esmeralda23 - 2014-09-04 22:30:23

My Clannad Review:
http://inanimeshadow.blogspot.com/2014/08/clannad-review.html

bogan.astrid - 2014-08-08 00:59:58

Clannad began with a somewhat normal high school delinquent's life, and ended with a beautiful story about family and happiness. Clannad had intense moments of comedy, sadness, love, happiness, and action. My life has changed after watching this 11/10 anime, and this is a 100% recommended anime for all kinds of people to watch. Life is different after watching the complete series. 

kgoyette - 2014-05-11 02:23:53

Slice-of-life. Comedy. Visual Novel. Romance. Reverse Harem. Drama. Fairytale. Clannad is many things...

Full Clannad Review in the Link Below:

http://littlecloudcuriosity.com/2013/09/30/clannad-review/

leo06 - 2013-11-02 11:09:50

["Sometimes you come across anime, that when finished, leaves you in a sort of euphoria. The journey that the anime took you was extraordinary. You felt a strong attachment to the characters, and to the the world. You were completely immersed, like you were actually inside of the world that was presented to you. Afterward people in your life around you are oblivious to the world you have seen and the things you have experienced. If you know of what I speak, you have watched a truly great anime. I am happy to say, Clannad is one of these animes." - adapted, not word for word, from Arkada's review. He explains is perfectly, I couldnt put it better myself.]

Clannad is an anime that I hold close to my heart. An imersive heart-warming tale. It'll make you laugh, and it will make you cry. Oh god, it will make you cry.

The animation is beautiful, very colourful, very cute. People with eyes as big as their hands!

The soundtrack is very beautiful.

The characters may seem typical and have all been done before. They havent been done quite in this way however. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but something makes you, with out noticing or wanting to, become extremely attached to the characters. This is one of the main reasons clannad is so great.

I can say, with confidence, Clannad is my favourite anime of all time.

kiehn.zion - 2013-06-28 17:25:02

Everyone knows about Clannad. Together with its sequel, it's THE anime to recommend to anyone who wants to watch a good drama anime. But putting the sequel, and fame, aside, is it still such a masterpiece?

STORY: 8/10

If I had to say one negative thing about the story, it's that it's adapted from a visual novel, which causes the anime to focus a a bit too much on the non-protagonist girls instead of Nagisa, the actual love interest. The transitions between the story of a girl and another one's are very predictable (once one ends another starts, it's as simple as that). Once you get into a story, though, you will want to watch more, because it becomes very interesting. The comedy and drama are balanced flawlessly, and I've yet to see another anime do it so well.

ANIMATION: 9/10

Gorgeous is the word you're looking for. Characters and backgrounds are very well drawn. The character design may be too "cute" for someone, but it isn't too much of a problem. A greater problem may be that the designer probably won at a lottery of purple pencils, since 3 girls have that hair colour. While most people won't notice it too much, more differentiation would have been nice.

SOUND: 8/10

The soundtrack knows how to bring the right emotions at the right time, and will help the viewer have an even more pleasant experience. The opening and the ending (dango dango damn it's stuck in my head) are very good. There aren't, though, a lot of song that would be great outside of the context of the anime.

CHARACTER: 8/10

You have a lot of them, and while they are mostly well developed and enjoyable to see, you can sense from a kilometre away that they come from a visual novel because they are extremely clichéd: you have the cute love interest, the tsundere that could kill you at any moment, the incredibly shy girl (who JUST HAPPENS to be the tsundere's little sister...), the hyper-intelligent girl who is bad at doing manual stuff (dat violin) etc.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10

I really enjoyed this anime. Despite the few problems with character design, the story's drama and comedy did a great job at making me want to watch more as the episodes ended. Not being the kind of guy that hates cute characters probably helped a lot.

THE ULTIMATE FINAL VERDICT OF TOTAL ANNIHILATION: 9/10

A really great anime in comparison to other anime, despite not being as good as its sequel After Story. The soundtrack does a good job in making you feel "in" the anime, the characters are likeable and the animation is superb. More focus on the actual love interest would have been nice. it would probably be a 8.5 to 8.8, but since this site doesn't support decimal numbers as of now, I'll give it a 9. Totally recommended.

