“Sanae-san told me that places that I can cry are in the bathroom, or in daddy’s arms.” –Ushio Okazaki
Five years after Nagisa’s death, Tomoya has fallen into a depression, spending his days working and down time drinking. Sanae decides to visit Tomoya one day, and after taking him on a date of sorts, strong-arms Tomoya into taking a vacation with her and Akio. However, on the day of their trip, the Furukawas are nowhere to be found, and Tomoya decides to take Ushio on the trip. While having a difficult time getting closer to Ushio, he buys her a toy robot, and later takes her to a field of flowers. Tomoya realises that his father had once taken him here, and while Ushio searches for her robot, which she’d lost, Tomoya climbs a hill, running into his grandmother and learns that his father had poured his heart and soul into supporting Tomoya after his mother, Atsuko, died in a car accident. Realising that his father had done his best to look after him, and that he’s neglected to do the same for Ushio, Tomoya realises that his father had never stopped caring for him. He returns to the field, where Ushio is still searching for the robot. She cherishes it because it’s the first thing her father’s ever bought for her, and Tomoya asks Ushio if she is willing to forgive him. On their way home, Tomoya tells Ushio about Nagisa. The father and daughter settle into their new life together: after convincing his father to rest and that his duties have been completed, that it’s okay to return home, Tomoya learns that Ushio’s kindergarten instructor is none other than Kyou. Ushio also befriends Fuuko, and Tomoya later agrees to visit Ushio for her school’s sports day. However, Ushio develops a fever and is bed-ridden. Tomoya stays by her side and asks the Furukawas to help out. When her illness worsens, Ushio requests one final trip from Tomoya, who reluctantly agrees in spite of Ushio’s condition. As they set off, a snowfall sets in. Ushio collapses and dies soon after. Consumed with agony and grief, Tomoya clings to Ushio and succumbs to death shortly after. Ushio’s story in ~After Story~ remains an iconic centrepiece that is integral to the themes and messages of CLANNAD; despite only spanning five episodes, numerous life lessons are elegantly fit into the narrative, and each of these lessons hold weight in real life. With its exceptionally strong and moving story, Ushio’s arc represents the culmination of every discovery, triumph and setback in CLANNAD.
Notions of family have always been at the heart of CLANNAD, and in the beginning, the sharp contrasts between Tomoya and Nagisa’s families served to set the stage for what Tomoya comes to value in his family. Through the warmth and support Tomoya sees in Nagisa’s family, a part of Tomoya falls in love with Nagisa because she comes to embody the precise sort of person who would be able to pass this sense of family along to the next generation. However, when she dies, the concepts of family that Nagisa came to represent would die with her. However, these concepts continued to endure in Ushio, and Tomoya’s subconscious decision to travel into the countryside, mirroring what his father had done for him many years previously, shows that Tomoya resembles his father in many ways. Tomoya himself comes to realise this after speaking with his grandmother; from her recollections, Tomoya’s neglect of Ushio for the past five year is more despicable than his own father, who, despite his numerous faults, always strove to put Tomoya first. This revelation, and the fact that Ushio is a very visceral, tangible representation of his own past, forces Tomoya to open his eyes. Despite his past actions, Tomoya accepts responsibility for his actions and owns his mistakes, resolving to turn over a new leaf. Tomoya’s change of heart here is a touching moment: by asking Ushio to come live with him and forgive his mistakes, and Ushio accepting Tomoya as her father openly, ~After Story~ suggests that it is never too late to redress past mistakes and make good on the future. These revelations, however, can take some manoeuvring to reach. In ~After Story~, a Tomoya’s intrinsic kindness, in conjunction with a bit of fate, allows him to enter the future a far better man and father.
