CLANNAD - Yukine Miyazawa Route & Character Discussion

Key Discussion
#43

Finally done with this route, and it took me longer than I wanted to ^^; One thing that I have said numerous times, mostly on chat, is that I think that this was a pretty well-written route. It is very multifaceted in that it has so many themes that it presents, all presented very concisely. Some of which include, but are not limited to:

  • How society views the “goodness” of a person
  • The value of the things that we gain from making “mistakes”
  • Finding true value in the things we do

I also thought the romance was pretty sweet, because you could really feel the endearment that Tomoya felt towards Yukine. Sad that we saw nothing from her side in that regard, though.

However, at the end of the day, I still feel that the route was boring. Rather, I guess it’s worded better as “nothing exciting happens”. I have a bigger reason for saying this than just gut feeling, but I’ll save that for the podcast because I just know that @Bizkitdoh is gonna be at my neck for this ha ha ha

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#44

Those stares though.

Also yeah I intend to end your life or something dramatic.

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#45

but those stares were sooooo ambiguous D: Were they genuine romantic interest? Did she still just see him as a brother? Does yukine just get off of watching people eat reheated frozen food???

#46

“You could cut the intimacy with a knife.”

Come on, man. They were totally dancing around their hots for one another.

#47

If Yukine wasn’t cool with it, Tomoya wouldn’t have lived to see the epilogue.

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#48

I don’t think she really ever saw Tomoya as a brother - rather I think she saw some of her brothers best traits in him and that was part of her attraction to him. I think the whole blurring of lines between Tomoya and Yukine’s brother was kind of the logic jump Tomoya and Sunohara made on their own.

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#49

That is a very valid interpretation, yes, but I kind of wished for something more concrete than just “dancing around their hots”
Something like an insight to her emotions would have been nice.

#50

You can’t just spell out love! How unromantic, blech.

#51

I admit though I really wish there is more romance scenes like how they’re dating and such, I mean it would be interesting how Yukine acts as a girlfriend

#52

“The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.”, that’s a quote from someone, some time not relevant. While this route doesn’t paint it as black and white as that, this is what I see at the core of the story. Kazuto chose a new family for himself, but Yukine doesn’t have any problems with her parents. She accepts both her genetic relatives and the family she earned for herself. That portrayal of how anyone could be family is done elsewhere in clannad, but I definitely think it’s done the best here.

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#53

"The girl beside me is only as tall as my shoulder.
Yet, so many people out there are trying to find support from her. Where can that tiny body of hers find the strength to hold up everything?"

What does the harsh street life lack? Kindness. Yukine is kindness incarnate.
That kindness makes the “tough” guys naturally open up to her and rely on her. Even if it’s hard for her. Even if she’s hurting just as much as the people around her. She’ll do her best for them in her own special way.

Yukine posesses outstanding qualities that are difficult to notice at first glance. The courage to welcome anyone with open arms. The strength to be the mental support for others. The ability to look past a person’s appearance and see them for what they are deep inside. The Miyazawa magic that puts people in a good mood.

I was really impressed by Yukine when she calmly faced Yuu’s overly upset mother (who said some nasty things) and deescalated the situation while also giving her a piece of her mind:

“I don’t think anyone who only knows how to obediently follow what others throw at them can become a ‘decent person.’”
~ Miyazawa Yukine

Tomoya’s role in this route is quite interesting. While Yukine’s friends relied on her, Tomoya took note of her hardships and became someone who could support and comfort Yukine. He didn’t do much, but it meant a lot to her. The interesting part about it is that while Tomoya did assume the role of Yukine’s brother at first, allowing himself to get brother-zoned would result in a bad ending. He didn’t simply take someone else’s position. He made one for himself, even if it meant angering a bunch of scary guys.

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#54

Phew, finally went ahead and read it. What a happy route that was!

Yukine is an incredibly likeable character. As a more idealistic than cynical person myself I really appreciated the motif of seeing everyone for the ‘good person’ they really are. “I always want to stay the way I am.” A wonderful sentiment. The world needs more Yukines.

As for the route, I absolutely loved the graveyard scene. When everyone comes forward and speaks of the way their life has changed this past year I got a little emotional. Good stuff. The comic relief was also pretty great, Sunohara being Sunohara alllll the way through, and of course who could forget the classic gym storage room scene. I happened to get Akio’s and Tomoyo’s this time. Akio’s is so damn hilarious xD

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#55

I got Kyou’s storage room scene. She’s got a surprisingly dirty mind, jumping to conclusions so quickly.

#56

Yukine’s Character

WHY IS EVERY GIRL IN THIS VN SO UNNATURALLY ‘PERFECT’, god I can’t wait for Kotomi, at least she’s a fucking nutjob.

FUCKIN’ PLEASANT THO. But that’s really all she is, she’s super nice and lovely and just great to be around, but in the end, she’s kind of…boring. She’s just a normal nice girl. Likable, but not outstanding. I mean I get it, that’s the point, buuuuut.

The Route

LOL WUT
ANIME MAKING SHIT UP
LOL WHAT’S THIS RANDOM ASS GANG WAR CONFLICT IN THE ROUTE WHICH BIGGEST CHARM POINT IS IT’S LACK OF CONFLICT. KYOANI PUT YOUR DUMB BULLSHIT BACK WHERE IT BELONGS I AM SO GLAD YOU DIDN’T TOUCH LITTLE BUSTERS.

This was much better than that. It’s pretty neat to see a girl who has resolved her dramatic conflict and is just chilling out, and just nothing more than that, aside from some budding romance, not though dramatic events, but from two people who get along, it’s quite different and really good for being so.

