Anime: Clannad

I was looking at the top score shows in AniDB, searching for something good to watch perhaps, and I toppled with Clannad After Story. Before watching that, it was logical to get the first season, which also has quite high scores. The harem premise and the Kyoto Animation hype kept me away, but I like daily life tragedy, so I thought I could make some use of a show like this today. Well... I give you the show is above average, but it's certainly one of the most overrated shows I've seen joined by Haruhi, other moe stuff, and noisy shows like Gurren Laggan and One Piece. Clannad features a soft drama that is very childish at first glance, but it has the power to conquer you if you're not looking into anything truly deep and if you tolerate the clumsy and dumb girls through all the episodes.

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Art & Animation
These cute girls overwhelmed the anime industry in the last decade. They met the highest point when Haruhi was released in 2006 and from there became a standard that perhaps 90% of the shows these days use. You can describe it as moe-style, bishoujo, whatever. The fact is that these works have quite generic character designs, with your big, curved, and shiny eyes of the lazy girls and the more agressive expression of the tsunderes. Clannad abuses a little with the gap between the characters' eyes, making them look even more like dolls than your average moe show. Regardless of the dubious style, Clannad has some pretty good animation for its genre, with a few scenes (the lone girl with the CGI robot and the second special chapter mostly) that can offer some Haruhi-level animation. The small moving mouths annoyed me quite a bit, but it's not much of an issue when compared to other shows. Backgrounds and colors are perfectly fit for the what the show tries to do, with great detail although the school setting can be a bit overused sometimes.

Sound
Sound direction is decent here. We don't have a very impactful set of background music, but the opening does a great job to lure you. Voice-acting faces the same issue as most of these types of shows: lots of lolis, lots of annoying voices. Most girls talk so slowly and paused that it reaches the extreme. I know that's the essence of a moe daily-life show, but since 2003 we could have some improvement regarding this. We also have a cute ending theme that helps nothing for the show, a shame, because some merge here like how it happens in a few episodes of Kimi ga Nomozu Eien would be very welcome to increase the dramatic feeling the show has. Overall, this is pretty much the standard stuff for a moe show full of silly girls and fanservice, so those expecting a sound direction that follows these standards may be pleased.

Story
Clannad is mostly the daily life of Tomoya in his school. He meets a shy, clumsy, and cute girl named Nagisa and from there start to help her to rebuild the theater club. During this process he meets lots of other girls, uncovers some mysteries at the school, experience some romance, and so on. It's basically whatever you see in a harem like show with slice-of-life focus and void of ecchiness, but everything here sparkles cuteness and, as a consequence, tragedy and especially romance become quite childish and lose some impact. The comedy can be quite good from time to time, but is not the focus of the show.

1. Pace
   The arc format the show uses has its share of problems. I could describe Clannad as a single-threaded show, meaning that whenever a new plotline appears, the show is forced to stop what it's currently doing, forgetting about all the events and stuff that happened until it returns to that plotline. This inability to develop two parallel stories make the show superficial and remove from the realism it could have offered with its daily life setting. After solving Fuko's and Kotomi's stories, for example, the show never return to further develop these characters, not even for a few minutes, those two turns from protagonists to static background cast, although the impact they make leaves you thinking that they are truly important (they're even in the opening!).
   
   Romance
   Clannad is not exactly a romance show at first, but in the second half this becomes the main excuse for about five or six episodes. Sadly, you already know who the winning girl will be within 10 seconds of the first episode, and not even once the show give us a hint that Tomoya could change his choice. The girls are very lazy and unrealistic to make their moves to the protagonist, and Tomoya and Nagisa don't offer much of a entertaining romance experience.
   
   Drama
   Clannad's drama is one of its strong points although the earlier parts have a more cute and childish atmosphere. Most of these dramatic ocurences are based on a character's past instead of a present tragedy. Don't expect sad permanent happenings here. The show only offers events that are sad, but that don't have that much impact on the character's life besides a few psychological scars that could easily be healed with time. Many times I was expecting some very drastic change in the show, but no, that doesn't happen. Everything is very straightforward, so drama loses most of its impact. It's still quite a good soft drama, made for those who don't really like tragedy but are prone to shed a few tears.
   
