Clannad 18
クラナド Episode 18

SPOILER Summary:

Although he’s been suspended for fighting, Tomoyo continues to stop by Okazaki’s residence to wake him up. Because she feels responsible for his suspension, she’s also cooking him breakfast, something he tells her she doesn’t have to do. Okazaki’s father comes in and Tomoyo invites him to breakfast as well. He accepts, however, Okazaki leaves and goes to Sunohara’s place. He wakes his friend up, after placing some boxers with hearts on them on his head, by telling Sunohara that a girl is there to confess to him. Naturally, Sunohara is eager to meet said girl and races out of the room, only to run into the Rugby Club, who then proceed to give him a beating for being a pervert and wearing heart-filled boxers on his head. Sunohara isn’t happy with Okazaki’s prank, but lets him hide out in his room just the same.

At school, the Theater Club members Kyou, Ryou, Kotomi-chan, and Sunohara sit and ponder the situation with Okazaki suspended and Nagisa still ill. Ryou and Kyou decide to pay Okazaki a visit at Sunohara’s room. They go through a walk through town and end up at a game arcade. At the “Holoscope” game, the three are behind the privacy curtain and Kyou gets Ryou and Okazaki to get their love fortune told, which requires them to have their hands on the paddle-ball together after they’ve entered their names. The screen displays “tomodachi” — which means “friend.” Kyou is angry by this, causing Okazaki to be knocked out of his seat and out of the booth. As Kyou rants, the game prints out a complete reading.

The trio walk home after Kyou has read the paper rants some more, blaming Okazaki for the results of the fortune. As they walk and Ryou re-reads the paper, Kyou decides to let them be alone together, and comes up with an excuse to leave them. Ryou and Okazaki discuss fortunes and how Ryou, who attempts to do fortunes, is often wrong. However, she’s OK with that because it means there are other choices out there and other roads to take instead of just the one. After seeing her home, Okazaki wanders around town, pondering her words.

That Sunday, Tomoyo comes by again to cook Okazaki breakfast. Okazaki asks where his father is, but apparently he just left. He asks about the elections, but Tomoyo brushes it off with a simple “things are going fine” answer. The doorbell rings and Kyou and Ryou are there, along with Botan, with a large bento for him to eat. Kyou is not happy to discover Tomoyo is there, but before she can go off, Kotomi-chan arrives with food as well. There is way to much food on the table and it is all for Okazaki to eat. Naturally, the one he chooses to eat is the same as saying, “this is the girl I choose.” Tomoyo and Kyou get into a heated discussion over the matter. Okazaki looks to Ryou for help, but in an unusually forceful moment for her, she tells Okazaki that she wants him to eat her food as well. Okazaki turns to Kotomi-chan for assistance, but she too wants Okazaki to eat her food that she’d been working on since the night before. Just when Okazaki thinks he can’t take any more of this, Fuko-chan arrives with a pile of food. She says she understands the other girls feelings, but that Okazaki should eat her food. And just what did Fuko-chan bring? Why starfish baumkuchen, starfish cakes and cupcakes, and starfish cream puffs. The girls insist he eat their dishes and Botan sweats it out, apparently glad not to be Okazaki. Fuko-chan insists he pick the best choice, which is her starfish baumkuchen.

Monday, Okazaki returns to school, not feeling well from having eaten so much. Sunohara wonders if he has time to waste since things aren’t going well for Tomoyo and the election. People are talking about her and her election poster has been graffitied with various remarks about her being a delinquent, violent, and more. So, Okazaki sets up a match between her and the male Baseball Club where all she has to do is get three outs against them (Okazaki in the field and Sunohara catching). After making some wild pitches, she blames Sunohara on her troubles. Okazaki suggests she throw the ball at his face. She does, resulting in Sunohara getting plastered repeatedly and her getting her three outs.