In addition to notions of family, CLANNAD also explores the concept of cycles, of how traits slowly move through generations and how history can repeat itself if one is blind to its consequences. Throughout CLANNAD, audiences have the impression of Tomoya’s father as an irresponsible alcoholic whose callousness results in Tomoya’s shoulder injury and loss of a new career opportunity. However, when it is shown that his father also struggled to make ends meet while simultaneously looking after Tomoya, the audience’s image of him change drastically; Tomoya’s father can now be seen as dealing with very difficult circumstances that led him to low points, and despite Tomoya’s determination to escape this, he is initially forced along the same path. To further accentuate the likeness, Atsuko is suggested as being quite similar to Nagisa in both manner and appearance, also dying early. Because Tomoya had earlier been so consumed with a desire to escape his past, he failed to understand the circumstances that resulted in his own experiences. Through dramatic examples, Tomoya is shaken out of this; he resolves to make amends and look after Ushio, as well as expressing his gratitude for his father and informing him that at long last, his father’s responsibilities and efforts can come to an end. Being able to see and understand his past more clearly enables Tomoya to own his actions, and so, it is quite fitting that Ushio is named after the tides, which endlessly come and go along the coast, ebbing and flowing each and everyday regardless of the weather or whatever challenges the inhabitants of the planet endure.
Because Tomoya ultimately sees the errors of his own ways, he is able to finally come to terms with the relationship he shared with his father. Grateful for his father’s support despite the great cost his father paid to keep Tomoya happy, he is finally able to put these feelings into words, and with his father’s job finally done, he is able to move back home. By facing his past as a man, and ultimately making peace with it, the curse that haunts Tomoya is lifted: Tomoya is able to step into the future at last, whereas before, he would have been weighted back by his resentment of the past, and thus, never would have been able to properly embrace the future. The gap between the Tomoya here and the Tomoya who encouraged a shy Nagisa to follow her dreams is apparent: Tomoya’s happiness is more genuine than it has ever been, and with this new outlook on life, Tomoya is the kind, gentle individual towards everyone as Nagisa had originally seen him to be. Whereas Tomoya’s actions for the past five years might be seen as being disrespectful towards Nagisa’s memory, the changes in him after meeting Ushio and his grandmother show that Tomoya has begun to move on, while being mindful of the past. Looking after Ushio to the best of his ability and making amends clearly show Tomoya as living in respect of Nagisa’s memory, and the days that follow are the happiest Tomoya’s experienced since meeting Nagisa. From picking up Ushio from school to spending time with the Furukawas, Tomoya’s days are filled with discovery and normalcy. While most stories would be content to end here, ~After Story~ seems to suggest that everything has a cost: the same disease that claimed Nagisa’s life now comes knocking on Ushio’s door. Tomoya’s last act, to fulfil Ushio’s wish, shows just how far he’s matured, and when both succumb to death, audiences are left to wonder what kind of universe would so cruel as to wrest away all happiness from a family that has endured and given viewers much to root for.
Screenshots and Commentary
- When things resume five years later, the toll of despair and his efforts to forget have had a very visible impact on Tomoya’s life. His scruffy appearance and unkempt apartment reflect on this, and time relentlessly passes. In the five years since, the town has undergone dramatic changes, with new constructions altering the cityscape. Because Tomoya’s become trapped in his past, he fails to notice these changes until one summer’s day, when Sanae shows up out of the blue and visits him. Tomoya reluctantly decides to accompany her into town. With a bit of convincing, Tomoya agrees to travel with Sanae and Akio.
- A lot can change in five years – five years ago, I was set to enter graduate school and had not yet been invited to work on the Giant Walkthrough Brain, nor had I suffered heartbreak of the sort I’d not experienced up until that point. Since then, I finished my graduate degree, became a second-degree black belt and began my career. Despite the extraordinary events within CLANNAD, the series’ focus in dealing with everyday life is first and foremost, and as such, I will be reminiscing quite a bit in this post, which has forty screenshots and accompanying figure captions.
- The choice to set Tomoya’s turnaround during the summer is deliberate; ~After Story~ had previously made extensive use of the seasons to convey very specific ideas. Summer is a time of hope, and of change: Tomoya proposed to Nagisa in the summer, decided with Nagisa on their child’s name in the summer, and so, audiences cannot help but feel a sense of foreshadowing here. In the long, hot days of summer under blue skies that beacon for adventure, something is going to happen now that Tomoya’s decided to take a step into the world he turned his back on years previously.