   Fuko's Arc
   
   Right after the first two or three introductory episodes we are presented to Fuko and her deep and sad story that lasts about six to seven episodes. The show gives us a bit a mystery, making you wonder what the hell is that girl in the campus. Is she a ghost? Is she real? Well, it appears she's very real at first. The young girl carving starfishs and inviting people to her sister's wedding is pretty cute. It could develop into something sad (in fact those who let it can shed a few tears here), but instead it abuses of fantasy and always avoid some obvious stuff that would surely bring better and more serious scenes to the show. The protagonists never try to truly understand what's happening. They met a ghost girl, all people meet her, then they forget her, but then they remember her invitation, but they never freak out or question what the hell is happening! No one cares if they are having collective allucinations or if they are indeed meeting a spirit. They just move on and live their happy lives. They could've tried to make the ghost girl interact physically with someone who couldn't see her, they could've visited the damn hospital and tell the people their story (though they would certainly be considered mentally ill), they could just write things up to remember, they could've searched for help, but no, they just remained at school, put a ghost girl into Nagisa's house and lived as if everything was completely normal and happy. God, it's a ghost/spirit/hallucination of a dying girl! Sure they should help her, but anyone with a sane mind would try to understand what's happening! Clannad is not supposed to happen in a fantasy setting, it's a school scenario with ordinary life stuff. So a ghost girl would certainly be a BIG happening. After this arc is completed Fuko is tossed aside, only making short appearances for some dumb fanservice.

   Show Spoiler
   
   
   Remaining Arcs
   
   Fuko's arc can be sad in its premise, but the execution is far too soft for a true drama. After that, however, the show starts to get things in a better perspective. The drama increases little by little, with more events that are truly tragic. Perhaps if the cast were not composed by lazy girls this could develop to be one hell of a drama, but overall the show manages to offer good entertainment. The show offers a few episodes for each of the other girls presented in the opening: Kotomi, Tomoyo, Kyou, and finally Nagisa. Sadly, with the pace problem mentioned above, you'll mostly see these girls only during their own arcs with an exception of Nagisa. Perhaps spreading the narrative a little could help things here, but that doesn't happen.

   Show Spoiler
   
   

Character
Well, the slice-of-life part of the show is pretty average with decent drama, what about its cast then? Passable. The protagonist got my support, he's a normal boy and not a walking cardboard of stupidity or fake coolness like most of these shows have. He has a problematic past, some tragedy that made him lose a chance to chase his dream and got him stuck in a mediocre life. Sadly his traumas and problems are left to the sidelines and we get a focus on the cute girls.

1. Ah... the Cute Girls
   This show has a problem with the girls, you see. They are all absurdly dumb and clumsy, it's like the school is a hospital for people with severe social problems, but they mysteriously interact with each other even with all their paused speechs, lack of intelligence, lack of will, lack of spirit, and overabundant cuteness. Their similarities with dolls (as mentioned in tha Art & Animation), helps to make them ever more creepy and bizarre. The cuteness could be left behind sometimes to dig in their stories, as the show dedicates about 6 to 8 episodes for each of the main girls, but nay, once they complete their objectives they return to their initial state and move on.
   
   Typical and Annoying Cast
   These superficial girls can annoy the reminder of the show. They have some very tragic hidden past and develop a good deal while they're on screen, but you are never gifted with intricate love polygons, they are absurdly slow to make a move on the protagonist, and most of all, they all look like sad dolls with poorly programmed AI. The only girls that deviate from this behavior are your typical tsundere angry cuties with long hair. So, yeah, Clannad is in the end just about two stereotypes copied to half a dozen characters. You can grow to like them, maybe because you'll be watching them for many episodes, or because they have quite sad backgrounds, but most of your liking will be based on how much you like these cute lolis.
   

Value
Making an adaptation of these erogames is what generic shows do the most. The majority of them receive very negative critics. So, what makes Clannad different to receive such high scores? Well, I don't really know. I would think the good execution in terms of consistent art, a slighltly above average sound direction, continuous arcs, lack of fillers, and the bits of drama it has are the guilty ones, but then I remember this a show made by Kyoto Animation, and we have enough fanboysm here that if they were the ones who released Air Gear it would be labeled as cult and receive awards as the best anime ever. I'm forced to agree that they surely made this show better than your ecchi-focused harem. However, besides that Clannad is pretty much the same as all other cutie shows. I'll give another chance for shows like Air and Kanon, but as far as I've watched them we have the same stuff there.

