The Best Episodes Directed By Taichi Ishidate

CITY—something happens every day. Tsurubishi dives a crispy fried noodle into a customer's bag, while Nagumo witnesses it. An absolute, desperate situation! Matsuri and Eri enjoying their after-school adventures. Todoroki and Onikamaboko struggle to create a joke for "Rakutan-kun." After hearing Niikura's dream, Nagumo starts thinking what they want to do. Something starting to blossom in CITY.

Yuta begins to worry when it becomes apparent that Rikka may not come back. Sanae ditches her Dekomori persona to follow Rikka, while Kumin "inherits" Wicked Lord Shingan's powers. Yuta can't bear being without Rikka and sets off to find her.

When Tomoya brings Ushio to school he meets her teacher, who is none other than Kyou Fujibayashi and they have a conversation. After that, Tomoya goes to work and Yoshino asks him for Fuko to play with Ushio, since she likes her. Tomoya agrees to this and Fuko arrives at his house to play until the evening when she goes back home. When it is time to sleep, Tomoya uses Nagisa's song to lull Ushio to sleep. The next day, Kyou tells Tomoya about sports day at school where the parents are to participate as well. He is reluctant about it, but Ushio encourages him, which makes him change his mind. One evening, Ushio is taking a stroll to the new hospital by herself and encounters Fuko on her way. When the latter asks why she does this, Ushio says it is for no real reason. The next day, Tomoya is preparing for the meet at the Furukawa bakery with Sanae and Akio, when Ushio is suddenly struck with a fever, much to the others' shock.

Let's have a birthday party for Nano! Professor, what do you mean, "a little one?" Got it! I'll take this ugly one away, too! Cake, cake, cake!

Asuka is about to lose her seat competing in the Nationals. But that might not be why she invited Kumiko over.

Now that she's well into her third-year, Kumiko is now facing pressure from teachers and parents alike to choose what she's doing after high school. Concert band members form groups to attend the Agata Festival, but Kumiko has other plans.

Nagisa and Tomoya are now a married couple living together. Nagisa tries to find work and starts working in a family restaurant with Nishina. Akio and Tomoya visit Nagisa at work and scare out a couple of customers who were hitting on Nagisa. Nagisa tells Tomoya that the old building of the school they went to is going to be torn down. Knowing that the drama club was in the old building, Tomoya freaks out and admits that he is uncomfortable with all the changes happening in their town. Tomoya and Nagisa visit Akio and Sanae, who tells them Nagisa is most likely pregnant. Akio gets angry at Tomoya at first, but he congratulates him afterwards.

Mayu taking the soli part has made the concert band uneasy. Despite Kumiko's insistence that this is how it should be, several members take issue with Taki's decision.

When Akihito sees a girl about to jump off the school roof, he surprises even himself as he races up the stairs to rescue her. Much to his surprise, the girl he saved is a Spirit World Warrior. And as a half-youmu, he’s now her prey!

Summer is almost here, and Konata is still staying up late playing online video games, reading manga, and watching anime instead of studying. Kagami and Tsukasa's birthday arrives on July 7 and Konata and Miyuki celebrate with them. After this episode, the director is changed from Yutaka Yamamoto to Yasuhiro Takemoto.

The signing ceremony concludes, officially bringing an end to the war. While writing letters for an air show, Violet composes a letter to the Major.

Mei has become worried about her older brother since he still does not have a plan after high school, and comes to stay at Nagisa's for the time being. Based on a fleeting comment by Youhei, Tomoya gets the idea to ask a girl to pose as his girlfriend so Mei will stop worrying about him. Youhei goes around with Tomoya and Nagisa asking Ryou, Tomoyo, Kotomi, and Yukine, but no one can help him. Sanae overhears Youhei's trouble and decides to be his fake girlfriend if it will help push him in the right direction in life. Youhei, however, still believes her to be Nagisa's older sister. When Mei meets her brother's "girlfriend", Sanae is posing as a student from Tomoya's high school.

Azusa Nakano joins the Light Music Club but realizes that the laid-back club might not be for her, and Azusa’s membership is at stake.

An exceptionally hot day launches a crusade to have air conditioning installed in the club room.

While the club room is closed for repairs, the girls have nowhere to practice. All is not lost, though, because the girls finally write lyrics to the music Tsumugi wrote.

The incantation of resurrection. A shark. A warrior never goes back on her word! My life is over!

