I agree with you fully on this. AS episode 18, Tomoya realizing how poor of a father he has been acting towards Ushio was just hard to bear watching it.
But then when Ushio was still looking for the robot that Tomoya bought for her, it was a real tear-jerking moment what Ushio said (about how it was the very first thing that he has ever given a gift to her), and the father and daughter hug....
(Wait did I get the wrong episode!!)
I do not think I could ever watch Clannad again just because of the sheer exhausting emotional ride I got out of it. After Stories made my cry so many times, especially afrer you know how passed away. From then on it was an emotional hell for me....
Clannad's main theme about the value of family should still resonate well with people even if they are not in similar circumstances as the people in the story, and in the end even if you loved your family a great deal before watching the series, you'll still come out of Clannad loving them more. It also impacted my life in another way by making me work harder in my studies after seeing Tomoya not able to get a good job after graduation and struggling so much in his job as an electrician.
You're right, it seems like I missed that.
Speaking of the impact that this anime has on the audience, the reconciliation between Tomoya and his father was something that personally affected me after having watched this series, seeing as I was basically raised by my mother.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MeoTwister5
I wrote a semi-review tribute piece to the series a while back. I wonder where I placed it...
Did you write this tribute here? I'm definitely interested in reading it since I don't quite remember if I read your review, if at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hooves
I agree with you fully on this. AS episode 18, Tomoya realizing how poor of a father he has been acting towards Ushio was just hard to bear watching it.
But then when Ushio was still looking for the robot that Tomoya bought for her, it was a real tear-jerking moment what Ushio said (about how it was the very first thing that he has ever given a gift to her), and the father and daughter hug....
(Wait did I get the wrong episode!!)
Nope, you got it. After Story 18 is the episode where Tomoya takes Ushio on that memorable trip to the sun-flower field (at least I believe they were sun-flowers if I'm not mistaken.) Arguably the best episode in the whole series.
I wrote a semi-review tribute piece to the series a while back. I wonder where I placed it...
A semi-review tribue for the series hm? That sounds interesting enough to read up on.
Quote:
Nope, you got it. After Story 18 is the episode where Tomoya takes Ushio on that memorable trip to the sun-flower field (at least I believe they were sun-flowers if I'm not mistaken.) Arguably the best episode in the whole series.
Thank you for clarifying that I got the right episode, I was just purely trying to remember what happened from memory so I don't know if I get things right or not.
I never got around to posting it here because I didn't finish it. If I ever find I I'll probably get around to finishing it even if it's more than a year late.
Thank you for clarifying that I got the right episode, I was just purely trying to remember what happened from memory so I don't know if I get things right or not.
You're welcome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MeoTwister5
I never got around to posting it here because I didn't finish it. If I ever find I I'll probably get around to finishing it even if it's more than a year late.
I'm sure it'll be interesting for you yourself since you'll probably be reading your thoughts and feelings from a year ago. I'll be waiting then
I might have figured out a way of finding the inspiration for rewriting the Clannad review: I'll watch the latter halves of Kanon 2006 and Air TV before I do an After Story run.
If the combined blows of the overwhelming emotional impact does not destroy my mind and my soul it should be enough mental fuel to finish said review.
I might have figured out a way of finding the inspiration for rewriting the Clannad review: I'll watch the latter halves of Kanon 2006 and Air TV before I do an After Story run.
If the combined blows of the overwhelming emotional impact does not destroy my mind and my soul it should be enough mental fuel to finish said review.
You might get blown away by the emotional impacts if you watch the later halvs of Kanon and Air TV and then do After Story
Just finished the After Story. Definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite. I wish there were more episodes so we can see more Nagisa & Ushio interaction.
Just finished the After Story. Definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite. I wish there were more episodes so we can see more Nagisa & Ushio interaction.
We're sharing a brain on this one. I've said that countless times already, I feel like the Nagisa and Ushio interaction was just way too little. Although that might be asking for too much considering what we got out of After Story.
We're sharing a brain on this one. I've said that countless times already, I feel like the Nagisa and Ushio interaction was just way too little. Although that might be asking for too much considering what we got out of After Story.
