Clannad series - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Sabrac D'Sabre]

Well, can't say much . . .
This is really the best anime I ever watch, though I'm not sure that everyone will agree, but still two thumbs for Nagisa and Tomoya. . . .
N their gangs too . . .
Can't forget the foolishness of Youhei and Kyou, and also the slowness of Kotomi and Ryou, N still I want to watch Tomoyo act more girly, since I really like her . . .

Anyway, 10/10 . . . Sooo Omedeteou for CLANNAD TEAM . . .

[Haak]

Originally Posted by XGeneral2000

That's true, I guess I was generalizing a bit; every universe Tomoya "creates" for every light orb he collects sticks around, including the one where he, Nagisa, and Ushio all die. I'm just saying I don't like that kind of thing in general, and since we see everyone alive at the end (in the "good" universe), there is a bit of that feeling.

I usually don't really dwell on "things I would've done differently," since it's all opinion, anyway (I did give Clannad a 9/10). I was just trying to point out why some people weren't entirely satisfied with the ending. Anyway, whether or not I agreed with the ending, like I said earlier in my review, I couldn't help but have a big stupid grin on my face as I watched the last episode. Tomoya did earn his happy ending.

It's a Reset Button Ending. And no matter how well done it may be, it's an ending that will always be controversal.

[DragoonKain3]

Originally Posted by dgreater1

I guess both of you had missed a lot of discussion about the ending.
But anyway, to clarify things, there's a lot more to the ending that you think is Deus ex Machina. (it's not actually Deus ex Machina, you just misinterpreted the ending because you didn't piece together the puzzle, a very very hard puzzle)

Even assuming that is the case, does that change the fact that the entire 'family' theme, arguably the most important theme, has been trivialized by the ending?

Seriously now, 'family' is based reality; the two goes hand in hand because if the story is not realistic, or at least has parallels that can applied to the real world, the theme of family fails because you cannot relate to it anymore through your own or what you see of other people's family experiences.

Family being rooted in reality is the reason that we can relate to Fuuko (despite being a 'ghost') wanting her sister to have her own happiness besides her. Its the reason why we can relate to Kotomi through remembrance of dead loved ones. It's the reason why we can relate to Mei because of gratitude towards what family members has done for us in the past. It's the reason why we can relate to Yukine, because we don't want to see destroyed what our lost loved ones have painstakingly and lovingly created. It's the reason why we can relate to Tomoya's Dad, because with family comes sacrifices.

It's the reason why most of all, we can relate with Tomoya, because with his story tells us that an ideal family does not dwell on the bad things that happened in the past, but what is happening now and what you can do better in the future.

And with episode 22, the message changed into something like "Even when the going gets tough, even when you have fallen in the deepest depths of despair, it's ok because things are happier in another alternate universe". Or "Don't worry if everything is going bad in your life, because some otherworldly being is going to help you make things right". And I can only go at this; just like the haremy part of the first season was so out of place within the overall context of family, so is this because it has no real bearing or relationship with the theme of family.


Come to think of it, what makes Tomoya so special that he gets to have his happy ending? How about Yukine's brother still being dead? Or Kotomi's parents? Or Fuuko still losing that much time to her coma? Or Tomoya's dad still losing everything? I mean, Tomoya has lead a very shitty life. But so what? He's not the only one to have in the story proper. Everyone has had to live with a big source of sadness/trouble in the story and still live on despite of it; I don't logically see why Tomoya should be exempt from this.

The more I think about the ending, the more my brain begins to dislike it even more, despite my heart liking it just because Ushio didn't die. So yeah, I think I should really stop thinking more about the ending, lest I really knock Clannad down a letter grade into the B's... and all that talk about 'otherworld' stuff in the ending thread is making it this close --> <-- into doing so.

[dgreater1]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Even assuming that is the case, does that change the fact that the entire 'family' theme, arguably the most important theme, has been trivialized by the ending?

If you think the ending has been trivialized by pulling a mixture of supernatural quantum thingy, then sure, I won't argue with you about that because we'll only be arguing personal opinions.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

And with episode 22, the message changed into something like "Even when the going gets tough, even when you have fallen in the deepest depths of despair, it's ok because things are happier in another alternate universe". Or "Don't worry if everything is going bad in your life, because some otherworldly being is going to help you make things right". And I can only go at this; just like the haremy part of the first season was so out of place within the overall context of family, so is this because it has no real bearing or relationship with the theme of family.

