So, I figured out who Shima really is and why things went down the road they did. Please take a look at the following quote:

I finally remembered. I’m not Shima Katsuki. That was the name of the person dearest to me. We spent much time together, and he left me with his last wish.
Shima Katsuki; Episode 06 12:17

So the Shima we see is only naming himself after the one dearest to him. So who is that real Shima?

Master. Master. My current master is not the same as you, but she’s a very kind person. But she makes me worry at times. Was I able to achieve the goal? Was I able to achieve the promise we made? Now, it’s been too long ago, and I can’t remember. But right now, I want to remain like this. Please allow me to be with her forever.
Shima Katsuki; Episode 06 21:17

So the master of the cat was the real Shima Katsuki. And about this promise the two made? We have to backtrack to the previous episode to answer that:

Listen well. This charm has a light in it .It’s a light that grants any one wish. You will take this and go to her. And you will grant her wish. Do you understand?
Master Shima; Episode 05 11:16

This is the quote that Master Shima told the cat. But how did this unknown person know Misae, and why did he want to grant her and only her wish?

It was back when I was in elementary school. I think you were going to the hospital to visit your mother. When you went, you cheered my up when you found me in the hospital’s courtyard. You don’t remember this? I was in a wheelchair with a cat on my lap.

I remember now. But I didn’t do anything. We only spoke for a bit.

That’s not true. You really cheered me up.

What exactly did I say?

Um… I forgot. But I really am grateful to you. That’s why I want to return the favour.
Shima and Misae; Episode 05 13:43

After acquiring a temporary human form, the cat got close enough to Misae to hear her wish, but the charm was empty. Since he couldn’t remain human forever, he continues now as a cat to fulfill his promise with the real Shima to grant Misae’s wish. And afterwards, Misae was forcing herself to disbelieve that the cat was the boy she loves, until Tomoya told her otherwise. Now that she knows and accepts this she can finally move forward to find happiness down another path.

"It's just that someone said a similar thing to me in the past."

1. voice acting
No, the cat doesn’t actually speak like Shamisen does. But at the scene at 11:17 where the Okazaki hears voices when looking at Nanashi, I assume that’s the cat’s thinking voice. Although there are some heavy post-processing effects on this sample, the pattens are very similar to Shima’s voice in the sequence directly after.

2. physical appearance
Nanashi: yellow-green eyes, light brown fur.
Shima: yellow-green eyes, light brown hair.

3. camera presence
Nanashi is making his way into a more scenes than otherwise necessary, for example when Misae is remembering the one who told her she yells because she worries.

As for the wish, if the above were true, it would probably be something the lines of “I wish I could always have you around despite the fact you have a chronic illness.”¹ (Otherwise why bother transforming into a cat and just stay human?) What I wonder now is why Misae became so attached to Shima, and also the significance of Tomoya both at when he heard those lines about the light and the charm (at 11:17) and a little earlier when Misae said she had to take care of them younglings. For an instance I thought this was related to Tomoya and his father (hair colour, avoiding some certain history, and having to visit her mother in the hospital) but I think it is too unlikely that she is Tomoya’s elder sister. Could those lights Nanashi mentioned possibly be the ones from the Afterworld? There is a resemblance in voice between the Junk Robot and Nanashi as well.

That’s all I can make out of this episode. I don’t really see how this fits into the big picture, but I guess the same could be said about the first episode of the Mei/Youhei arc. I can feel myself growing a little tired of the side characters though; hopefully we’ll get back to the main characters soon afterwards. I also don’t really like the supernatural elements in Clannad, since otherwise it is a completely down-to-earth story about the lives of a handful of high school students.

After watching the first episode of Clannad After Story I found myself wondering who a lot of the characters were. Naturally, I have a bad memory, and only recall the faces of some characters from some part of the first series. I skimmed through the first series to re-familiarize myself with these characters that have Fuko’d from my mind. Hopefully they’re here to stay, instead of running off after an un-surprising fail.

Forgotten Character #1: Yusuke Yoshino

First appearance: Episode 3

Yusuke Yoshino was the electrician Tomoya Okazaki helped get out of a bind when accused of dropping a tool on a man’s car. He has a strange charismatic aura, and says things such as

Tomoya saves Yoshino from a fake accusation

“I want you to reflect on this one day and think if what the electrician that day said was true or false. At a place you feel most restful, next to the person you find most dear. People’s lives are repetitions of actions hurting each other. It’s understandable to doubt others, but being unable to trust anything is the same as being unable to sense other people’s love.
Aren’t you, perhaps, feeling lonely? Aren’t you, perhaps, living slavishly? Are you able to laugh with an honest heart?”