Enjoyment
Clannad is a heartwarming experience as a whole. Well... Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and Honey & Clover are far more tragic than this. Fumoffu, GTO, Welcome to NHK, and many others are far more comical. But Clannad is one of the cutest. Mix these cute girls with a soft drama and people will cry in joy and fanatism. Still, the doll-like girls are damn creepy for anyone that is not completely in tune with Japan's bizarre tastes. I would recommend this show for those who don't care about realism, deep tragedy, or exagerated comedy. If you look only for a cute show with a good attractive power, Clannad can surely please you.

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Comments
Fans of the show (and Kyoto Animation fans) who managed to get past all my critics would probably be surprised to know that I liked the show. But liking something and something being good are two completely different stuff.

Clannad certainly does not deserve these absurdly high scores. Perhaps its second season is truly better, but that is another issue to discuss. The fact is that Clannad is just a slightly above average show. Its drama is far too soft, its romance is too childish and almost non-existent, its slice-of-life is too unnatural, and the fanservice is mostly based on showing cute girls around to toy with the fantasies of the audience. But if a school had these many cute girls with severe social issues, it would certainly be punished by the government and would be closed or completely changed! Anyway, I'm amazed by how overrated this is, but it was a good show for me, especially because it does a good job in being cute, with all the small stories, cute conclusions, and light hearted atmosphere. This can be a change of pace once in a while, but considering this is the main trend of shows since 2005 or so, Clannad can hardly be praised by its small feats.

Clannad is the 3rd major work that I've seen from Key.

Basically, a delinquent guy named Tomoya Okazaki meets a shy, weak (physically) girl named Nagisa Furukawa and the story tells how they get to know each other.

A big difference in this show (from Air and Kanon) is that they took out a lot of the mysterious/magical elements so expect this to be a pretty solid school/slice-of-life anime with a little drama and a lot of comedy. There is a bit of magic/non-realism with Fuko-chan but it doesn't feel nearly as mystical as Air on Kanon.

Another big difference is how they arranged the plot line. Unlike in Air and Kanon where it seemed that the main character met different girls in arcs, it feels much more like one large piece of work here.

Overall, this was a solid piece of work. It is not nearly as dramatic as the last two works but it definitely maintains the awesome sarcastic humor from Kanon.

Animation:
The animation quality is absolutely awesome, as were all previous works done by the Key/Kyoto Animation combo. Expect crisp animation and a full color palette. The male lead looks significantly younger than the equivalent in Air and Kanon and the girls don't have the huge wide eyes from Air.

The characters are all drawn very well and the CGI graphics (for the side-story about the girl alone in a world) were actually extremely well done - I'm referring to the girl, not the strange robot).

Whereas Air took place on a breathtaking seaside rural village and Kanon took place in a magic-like snowy city, Clannad takes place in a comparably plain town so don't expect all that much from the backgrounds.

Overall, it's definitely worthy as a successor to Key's previous works.

Sound:
I'll start off with what I thought was good. Coming in to the series, I noted that I didn't know a lot of the voice actors. However, they've proven through the series to be a very talented and passionate cast and so they get 5/5. Nagisa's slightly-frail voice and Tomoya's brash voice fit their characters perfectly.

As for the actual sound, I think it could have been slightly better. The BGM by itself was above average but it doesn't touch the perfection that I heard in Kanon or Air. The OP was... interesting but the different chords didn't sound all that nice to me. The ED was fairly nice though and blended to the theme of the series quite well. 4/5.

Overall, an above average sound combo. Not Kanon/Air but still definitely good.

Story:
The story tells the daily occurrences of Okazaki and his friends as they go to school. Okazaki meets and befriends a girl named Nagisa who had to stay behind for one year due to an undisclosed illness/physical weakness. Because of this, Nagisa was afraid of not being able to meet and make friends.

When the two get to know each other more, the male lead decides to help Nagisa form a theater club despite having no interest in it himself. The progress for the club progresses (and regresses) as the two meet and make new friends.

This show reminded me a bit of Da Capo because the early episodes were for the most part relatively light and humorous while the last few episodes were quite dramatic.

As for the humor, there are a bunch of misunderstandings that create extremely hilarious situations. There were times where I had to pause due to uncontrollable fits of laughter.

The ending, like the one in Kanon, gave a satisfactory conclusion to the situation but still left me wanting more. However, in this case there IS a followup.