- It turns out that Akio and Sanae punk’d Tomoya, but this choice is a calculated, well-chosen one on their part. Tomoya meets Ushio for the first time, and at the age of five, Ushio is polite, perceptive and a spitting image of her mother. In the presence of her father, Ushio is quite shy, having not met with him: Tomoya was reminded of Nagisa and distanced himself, leaving the Furukawas to raise Ushio. The blunt, despairing Tomoya has no idea how to connect with Ushio, but the Furukawas have raised Ushio well, and she defaults to her own activities while Tomoya struggles to work out what to do now.
- When Ushio accidentally totals her turtle toy, Tomoya fixes it for her. Having neglected Ushio for five years to dampen the pain of having lost Nagisa, Tomoya’s decision can be seen as being selfish. However, it is important to note that these can be seen as extenuating circumstances, and Tomoya’s lack of a support network would have only made things more difficult for him. Parents would doubtlessly see Tomoya as irresponsible in the absence of a greater context, and this is ~After Story~‘s subtle way of reminding viewers not to be so hasty in dealing out judgement, especially when stories behind others are not fully known.
- From a narrative perspective, Tomoya’s actions create a situation that he must redeem himself from. The changes in Tomoya are apparent, and he is content to leave Ushio to her own devices. Being raised in the Furukawa household, Ushio is very independent, and when Tomoya cooks lunch for the two, Ushio decides to add seasoning of sorts to the rice, being unaccustomed to the way Tomoya cooks. After realising that he probably should make good on his promise to Sanae and Akio, Tomoya decides to take Ushio on a trip into the countryside.
- Sullen and ill-tempered, Tomoya inadvertently frightens Ushio when he yells at a mother and her child for being excessively noisy on the train. With five years of unfamiliarity between them, Tomoya finds it very difficult to connect with his daughter, while Ushio initially is hesitant to open up to Tomoya as her father. A part of parenthood is being close to one’s children and being there for them, so despite being related by blood, father and daughter feel exceedingly distant at the start of their journey. The choice of an outing to the countryside thus acts as a visual metaphor for the journey the two undertake within.
- While browsing around a store, Ushio asks for a toy robot from Tomoya, who buys it for her despite his remarks that it’s an unusual choice of toy. While Tomoya’s world has since reverted to the dull monochromes it was prior to meeting Nagisa, ~After Story~ presents the world as being exceedingly colourful when Ushio is introduced. The disconnect between Tomoya’s mood and the colours of the world are a first in CLANNAD: it is meant to show that this arc is less about Tomoya, and more about Ushio, whose universe is one of exploration, taking things in stride and discoveries. Having helped so many people in CLANNAD, Tomoya’s now receiving help from Ushio in a manner of speaking, and the colours of the world seem to mirror her thoughts and feelings.
- Thus, when the two step off a train into the vast blue skies and expanse of fields on a hot summer’s day, the highly-saturated landscapes indicate new possibility. There is a certain mystique and allure about a far distant countryside by summer; the environment invites exploration. It is under the long days of summer where discoveries are made: when there are many hours of daylight, there is opportunity to remain outdoors longer, and as such, the hottest days of year are also my favourite. Under such conditions, the world gives Ushio and Tomoya plenty of chances to catch up and learn about one another.
- By my admission, I would love to meet a girl in a sundress and wide-brim hat while waiting for a train in a remote station on a beautiful summer morning. There is a tranquility in the countryside by summer, although as I’ve remarked previously, a lack of train stations in my area. The closest I would have is driving along highways cutting through endless canola fields, and upon closer inspection, that isn’t a bad substitute: summers here at home are beautiful, and there’s a charm about the southern province with its blue skies, foothills and canola fields.
- Upon arriving at a field of yellow flowers, Tomoya and Ushio genuinely feel like father and daughter for the first time; to give Ushio a better look, he gives her a piggyback ride. She later runs off into the flowers while Tomoya rests under the shade of a tree, seemingly blissful and content for the first time. Afternoon soon gives way to evening, and Tomoya has a sudden flashback. Despite the field being somewhere seemingly new, shadows of a memory manifest in his mind: he realises he’s been here before.