Yusuke was part of Fuko’s arc in the first series, being the fiancé/husband of her older sister, of whom is:

The first appearance of Fuko's sister, in the Furukawa bakery

Forgotten Character #2: Kouko Ibuki

First Appearance: Episode 3

Kouko was the art teacher in Nagisa’s freshman year, but retired after Fuko got involved in a car accident. (Whether the accident was the reason for her retirement I am not sure of.) Kouko, with Tomoya and Nagisa’s assistance, are married on the school grounds where many of the students attend due to a subconscious link with the wedding and the starfish Fuko has been carving and handing out.

Misae Sagara, frequently seen around Sunohara's dorm

Forgotten Character #3: Misae Sagara

First Appearance: Episode 1

Misae is the housekeeper for Youhei Sunohara’s dorm. She doesn’t have that much of a role in the first series other than for comic relief, however, I expect her to be a major part of one arc in After Story. (see prediction #2)

That’s it for the reappearances; we should all remember Mei as the matchmaker from the summer special (episode 23). The following is a list of obervations I noticed throughout episode 01, and I think these will give us some predictions about After Story’s course of flow:

Prediction #1: Tomoya’s daydream

The first scene we see are two Tomoya- like people, one at a young age, riding on a train past the trademark yellow floral fields, followed by them holding hands, having a seemingly enjoyable and relaxing time. I suspect that this is a flashback of Tomoya’s childhood while he still got along with his father. Furthurmore, Tomoya’s father is also mentioned at 8:40, where Nagisa asks Tomoya to invite him but Tomoya suggests another time would be better (possibly because of his shoulder + baseball.)

Another possibility is that the scene is of Tomoya and his future son, but I see no reason for Nagisa to be absent.

Tomoyo's compliments start unveiling a complicated past.

Prediction #2: Tomoyo & Misae’s past

There was some interesting conversation between Tomoyo Sakagami and Misae Sagara at 07:40 that seemed to be a follow up to episode 11 17:25. Tomoyo seems to look up to Misae and wants to become friendly rivals, speaking like she has learned much from Misae in the past. This leads me to think that Misae has had a major role related to Tomoyo’s dark history that was left unmentioned in the first series.

Furthurmore, regarding Tomoyo, in the opening (1:06 into the opening, 2:07 into the episode) we see her making a promise with someone, but aside from gender she is completely unidentifiable. I thought at first that it was Misae she was making a promise with, but it is unusual for that to take place in a classroom.

The following are all observations in the opening. Add 1:01 to the time if you’re checking this with After Story 01, to compensate for the duration of the introduction.

Prediction #3: Tomoya & Yoshino

0:40 into the opening we see Tomoya in the car of who looks like Yoshino; since Tomoya has no plans to enter college it’s possible that he has started working with Yoshino as an electrician/repairman.

Kyou confronting the Special Child

Prediction #4: Kyou as Tomoya & Nagisa’s daughter’s teacher

At 0:52 we see Kyou leading a group of children, and she had mentioned earlier (Episode 17 05:44) that she wanted to become a kindergarten teacher. There seems to be a single child that is shown several times in the opening and ending, it is possible that this is Tomoya and Nagisa’s child. It would take several years for Kyou to complete her teaching education, and it coincidentally takes a similar amount of time for a new-born to reach kindergarten age. Seeing that the in the first episode of After Story the Theater Club members were still in high school, I’m expecting a big change in pace the next several episodes.

Fuko embracing the Special Child

Prediction #5: Fuko’s awakening

At 2:17 we see someone with Fuko’s trademark hair and blue ribbon embracing that child mentioned in prediction 4. Since Kyoto Animation wouldn’t be one to neglect details and reasoning, I suppose one of the reasons Fuko had such a big arc in the first series is because she becomes an important character in After Story.

Characters in the ED:

The Special Child makers her third appearance at the start of the ending, the dango that follow directly after provide futher indication that she is indeed Nagisa’s daughter.

The moonwalking characters seem to be presenting themselves in what appears to me the order of least- to most-important role. This should be another indication of which characters After Story will focus on. Strange that Tomoyo is all be the way behind Rie and Sugisaka, since she is one of the fourexplicitly mentioned in the opening. Perhaps there is another reason to the sequence of these characters that will be revealed later on. There are some characters I am not 100% sure of, and two I cannot identify at all. Here is the list, in the order of appearance:

1. Toshoi Koumura (counsellor)
2. Sanae Furukawa
3. Akio Furukawa
4. ???
5. Yukine Miyazawa (library coffee and charm girl)
6. ???
7. Mei Sunohara
8. Misae Sagara (and cat)
9. Tomoyo Sakagami
10. Takafumi Sakagami? (Tomoyo’s brother)
11. Yusuke Yoshino
12. Kouko Ibuki
13. Sugisaka (Rie’s friend; threatened Nagisa regarding the choir club)
14. Rie Nishina (former user of violin)
15. Kotomi’s godfather
16. Kotomi Ichinose
17. Ryou Fujibayashi(and botan)
18. Kyou Fujibayashi
19. Nagisa Furukawa
20. Tomoya Okazaki

If anyone knows the identity of those two characters I would be highly interested and grateful if you let me know.