The only part of the story that bothered me was the parallel telling of the story about the girl who is alone in the world. Basically, a portion of certain episodes is dedicated to telling a story about a girl (CGI graphics) whom is somehow alone in some world and builds a robot that somehow comes to life. Unlike Kanon where there is a very clear relation at the end of the series, the relationship between the main storyline and the supplemental story seemed rather shallow. I spent some time thinking of a possible deeper meaning to no avail. This parallel world will not make sense until Clannad Afterstory.

Overall, the story was fairly good but make sure you follow up with Afterstory.

Character:
The characters in this show are well done and have vibrant, distinct personalities.

Okazaki Tomoya is a delinquent who used to skip school after his dream of basketball was shattered. He often hangs out with another delinquent (Sunohara- who is egotistical, leading to many humorous situations, and who was dropped from the soccor team). Both characters don't really look like delinquents and actually go to school regularly after joining Nagisa. The only thing that isn't really developed adequately is his relationship with his father. Supposedly the idea of a "family" is one of the core themes of this show but it seems he "adapted" Nagisa's family and his friends as a family instead of bonding with his alcoholic father (though we only see his father as a nice if albeit messy fellow).

Nagisa is a sweet girl who always have felt that she did something bad to her parents when she was young though she doesn't recall what it is. She was held back a year due to being out due to an illness (much like a certain character in Kanon *cough*). She gains a lot of confidence after meeting Onizuka and the two eventually become quite close as friends.

There are also many supporting characters such as the ever-cute Fuko chan and the confusingly strong new female from the city (voiced by Sango-Inuyasha/Natarle-Seed). They all contribute to the story and provide additional sources of humor and support for the main characters. Finally, there are Nagisa's parents who seem to be awesome people who really enjoy life and love their daughter.

Value:
The fact that I thought that the story could have been slightly more engaging took off a bit of the value factor but the humor definitely helped push this far beyond a typical series, though not to the level that Kanon and Air were. Overall, a definite good series and definitely worth a watch if school/slice-of-life series or sarcastic humor is your thing.

Sound 6/10
Decent, no mindblowingly good music that makes the hairs on your arms stand up nor is it scratching your ears. Character voices are fitting to the stereotypical roles they represent.

Visual representation 5/10
The animation quality and scenery is decent BUT characters seem like lifeless animated dolls - the reason for this are their eyes, which are EXTREMELY unrealistic, even for anime standards.

Story 1/10
Keywords: boring, slow, predictable, uninspired, rehash and so on and so forth until the end of times.
When you start watching, you're thinking: "hmm, kinda boring but maybe it'll grow on me", several episodes later "OH MY GOD it's even worse now, i can't believe i'm wasting my time on this MY EYES ARE BLEEDING..."

Characters 1/10
Stereotypes ALL THE WAY. Absolutely nobody in this anime is interesting.

Value and enjoyment 0/10
Value: well i sometimes accidentally step into more valuable things when walking through a park frequently visited by careless dogowners.
Enjoyment: NONE TO BE HAD HERE walk along good sir.

Overall 1/10
If you want see something more entertaining than this anime i can suggest watching grass grow outside or watching cat poo decompose in the litterbox.
I hope i can SAVE some LIVES by having someone read this review before actually commiting to this atrocious and shameful piece of animation history.

I wholeheartedly recommend this anime to everyone who likes teletubbies.

Why this anime has such a high rating on anidb IS BEYOND MY IMAGINATION, only thing i can think of is a 4chan troll raid where they all voted 10 on one of the WORST ANIMES OF ALL TIME.

As visual novel adaptations go, Clannad is a good one. The integration of the various paths of the original is astonishingly well done, though helped greatly by the fact that this is not really a romance story so much as a more general character drama. The characters provide an interesting spread, although the male/female split is awkward; less female passivity would make for a better balance. In practice the series devotes "mini-arcs" of a few episodes to each, and quality varies substantially between them; some relationships, particularly that of the leads, are very well developed, but in others much has clearly been lost in the transition from first- to third-person storytelling. It is this difference which drags down the plot; a storyline which is all about emotion is hard to convey purely visually, so there are times where the drama drags.

What sustains the series through these periods is the comedy; it's not laugh-a-minute, but there is a gentle humourous undercurrent to everything, along with a number of physical gags that work surprisingly well. This makes Clannad perfect for relaxed watching at the end of the day; the slow pace gives one time to appreciate the characters rather than constantly reacting to punchlines. Likewise the animation never requires one's attention; it's consistent and solid but never spectacular, and in a show like this there is very little call for visual effects. The voice acting sadly tends too much towards the breathy end, particularly for the aforementioned passive female characters - while this may be a match for the personalities, I found it more irritating than cute. Musically the anime reuses several tracks from the game, but radically reinterprets some (most notably the ending song, which was an instrumental piece in the original), to interesting but mixed results; the opening theme is (to the best of my knowledge) a new song, and suitable but not greatly appealing. Some of the background tracks become slightly stale by the end, but by and large they're composed well enough not to grate.

