Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials
If you have recalled, I have written a review about Kyou’s arc several months ago. However, the visual novel contained a lot more plot, which was missing… The actual Kyou’s arc in the visual novel is a big emotional roller coaster ride towards the end of her arc compared to the OVA… Well heres why…
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I’ve always live in this town, but cold is cold. But I love this town… In winter, it’s covered by white snow… In spring, the streets are full of falling sakura petals… In summer, it’s noisy with cicadas… In autumn, I’m surrounded by the falling leaves and then, the snow starts to fall, and the winter that I love begins again. This town is nice, isn’t it?
– Nayuki Minase from the Kanon Visual Novel
Winter is a few weeks away and with the latest snow storm that hit where I live reminds me of something. What is it?
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Having discovered the greener side of Anime and also Visual Novels of Key/VisualArts with my first encounter with Kanon remake by Kyoto Animation and soon after, the epicly long Bishoujo visual novel, Clannad, which was completely clean that I played for several hours (think of the Tetris Effect, I was so addicted to it.) Eventually, it led me to watch the whole Clannad Anime, no wonder I got hooked on them… The stories are beautiful with cute, beautiful girls filled with so much moe (more so with Kanon with all those verbal tics/catchphrases) and also great music that I keep coming back for more… That is pretty much why I played the original Kanon visual novel and finished Nayuki’s, Mai’s and Shiori’s arc within a few weeks or days in July… Not only that, but I picked up and started the Air anime, which I haven’t finished yet… I’m that dedicated.
As you remember a few months back, Key have announced a new project called Angel Beats! with the collaboration of Dengeki (if you don’t know, it’s a magazine mostly on Bishoujo games and related manga and light novel. Something that Ken will go crazy for.) Knowing their track record with Air, Kanon and Clannad, I have high expectations with this original work and it seems like it’s some parody anime since the main character oddly resembles Haruhi… but then again, it’s Key and they will probably slip in tearjerking moments underneath the comedy… which make us shred manly tears (or girly tears.)
What do we know so far… well, P.A.Works will be animating this. If you don’t know it by now, they recently made Canaan which was aired this summer and also True Tears, based off a visual novel… and Jun Maeda is back and character designs are being done by Na-Ga so you shouldn’t expect too much disappointed there. The question is, will they pull it off? Who knows… but I know one thing… It’s not going to be a total disaster like Endless Eight and Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season… now thinking about it gives me second thoughts about Haruhi’s future… Then again, Angel Beats may as well end up as being another Little Busters since that had fighting scenes, right?
Meantime, you can learn more about it at ASuki if you feel like getting the latest information. Anime releases next year in Spring 2010 and have 13 episodes. Can’t wait… and I seriously hope there is no Hirano Aya in it.
Nagisa during the progression in Clannad have overcome her challenges of reviving the Drama club and also made new friends, but unfortunately, she got sick again, which caused her not to graduate with Tomoya. In After Story, we will touch more on the path with her eventually marrying Tomoya and deciding on giving birth to a child.
During the course of After Story, the relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa develops further. Towards the end of summer, Nagisa became sick, which resulted in being held back for another year. While Tomoya wanted to stay back a year, it would be foolish to do so anyways.
During the next school year, Tomoya moves into a apartment and start working while Nagisa finishes her school year. Although she couldn’t get the Drama club up again, she still seem to survive the whole school year with friends from the music club. Nagisa during that period help make food for Tomoya, which proves that she still seems to care about him alot, especially about her being concerned about his left shoulder.
Although Tomoya didn’t make it to Founder’s Day due to his mistake, she didn’t mind anyways…
Another instance with her caring about him alot is the night after asking about the swimsuit, Tomoya was avoiding the question about his father and insists on meeting him one day. When Tomoya was about to get a promotion, it was cut off by his father’s actions which made Tomoya deciding to move away from the city, which Nagisa doesn’t want since she seems to like the city and wants to make him happy living in the same city instead of running away from his problems. In meeting his father at the jail, Tomoya starts getting angry at him and walks away. With him angry, Nagisa chases after Tomoya before he punches right hand to a wall, but couldn’t stop it and injured his hand. Nagisa having seen what he done, gets him to stop. In this scene, Tomoya gets engaged with Nagisa so that they will become strong.
After marriage that happened after Nagisa graduated, she takes a job at a nearby restaurant that opened. After saving her, the manager reveals that she is a hard worker. In contrast with Shiori, although she is weak, she still managed to survive to have fun with Yuuichi and also attend a whole week of school.
