The Palm of a Small Hand
| File:Clannad-after-story-episode-22-1.jpg | |
| Clannad After Story episode | |
|---|---|
| Episode Name | The Palm of a Small Hand / Chiisana Tenohira (小さな手のひら) |
| Episode No. | 22 [Final] |
| Original Airdate | March 12, 2009 |
| Director | Tatsuya Ishihara |
| Studio | Kyoto Animation |
The Palm of a Small Hand is the 22nd episode of Clannad After Story, and the final episode of the series proper.
Plot
Following the death of Ushio in the previous episode, Tomoya thinks back to his first meeting with Nagisa, and concludes (just as he did in episode 17, following her death) that it would have been better had he never spoken to her. Therefore, this time in the flashback (which is presented in muted colours), he says nothing, and she turns and walks past him.
Meanwhile, the girl in the Illusionary World lies lifeless in the snow, as her robot friend tries to pull her to the warm world which they were journeying to, lamenting that he ever tried to take her on this journey through the snow (akin to the regrettable trip Tomoya took through the snow with Ushio). The girl stirs, and reveals that she now understands that she can never leave the Illusionary World, as she is the Illusionary World. The girl is finally able to hear the robot's voice, and tells him that they once existed in the other, warm world. The robot is revealed to be Tomoya, and the girl Ushio, and she tells him that the lights which they see floating in their world are the feelings of the people from the other world (the orbs of light which Tomoya and Ushio have seen appear at happy moments). In a heart-wrenching scene, as the snow stops the girl faintly hums 'Dango Daikazoku', and the Illusionary World collapses, sweeping the robot/Tomoya back to the other world, with the girl's last words being "Goodbye, Daddy" (Sayonara, Papa).
Tomoya suddenly awakens in the flashback (which shifts to full colour), turns and runs after Nagisa, catching catching up to her and hugging her. As he promises Nagisa that he will not regret their having met, the world shifts, and Tomoya is suddenly back home, five years previously, with Nagisa having just given birth to Ushio. This time, however, she miraculously survives, and as Tomoya speaks to his wife and bathes his daughter, the whole five year period seems as though a strange dream. Nagisa draws his attention to outside the window, where hundreds of orbs of light are floating into the sky.
As Tomoya and Nagisa sing 'Dango Daikazoku' to Ushio, a montage plays showing them happily raising her together as a family over the next five years, whilst the rest of the characters continue with their lives.
In the epilogue, Fuko (now out of her coma), is taken for a check-up by her sister, and runs off to find a girl she somehow knows is under a tree. The girl from the Illusionary World lies sleeping under a tree, and becomes the Ushio of this world as Fuko approaches. The last words of the episode are Fuko saying "All the fun things start now".
Themes
Throughout the series, Tomoya's tendency to 'run away' from anything difficult (school, his father, Ushio, etc.) has been emphasised, as well as Nagisa's good influence in helping him to commit and work towards difficult things (e.g. re-establishing the drama club). Following Nagisa's death, in episode 17 he again runs from the difficulty of the pain, and laments that it would have been better had he and Nagisa never met, an attitude which leads to his emotional abandonment of Ushio. At the start of this episode he seems likely to repeat this pattern, again stating that his meeting Nagisa was a 'mistake', but changes his mind as a result of experiences formed through his bonding with Ushio (expressed in the Illusionary World). Thus he finally concludes to face his problems head on, and turns to catch up with Nagisa. Although he knows that the decision will mean immense sorrow and heartbreak in his future, he would still willingly endure it for the sake of the happy moments. Ironically, it is his breaking out of his self-destructive pattern which finally allows him to live the happy life he dreamed of with Nagisa and Ushio.
It could be argued that the series has depicted Tomoya's character as the biggest obstacle to his own happiness (for example his long standing refusal to try and resolve issues with his father), and that the source of his happiness is in Nagisa, who provides the counterpoint to his self-destructive character. It is only when he embraces this alternative (literally, in the flashback) that he is able to break free of the pattern which affected his life, and enjoy the happiness he dreams of.
After Story, in particular, also showed Tomoya's hatred for the city, which he associates with all the pain he has suffered there, and his desire to quite literally 'run away' from it (as he suggests doing to Nagisa after his father's arrest). Again, Nagisa is the absolute counterpoint to this; she comments to Tomoya in the first episode that she loves their school, and it is implied that following Akio's prayer when she was near death, that she is somehow linked to the city. It is possible that when Tomoya eventually accepts that he cannot run away from his problems (including the city), the city rewards him with the life he dreamt of (note that the orbs of light which appear after Nagisa's successful delivery are said in the series to be unique to the city, and to grant wishes).
Notes
- That the robot is Tomoya is hinted at in episode 18, where Tomoya purchases a similar looking toy robot for Ushio, who later reveals that this toy is very important to her, as it is the first gift she ever received from her father.
- Tomoya's reconciliation with his father is only shown in the alternate timeline following Nagisa's death, but it can be presumed that the same reconciliation occurred even though she lived (it is at least implied by Tomoya's recollections of his father in the episode's ending montage).
- Although this is the final episode of the series proper, there are three more episodes: an extra, which is a prequel to the events of Clannad, a summary episode of the events of the two series (which shows that Tomoya certainly remembers the alternative timeline where Nagisa dies), and an 'alternate world' episode in which Tomoya is dating Kyou (similar to the 'alternate world' episode in which he is dating Tomoyo at the end of 'Clannad).