It Takes Two
How we knew Tomoya and Nagisa were endgame from only two episodes.
If you have been through the wonderfully beautiful and tragic journey of watching the 2000s anime adaptation of Clannad and Clannad: After Story, Tomoya and Nagisa might already be ingrained in your mind as fated lovers. What wasn’t clear to me, until watching with the advantage of retrospect, is just how early these two were established as the inevitable couple of the series.
This is important for a few reasons. Clannad, in my opinion, is easily more than a seinen harem — but, and it pains me to admit, it nonetheless, can still be characterised as such. This makes sense, given the source material was a virtual novel, which included different routes with other legitimate love interests for Tomoya. Therefore, in an anime adaptation, one would expect there to be a a level of ambiguity around the final match. But the Kyoto Animation series only takes two episodes to ensure, in no uncertain terms, that Nagisa is the champion the audience should be backing.
First Scene Significance
“I hate this city.”
Tomoya Okazaki’s bitter monologue plays over a melancholic montage of his humble, quaint, suburban city. This matches Tomoya’s dialogue describing his life as a dreary, unsatisfying repetition: going to school, chatting with friends and returning to a home he has no desire to be part of. The frame continues to be grey and lackluster as we see Tomoya, walking to school along an uphill slope, hinting at his likely depression and unresolved grief. He asks himself, “Will something change? Will that day come?”
It is precisely at this point Tomoya notices Furukawa Nagisa, giving herself a pep talk to face her senior year. “Anpan!”(sweet bean bread) she cries. The accompanying eerie synth gives way to the sweet childlike melody of Nagisa’s Theme (Dango Daikazoku). Tomoya hears her say to herself, “But nothing can stay unchanged…They can’t possibly stay unchanged.”
The frame, then, starts to flicker with a lick of colour, signifying that Nagisa’s words are reaching Tomoya’s inner wrestling. However, it’s only when Tomoya addresses her head on, forcing her to notice him, does his world, with a characteristic gust of wind, turn to technicolor. Of course, this is also accompanied by a mandatory shoujo filter, swelling soundtrack, and blooming cherry blossoms in all their symbolic glory.
It takes less than five minutes for Nagisa to be positioned as a significant and positive catalyst in Okazaki’s existential battle. Meeting Nagisa ushers in the day — the change — that Tomoya has been longing for.
Although the atmosphere is superbly buoyant and hopeful, it is not without warning: Tomoya proceeds to foreshadow that as the two start walking together to school, they are actually beginning their “long, long, uphill climb.”
Clearly, Clannad’s masterful opening scene cements and foreshadows the significance of Tomoya and Nagisa’s relationship.
Tomoya’s increasing interest in Nagisa and how his actions betray him
The first episode wastes no time showing how quickly Nagisa occupies Tomoya’s thoughts. Tomoya approaches Nagisa for lunch, where she explains her lonely situation and Tomoya suggests she get involved in a club activity. We then see Tomoya in class, reflecting that he, an apathetic delinquent, is not in any position to lecture anyone. The frame cuts back to lunchtime with Nagisa, showing the two have finally introduced themselves to each other. Showing us these scenes out of chronological order, and conveying them as Tomoya’s reflections, tells the audience that our protagonist has started to, indeed, ruminate on this mystery girl.
We then see Tomoya’s actions start to betray his words. Specifically, his self-proclaimed apathetic ways. Invested enough in Nagisa to see if she will heed his advice to approach the Theatre Club, he decides to approach the clubroom himself. He spots her about to enter, cheering herself on — this time with hamburger steak. But when he sees her disappointed face after opening the door, he seems to instinctively run to her side. Once again betraying his carefree character.
He realises that the club has been dissolved, leaving only an empty storage room. With saddened eyes, he places a hand on her head, to which she asks why, and he replies, “No particular reason.” Anyone conversant in shoujo romance knows the significance of a classic head pat: Tomoya is definitely catching feelings. This is further solidified when he declares that he will help Nagisa establish the Theatre Club. When asked why he would help her, someone he’s just met, he too seems confused by his own uncharacteristic zeal and helpfulness.
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If we weren’t already convinced of Tomoya’s rapidly increasing affections, by the second episode, instead of loitering the streets after school, or hanging out with Sunohara, Tomoya is preparing a gift for Nagisa. She’s revealed she’s a fan of the ‘Big Dango Family’. Despite having initially scoffed at her interest in an outdated TV Program, Tomoya takes it upon himself to paint faces on individual dango to encourage her.
This is telling for a few reasons. Firstly, ‘home’ is one of Tomoya’s least favourite places to be. Secondly, even though his dialogue justifies his actions with another pithy excuse — “I guess it can’t be helped if they don’t sell them anymore.” — we are shown that Tomoya is taking the effort to prepare an entire bag full of dango, painting faces on every individual piece. If this doesn’t signify that the boy is whipped, I don’t know what does!
