Discussion topic for CLANNAD -Hikari Mimamoru Sakamichi de- Episode 16: Wishes of the towns, narrated by Ushio as written by Jun Maeda. For general discussion of Ushio’s character, please visit her character discussion topic.
Spoilers for the vanilla CLANNAD are permitted, but please tag references to all other Side Stories with the [spoiler] tag, providing adequate context in parenthesis.
How would you rate this episode?
0 voters
This is the one I’ve been waiting for, so I hope it doesn’t disappoint. Looks like it’s set after the true ending of CLANNAD. It’s really refreshing to hear Ushio’s inner monologue for once.
…She’s in Paris? This is already interesting. How old is she? Seems like she’s in grade school, so a few years have passed. It feels like they’re trying to expand the philosophy of CLANNAD to many other towns. Seeing a slightly more grown up Ushio is making me really emotional, like I’m finally getting to see a child of my own grow older. Looks like she’s even a great actor! And now they’re talking about passing on dreams to their child… Aww man, this is a good one.
Some very mysterious things going on. They mention that in some point in the past Ushio disappeared, and was found sleeping in ‘the place’ near the hospital. Same as the title screen, and a reference to the CLANNAD epilogue, I’d imagine. Then Akio goes on to explain that Ushio has inherited Nagisa’s fate; that she has a deep connection to the town. He even suggests that something terrible might happen if he leaves the town. But I think they realise that, for some reason, this is something Ushio has to do. No normal parents would let their grade school child go on a trip around the world, but I guess Ushio is no normal kid.
And then, interestingly, we see a light orb ‘blessing Ushio’s journey’. Something about the town wishing to mature alongside Ushio. Maybe that experience of hers at the place granted Ushio some awareness of the illusionary world. Maybe it’s something like expanding the scope of the illusionary world, like Ushio spreading seeds across the world. Taking in more wishes, granting more happiness and miracles. Something like that.
The theory crafters are gonna have a field day with this episode. I’m interested to hear what people have to make of it.
What the fuck! MAEDAAAA!
(This is gonna take a couple of tries to digest.)
This episode was… interesting.
I know Ushio isn’t exactly an ordinary girl, but still, what kind of parent let’s there young child travel the world by herself? And this episode was really necessary because the lore of CLANNAD wasn’t convoluted enough without it.
Well it was really nice seeing the Okazaki family together and happy, so there’s that.
First of, this was a very nice episode, kind of like an epilogue to the true end.
So, now to what this all means:
I would assume that this was at her age of 5 since that was the point in time where that happened in the normal ending of After Story. Maybe the Illusionary World arc still happened, but this time with the girl actually reaching that other place, which is implied to be the normal world. Since time runs differently there, one could say that that’s possible. Now:
I’m not so sure here myself, at the very least she’s unconcially aware of it. I don’t think she’s actually aware, but just unconcially being aware would already be enough for the following:[quote=“Aspirety, post:2, topic:2650”]
Maybe it’s something like expanding the scope of the illusionary world, like Ushio spreading seeds across the world. Taking in more wishes, granting more happiness and miracles.
[/quote]
And that’s probably the point. I think it is safe to assume that the girl (meaning Ushio in this interpretation) wants to make the townspeople happy. Tomoya helped her with that, and that might be why she was able to return. So the question would be “Why stop there?” And that would then be Ushio’s motivation for this world trip, making the whole world happy, and also connecting the world.
So that’s my take on the things here.
Oh, also something else to note, this story really bookends Clannad as a whole: In the beginning of Clannad, Tomoya says: “I hate this town” and now in this story he said (to Akio): “We both love this town”. It’s nice how it also shows Tomoya’s development in the story.
I have mixed feelings about this episode. Like any other Clannad fan, I’ve always been dreaming of how Ushio would grow up to be. And she’s definitely surprised us here.
On one hand, I doubt many of us here are already parents. But I can definitely say that I would never let my child, no matter how mature she may be, go on an around the world trip alone. The world is just… not a kind place.
But perhaps, this girl is different, that there is a reason for her to visit other towns. Perhaps, this girl is part of the town she came from. And as she matures by meeting other towns, the town will mature as well.
Am I making sense? Ushio is part of the town. And the town is yearning to mature by meeting other towns. So, with the town’s blessing, Ushio sets out on an around the world trip to meet other towns.
To make connections.
To make bonds (絆).
And to grow and mature along the way.
I cannot imagine being the father. Poor Tomoya.
To be honest, this episode reminds me of Yuu Otosaka’s trip to collect all the powers.
Or maybe, Maeda-san is just trolling us again.
