Sunohara takes ‘Sanako’ (Sanae) out on their date, and Mei is less than impressed when he takes his new ‘girlfriend’ to his usual haunts. The date is cut short when they see a girl being bullied by a group of boys in the park. Mei keeps Okazaki and Nagisa from interfering, hoping that Sunohara will intervene and save her. However he just stands idly by and writes it off as the growing pains of childhood. Luckily the girl’s brother rushes in and scares the bullies off.

Sanae notes that the children are lost and the group escorts them back to their house, and Sunohara is in a foul mood now that the date has been ruined. Sanae explains that she values their time together but sometimes there are more important things, though she does agree to see him again.

Sunohara is in an unusually good mood the next day and believes that Sanae has truly fallen for him and anxiously awaits her phone call in his apartment after school. Mei attempts to elicit a jealous response from him by saying her main reason for coming to the city was to meet a boy she likes. Sunohara is shocked but doesn’t do anything as Mei runs out of his room. Okazaki chases and Mei tells him that she just wants her brother to prove that he cares about her, even if it’s by an extreme measure like scolding or punishment. Okazaki takes Mei out into the city to relax and forget about their worries for a while.

After having their fun together, they run into Sunohara who tells them he’s waiting around to meet Sanae. Mei again tries to get a response from her brother by telling him that Okazaki is the guy that she likes. Again Sunohara is shocked but feigns indifference to the troubling news. Mei later confides in Okazaki and Nagisa that she only wants her brother to return to his former kind self. Convinced that rekindling Sunohara’s former love for soccer will return him to his old self, Mei is determined to stay in the city a while longer to make sure he rejoins the soccer team.

Date begin!

How many times do I have to tell you a swordfish is not a guitar?

Onii-chan is such an idiot.

One of Mei’s many moe faces.

I think we’re lost. We shouldn’t have taken that left turn at Albuquerque after all…

Sunohara shares his life long aspirations with Okazaki.

Soccer superstar.

Pilot with a bitchin’ moustache and totally sweet shades.

GTS: Great Teacher Sunohara.

Dream on Sunohara.

Sanae, somehow I can’t help but feel you’re cheating on me with younger men again…

Okazaki-san, can I call you Onii-chan from now on?

Dozo!

Onii-chan~

Must resist… The moe appeal!

Okazaki-kun is a lolicon. He’s making Mei call him ‘Onii-chan’.

Don’t be like that. I’ll let you girls call me Onii-chan too. Hop on the love train~

Does Onii-chan… Want to do something ecchi with me?

Our taboo love is none of your business!

*chomp*

Onii-chan, your face looks strange.

You were thinking perverted thoughts again, weren’t you?

Love-love.

Forget about Nagisa. I can make you happy too!

Sup?

Impressions:
First things first, if moe could kill then watching this episode would have killed me at least ten times. MOE LEVELS WERE COMPLETELY OFF THE CHARTS. Yukari Tamura is masterful as Mei and captures the essence of the character perfectly. Okazaki’s reactions to her moe power are absolutely priceless. Though the focus is supposed to be shared between her and Sunohara, she really stole the spotlight in this episode with all the cutesy stuff. I also like how they inserted Kikuko Inoue’s now obligatory seiyuu joke about her being a fresh 17 year old girl.

Sunohara has turned into a complete and utter jackass to everyone now that he thinks he has a girlfriend. I guess we can make a comparison of real love to fake love and how much real love has changed our protagonist through the series. Okazaki and Sunohara both started at the same place and could be regarded as essentially the same at the beginning of the series. Okazaki’s real love with Nagisa mellowed him out and changed him for the better through trials and tribulations.

Sunohara is still stuck in delinquent mode and only cares about himself most of the time. He’s even fooled himself into thinking his fake girlfriend has now become his real girlfriend. He’s in for some major heartbreak later. Of course there’s no one to blame but himself as he set himself up for the fall because the fake girlfriend ruse is his own creation. By doing so he’s essentially shut out the person that cares for him the most, Mei. I don’t like seeing Sunohara’s jackass side but it’s all part of making him a deeper character.

All in all a pretty decent episode. Unlike the previous two episodes that focused on comedy, we’re finally starting to get into the drama of the arc. I’m guessing the Sunohara/Mei arc will go to episode 5 or so. Next episode looks to have some setup for the start of the Yukine arc.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Anime, Clannad.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.