While neither lead has come to grips with it, from the audience’s perspective it’s pretty evident Tomoya senses Nagisa is key to facing his current languishing and is understandably growing a significant attachment.
Positioned as fitting partners
It’s arguable Clannad’s early episodes position Nagisa and Tomoya as fated partners, especially through the development of their symbiotic relationship, where both parties benefit from having the other in their lives.
Tomoya’s encouragement of Nagisa is fairly explicit. The fact she is a meek character, trying to face her obstacles in order to engage in normal high school life, and receives support from an interested male character, is a common (and absolutely satisfying) anime trope. What is implicit is how much Nagisa’s life is affecting Tomoya.
Tomoya is trapped by a lack of purpose. Whilst idling about with Sunohara, he says, “It’s not like I have a goal or something to devote my passion towards.” This leads to him being stuck in a rut of “bland,” repetitive, days. During a montage sequence of Tomoya listlessly bouncing around from one aimless activity to the next, we are shown a flashback of his conversation with Nagisa. She invites him to visit her family’s bakery. In amidst his aimless wandering, he finds himself on her street, and takes up the invitation. There, he meets her lively family and is even invited in for dinner. It is Nagisa’s invitation that has broken Tomoya’s purposeless wandering. Therefore, we see that Nagisa and the rest of the Furukawa Clan are being positioned as the antidote to Tomoya’s listlessness.
Indeed, Family is a central theme of the Clannad series. The show is named as such because Jun Maeda, the original VN author, thought it meant “family” in Irish. Already, by the end of the first episode, we see Nagisa’s household contains two incredibly doting and loving parents, who have fostered a fun and joyful upbringing for Nagisa. Immediately after this, we see Tomoya walking back home, entering a dark living room, while audio of dialogue between him and Nagisa continues.
“It was a strange experience,” he replies to her question about how he found the night with her family. “So there are families like that, too. You guys get along so well.” Nagisa replies, “You think so? I think we’re normal.” The frame quickly cuts to Nagisa, at eye-level, with a big smile, wishing Tomoya good night. And it’s precisely at this point, we see Tomoya turn on his living room light to reveal a trashed living room and his father, passed out, sitting up in the corner. When his father finally comes to, it’s clear Tomoya is visibly hurt when his father talks to him, and he immediately runs right back to Nagisa’s house, and looks up at the Furukawa apartment above the bakery.
In the second episode, we also see Tomoya reminded of Nagisa once again, whilst he struggles to interact with his father. During his considerate preparation of Nagisa’s dango present, his father asks if he can help. As Tomoya’s father approaches him, Tomoya is immediately defensive, and quickly distances himself from his father. When his father picks up a dango stick, the frame cuts to a flashback of Nagisa telling Tomoya about her love for the Big Dango Family. Immediately after, we see Tomoya run out of the house after reprimanding his father for talking to him like a stranger.
The use of flashback and overlapping shots between Nagisa and Tomoya’s father clearly sets up the contrast between the Furukawa and Okazaki families. Nagisa, and the life she represents — a wholesome, loving family unit — is directly juxtaposed with Tomoya’s current family dysfunction. Nagisa is therefore positioned as the potential solution to Tomoya’s longing in respect to his family wounds.
Another example of Nagisa positively affecting Tomoya’s behavior is his sudden ability to match her earnesty. Many of Clannad’s scenes, and particularly those that don’t involve Tomoya engaging with Nagisa, are seemingly light and humorous. Tomoya, especially, is characterized as a delinquent who doesn’t take anything seriously.
In their primary interactions, however, Nagisa is quite open about her struggles with loneliness and her chronic illness. Tomoya is, understandably, guarded as to the truth of his situation. For example, when he runs back to Nagisa’s house to escape his father, he tells Nagisa he was merely going for a walk. When Nagisa overhears Sunohara say that Tomoya usually hates club activities, he tries to brush it off by saying it was a meaningless conversation.
But eventually, he comes clean about these aspects of his life. Tomoya reveals to Nagisa that he has an aversion to club activities because he was once an active member on the school basketball team, but due to a fight with his father, his shoulder became severely injured, resulting in his inability to raise his right arm.
These scenes, although still at an early stage of the series, show that Tomoya is capable of removing his facade around Nagisa. And while Nagisa has not yet been shown to make any tangible steps at supporting Tomoya around his issues, these scenes place her as the person who will be able to do so.
Only 2 out of 49
Thanks to its masterful story-telling, there’s actually so much that is conveyed in every episode of this show. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that it only takes 2 episodes out of 49 to establish, not just the romantic interest, but also the critical foundation of tenderness and deep affection, which make Nagisa and Tomoya’s relationship one for the ages.