This as well, is your opinion about what you learn in the end. But as I said, it's your own interpretation and I have my own about it. I see Episode 16-21 and Episode 22 as completely separate universe. "Why should I be happy for my other self in the other universe while I'm suffering here anyway?" then the other way around "I feel sorry for my other self suffering in that universe but who cares, it's not like I really know him" that's my counter thought to your idea if you think the ending message is implying what you just wrote. But anyway, the message for me is "Even when the going gets tough, even when you have fallen in the deepest depths of despair, don't lose hope because you'll never know what will happen next" well, until you die? You might not know or you might know what will happen next even if you die, who knows? Our perception about the universe is a big mystery.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Come to think of it, what makes Tomoya so special that he gets to have his happy ending? How about Yukine's brother still being dead? Or Kotomi's parents? Or Fuuko still losing that much time to her coma? Or Tomoya's dad still losing everything? I mean, Tomoya has lead a very shitty life. But so what? He's not the only one to have in the story proper. Everyone has had to live with a big source of sadness/trouble in the story and still live on despite of it; I don't logically see why Tomoya should be exempt from this.

Because CLANNAD is his and Nagisa and their legacies' story. See my point? We see things differently. Just because KEY didn't give you a happy story about the other characters means it doesn't exist. Also, Tomoya isn't exempted from all suffering. And I do think that the other cast are contented with how their lives are going around.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

The more I think about the ending, the more my brain begins to dislike it even more, despite my heart liking it just because Ushio didn't die. So yeah, I think I should really stop thinking more about the ending, lest I really knock Clannad down a letter grade into the B's... and all that talk about 'otherworld' stuff in the ending thread is making it this close --> <-- into doing so.

I don't really care what you feel about the ending but I wanna know what you think about it. Most of KEY's ending are always open for wide discussions and opinions and I'm sure you know that already.

Forgot to add, you can't deny that Ushio also is dead.

[Khu]

SPOILER tag it! now!

[Haak]

This is the overall series thread so i think it's okay.

[Archon_Wing]

Well, I don't know. The ending is vague enough for people to think that episode 17-21 was a delusion. Of course, it would have been a rather detailed one. And it wasn't really confirmed until the recap episode which probably nobody watched to confirm he retained memories of the other world. The resolution was indeed really trippy and it probaly could have been done better. Of course, naturally this would be very hard to adapt. It's that just for me, personally, the series gave me enough suspension of disbelief to do it. Honestly, it'd be better if 24 was more than a clip show. Sure it's not as jarring as Air's recap episode (Seriously wtf with that?) but still.

[asianberry]

I would give Clannad (mostly After Story) a 9/10. It's an excellent anime, being so incredibly beautiful both visually and emotionally. It's among my favorite animes. Absolutely spectacular.

The reason why it wouldn't receive a 10/10 from me is because of a minor imperfections and a disappointing ending which seems to completely disreguard the preceeding episodes with Ushio that turned out to be some of the most emotional episodes of the series. An anime would have to be perfect in order for me to justify giving something a perfect score.

[Khu]

The only reason it disregarded it was because the source material did.

And the reason the source material did, I believe was for commercial sales.

Go figure.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Khu

The only reason it disregarded it was because the source material did.

And the reason the source material did, I believe was for commercial sales.

I think the idea that Tomoya had to go back in time and play all the routes to get the final ending was really more to increase the longevity of the game. So Yeah...

[Khu]

Well that's the replayability part, BUT he worked it into the story as well.

That was clever.

[Deku guy]

I personally loved the series. <3
I'll give it a 10/10.

The ending seemed really sad ( i cried) but if it weren't for the miracle(?) i would have to make a sucking paint ending :P

[Leo_Otaku]

Originally Posted by Haak

I think the idea that Tomoya had to go back in time and play all the routes to get the final ending was really more to increase the longevity of the game. So Yeah...

Err no go play the game then you can argue.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Just finished my Clannad: After Story blog review.

This one's a bit more in-depth than my review of Clannad's original season, and maybe a bit more controversial, just to prepare people, lol.

