First of all, it's crazy to think that an episode called Kyou Chapter would give more screentime to her sister Ryou. I imagined while watching Clannad that, if Okazaki went with Kyou in the end, he would have this acceptance of his bad-boy delinquent personality and become the dashing sidekick to her plucky heroine. But nope, turns out she was just using her sister to get closer to Okazaki and vicariously live out her dreams of being a... I don't know, a harem girlfriend with zero personality?
It almost seems like the direction here is deliberately contrasting that set by the main series. Okazaki has a dramatic exchange with Kyou in the pouring rain, now he's a silhouette backlit against the rain as he tears Ryou's heart out by telling her he was just using her, she kissed him to increase the jealousy factor, now he's breaking up with her again, except now she's actually Kyou who cut her hair... there's no delicate sense of tact here, just pure soapy drama.
There's not much else to say considering that this is only a single TV-length episode. I think this is fun and interesting as a bonus episode, I love the idea of seeing a different side of Okazaki and seeing the girl that he ends up with changing him in different ways. Except this doesn't deliver on that promise and instead we get 20 minutes worth of scenes at and around the school of, "Oh, he loves Kyou, oh, never mind, he loves Ryou."
Kyou and Okazaki have a great dynamic in the main show and she feels like the member of the main cast who is most similar to him. Tomoyo is too caught up in social norms and Nagisa, while obviously the most qualified to be his partner, she is more of a case of opposites attracting.
It would have been nice to see the more playful and assertive side of Kyou in this episode, since that is what differentiates her from the other potential date options. But no, in this episode she turns into a blubbering mess anytime she makes eye contact with Okazaki and he turns into a playboy pitting twin sisters against each other to compete for his affection. Both of them are deeper characters than that and deserve a more fitting ending than this.
I'm glad that this episode exists and I did enjoy watching it, if only for the pure entertainment value (and the fantastic-as-usual soundtrack and visuals). But, the Okazaki I know is more tactful than the one that says, "I'm in love with your sister!"
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