- While the area’s apparent familiarity lingers in Tomoya’s mind, Ushio’s lost her robot. Tomoya gives her permission to keep looking for it, and sets off to confirm his suspicions. Tomoya’s trip to the area is likely subconscious decision, and the fact that his father once took him here is an indicator that history is repeating itself. When I was much younger, my father was fond of driving my brother and I around the country roads surrounding the city after eating lunch at a restaurant. We were always thrilled to go on these excursions, and they were cost-effective ways of relaxing. Being able to relax takes many forms, he told me, and it is not necessary to break the bank in order to have a good time.
- After climbing onto a bluff overlooking the coast, Tomoya runs into his grandmother. Under the oranges and golds of a sunset, the colours of a day’s end, Tomoya hears from his grandmother the journey his father had taken in raising him. Standing in sharp contrast with Tomoya, who’d turned his back on Ushio after Nagisa’s death, Tomoya’s father decided to push on ahead and raise Tomoya on his own after his wife’s death. Despite his own shortcomings and failures, that Tomoya’s father stuck to his promise as best as he could is honourable – Tomoya realises that for all of his own promises to raise Ushio, he had completely and totally failed Ushio by leaving her to the Furukawas.
- What makes Tomoya an honourable man, then, is the fact that he is able to see his mistakes and own them. The worst kind of person is blind to their own failures, defending themselves even when there is no position to defend. It is true that Tomoya has made poor choices, and it is true that his neglect for Ushio is appalling. However, he accepts that he has made a mistake and also understands that it is not too late to begin setting things right. Learning about his father’s history helps Tomoya put things in perspective, and realising this, Tomoya is determined to make amends for Ushio’s sake.
- Having inherited her mother’s perceptiveness, Ushio accepts Tomoya’s apology and his invitation to be a proper family. This turning point is set deep into the evening, as the reds become more pronounced. Signifying the end of a day, of a time when things close off, the emotional buildup comes to a gentle but significant close. Watching Tomoya come to terms with his past, and watching Ushio connect with her father for the first time in unison was a very moving moment because shows that people can indeed look past their prior experiences and be willing to accept their circumstances.
- CLANNAD is sublime because of how every element comes together to convey a very specific, powerful message: from the dialogue between Tomoya and Ushio, to the choice of incidental music, the deliberate use of lighting and time of day, all of these components come together to completely immerse audiences in a moment. I do not feel that any other anime I’ve watched comes close: CLANNAD stands alone even among the series I’ve counted as a masterpiece, and such moments are more effective than my own writings in conveying what about CLANNAD makes it so enjoyable to watch.
- After opening up to Ushio, Tomoya finally speaks about Nagisa for the first time in five years. He accepts her death, recounts her as beautiful, frail but above all, kind. Understandably, speaking about Nagisa brings tears to Tomoya’s eyes, but by talking it out to Ushio, he releases the stress of five years. Ushio has inherited an interesting thought about tears; being quite strong-willed like Nagisa, the Furukawas told her that there are two places where it’s okay to cry. I believe most translations give the first as the toilet, but I’ve always known facilities as bathrooms, hence my own take on the quote. The second location is in a parent’s arms, and so, by crying in Tomoya’s presence, audiences are left with no doubt that Ushio accepts Tomoya.
- Upon returning from their trip, Tomoya visits the Furukawas and prepares to move Ushio’s belongings over to his place. The night before, Sanae finally cries for Nagisa, having stayed her emotions after all this time so she could be strong for Ushio. With one journey over, another begins – despite their rocky start, Tomoya and Ushio bond very quickly, and in no time at all, the two feel like a proper family.
- Preparing to head off after thanking the Furuakawas for everything they’ve done, Tomoya and Ushio set off under a beautiful summer day. The vivid saturation in the skies, despite Tomoya and Ushio’s return home, show that another adventure is just around the corner; on a long day such as this, the possibilities are as endless as the sky itself. I recall the weather of summers past where the days were precisely like this – whether it be the weight of an MCAT or a flood-stricken city, summers in Alberta are persistently pleasant for the most part, reminding residents that the world will go on regardless of the troubles one might have, and that it’s okay to live in the moment.
