Some of you should know that I’m currently in the CLANNAD fever, ever since I started playing the visual novel. Maybe ‘obsessed’ with CLANNAD is a better word. At the same time, I’m in love with Fujibayashi Kyou, one of the girls in CLANNAD. So, you can say that this post is unavoidable, and is expected from me. In this post, I will talk about Kyou, her story, why she is awesome, and why you should love/worship her.
Prepare for a very long post.
I should have written this post weeks ago, when I finished Kyou’s route. But I forgot to do so and I was busy with homeworks and stuff. So, after weeks of not writing anything, I have decided to write about Kyou. Since she is in my mind all the time.^_^
When I got my hands on CLANNAD a few weeks ago, I decided that I will play Kyou’s route first. Kyou is the reason why I picked up the game in the first place, since I find that the anime lacks Kyou. Guess what, it’s true. There are lots of things and events in the visual novel that the anime didn’t cover. The anime only covers the first half of her route, but not the latter one.
SPOILER ALERT!
If you haven’t played Kyou’s route in the visual novel, you will be spoiled. If you don’t mind, then continue on reading.
Kyou’s Story
Kyou is a bad-mouthed and aggressive girl who is also well known as a good cook. She was in Tomoya’s class in their second year, and has maintained a steady friendship with Tomoya even though they are put in different classes on their third year. She is currently the class representative of her class. She has a pet baby warthog named Button (ボタン, Botan) after Japanese food botan-nabe, or wild boar nabe. She even has her own bike, which is known only to Tomoya and her sister, as Kyou doesn’t want the news of her having a bike to be known, fearing the bike will be confiscated because she is not allowed to drive a bike to the school. Her favourite weapon is various type of dictionaries, which are thrown at anyone she gets furious with, typically Youhei.
One day, Kyou receives a love letter from the soccer club captain to give to Ryou. Kyou is hesitant on giving the letter to Ryou since she doesn’t really like him, so Kyou asked Tomoya whether he likes Ryou or not. Tomoya responds that he has no reason to either like or hate Ryou since he knows very little about her. Kyou then tears the letter into pieces and walks away, telling Tomoya to prepare for what’s about to happen.
The next day, Kyou reveals her plan on trying to make Tomoya get close with Ryou. She gives him a bento made by herself, and asks him to eat it with Ryou in the garden. At first, Tomoya refuses her request, but after being “provoked” that he was worse than Youhei by not having any guts to eat with a girl, he accepts her request out of sheer fury for being berated. Then, realizing it too late that he just got succumbed to her trick, Tomoya ultimately, albeit reluctantly, decides to follow her request. When he meets up with Ryou, he soon finds out that Kyou has told Ryou that Tomoya wants to eat together with her during lunch. Ryou, however, gets curious when she notices that Tomoya’s bento is the same container as her sister’s. Cursing Kyou for her sloppy planning, Tomoya quickly lies that Kyou has switched lunch with his, and adds that if he didn’t obey her, he would be lying in the hallway by now. They eventually end up eating together that day. The next day, Kyou again “provoke” Tomoya to meet Ryou at the gates. Kyou’s bento making for Tomoya also continued.
Eventually, one day, Ryou confesses her love for Tomoya, and asked him to go out. Although Tomoya only said thanks for Ryou’s confession, Tomoya agreed to go out with her. Kyou eventually becomes a tutor to Ryou and Tomoya on how to become a good girlfriend and boyfriend. During their first apparent date, Kyou tags along in Tomoya and Ryou’s date. Tomoya eventually becomes Kyou’s porter. From the date, Tomoya learns about Ryou liking Tanzanite and Kyou liking Amethyst.
That day onwards, in school, Tomoya started eating lunch together with Kyou and Ryou. Not wanting to reveal this to Youhei, however, he tricks Youhei into locking him in the toilet room each time before going. One time, Ryou also made her own first lunch, but when Button eats the omelette Ryou made, it immediately faints. Kyou asked Tomoya about whether he likes longer or shorter hair, and he answers that he likes longer hair, which surprises both Kyou and Ryou, and Kyou tells Ryou that from this day onwards she will have to grow her hair, but Tomoya claims that it is not necessary. One day, Ryou and Tomoya promised for a second date for the following Monday.
