The (Minor) Minor Characters of Clannad

Though in these posts I've tried to cover every character, there are some that just don't appear enough to have their own separate posts. So here I cover all of them I can think of (if there are more, I'm sorry for leaving them out), even though they've probably been mentioned in posts before.


磯貝 (Isogai) is an elderly lady who is the Furukawas' neighbor. She likes to comment on how Akio and Sanae add liveliness to the neighborhood (especially with their frequent episodes involving Sanae's bread). When Tomoya is going to the grocery store for the first time after remeeting Ushio, she reminds him of how important it is that he and Ushio see each other, since they are family, after all. Isogai also happens to have a name perfect for fake identities: both Fuko (when she's staying at the Furukawas' home) and Sanae (when she's Sunohara's fake girlfriend) adopt her last name to facilitate their deceit.


ボタン (Botan) is the pet boar of the Fujibayashis. Her characteristic sound is "Puhi puhi!" She has many skills, supposedly; the one that is shown is her ability to act like a stuffed animal (which Tomoya must then carry around with him all day). Kyou is particularly protective of her (especially from Sunohara, when he talks of eating her). She stays with Kyou well into her adult life, and she haunts Kyou's kindergarten playground as an adult (a giant, scary adult).


三井 (Mitsui) is a high school senior. Fuko met her on her first (and only) day of high school, and Mitsui vaguely remembers her. She is so studious and concerned about her upcoming senior exams that she coldly rejects Fuko's proffer of a starfish. Thankfully, she still shows up to Kouko's wedding, though.


"The bad man" is a former coworker with Kotomi's parents. On the day of their death, he (somewhat bluntly) informs Kotomi of the tragedy and asks to look in her father's study for a copy of the lost manuscript. He and Tomoya put out the fire Kotomi starts that day. Later on, he keeps trying to get in contact with Kotomi, who sees him as "the bad man" and reacts aggressively whenever he comes near. Eventually (thanks to Tomoya and Nagisa's help), he is able to talk to her, and he gives her her parents' suitcase containing the stuffed bear and their last letter to her. He is also Kotomi's godfather (I believe).


仁科りえ (Nishina Rie) and 杉坂 (Sugisaka) are members of the choir club, along with a minor third member, Harada. Rie (the blue-haired one) is the leader; her violin playing attracts Kotomi, and eventually Kotomi is given her violin (though that was probably not a wise decision...). Sugisaka (the red-haired one) is the fiery, jealous one; when the drama club wants Koumura as an adviser, she takes action, leaving threatening letters for Nagisa and trying to win her over with a sad story (which Sunohara fiercely rejects). Though she gives in after the basketball game, she's still the more angry of the two. The club shows up at Nagisa's graduation, and the two seem to be good friends, as they are shown to be roommates (it appears) during the final montage.


坂上鷹文 (Sakagami Takafumi) is Tomoyo's younger brother. He grows distant from her due to her being a gang leader. When their parents are considering divorce, Takafumi takes drastic action: he promises to jump off a bridge if they don't reconsider, and he keeps his promise. This leads to a long hospitalization for him, one which brings the family together and ends the thought of divorce. While he was recovering, the whole family would take walks along the road lined with cherry trees (thus providing Tomoyo's urge to save them). His desperate action also knocked some sense into Tomoyo's head, giving her the push to be a true sister to him and renounce her gang ways.


五十嵐 (Igarashi) was Misae's crush back during her high school days. She first met Shima when he interrupted a conversation between the two of them. He recognizes that Misae has a crush on him, but he already has a girlfriend. He gets Shima to break the news to her for him (although seeing him and his girlfriend walk by is what really gives her the news). Because of this moment, Shima and Misae started to grow closer.


勇 (Yuu) is a young boy whose sister is in Yukine's brother's gang. He tries to grapple Yukine and force her to tell him where his sister is. Though she easily defuses the situation, she is kind and takes him to the bar where the gang hangs out, thus helping him find his sister. He tells the gang that Sunohara is Yukine's brother, thus causing a bit of an uproar at the deception. He helps instigate Tomoya, Nagisa, and Sunohara's involvement with Yukine's gang.


宮沢和人 (Miyazawa Kazuto) was Yukine's older brother. He was the leader of the gang that Yuu's sister is in and that Yukine hangs out with a lot. Because of him, Yukine became involved with the gangs (although not really in a negative way, like what happened with Tomoyo). Due to his blond hair, Sunohara sort of spreads a rumor that he's Kazuto, which leads to his getting attacked one night (thankfully Tomoyo saves the day). When his deception is revealed at Kazuto's gang, it's learned that Kazuto is really in the hospital for getting in a car accident and saving a friend. The other gang wants to fight, though, so a duel is created between their leader and "Kazuto" (Sunohara). After Sunohara is knocked out by Sanae's bread, Tomoya takes over the fight, until Yukine steps in, posing as Kazuto. Finally, after this, the truth is revealed: Kazuto is actually dead, and his deepest wish was that the fighting would stop, which ends up happening thanks to the above events. And when his wish is fulfilled, Tomoya sees a light fly up into the air...


