Clannad ~After Story~ - Episode 18 Discussion / Poll

[destiny4everlove]

Episode 18

-Ushio is so very cute!!

-I found Akio teaching Ushio baseball and Ushio showing it so adorable!

-Tomoya screaming at that child reminded me of how much I used to hate adults yelling when I was a child, and even now I still don’t like it. Poor Ushio she was so scared when Tomoya yelled at that kid.

-Ushio playing with that robot reminded me of the girl in the imaginary world so very much!! In fact, now I’m 98% sure that the girl in the imaginary world is not Nagisa but Ushio!!

-When Tomoya said “it’s dark, be careful” I was internally screaming: "Tomoya you fool, go with Ushio, don’t let her go alone to the restroom!!" So I was relieved when the next scene showed Tomoya going with Ushio to the restroom.

-Tomoya carrying Ushio on his shoulders really touched my heart.

-That is Tomoya’s grandma!!! I wasn’t expecting this at all!!

-The conversation between Tomoya and his grandma was so heartbreaking; it truly had me on the verge of tears. Sometimes in life when we are mad at someone, we tend to focus only on the negatives things about that person and forget the good things that said person did in the past, just like Tomoya did with his father. So it was nice to see Shino reminding Tomoya that his father was not an alcoholic all his life, that at some point in his life he was a good man and that he did try his best to raise Tomoya and be a good father to him. The conversation with Shino also let Tomoya realize that what his father went through was not easy at all, but even so he chose to do the best he could, he chose not to push Tomoya away; he chose to try to overcome his great sadness, all for the sake of his son. Too bad alcohol got in the way and that it became stronger than Tomoya’s dad's good intentions. I also liked how that conversation showed just how immense the love of a mother for her child can be, Shino knows that her son has done some foolish things but she still loves him no matter what, and moreover she wants him to be by her side. That conversation made me feel very sad for Tomoya’s dad.


-Props to Sanae for planning this journey, she is a very wise woman indeed.

-Tomoya and Ushio’s conversation broke my heart to pieces ; it was so touching and beautiful! Ushio explaining to Tomoya why the robot was so important to her, Tomoya realizing how much his baby girl has been needing him, Tomoya asking Ushio if it was ok to be with him, Ushio saying that she wanted for him to be with her too, Ushio explaining that the other place she could cry was in daddy’ arms, Tomoya and Ushio crying while hugging each other and last but not least Tomoya apologizing to Ushio, I loved all of those moments so much!!! I was so close to cry after watching that scene.

-Tomoya finally telling Ushio about Nagisa was so beautiful and touching!! It made me miss Nagisa so much!!! And the last scene was so perfect, seeing the three of them together really made me wish Nagisa was still alive!!!

-I’m so glad Tomoya has finally decided to really become Ushio’s father and start treating her as his little daughter and not as a stranger. The Tomoya that I love has returned!!! Yay!!

[Anime Daisuki]

10/10. No complaints whatsoever.

[Ryuou]

I had to come back to this and say that this episode was definately one of the, if not the, best episode I have ever seen. Very well done.

[Viters]

11/10. Key's best production. I cried ;p

Spoiler for Scenes:

That was very sadness moment, when Tomoya's grandmother told him about his father, and when Ushio told "Tell me about mommy"...

[DJLowrider]

My apologies for being so late to this party. I'm a long time watcher of CLANNAD and After Story and I've lurked on the forums for some time now. I put off watching 18 because the previous couple episodes had been such a bitter pill to swallow. However I just finished watching it earlier today and I'm compelled to comment.

I, myself, am a father blessed with two children: a son who's just turned 4 months old and a daughter who is about to turn 4 years old, almost as old as Ushio. My wife and I are happily married and we love our children dearly. So for me, watching After Story has been largely an affirmation of my own feelings about family and its utmost importance.

I started watching 18 with the same observance I have so far, expecting a good episode but clenching my teeth at Tomoya's brusqueness towards Ushio. Learning about Naoyuki's past and what he went through, I could see the gears turning in Tomoya's mind as he grasped the parallel with his own life so far. Then he returned to Ushio in the field and talked to her about her toy again.

And then it happened. Two sets of lines from Ushio I will never forget.

1) "There's only one . . . It's the one you chose and bought for me. First thing from Daddy."

2) "Daddy...you know....is it all right not to hold it in anymore? Sanae-san told me...places I can cry are in the bathroom...and in Daddy's arms."

I couldn't hold back the tears then and I can't even now as I write this. Maybe it's because I'm a father myself that this affects me even more, but I watched this and knew...this is family. This is what's important. Everything else is details.

I've seen emotional scenes in anime before, as well as other movies and TV series and felt moved, but none of them evoked such strong emotions from me so quickly and easily as this did. It is, in not so many words, brilliantly executed. And I find myself looking forward to getting home to my family so I can hug each and every one of them and remind them how much I appreciate them and how deeply I love them all.

Bravo to KyoAni for this utterly amazing anime and this episode especially.

[mouhitori]

While the series (including first season) has been rather underwhelming sometimes (due to great expectations, no doubt), this episode is truly beyond expectations...

I'm really wondering what lies ahead though....I was predicting the reconciliation would be pretty much the end of the story.

[kayote]

there has only been a handful of times that i felt like crying or actully cried, and in thsi ep i was teary throughout. it was just sooooooo sad.when she tells him about the toy and how he bought it for her, there are no words for how sad and happy i was. a tear came down.

and Ushio is just the cutest child.

