Discussion topic for CLANNAD -Hikari Mimamoru Sakamichi de- Episode 08: A special night, told by Akio Furukawa as written by Jun Maeda. For general discussion of Akio’s character, please visit Akio’s Character Discussion Topic.
Spoilers for the vanilla CLANNAD are permitted, but please tag references to other Side Stories with the [spoiler] tag, providing adequate context in parenthesis.
How would you rate this episode?
0 voters
Looks like this one is set in the very distant past, when Akio was still a drama student. These are the ones that really interest me. The silent night piano piece is very nice to listen to. A christmas story is the perfect fit for a young Akio. It really captures the spirit in his heart, that belief in miracles that he still maintains even after becoming a grumpy old man.
This is definitely the best side story yet. It actually has some drama! Akio trying his best to grant the boy’s wish, but his clumsiness ends up making him an insensitive asshole about it, hurting both the boy and the girl he ‘asked on a date’. Seems like Akio himself was trying to fill a hole in his heart by helping the boy. And then we have the miraculous fated meeting of Akio and Sanae. Their first meeting was equally flashy and sappy. This was cheesy as hell, but damn I loved it, and it felt oh-so-akio. Akio and Sanae are like, the most amazing couple ever. They compliment each other so beautifully.
Incredible episode. We got to see something that I bet most of us wanted to: Akio’s inner thoughts. The fact that the story was narrated from Akio’s perspective allows us to see how he really thinks. In CLANNAD, we see him being stupidly funny most of the time, and very mature and objective at other times. Despite this, I never figured out which of both personalities was his true self, and this episode helped us throw some more light onto this topic.
Akio is revealed as a very caring person. Even if he is shown to be reluctant to helping the kid at the beginning, his subconscient forces him to help the boy. Furthermore, he doesn’t care about spending a good bit of money (because full cakes are expensive) to make happy a kid he doesn’t know.
In the end, we see how Sanae appears and we are told how they originally met. I bet that this encounter during Christmas was what hooked them up together during the rest of their lives.
I really don’t konw how to talk about this route. It didn’t tell us anything really important, but rather it transmitted the feeling of a happy, warm and relaxed Christmas.
I can’t agree more. Definitely the best one by far, at least up until now.
If CLANNAD ever had a proper Christmas episode, I think this one would work quite well.
Akio never really struck me as the charitable type until I finished his arc in After Story, and this story shows that his obligation to help others who deserve more runs deep into his past. Akio throws away quite a bit to try and help this kid, just because it’s Christmas and he deserves more. Still, something always felt missing and Akio wasn’t able to be at peace until he did he everything he could to make the kid happy. It eventually leads into the message that the reward for serving others is true happiness, or in simpler terms, joy. What a fitting Christmas message. Who knew Maeda could write stories like these?
This story also serves to explain how Akio and Sanae met, and it’s actually quite heartwarming. The only problem that comes to mind with it, however, is how Sanae came to know that Akio was wandering around town helping this kid. It just feels too convenient, even if the story is full of convenient happenings to begin with. ._.
All in all, another good story. It does make me wonder about who that kid grew up to be, though… 
“Did you know that Akio and Sanae are awesome?” - The Side Story.
Really, this further shows how caring those two are. And we as readers get such a heartwarming story as well, so yeah, for me it was also the best story up until now.
Also, Akio must have traveled very far, wasn’t it mentioned that there isn’t a hospital in the town where all of Clannad takes place? And it can’t be all in the neighboring town either, since Sanae wears her uniform and it seems to be the same uniform as the one from the highschool of this story (I don’t remember the name of the school). Probably a minor plothole to an otherwise good story.
And now I’m halfway done with Side Stories. Let’s see what other nice stories there are.
I’m more surprised that Sinae would be wearing a school uniform at all considering its Christmas. I know Christmas obviously isn’t that big a deal in Japan but I though they at least got the day itself off.
brb crying
[EDIT 1]
In all seriousness, loved this one.
Finally a good side story 
Maeda is so hit or miss, but when he hits, he hits hard.
You could slap Akio and Sanae into any ridiculous scenario and I would still throw my money at it.
Aside from the standard events of the scenario, I really loved the parallel between the idea of a Godly miracle and a mother figure.
Clannad, or Maeda in general seems to really go above and beyond to highlight how incredible and precious women, especially mother figures, are in his stories. Absolutely fitting considering how (After Story) Akio and Sanae’s darkest conflicts in later life revolved around their own daughter’s desire and determination to become a mother herself + The importance of cherishing family and issues of growing up without a parent
Call it hammy, or whatever, I thought this was a beautiful side story. Easily the best so far.
[EDIT 2]
Akio still best character.
[EDIT 3]
THEORY… What if that child actually was a young Kappei who grew into the man we saw in the VN?
While that would be really cool, it is sadly not possible, since the doctor mentioned that this child lives with his aunt, while Kappei grew up in an orphanage. Furthermore, this child’s parents died, Kappei’s parents gave him away.
Plus I’m pretty sure Kappei is 19 in the VN, or at least around that age. So if he is the same age/a couple years older than Nagisa it doesn’t make sense for him to be this old years before Nagisa is even born.
Man what a great little short story! Leave it to Akio and Sanae to be the best parents before they even became parents, seriously. I think I might reread this on Christmas to wallow in that beautiful CLANNAD nostalgia.
Now this is one of the few side stories that really gives us something a bit new and different (in the sense of back story) - and of course Akio and Sanae are always fantastic together. Akio is comedy gold but it’s enjoyable seeing his more serious side too and his growing determination to ensure a happy intervention. While he hasn’t fully matured back then and mishandles it at first, this does help to show why the lovelySanae got involved with and later married this oddball!
Actually read this just after Christmas and it’s a damn sight better than most of the usual Christmas themed offerings we had on TV!
I just finished this one last night, myself and damn was it sweet! Nothing too immense or heavy in this but also no flaws that I can speak of. It’s amazing seeing how different Akio can think from everyone else. For example, the first classmate he invited over was probably concerned over the whole social strain of not having a date during christmas eve… Which, while it makes sense, is pretty darn selfish. Akio and Sanae, on the other hand, are more than willing to sacrifice those silly social nuances in order to make other people happy, and that much is admirable.
AKA, yes, Akio and Sanae are Awesome, the Side Story.
Apart from what has already been mentioned, my only beef with this story was some of the early narration from Akio. It implies at this point in time, he was an edgy teen who didn’t really like associating with kids all that much, which I honestly don’t get. All implications I’ve received is that he was social and outgoing, and his caring heart is what endeared Sanae to him (which did happen in this story) but to me, the opening narration feels like it clashes with Akio’s actions and motives in the story.