All in all this is a pleasant, inoffensive show; one could certainly do a lot worse. But the drama misses as often as it hits, and while the comedy holds interest there's nothing clever or original here. At the end I got the feeling of having spent a while watching with nothing to show for it; there's no artistic cleverness, no literary dialogue, no historical importance. Clannad is quite an enjoyable waste of time, but a waste of time nonetheless.

In our world, human relationships are the keys to happiness , but there are times when not everyone can open their door. We often fall into despair and isolate ourselves from the reality of thel world when our key is nowhere to be found. It is at these times when we need the support of others to guide us through our hardships and reassure us of our place within society. In society, our families are integral in providing us with the proper support that we need when our lives take a turn for the worst. Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with the miraculous support of their families. Individuals living in a dysfunctional family often fall into a state of frustration and anger; unable to maintain proper stability in their lives. While family members are irreplaceable, their roles are not. Sometimes we need our friends to fill the roles of a family in order to provide us with the necessary support.

By now you’re probably wondering where I’m going with all of this. Before I begin my review I thought it was best to explain the role of a family in society and why they are so central to our everyday lives; whether we realize it or not. Clannad is the most recent installment of Kyoto Animation’s adaptation of Key’s visual novels. The central theme this time around is families and how they are needed in an individual’s everyday life. As an interesting bit of info, Clannad is the Irish word for "family" or "clan" which fits the theme of the show quite nicely.

Okay that’s a long enough introduction; I better start this review before the word count gets to be over… two thousand (no I wasn’t going to say what you were probably thinking about).

Story – 8/10
Similar to Key’s other works, Air and Kanon, Clannad attempts to throw the Republican punch; it plays with your emotions without giving a reason for doing so. Thankfully Clannad does a much better job than the pathetic campaign that the Republicans are currently running (and no, I’m not going to begin comparing Tomoyo to Sarah Palin if anyone was wondering).

Clannad’s story is about Tomoya Okazaki, a young delinquient in his last year of high school. When Tomoya was young his mother died in an accident. This event led Tomoya and his father into a downward spiral where they both became distant from one another. One night, Tomoya and his father got into an argument which eventually turned into a fight between father and son. As a result Tomoya seriously injured his shoulder and was unable to continue playing on the high-school basketball team. It was at this point where Tomoya began avoiding his father and roaming around the streets at night. He then began coming to school late and skipping classes together with his best friend Youhei Sunohara. Due to his actions, people began labeling Tomoya as a delinquient. Now in his last year of high school, Tomoya continues to half-ass his way through his life. Tomoya no longer cares about his future or others… until one day when he meets Nagisa Furukawa, a typically shy and gentle girl. It turns out that Nagisa was actually held back a year due to the fact that she was sick in the previous year and missed most of her classes. Since most of her friends graduated and left town, Nagisa is left with no friends. Tomoya, who feels that Nagisa is in a similar situation to his, approaches her. It is then that Nagisa tells Tomoya of her dream to join the drama club; because she always wanted to act in a play. Together, the two of them muster enough effort to go to the drama room after school only to find that the club shut down. Disappointed with the outcome, Nagisa leaves. After some thinking Tomoya, who feels that he has nothing better to do with his life, attempts to help Nagisa reorganize the drama club. Along the way, Tomoya meets many other (beautiful) girls, who all happen to have their fair share of problems. With nothing else to do, Tomoya eventually helps to solve each of their problems while at the same time coming to the realization that he himself has one.

Clannad’s story is told in a number of arcs. Each arc focuses on a specific character and their family central problems. Within each arc, Tomoya and Nagisa help that character identify the problem and find ways to solve it. In doing so, Tomoya learns more about the importance of having a family while Nagisa develops some personal courage. For this genre of anime, Clannad does a good job in steering clear from the pit of flaws and clichés that many other animes constantly fall into. In general, the story arcs in Clannad are well executed and told very nicely with some light supernatural elements thrown in. The backgrounds of each arc character are fleshed out and presented to the viewers in a way in which we can easily make connections and relate to each character. While the stories of each character are neither deep nor profound they are often sad; usually involving a tragic death or a tale of misfortune. Unfortunately, the episode length of the story arcs is quite unbalanced. Two of the main character’s arcs are cut extremely short due to some arcs being far too long and to a point, overly fleshed out.

