クラナド Episode 19

SPOILER Summary:

Tomoyo leads the Student Council in a vote that allows Koumura-sensei to sponsor both the Theater Club and the Choir Club. The Theater Club members fire some “cracker” fireworks to celebrate and Kotomi-chan has the large bento, complete with a large bottle of tea. When Nagisa is a bit hesitant about putting on a performance for the summer, Okazaki encourages her on.

Later, Okazaki’s teacher wants a meeting with Okazaki’s father, which naturally Okazaki is loathe to do since they don’t get along. He tries to run away and is chased by Nagisa, who upon realizing what Okazaki is up to, drags him back to his teacher. The teacher is impressed by how she’s able to control Okazaki, but she tells the teacher that Okazaki has helped her a lot. The teacher enlists her help to make sure the meeting with Okazaki’s father goes as planned until Okazaki reminds her that she has a meeting with Koumura-sensei regarding club business. As such, Okazaki and the sensei walk to his place but after getting there, Okazaki tells his teacher his father isn’t there. So, the teacher decides to wait.

Okazaki flees again and is discovered by Nagisa, who quickly realizes he’s running away again. She returns with Okazaki to his house, where they stop just around the corner as the voices of Okazaki’s teacher and his father can be heard. Okazaki’s father comes off as not being that interested in his son’s future, saying that “Tomoya-kun is Tomoya-kun,” and that he has no input on the subject. Hearing this, Okazaki is upset and as Nagisa witnesses this, she invites him to come stay at her place for a while to get some distance from his father. He accepts and pacts several things into a large sports bag. He starts to tells his (drunk?) sleeping father he’s leaving, but doesn’t. However, before Okazaki can get out the door, his father awakens and does see him off.

Okazaki arrives at the bakery entrance to Nagisa’s residence to find Akio-san there, wondering why he’s come by so late for. Okazaki panics, thinking that Nagisa neglected to mention to her parents that he would be living with them for a while. However, Sanae-san’s arrival and greeting to Okazaki means Akio-san’s fun time is over, since Nagisa indeed did tell her parents. Nagisa shows him to the spare room, which he finds to be very nice (ie: spacious). She shows him where the futon is kept and tells him he can’t just leave the futon out in the morning, but must put it away. With that taken care of, its time for dinner, then Okazaki’s bath, followed by some family time at the table. Laying in his futon that night, Okazaki reflects on how alien this family life is to him.

The following morning, Nagisa and Okazaki are off to school. Nagisa and her mother exchange the traditional Japanese departure sayings, but when Okazaki doesn’t say anything, Nagisa prompts him to do so. He reluctantly does as he finds this embarrassing. When they run into Nagisa’s father outside, the same thing happens. They walk to school where Nagisa says its fun to walk to school with him, though both agree its a bit embarrassing.

At the Theater Club room, Koumura-sensei has costumes, stage lights, and a keyboard for music and sound effects for the Theater Club to use. He gives an example on the keyboard, so Sunohara decides to have some fun with it until Kyou and Tomoyo give him a double punch. Everything is ready except for the play. As Okazaki and Nagisa walk home, they discuss the problem of her having a play she wants to do, but for which she cannot remember the title. They get to Nagisa’s home and Okazaki discovers that his room has a bunch of kids in it. Nagisa tells him her mother runs a cram school called Furukawa Cram School. Some of the kids are going through Okazaki’s things, so when he tries to rescue his belongings, the girl “Na-chan” is frightened. One of the other kids think he’s attacking and so attacks Okazaki to save Na-chan. Sanae-sensei soon brings order to things, reminding the class they have to respect their elders.

Since his room is now a classroom, Okazaki wanders downstairs and is soon put to work by Akio-san. Okazaki asks about the school and Akio-san reveals that Sanae-san had been a teacher before, so running the cram school is a natural thing for her to do. When Okazaki tries to inquire as to why Sanae-san no longer teaches middle school, Akio-san is elusive. That evening, the family has dinner together and Okazaki finds this “normal” family life to be exhausting. Nagisa comes by his room to pay him a visit. They talk about how it is strange to be living in the same house and how Okazaki never had a normal family life. Nagisa also reveals that something happened when she was little regarding her parents. She feels she did something which was horrible and for which she should apologize, however, her parents tell her that isn’t the case though they won’t talk about the past much.

After their talk, Okazaki decides he’s going to see Sunohara and Nagisa requests he not stay out too late. At Sunohara’s place, Okazaki feels he can finally relax. As the two of them talk, Okazaki lets it out that he’s now living with Nagisa, which shocks Sunohara. He’s jealous of the situation Okazaki is in, saying that if Nagisa’s parents have allowed him to move in, it means they approve of him, thus implying they accept him as a future son-in-law. Okazaki protests that his and Nagisa’s relationship isn’t like that, which Sunohara can’t believe Okazaki would still say such a thing. As such, he feels a bit sorry for Nagisa.

In “Mystery World,” “Mystery Girl” sees “Junk-bot” attempting to construct a new robot from junk. Mystery Girl thinks Junk-bot is making a friend because its lonely to be alone. Junk-bot doesn’t entirely agree with what Mystery Girl says, feeling that more junk-bots would make the place more lively. She helps Junk-bot with his work, even if it doesn’t work.

Thoughts:

I love this series, I really do. Nagisa and Okazaki are just…*sigh* While it is sad that Kyou, Ryou, and Tomoyo didn’t get as much time in the sun as Fuko-chan and Kotomi-chan (I suppose we needed a few more episodes to do things right), I am glad that plenty of episodes are apparently being devoted to Nagisa’s and Okazaki’s story since they are running in parallel. I didn’t expect Okazaki to start living with Nagisa’s family, but it works well. And Nagisa looks a bit cuter to me for some reason, almost as if she had a hair cut or something.

As for “Mystery Girl” and “Junk-bot,” that part is as confusing as ever. I’m sure it will make sense in the end, but at the moment, I just scratch my head at them and what their role in all this is.

On a side note, I think I may start referring to Okazaki by his given name of Tomoya.