And yes, the famous scene and she did the impossible…
In her decision of wanting to have the baby, she seems to want a home delivery, although it’s not safe due to her conditions. The decision to have it at home is not only because she wanted to see and hold the baby after it was born, but throughout the course of her relationship of Tomoya, she have grew stronger as a person… but the only problem is that the changes of the city causes her to become more ill since all things can’t stay the same forever. Even though she is strong, the illness caused by the city changing so rapidly caused her tragic death which caused everyone to be crushed with devastation the fact that Nagisa herself through the course of After Story to become stronger, but unable to because of the bad luck. This is why most people can sympathize with her (maybe more so with the visual novel than the anime). Although she have overcome the hardest challenges and become strong with the help of Tomoya and his friends, she was unable to survive, until Tomoya collects the light orbs to help save Nagisa and also Ushio from the horrible fate. In comparison with Shiori and Misuzu, there is a reason why we can also sympathize with both. Shiori in a sense that she is rejected by her sister and had her relationship with her sister and being strong until her birthday. Misuzu is that she is a sweet and innocent girl, which is unfortunately stuck with a curse and dies in her aunt’s lap on the beach which made many people’s hearts crushed with a bucket of tears and she was given no chance to live, unlike Shiori and Nagisa although she was offered a reincarnation along with Yukito.
Next Post, I will conclude why Nagisa is the ideal girl and sum up both parts with the full argument.
Attribution Information
Fanart used in this post is by 小倉 脩一 (ogura shuuichi) Source
I have closed the poll yesterday and it seemed to even out, with 6 yes, 4 no, and 2 saying Toei Animation should keep doing what they are doing.
However, polls do not show the whole story since people did not leave comments after they voted, so I can’t tell why it’s not that good. From reading all the comments in the post, I decided I will just see it just to see how good or bad is it, but it won’t be a while since I need to obtain the actual DVD before I can watch it. Once the time comes and I finish watching it, I will post a full review on the Air movie without any Kyoto Animation bias I had in the last movie review.
After seeing a post about wifes and anime girls and watching the CLANNAD movie, it made me think about something about Nagisa and CLANNAD. In the previous two posts made a few months back that I mentioned about moe although I never really talk about moe or the so called moe competitions out there, but it’s quite evident I really like, Misuzu and Shiori. There is one character I haven’t touch that have both personalities of these girls I mentioned… Nagisa Furukawa.
Nagisa is the combination of Shiori and Misuzu in my opinion. Misuzu because the fact she is a shy girl and doesn’t have any friends because in the case with Nagisa, her friends have long been graduated and she is innocent. Then, why Shiori have anything to do with Nagisa? Shiori in the sense that Nagisa have a similar sickness, but her determination and unwilling to give up. Also, they both have a interest in drama since Shiori mainly watches drama while she was at home and Nagisa have a interest in drama with her determination of wanting to revive the Drama Club. Another thing with Nagisa and Shiori is that they are ordinary and wear plain clothing. If you notice the clothing that Nagisa and Shiori wears, you know why.
Nagisa is like Shiori and Misuzu in a sense… We take them for granted until they are gone. (in Nagisa’s case, in Clannad After Story Episode 16 until she returns in Episode 22).
Nagisa starts out in the beginning of the show as a shy girl and unable to walked the hill since her friends have graduated and she no longer have the courage to walk up the hill. With the help of Tomoya, she was able to walk up the hill on the first day of school.
Sadly, her illness causes her to get held back in her last year of high school and caused her loneliness. In today society, we rarely see that, except with quiet and shy people.
Nagisa seems to show her determination to try and revive the club although the club seems to shut down when she opens the door with shaky hands and being melancholic after seeing the packed boxes, but she doesn’t give up. Next day, she makes a poster:
Like with Shiori with her obsession with ice cream and Misuzu with her “extra thick peach nectar,” Nagisa continues the tradition with Dango because they are cute although not as popular as it was used to. Big Dango Family resembles a cheerful and happy world where people and famlies get along and flourish. This is important later on since CLANNAD is about families after all… and Nagisa starts one with Tomoya later on, but at a expense (which will be talked about next part). Also, the poster seems to bring out Nagisa’s personality, as her being innocent.
Nagisa wanting to see Tomoya to play basketball waits in the rain, which in contrast is sorta the same thing with Shiori, which disobeys the doctors order just to see Yuuichi after school. Nagisa realizing that Tomoya can’t shoot and apologizes since she know that she was wrong and faints because of her illness.
