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No offense to anyone, but I am MAJORLY miffed at people who assume that the core themes (and I bold the s) of Clannad ended prior to episode 21 with whatever resolution to the theme that occurred there. The thematic concerns of this story does not end there, neither was it complete, because the theme further develops and is extended as the story progresses, practically the same as with any story. The ending here seeks to add yet another theme to what the story barely touched upon that day in April where a man and a woman first met at the bottom of the hill. One could say that their chance meeting on that hill was a miracle in and of itself.
pcube19622 was the one who completey hit the nail on the head here: that things do change. I go a bit further to state that this goes further to say that even the future itself changes, that the future is not set in stone, that Tomoya had experienced the downright impossible miracle of living through this statement. I'll cookie you later for that.
It is clear enough to me that the thematic journey through the Clannad universe did not end with 18. Even though 18 is still my favotie episode overall, it still felt incomplete and unfinished, like a diamond still unrefined and and unpolished. Here and in the game, episode 18 of AS felt only like the major stepping stone toward a conclusion that can ONLY EXIST because episode 18 was there. Episode 18 was the signal that foretold the end, not an ending in and of itself. Episode 18 began the journey towards the miracle that Tomoya had struggled to earn, but only with a cost.
Suffering predates reward.
If anything the core theme that the Key writers, and maybe Maeda in particular, have been trying to get across to people is the belief that indeed there is a light at the end of the tunnel no matter how unbelievable or unlikely it seems to be. As such, the tunnel is but a required means of getting there, part and parcel of the road that one indertakes in search of their miracle, the end to their sufferings and that island of joy in a sea of troubles.
Miracles are miracles because they are unlikely to happen, most likely outlandish and reality defying at their cores, and one is not likely to encounter one any time soon. And yet people believe in miracles because despite the odds, they have indeed occurred, and while Clannad does take this theme to an extreme, that is precisely the point of the ending.
That one must experience his circumstances and learn what he must, to learn that which will make him understand what he truly wants and what he truly holds dear. That one must go through life experiencing its ups and downs, its ease and hardships, and one slowly matures towards the moment in time where he can finally say to himself "this is what I'm looking for". That one takes with stride and demeanor even those experiences that wishes to crush him, the experiences that makes him questions his bonds and his beliefs, the experiences that strains his dreams and his desires, the experiences that shatter his world and his reality and the experiences that pushes him when he's down (Season 1 and 2 of Clannad). Towards finally, nearing end of man's Sysiphian struggle, the experience that puts all things into perspective (Episode 18-20).
It is after all that, when man has finally learned and experienced his life for all it's worth, does he finally earn the right to his miracle. (True End).
Had not Tomoya experienced all this?
And thus I think precisely Jun Maeda's point: that only when man has experienced the entire spectrum of life experience and learns that which he must does he earn the right to that which is supernatural, unbelievable and unlikely: the human Miracle.
And what is this miracle?
The family is this miracle. A family incomplete without Nagisa.
Call it a miracle of unlikely odds. That 2 broken humans could ever meet at the bottom of that hill that April morning. That 2 of them would ever eat in the courtyard and exchange their names. That 2 of them would try and restart a club no one wants.
That 2 of them would ever meet a ghost girl who's only wish is the happiness of her sister. That 2 of them would ever befriend a pair of twins with such a diverse sepctrum of personality. That the 2 of them would ever befriend a genius girl who had locked away her heart after the death of her parents, only to open it from its glass prison.
The 2 of them would become part of the movement to save the very same cherry trees under whose guises they first met. The 2 of them would prove their mettle by playing a game of basketball against the school's own varsity team. The 2 of them would create a play about an Illusionary World that would bring people to tears. The 2 of them would help in the reconciliation of a brother and sister. The 2 of them would even bring together rival gangs in the midst of anger and hatred.
And at the end of all this still, that 2 broken and lonely human beings would fall in love and get married, after one punches a wall in a silent scream of his sadness and desperation. For it is here that they realize just how much the 2 of them have come, and that truly, they need each other.
Even in death as the remaining one learns what it is to be a father, a husband and a son.
Here he learns what family is all about, even though the family is not physically present.
That family itself IS a miracle.
This is family.
This is Clannad.
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