The manager of the Hikarizaka Electric Company (at least one branch of it) is Yuusuke's and later Tomoya's boss. He's a hard working man who cares about his employees and tries to be as kind as possible to them. Sometimes (especially after Nagisa passes away), he suspects Tomoya works far too much, and he tries to get him to relax more. He also recommends Tomoya for a job at another part of the company in a different city. Tomoya deeply considers accepting it, until his manager informs him that he was turned down from the job due to his father's arrest on drug charges (I think that's what they were, at least). Tomoya's anger because of this leads to his confronting his father and also proposing to Nagisa.


Yagi is Nagisa's midwife, recommended by Sanae. She helps Nagisa prepare for home birth, and she's able to make it to the Okazaki residence (after a long delay) on the night Nagisa goes into labor. Though she's able to save the baby, she's unable to save Nagisa's life (at least the first time). She also may have been the one to suggest Nagisa abort Ushio when her severe health risk is brought to light (I only remember that someone suggested this; I can't remember who just at the moment).


I believe that's the majority of the minor characters (or really minor minor, since I call anyone except Nagisa, Tomoya, and Ushio minor characters, basically). Hopefully having these extra profiles helps you realize even more how great Clannad is and how much its characters form a mosaic. If I forgot any characters, let me know, and I can add them in.

Thanks for reading. God Bless, and peace.

Nota Bene: All images are screenshots taken by me from the subtitle-only DVDs. Please support Clannad by buying the DVDs. And don't forget to look at the amazing CLANNAD/クラナド (Kuranado) fanpage on Facebook.

Air: Links to Clannad

"Aren't families great? The happiest and the most painful, everything is there. That's precisely what it means for people to live."

As Liam Francis Traveller observed in his post on Shima's arc on The School's Trees, Clannad borrows plot devices and such from earlier works by the same company, Key. Not only does it borrow from Kanon, but it also borrows from Kanon's successor, Air. Having just finished watching Air for the second time, I've noticed many similarities to Clannad in it. In this post, I'll attempt to explain some of these similarities (though I'm sure there will be many that I miss). I also recommend watching Air: even though I realized I don't like the first half or so as much as I did the first time I saw it, I still think the second half is amazing, and the ending is definitely powerful. I'd probably give it a 9/10 (though sometimes when I think of the last couple episodes, I want to give it a 10/10).

Now, on to the similarities! (WARNING: There will be spoilers here.)


Minor Arcs That Seem Separate from the Main Plot

This is one of the things I've heard some people mention about Clannad as well. "Sure, Fuko's arc was great, but what does it have to do with Tomoya and Nagisa?" Hopefully this blog, as well as The School's Trees, has helped you realize how interconnected everything in Clannad really is. I think the same could go for Air as well, though the connections might be more hidden here. Like Clannad, sometimes these minor arcs just help explain the supernatural aspects of the show (Kano's has some of this, and Kanna's is basically all about the winged beings and the supernatural backstory). Sometimes, their main help is to add to the theme of the show. In Air, I think the main theme is family, specifically motherhood. Minagi's arc doesn't really seem to have a point unless viewed in this light, I think. I could go through each arc in Air and explain how they connect, but I think you get it: even though they seem completely separate and meaningless, they really connect into the coherence of the show as a whole.


Characters Who Are (Somewhat) Ghosts

Now, I know the characters in these shows are not ghosts, technically. But what I mean is that these characters aren't really entities that exist solely, completely uniquely. That might not be a very clarifying explanation. Examples would work better. For instance: Fuko, of course, is in a coma. But she's also running around, wreaking havoc and carving starfish. That Fuko is a sort of "ghost" of Fuko in the coma; it's sort of her soul taking on a physical form and running around, interacting with people. Air has a bit of a parallel to this in Michiru. Michiru is a younger girl who can be annoying as hell at times (at least to Yukito); yet she's also Minagi's dead little sister; and she's also Minagi's alive younger half-sister (who she's never met). No matter how you try and describe it, she's definitely some sort of "ghost"-like creature, or at least something that has some supernatural help in being around. I wish I knew some better metaphysics to attempt to explain this logically, but I'm not really sure if there is a way. Anyway, the main point of this is that Micihiru is a bit of a first take of Fuko.