One day, Kyou goes out with Tomoya when Ryou is on an orientation on becoming a nurse. Kyou buys a pack of tarot cards, gives it to Tomoya and asks him to give it to Ryou as a present. They went to a greenery, and Kyou tells about how she found Button in the greenery where Button is abandoned by its parents. Kyou not wanting Tomoya to mess up with Ryou’s kiss, suggested to Tomoya that they have practice kissing, which they almost did. The next day Sunday, Tomoya buys the Amethyst pendant.
During the date, Tomoya forgets about the Amethyst, but gifts Ryou the Tarot Cards. Ryou made a fortune telling with the cards, and Tomoya gets The Fool. While in the game center where they had their fortunes told in a machine, they kissed.
The next day, everyone in the class starts to stare at Tomoya, and Kyou suddenly starts to act coldly on Tomoya. Youhei explains to Tomoya about a rumor being spread about Tomoya going out with Kyou. Tomoya denies it, but he learns that the rumor was based on the eyewitness sawing Tomoya and Kyou together on the greenery. In addition, Youhei also asks Tomoya whether he really does like Ryou or not, which give Tomoya an uncomfortable feeling since he never actually said about his own feelings during her confession. In the end, Tomoya decides to play a waiting game, believing that either the rumor will just disperse itself as people lose interest, or Kyou herself will strengthen it up. He also tries to move forward with his relationship with Ryou, even though he feels unworthy to her. In the meantime, Kyou’s mood start to change to the worse, eventually trying to have distance with Tomoya.
Ryou’s fortune telling changed to being incredibily accurate, and girls are starting to ask her for advice. Eventually Youhei starts to notice Tomoya acting unusually, asking him why he is asking him to eat lunch while he could just ask Ryou to have lunch. Kyou, wanting to have the rumor disperse, goes as far as trying to make Youhei her boyfriend. Tomoya, worried about Kyou’s behaviour eavesdropped their conversation. Kyou’s ploy is immediately found out by Youhei, and he foinds out that Kyou likes Tomoya. Kyou and Youhei found out that Tomoya is eavesdropping under a bush, and when Tomoya comes out Kyou immediately runs away. Youhei explains to Tomoya that Kyou likes Tomoya from probably a long time ago, and asked him whether he is forcing himself to be with Ryou, which he didn’t answer. From that day, Tomoya also starts to get more worried for Kyou, and starting to feel uneasy with Ryou.
The rumours about Tomoya being two-timing starts to spread even more. Ryou is starting to get more bold, like Kyou, Kyou is starting to have more distance with Tomoya. Eventually asked Tomoya to go buy something with her, which is the pendant. Tomoya immediately buys her the Tantazine pendant. One day, while Ryou and Tomoya are kissing, Kyou spies on them, when Tomoya notices Kyou, as she is going to cry, runs away, which gives Tomoya a huge shock. Tomoya seems to be less responsive to Ryou.
During a rainy day, Kyou left the school early. During class, Tomoya noticed Button, wondering why Kyou is not bringing Button with her, meet up with it, and Button brings Tomoya to the greenery, where Kyou stands there, alone. She tells Tomoya the truth that it is painful for her to see Tomoya and Ryou together as lovers. She also tells him that she is scared to confess her love for him, afraid of being rejected and unable to talk like friends again, and wanted to be on his side, and now she is regretting it, mentioning she should have confess to him than setting him with Ryou.
Tomoya, couldn’t hold his feelings anymore,hugs Kyou, while Kyou still trying to prompt him that she is Kyou and not Ryou. Kyou walks away later, followed by Button. Tomoya returns to class, while Ryou hugs him, telling him not to suffer aloneas she is his girlfriend. Tomoya feels guilty, thinking he is the worst.
The next day, Kyou meets Tomoya, surprising changed back to her normal self, telling him to meet up with Ryou to have lunch. Tomoya starts feeling strange about Kyou, but still feeling guilty. While Tomoya is thinking about having distance with both Kyou and Ryou, Youhei as if reading his mind, tells him not to, and says that he can’t get his hands clean in his situation, and tells him to act fast about giving his answer to them or else he will hurt both Fujibayashi even more. Ryou made a fortune telling on Tomoya, which totally reflected on what Tomoya’s feelings were. Kyou also said that she dislikes someone who hurt her sister.
