Clannad series - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[CrescentWind]

Overall lets just say that its a good romance/dramatic series xD
10/10 for me :]

[Vorenus]

Just finished the show today and thought I would give my impressions... mainly to dump myself from all the emotions this intense show has brought to me...

Well, I certainly didn't expect anything this intense from Clannad when I first watched it, out of boredom and due to its apparent popularity. This show is difficult to define to people not having watched it since it looks like your standard harem or slice of life anime at a first glance... while it clearly is different from it and other typical romance shows when actually watching it.

The first difference definitely is Tomoya Okazaki: a very good male lead, compared to poor male leads from other shows where romance is part of the story, who are either stupid, sexually-obsessed, if not both. Tomoya is a cool and genuinely nice guy and it is why most of the girls in the show have some interest in him: I knew someone back in high school which was exactly the same in that aspect and I am sure most of us do, which makes the character all the more realistic. However, Tomoya isn't just reduced to this and has a real personality and his own share of problems and personal demons. He gets a great deal of character development over the course of both seasons and is a quite credible and likable character throughout the show. Most likely my favorite character in Clannad, especially in the second part of After Story.

I watched the first season because it was funny and didn't focus as much on romance as usual school shows. I found the jokes to be very original and funny, even though they can get a bit old after some time, especially Fuko's antics.
Speaking of which, I found Fuko's arc to be a bit too long to my taste: she doesn't evolve at all (even by the last episode of After Story, where she partly participates to ruining the end!). While it was funny, and was a fuel for funny jokes from both Tomoya and Sunohara, a bit too many of the girls were abusing of the "retarded moe" style: Fuko, Kotomi and even in some way Nagisa shared similarities in terms of awkwardness, weirdness and shyness. While Nagisa is definitely the cutest girl to my tastes and while I like cute, quiet and polite girls, it seems clear that Tomoyo and Kyou were much more mature and, consequently interesting female characters.

I also liked Sunohara a lot: again in these kind of school shows, the best pal of the protagonist is often relegated to nothing more than foil for the main character. Sunohara had an actual backstory and the reasons for Tomoya and him being friends are very understandable and realistic: both lost their dreams of pursuing a carreer as sportsmen due to unfortunate circumstances and as a result are lost in life... In most blogs and forum posts, Sunohara is reduced to a joke character but he is actually pretty smart when you look at it closer: he deduces the whole thing behind the Fuko's mystery surprisingly easily and quickly, while he doesn't have half of the elements Tomoya has. Even Kyou in the extra episode of After Story admits he is rather perspicacious and is way smarter than what he looks like, and is also a very caring friend, as most evidenced in the "Tomoyo - Another World" special DVD episode: Sunohara is the only character I actually missed in most of After Story...

All in all, even though the first season had its very-well executed sad moments, I still remember it for the fun part of it. I also liked the almost complete lack of fan-service or ecchi moments who are so common in anime nowadays. The characters were pure and they weren't reduced to sexual objects for once, which made the show distance itself from the "harem" genre even further, allowing the viewer to focus on the story and characters better.

Clannad After Story is much deeper than the first season... by the 9th episode, the serious-business begins with Tomoya and Nagisa living their adult life... I found this whole part very well detailed and surprisingly very credible, so much it reminded me some years ago, beginning to work, and trying to find my place in life and in the society. We see him starting to work, under the guidance of Yoshino, struggling with his right-arm disability, doing mistakes, taking responsibility for them, and getting better. It is very hard in the first months, but he now has something to work for: a family. He gets an opportunity at getting much higher professional responsibilities, while he gets parrallely aware that he will have sooner or later to support a whole family all by himself due to Nagisa's condition, but it is denied to him due to his alcoholic father messing up and going to jail... that's where the sadness orgy begins.

Nagisa's death and the subsequent events were handled perfectly: the direction, music (for having reused the game OST, the soundtrack is awesome), etc couldn't possibly have been handled better. Tomoya lives through hell during 5 years before figuring out his mistakes and deciding to take care of his daughter, Ushio, instead than leaving her to the care of the Furukuwas, oh-so-wonderful, adorable and funny parents-in-law...

