so tomoyo had the same seiyuu as kurugaya and nishikujou sensei interesting :kurumu:
Technically, voices first came for Clannad in the PS2 version… which came out a few months after TA’s original version.
Makes me wonder why they’d choose inconsistent VAs within such a short timespan
3/5 isn’t up to par? I’d say it should be 2/5 if you considered it below standards. Weird call.
Probably didn’t want to have one person record voices for two VNs at the same time.
My standards for Key are at a 4/5 because their stories are usually good 
This story is average.
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It’s been a while since I finished Tomoyo After last April, so I’ll be presenting my overall thoughts
about the Tomoya Arc as best as I can. I was surprised to hear Tomoya’s VA in this new version so it was actually really cool to listen his voice. Aside from that, the jokes are just as hilarious and the funny situations where Tomoya asks Tomoyo to wear those certain outfits made me feel weird inside compared to those “H-scenes” from the 18+ version. I love how Takafumi tries to interrupt Tomoya and Tomoyo with their usual “playtime” and I couldn’t stop laughing at the times when Tomoyo makes him try to forget what happened in each encounter.
On to the topic of the main story, I like how Tomoya likes to work with his own hands as a repairman and does his job efficiently, although like any type of work he is still in the learning process and asks for help when it is necessary. His life was really hard when he used to live alone and by having Tomoyo as his support I think had changed him for the better as he is able to do more things he wasn’t able to previously before the events of CLANNAD. After when they found out about the little girl, Tomo, and the situation with Takafumi presenting the cruel reality of her being an illegitimate child and abandoned, that scene still pains my heart. It may seem cruel to lie to Tomo about having to keep her away from Tomoyo’s family but re-reading this I’m thinking that for the time it was probably the only decision to make because of the major consequences it would have after the anniversary of their parents getting together and everything the Sakagami family had worked for. In so doing, the huge task accompanied by that lie in itself is a cruel reminder of how lies can really hurt those the ones we love. I agree that Tomo is a very precious character and it makes you want to protect her from everything from the harshness of reality that was set before her.
The scene when Tomoya and Tomoyo go together to decide that Tomoya was going to make an effort to have Tomo meet her mother and that made me feel very sad that the mother was only praying for her happiness and then she just leaves out of the blue. It’s very hard for me to imagine someone who for all those years taking care of a child and then for some reason leaves unexpectedly can be very cruel and the emotions associated with it can bring devastating consequences. Tomoyo does becomes blind-sighted when she devotes herself to something was a major flaw because like all of us we are not perfect and we make mistakes but with Tomoya backing up with her is what I find appealing as he was helped by her before and he wants to make things right to cherish those irreplaceable moments.
As for Kanako’s character voiced by the same VA who played Haruka in Little Busters!, I didn’t like her at first because of her bad jokes as well as her foul mouth when she was messing around with Takafumi and Tomoya. I could not imagine someone who is able to eat ice cream almost everyday without getting sick. I felt sorry about her circumstances of why she was not able to believe in the eternal love that Tomoya and Tomoyo had despite her situation with her parents.
The fight scenes with Tomoya risking his life just for the sake of wanting to protect Tomoyo and Tomo was really intense despite how he wanted to become stronger was so inspiring and amazing. This part always makes me want to root for him as he struggles to compete these enduring matches with Kanako helping to train his body for those fights. After those battles, I was happy to see him relieved from everything that he was able to endure and it brought some emotions that stirred inside of me as he won. Of course, the moment when he sees Tomoyo at the park using all of his strength to find them made me teary-eyed a bit as he was finally able to rest seeing Tomoyo’s smile which is what made him feel very happy. 
I actually enjoyed re-reading Tomoya’s Arc as I have a better understanding of why it was important for him to be able to do everything in his power to becoming a better person and in so doing he protected the ones that meant dear to him of all. This post was lengthy but I wanted to take notes as I finished certain segments in the arc that was important to me and it made things more easier to write my thoughts on it. On that note, I would rate it probably a 3 out of 5. I really look forward to reading Takafumi’s arc! 
