Discussion topic for the third arc of Tomoyo After: ~It’s a Wonderful Life~, focusing on Tomo. Feel free to discuss anything from this arc without [spoiler] tags, but please tag anything from later arcs or from CLANNAD, providing adequate context in parenthesis.
How would you rate this arc?
0 voters
Just finished this. There were strong feels. I really grew attached to little Tomo and I was a bit disappointed to not get to see her more in her route. Maybe I’ll see her again! I also didn’t like leaving Takafumi behind, so that was also sad.
But really this was a mostly touching story. Learning more about what’s going on, seeing how when Tomoya puts his mind to something he just doesn’t give up and keeps pushing. Very admirable. Seeing more of Tomoyo’s struggles and her not being so flawless was also nice. It gave her some more depth that I felt she had lacking a bit compared to in CLANNAD. Like she suddenly seemed dumber in some cases, even though she’s an intelligent young woman, and she seemed much sadder and less energetic. Maybe it’s just me. So seeing her get some more development was nice and I hope to see more of that in the rest of the story.
I was sad and happy at the end, there were many feels, and I very much enjoyed this route!
The feels in this route… My gosh, this was hard to read through in a good way…
I LOVED how this story portrayed the clash of ideals between Tomoya and Tomoyo. These two have never been so at odds, and both have understandable reasons for believing what they believe. Ultimately, Tomoya doesn’t want Tomo to miss the chance at spending time with a family member he knows she loves so much. He wants her to enjoy life with that person and enjoy a sensation he hasn’t felt in a long time. He’d never want other people to miss that opportunity and that’s why he works so hard to see that ideal vision realized.
But Tomoyo… She knows how much it will hurt Tomo when that perfect world ends. When Tomo’s mother is taken away, she will have to start over again. She’ll have to move past her tears and find something new to live for. Being the upbeat girl she is, Tomo WILL move on, but Tomoyo promised the two would stay together forever and have many happy times together. Because of that,she can’t bear to think of her crying. There will times I almost found myself siding with Tomoyo and judging Tomoya as lacking understanding of her concerns. However, ultimately, this is Tomoya trying desperately to keep the willpower to build the school. As noted a couple of times in narration, he’s been on the verge of giving up before.
I feel like all the themes this route presented meshed with the story very well. Tomoya, Kanako, and Tomoyo being able to reunite the community over a common goal of aspiring to change and reject mediocrity was powerful and true to life. By moving past the ordinary things they did, the villagers were able to find the joy in life again they thought they’d lost forever. A new sense of purpose and life came over them as they realized that the way people change and mature as life goes on is what ultimately makes them so precious. In addition, Tomoya and Tomoyo’s conflict ultimately sheds light on another important message. Even though life is temporary, every minute spent with loved ones is precious. Even when we grow old and die, those who knew us will carry on their legacy in remembering the happy times they spent and how wonderful those moments make us feel.
I agree with October in saying I kinda wish Tomo and Takafumi had more to do in this route, especially since the former is the emotional core of this story. But I understand the story’s logic as to why she couldn’t be there. I also wish that we got a more specific idea of what Mishima’s illness was. I mean, Nagisa’s was better elaborated. Wouldn’t it be a bit more powerful if it was a condition that people could identify with? I feel this kind of thing is one of Maeda’s weaknesses as a writer. From his perspective, making the condition ambiguous instills a greater sense of dread in the reader, but it actually makes the story feel less grounded and unrealistic.
On the plus side, though, I loved Kanako serving a support role and helping Tomoya’s goal by bringing life to the villager’s lives. Ultimately, her blunt, unwavering personality is very endearing, and in time, the villagers take notice of that.
I give this route a 4.5/5
By this point, I’m beginning to see something of a pattern in how these arcs are set up. Someone in the group has lingering issues relating to their past, and Kotori assumes the responsibility of resolving those regrets because ‘it’s the right thing to do and it will make people happy’. That’s especially the case here with Tomo, whose issues have been discussed throughout the entire story. I don’t feel like Tomo’s character has the same depth as the others, but this arc makes up for it with a ton of development for Kotori and Tomoyo, both as individuals and as a couple.
Perhaps my favorite part of this route is the influence Kotori, Tomoyo and Kanako have over the people in the village. Although we don’t see much of what Kanako does to befriend the village, you can definitely feel the weight behind every person’s bond with her and the others. Also, in Kotori working to build a school for Tomo to learn at, he teaches the villagers what it really means to live, to have a purpose for living. It reminds me a bit of Kotomi’s route in CLANNAD, particularly the part where Kotori You does his absolute best to convince Kotomi to return to school by cleaning up her garden, except on a grander scale.