Often times, Kyoto Animation (now KyoAni for simplicity) seems to be the Hollywood of anime; spawning shallow pop culture shows with over the top production values. Some of the animes produced by KyoAni such as The Melancholy of Suzimiya Haruhi and Lucky Star rely heavily on otaku-central humor. The humor sported by the above series often gets repetitive and dull since it is only targeted at one specific group. Thankfully, the overall experience of Clannad is not bogged down by unnecessary otaku humor. Oddly enough, the humor is actually used in parts of Clannad’s story to provide comic relief (usually involving the misfortune of Youhei Sunohara) to prevent the show from feeling too depressing. Additionally, the comedic scenes in Clannad are not just otaku-specific and are more quirky, witty and slapstick oriented. Unlike Zero no Tsukaima, which doesn’t t know when to draw the fine line between cruel and funny, Clannad seems to understand its reputation and swiftly draws that line. Overall, I enjoyed the humor in Clannad and felt that it added to the show rather than detracting from viewing experience. It’s nice to see that KyoAni has finally learned that there are anime fans out there that do not enjoy excessive amounts of otaku humor; Clannad being a key example of their progress.

Surprisingly there is very little romantic development in Clannad (which the opening would hint otherwise since it quite clearly showcases the five main girls in typical harem format). The main focus of Clannad is families and not so much romance, although all families eventually begin with some romance. There is some romantic tension between Tomoya and the other girls (mainly Nagisa) but it never gets to the point where a harem is formed. More than anything the romance of the show just fleshes out the main characters and makes them memorable in the end.

Animation – 9/10
KyoAni is known far and wide for having extremely high production values. Some fans even consider the studio to be the gods of anime and for good reasons too. The animation in Clannad does not disappoint, all characters are fluidly animated. There is not a single dull facial expression or a stiff body figure on screen at any time (although at one point Tomoya does get rather stiff, but this is not due to a drop in animation). The lighting effects in Clannad are also superb, as they are usually used in conjunction with character’s feelings to convey the mood. Overall I have very few complaints (if not any) about the animation in Clannad except that I know KyoAni’s has even greater potential in terms of animation as seen in their previous masterpiece Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.

Sound – 8/10
Another strong point of this anime is its sound and voice acting. The opening song "Megumeru ~cuckool mix 2007” by eufonius is a direct remix of the Clannad game opening. It fits the tone of the show nicely and is enjoyable to listen too along with the opening animation. The ending them “Dango Daikazoku” (The Big Dango Family) by Chata is a metaphorical song of the show’s main theme and the animation that goes along with it is quite cute and charming. Most of the BGM in Clannad was either reused or remixed directly from the Clannad visual novel. People who have played the game before will recognize many similar tracks, which may lead to mixed feelings. It would have been nice if KyoAni had taken the time to create new tracks, although in doing so they may have destroyed the overall feel and mood of Clannad. The voice acting is handled quite well by the voice actors. Most of them were able to breathe life into each of their respective characters and with great passion too. Overall, sound is pretty solid in Clannad earning a respective value of 8.

Characters – 8/10
Most of the characters in Clannad are taken from a bottomless pool of anime archetypes including the quiet bookworm, the gentle girl and your typical tsundere. Thankfully, some of the characters in Clannad end up being more than dry bologna. I’m glad that I finally get to have a few slices of black forest salami.

My goodness, if the delinquents at my school offered to solve my personal problems and spoke without swearing every other sentence, I would declare world peace everywhere. It’s strange that Tomoya seems to be the nicest and most decent delinquient that I have ever seen. In some respects his character almost seems unnatural, although I guess Tomoya only developed in this fashion due to living with a dysfunctional father. Complaints aside, Tomoya is a painfully honest young man who is frantically dealing with his own personal problems. Tomoya is a truly admirable character as he draws upon the failures in his life to make sure those around him do not end up that way. Through helping others, Tomoya eventually comes to the realization of his own problems and changes with the help of others.

