Time for random trivia!
Kotomi’s name, by what her father explained, is connected with Koto (stringed musical instrument) and string theory. But, there’s more…
Kotomi’s father name is Koutarou and her mother is Mizue. They both worked on research together and signed their works together with K&M. Kotomi, too, was a result of their “work” together. Hence the name ことみ (Ko to mi = Ko and Mi = Koutarou and Mizue)
This was never translated in the fan-TL as it’s not part of the script… I’ve always wondered what it said… Hopefully in Sekai Project’s release they will have edited the CG to have it understandable…
Does anyone know what the note says?
From everyone to Kotomi.
It sounds better than before.
Is that from Clannad? I don’t remember that.
It’s in the VN, at the very end of her route.
“Ototoi wa usagi ga mitan no, kinou wa shika, kyou wa anata”
That’s probably one of my favorite quotes from Clannad.
When I found out it was from Dandelion Girl I immediately read it. It was such a great story, and I usually don’t like short stories.
My other favorite quote is the one where Kotomi’s father talks about miracles and the beauty of the world.
Simply reading this thread seriously made me tear up though. Clannad makes me emotional because it’s just so beautiful.
Bookclub discussion begins from this post onward!
Maybe I’m over analyzing this, or maybe I’m picking up on things that I know will happen later on, but I think Kotomi’s beginning to remember that she once knew Tomoya
So I started in on her route yesterday. Back when I watched the anime I hated Kotomi. Like a lot and irrationally. It was so bad that I began to hold it against characters who shared her voice actor.
I am finding I really like her so far. I am still early - I think April 25th or so? - but I am finding her fairly charming and in some ways I even empathize with her. I don’t know how much of my change of heart has to do with me maturing and changing and how much has to do with the presentation of the visual novel being more effective at portraying her character, but I am glad to find myself enjoying this route.
Also her awkward attempts at Kansai gags is really cute XD
I love Kotomi; she’s so more endearing in the VN. She makes for some nice comedy as well. The passage about the library key is the funniest one I’ve found so far.
Kotomi: “It’s specially made just for Kotomi-chan.”
It’s obviously an official school key and not specially made for Kotomi-chan.
Something about how he replicates her strange phrasing is really funny to me.
The climax is also one that always gets to me. I have a real thing for when stories do a message from a dead person, or a story that never got told. Basically when love transcends death and time. Both the notion of Tomoya and the drama club always being with Kotomi as well as the bear from her parents fits this idea. And as Aspi said, it’s a shame they left the former out of the anime. Still, the most wondrous part of the climax has to be how so many people took care of that bear to no benefit other than self-satisfaction and the gratitude of someone they most likely will never meet. CLANNAD has a lot of stuff about people connecting to each other, but this route draws connection over the whole world.
Another things worth highlighting is how heavy the foreshadowing is in this route. It feels like Suzumoto wasn’t aiming to surprise you, but instead just take you on an awesome journey. Kotomi realizes who Tomoya is instantly and they show it with the remarks about the food and such. The second time we meet him, it’s made clear the old man isn’t actually a bad guy. I guess you wouldn’t assume the Ichinoses managed to throw a suitcase from the falling plane, so that’s the only big exception I can think of. The idea of writing not relying on the element of surprise really appeals to me. So many times, I have seen people complain about how knowing anything about a story before going in ruins the experience; I just think that kind of mentality is insulting to writers. Suzumoto seems to spell out the development of his stories early on very often, and I think that’s really cool.
Don’t know who decides about where and how CGs are used but credit to that guy for managing to put a match cut into a VN
Some spoilers can dampen the enjoyment, other increase interest for me. Foreshadowing is something else entirely though, and is necessary for keeping the logic of stories tight. Some of the reveals in Kotomi’s route would have been too random feeling if they had not foreshadowed her knowing Tomoya beforehand.
I’m not quite to the end of the route yet! I just got to the part where Tomoya first goes to her house. So tense!
I finished Kotomi’s route this morning. I balled through the whole ending. My dog thought I was crazy.
I am kind of mad at the adults in Kotomi’s life. Her parents are fine, but the man who was appointed her legal guardian doesn’t feel like he tried hard enough to connect Kotomi to the world after her parents death. You get the impression that since she didn’t cause anyone any trouble she was always just kind of allowed to do as she pleases. She needed an adult or someone way before Tomoya to step up and help her find her footing. Even if the person could not have done as much as Tomoya, it really feels like no one tried. I guess we don’t know a lot of the details, but Kotomi is a sweet girl and I think she would have let someone else in.
Tomoya was a kid so I don’t really begrudge him not going back. The way they handle him getting his memories back is kind of weak, but worked with the narrative so I didn’t mind. Childhood guilt is kind of strange thing, and I am glad he faces it with success.
So, I haven’t played any other routes where Kotomi is featured prominently, but this kind of makes it feel like you would be cruel for doing any other route. Tomoyo’s route was sweet, but the relationship that develops between her and Tomoya - well if it were to never form I feel like both of them can still find happiness. With Kotomi you really
feel like it was Tomoya or bust at that point and if you don’t choose her you are dooming a girl to a life of self-hatred and loneliness. I feel like it will be easier for Tomoya to be happy with Kotomi too just because she kind of needs doting on more than Tomoyo so I feel like it will be easier to keep his self confidence up in the relationship.
