. I’ll keep the rest of the spoilers for now.
As for how will it be done, let’s just wait for KyoAni to show that ;).
4/7 of your posts on this page is about Key productions; I would assume that you really like watching these unrealistic lolis go into and out of peril.
If you actually, you know, READ the posts currently on the front page, you’d discover that this is the only one that talks about a Key production. Although, I guess I did briefly mention Clannad in the “January Review” post.
Reading is hard work, though, so I can understand your mistake.
Mihilu, four of the seven posts have a picture from a Key production on them.
By your logic, three of the posts on the front page of The Pond are about Bamboo Blade… even though I don’t say anything about the show in them.
But even so, so what if Jeff likes KyoAni/Key shows? They’re actually… hmmm, what are the words I’m looking for here? Oh yeah: GOOD and ENTERTAINING leap to mind.
But you’re probably waaay too cool for stuff like that, right? When’s the next episode of Naruto being broadcast on CN, hey?
Actually, while Tomoyo’s and Kyou’s arc have Nagisa involvement in them (For example, without introducing Nagisa to Tomoyo, you will get a bad end. I know, I’ve tried), however I’ve read in a walkthrough (I got paranoid after that bad end) that Kotomi’s and Fuuko’s arcs are completed seperately. So far I’ve played Yukine’s route using that walkthrough, and it hasn’t failed me yet.
So, I’m guessing that the development for Nagisa throughout the two arcs was partially a Kyoani initiative, but since there’s also hints of Nagisa’s arc scattered throughout the series thus far, I doubt that they’d cancel the character developement.
It would be nice to see KyoAni do a KimiKiss type of show -the Key wierd stuff does sort of lurk in the background never making me feel like I can relax.
I guess I’m not a very deep person :P
Clannad is cooking an apple pie using Jonathan apples, and apricot jam with rum as topping.
If I can suspend my disbelief for Air, I can do it for anything Clannad will throw at me.
When I started watching Clannad, I was all geared up and ready for all the Key weirdness and mystique that I grew accustomed to from Air and Kanon. So much so that I was rather taken aback at the almost Lucky Star-level humor that was prominent in the show. And the visuals just didn’t have quite the same dramatic flair as the two previous Key adaptations.
But after a while, the normalcy of it all grew on me. I switched to waiting for the widescreen versions, which helped immensely in the visual aspect as there was more sense of balance on screen and the camera angles had more of an impact.
I think an important thing to keep in mind is that the ‘normalcy’ of it all is there to ultimately to increase the impact of the ‘weirder’ parts of the plot. Fuuko’s arc was like that: so much was invested in the daily events of her, Nagisa and Tomoya that it made the final moments of her arc heart-wrenchingly bittersweet.
The only reason I fear that Kotomi might come off as the weakest arc is because not as much time has been spent on her ‘normal’ days before her plot starts its twists and turns.
But as much as I would prefer to stay in the land of the Dango and Moe, it’d be like eating only the appetizers. Eventually, we have to move on to the main course, because that’s the only way to get to the dessert.
Okay, I was weak. I watched the three episodes that haven’t been released in 16:9 format yet. No spoilers, but they didn’t (quite) make me cry. Close, though.
It’s certainly more believable than Fuuko’s arc.
I admit I only watched the first episode. Just wanted to comment on the picture at the top of this post cause all I could think was ‘Noo!!! P-Chan.. err Ryoga!’