Thus is the struggle of a visual novel with multiple scenario writers…
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To be honest, the Kotomi route never stood out to me. It was just an ok route. The teddy bear thing was powerful, though, I’ll admit that much.
What stood out to me was that, at the beginning of the route, Tomoya had a really hard time just staying by Kotomi’s side. In fact, he was immediately discouraged when he heard how good Kotomi is and felt that they had nothing in common. He wanted to run away several times just because Kotomi was an outstanding student. Once again, we can see how bad Tomoya feels about being a delinquent.
Since both Kotomi and Tomoyo are brilliant students, something similar happened in the Tomoyo route: Tomoya had originally planned to go their separate ways once Tomoyo entered the student council. But while he put Tomoyo on a high pedestal and admired her, he handled Kotomi like a child by taking her hand and helping her make friends. So it seems like Kotomi’s childlike, helpless aura made Tomoya forget about their night-and-day difference in terms of academic prowess which helped them getting closer.
It’s not limited to traumata of the past. A lot of things Tomoya taught Kotomi and helped her with were things he needed to get out of his current predicament. Fighting one’s fears, making friends, practicing, etc. But instead, he just started ditching classes even more.
This was even in the narration: “Rather than wait for things to change on their own, you have to take matters into your own hands. Otherwise, things will never change for the better.”
I also like the fact that Sunohara wasn’t put in charge for the entertainment in-between the story segments, like he is in most routes. It’s bad for the variety if the same character has to do the same job (and a lot of it) in every route.
PS: Did anyone else look up what Kotomi’s (mahou shoujo) magic spell was for?
“Tibi, magnum Innominandum, signa stellarum nigrarum et bufoniformis Sadoquae sigillum”
It’s a a summoning spell from the lore of the Ctulhu mythos.
Kinda creepy, considering that Kotomi actually expected it to work :sunohii:
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Yes, I think because Kotomi had some areas where he felt very clearly like she had to be taken care of Tomoya was able to more easily get close to her and feel confident that it was the correct thing to do. Tomoya builds his best relationships when he needs to help other people - in a lot of ways he is a natural caregiver (even if he is sarcastic) and is most able to save himself by saving other people.
Vague spoilers for Fuko route below
You see a similar pattern in the way he becomes close to Fuko and Nagisa in the Fuko route. He gets involved with them because he admires their determination, but can’t leave them alone to climb the mountain themselves. In the process of helping them he becomes very close to both of them. Both Fuko and Nagisa gain great steps towards their happiness by being with him and that helps him in return.
In Tomoyo’s route it feels like maybe Tomoyo is doing most of the caregiving towards Tomoya, and thus, even though he loves her and she loves him, he does not feel like he is adding enough to the relationship to be confident in it which is why he begins to see himself as someone who drags her down.
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I’m just about finishing up this route (and boy am I slow) as I’m about to start with the scene where Kotomi is going to receive the teddy bear. I’ll leave my responses until after I finish the route but here are some of my initial thoughts.
I really loved the comedy of this route, even more than the silliness with Sunohara. It’s an innocent type of comedy that doesn’t rely on making fun of other people (like Sunohara), and all the training to get Kotomi to become a comedian I thought was pretty hilarious. Nandeyanen! The friendship between the four girls I thought was something that was really well-placed and sets this route apart from the others. I just wished they could have kept that friendship a bit more in the other routes.
I also liked the romance in this route even more than the past 3 routes of the bookclub. If anything, this romance felt more natural to me than all of the others. Tomoya slowly interacts more and more with Kotomi out of sheer interest, and one tiny nudge (along with teasing from their other friends) makes him realize just how important Kotomi is to him. And this drives him to chase this romance to the end. Definitely not overdramatic as romance is not the focus of the route, and it could have worked even without the romance (as it did in the anime), but it was a really nice addition.
I also think that this route was very well-written. Mad props to Yuuichi Suzumoto, and this stands up to my view of him being Key’s best writer :love: And I know that many people think the same of this, but one bad point was the whole sudden dropping of her conflict as soon as she hears what might have happened to Ryou. There definitely was ample foreshadowing, as was shown by the numerous mysteries surrounding Kotomi’s past, but all of it was way too sudden, as it just happened a day after they hung out like a regular group of friends. If anything, the characters themselves were just as surprised as we were when all of it happened, and you could really see their concern as friends, so that was well-placed.
