The BEST episodes directed by Tomoe Aratani

Moon
star
9.61
69 votes

#1 - Moon

Air - Season 1 - Episode 9

Kanna's mother claims to be "tainted". They all escape from the mountain but their pursuers manage to kill Kanna's mother. Before she dies, she passes the ancient prayer to Kanna. While the pursuers are closing in, the 3 talk about settling down near the ocean, but Kanna knows this is only a dream. She takes flight but the monks curse her and she gets killed by the soldiers. Ryūya and Uraha learn about the curse and Kanna's suffering and vow to end it by having a child who will break the curse.

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Remote Island Syndrome (Part Two)
star
7.77
277 votes

#2 - Remote Island Syndrome (Part Two)

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Season 1 - Episode 8

Haruhi and the SOS Brigade attempt to find clues to the villa owner's murder. Yutaka, the owner's younger brother, is initially suspect due to having been seen leaving the island the previous day before the storm hit. Haruhi and Kyon head outside during the storm, but find nothing. While drying off inside a cave, Haruhi comes to a startling conclusion about the murder. They return to the villa and set to devising a plan to solve the mystery.

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The Scenery with a Carving
star
7.58
271 votes

#3 - The Scenery with a Carving

Clannad - Season 1 - Episode 5

In order to help Fuko out, Tomoya and Nagisa take her to stay at Nagisa's house for the time being. Nagisa's family helps with carving more starfish out of wood, and at school Tomoya and Nagisa help with passing them out to students. Later, Fuko talks about how she has wanted to attend classes, but has never been able to. Tomoya makes arrangements with Youhei, Kyou, and Ryou to act as classmates in Fuko's very first high school class, and even Sanae comes to act as the teacher.

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The After School Rhapsody
star
7.35
262 votes

#4 - The After School Rhapsody

Clannad - Season 1 - Episode 11

Kotomi is still trying to play the violin, but has not improved at all; in short, her playing is painful to anyone listening. Kyou gets the idea to have Kotomi play at her first violin recital after school the day after tomorrow, and in the mean time Kotomi can practice. The day before the recital, Tomoya visits Kotomi at the school's library and eats her delicious homemade apple pie. Shortly after, Tomoya falls asleep and has a very strange dream. At the recital, Kyou blackmails several students into coming with her position as a class representative. In the end, Kotomi did not improve at all, and the recital was still very painful to listen to. When Kotomi and her friends are going home, a strange man approaches Kotomi, though leaves shortly after; Kotomi was terrified of him

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There's Substance in 2-D
star
7.26
73 votes

#5 - There's Substance in 2-D

Lucky Star - Season 1 - Episode 19

Konata and her dad discuss Gun**m (Gundam). Yutaka thinks that having an upperclassman like Konata is advantageous when she needs help with her school work, but Konata doesn't think so. Konata complains about how baseball games ruin the TV schedules. Konata and the girls discuss what qualifies as "moe". Hiyori shows the hardships of being a manga artist. Yutaka asks Hiyori about the meaning of "yaoi". On Lucky Channel, Shiraishi expresses how much he loves the outdoors. So Akira suggests that he go through the forest of Mount Fuji and get some water for her.

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Delicious Day
star
7.21
101 votes

#6 - Delicious Day

Lucky Star - Season 1 - Episode 13

Winter break is over, and so it's back to school where the girls have conversations about what they did, ate, and dreamt about during their winter vacation. It's now time for Valentine's Day, which means that the girls will give chocolates to others, but in the case of Konata, she'll give her chocolate to a character online. Lster, Konata decides to shop at an anime store she previously went to but realized that the item she wanted was at another store. The employees of the anime shop are determined to get Konata (a.k.a. Legendary Girl A) to buy something from their store this time around. This week on Lucky Channel, Akira and Shiraishi announce the results of the Lucky Star figure poll, telling which characters will get figures made out of them. However, Akira gets really mad when she learns that Shiraishi will also have a figure made.

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Endless Eight (2)
star
6.30
196 votes

#7 - Endless Eight (2)

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Season 2 - Episode 3

Like the previous episode, Kyon's easy going summer vacation is interrupted as the group is taken on a whirlwind tour of summer activities, from swimming pools to summer festivals, part-time jobs, and stargazing. However, Kyon is wracked by a constant sense of déjà vu. Koizumi is likewise troubled, while Nagato seems even more detached than usual. They finally work out the truth: Haruhi has put the last two weeks of August into an infinite loop because she refuses to let summer end. They find out that the loop has repeated 15498 times. However, none of them can devise anything to stop the cycle from repeating. On the second-to-last day of summer, Kyon calls out after Haruhi in a last-ditch attempt to stop her from leaving unsatisfied, but fails to think of anything he can do, and she leaves. As the last day of vacation arrives, Kyon, resigned to the loop repeating itself, goes to bed without finishing his summer homework.

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