And since it didn’t need to be dramatic, we got to keep Sunohara and the atmosphere he would bring, and oh my god is this route hilarious, this is probably the funniest part of the VN so far, moreso than even common, I posted like 20 screenshots from this route on twitter, often without even having to say anything, simply because I found them so amusing. The massive amount of random Spanish out of absolutely no where probably isn’t supposed to be funny, but god damn my sides were splitting at the sheer amount of it.

The final scene is excellent, if I had to give this route a word, it would be atmosphere, the final scene atmosphere is excellent, it helps you feel the feels that are feeling, but it’s not trying to hit you in the face with said feels like Key would, it puts you in the place to watch and feel what the characters are feeling, it’s very genuine and superb writing.

Overall

Writing Quality and Atmosphere are amazing tools that can easily turn a few hours of, for all intents and purposes, pretty much nothing, into a fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Very Best Exquisito/10

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#57

Whoa what!? I thought you said that Charlotte scene was ‘great’???

[quote=“Naoki_Saten, post:53, topic:1943”]
“The girl beside me is only as tall as my shoulder.Yet, so many people out there are trying to find support from her. Where can that tiny body of hers find the strength to hold up everything?”
[/quote] Possibly my favorite line of the route. It embodies its theme’s so well.

[quote=“Pepe, post:45, topic:1943”]
Were they genuine romantic interest? Did she still just see him as a brother?
[/quote]Ehhh, possibly. I mean, Tomoya probably kinda acts like her brother, in the delinquent sense. And again. Im finding that the overarching theme of every route is that both sides of whatever new relationship Tomoya gets himself into needs support. Tomoya needs love. Other person needs love. They both give each other love. Both parties end up better people, and learn something from the other.

So maybe it kinda started out as you’re suggesting. But really, the highest form of support and friendship really is romance. Thats not always exactly what society wants to tell us, but I believe it to be true. If someone is able to give you that kind of support, you’re likely to fall in love with them. Just sayin.

#58

So I quite liked this route, it was actually the first one that I did after the baseball route and it was, more than anything else, really, really relaxing. Both Yukine and the route in general had a very calm and gentle feel to them that, with very few exceptions, was maintained throughout. And despite that the route stayed interesting because it really seemed like Tomoya and Yukine both fit in very well with it and with each other. Tomoya and Sunohara, though Tomoya more so for obvious reasons, both seemed to get into Yukine’s atmosphere really easily.

In regards to the romance between the two, I think you can see it either way really, there definitely was never any real profession of love from Yukine but it seems to me that that would be a pretty OOC action for her to take. Tomoya on the other hand was clearly infatuated and definitely seemed a bit jealous of her visitors at first, but eventually came around to her playing the role she did and found a way to play a role that fit what she was doing as well. In that regard I thought they ended up having a pretty good relationship, Yukine does her mother Theresa thing and Tomoya takes care of her in the background. Also the scene at the graveyard was fantastic and I definitely cried.

On something of a side note I really like her theme music and thought it both fit in very well with her personally as well as with the VN in general. I’d say that this mostly true of the character themes with the exception of Tomoyo’s which while being a pretty good piece that to fit her very well didn’t really seem a good fit with the VN in general. It’s a bit too aggressive and seems harsher sounding than the rest of the music, that being said it really does seem to fit well with Tomoyo as a character, but is just a bit strong for the VN and as a general use theme song as well. In contrast Yukine’s really calm and slow piece fits her and the VN quite well in the way that it is very gentle and calm and never really moves away from that in the same way that the route, despite eventually moving to more dramatic moments and occasions never really moves away from the base peacefulness at the heart of the route and Yukine herself. In the same way that Yukine, even when she gets, very much relatively, heated with Yuu’s mother she still stays calm. Similarly during the anniversary of her brother’s death even though it is an extremely emotional moment she stays warm and calm and caring, throughout.

So in general I really liked the route it would have been nice to have more but without delinquent and general Sunohara jokes overstaying their welcome I’m not certain that could have been done. Also a fun Yukine aside is getting the different results of the spell where you are supposed to talk to the girl who is interested in you, Fuko’s was especially funny. This route also represents an interesting contrast in its familial story with Tomoyo’s where Tomoyo was stopped before anything catastrophic could happen by her younger brother but Yukine’s brother never was. They were definitely in different places in regards to their family and what they were doing as delinquents but it is still an interesting comparison of the effect ones family can have.

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#59

Maaan, the magic spells are so much fun. You can even run into Misae when Tomoya does the walk-round-the-campus spell. Guess that confirms she was totally into him as well, huh? :wink:

Anyone know if there are any more candidates for the EMITTING PHEROMONE spell than just the twins and Tomoyo?

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#60

Nope, pretty sure those are the only ones because those are the only ones that Sunohara actually knows

#61

I also liked Yukine’s route as well. She is very kind-hearted and the setting in the reference room makes it feel like a relaxing atmosphere to enjoy one’s company. I know she was not trying to replace her brother when Tomoya was trying to comfort her but I think she had some emotional attachment to him personally regarding their relationship with each other. Despite of the issues with the people coming back and forth through the reference room, she was calm and entertaining to those who needed her advice on things. Her route was very unique, especially when she mentions about the orbs of light that emits from a person’s true happiness. At first, it was hard to understand the meaning why normal people could no longer see these anymore and Tomoya was the only individual that can see them. Aside from that, Yukine’s route was very fun and relaxing.

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#62

This as my favourite route so far. Yukine is so kind and loving, I find it really inspiring. I also thought it was a very sweet romance. I like how casual she is about the joking around too and how she accepts people for who they are. Absolutely loved it and I am sad I didn’t get to see more of her in the other routes

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