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I’m not gonna have time to finish up and make a write up for the route before podcast this time, so all I can give you is opinions on her character
Kotomi’s Character
Man, this is probably most of the reason I haven’t finished this route.
I could not care for Kotomi at all, it’s not like Tomoyo or anything, it’s just so many ‘wow that is something I could do without’ piled into one fat autist of a character and my interest in her and her route just slides off.
First problem is ‘the minagi’ effect, the act of TAKING TOO GOD DAMN LONG TO SAY ANYTHING. Both in the actual act of speaking, and just how she chooses her words in general.
This annoys me so much, route is already balls long, why you gotta make it longer by saying a word with a sentence.
People might find her childish innocent nature endearing, I think it’s just kind of annoying and a real motivation sapper.
I KNOW the end of her route is good shit, but I’m wading though something that just isn’t fun for me to get there.
I agree that she talks really slow, and slow talking annoys me too because I’m a fast reader and I don’t like to wait. It doesn’t really bother me as much though because I’ve generally gotten into the habit of just skipping ahead to the next line and cutting off voiced lines anyway, regardless of if they’re a fast talker or not. I know a lot of people put huge value into the voice acting though, and it does make that long route even longer.
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Finished this route. Cried at the end, not gonna lie. From a romance perspective, I personally did not enjoy it. It felt more father/daughter or brother/sister to me. From the rest of the story perspective, I quite enjoyed it. I like Kotomi, although she isn’t my favourite character so far, although it was hard to get a read on her which made it a bit awkward. She could be so slow and naive and so smart and quick. She even seemed more mature and quick when she was younger. But it was very touching to learn more about her and her story, and it actually makes me feel a bit bad now about the other routes where she won’t get the same resolution. What happens to Kotomi when you end up with someone else? When you ignore her in the library? It makes me sad to think about.
There were some great scenes visually and musically as well. I very much enjoyed having so many other characters involved in this route and learning more about them. I felt a bit bad for Sunohara though who was largely left out!
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That raises a god point about her development; It’s as if she stopped growing as a person ever since the accident happened. Well, i guess part of it is to blame to her legal guardian for just leaving her like that xP
Alright.
I’m late, real late.
Super late.
The Route
So late all I had time for was to shit on Kotomi’s character and the route for being something completely unappealing to me, it was boring.
Then the flashback happened.
THE FUCKING FEELS. That was not being hit by the feels train, that was being hit by the feels train while rocket powered and carrying a shipment of feels trucks. Speaking as someone who still abides by ‘Kotomi isn’t a character that I can enjoy’, the emotional impact of the flashbacks, Tomoya’s working on the garden, and the great teddy bear adventure is astronomical, personally I’d say it blows everything else so far out of the water, from it’s sheer emotional power. And I won’t say the writing doesn’t have a finesse to it too, it’s laced with subtleties and is absolutely fantastic, it’s absolutely impossible to not get extremely invested into the absolute joy that is everything after the bus falls over.
Overall
This route is split into two halfs, a part I cannot give a single shit about(THAT I REALLY WANNA SAY IT’S ME, NOT YOU), and a part I can give nothing but the highest praise. The first half seriously drags the second part down and this fills me with sorrow. I give this route a WRITE LESS, ASSHOLE/10
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I had a thought while reading Nagisa’s route. It’s revealed there that Nishina used to play the violin but is no longer able to. This would explain why the violin holds such sentimental value for her despite not being able to play it… It was her old violin! I feel like the act of her giving it to Kotomi seems much more heartfelt when you realise this small truth.
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Was it really Nishina’s old violin? I was always under the impression that Nishina was the one who found it and played it and restored it then gave it to Kotomi…
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Well, it’s my interpretation. I think she was hiding the truth~
I just finished whole CLANNAD excluding silly Sunohara’s ‘bad end’ or something.
I can definitely say this route is my absolute favorite in CLANNAD before After Story arc. Kotomi holds the third position though, as I love (personal preference) the persona of Tomoyo and Kyou first and second place respectively.
The writing, what can I say, a so so generic old tragic past and reunited old friends that become lovers can be this satisfying. Kudos to the writer of the scenario, art designers and the voice actors. I really really can’t ask for more.
But as perfect as it can be, the first part of the Kotomi Arc is so slow. I wish it could be faster or add some more varieties before the main theme.
