藤林椋 (Fujibayashi Ryou)

"It's in the genes that girls will like fortune-telling."

Fujibayashi Ryou is a somewhat-often-present minor character who has some extra prominence during roughly Episodes 15-18 of Clannad. She doesn't have a full arc for herself: most of her significance derives from her attachment to her sister.

Personality

Ryou is a fairly reserved high school senior with a strong bond to her sister and a passion for fortune-telling; she's also a class representative, like her sister. She tries to assert her authority as a class representative, but she's too timid to be effective at it. In particular, she tries to get Tomoya to come to school on time, which never succeeds. She knows the ins and outs of the school, but she doesn't seem to have many good friends (probably due to her timidity). Her best friend is her older twin sister, Kyou, who is excessively and violently protective of her. This makes some sense, since it seems Ryou is easily made uncomfortable and possibly scandalized by things (like the "bi" incident with her sister). Her biggest quirk is her passion for fortune-telling: she loves it in all forms, but it seems she prefers to use cards herself. The fortune-telling isn't meant to be totally serious, though: she knows there isn't just one predetermined future, there are many possibilities. Due to this, her fortune-telling is more for fun and games than anything else. Her first appearance showcases her quiet, unassertive personality and her fortune-telling passion well:

Story

Ryou's story is largely tied into her sister's story, because they are usually together, and her sister is a much stronger personality than she is. As a class representative (and one who takes her job more seriously than her sister, it seems), she helps to get the drama club reinstated, even with all the student council's directives and requirements. She's first introduced into this by some tricky on Sunohara and Tomoya's part, resulting in a very humorous scene early in the show. They tell her someone is going to confess his love to her, and it turns out to be Nagisa asking for help with the drama club. She agrees to help as best she can. This involves explaining how many members to acquire and how to get members, along with the requirement to have an advisor. Basically, she is like the liaison between the drama club and the student council.

Besides this background role of helping the drama club (and being, at least nominally, a member as well), she comes into more prominence after Nagisa falls sick and must stay at home for a few days. Ryou has always had some feelings for Tomoya, and her sister decides now is the perfect time to act on these. Kyou sets up many lunch dates for Ryou and Tomoya, and she even takes them to use a love fortune-telling machine (which backfires). This last incident does result in a conversation between Tomoya and Ryou alone (although it doesn't amount to anything romantically).

With all the prodding her sister does to get her and Tomoya together, Ryou's attempts in the end fail. After the tennis injury where Tomoya vigorously defends Nagisa, Ryou is in tears like her sister (although this may be more out of apology to her sister than for losing Tomoya: see Themes section below).

Following this incident, she becomes a quiet background character again, being involved in the group of friends, but never really having any defining moments. She's present most times the group is together (and most times her sister is anywhere). After high school, she heads off to nursing school. At the New Year's Party, she comments on how life is mysterious, and she reiterates her belief that there is no one predetermined future: there are many possibilities. During the final episode montage, we see her, now a nurse, working in the hospital, smiling to brighten her patients' day.

Effect on Main Plot

Like her sister, there's not really anything supernatural in Ryou's story. Her fortune-telling, though, could be considered in that realm: if it worked, it would definitely be supernatural. Her acknowledgement of life's mysteriousness could be seen as an implicit recognition of the supernatural, and her statement about the fact that there is no predetermined future is definitely an important idea for understanding the ending.

Besides that, her main help to the plot is her working for the drama club. Without her knowledge of the student council and her helpful spirit, the drama club may have never made it to the point of performing Nagisa's play. Considering that this drama club is a big factor in bringing Tomoya and Nagisa together, she could be seen as playing a role in that, by extension. She's also another girl Tomoya passes by as he realizes his devotion to Nagisa.