Now that Akihito and Mirai have been reunited, they must work together to defeat Beyond the Boundary’s core. But what will happen to Mirai and Akihito once it has been defeated...? Will either of them survive?

Kotomi finally leaves the house to find that Tomoya worked in the garden all night long and had fallen asleep. When she returns to school, Tomoya, Kyou, Ryou and Nagisa are all waiting for her. The mysterious stranger whom she was so frightened of, believing he wanted to steal her parents' thesis, is there as well. Kotomi and her friends find out that he is her legal guardian, and that there never were any written notes for the thesis after all. The envelope Kotomi set fire to, and felt so guilty about, was nothing important. The stranger also has a birthday gift for her: her parents' suitcase, which survived the plane crash and was passed from hand to hand for years until he found it. Inside is a teddy bear, Kotomi's gift request to them before they left, and an affectionate letter. Kotomi, holding the bear, is so happy that sparkles literally fill the room, and makes peace with her parents' deaths at last.

Tomoyo speaks to Yukine and the others about hearing that the police will start to get involved in the fight between the two gangs if it gets any worse. Trying to stave off a major brawl, Yukine goes with Tomoya to try to talk the other gang out of a fight, and the leader settles on a fight between him and Yukine's brother Kazuto. Youhei reluctantly goes to stand in for Kazuto, but is incapacitated along with everyone else but Tomoya after eating Sanae's bread, so Tomoya fights the leader of the opposing gang. Yukine impersonates Kazuto to end the fighting, and finally reveals to everyone that did not already know that Kazuto has been dead for some time, and his wish was to end the fighting in the town. At the cemetery, Yukine pays respect to her dead brother and the rival gang joins in. With the rivalry resolved and peace restored, Tomoya witnesses a glow rising into the sky.

Tsukasa gets a new cell phone. Kagami teaches her how to text message. Tsukasa text messages Kagami to the point of sheer annoyance. Konata invites Kagami and Tsukasa over to her house and they forget to do their homework.

It's Konata's birthday, and her family sets up a surprise party for her when she gets home from work. All goes according to plan until Konata calls and says that her coworkers are throwing her a party and that she'll be coming home late. The girls discuss what their goals in life are. Kagami has a bad day when she gets bothered by little annoyances and ends up going to a store to buy a drink but forgets her wallet. Things get worse for Kagami when her older sister Matsuri scolds her for neglecting to buy groceries for dinner. On Lucky Channel, Akira and Shiraishi have a special guest: Meito Anizawa, the manager of the anime store that desperately wants Konata to buy something from his shop. He talks about the three factors that determine an anime's success.

Azusa and Ui, along with their classmate Jun, spend time together while the third years are on their trip to Kyoto. Noticing that Ui would be lonely without her sister around, Jun and Azusa decide to sleepover at her house.

Deciding Yuki needs a familiar for her role, Haruhi picks up a stray cat and names it Shamisen. However, when Haruhi leaves that day, Shamisen starts talking as a result of Haruhi's powers. Itsuki suggests that they need to remind Haruhi her movie is a work of fiction, before reality takes any more damage. The next day at school, Mikuru gives him a coupon for her class's yakisoba café, and gives her views on Haruhi that she couldn't say in front of Itsuki. Kyon later talks with Yuki, who throws up the idea that one of them, including herself, may be lying. As shooting resumes, Haruhi's powers to continue to make Mikuru a deadly weapon. Itsuki calls Kyon out later that night, asking him to find a way to hold back Haruhi's powers. Kyon convinces Haruhi to add a disclaimer at the end, saying the film is a work of fiction, and the rest of the shooting goes without a hitch. Kyon falls asleep whilst editing the movie, only to find it has edited itself overnight. At the very last of this episode, there is a flashback to May that Kyon tries telling Haruhi that Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki are actually aliens, time travelers and espers, but she doesn't believe him.

The girls decide to record an album as an emblem of their time at the school.

More people from school are not able to see Fuko anymore and now even those close to Fuko in the past are beginning to forget about her. First Youhei forget after he goes to see her in the hospital, followed by Kyou and Ryou. Tomoyo manages to remember with Tomoya's help however. Later, Youhei manages to remember Fuko for a moment, but is unable to remember any more. Tomoya and Nagisa buy Fuko a birthday party set to cheer her up. When they get back to the bakery, they discover that Nagisa's father has forgotten Fuko, and while Nagisa's mother has not forgotten completely, she cannot see her anymore. Tomoya and Nagisa decide to take Fuko back to school for now.