Personality wise, I don’t like Kotomi’s too much. She’s just too shy, so shy that she’s even ranked behind Ryou, and given that I prefer more easy going girl this puts her at disadvantage (hence I pick Tomoyo and Kyou ahead of Kotomi). But her situations… make me want to protect her. And this very rarely happens. I am one of those lazy bum who does love to be lazy and play around… Her intelligence and academic prowess will be a handy asset, though, in life.
The ending hit me really hard. I just l… well, the train feels.
Now as for how Tomoya handles this route, I can say I’m quite content. I can’t blame him forgetting his old past, especially when he was but a kid. I probably would have done worse than him and forgetting Kotomi altogether if I were him. Moreso when he pushes so hard by repairing the garden to prove that he’s there for her.
As a whole, I can give Kotomi route score of 9 out of 10. I already explained the flaw of this route above.
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Yuuichi Suzumoto is a master storyteller. I know that much from Planetarian, but I never expected so much of the same personality and style of writing to carry over to this route.
I don’t remember much about Kotomi from the anime, save some of the small liberties KyoAni did to make the route less romance-focused. To be frank, if you strip the romance from this route, it bears an almost uncanny resemblance to Little Busters in terms of themes. Kotomi learning how to step outside her comfort zone and learn how to be friends with other people is a major part of the story, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Maeda was so impressed by how it turned out that he made a whole VN like it. 
But Kotomi’s route extends far beyond the themes of friendship and family, stretching into themes that by now exemplify Suzumoto’s work. Religious parallels are all over the place, but their execution is far from haphazard. In actuality, it’s almost perfect, and it contains a lot of what I value a great deal in literature today: truth. Suzumoto teaches us through subtle, natural language that knowledge is a powerful and helpful tool, but sometimes the truth that eludes even the most learned scholars is simpler than we think. In the same vein, there is as much beauty in simplicity as there is in complexity. It’s something that people tend to rediscover as they strive to achieve personal goals, feeling immense pressure to strive for something greater and of higher understanding when the answer was there all along.
Kotomi’s personal dilemma lies in her conflicting goals; she desires to achieve the same lofty academic understanding and reputation her parents had, while at the same time striving to do what she really wants to do. We see that her desire to atone for destroying her parents’ legacy is a far stronger motive, but over the course of the story she grows attached to the friends she made and the talents she built. It’s real character development, something quite difficult to come across in a lot of Key routes.
If anything, though, the biggest reason I like this route is how TomoyaYou develops as a character. As he grows closer to Kotomi, he starts to value school, the Drama Club, and of course, the town just a little bit more. He starts coming to school on time and paying attention a bit in classes, even if it’s just to meet Kotomi in the library at lunchtime. He grows attached to the Drama Club and its antics, even if it’s just to help Kotomi make friends and flex her creative muscles. He throws away his savings to fix her yard up, just to get Kotomi to come back to school. The amount of dedication he places in her welfare is both staggering and admirable, even if it won’t carry into the other routes. 
Since I am technically going by the Kaza-sanctioned route order, this route introduces the piece ‘To the Same Heights’, a somber piano piece composed by Jun Maeda. Like a good deal of Maeda’s pieces, the emotions it carries are complex, but not in the same way a piece like Natsukage or Nagisa is. On the surface, it conveys a feeling of warmth, perhaps from the embrace of a loved one. But given the context of Kotomi’s route, I feel it conveys a feeling of warmth from knowing that even if a loved one has passed on, their warmth and presence can still be felt. It’s a beautiful piece, up there with the aforementioned pieces Maeda composed.
I’m glad I spent so much time reading this route. I don’t think it’s perfect (Kotomi’s voice actress bothers me a bit, there’s a small problem with how the ending handles the religious themes, etc.) but I still give it a five because it’s still exceptionally well-written. Granted, Yukine set the bar pretty high already, so maybe the next few routes will be going a bit downhill? Who can tell, save I seek out the truth for myself?
Now, who’s next?
…K-Kyou~?! 
EDIT (07/07/16): For the K.E.Y.:
CLANNAD had many amazing routes in it, but the one that stuck with me the most was Kotomi. It feels like the prototype of Little Busters in terms of how memorable the characters are and how entertaining yet thought-provoking the story is. Even Tomoya experiences a small bit of character development in this route, something other routes wish they could have. Themes of family, friendship and the development of oneself help carry the route, but it does something only Planetarian would ever try to accomplish. That is, it tries to answer questions that go beyond our understanding.