Later on, Nagisa makes friends with Fujibashi twins, Kotomi and Fuuko and starts to warm up instead of being shy and lonely.
Another trait that Nagisa seems to have is she is naive. For instance, Tomoya grabs Nagisa and runs away from Sunahora. She protects Tomoya from Sunahora since she thinks he is trying to make Tomoya gay and admits that she is Tomoya’s boyfriend, which caused Sunahora run like a nut job. Although she doesn’t mean it, she eventually start having a relationship with Tomoya since the two seems to have a lot in common and that they both care about each other.
Tomoya reacting to someone who wants to help Nagisa after she fell and hurt her leg in Episode 16 of Clannad… Now there evidence that Tomoya does love Nagisa romantically. In the visual novel, the relationship starts right after Tomoya embraces Nagisa after the Nagisa gives up on the Drama Club since she want the choir club to keep their advisor.
With the growing of Nagisa’s relationship with Tomoya, she seems to care for him a lot more before she met him, even after she performs her play, she still cares about Tomoya and doesn’t want him to do anything wrong. For instance, with the PA calling for Tomoya and him running away, she chases after him and drags him back by pulling his arm. This proves that Nagisa, although she is ill is caring and also very determined, which is not the case with Shiori and Misuzu (they do care, but not the same as with Nagisa and Tomoya.). The way how she try to revive the Drama Club with the help of Tomoya, Sunohara and friends and her performance on stage shows her determination of achieving her goal.
However, her dreams of performing stage drama came at a price since Sanae and Akio have to give up their dreams to take care of Nagisa, which caused herself to become melancholic and also caused her to suddenly cry on stage after the curtains were lifted up after being reminded of Akio’s dreams of performing theater after watching a video of him performing before her performance. With the encouragement from Akio and Sanae, she was able to break from her depression and able to achieve her dreams that her parents have sacrificed.
After sweeping away her tears, she starts to perform her play, which is flawless… both in the Anime and TV show:
Like with both the TV series and the movie, Tomoya officially confesses his love for Nagisa, which have been evident across the whole season (and also the Nagisa arc in the Visual Novel). Tomoya and Nagisa seems to be the dream couple… most say… but I still prefer Tomoya and Kyou… *runs*
Next time, we will discuss why she is the ideal girl in the 2nd part of the story, After Story.
Attribution Information
Fanart used in this post is made by moonknives,
After watching the CLANNAD movie and being disappointed about it, I see why not watch the Air Movie to see if it’s any different. From what I heard about the movie, there are mixed opinions instead of most of the people saying the movie sucked or anything that Toei made with Key sucks and that Kyoto Animation is better! I’m not trying to get into a debate which studio is better, but I heard that the Air movie seems to go more in depth with Misuzu’s arc than it did in Air TV because they covered the other two girl’s arc and the amount of episodes alloted in the series (it would have been a little better if it’s 24 episodes, but it was still good for what I have seen so far). After seeing the big disappointment with the Clannad movie, should I push my luck and watch and review the Air Movie? The only difference with this is I haven’t played the visual novel for Air, since there is a lack of a translation so that would be to my advantage.
Note: Everything is back to normal… the poll should work
You decide… I will post my decision in two weeks (or earlier).
[poll id=”9″]
The fanart used in this post is made by ゆきおう (yuki ou) Source
Wait, there is a Clannad Movie? I decided to watch it this Sunday afternoon and after watching 30 minutes of it, it’s nothing that special, but still continue to watch it anyway. Unlike the Clannad TV series which I could say Kyoto Animation did a great job of being faithful to the original source for both seasons, I can’t say for the movie. The Clannad Movie which was made by Toei Animation, who worked on the Air Movie and the first season of Kanon (before it was remade in 2006) released a month before Kyoto Animation’s version was aired on television.
My impression it… Not great, as expected since I have already completed Kyoto Animation’s version and now the movie feels inferior to the television series… Most Key/Clannad fans would feel this way because Toei Animation in the past aren’t that faithful to the original source, meaning the visual novel.
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Air in Summer was essentially the extension of the Summer arc which covered parts in the Air Visual Novel that was abridged in the main TV series. The difference with Air in Summer that it is actually more lighthearted than the whole TV series.
