I know this is horrible, but I almost would’ve been more into Clannad if Nagisa had died again. The pitfalls of life are inevitable, mwahaha! Or, you know, something like that. But I suppose it would’ve been dissatisfying to see Tomoya “rewarded” for his bond-building efforts by getting the big shaft, and again no less. Once I’m done being bitter that Clannad wasn’t low mimetic tragedy, I’ll figure out how to appreciate it for what it was — perhaps I’ve already begun to, if I’m willing to equate Tomoya with heroes of old.

@Cuchlann, lelangir

Well, I’m conflicted over the issue of completeness/validity. It’s pretty clear that someone who hasn’t seen all of something can’t form an accurate opinion about the thing in its entirety, and doesn’t possess all the tools needed to engage in discourse about the thing, or at least not robust/fully-informed discourse. But I guess they still have a complete experience, in the sense that they could stop at any time and still have some kind of impression about the text, some foundation for further thought, and given that all things are subjective anyway…I don’t know, I’m confusing myself now, but I suppose I’d say that incompleteness hinders discourse but not experience. But if we say that discourse is experience…agh.

For my part, as I think the end impacts everything before it so significantly (possibly Ulysses has tied me up and kicked me until I felt that way), I’d tend to think that someone lacking the end lacks a good-sized chunk of input. But maybe there can be an objective end and many subjective ends? Something related to the way one-week gaps between episodes function as part of anime-viewing? It’s not something I’ve given a whole lot of thought to before now, so crazy conjectures as to my uncertainty on the topic are about all I have to offer.

@lelangir

BATHING KYOU-SAMA IS SAIKOU

THIS

I don’t think any memory alteration happens, but having been reduced to a miserable wreck over Nagisa’s death in the past isn’t going to influence my opinion of the whole thing nearly so much as all events viewed in light of the ending. In retrospect, once I’ve consumed the thing in as complete a form as possible, it ceases to be about moment-by-moment emotional response and turns into an intellectualized mess of structure, signs, consistent emotional threads, and such (at least until subsequent rewatches, and then the emotions will probably be quite different based on what mental cogs turned during the non-watching period). It’s as if I layer the episodes atop each other, losing some of my ability to look at episodes as distinct events, and gaining the ability to see overlaps and causation between the stacked layers. I’d imagine this is just a matter of personal priorities/habit.

Not sure if any of that is relevant at all, but, eh, who am I to defy the whimsical writing gods?

Ep 23 in the aspect of various time structures is interesting. I think that present events can indeed change your opinion of past events, but I’m not quite sure if past memories can really be changed, in a strict psychological sense. Not like that’s of much relevance here though…

I’d agree with Cuchlann’s point that an incomplete reading is an invalid reading, since you’re battling against a complete argument, the terms of the debate are unfair, so you’re being selfish, and also that the debate itself will be illogical, since the dropper must be arguing in completely subjective terms, yet the guy who stuck to it is at least trying to argue on a more objective basis (unless the two people dropped the show at the same time).

I like ep 23 though, it’s kind of lightened my mood on it. Even if it does take place “before” “the narrative” “began”, in my psychological time, ending the airing of the show on a nice note is…nice! Also, BATHING KYOU-SAMA IS SAIKOU

I keep posting on your Clannad entries, even though I’ve never seen it (and there’s a very real possibility that it’ll fall into my eternal “to-watch” bin and never come out.

And I agree with you about finding more satisfaction in the first season than in the second. It’s a shame really, but like you, I feel the ending is rather important to the whole story, so I just can’t really say that the second season was as good as the first. Although, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the 23rd episode.