Characters Who Become Animals

This is the specific parallel that Liam Francis Traveller drew between Kanon and Clannad, but it's also present in Air. In Clannad, we have Shima as the example of this: a boy who is really a cat. In Kanon (according to Liam: I haven't watched the show yet), we have a girl who's really a fox. In Air, it's a little different. Yukito is not a bird by nature who became a human just for a limited time. Instead, he's a guy who is so devoted to Misuzu that he wants to do everything over and be at her side forever (sort of sounds like Shima's declaration to Misae...). How does he do this? By going back in time and becoming a crow, Sora (or "Sky" in the English dub). I find it interesting that not only do Clannad and Air both have characters that become animals, but both these characters have the same direct goal: to be at someone's side forever. So, Shima/Nana-kun is the antitype of Yukito/Sora (that might be a little strong: I'm not sure if I can use full typography on Key shows...)


The Strong Influence of the Supernatural

This is a key factor in both these Key works (ha ha...it's a pun). In Air, we have the winged beings (included Kano's cursed feather) and the "girl in the sky" as the main contact with the supernatural, but we also have Michiru and Sora as well (and we can't forget that strange puppet passed down over a thousand years). In Clannad, we primarily have the lights and the invisible world (the girl and the robot) for the supernatural, but we also have Fuko and Shima as well. The point is this: without the supernatural, these shows would not exist. There's no possible way to have these shows with that influence that defies natural logic: it can't be done. Maybe, instead of "the strong influence," I should have said "the ESSENTIAL influence of the supernatural."


The Importance of Family

Obviously, family is THE key theme of Clannad (heck, it's the name of the game! (Yay for puns!)). It's also the theme of Air. All the arcs revolve around family, often mothers in particular: Kano's is, in the end, about her relationship with her deceased mother, and the story of the mother being told through the cursed feather. Minagi's is all about her sister(s) and her mother's relation to both of them. Kanna's is all about finding her mother, and it also involves the family that comes to be out of her friends Ryuuya and Uraha. And Misuzu's (or is it Haruko's?) is in the end all about truly becoming part of a family: first with Yukito's care for her being the care of a family member, and secondly with Haruko finally truly acting like a mother. You can't help but feel a love for family after this show (hence the opening quote from Haruko). While Air often has a focus on motherhood, though, I feel Clannad has more of a focus on fatherhood (like with Akio, Naoyuki, and Tomoya).

And now for some less serious similarities...


Luci Christian

Yes, Luci Christian is a connection between these two shows. This voice actress voices Haruko in the English dub of Air (which I think is a fabulous performance) and Nagisa (sorry, NaGEEsa) in the English dub of Clannad (which I think is a terrible performance). As I just mentioned, I think her voice works great for Haruko, and she definitely helped in making the Air dub great. However, I think her voice just fails at being Nagisa. I just feel like it's a completely different (and more annoying) character when she's voicing her. She definitely helped in making the Clannad dub painful (in my opinion). I'm not saying all of the dub is horrible, but ruining Nagisa's voice is terrible. Anyway, Luci Christian. She's can be a great voice actress sometimes, and a horrible one at others. I guess that just proves she's imperfect, like all humans.


Great Opening Themes

The opening theme of Air, "Tori No Uta" by Lia, is one of my favorite openings out of any anime I've seen. It's upbeat, yet since it often uses minor chords, it has an air of sadness about it too. Plus the melody sounds absolutely beautiful when used for some of the background music throughout the show. Clannad also has amazing opening themes, particularly the opening to After Story. I guess when you have the same team work on the music for both shows, and one show has great music, the other is bound to have some as well. And with that comes...


Beautiful Background Music (Especially Main Themes)

One thing I will always remember about both these shows is the background music. I love background music in anime, and I think Clannad helped me realize that, and Air doesn't do a bad job with it either. As I mentioned above, the same music team, Magome Tagoshi, Shinji Orito, and Jun Maeda (who also wrote the scenarios for the visual novels), worked on both of these shows, hence there being beauty in both of them. In particular, I absolutely love the main themes in both shows. For Clannad, that's Nagisa's theme (which provides the music for "Dango Daikazoku" and part of the music for "Chiisana Te No Hira"). For Air, that's "Natsukage," which might be construed as Misuzu's theme, though I'm not sure if it is officially. I feel like both these songs really sum up the shows, and I can feel a lot of the emotions of the show running through these songs.