Just one OVA could have done the trick
I agree. Just like Nagisa says that all good things will change, this brilliant heartwarming story must come to an end. Are there any other Clannad material that they can animate from the manga/visual novel? (BTW I've watched the OVAs and recap, but not the movie)
Nevertheless, I've enjoyed watching this show immensely, and there will always be more anime to come (better or worse- not Clannad though). But who knows, maybe they will create an episode or special or something in the future to milk the series further cause there is definitely room to show the Okazaki family.
I agree. Just like Nagisa says that all good things will change, this brilliant heartwarming story must come to an end. Are there any other Clannad material that they can animate from the manga/visual novel? (BTW I've watched the OVAs and recap, but not the movie)
Nevertheless, I've enjoyed watching this show immensely, and there will always be more anime to come (better or worse- not Clannad though). But who knows, maybe they will create an episode or special or something in the future to milk the series further cause there is definitely room to show the Okazaki family.
Yeah especially with the ending they gave us for the anime, where everyone (Including Nagisa and Ushio) is alive and well, they made a OVA of "What if" situations, where they never met Nagisa and if Tomoya went out with Tomoyo, and Kyou, well the main focus was Kyou but the dating was Ryou. They could have made a few OVA's just featuring the Okazaki family in a daily life situation. But they probably will not since we got a good clear view of the Okazaki family well enough.
I think the ending made me go wtf, and then i was like ok W.....T......F
Well if you mean the ending in which
Spoiler for Ending:
Nagisa dies, then revives.
Then the first part was basically just following the Visual Novel Game to the end, then the directors probably thought that this would be to tragic, so they wanted to please the fans and made some way to
Well, now that I finished watching CLANNAD from start to finish, including supplemental and recap episodes, I feel I can properly share my thoughts on the series as a whole.
For starters, usually this sort of thing does not pique my interest. My favorite anime series tends to change from time to time--currently I'd say it's Darker Than Black, and fuck all y'all Suou haters--but for the most part they tend to lie within a few meters of each other. Most of them contain explosions.
Occasionally I will become oddly interested in something far outside of my normal interests. CLANNAD was definitely one of these cases, and I'm glad I caught the itch to watch it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching this show and I'm definitely going to pay a bit more attention to animated adaptations of Key works in the future.
Well, now for the review...
I usually break my reviews into discrete sections and look at these bits and pieces on their own merits and failings, then combine everything for an aggregate score at the end. I'm going to do this for CLANNAD, as well, which tends to keep things a bit simpler.
Plot
This is CLANNAD's greatest failing.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot comes to mind. CLANNAD's plot is... well, it's pretty paper-thin at times, driven along purely by character interaction and subplots (which is almost, but not quite, enough to make up for it).
My biggest gripe with CLANNAD's plot is in relation to the Hidden/Illusory World. These segments appeared all throughout the series, yet they were never explained, never truly developed or worked with.
The story has an interesting premise--it was briefly touched upon during Kotomi's arc and later on in After Story when Kotomi comes to visit Tomoya and Nagisa. The other worlds--the other futures, the other realms, all of this could have been greatly expanded upon and could have led to a much stronger central plot
I'm sure I'm not the only person who got some serious Higurashi no Naku Koro ni vibes from the "other worlds" aspect of the plot. But unlike Higurashi, which heavily developed the "other worlds" aspect--in fact, it was the main thrust of the story!--CLANNAD chose to be a little too cryptic and pretentious.
It took me a long time to understand that the Hidden World segments were Tomoya's dreams. It wasn't explained outright in the series proper; not until the recap episode at the end of After Story. I never understood how Nagisa knew the story of the Girl and the Garbage Doll. It was just flat-out never explained.
I think the character arcs weren't well weighted, either. The anime spent a lot of time on Fuko's arc, playing it up for as much tearjerker potential as possible, but the arcs of the other girls did not receive nearly so much attention. Linking back to the "other worlds" theme, I personally think Kotomi's arc should have gotten significantly more attention to build upon this thread.
But it wasn't to be.
The only other major issue I have with the plot is the ending. It's... a really, really bad ending. It makes very little sense, coming off as a blatant Ass Pull with barely even the smallest effort to Handwave things. And this goes back into the fact that the "other worlds" theme wasn't well-developed. The significance of the light orbs wasn't stressed enough. It's a case of things being too subtle for their own good.