The attitude of Tomoya and the Furukawas parents is very dignified, which makes it all the more admirable. We feel the sadness, the pain of the characters, especially Tomoya, but it doesn't turn into an emo-fest and it was very well handled. Instead, he is getting more and more like the father he hated during all these years, which allows him to understand him and forgive him in the end, considering he has been in a very similar situation as Tomoya himself and that it has completely ruined him as well. Again, all of this is very realistic in the way it is written and handled: it even made me think a bit more about my relationships with my own father as well, with whom I do not particularly get along with... for somewhat different reasons though...

Tomoya apologizing to Ushio was one of the best scenes: sad, yet full of hope: just thinking about this scene almost brings me tears, but from what I could read everywhere, I am far from being alone. However, this newfound happiness doesn't last long however, with Ushio suffering the same mysterious disease as her mother.

Ushio's death was again beautifully handled: anyone having to experience this once with the loss of its wife would be destroyed, but Tomoya has to handle it twice. I could just completely sympathize with the character and this, added to the wonderful direction from Kyoto Animation, brought me to tears once again... Actually, Clannad After Story made me cry like a little girl more than once and I think it is the first time I ever actually cried to any anime, show, movie or performance in my whole life, and I tend to like rather sad shows and tortured characters... it brought me melancholy, but tears... never... Clannad is just that moving...

The end was the only actual bad point for me: I was anxious they would use magical and fantasy elements of the show to pull a Deus Ex Machina and get Ushio and Nagisa back to life... While the fantasy elements in Fuko's and Misae & Shima's arc didn't bother me as it added mystery to their story, it greatly bothered me with Tomoya's and Nagisa's since their whole after story was so realistically written and portrayed. After Story spent a great deal of effort making the viewer understand that the carefree school life was over and the weight of the responsibilities on each character. The sadness of the events was also very realistic. I can accept it is a fictional show, I can accept suspension of disbelief, but that's where I still have a problem: after having made the majority of After Story as realistic and mature as it can get, you can't get away by pulling a miracle with something from another world/dimension... that just feels too easy. I wish they would have endorsed the responsibility of the weight of the story they told up to the end. You can't kill characters, especially when they are as innocent as Nagisa and a 5 years old girl impenitently: it has to have a meaning and the meaning is made null and void if you just go back in time and rewrite the story as if nothing happened. I perfectly understand Anno or Tomino aren't the directors of Clannad, but with all the viewers went through already, I think we were all prepared to accept and take it.

Unfortunately, in real life, you don't get to voice a wish to go back in time or resurrect your loved ones: you have to live with that and get over the losses the best you can, if at all. Tomoya was a great character as I said, but I don't see why he would get to have such a privilege while others have to suffer the loss of their loved ones.
Part of the problem with the end comes from the game which KyoAni tried to adapt a bit too zealously. Adapting a visual novel game for television likely isn't an easy job, and they did very well through most of it. I didn't play the game, but according to what I could read, they took some liberties once or twice. They decided to stick to the original media rather faithfully, but at the end, I think they could have taken some liberties again here. The end doesn't make any sense to anime viewers not having played the game, so it feels like the show is cheating with the viewers. This good end in the game is a reward for the player who has unlocked enough achievements/happiness orbs to have his wish granted (and gameplay-wise is just an incentive for him to successfully complete all the routes)... otherwise, he gets the bad end with Ushio's death.
The end of the last episode with Fuko's scene felt really stretched and wasn't funny at all: it didn't add anything to the end, which was supposed to be Nagisa's, Ushio's and Tomoya's one. Matters were already complex and confusing enough to not lose time with a third-rate character who almost had no business or airtime in After Story to begin with. If they wanted me to buy the fantasy elements of Nagisa's and Ushio's ressurection through Tomoya's time travel, they should have spent explaining the matters behind the other world a bit more clearly: the anime writers and directors preferred to hide themselves behind the game, but sorry, I am not going to spend 100+ hours on a visual novel to come to terms with the end they failed to deliver properly. All in all, the only part I liked in this end is that Tomoya, wondering if it wouldn't have been better to not talk to Nagisa on that day, so they would have never met, still chooses to do so, which is the choice Nagisa wanted him to make no matter the hardships they knew would await them.