Themes

Like her sister, the big theme for Ryou is family, specifically sisterly love. She is rarely seen without her sister at her side, protecting her from Sunohara's antics (and, at times, from Tomoya's). A great example of this is when Sunohara asks her to act as his fake girlfriend, and Kyou intervenes to protect her (somewhat scandalized) sister. Kyou does a lot for Ryou, and Ryou wants to pay her back. I think this is one reason why she goes on the lunch dates and everything with Tomoya: to appease her sister. One idea I've heard is that Kyou is projecting her desires for Tomoya onto her sister, and then attempting to get them together to appease herself. While this may be a bit of an overly cruel interpretation, I think there might be some truth to it. While I can tell Ryou has some desire for Tomoya, it seems like a lot of the concrete acts that are done are the result of Kyou's prodding and planning. Without Kyou's constant support (and, I'd say, peer pressure), I feel like Ryou wouldn't be trying to get together with Tomoya. See her dejected expression after her sister once again pressures her to show desire for Tomoya:

I think Ryou knows, at some level, that her desire for Tomoya really isn't that strong, but that her sister's is, and because her sister wants her to get together with Tomoya, I think Ryou is going along with it more for her sister's sake than for her own. As we see in the gym closet scene, Kyou's desire for Tomoya trumps thoughts of her sister. In the end, when both Ryou and Kyou are rejected by Tomoya as he helps Nagisa away from the tennis match, Ryou tells her sister, "I'm sorry." I think this line shows that Ryou recognizes just how strong Kyou's desire for Tomoya was, and she is sorry for failing her sister in regards to Tomoya. That's just my opinion, though; others may see it differently.

That sisterly love is, I think, the only main theme in Ryou's story. The only other thing would be the element of choice in the world that I mentioned earlier, the fact that there is no one predetermined future. Again, that will be mentioned again when discussing the ending.

Reflection

I feel like there's not too much for reflection with Ryou. She's a quiet girl who likes fortune-telling and order (her class representative side showing through). She tries to help her friends, and above all she tries to help her sister and show love for her. The only thing I can really get from this is one lesson: don't be like Ryou in regards to Tomoya. Don't let other people pressure you into doing things that just really don't fit you. Ryou's desire for Tomoya was not very strong, in my opinion; it was more of a vague "interest" than a true desire, I think. If left to her own devices, it wouldn't have been strong enough to act on. But with her sister forcing her and pressuring her, she had to act. Also, don't let other people act out their feelings through you: let them do it themselves.

That's enough preaching to draw from Ryou's story. I do like the fact that she and her sister both go into professions that help people at the expense of their comfort: little kids can be hassle at times, yet Kyou becomes a kindergarten teacher, and being a nurse seems like a very tough and tiring job, but Ryou becomes one anyway. I appreciate their willingness and desire to help others; that's definitely one Christian aspect hidden in the show.

Thank you for reading. God Bless, and peace.

Nota Bene: All clips are from the Clannad Central YouTube channel run by the Clannad (クラナド/Kuranado) fan page on Facebook. All character themes and other music from the show can also be found on said fan page, in the music player. My gratitude to them and all the work they do.

藤林杏 (Fujibayashi Kyou)

"You wanna repeat that? If you do it, I'll reward you by sticking my hand down your throat and ripping out your vocal cords."

Fujibayashi Kyou is an often-present minor character who has extra prominence in roughly Episodes 15-18 in Clannad. She never has a fully-developed plot arc for herself: the closest would be her relationship with her sister, Ryou.

(I am aware that Kyou has her own Alternate World episode in After Story; however, since I am focused on how these characters relate to the main plot, I will not be incorporating that episode, nor Tomoyo's for her post. These may be discussed in a separate post later on.)

