why is everyone acting sad? I thought it had the happiest ending ever!
Thanks for hating, I needed to get to 214 haters before the summer.
They're acting sad because of the way Ushio died after Tomoya just got to know her and accept his duties as being a father. The ending actually gives him that chance...
shareI didn't really find Ushio's death to be very sad because it was so over the top to stack that on top of everything else that had happened already. I actually laughed at how absurd it was. Although building up to, during, and after Nagisa's death I was bawling my eyes out :P
But thankfully in the end he was able to collect the dragonballs and wish everyone back to life ;)
I am assuming anyone who's read this far has already seen the entire series. Anyone who has NOT seen it to the end should stop reading NOW.
Here's how I interpreted it: after the episode where Ushio dies, where they go back and see Nagisa surviving birth, I thought that whole episode was all taking place in Tomoya's mind, showing us the way he wishes things had turned out. Like his mind just couldn't accept reality, so he went into his own fantasy land of how things "should have" been, all while in the real world he lay in the snow with his dead daughter. And of course the episode after that is a prequel, showing how Tomoya and Nagisa first met. In short, in reality (within the context of this fictional show) Ushio dies just like her mom, and Tomoya most likely soon follows suit.
This is NOT how I wish this series had ended, I for one would've preferred an ending where Ushio is allowed to grow up with her dad raising her, however the scenerio I described above seems to me the most likely of how it "really" turned out.
Your assessment would be wrong, If you've played the VN of Clannad you'd know with this ending, it's the true ending. Within the Clannad universe, those balls of light allows you to make a wish after you manage to collect enough. Clannad like most of the Key universe is based on a lot of magical stuff, see Kanon, Air, etc.
Anyway, when Tomoya made up with his father, he got the final ball of light needed to make his wish come true, the wish that he never lost Nagisa, the wish that he actually got to spend more time with his family. The wish that he never had to deal with that pain again.
What you saw in the After Story anime, was what is known as the True ending of the visual novel.
Thank you so much for writing this. I think this finally gave me closure that I sorely needed.
Your light explanation made me understand it a lot better as I never played the VN.