If we look at both seasons in terms of value, there is Clannad, and the second half of After Story... and to me it is difficult to compare them since the atmosphere and storytelling is so different: that's like comparing different shows. Clannad was funny and amusing, but After Story was easily one of the best shows I have seen in my whole life and definitely the most poignant and the one with the biggest emotional impact... in Anime, like everywhere else, sequels are usually way inferior to their predecessor, but I am glad it wasn't the case with After Story and that they took the courage to tell an adult story... even though I would have liked them to go all the way through and not rely on unbelieveable elements in the end of bring a conclusion to such an otherwise very realistic and modern story.

[Seitsuki]

Glad you realised how awesome Key is Vorenus xD Tho I was arguing with a friend for quite some time over whether Key or Typemoon is better (now I just say they're both equal :P)
I'm still sad that the Tomoyo route isn't canon.. I always liked that route best
*goes back to Tomoyo After*

[Leo_Otaku]

Key owns Typemoon >.> Typemoon needs to actually make something it has been 5 years.

[Tak]

Originally Posted by Leo_Otaku

Key owns Typemoon >.> Typemoon needs to actually make something it has been 5 years.

Apples & oranges my friend... apples & oranges...

- Tak

[dgreater1]

Originally Posted by Tak

Apples & oranges my friend... apples & oranges...

- Tak

That's not really the case. He's probably talking about which company can attract more fans. So if you use something like apple and orange, it would be like this:

What Fruit do you like==>Apple (Key) or Orange (Type-Moon)

Either way, it depends.

As for me, I would label Key as Bananas (my favorite fruit) for their heartwrenching/warming stories then Mango for [Type-Moon and ZUN/Shanghai Alice] for their weird power level

[Tak]

Originally Posted by dgreater1

That's not really the case. He's probably talking about which company can attract more fans. So if you use something like apple and orange, it would be like this:

What Fruit do you like==>Apple (Key) or Orange (Type-Moon)

Either way, it depends.

Sorry, but does that not sound a bit redundant to you?

Moreover, their ability to attract fans is irrelevant to my own feelings for both companies. I like both companies, they are both different in their own attractiveness. I don't think they can be directly compared.

- Tak

[dgreater1]

Originally Posted by Tak

Sorry, but does that not sound a bit redundant to you?

- Tak

No it doesn't because stating which of the two company you like is different from comparing the two companies that's why "What Fruit do you like." The answer depends either way by opinions supported by statistics which doesn't matter anymore since it's all about numbers again

[DeX-kun]

Originally Posted by dgreater1

No it doesn't because stating which of the two company you like is different from comparing the two companies that's why "What Fruit do you like." The answer depends either way by opinions supported by statistics which doesn't matter anymore since it's all about numbers again

You're arguing semantics here. You're not gonna get anywhere with this. -_-

He was simply stating his opinion, not looking to discuss the differences between the companies.

[Tak]

Originally Posted by dgreater1

No it doesn't because stating which of the two company you like is different from comparing the two companies that's why "What Fruit do you like." The answer depends either way by opinions supported by statistics which doesn't matter anymore since it's all about numbers again

Otaku was complaining at the lack of production on the side of Typemoon. I did not get the jest that he was arguing about numbers or statistics or even comparing both. For he only stated:

Key owns Typemoon >.> Typemoon needs to actually make something it has been 5 years.

If he was, he should be more clear, because that is not how I took it.

To me, they are different fruits and I like both of them. I don't know why you are arguing about statistics, nor do I understand your point. But whatever it is, I must apologize beforehand for expressing a total lack of anxiety on my part, and this trend will likely continue.

- Tak

[dgreater1]

Originally Posted by Tak

Otaku was complaining at the lack of production on the side of Typemoon. I did not get the jest that he was arguing about numbers or statistics or even comparing both. For he only stated:

Key owns Typemoon >.> Typemoon needs to actually make something it has been 5 years.

If he was, he should be more clear, because that is not how I took it.

To me, they are different fruits and I like both of them. I don't know why you are arguing about statistics, nor do I understand your point. But whatever it is, I must apologize beforehand for expressing a total lack of anxiety on my part, and this trend will likely continue.

- Tak

Actually, the only thing he stated the registered to me was:

Key owns Typemoon >.> Typemoon needs to actually make something it has been 5 years.