Eventually one day in an empty class together with Ryou, Tomoya tried to mention about him wanting to break up with Ryou, in the mid-way Ryou tries to kiss him but he hesitates. Ryou then, explains how she wanted to be better than her sister, that she knew that Kyou liked Tomoya, and despite that, bottled up her feelings and helped Ryou. Ryou then tries to persuade Tomoya, pledging that she’ll be more like her sister, that she can be the girl he wants. Tomoya eventually makes things worse, unable to say what he needed to say, and Ryou runs out of the classroom crying.
Feeling mad at himself, Tomoya skips the last period the next day to avoid confronting Ryou. He returns to Youhei’s dormitory, and Youhei tells Tomoya to hurry up and decide on what to do, adding that whether Tomoya decides to break up with Ryou or not, he himself will try to aim the one that is not taken. Tomoya furiously smacks Youhei with a dictionary, and after Youhei yells out in pain, a rugby team member breaks into the room and takes Youhei away because of his noise. Before that, though, he tells Tomoya that Ryou was finding for him in the school, which Tomoya acknowledges. Tomoya decides not to hold back anymore and chose to express his real feelings.
Tomoya returned to school and eventually confronts Ryou, her face sad. Tomoya confess to Ryou that he had fun together with her, but through her he realize he likes Kyou more, and apologizes her. Ryou immediately approaches Tomoya, hugs him and kisses him. As Tomoya tries to restrain her, he hears a familiar voice.
Tomoya realizes that the “Ryou” that kisses him is actually Kyou, who cut her hair. Kyou explains that Ryou tells Kyou that she should not run away if she really likes him, and feels sorry on how selfish she is, thinking only about herself and causing all the troubles. Ryou also tells her not to run away or she will be rejected the same way Ryou did. Kyou eventually confess to Tomoya that she likes him, and Tomoya gives Kyou the Amethyst pendant that he bought, Tomoya also confess his love for her, and they both hug and kiss together.
The next day, Tomoya attempts to apologizes to Ryou about how he is spoiled and how he indulged in her kindness, Ryou says that she doesn’t want to forgive Tomoya and if she did, she will have to apologize to him too, and she holds the memory dear to her too. Tomoya’s pain had stopped, and the two finally comes back to being friends again. In Fall, goes to school Tomoya together with Kyou. Tomoya says that it is a waste that her hair is cut, but Kyou says she is fine with it as she wants to hear Tomoya’s motives on that day. Kyou also says Ryou got a new boyfriend during her part-time job in the hospital. Tomoya thinks that the situation gets even more complicated. Kyou mentions that he used to say that he likes longer hair, and wants to grow her hair again, Tomoya says that he loves her the way she is, and Kyou says that she wants to grow it longer so he will love her even more.
Copy & paste from here. Actually, I wrote my own summary at first, but I stopped halfway because it sucked so I used this one instead. The author did a great job too. ^_^
Thoughts on Kyou’s Story
Okay then, most people who consider CLANNAD to be their first visual novel, and doesn’t love Kyou much will notice one thing, Kyou’s route is looooong. They will probably say that the route is repetitive and boring. That’s what you get for playing a visual novel, especially a long one like CLANNAD. But if you love Kyou (like me), the time goes by fast and you want to see more of the so called ‘repetitive and boring’ story. Oh yea, I finished Kyou’s route on my first try, no guide, no bad end, and I made the right choices for the two points in the game that most people have trouble with. I’m awesome, right? ^_^
In the game, Kyou’s original plan is to play cupid and get Tomoya and Ryou together. But she is in love with Tomoya herself, way before Tomoya started going out with Ryou. She sacrifices her own happiness for Ryou’s, showing how much she cares for her sister. Eating lunch together, setting them up on dates, and supporting Ryou in every way possible, not to mention that Kyou is the one who does most of the work. Doing all that work, one must wonder why she goes as far as that just to please her sister, especially since she gets ‘nothing’ in return. After I found out why, I was simply touched. All she wants is to be by Tomoya’s side. *sob*
I feel sorry for Ryou as well. In the end, she didn’t end up with Tomoya. It must have been hard for her to accept the truth (obviously), so I’m glad she did. Also, she got a new boyfriend, so everyone wins. I’m also grateful for Ryou’s presence in both Tomoya’s life and Kyou’s life. Without Ryou, do you think that Tomoya and Kyou will be together? Maybe they will, but their feelings won’t be this strong. All the things that happened to them is a test of love, and they passed.