[Forever]

These days I am too lazy to vote, but for this episode have been superb in bringing out the emotions within me. More touching than Marley and Me. 10/10

[Proto]

I keep crying like a baby every other day that I decide to re watch this episode. I guess it's because it touches very particular strings within me, but this episode has become like my little personal catharsis.

[DeX-kun]

Originally Posted by Proto

I keep crying like a baby every other day that I decide to re watch this episode. I guess it's because it touches very particular strings within me, but this episode has become like my little personal catharsis.

For some reason I can't stand to re-watch a single episode, so whenever I have an opportunity, I actually marathon the whole series but it's emotionally draining Especially episode 18, such a beautiful episode and it's also a huge development episode for Tomoya.

[Tak]

The emotional impact of Clannad can be illustrated in this manner:

Lets just say you've got a brand new box of Kleenex, but by the time you finished both seasons, you've got half left.

- Tak

[typhonsentra]

I know I talked about it before but given now that we now all know how it ends, I just can't understand how anyone can look at this episode and feel emotionally attached given how the show treats this portion of the story...

Spoiler:

as nothing more than a dream sequence. That killed it for me. It's a lot like in School Rumble how once you know that anytime there was storyline progression you knew it'd turn out to be another daydream/comic book story by Harima. Yeah they showed the story but they took everything back at the end of the arc so it didn't really matter. I hate these "What if?" stories, total cop-out.

[Proto]

I just can't understand how anyone can look at this episode and feel emotionally attached given how the show treats this portion of the story...

Is that a recursive question/answer? In any case, whatever is your interpretation, this episode stands in its own right.

Spoiler:

Whether you see the ending as a reset, as a quantum multiuniverse space continuum or as a KEY miracle, for me the whole reason of CLANNAD's existence is ep 18 of AS, so... this' this, that's that. Moreover, if you accept the ending not as a dream, but... oh well, let's not drag the ending discussion here; you know what I am referring to, and how that interpretation would make this episode much more meaningful.

[Ithekro]

You seemed too focused on what you consider a negative aspect elsewhere in the series that shouldn't have any impact on how this episode makes you feel.

But then, you stated your views on this long before you saw the ending. You didn't care for the manipulative nature of the drama to our emotion. Nothing has changed.

Just accept it for what it is. It's Clannad. Nothing more, nothing less.

[typhonsentra]

Spoiler:

Well they do say towards the end of the recap that to Tomoya it's a distant memory so yeah, it was a "Dream". In other words, he didn't take anything from his experiences in the alternate timeline.

As for viewing the episode on it's own, I dunno. Maybe if they didn't foreshadow so heavily that Nagisa was alive I would've enjoyed it more but the way this storyline was set up it just felt insignificant because they never left any doubt that Nagisa was safe and that they were going to reset everything in the end. Tomoya is a character that's dealing with grief in this episode but... not really. You know what I mean?

[Ithekro]

Spoiler for :

No. I don't really. Mainly because from what I saw in the recap, it did effect him and how he is, otherwise he would have come to a different conclusion at the end of his story.

No matter how it ends...this is still considered the most powerful episode of the two seasons.

[dgreater1]

Originally Posted by typhonsentra

I know I talked about it before but given now that we now all know how it ends, I just can't understand how anyone can look at this episode and feel emotionally attached given how the show treats this portion of the story...

Spoiler:

as nothing more than a dream sequence. That killed it for me. It's a lot like in School Rumble how once you know that anytime there was storyline progression you knew it'd turn out to be another daydream/comic book story by Harima. Yeah they showed the story but they took everything back at the end of the arc so it didn't really matter. I hate these "What if?" stories, total cop-out.

Theory of Everything that deals with Multiverse is a widely accepted theory whether you want to accept it or not. You can't delude yourself forever by claiming that everything is but a dream because everything did happen in the other world. Didn't you go to the Discussion and Interpretation to do some research? You can't also claim that they didn't give enough hints about the other world (not just the Illusionary World but other worlds as well). Episode 16 of CLANNAD AS had the most heavy implication about Multiverse. It's the part where the gangs where talking about stuffs in Tomoya's apartment. You probably weren't listening to Kotomi's wholehearted lecture

[typhonsentra]

Spoiler:

Uhh... I didn't say it was actually a dream, I put it in quotation marks in the second post for a reason. But for all intents and purposes it was treated as a dream by the story. It's stated in episode 24, Tomoya is transported to the past (the moment when Nagisa was supposed to die) without any understanding of what happened and no memory of the white world. Nice shot at trying to talk down to me though.

[Proto]

Perception != reality, but still I think that if you want to discuss the ending this is not the appropriate place.

[dgreater1]

Originally Posted by typhonsentra

Spoiler:

Uhh... I didn't say it was actually a dream, I put it in quotation marks in the second post for a reason. But for all intents and purposes it was treated as a dream by the story. It's stated in episode 24, Tomoya is transported to the past (the moment when Nagisa was supposed to die) without any understanding of what happened and no memory of the white world. Nice shot at trying to talk down to me though.

I see your point, because Tomoya felt the incidents in Eps. 16 to Eps. 21 on the Alternate World (where Nagisa lives her labor), you took it as a "Dream Sequence." Kotomi explained that part, she told us that our thoughts are somehow connected to the other worlds at a certain level. I'm not sure if a lot of people also see the connection about that though.

All you have to remember is there are two stories. One is a Sad one, the other is a Happy (probably?) one.