クラナド Episode 05

SPOILER Summary:

Fuko-chan continues to carve her starfish and does not wish to leave the school and meet up with her sister, Ibuki-sensei. So Okazaki and Nagisa head to Ibuki-sensei’s house on their own. Okazaki recognizes her as the woman he gave the bread to and she knows Nagisa. However, when the two offer Ibuki-sensei congratulations on her engagement, she is surprised that they knew since she’s only told her sister, who’s in a coma in the hospital. The two come up with an excuse about it being a rumor based on seeing her with her boyfriend and she accepts that. However, she doesn’t know if she will actually get married considering the state her little sister is in.

When Okazaki and Nagisa leave and discuss it further, Okazaki doesn’t believe Fuko is actually a ghost or whatever of the real Fuko. He believes the Fuko they know may have just overheard things and for whatever strange reason is pretending (or whatever). Nagisa, however, believes that Fuko-chan isn’t lying. She decides that she has to help Fuko-chan in accomplishing her goal. Okazaki asks about the Theater Club but for Nagisa, Fuko-chan is more important.So Okazaki agrees to do help her in this as well.

They bring Fuko-chan to Nagisa’s residence and her parents are still in the store. Since Ibuki-sensei often comes by, Okazaki tells Fuko to make up a family name which she agrees to do. Nagisa’s parents don’t mind taking Fuko in but wonder about her family. When Fuko gives the family name “Isogai,” Okazaki is amazed at the uniqueness of it until Sanae-san remembers their neighbor has that name. Okazaki rushes out and sees that indeed the next door neighbor’s name is Isogai which means some “fast stepping” on an explanation is required to satisfy Nagisa’s parent.

Okazaki heads to Sunohara’s dorm and is nearly run over by the rugby team who are fleeing the wrath of the dorm manager, Misae-san. Apparently, they’d been trying to peek into the girl’s dorm. He encourages her to be more tough with the guys and when Sunohara comes around the corner, Okazaki addresses him as a peeper. This leads to Misae-san coming down hard on Sunohara with a wrestling move. Back in Sunohara’s room, Okazaki tells him that the Theater Club stuff is on hold so he can babysit a ghost girl.

The following day, Okazaki heads to Nagisa’s residence. He finds the store open but empty. Entering the residence part of the structure, he finds Nagisa, Sanae-san, Akio-san, and Fuko-chan carving starfish. When a customer enters the store, Akio-san tries to get Okazaki to handle it, but Sanae-san decides the two of them can continue to carve the stars while minding the store. When Okazaki learns that these stars are in fact starfish, he’s stunned by it and amazed at how much Nagisa has gotten into them.

At school, the three attempt to hand out the starfish carvings and manage to give away a lot. As they talk, Nagisa learns that Ibuki-sensei always addressed Fuko as “Fu-chan.” Nagisa requests permission to address Fuko as such and she happily agrees. However when Okazaki asks the same thing, Fuko refuses, saying that would be the worst. The trio visit Miyazawa in the Reference Room where Fuko gives her a starfish. She’s a bit puzzled by it but one they explain that its for Fuko’s sister’s wedding, she gladly receives the gift and offers her best wishes.

The trio head off again and Fuko thanks Nagisa for her help. When Okazai remarks about being forgotten, Fuko calls him her enemy. When he protests, she calls him her nemesis. A third protest brings out “archnemesis.” Nagisa hugs Fuko protectively and tells Okazaki not to tease her. Fuko is in her happy trance and so Okazaki decides to have some fun when he enlists Ryou to tell Fuko (once she comes out of her trance) that she’s in fact Okazaki who’s turned into a girl. His excuse is to give Fuko a warning about spacing out, which is why Ryou and Nagisa agree to this. When Fuko snaps out of it, Ryou’s statement about being Okazaki shocks Fuko and has Okazaki in stitches. The more Fuko goes on about it, the harder Okazaki laughs, making Nagisa realize she’d been set up. When Ryou’s twin Kyou attacks the real Okazaki for messing with Ryou, Fuko is even more shocked, thinking that there are now three Okazaki’s — two in women form and one in man form.

Fuko gives starfish to both Ryou and Kyou. She has them hug the starfish and when they do, she thinks they look great. Nagisa agrees with that assessment but Okazaki does not. He states that inside, the older (Kyou) is a gorilla and the younger is a hamster. This leads Kyou to throw the starfish at Okazaki, where she finally manages to land a blow on him. He tries to make her feel guilty over throwing a gift from Fuko, but Fuko decides she likes the concept of a flying starfish.

The trio are off again and Nagisa is happy so many people are accepting the starfish gifts. Okazaki remarks on the fact that they’ve only given them to kind people. Fuko recognizes a girl in the hall she briefly met at the entrance ceremony, Mitsui-san. Mitsui recognizes Fuko as the girl from the accident. However, when Fuko attempts to give her a starfish and an invitation to the weekend, Mitsui refuses, and coldly states that she has no time for such foolishness with college entrance exams coming up. That evening at Nagisa’s home, Fuko tells them that it is OK that Mitsui refused the starfish. Since she hasn’t attended any classes, it is enough that Mitsui even remembered her.

Okazaki comes up with a plan and the next day (Sunday?), he enlists the help of Nagisa, Kyou, Ryou, and Sunohara to attend a fake class for Fuko’s sake. The only thing they don’t have is a teacher, but Sanae-san arrives to take that role after hearing about the plan from Nagisa. “Sanae-sensei” does things like a real class and the others elect Fuko as “inchou” (class leader) since this special session is for her sake. The class proceeds as outside nearby, a ball of energy floats by.

Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this episode. Even though it was mean, the big brother in me laughed at Okazaki’s having fun with Fuko. I laughed when Fuko kept coming up with names to mark Okazaki as her enemy and refused to allow him to call her “Fu-chan.” I really like Fuko-chan and gathering how the story is going, I’m going to guess her story will be resolved first. Her happenstance is so much like one of the girls in Kanon‘s story (name withheld for spoiler purposes) and the writers seem to know this by throwing out little things that make me think they are saying, “Yeah, we know this is like Kanon, but bear with us because it will be worth while even if it is similar.” I figure the little ball of energy (or whatever it is) is also Fuko-chan.