Clannad Episode 18

My Thoughts:
Part of me, has to wonder if those in charge knew what they were doing with this series. Kyou and Tomoyo could both have had another two or three episodes to flesh out their story arcs, yet they're both shoved together in the space of two episodes. In does create a decent amount of tension between Tomoyo and Kyou as they fight each other over Tomoya.

In those first opening scenes, I have to wonder just how dense Tomoya is. Here's this girl, who's coming over to cook for him, and he doesn't seem to realize that she likes him? Of course, he's spending all his time thinking about Nagisa, but still he's a tad daft, if you ask me.

Tomoyo is probably the most observant, and intuitive of all the other girls. Fuko and Kotomi never really had a chance, despite how nice Tomoya is towards them, and during their arcs, they didn't seem that interested in him. The twins and Tomoyo on the other hand show obvious and overt interest in Tomoya and he's oblivious to it all. The twins, while Tomoya is constantly spending time with Nagisa, continue tossing themselves at him, and don't see that he's both uninterested in them and enthralled by Nagisa. Tomoyo though, only has to be introduced to Nagisa and she realizes where she stands with Tomoya. If she was a lesser character, she'd take it out on Nagisa and the drama club, but I doubt she'd do that.

The meal scene here, where all the girls, save Nagisa, show up with meals for Tomoya was amusing, and as another blogger pointed out, the most harem-like moment that KyoAni has put into any of their animes. I found it amusing how Tomoya just wanted to flee, as the twins and Tomoyo fought over which of their meals he should eat, and when he turned to Kotomi for relief, she merely emulated those interested in Tomoya in asking for her cooking to be enjoyed.

Episode Summary:
The episode begins with Tomoyo waking up Tomoya as usual. She even goes so far as to prepare him a breakfast. As they're eating, Tomoya's father shows up, and he gets up and leaves. Which means it's time to torture Sunohara a bit. After he's beaten by a Rugby member, Sunohara goes to school, where he tells the other 3 members of the drama club about what happened with Tomoyo and Tomoya.

Tomoya is sitting around Sunohara's room, constantly thinking about Nagisa, when there's a knock on the door. He opens it to discover the twins. Kyou drags them off, and the three of them spend the day together, until near the end, she runs away, leaving Tomoya and Ryou alone. After Tomoya sees Ryou home, he wanders around until late at night.

The next day is a Sunday, and Tomoyo is at Tomoya's house again, cooking him something to eat. Then the door bell rings, and the twins show up with some food. Tomoyo comes out, and Kyou gets a bit upset that she's there. Before anyone can react, Kotomi shows up, also bearing some food. The four of them all lay out their meals in front of Tomoya, and basically tell him that they all expect him to eat the food they made him.

Tomoya is kind of unhappy, because it's a lot of food, and Kyou and Tomoyo are snapping at each other. Which of course means that it's time for Fuko to appear, bearing her own starfish-themed meal for Tomoya.

The next day, Tomoya is finally off suspension, and when he gets back to school finds out that there are a lot of rumors going around about Tomoyo and the fact that she used to be a delinquent. So, Tomoya comes up with this great idea that they have a series of sports contests to improve her image.

During the baseball one, she's not doing that great, until Tomoya tells her to aim for Sunohara's face. Then she happily throws the balls as strikes, smacking Sunohara until she's surprised by Tomoya telling her that she's won the contest.

After a few more contests, we get to hear about why Tomoyo wants to be student council president, and a bit about her history. Shortened version of her history is that her parents didn't care about one another, she went wild, beating anyone around, and finally, her little brother almost kills himself in order to bring them all together as a family.

The next day, Nagisa arrives back at school, having recovered from her collapse. While she's apologizing for Tomoya's suspension, he convinces her to help out with Tomoyo's tennis match that afternoon. They're cheering Tomoyo on, when the twins see them. Kyou is about ready to storm off towards them, when Ryou stops her. During a break in the match, Tomoyo asks who Nagisa is, and Tomoya introduces her as the person wanting to bring the drama club back.

The match starts back up, and a stray ball strikes Nagisa in the leg, hurting her. The guy competing against Tomoyo goes to touch Nagisa, and Tomoya blocks him. After a moment, he helps Nagisa up, and walks off the court. The twins watch, and then break down in tears. The episode ends with us learning the outcome of the council elections.