This special mainly focuses on a more detailed escape from the temple at night, the relationship between Kanna and Ryuya more in depth (in the first part) and also the scene where Kanna lowers her Kimono to show her love towards him after hearing his story as Uraha instructed, but ended up as a failure (in the second part).
Well, as you expect, Air in Summer looks out of place compared to the Air TV series since there isn’t really a whole lot of melodrama in the special. You might find that the two episodes to be rather enjoyable, to the fact that there is a lot of comedy, mainly in part of Kanna, who qualities almost resemble a tsundere.
As you expect, Air in Summer is a continuation of the Summer Arc with parts that were not covered in the TV series. Air in Summer pretty much clears up the ambiguity or the feeling that something is missing or rushed from the Summer Arc in the TV series. The special mainly put focus on the relationship between Kanna and Ryuya and Kanna learning about things in the outside world. Although, Kanna may be conceited and irritated easily (such as water being poured on her head and herself fighting with a chicken), she eventually warms up to Ryuya,
Like already presented, there are three characters in this arc:
Kanna, or Kannabi no Mikoto is a young girl which have wings on her back. She pretty much stays at the temple and believed to be the last winged being. She wanted to see her mother again so the three decided to escape the temple to go on a journey to find her mother. Kanna, being at the temple most of her life, have not experienced the outside world and learns from the other two.
Kanna, in my experiences of watching is a tsundere which vasty resembles Makoto Sawatari from Kanon since you know that Kanna seems to be naive and does not have enough knowledge of the outside world. She also irritated at Ryuya the most, although she eventually warms up to him, in contrast of Makoto warming up to Yuuichi after the 7th episode.
Then, you have Ryuya, which is a low-ranked, but skilled samurai which he protects Kanna. Like suggested, Ryuya resembles Yukito, obviously, but like with male leads, they sometimes are sarcastic which probably is why Kanna gets irritated with him most of the time.
Lastly, you have Uraha, which is a servent at the temple and also a friend of Kanna. The last thing you want to do is to get her upset by burning those ancient poems and say breakfast was tasty after burning the poems. Also, she tells embarrassing stories regarding Kanna.
Like with Air TV, Air in Summer Animation and Art style pretty much remained the same, since the special was aired several months after Air TV have finish airing.
Like with Kyoto Animation, the animation was great, considering it was 2005… but sure, the animation will surpass some of Kyoto Animation’s not so great art style to the likes of Lucky Star, K-ON! and Suzumiya Haruhi Second Season.
Music sounded great, although, I don’t quite understand why they use the same exact OP and ED… although they change some of the OP animation for the special.
Air in Summer is a great way to ending Air’s bittersweet ending… since it’s just too lighthearted… The animation, story and the characters are great as expected with Key… The lightheartedness of Air in Summer may make some people prefer this over the main series. Overall, this is a recommended watch if you have finish watching Episode 8 of Air or already completed it.
9.5/10, A
As the second episode shows, Kanna is offically a Tsundere… well because she seems to become modest after hearing Ryuya’s story.
After hearing Ryuya’s story about his past, Kanna shows her love by lowering her kimono and…
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In this episode, Kanna and others decide to go on a adventure to find her mother. On the way there, Kanna discovers the outside word for the first time.
This episode is probably the most light-hearted episode in the series… and we learn about more about Kanna, but yes… more Tsundere moments…
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This episode is very enjoyable and who knew that that Kanna (or Kannabi no Mikoto) would have a personality of a Tsundere…. Although it’s abridged, Air in Summer two episode special covers more content over the abridged, two episode Summer Arc in the main series. It’s recommended to watching this episode before watching the Air in Summer special.
In this episode, Ryuya promises Kanna to go on a journey to find her mother and the three of them, Kanna, Ryuya, Uraha goes on a long journey to find her mother.
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Episode 7 is start of the beginning of the melodrama kicking in at full force. In this episode, Misuzu’s condition gets worse due to her curse and Yukito started to remember things in the past that her mother told about the girl who is cursed.
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Shiori: Yuuichi… I wonder what would happen if I took Misuzu’s place in Air… Would the story become more dramatic?
Yuuichi: I don’t think so.
Shiori: I don’t like people who say things like that…
Although Shiori’s story is probably my most favorite story arc… however, how much dramatic if Shiori and her sister goes in the world of Air… I have been wondering that ever since I played Shiori’s arc… although she have a happy ending at the end, I still wonder about her bittersweet ending.
But why Shiori? Shiori have very similar qualities as Misuzu, except he childishness and also love for dinosaurs… and Ice Cream will pretty much fit in summer.