Something I’ve also noticed is that this arc is full of fanfic bait, such as what happened to Takafumi and Tomo while the others went to see Tomo’s mother, and Kotori and Tomoyo’s plans for their future. Although I have no time on my hands right now to write about these things, I feel like it might be something I could tackle in the future, especially the former prompt. I want to see Takafumi becoming best buds with Tomo so bad~ X3
The end part is pretty shocking, though. It looks like Tomoyo After is far from over, and soon I will see what could either be the best part of the story or the worst. It all depends on what happens after the countdown has reached zero… 
I empathize with the desire for Tomo to have an active role in this route, but I believe this style of indirect characterization is novel, a welcome change from the previous two arcs where the characters whose names were in the titles of their arc are explicitly the protagonist. Tomo is established to be impulsive and driven by her instinctive desires (as a number of kids her age are), so she’d inevitably try to find her Mother. This would make it impossible for Yuko to ever accept their plan to have the two live together, as meeting her daughter without warning would probably re-open emotional scars she’d hope would vanish with time.
Also, while I’ll concede that Tomo doesn’t have AS much depth as the other leads, I’d argue that being a young child who’s enthusiastic and completely innocent gives Tomoya and Tomoyo’s debate over what would be best for her an extra layer of complexity. Tomoyo sees her upbeat nature and assumes she’s completely accepted her new parents, while Tomoya (using insight that’s totally in-character, considering how long he’s tried to smother his melancholic nature in front of others because he’s afraid of people pitying him) asserts that deep down, Tomo wants to be with her Mother. Even if it’s just for a few short months, she remembers how kind her Mother was and how hard she worked to make her happy. And in the end, Tomoya is proving right, thus in my mind fleshing out the character in a completely natural manner.
I have really, really enjoyed reading Tomo’s arc once again. This arc is emotional on so many levels that we find out the real reason why Tomo’s mother had decided that she could no longer take care of her. I liked how Takafumi and Kanako were helping out how to search for Tomo’s mom by that envelope that she sent and the efforts it took to find her. It seems very cruel that her life was filled with so much misfortune and the harsh reality of the situation at hand. I can understand why Tomoyo could not accept her decision because she thought that Tomo’s mother was being selfish on her part and didn’t take into account of her circumstances. Tomoyo was only going through the motions because it was hard for her to set her mind straight of the ultimate decison that both Tomoya and her would eventually have to make. By having Kanako with them, it was the proper decision to make with three heads better than two as Tomoya needed her as someone that can help out with matters that might be too much for both Tomoya and Tomoyo if they did this alone.
You can tell by the villagers that were working on the fields that were the end of their journey for how long their minds were broken and the village was the place for them to live with peace of mind. I admired Tomoya’s determination that he was not satisfied with Yuko’s statement that it would be better off that Tomo would never know about her death made it seemed liked that Tomo would never have a chance seeing her mother again. He needed to do something about the situation even if Tomoyo was not going to help him after Kanako made the suggestion to build a school instead.
The caretaker made a valid statement that really stood out to me which was for life to have meaning it is accompanied by a desire to change and boredom would stagnate one’s growth for that change if they have nothing to do with themselves. Kanako had really shined so much in this arc that she was able to win the hearts and minds of the villagers’ morale with the school as a symbol bringing hope for a bright future made me teary-eyed as everyone pitched in to make it a success for Tomo to finally live with her mother.
Near the end of the arc, I couldn’t hold my tears back at the moment Tomoya, Takafumi, and Kanako were prepared to say their goodbyes cherishing the wonderful moments they spent with her. As well as when Tomoya was telling Tomo that she could live with her mother but by doing so she would have to realize that her mother doesn’t that have long to. After Tomoyo showed up in the bear costume, that was the biggest highlight for me as she vowed that she would become strong as Tomo, who would come out stronger in the end, and for that they can become happy as they lived out their own separate lives. 
I would have to rate this arc a 5 out of 5 because it really was an enjoyable re-read as well as points that I missed before stood out to me a lot more. Finally, I am definitely looking forward to reading the After Arc! 
As the guy who you’d complain to if there’s anything unsatisfactory about the translation translator of this arc, I’ll write a few short paragraphs about my opinion of this arc too (usually called “village arc” during localization).
