Clannad ~After Story~ 22: A look at an extraordinary anime’s not-so-extraordinary ending

Posted: March 16, 2009 | Author: flomu | Filed under: Uncategorized |7 Comments »

FAIL-O-METER
The fail here is as large as two barns, with random muddy Martians wandering inside, stacked one on top of the other.

Okay, so I’ve been bashing After Story’s ending for a while now (on random blogs and forums), and I just realized that no such post was up on this here blog.  So thus I bring you my negative views of this epic anime’s crappy ending.

Warning: This took me two hours, so my ideas probably get more and more confused toward the end, ’cause I’m beat.

First, an overall summary of what I expected and what I got:

What I wanted: Awesome, epic ending.
What I got: shit.

When it comes down to it, I can’t describe my feelings for this episode any better than that.

So why do I hate this episode?

Well, it’s not because of the artwork or camera angle or whatever.  No.
KyoAni makes some damn good scenes, and there were plenty of them in this episode.  Just take a look at the random screenshots I’ve taken that are scattered throughout this post in no specific order whatsoever.

Well, is it because of the music?

No, the insert songs were brilliant, and the ending song didn’t feel out of place to me (FOR ONCE, GOD DAMN IT)

So what is it?  What makes me dislike this episode?

Three things.

1.  The confusing deus ex machina ending.
2. FUUKO.  WHAT THE HELL.
3. Random things like Naoyuki not showing up. 

So first, the deus ex machina ending.
Translated into fangzhaonese, that’s a “omg here is miracle lolol” ending.

Basically, a bunch of crap happens, more crap happens, and the past five episodes disappear into thin air, and now we’re standing in buckets of confusing storyline crap trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

What I posted in a forum (trying to explain this):

Remember Kotomi’s theory of “alternate worlds” way back in season one/AS episode 15?

Well, that’s what happened here.

Tomoya is the robot in the alternate world that is always featured in bits and pieces, and Ushio is the girl. Tomoya in the alternate world has been trying to get to himself in the real world (the robot keeps saying how he wants to go to a place with laughter, etc.). So basically what happens in episode 22 is that Ushio dies in the real world and uses her power in the alternate world to give Tomoya (and herself, too) in the real world another chance.

How does she do this? Well, you have to go all the way back to episode 8 of After Story, when Yukine tells Tomoya and Nagisa about the “lights,” that these lights appear when people are happy, and that if you “get” them, you’ll get a wish.

In that same episode, Tomoya saw a light, and in episode 19, he “gets” a light (seen by Ushio) as Naoyuki is walking away, as the result of his father being truly happy.

If you combine these two theories, you get the idea that lights grant wishes, right? And Ushio in the alternate world remarks that the lights in the alternate world come from the happiness of the people in the real world. So if a light grants a wish, then what can countless lights (remember from season one that the alternate universe is chock-full of lights) do? Well, it seems that a miracle can happen.

So a miracle happened and time was rewound to episode 16. In addition, Nagisa was saved. The lights drifting upward from the city in this episode can be interpreted in many different ways, and I myself am not sure as to what they mean, so go figure.

But thinking more and more on it, I’ve discovered that I don’t know anything worthwhile.

What the hell happened to the “bad ending” world?  Is it just gone?
What’s up with all the lights in the city?  Does Nagisa know about the lights?
Why is Ushio the girl in the alternate world?
Why is Tomoya the robot?
What is that grayscale-turned-color school scene?
Does Tomoya remember the “bad ending?”
Etc.

And what else comes out of a rushed, deus ex machina ending?
Well, more crap.

Line after line, new ideas are chucked at you, from Tomoya as the robot to random blurry scenes from the POV of a light orb (wtfark?) to the fifteenth alternate universe with Nagisa and Tomoya in a gray world.  The human brain is not designed to intake these ideas all at once (well… my genius, one-in-a-billion, supercomputer-like brain could take it easy, but I’m referring to normal, mundane muggles here), and everything is thrown into the muddled primordial soup of confusion in hopes of brewing up exactly what KyoAni and Key had in mind.

In other words, people who have played the VN understand this episode.
Other people (like me) don’t know what happened and probably never fully will.

Oh, and it’s astounding how slow the episode ran even when the storyline got so confusing.
It’s fine to have slow episodes for intensely dramatic episodes like episode 16 and episode 19 (Nagisa’s death, Naoyuki/Tomoya talk), but dragging episode 22 on and on and on and on and on … (and on)^n … simply doesn’t work.

What’s the difference between episode 16 and episode 22?
THE DRAMA.

A happy ending like this just can’t get dragged out.  It just doesn’t work that way.
There’s nothing like Nagisa’s death to keep pounding away at, and there’s no more sadness in the series.

The only possible way I can think of for this episode to have pulled it off would be an emphasis on Tomoya’s new family.
Everybody wants to see Tomoya happy; it’s a given.
This entire series has been one tragic event after another, and as the audience, we just want Tomoya to live a normal, happy life.  It’s the least he deserves.

So to show more and more clips of Nagisa and Ushio (or the family of three) would appeal to the audience’s sense of “thank god, Tomoya finally gets Nagisa and Ushio back, something he never would have dre- BAWWWWWWWWW” sense.

But to cut back on the type of ending mentioned above and instead spend seven minutes on comedic-relief Fuko is just plain stupid.