Which I deduced to "I like Key more than Typemoon", we both agree that they are different fruits, different company under the same category. But anyway, I'm not really arguing about statistics but just stating that Leo likes Key more than Typemoon and adding that Typemoon should get their butts moving again. I should also apologize and blame myself and the alcohol for replying when you were just giving your opinion that the two are different companies when you said "Apples & oranges my friend... apples & oranges..."

I actually went and wondered why the hell did I reply to those trivial things. I guess drunks really like to argue about small things

[Leo_Otaku]

LOL I'm actually female, but that is besides the point...my name is misleading and so forth

It is true they do both make very different games but if you said to me who do you think the best visual novel company is? I would say KEY. But that is just my opinion they are just my favorite on many levels.

Their genres differ greatly as well Type-Moon is working on a project now.

I just found Type-moon to be milking their Fate franchise so badly this past five years. But I know that is how they market and sell their products. It just seemed like they were getting everything worth of the franchise before they get out their new game.

But this is a completely different debate and topic ^-^"

[Tak]

Speaking of milking... Typemoon did give us great side materials.

Games such as Melty Blood, Crucial Fatal Fake... etc.

Of course, let us not forget Eternal Fighter Zero, Tomoyo Fighter: Its an Exciting Life

- Tak

[iceyfw]

i'm not going to go into writing a long post about my likes and dislikes for clannad. i finished watching it last night and it definitely makes it into one of my top anime lists of "must sees".

from nagisa's death to ushio's death to tomoya thinking how much it would be great for his wife to be alive to see their daughter growing up touched my heart and at times made me cry. at first, i thought it was really fucked up they made both of them die leaving tomoya with nothing. then comes episode 22 which did not connect the dots for me. it wasn't until then when i read up more on the ending that i got it. the studio did a terrific job right up until the ending which made first time viewers go "ok WTF just happened". that was a failure on their part.

overall impression of Clannad is a 9/10 just because there are rarely any animes that will make me cry with a story plot that isn't just about romance, but something much more than that.

P.S. Ushio running in the field of flowers in the end made me realize that was from the S1 OP. i never thought that would be a huge foreshadow for the storyline >.> it blew my mind away.

[Whitemoon648]

OMG this series made me CRY SOOOO MUCH. and it also made me LAAAAAUGH SOOOO MUCH. Also This series made me LAAAAAUGHT AND CRY at the same time TOOOOO MUCH.




I was like at episode 13ish, then i realized there were like 2 extras. So i thought nothing would happen to Nagisa and she will deliver with no problem. Well because we have 2 extra episodes.

Then at episode 16 Nagisa died. I was like, " Obviously she is going to wake up in episode 17". Then episode 16 happen.

Episode 17- Denial. I thought, she is probably in the hospital. Like you know those episodes that people are in hospital and wake up at the end for happy ending. It did not happen.

Episode 18- OMG. Nagisa really died. I was so depressed. I might have been more depressed at than Tomoya .



Episode 19- AHHH CRIIIIED so much . Didn't Nagisa say that we should go make up with Tomoya's dad together? He finally did it but Nagisa is not there . Depressed once more.Well at least Ushio is a cute character and funny. Good comedy and we get to see some parental love from Tomoya. I can cope with the fact Nagisa is gone. Still a very touching episode. Now i saw that light thing that went inside Tomoya. So i thought there will be meaning to it( THIS IS JUST A DREAM. PLEASE WAKE UP. OR A MIRACLE). First time ever that i had hope for a Miracle to happen and for such a thing to be a dream in any anime. For the first time i wanted an anime to be NOT realistic and have one of those mystical things to it. I was so desperate, i can not believe that i ever got that kind of feeling from an anime. POOR TOMOYA and NO NAGISA.


-Episode 20- Face the reality. Nagisa is dead. But still USHIO IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE ( Fuko too ). I guess it is ok. Maybe this will make this anime great because it has a more realistic view to it. Whaaat? Ushio is sick??? Instantly thought She will be saved by Nagisa and that light thing ( in episode 19) was basically Nagisa's feelings in Tomoya ( THIS IS ALL A DREAM PLEASE PLEASE A MIRACLE. OR MAKE IT A DREAM. PLEASE PLEASE).

