I wanted to watch and write something about Clannad the same night I wrote about Shana, but it was late and I had to go to NJ the next day. Then I got back and put my energy into a post on MangaNext. But finally I watched Clannad and looked through the huge number of posts on this much anticipated show. It’s an impressive level of interest, but though my own post is late, I still felt like adding to the many reactions already to the first episode.
As those who have seen the live-action Japanese film Tampopo know, food can represent sex very easily. Much could be written about the typical fascination of a Key girl with a particular food and how that obsession and consumption marks them simultaneously as child-like and sensual. The scene depicted above, in which Nagisa makes Tomoya wait while she eats and drinks in a cute way, takes this food association even further. Her nibbling and drinking through a straw is clearly intended to be a scene full of moe but, especially in the context of a Key work, it also stands in for sexual activity. Nagisa is presented as a particularly weak heroine, with a voice that can be barely heard. But as she carefully folds the wrapper her lunch came in (representing a contraceptive perhaps?) and sucks through her straw, while Tomoya contentedly eats his own food, awaiting her pleasure to begin conversation, we perhaps get a hint of her having some sexual dominance. And while he must remain silent while she eats, she begins talking while his mouth is full of food!
I haven’t yet worked out all the implications of that short but meaningful lunch sequence, but I wonder if it says something about what’s to come. I don’t know the plot of Clannad in advance, although the genre elements are familiar to everyone. Tomoya’s boldness is like that of Yuichi in Kanon, although his difficult family situation will hopefully make him a more developed character. And while he takes the child-like Nagisa under his wing, and pats her head like a child or pet, the scene where they eat lunch indicates this series may have a more complex and nuanced relationship between them than Yuichi’s patronising attitude towards Ayu, which alternated between teasing and lecturing.
As for the other characters, Tomoyo will no doubt be the tough girl who ends up needing the man’s help to work through her childhood issues. So let’s enjoy that footwork while we can!
And is Kyou tsundere while Ryou is moe? Or are they alternate types of moe? We’ll find out. One thing’s for sure, “Kyou” and “Ryou” don’t rhyme with moe!
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while this post is late, it certainly is one of the most informative ones especially the lunch scene. So that’s why Key works always emphasise on food eh? :)
I think the food thing is a KyoAni addition. It wasn’t really that focused on in the game.
Interesting stuff to think about, but a simpler explanation for all the scenes involving food (in a lot of anime, not just Key/Visual Art’s/Kyoani joints) is that people spend a significant fraction of their waking hours eating, and thus, so do anime characters. Also, especially in a school setting, a lot of the interesting stuff will naturally happen at lunch. For the same reason, there are a lot of walking to or from school scenes in anime– that’s when the characters have a chance to do something besides sitting quietly at their desks taking notes!
I still don’t get your dislike of Kanon’s Yuuichi. He’s so dreamy. Yuuichi can buy takoyaki for me any day. ;)
Ed: Err, taiyaki. Not that I’d turn down takoyaki.
As for the “eating and drinking in a cute way” thing, don’t forget that pretty much ALL GIRLS IN JAPAN eat like this. Seriously. They just come with that moe mode pre-installed.
Next time you’re in Japan, take a look around at a McDonald’s or First Kitchen in an area where students hang out. Pretty much every girl in the joint will be holding her burger daintily with both hands, and I mean like down to the very last bite. =D
Nevertheless, good point that they played that scene for maximum moe ROI.
Dr. Matt >> Have you just revealed to me an aspect of yourself I hadn’t known before? Anyway, this scene seems a little different from the usual kinds of things that happen with food in anime, like “girl-makes-boxed-lunch-for-guy” or even “let’s-talk-for-ten-minutes-about-which-end-of-the-choco=cornet-is the-head!”
Orion >> I would like to confirm this for myself. Please either send me a round-trip ticket to Japan or arrange a meeting at a fast food restaurant for me with a group of Japanese girls, preferably in seifuku :)
rofl, so this is what your post was about. I suggest laying off the Freud before you watch the second episode — heck, lay off Freud before watching it, period. I don’t doubt the possibility of elaborate dinners later on, so let’s just not go into that…