So...I think that's about it. There's lots more similarities I didn't go into here, like the character similarities: a parent who at first seems rough around the edges, but turns out to truly care for his/her child (Haruko/Akio); a main heroine who is clumsy, has a somewhat unusual obsession, and has trouble making friends (Misuzu/Nagisa); a main character who's somewhat of a vagrant (Yukito/Tomoya); a pet with a cute catchphrase (Potato/Botan); a quiet girl who is very smart (Minagi/Kotomi). You get the picture. Like I said, I'm sure there's more similarities between these two shows, but I hope this post has given you a hint at some of them. While it shows that not everything in Clannad is completely original, I think it shows that Clannad can take ideas from other shows (by the same creators, mind you) and make them even better and even more powerful. And that just adds to the amazingness of Clannad.

Thank you for reading, and God Bless.

Nota Bene: All images are screenshots taken by me from the Air DVDs released by Funimation. The videos were found via YouTube's search function.

Kikuchiyo: An Unlikely Hero (Seven Samurai)

七人の侍 (Seven Samurai) is possibly Akira Kurosawa's most famous work (although he has many). It is often regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time, and also one of the most influential. Having watched it today for the second time, I'd like to make a short reflection on a very interesting character: 菊千代 (Kikuchiyo), played by Toshiro Mifune. WARNING: This post will contain spoilers.


When we first see Kikuchiyo, he's a bit of an overenthusiastic bystander at Kambei's defeat of the thief. After this, he follows Kambei often, although he never has the nerve to ask him anything. One night, after getting drunk, he finally gets the nerve to go to Kambei and his colleagues (five samurai) and ask to be admitted to their group, using a family tree that in no way belongs to him. After failing the simple stick test at the door, he uses a mix of drunken, childish logic and drunken (and thus ineffective) violence to get the samurai to let him join them. When they don't let 十三歳 (Thirteen, their nickname for him based on his fake family tree) join in their mission, he ends up following them all the way back to the village, until they finally let him help out.

At the village, we see his true personality: a rash, childish young man. He could be seen as the comic relief of the film often (although he helps with dramatic moments as well). Kikuchiyo uses a more informal and brash language than all the other samurai; his personality is especially well contrasted with Kyuzo's.


In most of the film, he seems incapable of real heroic moments. Most of his time is spent cracking jokes or antagonizing people (whether deliberately or not). His boisterousness alerts the scouts to their presence; his hubris makes him risk his life to get the honor of recovering one of the muskets. This second example seems like it might be heroic: after all, he is risking his life, and Kyuzo did the same thing. The real difference is the intention, though: Kyuzo did it to minimize the risk and protect the samurai and villagers. Kikuchiyo did it to get fame and honor. Kambei's rebuke when he returns makes this very obvious.

There are countless other examples I could give, but overall, the picture one receives of Kikuchiyo is this: an immature, boisterous, rash, prideful, childish young man who attempts to be a samurai. There are some hidden parts to him, though: we learn he was the son of a farmer, and his village was attacked by bandits, just like in this village. It seems like the samurai he met there were not the noble samurai he's teamed with now: when he tries to wear the armor of defeated samurai and is rebuked for it, he goes on a tirade about the evils of samurai. There is definitely some deep-seated hurt and resentment underneath his childish exterior.

During the climactic final battle in the rain, though, he truly breaks through his immaturity and his inner resentment against samurai. Even during the battles against the bandits, Kikuchiyo still seems like a childish guy, almost looking like he's having fun slaying bandits with his many prepared swords. But when Kyuzo is killed by the remaining musketeer, who is hiding in a house, Kikuchiyo goes for justice (or is it revenge?). He charges the house and is shot in the process; even after being shot, though, he pushes onward and slays the last musketeer before he collapses.


This final action could be debated: charging at a concealed, armed man is a bit of a reckless thing to do. But there's no indication that Kikuchiyo did this out of pride or want of honor. As far as the viewer can tell, he charged the final bandit in order to avenge his fallen comrade and save the other people in the village. Is it possible that he really was being his normal childish self? Yes, but it's not probable, based on the film's portrayal.

So, in the final estimate, I believe this is how to view it: Kikuchiyo was able to mature out of his selfish, childish, immature form and sacrifice himself for others (even samurai, whose profession he resents to a point) in a heroic moment. He is honored for this with a true hero's burial.

I think this story of Kikuchiyo can teach us a good lesson: no one is beyond change. Even the most stubbornly childish people can freely give themselves for others. Even the people with the deepest hurt and resentment can forgo their prejudices. Anyone, even the most unlikely person, can be a hero. And that hero will be remembered.


Thanks for reading. God Bless, and peace.

Nota Bene: The first, second, and fourth images are from Google Image Search. The third image is a screenshot taken by me from the Criterion Collection DVD.