Personality

Kyou is a high school senior and a punitive class representative with a quick temper (possible anger issues?), a knack for manipulation, some jealousy, and a feeling of protectiveness over her younger sister. Her temper is often linked with her protectiveness to her sister: whenever anything seems threatening to Ryou, Kyou steps in with a flying side kick or an aerodynamic throw of a textbook. For instance, when Sunohara tries to get Ryou to be his fake girlfriend, she becomes distressed, at which point Kyou appears to deal out some punishment on Sunohara. Her manipulation is usually used on either Tomoya or Ryou, for the purpose of getting them together (at least, that's the overt purpose). Though she usually takes out her anger on Tomoya and Sunohara, she has a little friendly loyalty to them as well: when some basketball players criticize her for being the team leader of "bottom-of-the-barrel guys" like them, she gets loyally angry (although part of it might also be defending her own reputation). Besides protecting friends, her sister, and her reputation, she also gets angry out of jealousy over Tomoya (to be explained more below). Overall, her angry, somewhat manipulative, yet still fraternally protective personality (which all seems a bit of a strange fit with her light, dance-ish theme song, "Like the Wind") is shown well in her first appearance:

On a side note: she's also protective of her and Ryou's pet, a baby boar named Botan (who is tied for the cutest pet in the show...at least while she's young).

Story

In the back story extra episode of After Story, we see that Kyou has always had a pretty violent relationship with Tomoya and Sunohara. Her first onscreen appearance is no different in her throwing a book at Tomoya. As seen in the clip above, we first see Kyou stepping in to defend her sister (although I'm not exactly sure what she's defending her from...). Throughout the first 14 episodes or so of Clannad, she is mostly a humorous background character: she especially likes to beat on Tomoya and Sunohara when they do anything stupid or (intentionally or not) pick on her sister. She's one of the people who receives a starfish from Fuko, she helps out with planning Kotomi's violin recital (using her imposing reputation among students to force them to show up...and buy earplugs from her), she works hard on obtaining the violin and getting it repaired for Kotomi's birthday, she helps in cleaning up Kotomi's yard, and she (at least nominally) joins the drama club. One of her most notable moments during these episodes occurs after running over Tomoya with her bike. There's a humorous exchange about the words "bike" and "bi" (it's easier to watch than explain).

Her first real major moment occurs when the drama club is trying to get an advisor. They cannot become an official club without a faculty advisor, so they try to get Koumura-sensei (who helped a bit with Kouko and Yoshino's wedding) to be their advisor. Unfortunately, the reforming choir club wants him as an advisor as well, and traditionally he's always been the choir club's advisor. So the drama club (mainly Sunohara, through Yukine's suggestion) decides to hold a basketball game against the school's basketball teams to get the choir club to give up Koumura. Kyou, with her assertive personality, becomes the team leader and leads her, Sunohara, and Tomoya to victory.

Even though the choir club agrees to share Koumura, the student council won't allow it, thus stalling the formation of the drama club. At the same time, Nagisa falls sick at school and most rest at home for a few days. Kyou sees this as her chance. Both she and Ryou are attracted to Tomoya, and, being the loving sister she is, she sets up many opportunities for Tomoya to see how great Ryou is while Nagisa is away. This involves many lunch dates and such things. But even though she is working to get Ryou and Tomoya together, she still feels a longing for him.

This is made apparent after Tomoya uses one of Yukine's charms. The charm's effect is to get a someone locked in a gym equipment storage room with the person of his or her choice. He does not realize this until he is in the middle of the charm, and he picks Kyou, thinking she'll be a safe choice. The charm ends up working, leading to a very awkward scene:

Even though Kyou is thinking about Ryou, it is obvious she also has powerful feelings for Tomoya: even more powerful than Ryou!

Following this scene, where Tomoya (implicitly) rejects her feelings for him, Kyou keeps trying to get Ryou and Tomoya together, by taking them out to an arcade with a love fortune-telling machine and by bringing food to his house when he's suspended. All her ploys to try to get Tomoya to focus on her or Ryou fail, though, as is obvious as a tennis match where Nagisa is injured by a stray ball. When someone else tries to help Nagisa up, Tomoya reacts rather violently, and he walks her to help himself. At that point, Kyou and Ryou realize whom he has chosen, and they break into tears.