But after all’s said and done, Clannad has a special place in my heart. I confess that it’s the only show that’s made me shed tears (*cue field of tears). And it was one of the stories that drove me on in life, after school ended. So, to see a true epilogue makes it truly special.
And it’s true that when you are a parent, one of the most important lessons is learning to let go.
To let your kids go off, on an adventure, somewhere under that wide blue sky.
「それは魔法の世界では、ホッブズ、老いたバディは…のは、探検に行こうよ！」
@Aspirety I think she’s in France, but probably not Paris. Provence sounds more likely. I can definitely picture this girl running around in a Lavender field.
@Arete I think Maeda was probably trying to hit home a message about letting go here.
I feel like all these messages would’ve been a little more impactful if they made Ushio a bit older though 
Yeah…
Letting go of your daughter: good job dad.
Letting go of your grade schooler: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!
They’d probably be arrested for child neglect.
That is the main point here. So I was asking myself two questions:
Exactly how old is Ushio in this story?
Why does she need to make this trip now and not a few years later?
Exactly how old is Ushio?
We only know that Ushio’s in grade school. That would put her somewhere in between 6 and 12 years old. Since the story tells us that she was in several dramas in her school, I would also assume that she is at least in her third year in grade school. That now puts her somewhere between 8 and 12. More pinpointing is not possible I think, so best case scenario she’s twelve. That is probably still too young. That brings us to question 2:
Why does she need to make this trip now and not a few years later?
The main point of this trip is maturing. So with maturity in the back of our minds, what is the age puberty usually starts for girls? Somewhere between the age of 10 and 12. I think we just found a parallelity. So yeah, I tkink that this trip is meant to be part of her maturing and is also meant to be put at the start of the maturing of her body.
Now, what actually goes against all my arguing are the CGs. To be quite honest, Ushio still looks like her 5-year-old self to me in those, suggesting her to still be very young. Now I don’t know how side-stories was actually written,but in all those credits there was the line “based on the novel…”, so I would assume it was first only text, and then that might actually be a miscommunication between writer and artist. After all, the message would be stronger if I am right with my assumption that Ushio makes this trip at the start of her puberty.
I hope I made my points clear. If there are further questions or counter-arguments or other things, feel free to tell me.
In the first CG, the voice acting is a bit more mature than the Ushio we see in the main part if you notice it. Probably in the first scene, Ushio has already been travelling for about 2-3 years or so. We don’t know whether she made trips back to see Tomoya, we don’t know if she’s just gone and disappeared, accepting rides on tractors like it’s an anime, we don’t really know anything.
Tomoya is probably being a bad father here. Definitely, she could be older when she does go.
But at this point, I think this particular story (This short story), has departed from what we call as the “real world”. Ushio is probably going to go by herself (you know, disappear into the woods behind the hospital kind of go off by herself), if he doesn’t let her. Ushio just isn’t an ordinary girl. And the world that they live in, as much as we think it’s the real world, it isn’t.
And to be really honest, I think it’s just Jun Maeda trolling us with a world where grade schoolers can travel the world like Dora the Explorer. I rest my case.
Theming is fine and dandy, but suspension of disbelief is a thing to take into consideration. Sure, Clannad has actual magic in it, but are we supposed to believe that magic protects Ushio from being kidnapped/killed? Is Ushio just the fucking Messiah? Having her travel the world alone at that age is just ludicrous, and people are going to get stuck on that before even considering any themes.
That’s actually something I didn’t take into consideration and you’re right in that regard. I guess I was just kinda taught to accept these kinds of things by all those underage protagonists in dangerous worlds that anime and video games like to through at us.
This is quite a nice epilogue or ending for the whole CLANNAD franchise. We get some emotional relief seeing how both Nagisa and Ushio are alive and without health complications, we see how everyone is connected with each other happily, we see how Tomoya isn’t a kid, we see how Ushio isn’t a kid… wait what?!
What the fuck! MAEDAAAA!
Well, once I got that out of my chest, let’s talk more calmly about this. Hell, fuck being calmed who the fuck thinks it’s fucking fine to leave your 8-12 year old daughter go alone on a maturing trip all around the world?! (apologies for all the swearing, but I’m really altered by this whole setting). And I’m not talking about Tomoya, at least he was concerned about it. I’m talking about the whole Furukawa family, including Nagisa, who didn’t even show a tiny bit of concern towards it being remotely dangerous or a bit too hasty.
Aaaaaanyway… Insert Kamikita Komari’s “let’s pretend nothing happened here” reference.
This is a great opportunity for my metaphor-explorer self to… (invent?.. nah, discover sounds way better) discover some hidden message in here. Here I go then.