It also contains comparisons between Clannad: After Story and the Gurren Lagann and Mai HiME animes... comparisons that are a bit spoilerrific.


Still, I hope that most folks here enjoy it.

Here it is!

Oh yea, when I first read your review, I found something hillarous, but I forgot what it was.

Here it was, about Kotomi:

Aaawwww... isn't she so tall and voluptuous, yet so huggably moe?

I guess that is true! Most anime females tend to have very slender frames; they are often ridiclously thin (and let's not even talk about boobs and possible back issues a lot of anime characters suffer from). This has always annoyed me since... when i first started watching anime. I suppose Kotomi being a bit more chubby but still attractive makes her a bit different. Not that it's a bad thing.

[kitten320]

At the moment I saw only season 1 so I won't vote yet...

But my rating for 1st season is 9... would be 10 but somehow after Kotomi's arc and slight Tomoyo's arc it became boring for me... I'm not big Nagisa's fan so that might be the reason, sorry. I atually wanted to smack her many times there, especially on stage. Good thing her father came just in time to make things better.

I would originally put 8 after finishing series but remembering how good were Fuko's and Kotomi's arcs as well how epic were Tomoyo's kick in the begining, I decided to go for 9

I miss Tomoyo's kicks and Kotomi's cluelesness and inoccence as well as her interection with Kyou (and also her epic violin playing!). Hope there is more of it in season 2.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Leo_Otaku

Err no go play the game then you can argue.

I'm not arguing...

I was agreeing with what Khu was saying. Whether or not it works well story-wise is another thing.

[Kotohono]

I just watched both series in roughly a week, and it's been one the best animes I've ever watched easily in my favorite 5 I loved so much about the show rating wise I'd say like this:
Animation Quality: 10 - Never once disappointed me with character design, scene, or otherwise in animation.
Voice Actors: 10 - All of them did amazing job for their characters each of them sounded very fitting, and different from each other.
Script: 9 - The storyline was very good, though for few personally prefers I am giving it a 9 instead of 10

Spoiler for Reasons - don't click unless finished after story:

Mainly that I liked tomoyo x tomoya, or kyou x tomoya bit more like in the OVAs than nagisa x tomoya since I really felt either of them matched tomoyo better that said only other thing that bothered me a little was the reset thing, but those aside I still think it deserves a high mark in this area.

Characters/Emotional Attachment: 20 - Yes I am rating it a 20 out of 10 for this area bite me, reasons being in a spoiler don't click unless you've seen everything after story, and OVAs

Spoiler for Emotional Stuff:

I give such a high mark since it was the FIRST/ONLY anime ever to make cry three times during it, not to mention almost cried 3 other time even. The time I actually cried while watching it being Kotomi's past when she found her parents had died, and promised to be a good girl it really got me badly, and then Tomoyo's brother jumping off the bridge got me to cry some more, and lastly when Nagisa died in the first timeline I cried again . Then when it seemed like Ushio died during that timeline I barely didn't cry again, and in Tomoyo's OVA when he broke up with her so she could be the student president was sad, and selfless made it close again. Finally in Kyou's OVA the sorrow of both of them falling for him, forcing him to pick one of them, and their sadness almost got me crying again. Clannad managed to pull at my heart so well, and still have me love, so it deserved that rating here.

Music: 9.5 - I really liked all the background music for it, very fitting most of the time, and the 2 OP I loved, and only reason it's not 10 is cause while first ED was ok I can't say I really liked it, much-less the second one.
Overall: 10

[Leo_Otaku]

Originally Posted by Haak

I'm not arguing...

I was agreeing with what Khu was saying. Whether or not it works well story-wise is another thing.

Sorry misunderstood -_-" sorry bout that *is used to people complaining about the end *

[Khu]

Originally Posted by Konakaga

Snippity

Dude uh, you have the names wrong.

Tomoya = Dude = protagonist
Tomoyo = badass girl

[Haak]

^ You know for a long while even after watching season 2 I'd kept spelling Tomoya as Tomoyo, which made things extraordinarily difficult to find pictures of Tomoya and Ushio together.

Originally Posted by Leo_Otaku

Sorry misunderstood -_-" sorry bout that *is used to people complaining about the end *

No worries.