Following this, Kyou once again becomes a strong background character. She is present as the drama club manages to get everything together and put on their show. She's around during Sunohara's arc in After Story, and she shows up at Nagisa's graduation, and again at the New Year's Party, mentioning how far ahead in life it feels like Nagisa and Tomoya are. After high school, she becomes a kindergarten teacher (which seems at odds with her personality), and she ends up, by a twist of fate, becoming Ushio's teacher (and a kind one at that!). We last see her during the final episode montage, congratulating one of her student's on the paper hat he created...a far cry from her early, angry, book-throwing days.

And a side note on Botan: she's around as comic relief throughout the series, and she's even present when Kyou is a teacher...although she looks a lot scarier!

Effect on Main Plot

Her effect is less blatant than the characters I've previously covered. There is nothing supernatural in Kyou's story: no lights or having a body in a coma. The only slight connection would be her helping out with Nagisa's play (which seems to be a story about the invisible world).

She builds up Tomoya and Nagisa's relationship accidentally. I don't think she ever intentionally tries to get them together (at least, not before her collapse into tears at the tennis match). Instead, she's more of a test for Tomoya. When Nagisa is away, will Tomoya stay loyal to her? Is their relationship even strong enough yet for loyalty, or is it just a friendship? While Tomoya is often asked if he is dating someone and always responds in the negative, in truth he is already committed to Nagisa, covertly. He never made a promise to Nagisa or asked her out, but he still feels a connection to her: when she's resting at home, he can't get her out of his head. Even when Kyou tries to get him together with Ryou, he doesn't even seem to notice her intentions. And even when locked in a gym closet with her, when she is hinting about him having sex with her, he doesn't even fathom it. It seems like a sign of an implicit loyalty to Nagisa to me, and in the end it helps him realize that she, not Kyou or Ryou, is the girl for him. So Kyou helps us realize Tomoya's fidelity. Not only that, but it also shows us his chastity: he doesn't have sex with her, even when she uses her "feminine wiles," to some extent.

Themes

The main theme I see with Kyou is family. It's obvious she loves her sister, to the point of being (very) over-protective of her. That can be seen, not only in her frequent physical rebuffs to Sunohara's actions (and less frequent rebuffs to Tomoya's), but also in the fact that she works to get her sister together with Tomoya. Her sisterly love isn't perfect, though: when she's locked in the closet with Tomoya, she thinks about Ryou, but she doesn't reject the possibility of sex with him for her sake. I've heard some say that this shows Kyou's attempts to get Ryou and Tomoya together were really just a way to let out her personal desires for Tomoya. While there might be some truth to that, I still feel that there's some sisterly love in Kyou, however imperfect.

Besides that, I don't see many themes involved with her. There's not really too much self-sacrifice, besides helping out with Kotomi's party and the drama club. There's some perseverance involved with the Ryou and Tomoya ordeal, though, and some signs of mature perseverance as well: even though it is obvious that Tomoya has rejected Kyou's feelings for him (though not in a very harsh way), she doesn't avoid him, but is still able to be his friend.

Reflection

Though Kyou is the favorite character of some of my friends, I've never felt too connected to her. She just seemed like a loud, angry, and manipulative girl that I'd be a little wary to be friends with. I've heard she's more likable in her alternate world episode, which, I must admit, I've never gotten the motivation to watch. She's been described as a tsundere character: someone who starts off hot-headed and angry but turns out to be (at least to an extent) gentle and caring underneath. I can see that a bit in her main plot (after all, her kindergarten teacher self doesn't resemble her high school self too much), but overall I just never really connected with her. Although I still think the awkwardness of the locker room scene is hilarious, I saw her more as a comic relief character that tried to get in the way of Nagisa and Tomoya's relationship. Some people see her as more than that, but to each his or her own; at least she turned out alright as a kindergarten teacher.

Thank you for reading. God Bless, and peace.

Nota Bene: All clips are from the Clannad Central YouTube channel run by the Clannad (クラナド/Kuranado) fan page on Facebook. All character themes and other music from the show can also be found on said fan page, in the music player. My gratitude to them and all the work they do.