When I joined the fan translation project, the first two seens (scripts) that were assigned to me were August 17th and August 23rd. To this day, they remain two of my favourite stories that I have worked on as a translator. The story on the 17th may seem kind of inconsequential compared to some of the other parts in the arc, but one thing that I have always loved about it is how the villagers all become motivated to work together toward a goal thanks to Tomoya and Kanako’s actions. My favourite quote (of all time; not just this game) is “Before I realized it, a lot of people were together in the kitchen making sweets. And they were all smiling.” (Personally I liked my rendition in the fan translation, “Before I realised it, a lot of people had gathered in the kitchen to make sweets, and they were all smiling.” more). Although it didn’t work out, the essence of this quote was what I had hoped to achieve with Key15th.
The last day of this arc, August 23rd, is another one of my favourite parts of the story. We start the day off by taking a walk around the village now that the goal that Tomoya set out to do and completed–not just by himself, but by the villagers too and even Tomoyo. With the village much livelier, the difference in the mood compared to earlier in the arc felt so exciting and inspiring. I remember feeling very emotional during the scene when Tomoyo showed up in the bear costume and at first trying to leave without revealing who she was. When Tomoya tells her that she will smile once she thinks back on the time she spent with Tomo and when Tomo says “Mama!” after Tomoyo takes the teddy bear head off really hit me with emotions and got me tearing up.
Even though I have since read and worked on other parts of the story, because of the impact it has on me and how it wraps up the story up to this point, to me, this arc is the true highlight and climax of this story.
Fun fact: One of the most visible changes between the fan translation and the official release in this arc is that instead of using “Manager”, we ended up using “Caretaker” instead. This was mainly because that’s the way her name was set up in the translation software and we didn’t get the ability to change the names until much later, but it stayed since “caretaker” explained what her job was much better than “manager”. Also gave me the opportunity to throw in a kinda Star Trek reference (“I’m a caretaker. Not a doctor.”) that wouldn’t have worked very well had we kept “manager”.
So I finished the Tomo Arc yesterday, and it was my favorite arc yet. The conflict between Tomoya and Tomoyo here was very believable and a conflict where both sides have a point, although I would ultimately side with Tomoya as well.
Now, there are actually some questions about Tomo’s mother that gathered in my mind while playing. First of, what late night job did she have that the other parents thought Tomo’s a bad influence for their children? Or is it a general late night job = bad in Japan? If it’s not, then my first guess would have been Hostess, since this is definitely a job through which she could have met Mr. Sakagami. It was after all stated that she met him during these jobs if I remember correctly.
The second question regarding her is her ailment, although reading the other posts, I guess it was just supposed to be some unknown illnes which will cost her life in a few years. Still, with the direction my mind went for her profession (I know that a Hostess usually doesn’t have sex with clients, but at the time playing, prostitution was another possibility for her job, although that’s unlikely after googling and knowing that that’s illegal in Japan), at the time I thought she’s suffering from AIDS. That could still be possible, though. Who knows what could have gone wrong at a hospital or some such.
Now to something more positive, I like that Tomoya’s actions actually remind him of his father and his situation with him. I actually like it more than the resolution in Clannad After Story, (Clannad After Story) since here he actually thinks about that through his own actions, unlike in After Story, where it was basically set in motion through some third party exposition. Although the resolution itself didn’t happen yet, maybe in the After arc, maybe it was just a short mention to tie up loose ends.
And to get even more positive, during the 17th August I had a giddy smile on my face and must have looked really silly, that’s just how heartwarming the story of Kanako befriending everyone was. So yeah, Kanako is the MVP of Tomoyo After. Also, this made me think that Tomo’s going to become a child of the whole village, which is even more potential for Fanfiction, on top of the ones @EisenKoubu already mentioned. Really, I have a picture in my mind with Tomo being surrounded by smiling villagers with Tomo having the time of her life. Alas, I can’t draw well enough to do that art myself, sorry.
And for the end part:[quote=“Sonic112003, post:7, topic:1974”]
Near the end of the arc, I couldn’t hold my tears back at the moment Tomoya, Takafumi, and Kanako were prepared to say their goodbyes cherishing the wonderful moments they spent with her.
[/quote]
Same.
Well, I got nothing to complain, so I think you did a great job.
My only issue with AIDS as a possible anwser is that it doesn’t tie in to the psychological instability she’s supposed to have…
I guess there I just thought that the job she had just broke her in general in some form or another. I actually wrote “Burnout Syndrome” as a possible answer in my notes as well, but there would be the issue with her dying soon. So I guess we’ll just have to settle with “unknown for us but actually well known in universe illness”.
Yeah, I doubt there’s a concrete parallel between this and another illness. It’s odd that I think her terminal illness coincides with the point she broke down emotionally/physically at work. It’s so strange, really.
