Clannad – Misae’s Route

When I woke up, it was two o’ clock … and too me 2PM is practically the end of the day (considering how this year school finished at 2:20). Whenever I wake up that late, I always feel like crap … but seeing the tidiness of my room sort of cheered me up for some reason. Then somehow that had me think “Why don’t I download CLANNAD?” … I’ve been procrastinating about downloading the game for months now and I guess Summer boredom finally got to me. I do have a few anime to catch up to (namely an Antique Bakery episode) but after the infamous rain scene, I sort of lost hope in Antique … we’ll see tomorrow when I actually watch episode four.

And so, without anything to do, I downloaded the game, the “unofficial” voice patch and the english patch. The torrents were fortunately quick so that part took about two hours in which I had to time to stop feeling like crap and watch Code Geass R2 16 with a sheepish smile on my face. Geass gets more and more ridiculous every episode. I love how Lulu has no one but Suzaku to turn to in the end. Plus, this is the second time Lulu’s abandoned a girl for a guy. Shame on him for turning his back on C.C. to call Suzaku! PIZZA ATTAAAAACK!

Back to the main subject, torrents done I proceeded to install the game and extract the voice patch to my desktop. That was another whooping half hour, in which time I realized I my computer can’t be set to “Japanese for Non-Unicode programs” … ugh. It was like I was being reminded how much I need a new computer or a Laptop at the very least (I have my eyes on that white Sony VAIO)

Since the game was installed, I ran it to see if it would run. I was extremely relieved when I saw the menu show up safely. Thank God, really. Then I installed the voice patch and then the English patch. It was probably six by the time all that was done. I attempted to run the game on my computer without it being set to Japanese … and that froze my PC … three times before I got the message. Meaning, I had to transfer all the files onto my external hard drive and wait another 40 minutes. Ugh. I took my hard drive with me and went up and used my Dad’s computer instead. Because his unlike mines is frikken brand new. It frustrates me how he can’t just give me his computer instead of leaving me with the crappy one -grumbles-

Luckily, the game worked perfectly on my Dad’s computer. It was nearly 8 by the time I started playing but I managed to finish Misae’s route nonetheless. Her route took me about 3-4 hours.

Misae’s Route (possible spoilers)

The beginning reminded me much of Episode One and I felt somewhat nostalgic about it all. Ever since I watched Tomoyo’s OVA, my dislike of Nagisa vanished completely and I found myself liking her more and more. I had myself going “waah, she’s cute” more often than I liked.

In this route, not much of the characters show up. Kyou, Ryou have brief appearances and Tomoyo only appears towards the end. I absolutely loved having to NOT see Kotomi and Fuuko.

Something I noticed about the game is the amount of time spent with Sunohara. It’s uncanny. In Misae’s arc, Sunohara shows up more than anyone else. Hell, I’m definitely not complaining though. The only thing I have a problem with is how Sunohara’s even more of a loser in the game than in the anime. I have mixed feelings about the matter but I guess I do prefer KyoAni‘s Sunohara more after all. I’ll admit it’s entertaining hearing him go “EEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeekkk!” so often. I also absolutely love Tomoya’s “You’re my slave and I’m your master” lines. Did we ever get that in anime? I don’t remember. I’m going to have to play through his infamous “yaoi” route sometime …

Ahem, now about Misae. In the beginning, she only had brief appearances whenever Tomoya went to Sunohara’s place. After Tomoya’s confession, I thought her route was over (especially since the walkthrough had no more choices to make afterwards) but I had to go through about 30 minutes of Misae’s school life. It was fun really. I absolutely loved Shima-kun … even more after I realized it was Romi Paku voicing him. I have an extreme attraction to cute guys like him … although we never got to see how he looked like. God knows how much I wanted to see him in the CLANNAD’s female uniform!

Really, at the point, (when Shima was forced into a skirt) I forgot this game was meant for guys. Maybe it’s the route, but there’s an extremely abnormal amount of slash moments between Sunohara and Tomoya … and plus there’s Shima, too! It’s like Key’s secretly appealing to the small number of fangirls who would put their fingers on this. Well, I guess I’m really glad about this fact though, considering the fact that CLANNAD is my first game. Though (since I have to use my Dad’s PC to play) I’m hoping I can finish the game before school starts (I have a month basically) …

I don’t want to spoil much about Misae’s story but I’d have to say I liked it. The main part not especially but the whole thing that happened to her in high school was great. Unfortunately, I had already guessed what’s Shima really was early on … so the end didn’t surprise me. It was still sad though. Ah, cats are wonderful aren’t they?

(Saki and Yuki were great characters too! Any girl that can force a guy into a skirt is a friend of mines! … It’s sad they didn’t get an appearance either. Ugh, I’m going to have the urge to draw Shima-kun, Saki and Yuki any second now …)

Anyways, next up it Tomoyo … which I’ve already started. I’ll expect I’ll have it done before Friday.

(Sorry there wasn’t any screenshots in this post. Like the idiot that I am, I forgot to take any. Plus, I didn’t get any CGs either … Nagisa aside)