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Breaking from my usual more thoroughly estructured analysis posts, I decided to give it a more spontaneous approach to this one, so as to show what my true feelings where about this route. Writing, messages and all will also be addressed, but I don’t want them to be the focus of the post.
Welp, this was a weird start to the VN. Let’s see, we get some random Tomoyo getting dressed in every posible way, we discover Tomoya is working repairing things and all of a sudden everything is a mess with Takafumi, Tomo, Kanako, Tomoya and Tomoyo, all 5 people living in a single room appartment. But what is it that we love about crazy story development? Nonsensical humor of course! But seriously, comedy saved this route.
Knowing that this was originally a 18+ spinoff VN, I was concerned about its quality, which was obviously lacking during the prologue. What obviously were sex scenes had been substituded by Tomoyo trying out random costumes and she feeling overly embarassed about it when Takafumi was watching. Of course, the staff had to do something to disguise those sex scenes, but given the way they did it, why not just let it out of the VN? I don’t think anyone will complain about the prologue not being in the VN if it originally was H content. Well, perhaps some (including me) would complain about not being able to read the best quote of the VN:
So, leaving the prologue aside, what do I think about the route? Well, I think it served as an introduction to all characters and their relationships. There were hilarious moments. As for Tomoya’s story, well… I guess the message conveyed is clear. In my opinion what is meant to be showed is that Tomoya developes an extreme power of will and guts to overcome any situation, however, I’d argue that the way the story progresses allows for a more civil way of proceeding that would end up with the same result: protecting his family.
Anyway, the main concern I have with this route is when Takafumi brings Tomo to Okazaki’s house (I thought I’d call him by his surname to avoid confussion) and he basically says that he brought her there to avoid wrecking his family. So, his whole logic process was: I want to preserve the status quo of my family, so I’ll instead pass the hot potato to you and avoid any kind of responsibility. When I saw Tomoyo’s arc in CLANNAD, I thought that the Sakagamis were finally united and would never break up, specially due to any conflict the origin of which was before Takafumi’s suicide attempt.
Even then, both Tomoyo and Okazaki didn’t have much of a choice. If anything, he could have called the police, but that would have ended up with Tomo being presented to the Sakagamis and Takafumi’s decision of protecting his family’s status quo would have been in vain.
Then Haruka Kanako appears. She basically acts like a childish teenager who won’t accept any of her parents’ actions (or mother, in this case). So she escapes from home and reaches for Takafumi, and in a blink of an eye, Okazaki now has another resident. What’s even better is that she shows almost no concerns about living with them without paying a penny. Hell, she won’t even buy an ice cream for Okazaki and won’t share hers… This is what really got on my nerves.
Fortunately, they all share incredibly funny moments like the lying contest, Gaijin Takafumi and of course, this:
So all the comedy makes up for how much I hated Takafumi and Kanako during this first arc. Also, here is an obligatory screenshot about another beautiful quote that shows pure writing skills:
Now we get onto the main stuff: Okazaki’s fights and the motivation he had to keep on. Well, it is presented that he wants to deal with those guys because he thinks that they are going to kidnap Tomo if he doesn’t fight them or if Tomoyo herself doesn’t show up. He also doesn’t want to let Tomoyo deal with them because he wants to feel like he is useful and reliable and not just someone who depends on Tomoyo. He wants to prove that he is strong enough to be worthy of Tomoyo.
What do I think about this whole situation? Well, I think it’s straightly stupid. Why would you fight all those guys every day when you can just call the police? Why would you not tell Tomoyo what is going on, just to let her know, not to get any help from her? Sometimes, acknowledging the whole situation and acting intelligently is way better than fighting thoughtlessly.