Well, I do remember the caretaker saying that her sickness had nothing to do with her work. So we can take out the possibility that she contracted a disease from her work, or that her work was too tiresome that it drove her to sickness. Well, either way, I don’t think her actual sickness matters in the long term.
As was mentioned during the Kanon bookclub, does a name really mean anything? Most readers aren’t gonna have the medical knowledge required to distinguish between different terminal, incurable diseases, so there’s little reason to bother.
This was probably my favorite part of the arc. While I’m not as extreme as Kanon about my opinions, I’ve never liked Tomoyo; she bores me to tears. Therefore, i’m thrilled when she becomes more of an obstacle for Tomoya to get past. Though to be fair, he wouldn’t stand a chance if she wasn’t so indecisive at the same time because she would just go super saiyan on him. Of course I enjoyed seeing Tomoyo as a confused mess at the same time. I think this kinda links to one of the bad endings(or both I can’t really tell them apart). In at least one of the bad endings of this arc, the narration describes a situation where Tomoyo is sitting down in the apartment, Tomo leans against her back with a book, and Tomoya rests his head in Tomoyo’s lap. Is it just me, or doesn’t that remind you of depictions of Jesus or similar figures? Basically emphasizing how the bad endings are about letting relying on Tomoyo and letting her become the sole pillar of justice.
I disagree. Giving her condition an actual name gives her crisis a greater depth of realism. Making it ambiguous feels lazy and makes it easily usable as a plot device to move the narrative whenever the writer deems it necessary to do so (End After Story spoilers) It’s one of the big reasons Ushio’s death felt so cheap to me.
Also, by that logic, (After arc spoilers) They shouldn’t have bothered specifying Tomoya’s condition, as most people don’t have the medical knowledge to understand its intricacies. Also (Kappei arc spoilers) They shouldn’t have bothered specifying Kappei’s condition because people wouldn’t be able to understand osteosarcoma One can comprehend a condition without knowing everything about it. If this wasn’t the case, medical shows like Mystery Diagnosis and other medical TV series wouldn’t have an audience. I firmly believe it adds to a series’ depth and realism when they choose to work under the constraints of real-life conditions. (Sword Art Online II spoilers) It’s part of the reason Yuuki’s struggles with AIDS is so effective.
While I agree that it doesn’t really matter for the plot, exactly which illness she suffers from, I’m still agreeing with @DangoDaikazoku, that knowing the illness adds a certain flair of realism. Well, and as you may have seen from my post, I’m someone who tries to answer such questions that really aren’t even important to answer. I’m even perfectly okay if an illness is used but isn’t actually outright stated, if there are enough implicit hints as to which illness it actually is. To the Moon did something along those lines.
Those examples, especially medical shows, aren’t about strictly “terminal, incurable diseases.” Those stories require the illness to have more details because it can be beaten. If someone has an unknown disease and doctors come up with an unknown cure, that’s just kinda bullshit. However, an unknown disease without a cure is practically the same as a known disease without a cure. You might go as far as to say that diseases like the one used in Tomo’s arc aren’t diseases at all: they’re simply rules in the universe of the story. A real disease would have more intricate details, but that’s not the story we have here. Tomo’s mom is just gonna get carried away by nightgaunts, and there is nothing anyone can do about it, so they have to live with that.
Then, why not give a real disease with no known cure? It’s very easy as a writer to not define or clearly outline a plot device in your story so you can bend and manipulate it to your will. (Beginning of After arc spoilers) That’s why it’s so frustrating that they can decide Tomo’s mother dies even sooner than they thought she would. It’s just a lazy way to transition to the events of the After arc. Now, obviously, even real diseases can be used in a way that’s cheap and lazy, but the way I see it, not allowing yourself to work within the realm of reality when portraying a terminally ill character implies you don’t respect the audience’s intelligence enough to approach them with realistic storytelling. Unlike some Key works, there’s no fantasy in Tomoyo After, so you can’t even argue from THAT perspective it’s okay to make something up. I believe specifying this kind of thing is what makes stories like, say, Katawa Shoujo feel so authentic.
I mean, it’s NOT really a big deal, but this kind of thing is definitely a pet peeve of mine.
Because it takes up time for the writers. Because people would see a yet unsolved riddle rather than a unsolvable one. If they make a mistake, the price to pay would be higher than keeping the audience in the dark. You can also bring up the aspect that Tomo’s mom didn’t want the details to be known.
That reminds me, To which arc do we count the intermediary arc between Tomo and After? When they recap the story up to that point and then go back to the village.