Read more to find out what I’m planning (yes, it contains spoilers from the VN although most of it is going to be made up)
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Minagi’s arc comes to a end… but this episode was sad, but not as much as Kotomi’s arc.
Minagi finally makes up with her mother with a mental condition and invites Michiru for lunch at her house. (Spoilers ahead)
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After being sidetracked by the rage of Haruhi and also playing Kanon all day long, I almost forgot to post about Air Episode 5 for nearly 5 days (which is a coincidence, Ahaha~)… But yes, Episode 5 starts Minagi’s arc and it finally reveals more about the Astronomy club, which she is the only member… It seems that there is another very familiar character from another familiar series made by the same company who does the same activity that normally most students won’t normally participate (hint: She have purple-blueish hair and wear childish orbs in her hair).
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Instead of wasting my time watching Endless Eight and ending up with unnecessary rage, I decided to play more of the Kanon visual novel and now this time… Mai’s and Sayuri’s arcs. Although there are a few differences from the Anime and the VN concerning Mai’s and Sayuri’s arc, they managed to adapt the whole arc with some changes… ones that will be mentioned below (contains VN spoilers)
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As I have mentioned several months ago about Shiori being my most favorite character and it still is… but I started on playing Shiori’s arc in the Visual Novel… but noticed some differences… but the anime seems to be very accurate and also left out some parts since Ayu is the principal character that Yuuichi ends up in the Anime.
This is what I noticed: (VN spoilers ahead)
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Ever since Endless Eight aired several weeks ago, people started to lose faith in the second season of Haruhi…. and Endless Eight is becoming the most notorious anime arc that have been adapted in anime history… but how does it compare to Akiko’s Jam from Kanon? Would you rather eat toast with Akiko’s Jam instead of torturing yourself by watching all 6-8 episodes of Endless Eight… I would…. even if the jam tastes bad.
The question this week is, what would you rather do if you have a choice…. would you watch all 6 episodes of Endless Eight in a marathon or eat one toast with Akiko’s jamu on it?[poll=8]
Kyou’s arc in Clannad is probably my most favorite arc in the whole visual novel… and it took 15 hours to complete it and I usually spend my time playing her arc right after I got out of classes in college…. I can say, Kyou’s arc have the best comedy and also drama … but can the Kyou OVA live up to the original arc in the Visual Novel? Sorta… but not quite… While the animation is good, the problem is the length caused it to be so abridged… that most viewers don’t have a good idea of her arc and make it feel rushed.
Here is some stuff I felt that was missing:
– Tomoya’s preference of girl’s hair length. The player have a choice of liking a girl with long hair (Kyou) or short hair (Ryou, which automatically ends you up with the bad ending)
– Tomoya’s first and second date with Ryou.
– Tomoya’s gift to Ryou (which the player selects what gem to get… Amethyst is the one you get since it’s the color of Kyou’s eyes… but you actually give Ryou the tarot cards bought by Kyou which is important later in the arc)
– Tomoya’s last fortune by Ryou using tarot cards (it’s symbolizes something bad)
– Kyou showing the place she met Botan
– Tomoya’s and Ryou’s 2nd and 3rd time using the fortune telling machine at the arcade.
– Tomoya actually calls out while Sunohara and Kyou try to kiss each other.
Overall, the OVA is not bad… but it didn’t have the protential of being perfect since it lacks some of the part of the arc… I wished they did it for 45 min, then it would be alot better… but oh well..
8.7/10
Full comparison of Kyou’s arc will be posted soon.
This is the !00th post!
Although Nayuki’s arc got shafted in both adaptations… but since I got the opportunity to play the actual visual novel, I can point out several things that were different from Nayuki’s abridged arc and the original.
Warning, VN spoilers ahead.
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It’s the “girls in the snow ani…” Oh Shi—-
Since the ADV meltdown occurred, it became increasingly difficult to obtain 6 DVDs of Kanon just as mentioned in the unboxing of the Air Boxset until ADV transfered it’s licences to Funianimation…
Here is the unboxing pics:
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Kano seems to me just as cute and energetic even in her childhood.
Episode 4 is the conclusion of Kano’s arc…
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While I was watching Air, something kept bothering me about Minagi Tohno. Kotomi is very similar to Minagi in many ways except the story line which is similar to Mai’s. Although there are differences in appearance with Kotomi and Minagi, their personalities are very similar with minor differences.
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