-Episode 21. Cried a lot. At this point i seriously thought Nagisa is dead. She will save Ushio who is sick. I really thought it that way. In a way that made me sad. I wanted Nagisa to be back too. A miracle or a dream . PLEEEEEEASE MAKE IT HAPPEN LIKE THAT. Then the last scene happen and i think Ushio will be saved next episode.

-Episode 22. Words can not describe this episode. I cried the whole episode ( with laughter). For the first time after a long time, cries of joy. NAGISA IS BACK NAGISA IS BACK, IT WAS ALL A DREAM AFTER ALL, A MIRACLE HAPPENED . I was so happy and cried the whole episode and laughed the whole episode.



Finally an anime that defeated my all time favorite GTO. I liked Clannad slightly better than Code geass ( and I liked CODE GEASS A LOT.









Again my last thought, i have never ever wanted an anime to end like a miracle or a dream that one has to wake up from. This is the first time ever that i did not want the anime look realistic and i wanted a Miracle to happen. The best anime ever.



Just wanted to share how i felt about it.

[Justin Kim]

Kind of sad that the series ended. Wanted to see more of the family's relationship with the other side-characters, and little Ushio-chan growing up in high school with her family.

[Archon_Wing]

I'm a pretty cynical viewer. I honestly find much tragedy in anime and many other forms of media to be hilarious, and usually don't care because usually the events are predictable, the writing is poor, or I didn't even like the characters. Much of it has been overdone, and deux ex machina... just gives me more of a reason not to care.

I didn't think much of this show very much at first. It seemed to be a harem/romance/comedy anime, a genre which I simply dislike. Having female characters orbit around a single incompetent lead isn't very exciting. Not to mention the tons of visual novel adaptations that seemed to be flying around. "This is just a cleaned up porn, isn't it?" I thought.

That being said, I had liked Air, another key/kyoani production. It didn't feel like a harem show, despite its origin. While it was legitimately a sad story, it was a little forced. I thought they had a tendency to introduce annoying characters and then make them suffer to make you feel bad. I always thought that was a cheap shot.

Anyhow, I recently decide to give another shot, and I must say this is a fine work. It almost feels like they took what they have learned from the previous productions and applied it here. Clannad is truly the product of the long journey up the hill. The story to Clannad is pretty simple, but it also shows how you don't need massive special effects, tons of angsty pseudo-philosophical ranting, or other pretentious symbolism to make something work. The amazing visuals do help though. This show wins through solid story telling. I regret not following this series as it came out.

The characters are the strongest part of the story, naturally, since Clannad is about people. The way people interact slowly but surely evolves over the course of the story. While the situations they may be in may not be normal, but their reactions are. You do get this feeling that Tomoya does care deeply about the people he helps, and he's not doing it out of some vague sense of goodness or a chance to get into their pants (skirts). That's actually quite unique. The main characters' backgrounds are gone over quite well, and you learn more about why they behave the way they do. Nagisa at first seems like a helpless annoying shy girl, but she actually is one of the most determined characters in the series and ends up supporting Tomoya emotionally as he had done before. Sunohara at first seems like he's a complete failure, but he's really just an idiot with a big heart and truly earned respect in his arc with Mei. Kotomi's airheadedness hides her regrets and her genius. And of course, Akio and Sanae, two nuts who turn out to be the world's best parents. Ushio must be like the only small child character that is not annoying. I could go in depth about each individual character, but I'll save it for elsewhere.

That being said, it was kind of sad that Kyou and Ryou didn't really have that kind of development. I especially pity poor Ryou, because she never stood a chance (You could tell just because of the OP) I'd also would have liked most of the characters to have appeared a bit more in After Story, or at least give us some more notice on what they are doing. It'd be nice to have them all meet up one more time or something on screen.

But anyhow, characters can break or make an anime for me. I can accept many stupid plots if the characters are worth it. Generally, my like for an anime is related to the amount of recurring characters I want to kill. This series has none.

One thing interesting about this series is that the episodes are very packed with interesting things. What I mean is that they would often speed past tedious things that we don't need to see. Like, Tomoya is pulling weeds. Ok once we get the idea, we move on instead of devoting an entire episode to it and having muse about things that he's already gone over many times just to drag on the episode. Because of this, I can stay awake as usually something notable is happening.

