Misae is an interesting character, as it’s not very often that I get to see a glimpse of what could happen to a schoolgirl in her adult years. Granted, it’s a rather specific glimpse, but it’s still insightful and quite worth the trip. She finds herself engrossed in, but not quite satisfied with her work as dorm mother of the boys’ dormitory where Sunohara lives. TomoyaCosmo spends time advising her on how to be a better dorm mother, to the point where he earns her trust and grows close to her. It’s then that Cosmo gets curious about a boy who turned her down once, and then most of the route focuses on her younger self.
During Misae’s high school days, a young boy named Shima approaches her, promising to grant her one wish as repayment for saving his life. She doesn’t take the topic too seriously and would rather see him go away, but he resolves to stick to her until the wish is fulfilled. Shima hears from Misae’s crush, Igarashi-san, that he already knows about her crush on him, and asks Shima to tell Misae about it. Misae does not take the news well, and Shima does his best to bring her spirits back up, falling in love with her in the process. (And it’s more natural than Fuko’s romance scene, thank heaven. 
)
Misae prospers as an individual and with Shima until Shima remembers his duty to grant Misae’s wish. He discovers that the light that provides the wish is missing, leading him to question his purpose. He eventually decides that he can still provide a lesser form of wish-granting, one within his own power as a human being. When he discovers that he isn’t really Shima, but a shadow, an identity-less spirit who was entrusted with the task of granting Misae’s wish. When Misae decides to grant her wish, he disappears soon after, his work complete.
It’s then revealed that the cat she has been keeping for a while is a reincarnation (?) of Shima, still lingering around her master in the hopes of fulfilling the measure of his creation. It’s actually quite a heartwarming ending… :’)
Aside from Misae’s own development, her route offers quite a bit of insight into Nagisa and Ryou’s characters as well, depending on the choices Cosmo makes. Nagisa discusses her feelings for Cosmo as she saw them during the first day she met him, and while it’s a little predictable of her to think so highly of him, both Misae and Cosmo’s reactions are what make the scene. Same goes for Ryou, although I always wondered, as I watched the anime, how she’s developed feelings for Cosmo, and the explanation given is actually pretty satisfying. It makes me look forward to her route in the near future~ 
Misae is also the first route I’ve read so far that goes into some detail about the central plot MacGuffin of CLANNAD: the light orbs. According to Shima, they grant any one wish a person has per orb, without limit of scope. However, the procedure for using them is still a little vague, as they seem to activate subconsciously rather than ceremoniously. It actually makes me question if the light really was meant for Misae, and if so, when she made the wish to be with Shima forever. 
Overall, this was a fairly short, but sweet start to the slew of routes I’m bound to tackle next. Next up is Tomoyo, so hopefully the next few routes will be a nice upward trend (otherwise Tomoyo After has no chance of being in my Steam library in the near future~ ).
