Boy Next Door

The following is a repost from a former version of my blog, since it is now currently down, this is done to revive this short essay. An early impression I had about a character from visual-novel, CLANNAD.

And further in the entry is a Tomoya fandom discussion that I formed that my previous essay did not render too far.

If you want to use my article or quote a part of it, please read this.

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Tomoya Okazaki, one of your average “nice guy” protagonists. But unlike the cheesy, shy type who flushes to no end with a sight of a cute person or the cool but arrogant bishounen who has a bad past, Tomoya falls under one of the categories of the true type of “uniqueness.” He is a guy that wouldn’t love you for everything, but he is the kind of person who wouldn’t let you down no matter what. Tomoya is considered a lazy bum or delinquent at school and some students do not like him for his trait to skip classes or always arriving late for them. But in truth, Tomoya has a heart of gold, and deep down, a lonely person. It is always admirable to have to see main characters, with a bad past, but the kinds to never let events or sudden conflicts get to them when facing other people. Instead of having to share his emotions or even show it, he walks with a calm demeanor and even extends an open, warm palm for those who needs help.

In the early episodes, Tomoya’s blank and empty life is shown, and how it slowly chances after meeting several people. He always seemed flat and blunt– never smiling so much towards himself but more for others who he would want to cheer up. His relationship with his new friends developed greatly as he continued to aid them in his own small but heart-warming ways. His friends, particularly Nagisa, were always inspired by this person. Regardless of all the smiles he brought, unlike other main characters in different series (of which the guy is surrounded with “oversized” you-know-what and everyone loves him), he is not “the town’s crush.” (With exception of several characters, basing from the early episodes alone.) *SPOILER, HIGHLIGHT TO READ* As the episodes move on, this changes over time, though it was a very reasonable result– After Tomoya has constantly helped the girls and his overall likable personality always shining with his warmth, has caught all of the girls’ hearts firmly, which is a natural reaction from humans. Even so, Tomoya’s own feelings remain for one person– The very same person who triggered the start of everything, Nagisa. *END SPOILER*

Tomoya officially makes it in my favorite characters list. What I am only disappointed about is the lack of Tomoya appreciation (few fan arts) and the very few number of large quality scans of him.

— End of repost.

Continuing, Tomoya appreciation still continues to be low as indeed, the girls have more attention. Whether we admit it or not, they are the “spotlight” in the entire series for the eyes of the fans, especially to the fact that Tomoya was barely shown in the actual visual-novels. He never even had proper cover art.

People tend to forget that there’s a certain someone that helped them shine and move forward in life. Forget the roots, appreciate the fruits? Of course I admire fans who are able to connect the meaningful relationships, but still it’s disappointing to think a rather large number doesn’t even acknowledge it anymore. A massive portion of fans just go, “(girl’s name here)-KAWAII DESU!!11” Don’t get the wrong idea, I don’t have anything against it, it’s completely fine. I’m a huge fans of the girls as well. But what I’m pointing out is that Tomoya has quite a cold side of the fandom. Whenever stuff about Tomoya is posted, they look for a while, but they never really go too far.

I’ve been scrolling the image threads in random forums and also pages in large CLANNAD galleries, page 1 until the end, and there’s only about 1 or 2, sometimes none, Tomoya pictures in a single page in average.

In a related matter, personally, I don’t believe Tomoya is the kind of person who would even bother opening up unless there’s something special enough to make him talk or even –think about– his own past. Of course it bothers him at eventual times as portrayed, but as far as Tomoya’s personality is concerned, he wouldn’t talk about it so openly: to himself or to others. An instance, *SPOILER, HIGHLIGHT TO READ* Nagisa even got to know that Tomoya doesn’t have the best relationship, or at least a hint of it, with his dad is when Tomoya admitted what he said about a bit of his background during the time at the rainy day in the school court. *END SPOILER* Therefore, knowing as Tomoya -is- important to the girls, it is the same way the girls are important to Tomoya. This is just one of the characteristics of CLANNAD had I liked, character development is just top-notch. This is a reason why I wouldn’t want the idea to have a “this one is the spotlight” kind of thoughts over favored characters because all of them are important all the same.

So where are you, Tomoya Okazaki fandom?