The inspired truth this route carries is one of the strongest points of Kotomi’s route to me. Holding on to the hope that someone benevolent as well as omnipotent is watching over us is not an easy task. Kotomi’s faith is constantly tested, and there are times when circumstances cause her faith to waver, and she becomes lost trying to redeem her mistakes. The last part of the story is magical to me because despite all that’s happened to her, someone who loves her always watched over her. It makes me sad that Yuuichi Suzumoto is no longer with Key, because I would love to see an after story for Kotomi.
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What I’d like to do here is look at some of the characters as they are represented through their themes. So for Kotomi, that theme would be “Étude Pour les Petites Supercordes”. Sadly I don’t speak french, so I have no idea what that means translated.
So first of, this piece of music is written in a major scale, I can’t say which, since I don’t have sheets available, but major scale in general gives a more positive impression. This track is played by a string quartett, which already hints at Kotomi having played the violin at some point. Furthermore is string music something that is often associated with the higher classes of society, as is the case with many classical pieces of music. Kotomi herself is the daughter of scientists, lives in a mansion and is always encountered in the library, so that high position in society is indeed the case. Back to the point that Kotomi played the violin, the melody is something, that I think a beginner could actually play, and during the recital in the story I kind of imagined that she played that track at some point, even though the text mainly said that she was bad.
Now we get to the interesting parts, namely the repetitions of the track. The second time through, the melody is accompanied by a flute, and as percussive instruments triangle and castagnettes are added. Here is another nice touch that she mentions her friends playing these percussive instruments, which illustrates even stronger what the added instruments are probably supposed to represent: namely, new friends. You could say that this track also represents her growing social life, as the track itself grows while staying the same, thanks to the added instruments.
This also shows the third time through, as here there are not only added instruments, timpani and glockenspiel in this case, but the percussive instruments also play a bit more, especially the triangle.
So all in all, both Kotomi’s character and character growth are represented in her theme, and that is just great. Especially the growth is rarely represented in character themes.
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So, unlike the previous routes I read where I end up liking the heroine to best gril candidate levels, Kotomi route didn’t really made me like her any much more. Granted, I already like her before. However, there are a lot to appreciate to a route apart from that.
The humor is great. Kotomi is so bad at joking, it gets funny (I laughed at the elbow joke). Kyou is really weird. Dismembered corpse scene was just savage. Finally, Nagisa’s bread soup was a freaking highlight. I laughed so hard in that scene. I wished the SoL didn’t drag the storytelling too much though.
In any case, I really admire how well-written the story is. There’s so much attention to detail in storytelling that I just. can’t. handle. ;-;
The suitcase scene was a touching piece of VN literature, but not everyone understands English, Suzumoto. ^^;
Also, TOE is just gorgeous 4.5/5 spiked up to 5 just for that track alone.
Edit: also best use of Shionari so far, so yah
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I agree that (along with Yukine’s route), the narrative of this one is hurt somewhat by the lack of romance in the anime. The emotional height when Kotomi finally comes out to meet Tomoya just isn’t as strong when the close bond between the two is harder to feel.
As for this route, however, I really enjoyed it. Kotomi is excessively moe, and her girl genius traits felt less like a core part of her personality and more like an accessory (Yuichi Suzimoto even admitted in the Guidebook he felt like Kotomi went from an intellectual in concept to the type of girl he’d like to date, due to the difficulty he had writing a character that was supposed to be smarter than him). Nonetheless, her development is handled in a very deliberate, very subtle manner. As she transitions from a reclusive girl to on one who’s willing to have friends and bond with people, I came to respect Suzimoto’s skill with gradually developing characters. It helped make the otherwise uninteresting Junker compelling, and it works even better for Kotomi here. Her attempts to branch out are endearing to say the least. Little touches like her gradually improving with the violin are also surprisingly impactful. The decision to have her join the Drama Club as a way of extending her reach turned out to be a very good move. She bonds naturally with the shy Nagisa and the meek Ryou in a way that fits Kotomi’s introverted personality.
As for my comment about her being excessively moe, this would bother me more were it not her reason for acting the way she does is directly linked to her backstory. The isolation she’s felt for so many years, and her failure to find any new friends has left her cold and broken. She’s failed to develop socially after all these years, and although it might be a bit of a stretch to agree with Suzimoto’s logic, I actually find myself buying it. Kudos to him for making me suspend my oft excessive disbelief.