- Traces of the Furukawa’s upbringing are visible in Ushio, who boldly gives a thumbs-up to Akio after he asks if she’ll be alright with her new life. Ushio is voiced by Satomi Kōrogi – Kōrogi delivers Ushio’s lines in a very realistic manner, capturing the vocabulary and manner of an inquisitive five-year-old. Ushio’s sentences are short and succinct; she answers questions with brevity. When she’s enjoying a moment and laughing, Kōrogi manages to sound precisely as a five-year-old would, as well, attesting to her talent. I’m actually not too familiar with Kōrogi’s other works, and the only other role I’ve seen is her performance as Please Teacher!‘s Maho Kazami. Mizuho’s younger sister, Maho is absolutely opposed to Kei’s marriage to Mizhuho and is a brat, but she’s also mischievous, resembling GochiUsa‘s Maya Jouga in appearance and manner.
- After moving some of Ushio’s belongings from the Furukawas’ place, Tomoya shows Ushio a picture of Nagisa. The return of the Dango plushies gives Tomoya’s apartment a sense of home; this is a feeling we’ve not seen since Tomoya and Nagisa had lived here together. While Tomoya goes to work, Ushio demonstrates her independence: she explores the empty house on her own and then takes to her own activities. Despite being quite accustomed to solitude, Ushio is very well-behaved.
- Tomoya catches up with Kouko and Fuuko one day: Fuuko’s finally been discharged from the hospital and despite the considerable amount of time that has passed since her last appearance, Fuuko looks and acts very much as she did previously. Tomoya immediately takes to trolling her: evidently, being older and having experienced the difficulties that he did has not completely diminished Tomoya’s more playful side. Upon seeing Ushio, Fuuko immediately desires to keep her, and while both Kouko and Tomoya are against this, Tomoya does allow Fuuko to play with Ushio; the two get along very well.
- Having come to terms with his father, Tomoya takes Ushio to visit him. They clean up his place, and Tomoya helps him pack, saying that it’s now okay to step back. Seeing his daughter, Tomoya’s father consents, and the two part ways on amicable terms. Having come to appreciate and understand his father’s decisions, Tomoya has now properly faced his past and accepts it. While Ushio may not have had an active role in accomplishing this, she reminded Tomoya of his own past, and drove him towards being a better man.
- With his past addressed in full, Tomoya is now able to move into the future without anything holding him back: his desire to make things better for Ushio now stems from a genuine love for her, rather than his previous goal of putting as much distance between him and the past. In this moment, a light orb appears, but only Ushio notices it rise into the skies. Despite being a benign moment, watching Tomoya and his father separate for the present was an emotional moment.
- I note that originally, I intended to write about this particular arc in February: this post would have coincided with the ten year anniversary to the twentieth episode and ended with Ushio developing a fever, but looking at the ~After Story~‘s progression, it ended up being more prudent to extend this post and then fully cover things right up to the penultimate episode. Doing so also allowed me some breathing room to focus on the other drafts I had lined up.
- When Tomoya and Kyou meet for the first time in over five years, he’s surprised that she’s become an elementary teacher. In spite of this, their old friendship remains as strong and familiar as ever: Tomoya reacts to Kyou’s introduction, and is immediately reminded of their time in the drama club. Tomoya remarks to Ushio that despite Kyou being kind and friendly as a teacher, she was once violent and put him through a great deal of trouble. Despite this, they were very much friends. Tomoya’s description of Kyou is not untrue, and it exemplifies Tomoya’s character to get the negatives out of the way first and then focus on the positives, speaking volumes of his character.
- Kyou remarks that after Nagisa’s death, Youhei and the others wondered if they should get in touch with him to offer support, but ended up deciding that it was better for Tomoya to work out his problems. This always struck me as being a little difficult to accept: during difficult times, support from peers is precisely what people might need, and one cannot help but wonder if Tomoya might’ve fared better were his friends there for him. On the flip-side, Tomoya manages to overcome that particular stage of his life following his fateful decision to take Ushio on a trip; in being able to own his mistakes and then regroup, viewers come to rally behind Tomoya.
- CLANNAD, and ~After Story~ in particular, deals with the ups and downs of life, of comings and goings. Moments of great tragedy are offset by the bliss of normalcy, and the anime presents happiness as being something to be at its most profound during the most ordinary of moments, whether it be sharing a meal together or picking up one’s children from school after work. The world that CLANNAD was first released in 2004 was a very different place: the internet, smartphones and social media were not ubiquitous, but even then, advancing technology and the increasing expectations people had meant that the more subtle things in life were being forgotten and taken for granted.