Kyou’s story is very special when compared with the other girls’. Nagisa, Tomoyo, Kotomi, and Fuuko have to deal with something from the past (just like most harem girls nowadays), while Kyou is dealing with something in the present entirely, which seems to be harder to deal with if you ask me. Sure, the other girls have a drama club, student council, depression, and weddings to deal with, but all of them are related to the past. Past events are just past events, you can let it go, it depends with the person herself whether she wants to do so or not (lol, what am I saying, it’s NOT that easy). But when it is in the present, it’s different. You can’t ‘let it go’. Nothing is certain and anything can happen. In other words, the things that you do will affect the events in the future. The past won’t change no matter what.
Kyou’s story is the only one that deals with love rivalry. A love triangle between Tomoya, Ryou, and herself. If one person wins, the other person have to lose, that’s how love triangles work, it’s the same as harem. Even more in this one, Kyou and Ryou are twins, they have known each other since they are born and they know almost everything about each other. Ryou is the closest person to Kyou, and it’s the same for Ryou as well. Since both of them love the same person, Kyou is in a condition where she feels guilty if she goes out with Tomoya, but she feels sad if she doesn’t.
Kyou’s story is so down to earth. Unlike the other girls, Kyou have a problem that real people have in their daily life. So, a person who have love problems in the past or currently having one can understand the story more and will love it more. Watching the three having happy and sad moments in their lives, to me, this is one of the best love story I ever read/watch. Maybe because it involves my three favorite characters, and maybe it’s because Kyou-sama is in it. I don’t know..
As much as I love Kyou’s story, there are some people who hate it. They say that Kyou is selfish for taking Tomoya away from Ryou. You know, try being Kyou for awhile, you’ll understand. It’s hard to not be selfish when it comes to love. In love, you must get the person you love, or at least try to or else you won’t be satisfied. In this case, Kyou didn’t steal Tomoya from Ryou, Tomoya was the one who came to Kyou. All Kyou did was be herself, and Tomoya loves that part of her. Tomoya loves Kyou, he never loved Ryou. You can’t force love, you know that the relationship won’t work. So, if Tomoya wants to break up with Ryou, it’s better if it’s because of Kyou.
~SPOILERS END~
Why Kyou is Awesome
Out of all the good qualities that Kyou has, five of them stands out. Firstly, she’s cute, pretty, and beautiful. The first time I saw her in the CLANNAD anime, I instantly like her. After awhile, I love her even more for her personality. Her long purple hair along with her signature white ribbon on it makes her look cute, who doesn’t love that? But most importantly, she has the tsundere look.
Being a tsundere significantly boosts my love for a character. Most of my favorite anime girls are tsunderes. This includes, Haruhi, Nagi, Eri, and of course, Kyou. I will like the character by just being a tsundere, as long as they don’t over do it. In other words, I hate annoying tsunderes, I prefer them to be balanced. I like both of Kyou’s tsun tsun and dere dere side, she is cute in any condition. Kyou is the perfect example of a perfect tsundere.
She is also a kind and a caring sister, even if she doesn’t show it. In the anime, Kyou helps Nagisa out with the whole Drama Club thing, even though she doesn’t get anything in return. Some say the main reason she helped Nagisa out is because she wants to get Tomoya and Ryou closer. This is proof that she’s a caring sister. Sacrificing her own happiness for her Ryou’s.
Her reaction towards other people’s actions/comments is also fun to watch. You can call it ‘tsukkomi’ I guess. This usually happens Tomoya. Tomoya makes a funny comment and then Kyou replies with something like “Ah Tomoya, do you really want to die that badly?” along with a smile on her face. Or even better, she throws a dictionary at him.