On the other hand, the After Story plot concerning Nagisa's death, Tomoya's inability to deal with it and his relationship with Ushio, Sanae and Akio was played exceptionally well and I will say right off that this was easily the best storytelling part of the entire series. This plot was so well-executed it made the Deus Ex Machina ending feel even more hollow.
Bottom line? CLANNAD should have expanded more upon the "other worlds" theme in the first season (specifically during Kotomi's arc), should have given more attention to Nagisa's knowledge of the Girl and the Garbage Doll, should have been less subtle about the Light Orbs.
In After Story, the ending should have been two or three episodes longer, keeping the pacing at an even rate and making the ending itself feel less abrupt and Ass Pull-ish.
Also, c'mon, Key/KyoAni. You guys are seriously ruining the suspension of disbelief. Tomoya and Nagisa are way too chaste to be real people in 2007-2009. They don't even kiss onscreen! It takes them a long time to even be shown hugging and holding each other!
I mean, I can understand some people being like that when dating in high school, particularly in Japan. But there's absolutely no excuse in After Story, when they're married for Christ's sake, and obviously having sex--else Ushio wouldn't exist--but you won't even show them kiss onscreen? What the hell, man?
The other big issue I have with CLANNAD's storytelling as a whole is that it can be a bit over the top and heavy-handed with the tearjerker scenes at times, almost delving into Narm territory. Oftentimes I found myself dry-eyed during a scene that should have been bawling my eyes out--but I couldn't. Suspension of disbelief was broken. It was just too melodramatic and too overwrought.
The story just couldn't figure out when to be subtle and when to be forceful. In the emotional context, it often used a broadsword where it should have used a scalpel. In relation to the overarching "other worlds" theme, it wasn't forceful enough.
Score: 6/10.
Characters
Second place!
CLANNAD may have had a weak and confusing overarching plot, but the character interaction is what's usually most important in a series like this and the show delivered in spades. Watching the various characters interact with each other was a treat.
The interactions between the main and secondary characters in season one pretty much makes up the entirety of season one, and it's definitely entertaining, but the drama quotient was Turned up to Eleven in After Story.
I have a pretty bad family life--the Great American Dysfunctional Family also Turned up to Eleven--so anything showing loving family interaction, especially during times of sorrow or great pain, really resonates strongly with me. It hits hard and close to home, and the interaction between Tomoya, Ushio, Sanae and Akio in After Story was at once both painful and beautiful.
It probably helps that I can identify strongly with Tomoya; my family gave up on me long ago, and while they aren't dead or a drunk, they were less a positive part of my life than Tomoya's father was. Abuse, alienation, neglect and finally simply pretending I don't exist--the bonds that existed between Tomoya and Nagisa's new family really hit me hard. It was the sort of thing I didn't have and the sort of thing I still hope to one day obtain.
Score: 9/10.
Visuals
This is one thing I'm going to give Kyoto Animation mad props for. Because I dare you, I challenge you to say that CLANNAD isn't very pretty. And I'm not just talking about the girls--though all the characters are very well done and rarely--if ever--show any sign of Off Model problems.
What I'm really talking about is this: CLANNAD has a serious addiction to Scenery Porn. It's not quite as good as ARIA's Scenery Porn, but it's definitely way up there in the hierarchy of shows with pretty places.
Back to the characters themselves--this was sort of weird for me. At first I didn't like the character designs. They were too moe. The eyes were too big and set too low in the face. Generic Cuteness pervaded so much that Informed Attractiveness set in. Everyone's gorgeous, even if everyone's not, thanks to the art style.
But the more I watched, the more the art style grew on me. Kyoto Animation did an excellent job with the animation work. Everything is very fluid--and I don't just mean the Hidden World segments, either. Occasionally there are some minor proportion issues during scenes with lots of movement and action--a problem that plagued K-ON! just as much, if not more.
And while I don't generally consider OP and ED segments, CLANNAD ~after story~ has one of the prettiest OP segments I've ever seen in an anime.
Score: 10/10. Easily CLANNAD's strongest aspect.