But, I was a bit put off by the pacing at the midway point of AS as I simply just got hit by a ton of events. That weakened the emotional development for me a little. It didn't really hit me til Tomoya was telling Ushio about her mother for the first time. Another general complaint would be that many things seemed so convenient. People seem to be always walking around the right places when you need to talk to them.

Another unique thing about this anime is that we get to see what Tomoya and Nagisa's romance develops into. Often times, a show will take the cowardly way out, and simply dodge the issue, to not dash the hopes of fans of the other female leads. That usually just makes the guy seem like an inconsiderate prick. That being said, episode of 18 in season 1 is pretty brutal still, but hey, it's still better than limbo. It is a bit annoying that the other female leads are left hanging; we get nothing. Surely there must have been other dudes in the years that pass, but there's not even a mention. Yes, there are those alternate world OVAs. It's nice to give what ifs but I surely think we should get to know what happens to Tomoyo in this world, which is the one we should be caring about anyways. [/fanboy]

The ending was a bit of a cop out, I will admit. Reset buttons are quite annoying but I just let them go for this one. At least the trippy other world scenes started to make a little sense. I think someone I know put it best " Realistic bad endings? Why do we need that? You can find those all around you in real life anyways" So this little bit of escapism, I will just take. It's not like DBZ where it happens all the time. This is a world where cats can turn into boys, and comatose girls can project themselves. This isn't that big of a stretch, imo. In any case the scene when "Small Palms" plays is simply amazing.

It seems kind of odd to give 10 for something I don't consider perfect, but to me ratings are relative and perfection is impossible. 10 usually means that's pretty much as close to you can get, and I'd probaly only consider 10s for 2-3 other series. In any case, predictable, contrived, or not, Clannad avoids all pretenses and presents a honest story with real emotion, something I find very rare. Despite the bumps on the way to the end, Key and Kyoani just simply overdid themselves for this one. It is rare to see an anime with so much dedication to detail and polish. It seemed like there was a lot of love that went into this series-- after all, how can you expect others to appreciate your creation if you don't have respect for it either? For me this will be a classic series.

[kim8268]

For me I dont like to write a long chuchuekbu for clannad, Simple way of thinking Clannad is This year no maybe until 2010 there wont be another series like this revolutionary for the genre Love Drama Comedy and I think that clannad will rank top most in the anime world In its sector(Genre) So Key Creat another series in this genre and kyoani Creat another Top class Love Drama Comedy And amaze us once again

[Soelke]

Being new here, I haven't been able to share my opinions on previous episodes, but...Anyway, this is gonna be long. I put spoiler tags around the character section, though, so that should be okay...

I found Clannad while searching for songs sung by Hatsune Miku. There was, of course, a video with her singing Mag Mell. I fell in love with the song immediately, and, wanting to learn more, looked up the only name I could remember from that song (Nagisa's name). As always, I went and spoiled the series for myself, but truthfully, I never actually read the entire thing. Then, I went on to watch the first episode. Thus began the most wonderful anime experiance I've ever had. I've probably cried more during Clannad than any other anime.

There are characters that I particularly noticed throughout the series...

Spoiler for Sunohara:

Sunohara is the first I'd like to mention. Oh, how boring Clannad would be without Sunohara. I was watching Kanon 2006 in cunjunction with Clannad, so of course I saw Kitamura (or whatever his name was) completely failing to get anyone to as much as notice him. He was similar to Sunohara, being the protagonist's friend and usually the butt of all jokes. Sunohara, however, had much more development, and I could actually see possible pairings with him and some of the heroines (as well as Yukine). To top it off, whenever he's on the scene it's bound to be funny (unless it's the climax of his story arc, then it's intense). Great character..

Spoiler for Nagisa:

Nagisa is the second. Again, I haven't seen many other "harems", so I wasn't to familiar with the "ill girl" stereotype. Despite this, I was still pleasantly surprised to see Nagisa so strong in the beginning of the series, taking matters into her own hands once Tomoya showed up and took him with her to into all sorts of situations (I mean, she was looking for Theater Club members and Tomoya remembered Fuuko, so...). Despite being physically weak, she is one of the strongest girls in the series. She is very bold, too. She went on to deliver Ushio, despite the warnings that it would be dangerous for her.