This aside, he fought them and we could see his determination to help his family. He also shows that he is reliable and can deal with problems on his own. Well, maybe not completely on his own, since Kanako helped him with the training, but you get the idea. It was at this point that I started liking Kanako, since she showed that she actually cared about her new acquaintance and helped him without denying his wish of doing it alone. She even helped him hide the fighting from Tomoyo, though it was in vain…
So Okazaki finally gained the confidence and determination he’ll need in the following routes to carry on with his choices and actions. Something else we get to see from Okazaki is how he just likes helping people, not only his family or friends. This is seen through his job as a repairman. He won’t hesitate sacrificing some of his time to help someone with an spontaneous issue and will fix it on the spot. This was lovely and these scenes felt very calmed and pleasing.
I’d like to speak a bit about the music too. There are many good themes here, like Hope, Old summer days, Love song… but what I think that it’s done best in this VN is music transitions. Since many tracks are similar, and the instruments are pretty much the same, in many places I almost didn’t feel like the BGM changed. This is something very important for immersion that I thought was worth mentioning.
Well, so this is it for the first route in the VN. I left some things out because I felt like they are better suit for the following arcs. Overall, I gave this arc a 3/5. I didn’t like the story and I disliked quite a bit Takafumi and Kanako (during this arc), but the comedy was great and made me laugh every 5 sentences.
EDIT: On a side note, I was talking with @DangoDaikazoku about this yesterday in the voice chat and we came up with the idea that the detailed fight scenes reason to be there is because Maeda, like with baseball, knows a bit about street fighting because he might be the kind of guy who would get into fights when he was young. This could be showed from characters like Tomoyo, who went on killing sprees before joining CLANNAD’s High School and then tried to reform herself and stay away from that life. It could also be related by how (Charlotte spoilers) Yuu got into fights quite a bit in Charlotte when he had that breakdown and, according to what @DangoDaikazoku said, Yuu’s character was written by him as a depiction of some of his own traits, so this could mean that he used to get into fights. It’s still speculation and a bit far-fetched though.
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I am currently at the part soon after Tomo was introduced. I feel that Tomoyo and Tomoya are very different characters compared to where they left off in the VN, this has been kind of discouraging me from continuing on with the VN.
My first impressions were similar. Tomoya is a bit hornier than he was even in Tomoyo’s route, and Tomoyo is a bit more tsunderish than she was in Clannad. But I’d stick with it. The stories they tell with these characters are memorable and revisit the core essence of our leads.
Also, on a side note, did anyone else find it odd that Tomoyo is sporting a “cute lil’ fang” in this VN…?
Yeah, the artist changed from CLANNAD, so characters are a bit differently drawn. The only complain I have is with her surpised/angry sprite.
Also, Kanako’s are fantastic, specially the surpised one.
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That can actually be achieved in the VN, causing you to get a bad end that extends all the way to Takafumi’s arc. It’s actually pretty believable, so I suggest you try going for that bad end and see where it gets you 
But doesn’t that end with (spoiler just in case) Tomoyo dealing with the guys? I meant telling her but also preventing her from taking any action.
(Not a spoiler so quoting as is)
I think it is impossible, at that point, to convince Tomoyo to not do anything about it. Especially considering her hot-blooded personality
But Tomoya didn’t even try, it’s like telling her implied that Tomoya thought that it would be good to ask her for help. I would have really liked an option that goes somewhere in between.
What I don’t like about this is that in my opinion, Tomoya mistakes being able to do things alone with hiding it from everyone. It just feels wrong to hide it from Tomoyo, they should have the confidence to share such things and still plot an intelligent way to deal with the situation, not just hiding the fact that Tomoyo has been challenged and picking fights with everyone every single night.
And this leads to a possible misconception. It could be thought, that to solve problems, you have to be a masochist. You have to withstand all the pain to fix the problem. And it shouldn’t be that way: if there is a way to solve the problem without taking so many risks, I think you should do it that way. And in this case, this way doesn’t revolve around depending on Tomoyo, so Tomoya still would have proven his point of being equally capable without Tomoyo’s help.