Ignoring Ushio’s age I see the following: the fact that Ushio goes on a trip to mature and that the whole town mature reinforces the message that we all mature with time, that we should mature. This is the main message I could find in the whole CLANNAD, CLANNAD After Story and even some CLANNAD Side Stories. Therefore, this main message reinforcement in an epilogue/ending episode was great and had a great effect.
Now, onto my next theory. This time, I won’t ignore Ushio’s controversial age. This also has to do with maturing. I’m thinking that what Maeda wanted to say with this is that no matter the age, we should all aim towards growing as people, experiencing more and getting out of our comfort zone to do so. If we go one step further (maybe a bit too much) I’d say that Maeda is trying to say that we should grow as people, regardless of what happens to us or our surroundings. In After Story Tomoya undergoes a lot of character development, but most of it is initiated or forced by natural forces he can’t control. Somehow, what this Side Story might want to say is that we should wait for tragedies to happen for us to radically change and mature. That we should seek tragedy in the form of leaving our comfort zone.
Well, maybe this was a bit too far fetched, but I think that it still holds some sense deep inside it.
Metaphors aside, I’d like to speak my mind about some things you guys brought up.
It’s because of the CGs and the voice acting that I can’t imagine Ushio being older than 10. This is what I found the worst in this whole Side Story.
I’ve got to agree with you here, even though this would crush my explanation of that possible second message. The fact that Ushio’s age doesn’t feel just right is way too distracting from what I think the Side Story tries to tell us.
Never assume a troll, always looks for some ridiculous theory or message behind it.
And with all this said, I’d like to bring up a question that I thought someone would have brought up before I finished this episode: Where the fuck does the money for Ushio’s trip come from? I thought Tomoya wasn’t struggling with money. In fact he says he has the money for a normal trip overseas, but I highly doubt that he earns enough to sustain a trip around the world…
Finally, to end this obnoxiously long post for a rather short piece of writing, I want to say that even though the flaws this episode may have had (I really can’t find any beyond Ushio’s age and the money issue) Chiisa na Te no Hira fixes them and provides a sense of closure similar to the one After Story brought to CLANNAD’s vanilla VN. It brought appeasement to both my heart and mind. Usher was happy, Tomoya was happy, Nagisa was happy, the Furukawa bakers were happy.
All’s well that ends well.
People like to deconstruct the idea of a Pokemon journey, pointing out how incredibly unsafe the prospect of a parent letting his/her ten-year-old kid wander around town to collect potentially dangerous animals and force them to do his will while fighting against crime bosses that are just as dangerous as the creatures themselves. The reason I bring this up is because this story feels like the exact same thing is happening to Ushio. She’s traveling around the world for Lord knows what reason, and her entire family seems to be completely okay with the idea (except Tomoya, but even he somehow gets convinced).
Granted, I think it would be rather interesting to see a story about Ushio journeying around the world for some specific purpose, if there were such a thing. Heck, Maeda tried something similar in Charlotte, (Episode 12 & 13 spoilers) only Yuu had an acceptable reason for traveling the world: he needed to collect the powers of every ability user in the world in order to protect them. Granted, while it is a better reason than just traveling the world because ‘she needs to mature’, it’s still pretty ridiculous. It sounds to me like Maeda really wants to write an epic JRPG coming-of-age story, judging from those two examples alone.
I doubt Maeda would follow through on such a thing, but the way many of these stories seem to go, it only makes me want more. There are possibilities for each character in these short stories having after stories of their own. I want to see who Nagisa ends up with if she never met Tomoya at the foot of the hill. I want to see Fuko marry Koumura and become a powerful summon for no reason. I want to see Kappei and Ryou’s married life and see what their babies look like. I want to see the potential romance bloom between Tomoya and Yukine bloom while her brother watches over them like a guardian spirit or something. I want to see the Furukawa Bakers fall into a dimensional portal and be forced to play against the Little Busters. I want to see Kotomi do more lingerie shoppi - wait, no. I don’t want to see that, but you get what I mean. If these characters got a lot more than the bite-sized stories they got, it would make me, a person who enjoyed these characters while reading CLANNAD, the happiest person alive. 
With the end of Side Stories, however, I can say that this was a collection of small stories that were fun while they lasted, but didn’t provide enough substantial to stand on its own merit. It’s like a compilation of fluffy fanfiction written by the creators of the original material, and as you’d expect, the quality is all over the place. However, I enjoyed reading every single story in some respect. Here’s to the hope that Tomoyo After delivers more than what I read here! 
I assume he’s talking about when Ushio died in the initial After Story playthrough? Or the confusing epilogue?
So he either vaguely remembers something that didnt happen in that so-called ‘timeline’, or he’s referring to some other off-screen event that lead to Fuuko finding Ushio under the tree by the hospital.
