クラナド Episode 14

SPOILER Summary: Okazaki continues working on Kotomi-chan’s yard with the help of Nagisa, Kyou, and Ryou. Somehow, he manages to get new sod laid out and a new flower bed planted in time. He sits at the outdoor table and notices the book with the quote about “Day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, yesterday I saw a deer, today, I saw you.” He falls asleep and dream-remembers his time with Kotomi-chan as a kid. He also remembers telling her he’d bring his friends over for her birthday party but when he tried to get them to come, they made fun of him so he didn’t go. In the end, he did show up at the house that evening in time to find Kotomi-chan in the study as it was on fire. He tried to put it out and failed, but the “bad man” came in with another person and succeeded.

He wakes up to find Kotomi-chan there, happy to have her only childhood friend back. At school (later that Saturday day I believe), Nagisa, Okazaki, Kyou, and Ryou are waiting for Kotomi to arrive and wish her a happy birthday. They give her a handmade certificate for the broken violin so that when it is repaired, they will exchange the certificate for the violin. The teacher comes out and is glad to see Kotomi returned to school. She says that her godfather wants to see her. Kotomi isn’t sure, but the group is there to support her and it is decided that her godfather will meet her in the Theater Club room, where the rest of them will be as well.

Kotomi’s godfather arrives (the so-called “bad man”) and he has a suitcase that Kotomi recognizes as her fathers. She wonders if her parent’s papers might be in there, but her godfather simply tells her to open it. Inside is a now old-looking teddy bear and an envelope, with the words written in English, “If you find this suitcase, please take it to our daughter.” Her godfather explains that the suitcase apparently had been found some time back and had traveled the world until he learned of it, claimed it, and immediately brought it to her. She reads her parents letter, which if full of love. She also learns that the papers she burned as a child was in fact a teddy bear catalog.

Sometime in the future, Nagisa, Kyou, Ryou, and Okazaki arrive at Kotomi-chan’s house with her violin and she’s ready to have a party with them. Kotomi has plenty of sweets made, but Sunohara and Miyazawa are off buying additional foodstuffs. Kyou has apparently “invited” a lot of others to come as well which worries Okazaki. However, Kotomi-chan isn’t worried because she has a big yard.

Thoughts: Well, at least we now know why Okazaki didn’t show up at the birthday party, but was in her memory for the night she set fire to the papers. I didn’t expect for Kotomi to get her teddy bear after all these years. Still, it was very touching as was the letter her parents had written to her. Some birthday present. And she finally got her birthday party, though I’m not exactly sure when the party happened (sometime well after her birthday though).

As I wrote the review, I thought about the innocence of Kotomi’s birthday party as a high school girl. Here all these people are going to come, and yet as I watched this, I never thought anything negative. However, as I started writing about it, I thought about that smeg head in Australia who’s 16 and for whom the term “party” has made him a celebrity of sorts. I strongly suspect that in Japan, like the rest of the world, high school kids are interested in sex, booze, and the latest tunes. Thus a “party” would imply one or more of those elements. Still, it was nice to think that maybe somewhere, even teenagers would find it satisfying to just gather together, have cake and other foods, and just have clean fun. But I digress…

Kotomi’s story was sweet and sad, though not quite as sad as Fuko-chan’s. Still, I’m glad for such a happy resolution as it appears that next week will start a new story arc. I kinda figure Kotomi may not be out of the mix. I say this because of her parent’s research on an Illusionary World. Considering the purple “firebug” lights when Kotomi accepted the bear combined with that weird girl and robot, it feels like she’ll have a role to play again in the future.