Clannad ~After Story~ - Episode 23

I was fully expecting this to be the final episode of Clannad - After Story, but appears that there's going to be one last episode after this one (if it counts as an episode per se, it's only going to be some kind of compilation clip show of sorts). So, with the actual storyline completed in episode twenty-two, we're left with this instalment to fill, and thankfully KyoAni have decided to shy away from filling an episode with killing and resurrecting more small children and their mothers.

Instead, we travel back in time to the beginning of Tomoya and friends second year at school (or third if you're Nagisa and are repeating a year). This gives us ample opportunity to see Tomoya and Sunohara hanging around, generally misbehaving and pulling pranks aplenty, while also allowing us to see their introduction to Kyou.


Meanwhile, Nagisa is struggling to make friends in her new class, a path eased in the most unlikely manner by Tomoya, who also gives her an inadvertent life lesson when she's caught up in one of Sunohara and his pranks - Quite a cute way of tying Nagisa and Tomoya together before they actually meet properly, it has to be said.

Anyway, after often exclaiming that I prefer Clannad when it's trying to be a life hearted school series than when it gets all serious and depressing, I enjoyed the chance to make the most of one final slice of just that. Maybe it's because this is the final episode proper (compilation show aside), but Sanae's bread-related outbursts were all the funnier, and it was really just nice to see a bit more of Kyou truth be told. I can't really blame anyone who can't be bothered to watch this episode seeing as it doesn't really fit into the rest of After Story, but as a final little dose of Clannad-flavoured distraction I can't complain.