This is my lawn

Yeah, Nagisa's story (and the After Story) clearly had the most effort put into them, and the other routes from the visual novel didn't all receive quite so much work.  The Kyo chapter did feel kinda tacked on.  Poor Kyo, even when she wins...

 

I don't think I actually watched the recap episode, now that I think about it.  Maybe I should do that.

 

But yes, episode 22 and it's timey-wimey-space-bending-multi-world weirdness is what I continue to rage about.  I should probably stick that in spoiler tags though.

 

 

 

To be fair, it makes more sense in the original context.  In the visual novel, you reach the end of the After Story route with Ushio and Tomoya dying, and then a visit to the Illusory World where you learn that if you can collect all of the "orbs of light", you'll be able to save Nagisa.  You get an orb with every ending, so, after clearing every single ending, you can reload a save file before Ushio's birth, and Nagisa will miraculously survive.  I guess all the orbs Tomoya collected from all the other timelines were all sent back to that one location in time-space...?  It's still a little screwy, I guess, but understandable for a visual novel.

 

And, yes, it's a happy ending, it's the True End, but I don't think it works for an anime that, up to this point, has been entirely linear.  We've been sticking with one world up to now, with the exception of the Tomoyo chapter; and yes, a few orbs of light do appear in that timeline, but obviously not enough if Tomoya still has to watch Nagisa die.  So...I'm not really sure what happens, but I guess he gets sent back and some extra orbs get added in from other timelines?  Not that we saw those timelines, which are all suddenly important for the first time.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is: if the point is to "earn your happy ending", I feel like it doesn't work as well when you get to take shortcuts in earning it.  Granted, they couldn't possibly have wanted this anime to go on for a few dozen more episodes to properly adapt every route, but I still find it a bit jarring.

 

 

 

Whew, I need to quit being so long-winded...well, that's my two-cents on the deal.  Not that anyone asked, but I've been kicking it around in my head for over a year and felt the need to write it down somewhere, so here you go.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed the series!  To anyone else, I'll back up the recommendation--despite the issues I take with it, it really is a well-made show worth the trouble it puts you through.

While I agree that getting to a happy ending was done a bit sloppy, I actually think that, overall, what they did was somewhat clever.
 
A huge chunk of After Story's plot is where Tomoya questions himself and thinks that it would have been better had he and Nagisa never met.
 
Giving his desires a form in the alternate world, however, we get to see what he really feels:  the love for his daughter and the desire to see her live in a fitting world. 
 
The very first thing he mentions as a robot was "she was the warmth I was looking for in this world."  In other words, deep down, Tomoya's base thought is that meeting Nagisa and having Ushio, despite everything that had happened, was worth it. 
 
In our world, though, he didn't want to deal with the reality of what had happened and that sent him into a depression.  At his core, he's still the same person; someone who wants to do good where he can.
 
I think it's an interesting way to look at it. 
 
What I'm super confused by, though, is how and when Usio left her world and became a part of our world.  It seemed she was five years old when that happened in our world, but she had mentioned she couldn't leave her world because she was what kept everything existing in the first place.  But, she was still five years old, and had some sort of link between both worlds like Tomoya?
 
I took it to mean that when she decided to leave for another world, her actions which collapsed her world also dipped into the actions of our world.  The lights of her desires appeared, and her wish, along with Tomoya's (mostly because they were the same desire) were fulfilled and they could both live a happy life in our world. 
 
Granted, that explaination leaves a lot to be desired, but that's what I think happened.  Like I said, it's sloppy getting there, but in the end it's not the worst idea that the show could have taken.  If anything it was interesting.

 
Wheee, I can type stuff!

 

 

That is an interesting way to look at it...I suppose that does give it a sense of closure.

 

As for how they got the other world, yeah, that's all pretty screwy, but what you propose makes sense.

 

 

You know, in hindsight, Tomoya could've saved five years if he just danced with Princess Tutu...