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After a long discussion with my older brother about this, I 100% agree.
I discussed the second major theme of this visual novel (Tomoya maturing into a responsible adult who can take care of those closest to him, a very similar arc to the one he went through in After Story), and these are the conclusions he came to. He argued that this arc does not portray this growth as intelligently as After Story did. In the latter, Tomoya grows as a person through practical methods that not only benefit himself and others in the long-term, but none of them are needlessly self-destructive. By taking a job with Yoshino and moving out of the comfort of the Furukawa Bakery, he not only shows he’s self-sufficient, but he’s demonstrating that he’s willing to move out of his comfort zone and show gratitude to the Furukawas for supporting him for so long. He also demonstrates that he’s willing to move on from his past laziness and do the right thing.
But here? Tomoya selfishly asserts that he can deal with a bunch of tough thugs on his own on the pretense of protecting Tomoyo and Tomo, even though the former could deal with the situation all on her own. Just like what you said, he doesn’t even bring up the situation and instead tries to deal with it himself, simply because he feels like he hasn’t earned his spot as Tomoyo’s boyfriend. Isn’t it irresponsible to not tell your girlfriend that she’s in danger immediately? Isn’t it irresponsible to assume you can do this stuff all on your own? Isn’t it irresponsible to pointlessly put your life on the line when you could rationally figure out the best way to solve this? This isn’t Tomoya maturing so much as it is developing a traditional sense of pride in being man. While not necessarily a bad thing, it’s NOT the same as what he learns in After Story. Having pride in what you do, in what you are, is a great motivator to push yourself to be the best you can be, but Tomoya let’s it get in the way of good decision making, and worse, he allows it to make him lie to his girlfriend and hurt himself. If he wanted to take the thugs on his own, so that he could stand on even footing with Tomoyo, fine, but he should, as someone in a relationship, tell Tomoyo that. Explain his feelings so that she understands. Easy? No. Necessary for a healthy relationship? Definitely. But instead, the narrative suggests that Tomoya is totally in the right when choosing to tell Tomoyo results in a bad end that leads to him having no self-esteem and Tomoyo ultimately deciding to quit school. And it simply isn’t right for Tomoya to go without letting the people he’s trying to protect know about it.
This creeps into Tomo’s arc, too. Ultimately, not asking for help from others with the schoolhouse and stubbornly going on it on his own is what gives him the injury that kicks off After Story. While he gets scolded by Kanako and Tomoyo a little, it’s obvious we’re supposed to see what Tomoya’s doing as purely a good thing. How is it good to try to do something on your own when you know it might be impossible? Why didn’t you come up with a better plan with no solid way of knowing how to do it? More specifically, what compelled you to go out in the pouring rain to fix the schoolhouse, especially since he’s sometimes dealing with circuits? How is getting injured going to help anyone? Furthermore, how do we know for sure Tomo wouldn’t be better off not being confronted with this? Her mother isn’t even on board with this at first, but Tomoya stubbornly denies her point. She’s already been through a lot, why twist the knife by reuniting her with a Mother who’s going to die in the end? It’s not necessarily the wrong call but it certainly merits a more thorough consideration. It could have been somewhat salvaged if the story reprimanded him AT LEAST about going out in the rain, but it really seems to suggest that (More Tomo arc spoilers) Kanako compelled the villagers to help and Tomoya’s manly self-sacrifice was somehow responsible for inspiring them.
