Clannad ~After Story~ 03

It’s great to see Mei back to her usual investigative self at the beginning of this episode. We’re still in the middle of the charade of Sunohara and Sanae going out, and it’s evident that Mei has some doubts about the validity of the relationship, what with these questioning looks.

I mentioned that I didn’t like the last episode, mainly because of Sunohara, and the general way he acted. It’s indicative of Key’s brilliant ability to bring a character to life, the bad parts as well as the good, that made me really not like this side of Sunohara’s character. Of course, the “date” (more like an interview) was a complete car crash; it was almost unbearable. And to top it off, Sunohara’s values are really brought into question now.

My favourite part of this episode, which I’m sure is shared by many others, demonstrates the unique brand of humour that Key and KyoAni bring to Clannad more than any other of their visual novel adaptations. It’s much more suggestive and risqué than Kanon or Air, and it instantly puts it in a higher echelon. Mei can really turn on the “moe imouto” thing like a tap, and it proves to be a winner in breaking down the usually impervious Tomoya. Throwing Kyou, Kotomi and Ryou into the mix just squares the comedy factor. The dropping of the ice cream was timed to perfection.

I didn’t think it was possible, but Mei-chan is now officially more Machiavellian than Okazaki. Wow.

It’s often hard to mix both humour and serious issues in a single episode on an anime, often because it’s hard to transition between both without making a very unnatural step change in pace and conversation. Luckily, this episode of After Story managed to make these shifts quite hard to detect, increasing the impact. Shifting from the “Onii-chan” dialog right into a hard-hitting decision for Sunohara really snaps the viewer back to the point of the episode in a harsh and memorable way.

This is only magnified by the facial expressions and body language of Sunohara. I’ve noticed that this season of Clannad utilises subtle facial expressions and body movements much more, which really emphasises the mood that the characters are in. It’s also evident this episode with both Mei and Nagisa. Yet despite this, they’ve also decided to throw in many more super-deformed facial expressions, including some Lucky Star-esque eye squints. There’s a bit of disparity there, but at least they’re not overusing both techniques. Yet.

I really enjoyed this episode of Clannad ~After Story~. More soon. And a toilet seat cover. ;)