Last but not least, the main reason why I like Kyou is because she’s a VERY fun person to be with. I don’t know whether she’s the ‘perfect girlfriend material’, but she is definitely a fun person to be with. A person that you won’t be bored with, a person that will always have an idea on how to have fun, regardless whether it’s victimizing Sunohara or her sister, or just having a stroll at the park. If you don’t know what to talk about, Kyou can always start the conversation and then you’ll go along with it.
What should have happened to Kyou in the visual novel
If you read my thoughts on Kyou’s story, you know that I love it. There is only one thing that I don’t like, the story just ended like that. After all the hard work she have done, the story just ended with a glimpse of Tomoya x Kyou time. I want to see the continuation of the story, it can’t just end like that, I want more.
If you watched CLANNAD – 24, Tomoyo Chapter, you will know what I’m talking about. I want to see the sweet and wonderful time a couple spend together. In Kyou’s story, they just showed the ‘journey’ to the relationship. They show us all the hardships and difficult time that the characters went through to be together. And when they are together, that’s when the story ends. We saw that in Tomoyo’s story, and it was great, I really love it. How I wished that the same thing would happen to Kyou.
So, I’m waiting for someone to make a ~Kyou After~. If such thing exists, I’ll be overjoyed. The continuation of Kyou’s story, that would be really great.
What should have happened to Kyou in the anime
1. Kyou deserves a better ending
In the anime, Kyou tried hard to hook Ryou up with Tomoya, just like in the visual novel. The difference is that Kyou is not the main girl in the anime, thus, leading us to teh bad end. Well, it’s expected from visual novel adapted anime anyway, that the main girl (Nagisa) always win. But what pisses me off here is that Kyou got ‘nothing’ in return after all the things she has done, while the other girls got something in return..
Fuuko = She has no intention to end up with Tomoya. Well, her wish came true, everyone came to her sister’s wedding, thanks to Tomoya.
Kotomi = Just like the above, no love between Tomoya and her. Her problems were solved, thanks to Tomoya.
Tomoyo = Ok, so she was heartbroken as well, just like Kyou. But, at least she became the student council president, and nothing happened to the sakura tree. Again, thanks to Tomoya.
Nagisa = Created the drama club, her family problems have been solved, and she got Tomoya too.
Kyou = Heartbreaks. *sob*
2. Where is THE scene?
Yea, where is it? The scene in the rainy day, that is the most epic scene in the visual novel. Before I played Kyou’s route, I didn’t give much attention to the scene in the opening. But after I played Kyou’s route, and re-watch the anime, then I noticed it. It looks like the scene would awesome if KyoAni decided to put it in the anime. How I wish to see the scene in KyoAni’s 2D animation glory. That would have been EPIC.
3. MOAR KYOU
I want more of her in the anime. She got the 2nd most amount of screen time out of all the girls (after Nagisa), but I still can’t get enough of her, she was awesome. Screw Fuuko and Kotomi, they got way too many screen time for their arcs. Those screen time are better spent on Kyou’s arc, and perhaps we can see No. 2 as well. This is one of the reason why I wanted to play CLANNAD, to see more awesomeness from Kyou-sama.
Anything you want to add here?
Final Words
In short, Kyou is an awesome character. I know that not everyone will love her type, but for me, Kyou is definitely one of the best you can find out there. For some reason other than the ones stated above, I love her more than any other anime characters. She can even rival Suzumiya Haruhi, both of them are in a level way higher than any other anime characters. Is there a reason why you should not love her? Sorry, but I don’t know any..
You won’t see another post from me for a long time. I’ll be on hiatus for awhile, more than 2 months long. A very important exam is coming, so I’ll be busy hitting the books. I’ll be back on the 17th of October, on the final day of the exam. You can expect a post with a title like ‘WOHOOO! EXAMS ARE OVER!!!!” during that day. I can’t wait for that day, especially since it’s Fall Season 08, a lot of animes that I’m looking forward to is in that season. One of them is of course, CLANNAD ~After Story~. Until then, see ya.
Side Note: WOOT! Over 4300 words post! The summary consists of 2020 words while the rest of them are in other parts. Talk about tl;dr. I doubt that most of you can stand reading this post. If you did, congratulations, you have officially become a Kyou fan. ^_^
~Setsukyie~
