CLANNAD - Yukine Miyazawa Route & Character Discussion

[Dataweaver]

[quote=“ZakM, post:31, topic:1943, full:true”]In the VN, at the end of Yukine’s route Tomoya makes mention of the mysterious light orb that he was able to see when Yukine experienced her moment of happiness at the climax of her story. (And the end of every subsequent route, reasons explained ahead)
In this scene Yukine brings up the story passed down in folklore in the town of Hikarizaka.

As much as I wanted to copy out the text of the conversation… I can’t access the scene any more, because for some weird reason, the VN locks you out of that particular bit of text after you’ve read Yukine’s route once. If you go back… The conversation is cut, and you get redirected to the title screen after the comic relief moment between Tomoya and Sunohara.[/quote]So if I Save immediately after that comic relief moment on my first completion of Yukine’s route, I should be able to pull it up again in the future? I’ll have to remember to do that; getting shut out of such a crucial bit of lore would be quite disappointing.

[EisenKoubu]

I find it difficult to rate this route, simply because there’s no 6. This is seriously the best route of CLANNAD I’ve read so far, and among the best Key routes I’ve read.

Yukine feels like the natural evolution of Sayuri (from Kanon)'s character; she’s friendly, agreeable and playful, and always prefers to see and bring out the good in people. She does have her moments of false modesty, but unlike Sayuri she does take credit where credit is due. Her relationships with others are believable and carry emotional weight, and her affection for TomoyaApache is also well-done, although it’s not the focus of her route.

So many morals exist in this route that it’s surprising someone like Maeda wrote it. Yukine is perhaps the progenitor of what Key fans would eventually call “The Spiral of Happiness Theory”, which states that through consistent acts of kindness to another person, that person will feel obligated to provide happiness in return. It’s stated here as ‘going round and round in circles’, but it’s the same basic concept.

This route also talks about something I feel is hinted at but never explicitly mentioned in most other Key routes: humanity is a forgetful race, so it’s often necessary to repeat truths spoken so frequently it’s annoying. At the same time, however, it also stresses how important it is to figure out the truth for yourself, to take action on what you believe. Blindly and unconditionally following orders is an extreme that leads to a path just as dark as completely disregarding the rules. Thus, it’s necessary to find out for oneself if the things our parents or friends teach us is the undeniable truth. I think that’s a great message, one that even I forget sometimes, but has shaped my life in subtle, but significant ways.

Finally, this route also provides more insight on the light orbs. First off, it seems only Apache can see the lights, so it leads me to assume that the only reason they appear is because he needs them for something beyond his comprehension. Yukine mentions that perhaps they appear because Apache is growing to like the town he resides in. She then clarifies that the lights are associated with happiness, and their appearance indicates a change of heart within the person collecting them. So, I assume that by collecting more light orbs, Apache will grow to change his views of the town and the people he meets.

With Yukine finished, the rest of the routes have a lot to live up to. There’s still a long way to the eventual apparent pinnacle of CLANNAD that is After Story, so hopefully the next few routes will be enjoyable. Since Kotomi’s next, let’s hope Yuuichi Suzumoto has the skills to keep up with Maeda this time around.

[Arete]

I really loved this route, it was definitely one of the best in the game. The anime animation did add a lot of unnecessary drama, and the whole gang wars thing was kinda meh for the majority of the arc. That being said, the pinnacle fight scene was

I do wish we got to hear more about Kazuto, though, That is one thing I felt the anime did better. We got to see a tiny bit more of him in side stories, but I need my fix.

And I don’t need to add just how goddamn cute Yukine is. Best CLANNAD girl, without a doubt.

[BlackHayate02]

Is this VN just making me like each heroines every time I enter their route? I mean, I ended up really liking Yukine and became among my best girl candidates in this VN. But of course I need to read more to say who my best girl actually is.

I think I can see why this turned out to be a “side route.” It’s exceedingly simple and kind of uneventful. But I honestly think that the story thrived in its simplicity. I really like how subtle the storytelling is: Yukine took the heavy responsibility of taking care of her delinquent friends, and having to protect them can stress her out sometimes. Not necessarily because of her friends being delinquents, but because of the society that looks down on them.

But having a lap to lie on let her loosen up a bit, which culminated to the graveyard scene, where she’s finally able to express how she felt about her brother and his passing. There’s an insight in this route on the light orb being a representation of happiness, so what is this happiness that Yukine achieved from this scene? I believe it’s her, as someone that many people have relied on, finding someone to rely on, too.

What I also like here in this route (or perhaps Clannad in general) is how it emphasizes the importance of family without naively portraying blood relations as inherently the greatest thing (I see this too often on family-oriented local TV shows). I mean, the story critiques the helicopter parenting portrayed from Yuu’s mother and Yukine’s parents. While Yukine was traditionally nice enough not to be negatively affected by this, that wasn’t so much the case for her brother and Yuu. Yuu’s mother was just seen in the story as unkind, no more, no less, and Yukine’s brother found more warmth from his friends than from his own parents. I find it great to see works of fiction giving blood relations such a human and realistic portrayal.

I already said before how much I like Yukine, but man why is she so trusting, so open-minded? How could someone has such a big heart? ;u;

[DangoDaikazoku]

In my mind, this has to be the most low-key and conflict free of the routes in Clannad. There’s no intense character drama, no sudden man-to-man conflict like what they introduced in the anime, it’s solely about Tomoya and Yukine’s romance. It’s a good one, though, so it doesn’t really HAVE to be anything else. Yukine is a likeable, reasonably eccentric character, and that side of her complements Tomoya’s quick-witted banter very well. Their development into a couple felt very organic.