Okazaki continues to do this, setting up matches that pit her against the Rugby Club, the Karate Club, the Gymnastics Club, the Swim Club, and the kendo Club. Because of this, Tomoyo’s reputation at school goes up and the 1st-year girls even come to hear on their senpai. Tomoyo thanks him for his hard work. She explains her reasons for transferring to this school and becoming Student Council president was to protect some cherry trees in the area. He’s surprised by this. She asks him what it takes to keep a person from going wild. He says that maybe having a talent would keep one from going out of control. She thinks that’s a good answer but wonders what about if one doesn’t have a talent. He answers that maybe a good relationship. That’s an answer she also finds acceptable.

For her, the answer was family. Okazaki rejects that idea, but she continues, saying family can be a group of friends as well. She used to be a wild child as a reaction to the bad family life she had where her parents didn’t get along. So, she took out her rage on others. When her parents decided to get a divorce and were arguing over who gets the kids, her little brother Takafumi, decided he didn’t want them getting divorced. As such, he threatened to kill himself and indeed, in front of the three of them, he did jump from a bridge. He survived the attempt, but the result was that the family came together. After Takafumi was well enough to go out in a wheelchair, they walked through the area with the cherry trees that were then in bloom. Takafumi wanted the family to come by every year and so Tomoyo is determined not to let those trees be destroyed. As president, she can do something to keep the trees from being cut down.

The next day, Nagisa returns to school and meets with the Theater Club. Everyone’s happy to see her. She apologizes to Okazaki since he got suspended while helping Tomoyo since she feels responsible, seeing as how Tomoyo being president gets them their club. Okazaki tells Nagisa to help with Tomoyo’s upcoming tennis match, where she has to face a good member of the Tennis Club. A huge crowd has gathered and as Kyou, Ryou, and Kotomi-chan sit together, the see Nagisa, Sunohara, and Okazaki. Seeing how close Nagisa and Okazaki are, Kyou is determined to get over there, but Ryou stops her. During one of the breaks, Nagisa re-introduces herself to Tomoyo, and realizing she’s the one who wants the Theater Club restarted, understands the situation with Nagisa and Okazaki.

Tomoyo continues her match and Kyou and Ryou look a little depressed as they observe how Nagisa and Okazaki are together. When a ball comes and hits Nagisa, causing her a welt on her leg, the guy who accidentally hit her rushes over to get her to the health center. Okazaki instinctively blocks him from touching Nagisa. Realizing what he’s done, he calmly tells the guy he’ll take her to the health center and escorts Nagisa away. Ryou and Kyou see this and realize that they have no chance with Okazaki. As such, both end up crying and hold each other. In the end, Tomoyo wins the election.

Thoughts/Review:

Ah, the old, “Choose my bento” comedy routine. Having Fuko-chan appear in that situation did work for me and made it quite humorous.

Ryou, Kyou, Kotomi-chan, and Tomoyo — you’re all OUT! Well, lets face it, it was always going to be Nagisa and Okazaki, though officially neither have confessed to each other. Everything he does any more is for Nagisa, including getting Tomoyo elected to Student Council President. That’s love. Still, I do feel sorry for Ryou. I was surprised to see how emotional Kyou had become, but then again had we not had the episode last week with her trapped alone with Okazaki, the scene wouldn’t have been as impactful. Kotomi-chan seemed OK and Tomoyo finally understood. I would guess that means she’s no longer going to be coming by his home to wake him up.

Based on the previews, the girls are still together for the Theater Club. I know people aren’t happy that this episode seems to wrap up the Tomoyo, Ryou, and Kyou stories. In the game, Ryou was only a minor character, or so I’m told. Still, I hope we continue to see Ryou and Kyou until the end. I’m hoping that Tomoyo still shows up as well. I liked her a lot and clearly her story about family gives Okazaki something to consider.

On a different note, I’m going to try to replace previous images from the series with widescreen ones. I’ve no idea why the Japanese decided to play this in pan-and-scan 4:3 first before rebroadcasting it weeks later in widescreen.