At first glance, Nagisa doesn’t really seem to fit the role of a heroine as her character is a combination of the shy, gentle girl archetype. Nagisa is initially afraid of speaking in front of others but nevertheless wants to join the drama club. Most of Clannad’s story revolves around Nagisa and her fight to overcome her shyness. With Tomoya’s help, she eventually matures into a strong-willed person with a mind of her own. In turn, Nagisa is the one who helps Tomoya get over his distrust of everyone and his negative view on life. Oddly enough, Nagisa seems to be one of the few characters in Clannad who doesn’t have an immediate family issue. Nagisa’s family happens to be very close with each other, a rarity in modernized societies today. Watching Nagisa’s family members interact with one another gave me a heartwarming feeling and made me realize how similar my family is to hers. Even Tomoya is welcomed into the family at one point, showing just how generous they are. I understand that not everyone is blessed with a warm, loving family, but I hope that this example illustrates that almost anyone can find a family in this world, even if they are not related by blood.

The four other main girls in Clannad aren’t quite as developed as Nagisa (in terms of character, not figure) but they still have more than ample screen time. First of all there’s Kyou Fujibayashi (your typical tsundere), Kotomi Ichinose (the shy, intelligent bookworm), Tomoyo Sakagami (the combo master) and Fuko Ibuki (the starfish obsessed bozo). All of the main girls have their own respective arcs in which their personal stories are told. Each girl is equally likeable due to their individual personalities and complex personal lives, although some such as Kotomi and Kyou seriously run the risk of falling within the bottomless pool of anime archetypes. One last notable mention is Youhei Sunohara, who is the main source of comic relief in Clannad. Sunohara is probably the most humorous character due to his wacky antics and idiotic behavior which often results in him being bullet-kicked by Tomoyo. While every character in Clannad belongs to an anime archetype, KyoAni does an excellent job in differentiating most of them from other common fodder. These characters are part of what makes Clannad such an enjoyable and at times humorous show to watch.

Enjoyment – 9/10
While it’s not a groundbreaking story, Clannad doesn’t try to play up to anything more than it is. Clannad is simply a heartwarming story about the importance of a family. While some character’s arcs did not receive as much screen time as others, the main story is not greatly affected. Clannad’s story isn’t without flaws, but it still stands strong and will be remembered if not for its heartwarming story, then for its wacky, original sense of humor. People who enjoy a blend of drama, humor and slice of life will more than enjoy Clannad. Those who prefer a more serious tone to their animes (such as myself) will still find reasons to enjoy Clannad as its story is not purely positive.

Phew, this was another review that ended up being well over two-thousand words. I probably misspelled Tomoya as Tomoyo somewhere. Again, if you found a way to get through this lengthy review, I congratulate you and hope you learned something from reading it.

First at all, please try to rate reviews as often as you can. The reading and writing people will profit from it so writers can be more of a help to choose/rate an anime.[br][br]Animation:[br]The characters were designed quite good though they seem too bright to me. It gave a good atmosphere depending on the location. 8/10[br][br]Sound:[br]The opening song wasn't entertaining to me at all. Most of the time I skipped the opening although it fits in the series. The ending song was quite amusing so I did not mind to watch this, even the Big Dango Family should be more interesting for kids.[br]The background music, depending on the location and characters (especially when Kotomi was involved), was almost flawless. It wasn't too loud to annoy me nor was it too quiet. 9/10[br][br]Story:[br]The story revolves around a guy names Okazaki Tomoya who is a lazy bum at high school. He also often skips classes with his friend. One day he met a girl who had to repeat her 3rd year at high school, Furukawa Nagisa. She wants to reopen the theater club and perform a play. Tomoya is going to help her since he has nothing else to do.[br]The rest of the story is the usual harem staff when women gather around the main character. It is interesting this way but nothing new. 7/10[br][br]Character:[br]There are plenty of unique characteristics around. Starting with lazy delinquents, shy girls, geniuses, violent people and people who are easy to fool. My favorite character is Tomoyo, a girl with incredible power and calmness that you cant imagine. 10/10[br][br]Value:[br]Clannad is really worth watching from my point of view. The "Theaterstory"-part was not really worthwhile but its still part of the series. This anime is well made and has funny parts, sad parts and parts where you could get mad. I am really looking forward to the after story and therefore not watching the movie yet. 8/10[br][br]Enjoyment:[br]Actually I enjoyed the series. It really brings you in a good mood regarless of the sad parts. I can honestly say that Clannad is one of my TOP10 animes and I guess nothing will change this easily. 9/10[br]