Clannad After Story 03
クラナド アフターストーリー Episode 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sanae-san introduces herself to Mei as ISOGAI Sanako (Mei thinks she recognizes “Sanako”) and the date begins. Youhei takes Sanae-san to his favorite eating joint, where he often gets katsudon. Mei is dismayed by this and Sanae-san is appalled, so much so that it is back to Youhei’s dorm room where Sanae-san cooks a feast, which Mei seems to think tastes familar. The date continues with a trip to the arcade (to Mei’s dismay) and a CD shop (where Sanae-san discovers Youhei’s odd taste in music) before evening sets in.

When a group of boys are observed bullying a little girl, Mei expects Youhei to do something about it, but he’s not interesting in getting involved. When the little girl’s older brother arrives, Youhei is not interested in helping them get home, the children having gotten lost. Sanae-san gets them home. Youhei is depressed that his date was interrupted but when Sanae-san tells him she’ll see him again and that some things are more important than dates, Youhei accepts this gladly.

The following day, Mei, Tomoya, and Nagisa pay Youhei a visit after school. He’s anxiously waiting for Sanae-san’s phone call and not happy about their visit. Mei makes up a story about having a (dodgy?) boyfriend but Youhei doesn’t have anything to say about that and allows Mei to leave. Mei is depressed by this, so Tomoya and Nagisa confess when confronted by Mei that the girlfriend thing is fake. Mei tells Tomoya and Nagisa that as a child, she’d been bullied and that Youhei always came to defend her. In middle school, he was a soccer star but that all ended after he got to high school. She can’t believe that he’d let a girl get bullied and that he doesn’t seem to worry about her any more.

After sneaking Sanae-san out for her second date with Youhei (because they are trying to prevent Akio-san from learning the truth), Nagisa stays with her father while Tomoya and Mei go on a little date of their own since they can’t find Youhei or Sanae-san. Mei wants to call Tomoya “Oniichan,” which he finds has an unexpected effect on him. He can’t decide if he should forbid Mei from using the term or not until he’s caught by Ryou, Kyou, and Kotomi-chan, who see him as being turned on by being called “oniichan” by the young Mei. That ends her addressing him as “oniichan.”

Tomoya treats Mei to the ¥2000 “Princess Crepe” (actual name) as well as a shot at a photo club booth, where Mei goes for a “love-love” pose. When Youhei finds them together and sees the photos, Tomoya decides to trigger Youhei’s protective nature by telling him he’s the one Mei is dating and that they’ve even spent the night together. Youhei isn’t happy and asks about Nagisa, to which Tomoya states that he’s broken up with her. However, nothing they do or say seems to trigger Youhei’s protective nature and he leaves depressed and upset.

Tomoya and Mei return to Nagisa’s home where they tell her what transpired. Tomoya and Nagisa are seeing how things aren’t going as they’d hoped and that Mei is depressed. Mei feels that the only way to get her brother back to the way he used to be is to get him back on the soccer team, despite what happened to get him kicked off the team.

Thoughts/Review:

I didn’t expect this to be so low on the humor scale, especially in light of last week’s episode. In fact, the only laugh I got was when Ryou, Kyou, and Kotomi find Tomoya waffling on whether to allow Mei-chan to address him as “oniichan” or not. That was funny, especially since there are so many eroge (H-games), H-doujinshi, and H-manga where part of the lolicon appeal is to have the young girl address the guy as “oniichan.” Naturally, the girls were freaked out by that, which added to the humor for me.

Beyond that, I am really surprised at how much of a serious episode this is, exploring Youhei as a character. He’s always been a comic relief, supporting male character. Thinking of him in a serious light is something pretty new. Being that this is an unexpected twist for the anime (at least for those with no knowledge of the visual novel game), I have to say that it has my attention. That it also includes Mei for a bit of development is a plus too. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad upon learning that Mei had been bullied as a kid.

What I wonder is what will happen to Youhei once he learns the truth about Sanae-san being Nagisa’s mother and not her sister. He had known that Sanae-san dating his was fake, right? It was my impression at the very least that his dating Sanae-san was being done to appease Mei. However, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Youhei because of how he has completely fallen for Sanae-san, knowing the pain of loss when he learns the truth. Well, maybe Youhei can get himself a real girlfriend in the story.

So, a surprising turn for the series, which I had been lead to believe would about Nagisa and Tomoya. That means brownie points for Clannad After Story for sure. 😄