The one conflict that does come into this route, however, is thoroughly unimpressive. Tomoya assuming that he’s a substitute for Yukine’s brother and worrying whether she would ever see him as a romantic interest is an awfully thin excuse for an internal dilemma, especially since (Mei route spoilers) He seems perfectly content at the end of Mei’s route, in which he doesn’t even have a chance of romance. . Also, I know it was off-hand, but the pedophile Sunohara joke was in bad taste. I’m not sure why Kai felt the need to put one in this and Kappei’s route, but it was thoroughly unpleasant for me.

My only other complaint would be that, in truth, Yukine learns very little about Tomoya in this story. She pretty quickly equates his personality to her brothers, but she doesn’t find out about his past trauma, or the internal struggles he will have to overcome in order to grow stronger as a person. If that had been a bigger part of this route (especially since I feel they had the time to dive into it), it would have been stronger.

Overall, though, I enjoyed it for what it is. 4/5. Oh, and I really like Tea in the Reference Room. It carries a very unique sound that captures the serenity of Yukine’s hub perfectly. On a side note, I’m wondering if the fact she has both a kissing CG and an OST tie in to the fact she used to be a main heroine, or those things are purely coincidental.

[Kotomi795]

Out of all the routes I’ve read so far, Yukine’s was the one that surprised me the most, mainly because as I found out midway through the route, the gang fight that happened in the anime was an anime only thing. And I won’t lie that a part of me felt a bit bummed out about that, but the more I read through the route the more I realized that there really didn’t need to be a gang fight or any intense event. The route is very much a slice of life about Yukine, her eccentrics and philosophy on life, and the relationships between her and Tomoya Tupac, Sunohara, and the gang members, the former of which turns into an affectionate romance. And for what it did, I really liked it and I think I prefer it over what was given in the anime.

Yukine herself is a really likable character. She’s unabashedly nice to the point that even the most cynical hearted people can’t help but like her, very sweet and considerate, can be quite eccentric at times, and looks in the good of other people. Plus, I really like her optimistic and peaceful outlook not only on life but also when dealing with everyday problems. When a problem occurs like for example Yuu stealing Sunohara’s money for the sake of feeding cats, she doesn’t deal with it in an antagonistic matter but instead in this case, tries to reason with Yuu by explaining how Sunohara wouldn’t be happy with what he does in a friendly manner and it ends up being effective. It’s something I really admire and I also like her idea that if you make people happy by doing kind things for them, then you’ll be happy in return due to doing those kind things and good things will happen to you. It’s very much the idea of good karma, but one could argue that it’s also kind of a progenitor to the Happiness Spiral Theory from Little Busters. Lastly, I need to give credit to the voice actress for Yukine as she delivered a spectacular performance and it’s something that I cannot separate from Yukine.

The romance/relationship between Yukine and Tupac was very sweet, and I like the lap pillow moments along with the moments where Yukine asks Tupac to pamper her. As for the conflict of Tupac feeling that he’s just a replacement for Yukine’s brother, I find it to be understandable in the sense that it creates a doubt in Tupac’s mind of whether Yukine likes him just because he reminds her of her brother or likes him regardless of that. At the same time though, it is kind of thin for a dilemma and as we find out, Yukine loves Tupac regardless of whether he reminds her of her brother or not. In any case though, the romance was done well and the kiss scene at the end was pretty awesome.

As for the comedy, Sunohara once again provided some really hilarious moments for this route - “Sunohara coffee is ready” made me laugh really hard - and I felt really bad for the poor guy. He tries so hard to win Yukine’s heart and he ends up getting the short end of the stick either due to bad timing with Yukine’s friends catching him or his idiocy getting the better of him. When he was crying near the end of the route, I wanted to give him a hug. I also really like the spells in this route. They provided a lot of funny results, especially the shed scene.

Finally, we also get some insight about the light orbs and how they are noticed by those who like the town. This kind of implies that perhaps Tupac doesn’t hate the town, but rather likes it and is frustrated with it due to the bad experiences in his past. However, this also raises the question of why Tupac is the only one who can see the light orbs and not Yukine who also likes the town. My theory is that perhaps the light orbs can only be seen by people who love the town so much that they never want to leave the town permanently, and get upset when something changes in the town whether good or bad. That’s my two cents anyway, there is probably a reason that they’ll mention later on in the other routes.

So overall, Yukine’s route was pretty good, and I feel that the more times I read it again, the more I’m going to appreciate it and find more things to like. Next up is either Kotomi or Kyou.

Oh right, “Tea in the Reference Room” is a really good track and I never get tired of listening to it.

[StarfishBender]

Having played the VN before watching the anime, I didn’t enjoy the way the anime handled this route - it just seemed to add jeopardy for the sake of it and take away the focus from Yukine in favour of Tomoya. Yes, Tomoya is the “enabler” in these routes but the story should really be about Yukine and the aura of calming that surrounds her and the gang conflict seems to undermine that. I guess that seeing their original plan for Yukine didn’t work out in the VN they tried to resolve that in the anime but I wish they’d kept it as it was.

I’m not fully on board the Yukine is best girl train, but she is in my Top 5.

And count me in the “Tea in the Reference Room” fanclub, I’ve been humming that to myself several times a day for the last month!