- By deliberately focussing on these messages, CLANNAD can be seen has having an ancillary theme – genuine happiness is not found in material possessions, personal success or social status, but through appreciation of the simpler things in life. Tomoya is able to create a profound memory and bond with Ushio by taking a trip into the countryside, and he is at his happiest doing ordinary, everyday things: this is the sort of stability that families need to mature. There is not one way to live life, and while some of my peers may disagree with me, I feel that the happiness one might gain by backpacking in Thailand and Vietnam for a year is not so different than the happiness found from taking an afternoon stroll in a hill overlooking the city.
- Kyou remarks that Ushio is brimming with energy and optimism, being the splitting image of her mother. When the elementary school’s sports festival arrives, Tomoya is initially reluctant to attend until Ushio convinces him to do so. He subsequently displays his old determination, exercising during his lunch breaks at work so that he’s able to keep up with her. After reuniting with Ushio, Tomoya’s old personality begins manifesting again, indicating that Tomoya’s begun living life anew. A new status quo is reached, and it would appear that Tomoya has once again managed to build happiness for himself and Ushio.
- Seeing the energy and enthusiasm in youth, such as when Ushio expresses that she’ll be doing her best during the sports festival, is always a breath of fresh air for me. A few weeks ago, I volunteered as a judge for a science fair being held at the top private school in the city: one of the instructors there was my old biology instructor back when I was in high school, and I attribute my successes in university a result of his inspirational teaching approach. This year, I judged some of the best projects I’ve seen yet. I assessed several projects as being more than qualified for the city-wide science fair in April. I am always happy to see what the best minds are working on, and their youthful optimism. The world of late is as pessimistic and cynical as I’ve ever seen it, and it is for this reason that I always strive to surround myself with positivity.
- Ushio embodies everything about children that I get along with: I have no trouble getting along with children, and during my days as an undergrad, I worked with small children in a Chinese school. They seem to gravitate towards me for help and support. With this being said, I am not qualified to be a parent in any way. I’ve heard that most parents feel this way about their first child: beyond some cursory materials to help them along, it’s mostly touch-and-go.
- While visiting a new hospital in the far southern quadrant of my city, I remarked that the best hospital is a near-empty one, as it would imply that the citizens are healthy and well. One evening, Ushio is taking a walk on her own and finds herself near the hospital, being unable to answer Fuuko when the latter asks why she’s in the area. The supernatural aspects of CLANNAD are subtle, and it is implied that there’s a curse that manifested after Akio begged for Nagisa’s life long ago. Shortly after, Ushio develops a fever and is unable to participate in the sports festival. Tomoya remains by her side as doctors struggle to find a cause for Ushio’s illness.
- Themes that lessons of the past can haunt the present carry over into Ushio’s illness: it turns out Ushio’s inherited her mother’s enigmatic condition, and despite having been in excellent health, this illness has returned with a frightening finality. The normalcy that Tomoya had experienced is slipping away again, creating a lingering sense of doubt in the viewers. To have concluded the discussion here as I originally intended to would have created an unnatural break; I decided to push this post back and include the penultimate episode so that Ushio’s arc was covered in its entirety.
- As Ushio’s condition worsens, he decides to resign from his job to look after her full-time, signifying his dedication and love for Ushio. Again, Tomoya is seen as taking an action that might seem brash or ill-conceived: Akio and Sanae have already offered to look after Ushio wherever Tomoya is busy, and a lack of income invariably means being unable to afford the healthcare and materials needed to lessen the severity of Ushio’s illness. However, CLANNAD manages to frame this as being honourable – while quite irrational as a decision in reality, fiction allows Tomoya’s decision to be an honourable one in that he is willing to give his all for Ushio.
- My remarks about Tomoya’s actions in both a fictional and real context are intended to show that some narrative decisions that seem poor in real life can be relaxed in fiction, as they serve to strengthen a message. Not everything needs to be realistic, and realism can sometimes be detrimental to a work’s ability to convey its theme. Here, Tomoya and Akio share a conversation: Tomoya declines Akio’s assistance and wonders if the changes in the city might be affecting Ushio strongly. It certainly does feel that, as more developments appear, the city extracts a toll from its citizens to expand, and in CLANNAD, both Nagisa and Ushio are made to pay this toll.