If the story really wanted to show the same kind of growth that he did in After Story, then change what Tomoya’s currently doing. Instead of him mindlessly working out situations on his own without a concrete plan, he should do something like enroll in cram school so he has a chance of catching up with Tomoyo in college. It’d be interesting to see a perpetual slacker like Tomoya have to brush up on his skills and try to take a college entrance exam. Having to take a job to keep up his apartment bill on top of that, and you have a that’s a lot of interesting internal conflict he can go through. You can even have him work with a brainiac like Tomoyo to help him study.That’s practical and shows he’s thinking about the future and cares about what she wants. The short-term, unpractical solution he has dealing with the gang and the way he deals with the situation in Tomo’s arc show a lack of true growth; that in admitting you need others to help you, and on your own, you can only do so much. That takes much more maturity than throwing yourself completely into tasks without considering the loved ones you cherish so much.
Now, he admitted he loved the humor and the group dynamic. But he wished the major theme was executed more logically as explained above and especially considered it odd considering all these things were mostly done by the same writer (Maeda). He feels the failure to execute this theme properly is what keeps this from reaching After Story’s quality.
I feel a number of these scenes redeem themselves by being well-written and generally hitting the right emotional beats (enough to the point I was thoroughly engrossed), but that’s really just a minor point where we differ atthis point.
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Exactly the point I wanted to make, thanks for expanding upon the subject. It must be awesome to have someone at home to discuss these things with.
I think that, more than maturing, what wanted to be exposed is how Tomoya acquires those guts and will power to keep doing it. More than starting the fights, the highlight is how he never gives up once he’s started something. In fact, (Takafumi Arc Bad Ending spoiler) If you don’t keep on fighting and Tomoyo does the job for you, you can’t do the power through choice in Takafumi’s Arc to get him to tell you what happened with him when he was in the track and field club.
However, I’m not defending by any means the fact that he should have openly told Tomoyo or asked for help anyway, but at least the perseverance message was well conveyed.
And then going to college, having a full time job, and having to pay his own rent and possibly maintaining Tomoyo up to some extent. I present you Tomoyo After: A life in crippling debt.
OK, no, but it would be a nice development, although the life changing events that defined After Story or the After Arc in Tomoyo After are difficult to create in such a situation and they would be most likely be unrelated to Tomoya dealing with college and his job.
Why would it? It’s not After Story, and the characters aren’t in the same situations or environments. The Tomoya at the start of TA is very different to the Tomoya at the start of AS, and while AS Tomoya has figures to look up to and learn from, TA Tomoya is surrounded by people with unresolved issues similar to his own. I don’t believe the story is about Tomoya’s growth as a better person, and the VN makes that obvious in multiple scenes. Tomoya is recklessly heading towards the future he wants, and Tomoyo is heading somewhere else just as recklessly… They have never, even in Clannad, understood that about each other. This guy still hasn’t talked to his dad about stuff. He’s just running from stuff he doesn’t like.
What you consider a “major theme” of the VN, in my opinion, isn’t a theme present in the VN all that often, especially in regard to Tomoya. I think you’re blurring it too much with After Story.
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Alright it’s bookclub time, let’s go.
Tomoya Arc is kind of difficult for me to nail down since it’s several things at once; it’s the prologue that’s basically inconsequential to the entire rest of the VN, it’s the common route that introduces the characters and conflicts for the first time, and it’s the first true plot and character arc of the story. Let’s take these in order.
The prologue is boring. It’s fun at times (GYAIAGREIIIIIIBODODODODOOOO) but for the most part it’s just meh. IMO the original H scenes even made more sense, and it was actually more fun to see Takafumi nonchalantly shrug off walking in on Tomoya and Tomoyo having sex than it was when she was just cos- and roleplaying. Either way if there’s one good thing about this prologue it’s that it first establishes Takafumi, and man do I like this guy. But before I get off track, let’s move on. Opening movie is A+ btw. Light Colors is great, choice of quotes is nice and the whole aesthetic just works.
Then we have the common route part of the arc, where everything is introduced for the first time but nothing is resolved yet. As far as I’m concerned this part is nothing short of wonderful. The humor is great, the soundtrack is fucking STELLAR and everything unfolds at a nice pace with no single arc or character getting an overbearing amount of screentime, and oh my god that chemistry.