I may have missed a line… Interesting though…
[quote=“cloudst12, post:6, topic:2650”]
Am I making sense? Ushio is part of the town. And the town is yearning to mature by meeting other towns. So, with the town’s blessing, Ushio sets out on an around the world trip to meet other towns.[/quote]
I think this says it fairly well. I’d always had the impression that Ushio was somehow a blessed individual, life breathed into her, and Nagisa to ensure she saw her destiny. If you consider it an allusion to what happened to Ushio previously (before the reset thing) that she obsessed with going on a trip, especially to that flowery field, as if something beyond her compelled her inexorably. The difference this time around, is that she has a firm foundation. When there is a secure loving home you can always go back to, and those who encourage you, you can be far more bold. Ushio was always well beyond her years in wisdom as well, as if imparted subconsciously with knowledge from the illusionary world.
[quote=“cloudst12, post:11, topic:2650”]
But at this point, I think this particular story (This short story), has departed from what we call as the “real world”. Ushio is probably going to go by herself (you know, disappear into the woods behind the hospital kind of go off by herself), if he doesn’t let her. Ushio just isn’t an ordinary girl. And the world that they live in, as much as we think it’s the real world, it isn’t.[/quote]
As far as the world itself, it’s been pretty clear through the whole of CLANNAD that the world in this case is a quasi-utopia; or rather, it’s projecting the state of Japan’s peace on the rest of the world. At the very least, it’s likely that Ushio is protected by the orbs of light, meaning her trips will probably just avoid all unnecessary difficulties and tragedies.
…
[quote=“EisenKoubu, post:15, topic:2650”]
I doubt Maeda would follow through on such a thing, but the way many of these stories seem to go, it only makes me want more. There are possibilities for each character in these short stories having after stories of their own. I want to see who Nagisa ends up with if she never met Tomoya at the foot of the hill. I want to see Fuko marry Koumura and become a powerful summon for no reason. I want to see Kappei and Ryou’s married life and see what their babies look like. I want to see the potential romance bloom between Tomoya and Yukine bloom while her brother watches over them like a guardian spirit or something. I want to see the Furukawa Bakers fall into a dimensional portal and be forced to play against the Little Busters. I want to see Kotomi do more lingerie shoppi - wait, no. I don’t want to see that, but you get what I mean. If these characters got a lot more than the bite-sized stories they got, it would make me, a person who enjoyed these characters while reading CLANNAD, the happiest person alive. [/quote]
I agree with all of these and more. I’ve always hated when stories open up such a grand stage, and leave you without filling everything in. I love pretty much all of the characters in CLANNAD, as if they were my own friends and relatives, even when they got out of school i felt that tighness of farewells, and i want to know the whole lives of all of them: their stories in whole. Though at this point it’s probably only up to the doujin writers, but we’ll see.
As a writer, i’d much rather create a limitless universe, and then write whatever kinds of stories i want fitting into that universe, allowing for endless side stories and spinoffs, and continuing to build on it without diversion.
At any rate, despite all of the improbabilities, i’d love to see Ushio’s actual adventure in full.
Yeah, this was the first Clannad story I felt I couldn’t take at face value. Previously, the scenes in Clannad, be it the visual novel or otherwise, that had no connection to the supernatural were straightforward and easy to understand. Most of the conflicts and happenings were mundane and easily applicable to real-life, even if the characters were over the top. This? I felt like the entire thing was some type of weird metaphor, because if it’s not, Maeda has some questionable methods for stimulating the maturation of a child. This wouldn’t bother me so much if it weren’t for the fact it clashes with the way all of the previous slice-of-life stories from Clannad have been constructed. There’s a sense of real, down-to-earth feel beneath the over-the-top characters, but I didn’t really see that here.
I definitely think that having a ~10 YO girl wandering the world for goodness knows how long is a pretty far fetched basis for a story, so I’m going to have to treat this as allegorical.
I got this kid of a vibe as well from the story.
I quite like this one as a postscript/epilogue to Clannad despite the issues of Ushio’s age, as she really is such a sweet kid and it’s interesting to think that her heritage perhaps gives her some special destiny.
If only some of the other stories had shown us how the future of other major characters had panned out e.g. Kyou/Ryou/Kotomi…
It’s probably best taken as allegory. I’m sure the impossibility of Ushio’s age was on the writer’s mind. However, probably, the writer’s intention was to showcase a story of a little girl travelling the world. Or at least, that was what I meant at the time.
Regardless, I thought that it was a nice way to wrap up the story.
In a “It’s a magical world, ol’ Hobbes. Let’s go exploring” sort of way.
