02.06
Episode 3: Once Again After Self-Medicating
“I was born into this world in my search for this girl. Sacrificing life, a new world, and everything I could’ve had. The girl collected pieces of junk from somewhere. And made a body for me. My memories were murky. I couldn’t remember without effort. Where have I been? Where have I been trying to get to? I couldn’t speak to the girl, but she was the one warm spot in this world that I had been after. Of course, in my body of junk, I cannot feel that warmth.”
And I cannot feel at all for you, because there is no point to your scenes.
Also notice how KyoAni decides to put the best animation onto the most inconsequential scenes in the show. Does that make sense to you?
After random robot redundancy time is over, we see Tomoya going to the Furukawa bakery only to get bitched at by the resident wifebeater of the house. Mr. Furukawa gets savvy at the fact that the two are the official couple of the show, and moans about how Nagisa should be moaning “OH DAD I LOVE YOU! YOU’RE THE COOLEST EVER!” in her sleep than calling out Tomoya’s name. I’m sensing a deeply troubled Elektra complex from him, which is not helped by how Mrs. Furukawa looks and acts like a little kid herself.
Speaking of Nagisa’s matriarch, she appears to offer exposition about how her daughter has the immune system of a Mayflower pilgrim. And despite this, she decided to stand out in the rain last episode. So it seems that Nagisa has absolutely no sense of self-preservation, while having literally nothing better to do than to stand and wait for her boyfriend-yet-to-be.
Female empowerment, everyone!
After that little talk, Nagisa’s dad shifts away from manic mode and starts thanking Tomoya by offering him bread. This inadvertently leads to the mom running off because Mr. Furukawa accidentally called her out on how poorly kept her buns are.
Suddenly, some short-haired girl pops up and wonders why Tomoya’s the only one at the bakery. He offers her bread. She says thank you. He thinks, “She’s really pretty.”
TOMOYA. YOU WHORE.
Out of nowhere, a guy pulls Tomoya into the road to look at his dented car, since he needs a witness or something of the like. Then, a guy who looks and sounds suspiciously like an older version of Tomoya comes out and denies that he dented the car. He goes:
“I want you and your friend here to think about what I said someday in the very near future. If what the electrician told you that day was true, or was it false? Think about it in your place of rest beside the one you love.”
Replace his dialogue with that of Tuxedo Mask’s, and the scene would be the exact same.
Tomoya realizes that the dent on the car was actually made by a cat and not by construction work, because the only available car in the Clannad-verse is the Zastava Koral I suppose.
Future Tomoya gives Tomoya a business card, only for that potentially interesting plot thread to be switched into a mundane one in that this guy’s actually some has-been singer named Yusuke Yoshino. I’m sure that this is very valuable foreshadowing for the oncoming pl—Oh no, he’s only relevant in After Story. Well, that throws away whatever meaning this scene had.
Meanwhile at Sunohara’s house, our humble protagonist has to hear blondie rant about how Tomoyo is probably a drag queen instead of an actual girl. The next day, he decides to go ask his two-time torturer if he can use her razor… and yeah.
Essentially repeating the same scene throughout 3 episodes does not construe anything resembling proper plot development, KyoAni. Yes, you’re trying to emphasize how Sunohara’s a pussy and how Tomoyo’s got DEM LEGS. I got it the first time. I didn’t need any encores, and yet you insist on this.
After that beating, Tomoya wanders through the school again only to look out through the window and see Nagisa eating lunch. She looks at him and giggles like a bloody Muppet hammering the letter of the day down your throat. Tomoya apparently teleports down to sit next to Nagisa, and proceeds to hear her gush about how she got enough courage to look at him through the window. Then they say sorry to each other over the whole basketball incident from last episode. And in comes the random heartfelt moment!
But before we can get our insulin shots ready, here comes the green-haired girl and her want of a knife. She pantomimes a basketball player and a boxing coach in a failed attempt to humor all the lifeless anoraks watching this show (such is my fate). Then, she gives Tomoya a star. Well, that was the shittiest Super Mario boss I’ve ever seen.
Tomoya commits corporal punishment upon children.
In the next scene, Tomoya wakes Sunohara up to tell him that he’s a hundred years into THE FUTURE!
THE HUMANS ARE DEAD. THE HUMANS ARE DEAD. WE USED POISONOUS GASES. AND WE POISONED THEIR ASSES.
I know this is supposed to be a funny moment, but the crappy delivery and how the POV shot just shifts to Tomoya’s face and Sunohara acting as usual just make it fall flatter on its face than a gimp trying to run the Boston Marathon. The two go outside to find a wild Swinub wandering through the grass. Before Sunohara can use a super effective move on it, Kyou attacks with Fling combined with Hi Jump Kick. Sunohara tries to use Charm, only to get KO’d through a Low Kick.
So Kyou introduces her morality pet, a baby boar named Botan, to Tomoya in an attempt to show the audience that she has more depth than “book-throwing bitch”. Results are questionable.
Next, Tomoya decides to teach Nagisa public speaking. Soon after, a girl named Yukine Miyazawa—who I shall now rename as Droopy Girl—offers the two coffee while reciting her character role.
“I take care of the books nobody else wants to read… yeah, fuck my life.”
Tomoya then makes a quip about how there are “some really unique characters in this school.” Droopy makes a quite agreeable “O RLY?” face, and then she disappears like everyone else.
Nagisa tries to rehearse her lines when it comes to audiences larger than the people who watch this show for any story value. Tomoya asks her why she’s doing this in the first place, with which she replies, “I don’t know anything about the dramatic arts.” Well, duh!
Tomoya then asks her what plays she’ll act out, which she answers vaguely and with no feeling. When he asks what the posters are about, she starts creaming herself over the mere prospect of dangos.
“Dad, I’m a dango!” “I’M PROUD OF YOU, DAUGHTER.” “Dad, are you a dango?” “YES, NOW WE ARE A FAMILY AGAIN.”
Tomoya soundly puts her in her place for concentrating on the wrong aspects of her performance while laying little effort in what counts (sucks that the show couldn’t keep this lesson to heart). Nagisa gives a “power of friendship” speech while more accordions play. The two leave only to discover that all of their posters have been torn down. As they wonder why, Droopy appears and says that they probably didn’t get approval from the student council.
And because nothing can be too contrived, the school announcer—who is embarrassingly the most emotive of the characters so far—says that Nagisa has to come to the student council room. With that, the episode ends. Yeah, how’s that for a cliffhanger?
Will Nagisa get her posters up in time? Can Tomoya overcome his apathy and hook up with Nagisa? Will Sunohara’s balls finally drop? Find out on the next episode! Same Clan-Time! Same Clan-Channel!
…That came off wrong, didn’t it?
Originally posted on Saturday, July 2, 2011.