Music CLANNAD's music was actually quite good. I was really surprised; I was expecting generic, forgettable orchestral pieces. What I got was something quite different and quite enjoyable.
Before I go any further with praise, the music is not something I would buy a soundtrack for. It's not something I would put on my MP3 player and listen to while walking down the street or riding the bus.
But in the context of the show, it's very good and fits very well. Most of the background music, especially that used during dramatic/tearjerker moments, fit just so perfectly that the mere sound of those tracks would get my eyes a little damp.
The Crowning Music of Awesome? That's easy: After Story's OP theme, "Toki wo Kizamu Uta." The piano intro just definesCLANNAD for me. Hearing that theme, seeing those colorful, eye-popping shots at the start of the OP segment--that's this show in a nutshell.
And now for what I didn't like: the BGMs used during not-so-dramatic/tearjerker moments. The "comedic moment" BGM and the ambient track that plays during the Hidden World segments are forgettable and fairly generic. They aren't bad, but compared to the other tracks, they are easily the weakest in the series.
Score: 7/10
Voice Acting
Hey It's That Voice!
There were a lot of familiar voice actors in CLANNAD--one of whom I'm a major fan and will pretty much watch just about anything she's in barring shows I refuse to watch on principle.
I really enjoyed Tomoya's voice actor throughout the series. Probably not coincidentally, I was reminded heavily of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. During some of his more hot-blooded moments, I could hear a little Graham Aker in there, too!
Out of the girls, Nagisa played by Mai Nakahara and Mei played by Yukari Tamura really stuck out to me. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a Yukari Tamura fangirl, so I loved listening to Mei.
I almost hate to mention it, because I tend to dislike the joke characters, but I really enjoyed Sunohara's voice acting.
Score: 8/10.
Overall/Conclusion
I really enjoyed this show.
CLANNAD is the first series I marathoned so obsessively since Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. While I gobbled up that particular show (both seasons) in two days, various obligations prevented me from doing the same with CLANNAD, but I was able to finish it in just about a week of watching.
It's the show's central theme of family--it just pushes the biggest button I've got and pushes it hard. I will unashamedly admit that I cried at several points while watching and I'll probably continue to do so as I rewatch it in the future.
The story just couldn't figure out when to be subtle and when to be forceful. In the emotional context, it often used a broadsword where it should have used a scalpel. In relation to the overarching "other worlds" theme, it wasn't forceful enough.
Yea, that's probably the weakest spot of the series, and a severe problem with all of Clannad's relatives (Kanon, Air, Angel Beats) to date-- and I consider Clannad to handle it the best... yea. I think the suspension of disbelief was worst during the Sunohara and Yukine stories where I was like "what, really???"
There was definitely a lot of wasted potential in the other worlds stuff; now it just feels like someone was high and forgot the rest.
I also have no idea what the hell was with the no kissing thing; it seemed like they had a real winner and overlooked stuff like that. Well, I guess it's still a winner, but it could have been even better.
Quote:
CLANNAD is the first series I marathoned so obsessively since Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. While I gobbled up that particular show (both seasons) in two days, various obligations prevented me from doing the same with CLANNAD, but I was able to finish it in just about a week of watching.
Heh, strange, that's also like the other show I got addicted too as well. ;p
There's just something about the rampant idealism in Clannad that lets me abandon my cynicism temporarily. What dreams may become, and what we can hope to obtain someday; they really got that through.
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Nice review there. I agree with a lot of it, especially what you said about the After Story OP, Toki wo Kizamu Uta -- seeing the amazing animation of the town (especially the pan shot) combined with the wonderful piano intro, it's just great and was why I looked forward to the OP every single episode. Seeing the subsequent shot of Nagisa tilting her head and smiling was painful though in those episodes after her death.
I personally thought that the whole deal with the light orbs and the Illusionary World was handled pretty well. I liked the ending and it didn't really feel contrived or deus ex machina for me. Some aspects could definitely have been done better though, and I can see why you think the way you do. Its execution was in no way flawless and leaves much to be desired. The fact that the Clannad forum actually needs a "Discussion and Interpretation" thread for the ending is reflective of this and goes to show that they could have explained everything a whole lot better, but for me that is just a minor fault that hardly takes away anything from this excellent show.
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