クラナド アフターストーリー Episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Shima-kun is waiting for Misae outside her high school when he’s seen by her friends Saki and Yuki. They tell him that Misae isn’t coming to school because she has a cold. Shima leaves and finds Misae on a park bench. He tries to say helpful things twice, both which result in punishment from Misae, who then realizes that Saki and Yuki put Shima up to saying these things. She requests that he speak normally and he apologizes to her as he feels responsible (at least in part) for the heartache she’s currently going through. They talk and Misae gets Shima to confess that he loves her, which pleases her.

Misae returns to school the next day and turns down a chance to get ice cream with Saki and Yuki so she can be with Shima, leading her two friends to believe that Misae’s and Shima’s relationship must be going well. Misae and Shima talk where Shima learns that she is the student council president. Misae asks Shima to come with her to the Autumn Festival and he happily accepts.

Another day at Misae’s school, Shima comes by where Saki and Yuki tell him that Misae is busy with student council duties. He wants to see her working, so Saki and Yuki get an idea — dress Shima as a girl and give him one of their school’s female uniforms. The transformation is so successful, Shima has guys wanting to be with him. Saki and Yuki give him cover where he finds the room that Misae is in. He watches her and is found by Ibuki-sensei, who gets Misae to come out. Shima can’t help himself and despite the fact that he’s dressed as a girl, he tells Misae he wants to be with her forever.

After Saki and Yuki have a great laugh about how things went, Shima changes back into his normal clothing. He drops the charm, which reminds him of his purpose for seeing Misae in the first place. Saki and Yuki decide they want to visit Shima’s home, but he can’t remember where it is. After a while, they do find it, where Saki and Yuki find a woman who asks if they are friends of Shima come to burn incense for the dead. “Shima” remembers that he’s not the real Shima and amazingly, Saki and Yuki accept this. They tell Shima that they won’t tell Misae the truth.

Shima meets Misae at the festival where he goes to give her the charm and discovers that the light inside is gone. Misae isn’t concerned about that, stating that what’s important is the here and now. So, they enjoy the festival together and Misae has decided her wish. She knew that Shima was the “girl” who visited her at school, so she repeats to him what he said to her — be with her forever. She kisses Shima, who starts crying and thanking Misae. When Misae goes to get them some beverages, she returns to find Shima is not there. She looks through the festival and finds him at a distance, where he says goodbye and disappears.

Some time later, Misae has taken the job as the manager of the boy’s dorm, mainly because she’s never stopped loving Shima. Even though she doesn’t care for cats, one has attached itself to her and she cannot make herself get rid of it. It is then that Tomoya wakes up and he understands that the cat wants him to relay a message to Misae.

At the Autumn Festival, Nagisa is wondering what has been on Tomoya’s mind since their visit to Misae. It is then that the cat starts rubbing itself on Tomoya. Nagisa picks the cat up as Misae comes running up, stating that the cat had raced out of the dorm and came to the festival. Tomoya tells Misae that he thinks the cat wanted to come to the festival with Misae based on what the he heard the cat tell him. Since Tomoya knows things that he couldn’t know, Misae understands that the cat is Shima and accepts that. Tomoya tells Misae that Shima wants her to be happy and move on with her life but that Shima will always be with her, as promised. This makes Misae happy but leaves Nagisa a little confused, so Tomoya promised to tell her the whole story.

Thoughts/Review:

Ah, I do love how Misae went from a minor character to one with a really nice story, explaining how she ended up as the manager of a boy’s dorm. Things didn’t go quite as I expected since I figured that Shima-kun would die and THEN be reborn as the cat. Instead, Shima-kun had already died and the cat took on his identity for a short time. It is a sweet tale to be sure, though it did seem odd that Misae so easily accepted the idea of Shima being the cat. Then again, when Tomoya mentioned details that only Shima (and Misae) would know, I suppose that would make it easier to believe.

Actually, it is more amazing that Saki and Yuki accepted the idea that Shima-kun’s cat took Shima’s form for a time to be with Misae.

Considering how aggressive (in a violent way) Misae is, it almost seems odd that she’d fall in love with Shima-kun. However, I think that adds to the charm of things in this case. There’s a saying that goes something like, “Behind every good man is a good woman.” Had Shima been a real person, Misae is just the type to push Shima into being a stronger person and a “real man” if you will with a combination of her own strong force of will and frankly a strong reward system as well.

Another little nice touch is when a confused Nagisa wants to know why Tomoya knows what he knows, he simply states that he has this story to tell her. I imagine that even though neither person remember Fuuko-chan, that experience will make the story of Misae and Shima resonate with Nagisa as it clearly did with Tomoya.

Continuing the nice touches, Yoshino gets a cameo as does Ibuki-sensei. I hadn’t realized he was that much younger than she if she were already teaching while Yoshino is a senior.

So, a sweet and touching episode to wrap up the Misae arc. As I said, I love how Misae’s character has been given some fleshing out.