クラナド Episode 03

SPOILER Summary:

The mysterious girl in the mysterious room with the mysterious robot of scraps she built encourages her creation to walk to her as a mother would her child while he narrates thoughts and the warmth he only gets from her. Apparently, the robot has no memories prior (suggesting that maybe a trapped soul is in the robot) and apparently cannot recall other things since his creation. He cannot communicate with the girl but she is all he needs.

Okazaki decides to pay Nagisa a visit after her collapse in the previous episode. Her father (Akio-san) isn’t that happy to see him but Nagisa’s mother Sanae-san is and explains that Nagisa is resting. Eventually Akio-san offers Okazaki a bag full of Sanae-san’s bread, saying it will likely go unsold anyway. Sanae-san is devastated to hear this and runs off crying with Akio-san in pursuit. Meanwhile, a woman visits the store but since the owners aren’t there, Okazaki ends up giving the woman his bag of bread.

As Okazaki walks home, he comes across an angry car owner demanding an electrician working nearby take responsibility for damage to his car. The car owner grabs Okazaki to be his witness but the stuff the electrician says makes no real sense to them. Eventually, Okazaki examines the damage more closely and determines it was done by a cat. As if on cue, a fat cat comes walking by and the car owner agrees the damage was from the cat. The electrician thanks Okazaki and gives him his card. When Okazaki relays the story to Sunohara and shows him the card, Sunohara is stunned as this guy (Yoshino Yuusuke) used to be a popular singer.

Sunohara still hasn’t gotten over the beating Tomoyo gave him and decides she has to be a guy in drag as no girl could be that strong. So the next day at school, Sunohara decides to make Tomoyo reveal herself to be a guy and after playing nice and coming up with a wacky story, asks to borrow a razor. She asks why she should lend him her things and he takes this as acknowledgment that she has a razor and thus is a guy. She says she doesn’t own a razor and as punishment for his insensitive question and innuendo, she beats him again.

Okazaki sees Nagisa sitting in the courtyard under the tree eating a bread product and she works up the courage to wave and smile at him. He joins her and after a moment, she confesses she is glad she waved to him and that he’s not angry with her. She calls herself an idiot, but Okazaki assures her that he too is an idiot of sorts. As they talk, Fuuko is there trying to search Okazaki for the knife he confiscated from before. However, he soon proves to her that her hand is still injured and Nagisa is concerned for Fuuko’s well being. However, Okazaki soon gives the knife back to Fuuko. She is relieved and gives him the carved star she’d made.

School is out and Okazaki wakes Sunohara and has a little fun with him since he’s still half asleep. Okazaki spots a boar piglet outside and goes to find it. However, it soon finds him and rubs his leg but doesn’t like Sunohara. Sunohara grabs the pig and finds himself under attack from Kyou. The book separates him from the pig and a flying kick sends him flying. As he pulls himself up, he remarks on having seen something light blue along with the sole of her shoe. That brings another kick and a warning to erase the image from his mind. Turns out the pig is her pet, whom she’s named Botan.

Back inside the school, Okazaki works with Nagisa to help her practice what she’s going to say for the kickoff meeting of the new Theater Club. They use the Source Material Room to find something to aid in this. They are greeted by Miyazawa Yukine, who offers them coffee. After talking a bit with her, Okazaki and Nagisa return to the room for the Theater Club and work on her delivery. In the end, Okazaki urges her to speak from the heart after hearing her talk on various things including her reasons for wanting to found this club. However, they find that their posters to announce the kickoff meeting have all been taken down since they didn’t have Student Council approval. It is then that Nagisa is summoned to meet with the council.

Thoughts:

I still am enjoying the running gag with Sunohara challenging Tomoyo. However, the sad feeling in the anime kinda prevailed for the most part for me. I keep thinking, “I sure hope Nagisa doesn’t die.” Since I’ve not played the game this is based on, I’ve no idea if someone will die or not. I get the feeling someone will die though.

The strange, happy girl with her little robot creation continues to be odd to me. I can’t help but wonder if this is a trapped soul or not. I’m not versed enough in Japanese mythos to say. However, I keep thinking back to Air and the crow there and wonder if something similar will happen.