I agree with @HeliosAlpha that you get a great feeling of connecting with the world in her route. That so many people cherished her parents last message to her and saw it safely back. It is the kind of story that leaves you hopeful for humanity in general.
Did you go after the Sunohara joke ending? Spending time with Kotomi and suddenly ditching her is actually brutal. You can see it destroys her, and yet Tomoya just removes himself regardless. It’s so SAD.
I haven’t done the Sunohara ending yet >_< Or gotten any of the bad ends. I am going to have to go back and do that, but I am worried about getting too depressed.
I really loved playing Kotomi’s route. It was fascinating with her abilities to be so knowledgeable and at the same time with easy stuff such as starting with conversations with others was very hard for her. This might sound strange but I kind of had a slight crush on Kotomi’s character in the VN because she looked very cute when Tomoya and her starting going out with each other, meeting at the library, and having lunch together. Aside from that, her route was very endearing and made me cry a lot at the end when she was able to find the suitcase that came back from all parts of the world about that single message from her parents. The short story “The Dandelion Girl” that was quoted from before, I have actually read that story during the time I was reading her route made it also special too as well. Kotomi is actually one of my favorite characters in the routes.
For those interested, The Dandelion Girl has also been remade into a pretty good visual novel, if you can track it down. The text was slightly rewritten to fit into the visual novel format, but the story is the same.
Having read all of Clannad, there were a lot of tear baits…
However Kotomi’s route is the only that had me crying my eyes out. Absolutely beautiful piece of writing.
One of the more lengthy routes, and definitely one of the best, if not the best in my honest opinion. Worth every second.
To anyone sitting on the fence about reading The Dandelion Girl. Please do so. Personally I cannot recommend it enough. Not only is it a very short read (a great one, at that), but Kotomi’s route draws a lot of inspiration from it which would otherwise be overlooked without having knowledge of it. I genuinely feel that it adds so much quality perspective about the philosophy surrounding Kotomi’s character and the events of her route.
Now on to the route itself.
Dark past, post-trauma affected behaviour, and sad times… It’s always the shy girl huh?
Comes across as pretty generic which I would usually say is a bad thing, but the way Kotomi’s route tackles the issues is superb, and for that I tip my hat.
What did it do so well exactly?
What I liked best about the route is that it incorporates Clannad’s core themes of family and egotism into an otherwise generic character story (boy meets girl, girl is sad, boy solves sadness, boy and girl fall in love, the end)
A lot of people say Tomoya and Kotomi are not really a good match for each other… And I agree. But the romance was done well to say the least, however that is not the core of this route at all.
What makes this route so special is how intersperses it’s own story about a family shattered by tragedy, and the love that parents have for their children into an otherwise overused piece of plot.
It hit home pretty hard, and I think the main things I took away from it is (ironically quite clichéd but…) to choose your words carefully because you never know when you’ll lose someone close to you. Problems in life cannot be solved with rash behaviour. Relating this to the route, be grateful for having your parents and the things they do for you because chances are you have no idea how much they truly care about you even if it doesn’t appear that way on the surface. Being rash and saying hateful things contribute to greater harm to yourself in the long term.
…this might sound like a sudden question, but would Kotomi be considered an autist?
Or rather, an autist from the perspective of Key, since these guys kinda take mental problems lightly.
I mean, Kotomi seems disconnected from reality at times, some of the things she says and does are incomprehensible, she perceives painful sounds as pleasant, is extremely good at a certain thing (science), etc.
Slightly off topic, but do you think the climax of Kotomi’s route happens even if Tomoya isn’t there for her? Does she still get the message? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately that the things that fix or help the heroines fix their problems are never directly related to Tomoya, he’s just able to support them through the hard times that possibly lead up to those moments, but for Kotomi, Tomoya was the whole reason she could face her guardian and learn the message. I would hope she can still receive it without Tomoya there to support her, but it makes me sad to think that without Tomoya her broken life would just continue.
I really don’t think Key would have made her autistic consciously, though I think you could make a case for her being so, and it is the kind of thing they might agree to post canon. I saw this kind of discussion play out in the Death Note fandom too in regards to L, and I really just think most creators make their geniuses quirky and interesting. Which is probably the best way to write an autistic character anyway, because if you are too caught up in the autistic label you are more likely to trip over the character part.
I don’t think she would be willing to meet the man with the suitcase or be ready to accept what was in it without Tomoya and her friends support. She bailed every other time she was called to the staff office, and would basically have nothing to do with him since he is a “bad guy”
Even if he did manage to get the suitcase to her I don’t think she really would have understood the message the same way without the events from the route. I think her feelings about her parents death and self confidence were too messy and dark where she would have instantly twisted it to something terrible. Plus then she still wouldn’t know that the paper she burned wasn’t her father’s paper, so she probably just would have felt more guilt towards that.