- The months pass, and soon, the cold of winter returns. With Ushio showing no indication of recovering, Tomoya decides to fulfill her wish of going on another trip with him. Under melancholy, grey skies, the two step out and prepare to head for the train station. The weather foreshadows what is to happen, and when snow begins falling, viewers brace for the inevitable – CLANNAD had long excelled at using weather and time of day as visual indicators for emotions and story progression, so the grim mood at the penultimate episode’s end is felt long before viewers see anything occur.
- With her remaining energy, Ushio tells Tomoya that she loves her, before dying. Consumed with grief and despair he’d not felt since Nagisa’s death, Tomoya dies shortly after, as well. However, this is not the end: the Imaginary World that had made its appearance is shown, and it turns out the brown-haired girl here is Ushio. It turns out that in death, Ushio and Tomoya’s consciousnesses were transported into another world: Ushio is able to create a pocket universe with the aim of sparing her father and mother from a terrible fate. The phenomenon that occurs subsequently is within the realm of quantum cosmology, which contemporary science is constantly developing, and where science fiction may apply fantastical constructs, like the Infinity Gems, to conceptualise.
- While it may seem cruel to conclude an ~After Story~ post with Tomoya and Ushio’s deaths, it is no secret that Tomoya and Ushio are about as dead as the vanished people in Infinity War. I have a one final post for the finale of ~After Story~, where I will explore why the ending viewers got was an ending they deserve, why criticisms of the ending are misguided, and how this comes together to make CLANNAD the strongest anime in the past decade. It is also a bit humbling to know that this Ten Year Anniversary Series for CLANNAD is very nearly at an end: I started things more than a year ago, and it’s been surprising as to how quickly time flies. I hope that readers will have found these revisitations to be relevant and illuminating, both for CLANNAD, as well as providing a bit of insight into why the series was so moving and meaningful for me.
At its core, family is more than just people related by blood: it is a bond stronger than the likes of any other, and the willingness to support and aid one another in difficult times as much as it is about enjoying the good times together. The dramatic extremes of CLANNAD, and especially of ~After Story~, are particularly vivid for this reason. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, life is a journey: happiness and despair cannot exist in the absence of one another, and this is why comedy and melancholy figure so prominently in CLANNAD, showing both sides of the coin. Extreme examples are sometimes necessary for a story to have impact, and for it, ~After Story~ is remarkably visceral. Criticisms that CLANNAD and ~After Story~ are melodramatic, then, are ill-founded; the contrasts serve a very specific purpose in painting an image of what family means, as well as the ups and downs of life. Like the coming and going of the tides that Ushio is named after, life is about cycles, of comings and goings. ~After Story~‘s penultimate episode left viewers in a great shock, and I imagine that watching someone losing so much despite their efforts distracted and dissuaded many from CLANNAD‘s core themes. However, the reality is that a kind heart and benevolent attitude will rarely go unrewarded. CLANNAD was written with a myriad of life lessons in mind, and in the decade that has elapsed since its airing, it should be evident that ~After Story~ has lost none of its relevance, emotional impact and sincerity. ~After Story~ is a masterpiece in my books precisely because of its ability to capture such a broad spectrum of themes so effectively. Despite its breadth, ~After Story~ also conveys each concept, from family to forgiveness, in sufficient depth such that viewers can relate to it. For me, ~After Story~ reinforced the way I came to look at family and opened my eyes to how accepting responsibility can manifest, allowing me to tangibly conceptualise what family is defined as. While the definition of a masterpiece invariably differs between people, for me, a series is a masterpiece if its execution is sufficiently powerful as to alter my world views in some way. Because I am the sort of individual who can only be convinced with well-reasoned arguments and evidence, series that can change the way I think about the world have done something exceptionally well in presenting its ideas to me, attesting to the strength of its execution. ~After Story~ ended up having a noticeable impact on my world-views in this manner, and so, is something I would count a masterpiece.
The Infinite Zenith 