For real, this group of five people right here? Has probably my favorite chemistry in any Key novel or visual novel in general. They support each other unconditionally and are completely comfortable with one another, even shrugging off being eavesdropped on like it’s nothing and being back to bantering seconds later. They just get each other. They have a bond that feels closer than even the (original) Little Busters. It’s like… they really are a small family.
It helps that we get a lot of random interactions between the group, in part thanks to minigames and Talk events. Stuff like The Panda in the Forest and The Great Detective Tomo is just plain fun and I can so easily buy that all of them readily play along and have fun doing it. I’d say I wouldn’t mind if the common route parts were longer because honestly I could watch these guys do nothing for hours and still have a great time, but the transience of their cohabitation is kind of a beautiful thing in its own. This is a group of people that ended up together through a series of coincidences and will go their separate ways in the not too distant future. But for just the short time they’re together, they’re family.
I think the group’s close relationship is why the Takafumi bad end hurts so much to read; Tomoya clearly oversteps his boundaries as he presses Takafumi on something he’s very clearly uncomfortable about and unwittingly destroys the close and trusting relationship the two share. It’s somewhat vexing that while Tomoya does get that this isn’t the way if you didn’t trigger any bad ends, there’s always the option of giving up on it and his solution is always to do exactly this. When it comes down to it, Tomoya just isn’t good at reading the mood and backing off when necessary. In fact, that’s just it, isn’t it? Rather than being capable of backing off, he’s much better at persevering. And this bad end shows you in detail how that can be an absolutely detestable thing when it’s not called for.
Speaking of persevering, let’s talk about the actual Tomoya arc. Tomoya is faced with some unexpected remains of Tomoyo’s past as a superhuman delinquent who got into fights all the time. And because he falsely projects a connection to a “stalker” he can’t let himself ignore it. Obviously the easiest way to deal with this problem is to leave it to the people who are good at handling it. Be that Tomoyo, who is still the strongest in a brawl, or even the police. But the problem extends beyond something either of those two could solve; that is that Tomoya is facing an internal crisis. This isn’t the first time Tomoyo’s past has caught up to them, and it probably won’t be the last. If he’s really her boyfriend, can he support her when that happens? We might be able to answer with a resounding “Yes, of course you can, Tomoyo can handle that much and just wants you to be there for her”, but the one asking himself that question is Tomoya, and Tomoya’s self-confidence that he’s not just holding Tomoyo back is still absolute shit.
So this becomes a self-imposed trial for Tomoya. He has to prove to himself that he’s able to solve this problem alone. It’s kinda tragic how ignorant he is in regards to how his own little quest affects Tomoyo and how he just kinda expects her to sit there and do nothing while Tomoya very obviously gets into fights but keeps her in the dark about what’s going on. But the two do share a mutual trust that’s not shaken that easily, so Tomoyo trusts Tomoya’s judgment and leaves him to his own devices. She’s gotten a little better at understanding Tomoya at the very least compared to her route in CLANNAD; she gets that interfering now would not be a good idea.
This is also where their bonds as a small family shine as Kanako goes along with Tomoya once she confirms his purpose and supports him when he actually needs it, and Takafumi too doesn’t butt in where he shouldn’t. And so, even though his methods are practically incredibly stupid, they don’t challenge Tomoya on them because they’re important to him and they get that. Also, in true street fight fashion, Tomoya earns the respect of the people he’s fighting the more he does it.
Then however comes the climax. No, not when Tomoya fights and “defeats” his last opponent; just after that. When he’s at his most vulnerable as he’s looking for Tomoyo and Tomo. Right there, Tomoya’s main goal in participating in the fights has just been completely undercut and he’s at risk of losing all the confidence he’s built up over the course of the arc. And then he finds Tomoyo and realizes that all he did was practically useless. But Tomoyo knows how hard he’s been pushing himself (even if that was more for his own sake than theirs) and gives him the acknowledgement he desperately needs. In that moment, everything he just went through gains new value. He can take pride in having done everything he could do on his own. And so he gains that self-confidence that ends up being extremely important in the next two arcs.
