02.06
Episode 8: The Cohesion that Vanishes Into the Twilight
After being told by Sunohara that more and more people are forgetting Fuko, Tomoya is having an introvert moment before Nagisa and Fuko snap him out of it by confirming that the wedding will be next Sunday. So yay, everything’s happy for almost five seconds.
We proceed to get more footage of Fuko trying to hand out starfish. However, people are just ignoring this little green girl and her promise of graven idols. After telling us what we just saw a second ago, Nagisa also begins to wonder why people are treating Fuko like she isn’t there. Tomoya’s reluctant to tell the two the bitter truth that she’s probably dead, because lies are kawaii. A wild Tomoyo appears, and it turns out that she can’t remember the starfish she got. Wait, how do people forget physical objects? It’s not like the starfish are ectoplasmic.
In the midst of sitting outside, the three worry about how they can hand out all the starfish in time. Nagisa tries to console Fuko, who orgasms upon the mere touch. And we just had random yuri a few episodes ago. How many actual lesbians think that Nagisa’s hot?
After happy time is over, Fuko confuses Tomoya for a paedophile and cowers to the back of Nagisa. When being told that he’s the perpetrator behind those pranks all those episodes ago, Fuko decides to call Tomoya the “mini-worst”, the mini’s because she doesn’t want to be too hard on Tomoya. Tomoya deceives Fuko to replace “mini” with “I am the”, tricking Fuko again with this preschool mischief.
Glasses girl walks around, and they notice that she can’t remember getting a starfish or seeing Fuko either. Seriously, why can’t Fuko run into her or something to see if she’s really a ghost? Stop moping about what’s happening and do something about it. But of course, the characters decide to do the least opportune action and just cry about it.
Honestly, how is this supposed to make sense? It’s not like if someone normally dies, we automatically lose our memories of them. Jun Maeda, why do you not explain your magic rules instead of using a trope right out of Quesada’s rulebook?
At the Furukawa’s, everyone’s making starfish even though we just saw them having more a bag full of these forsaken objects. Instead of trying to do something like write down Fuko’s name and stuff so they can remember her, Nagisa cries at how her parents are having a good time with Fuko. And since this show keeps excelling in repetitive hijinks, Mr. Furukawa becomes manic, starts yelling nonsensically, and proceeds to stab himself in the foot. Nagisa helps a customer, and then cries again over how they might one day forget Fuko. Personally, I’d consider that a blessing, but we all have our weak moments. Don’t we?
Tomoya goes to the dorm, and sees Sagara attacking a bunch of guys for being picky about food. After getting frustrated, our humble protagonist just tells her to hit them more so they can be quiet, because nothing says authoritative like a good half nelson. Warped morals, everyone! He then hands her a starfish, and proceeds to Sunohara’s room. After laughing at a sports manga, Sunohara seriouses the fuck up and talks about how he skipped some of his non-existent classes in order to do research on Fuko. Dear blondie deduces that Fuko is Fuko Ibuki purely on the basis that she’s handing out invitations for Ms. Ibuki’s wedding. By this logic, he decides that this Fuko is an imposter because Fuko Ibuki is at the hospital. Because really, it’s rare enough for one pair of parents to be so spiteful as to name their kid “Fuko”. It’s downright unbelievable for two pairs to commit such a travesty towards their offspring!
Sunohara wants to go to the hospital to verify her appearance, but Tomoya refuses for him to do it, because he assumes that he’ll automatically forget Fuko. Uh… where is the evidence that such an event will happen? And it’s not like Sunohara’s been a close friend to our little green-haired girl throughout this show, so it wouldn’t be a big loss if he forgot her. Why the Hell has Sunohara become the rational one in this episode?
The morning after, even the paedophiles have forgotten Fuko. Wait, then how would they explain all that starfish merchandise they made? Sunohara stumbles by, and automatically proves Tomoya’s theory right and forgets the reason for why he was going to the hospital. Argh. The three try to get him to remember, but the bitch and the doormat quickly derail the situation. It turns out Kyou and Ryou are also confused about the starfishes, no matter how much Tomoya tries to poorly explain it to them.
Why aren’t they noticing that Nagisa’s holding something in her arms?
Tomoya makes the resounding conclusion that the forgetfulness started with those who didn’t know her well, and shall soon spread to those who loved her. Nagisa also makes a genius deduction about how one she’ll forget Fuko, she won’t be friends with her anymore! Because how can you have a friend you don’t remember? It’s quite logical and precise, there must be laws written about it!
And here! The show has given you horrible people a brief taste of lesbian loli bathtime. Enjoy it, you bastards!
Fuko keeps failing to give people starfish. Why can’t you just throw at them and see if they notice? But of course, that’s not the Clannad way. Sunohara comes back, and starts getting non-existent-cock-blocked by Tomoya when he starts uttering Fuko’s name. However, he doesn’t know why. This show isn’t being consistent on which people are remembering things, damn it.
So Sunohara can see the starfish once it touches his hands. Are the starfish invisible until people touch it? What?
Realizing that Fuko’s only been wearing one set of clothes for this entire arc, they decide to buy her something. Not being able to find proper clothing, they buy her a party hat.
Tomoya complains on how Fuko still doesn’t like him, which she denies by saying, “I like you better than a sea slug.” Wow. You’ve managed to make even Osaka have better taste than you. Getting depressed over how he’s between sea slugs and starfish, Tomoya visualizes himself in salsa clothes, because that’s what all upstanding Japanese students wish they could wear.
Nagisa calls him a warm person, leading him to leave because he can’t admit his goddamn feelings in this show. Then, they walk by a fountain and smile at it like toddlers. The end.
Oh, there’s a few minutes left to show some more angst. Goddamn it.
They go back to the bakery, where Mr. Furukawa takes a baseball bat and does his best Captain Falcon impression. And sadly (or thankfully), even he doesn’t remember Fuko. Mrs. Furukawa comes by, only to look the wrong way and start crying. Also, it turns out, nobody fell for Fuko’s charade and immediately found out that she was an Ibuki. Yeah, if you haven’t been noticing, our three main characters are dumbasses like that.
She can manage to touch Fuko even though she can’t see her, so why can’t they do it for anybody else? But instead of actually doing something, they just cry again. And after all that, they go to school because Fuko has nowhere else to go, the end… the hell kind of cliffhanger is that?
Originally posted on Wednesday, August 31, 2011.