Her breakdown is extremely intense. I was legitimately horrified by that scene. Not only was it well-written, but Mamiko Noto’s performance is pitch-perfect. I can’t help but give her the highest praise, because in spite of how difficult her character is to perform, she gets so many things right. I might even argue she has some of the highest quality acting in the game, quality which reaches her peak in the extensive, first-person flashback we receive later on. Speaking of, although we don’t get a solid idea of her parents’ personality, we get just enough to feel the sting of her words to her parents when they leave without warning. Her descent from denial into devastation when the world tries to force her to believe her parents are dead is heart-wrenching. It’s also eerily accurate to the way a child would react in such a situation.
It’s no wonder she’s so utterly broken and wants nothing to do with an life apart from her obsessive ambition.
But Tomoya doesn’t give up.
This has to be one of his most endearing traits. Although lacking in self-worth or any kind of ambition, Tomoya would climb mountains to make someone in need happy, especially if it was one of his friends. The meticulously-detailed lengths he goes to help Kotomi are very in-character for him. Realistically, he has moments of doubt, wondering not only if he will ever finish, but if Kotomi will care if he does. Nonetheless, he stands firm, and finishes the job. It’s a powerful moment that perfectly segues into their heartwarming embrace. In my mind, this story is about self-worth. Kotomi completely lacks it. She fears the only way her parents could possibly be proud of her now is for her to become a mindless drone who does nothing but dedicated herself to completing their research. Seeing people throw their lives away for well-intentioned yet self-destructive goals is horrifying, and it’s why Tomoya has no compelling answer for her once she finishes her story. He couldn’t possibly. Tomoya has never found a way to deal with the baggage in his past. He’s solved all of those problems by simply running away from them, indulging in other people’s dilemmas. So for Kotomi, he has no answer he could consider true to himself. Instead, he tries to reassert their friendship, but Kotomi finds herself too far gone. Through his actions, Tomoya opens Kotomi’s eyes to how much her friends care for her. She does have worth just for being her, and the fact she’s befriended so many people is proof of that.
I do have my beefs in this route, though. There are OTHER leaps in logic that are much harder for me to swallow. When could her parents possibly have written that letter? Why do we need to the additional sappiness of her suitcase circumnavigating the globe? How would Tomoya forget such a harrowing experience? Why would Kotomi’s caretaker stay so far away and act suspicious when she shouldn’t be living alone? Why did we need a Kyou molests Kotomi joke?
Still, the core parts of this route are executed brilliantly. 4/5?
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Kotomi is my favourite route of all the Clannad stories, yes it can be argued that it’s not especially groundbreaking and has flaws but I give it 5/5. Kotomi herself would be a little way down the list of my favourite characters. This arc really sold me on CLANNAD as a whole ( I played it after Sunohara before Fuko, so further into the story than in the Bookclub walkthrough).
I was really drawn into wanting to know more about her back story; what had made her so withdrawn and reticent, why she asked everyone if they are a bully, and why she seemed to make a connection with Tomoya. All the first half scenes as she tries hard to integrate socially with the mismatched group dominated by Kyou were both funny and touching. I can empathise with this as i find it difficult to make new friend and I have a no doubt irritating habit of spouting useless facts, textbook style as a conversation stopper…
Like most I suspect I was expecting Kotomi to be a prodigy violin player and enjoyed the overturning of expectations in that mini-arc and her total lack of awareness of the effect on others.
From the shock of (major second act spoiler) her sudden breakdown right to the end I was fighting off tears and not very successfully! I loved how Tomoya went 100% into trying to make things better, and depleting his savings, even though he had no way of knowing that it would make the slightest difference The (apparently) trauma related memory loss is a bit of a stretch but it serves well as a plot device.
The 5 episodes of the anime that covered this I arc were a total delight for me although the VN of course is more definitive.
BTW “Étude Pour les Petites Supercordes” means in music terms “musical composition for the little Superstrings” which neatly relates with both the violin and theoretical physics.
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I haven’t finished her route yet, but I wanna know what the “joke” she’s trying to tell is.
On April 28, she says,
“Nagisa-chan ja aaaaaarimasen ga”
Translated version: “Well if it isn’t Nagiiiisa-chan”
What’s the joke there? I assume it’s lost in the translation which is why I don’t understand.
It’s a reference to a Japanese comedian, but the main joke is that Kotomi is shit at telling jokes.
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