You probably won’t know this if you’re just playing through the game, but the 20th of June plays out quite differently if you’ve already triggered a bad end. Normally, Tomoya is the one who tells Tomoyo his thoughts on Kanako and Takafumi. If you’ve triggered a bad end already, it’s the other way round; Tomoyo has to tell Tomoya about it. It goes to show how much the boost in confidence affects Tomoya; having had that experience allows him to pay attention and focus on so many different things. Because really, he is quite a capable person once he gets over that problem. It’s just one step, and he doesn’t take the best path when it comes to making that step, but it’s an important step to take either way.
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I honestly don’t see how the story portrays Tomoya’s actions as reckless or just youthful foolishness. His actions are instead lionized as both endearing and a sign of character growth. It’s what the first arc of the story is devoted to. It even bears his name and is the reason he goes to such great lengths in future arcs to help others, so it HAS to be a good thing. At the end of his arc, he gets a peaceful ending rather than a calm reprimand. One could argue that the fact his hard work ends up being for nothing is a hint that he might have gone about things foolishly, but I believe the things he fights for passionately are a big reason Tomoyo is endeared to him (After arc) and why she does so much for him in the After arc . The route plays it up as being one of his strongest traits that while he’s not as earnestly nice as Tomoyo, he can work just as hard to help other people, and according to the narrative, in a more rational manner. I do not agree with the way that theme is realized through the story.
Also, I would disagree that Tomoya and Tomoyo are unaware of the tracts their taking in life. The reason they break up is because Tomoya is lead to believe he could never possibly have a good future, and he will only drag Tomoyo on her road to success down. Interestingly enough, Tomoya had been making subtle changes to his lifestyle (at Tomoyo’s behest) so that he could HAVE a chance of accompanying her to wherever she wanted to go. Because, in a way, Tomoyo IS a role-model for Tomoya. She has more strength and composure and initiative than he’ll ever have. This makes him feel guilty that as her boyfriend, he doesn’t compare, so he puts up with her pushiness in hopes of changing that. But her Student Council peer breaks Tomoya’s thin hopes and coerces him to make the decision he does. One could argue that the narrative ultimately agrees with this (ending spoilers) hence why he dies, ultimately saying that they CAN’T be together, but in this Memorial Edition, the ending is happy, and thus this interpretation doesn’t even apply.
Furthermore, although this is Tomoyo’s story, Tomoya is the POV character, and because this is a sequel, his character arc would naturally continue. Because Tomoyo’s ending establishes that he is willing to work hard for her sake, he would once again try to pursue her path so he DOESN’T drag her down. That’s why I conclude him going through cram school would make the most sense. That doesn’t mean he won’t suffer, fall into ruts, and maybe even fail to achieve his ideal ending, but he WOULD make a conceited effort to follow her life path. It would keep them together without her having to “go down” to his level. And what he does in Tomoyo After simply doesn’t meaningfully contribute to that goal.
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Having just finished Tomoya’s arc, not a lot I can say that hasn’t been already said!
The prologue was a terrible way to introduce the story, but I guess I can understand them for wanting to appeal to the hentai crowd and get that stuff out of the way in the beginning. It had its funny moments, but overall very disappointing.
The middle, or the ‘common route’ as people have been calling it was absolutely brilliant. All of the characters shine, there’s lots of genuinely funny and heartwarming moments, and the occasional comment from Kanako that really causes me to think. That girl has a such a negative psychology that comes out at random times. And Takafumi, I love this guy! He’s so chill with everything (that doesn’t involve his past or kissing his sister), and seems like a lot of fun to be around. I guess I’ll have more to say about him later. And Pepe summed up why Tomo is so great. Like others have said, I feel like Tomoyo is way too tsundere, but her good traits (her flaws?) definitely shine through here better than I ever felt they did in CLANNAD. Tomoya is still Tomoya, albeit a little bit more perverted.