Spoiler for Tomoya:

Then, there is Tomoya. I don't think I've ever seen so much development in one character. At the beginning, he was aloof and didn't really care much for anything. His only friend was Sunohara, possibly. The moment he met Nagisa, he started to get his act together and started to take a better look at life and the values of family, blah blah...As he meets the other heroines, he opens up more, and consequently gets more friends. With the loss of Nagisa in After Story, he takes a nasty fall mentally, but Ushio brings him out of it and he gets his act together. In the end, he is no longer closed off from the world but a man who has opened his eyes to the world around him.

Spoiler for Ushio:

Ushio. I have not seen to many five-year olds, but...Ushio is so real. The little gestures, her voice (kudos to her seiyuu), the way she moves, it's all so appropriate for a girl her age. As a five-year old, she has a somewhat limited understanding of her situation: why her father isn't around to take care of her, the nitty gritty of how her mother died, why she lives with her grandparents, etc...When she meets Tomoya for the first time since her birth, she does not run to him to give him a big bear hug. She's a little shy at first, since she doesn't know him. Eventually, however, she comes to terms with him in possibly one of the most heartwarming scenes in anime.

Spoiler for Fuuko:

Annnd, ah, Fuuko, how we love you. I hadn't formulated a solid opinion on my favorite Clannad character just from seeing the opening sung by Miku, but man did I get an opinion as I watched the series. Fuuko is quite the strange character. It's kind of difficult to put her in a single category, but "cute" definately qualifies (I love cute things). Again, I was watching Kanon 2006, so I was trying to compare Clannad and Kanon heroines. In the end, I put her with Ayu (Ayu ftw!) because their situations are sort of sort of similar, and they're both short. And yet, you can't really compare her to anyone. Her persona is childish, and immature--which has grated people's nerves, I've noticed--but underneath that is pure determination (and win). With the situation she was in in season 1, she probably knew that it was hopeless for her. Even then, she went on handing out starfish (It's thanks to Clannad starfish are one of my favorite animals now). She made a lot of days for me, especially her reappearance in After Story. There are a lot of theories concerning Fuuko and the Illusionary World, and they all seem to make perfect sense. Overall, she is definately my favorite character.

I talked to much about the characters...In any case...The music was just beautiful, but the ending didn't match the episode sometimes in After Story *coughAfterStory16and21cough* Other than that, it was really catchy. I love the first ending. Annnd...The animation. That was the most beautiful animation in an anime I've ever seen. Everything is just so...detailed. The way the hair flows in the wind, the expressions, tears, the light playing on Nagisa's and Tomoya's hair as they sat underneath that tree in the courtyard...Absolutely beautiful. The way they did the Illusionary World, you'd think it was based off a real place, too. It wasn't just an ever-going plain; it expanded into a mountain region, as well. Beautiful.

And then, the ending of the series. Before Tomoya gets his magic reset button and saves his wife and kid, he must first go and collect the last light orbs. I love how Key didn't just hand him his happy ending (however cruel that may sound). He went the whole mile and finally came to terms with Nagisa's death, facing the fact that he has a daughter who, for five years, he has completely neglected, leaving her with her grandparents. Finally, there's the reset button and Tomoya's journey is finally over. He has saved the future (more weird time-loopy stuff) and at the same time learned a valuable lesson about the significance of family. I was very satisfied with the series, and I hope to see more from KyoAni. Yeah...I wish I could've done a better post, but when I finally get to express my opinion I'm speechless. Everyone takes the words right out of my mouth xP

[428]

As many people around me know, when I rate a series, I rate with different barometers.

This is a VN adaptation, so I'll accordingly use the Dramatic barometer.

Animation Quality: 10
Kyoani win. There's nothing else I'd say.

Voice Actors: 9
Everyone did well, except Sunohara. I'll let it slide.

Script: 9
Editing: 9
Adaptation: 9
Again, Kyoani win.

Emotional Involvement: 9
Not as much as Myself; Yourself, or ef. But still.

Total: 9.2

Could have done better, if not for the fact that the first half of AS was too dragged out.