WHY is Fuko here?  Only to lead into one epic last shot?  Give me a break.

FUKOff, Fuko.  Although you appeal to a man’s innate affection for lolis (albeit twenty+ year-old lolis), you should not be in the ending.  Go star in a short clip like the rest of the gang.  Your first attempt (the “I” scene) at humor worked, but only because you repeated it twice.  Your latter attempt was a gigantic piece of failure, as you did it over and over for several minutes, boring me to sleep.

But hats off to you and your boring antics, for you prevented a far worse fate… the stretching out of the episode for seven more minutes!
I can’t begin to imagine how horrific watching seven more minutes of 110% boring, ultimate turn-off not-drama.

So what would make this episode better?

Well, it depends what route you’d want: the good ending or the bad ending… and trust me, there’s a good way to do each of them.

The good ending can good even with the hindrance of a deus ex machina ending.
…but the bad ending could have made this anime into a classic.

Let’s start with the good ending.

So we’ve waded through miles of storyline failure, and now we’re finally at miracle land.

So now what?

 

KyoAni decided to throw in a slideshow of sorts, presenting scenes from Ushio’s life.  This was done with an insert song, so no dialogue was present.
Then, the episode was cut down to about 15 minutes and the rest of the time was taken up by Fuko.
…and that’s the wrong way to do it.

 

Now, you may ask:
“Hey, smartass, if you don’t like how the gods at Kyoto Animation did it, then why don’t you suggest something?”

Okay, sure.

Like I mentioned above, the episode should have presented more of Tomoya’s new family and new life in this new world (yay for repetition!).

Now, this would obviously cut into Fuko’s time.
How to solve problem!??//1
Simple.  Just omit Fuko’s part entirely.

Why? Because it’s not necessary.
Let me repeat: It’s useless.

“But you said above that it prevented a boring-er ending!!”
Well, yeah, but that’s only if the part before Fuko’s part were extended following the same style.  If the former part of the episode were to contain more Tomoya/Nagisa/Ushio, then this problem would be solved.

The focus of the episode should be on Tomoya’s happiness.
If it’s on Fuko, then the audience just feels cheated out of seven minutes of valuable anime-watching time.

 

Other minor (or rather, less major) things:

Naoyuki.  He’s not in this episode when he should have been.  What happened to the emotional father-son talk?!  Is he even alive?  A scene with him and Tomoya talking cheerfully (or even the “talk” in this new world, though that may be going a bit far in this post-plot conclusion episode) would have taken up some screentime and would have answered many questions.  Not only this, but it would have also reinforced the “Tomoya gets a happy life” idea.

The ending scene.  The scene with Ushio under the tree (semi-reference to VN) is magnificent, and is indeed exceptional as the last shot of After Story’s main plotline (as in … After Story episodes 1-22).  However, it’s not worth the seven minute Fuko build-up/time-stall.  In exchange, the scene with Naoyuki and Tomoya holding hands (shown above) could be used for the final scene.  It’s equally epic and equally powerful as the Ushio scene, and is undoubtedly fitting for a final shot (though it lacks the oh-so-epic words that Fuko says in the former scene: “All the fun things start now”… [below]).

The high school friends and other minor characters.  Although it was great to see these guys after so many episodes in the slideshow, it ultimately would have been better if we could hear them talk.  A scene with everybody at a party (maybe to celebrate Ushio’s birthday, or just a get-together?) would have been great.

Etc.

Now on to the bad ending.

I would have prefered a tragedy in Clannad.  I really would’ve.
A tragic end to Tomoya’s tragic life to invoke the greatest sorrows in all of anime.

However, this would mean one of two things:

1. Take out all of the alternate world stuff from S1 and S2 (VERY unlikely)
2. Have Ushio in the alternate world fail at making a miracle.
3. Have the miracle be a dream.

Now the first one is obviously impossible.  We’re just too deep in to pull out.
However, it would make the anime impossibly realistic and incredibly epic. 

The second would have provided us with an incredible ending, and is my alternate ending of choice.
Although this would diverge from the VN plotline, it’s pulloffable.

You’d have to modify the dialogue between Ushio and Tomoya in the alternate world a bit, and then Tomoya’s fate could come in many different ways…

• Tomoya wakes up after “Daddy.” (picture is in this post).
• Tomoya gets stuck in the time-space continuum as he travels back.
• Tomoya snaps out of a daze as he’s holding Ushio.
• Tomoya goes back only to have Nagisa die again.

The last one of these four would be my choice, really.  It’s just too sad and depressing to pass up.
However, the third one would be good, too (and more doable, really).

And the third of the three would be a terribly tragic ending.
This would mean omitting the slideshow and focusing on Tomoya, Nagisa, and Ushio.
I think the best place to “wake up” would be when Nagisa leans her head on Tomoya’s shoulder as they watch Ushio play.

^ Very interesting difference between the first and second “sponsor scenes”…

So in conclusion, I’ve written up a post full of shit for an ending full of shit.
Well… I lied.  The ending wasn’t bad.  It was mediocre.
Yet a mediocre ending doesn’t fit with an epic anime.
I still cried, though.  “Thank god Tomoya is happy,” desho? 

I’m going to hold off on my final verdict for After Story until I watch episode 23, just because all the cool kids are doing that, and I’m the king of cool.

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