The actual Tomoya arc portion was… Very weak for me. Having read everyone’s posts here, I can say I fully understand what they were going through, but for me, it just clashes so much with my own values. This really is a very machismo story, about Tomoya fighting to protect his male pride and gain confidence through that. It’s not exactly bad, but the reckless way he goes about it is too much for me. If the guys he were fighting were just a bit less conveniently forgiving, Tomoya could very well have died or at least ended up disabled from pushing himself so hard. The only reason is paid off was because the world (narrative) decided to be a bit kind to him and hand him that victory. It all feels very cheap to me. I know, it’s about Tomoya gaining that unyielding strength and all the awesome trust dymanics of their family unit developing, but, I can’t agree with the means. It just clashes too much with my personal values.
The music in this game is fucking amazing! Hope might be my favourite Key title screen music, but it’s gonna take time for me to say that with any kind of certainty. Some of the tracks are pretty weak, like Harmony, but overall the quality is very high. Old Summer Days is mah Natsukage of this game, really beautiful composion.
Also, don’t forget guys, Jun Maeda wasn’t the only author of this title. My main man Leo Kashida worked on it as well! Interesting thought that maybe Maeda got in some sort of brawls in his youth, but I have no reason to suspect it true yet.
Overall, 3/5. There’s some really amazing stuff in this game, but the majority of this arc felt disappointing to me. I really hope the following arcs can pick things up, because for the most part, I’m still really enjoying this title. I’m hanging out for Tomo’s arc, the drama surrounding her is really interesting to me. I find myself wondering what I would do if I were in Tomoya’s shoes, suddenly forced to protect a child I’d just met. Though, that bad end seems like it trivialises everything they’ve gone through up to this point. Can we talk about that a bit, or is this not the place?
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I see what you mean, and I totally agree with you and @DangoDaikazoku on this: that isn’t the right way to deal with these things. And there are two reasons for that:
Reason #1: As @Karifean pointed out extremely well, Tomoya needs this reassurance to his capabilities. He needs to be able to tell himself that he fought hard and did a good job. And that can only come about by doing what he feels he needs to do: protect both Tomoyo and Tomo. Granted, it is a very patriarchal way of thinking, but that is what he needs to progress as a person. And that progression is shown very well in the next arc, in my opinion. So, no, I don’t think his desire to grow would have been solved through something like going to school because, well, Tomoya simply doesn’t have the motivation for that. He has given up on that side of his life and would rather do something that directly contributes to his new family. His thinking is quite short-term rather than long-term, but if that is what he needs to grow as a person, so be it.
Reason #2: I am looking down very heavily on Tomoyo for saying this (heck I’ve been looking down on her since Clannad), but I 100% do not believe, at this point, that Tomoyo will be able to just not do anything after Tomoya tells her the situation. He was very vague about things to her, and because of that, Tomoyo was able to trust and believe in him. But if he told her the thugs were after her, do you think she’d be able to sit still and let him grow the way he needed to? I think she wouldn’t, because Tomoyo is simply just too headstrong and pushy, and thus would not realize that what she pushes for does not necessarily help other people (like the way she pushed to constantly shirk her duties in the student council just to meet with Tomoya back in clannad).
So yes, while what you say is true, and in an ideal setting, what they are doing is definitely not the best thing to do. This is because the characters are simply just too flawed as people that the idealistic answer would never work for them. Unless you prefer what happens in the bad ends after you do tell her, which, IMO, isn’t too bad after all
Considering all the bad ends happen after the Tomoya arc, it might be better to put it off until the Takafumi arc (or at leasst just discuss it in that topic?)
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