turcotte.malika - 2013-05-18 10:39:36

I have to thank "Clannad", for increasing my Japanese vocabulary and introducing me to a new word. While watching "Clannad" at my local anime soc, I could feel a certain something radiating from it. I'd encountered similar feelings before from other anime, but never quite so strongly. By the end of it, I picked up a new word to go with that feeling.That word is "moe". I'd never come across the word before "Clannad", and but I sure as hell knew it's meaning afterwards. It describes a feeling that originates from the sweetness of the female characters. But it's not a charming kind of sweetness that you get from, say, "Aria". It's an extreme kind of sweetness, the kind you get from gorging yourself on the icing from a cake, the kind of sweetness that makes your tooth ache and your stomach churn. I can't stand this kind of sweetness because it's artificial, arising from a cynical, calculated attempt on the makers part to portray the girls as cutely as possible. Taken to this kind of extremes, it has no real substance and serves only as an obstacle to good characterisation.You can tell pretty quickly that "Clannad" is blatently based on a harem VN or a dating sim. The main protagonist doesn't waste much time hooking up with about 12 different girls. What's more, the character designs, with their various hair colour extracted from almost all major parts of the visible spectrum, are exactly what you'd expect from the source material. There's the Brown Haired Girl, the Blue Haired Girl (they don't even need names, and to be honest they don't deserve names), the Grey Haired Girl etc, and even a pair of Purple Haired Twins. In fact I'm surprised to see the roster is missing a Pink Haired Girl. Of course, a generically distinct personality is assigned to each girl. Now, "generically distinct" may sound like an oxymoron, but I assure you it is not. The girls' personalities are all distinct from one another, however they all conform to their own generic archetype that can be readily identified within about 20 seconds of their introduction. There's the Adorably-Childish Girl (aka Green Haired Girl), the Shy Girl (aka one half of the Purple Haired Twins), the Feisty Girl (aka the other half of the Purple Haired Twins) etc etc. Again, I'm surprised to see the roster missing a Ditzy Girl - maybe they deliberately missed one out in order to prevent the whole thing from becoming even more painfully transparent than it already is. It also soon becomes obvious that, though all the girls shows interest in the main character, for the purpose of the "Clannad" playthrough, er, I mean, storyline, the main character's "target" is Generically Sweet Girl (aka Brown Haired Girl).Though I guess "Clannad" is technically not quite a harem, since there's another guy in the cast besides the main character, it may as well be one, because the other guy in question qualifies as a man only by technicalities. Practically, he's more like some sub-human creature, perhaps on about the same level as a worm, and is suitably treated as one too. Most of the girls treat him with distain and none of them are interested in him in the slightest. To be fair, the main character himself isn't quite your average harem lead, and for this reason, I've given him some more respect than the others characters by actually looking up his name for the purpose of this review (I'm bad with Japanese names and can never remember them): he's called Okazaki Tomoya. For some reason I keep thinking he's called Kyon... I think it's because like Kyon from "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu", he sticks out as the lone, sarcastic voice of relative reason amongst a sea of irrational madness. Anyway, I digress... as I was saying, what make Tomoya different from a typical harem lead is that although he is a bit of a good for nothing person, he's at least more charismatic and confident than that typical loser-but-nice stereotype that's recycled through most harems, and so you can at least kind of see why he's able to get on quite well with his, er, harem.Other than the insane amount of moe, another thing that stood out about "Clannad" (in a bad way) is the insane amount of heavy handed emotional manipulation injected into the show. This show has more of it than "Saikano", and THAT is saying something. I bristle at the sight of the slice-of-life tag attached to this title, because this show completely sacrifices any sort of realism associated with that genre in favour of trying to artificially invoke more emotions from the viewer with unbelivable and outrageously melodramatic storylines. The "tragic" backstories for the various characters pasts are so contrived that at times it feels like a competition between them to see which one can be more ridiculous and unrealistic. It's a competition that is eventually won by Blue Haired Girl's (aka Nerd Girl) backstory involving a teddy bear. It's a story that is so "moving" that it had everyone in the room bursting into tears. Tears of laughter that is. Moreover, most of the girls - Blue Haired girl being a prime example - simply disappears into the background once their part of the story is over, and the shift in focus from one girl to the next is so swift and ruthless I found it kind of off putting. What's the point of spending an arc fleshing out these characters if they simply get swept under the carpet again once their part of the story is over? Brown Haired Girl is probably the only person who's presence can be felt throughout the series, and that's only because she's obviously the girl who's gonna hook up with Tomoya's eventually (but don't worry, if you don't like this ending, Kyoto Animation has rather helpfully made several "Clannad" OVA's that are basically alternative playthroughs where Tomoya picks someone else).Only one of the supposedly tragic situations did not come off as overly melodramatic, and that's the one involving Tomoya's family situation with his dad. However, it's side story that's really jarringly integrated into the show. It comes into the show's focus randomly with little apparent purpose. It also feels out of place when placed against the cheesily cheerful parts, and what's more did not really come to any conclusion. It's almost as though when given this piece of material with genuine potential, the makers of "Clannad" didn't quite know what to do with it. As a result it feels like a bit of a tag on without much purpose.I'm really glad that I watched this with my local anime society, because with my stubborness of finishing what I start, watching this whole thing through by myself probably would have killed me. I remember trying to catch up with the episodes on the weeks where I couldn't make it to the society showings, and I literally had to split each episode into two or three chunks to be able to complete it - I just couldn't stomach watching more than a few minutes of it at a time. And no wonder - with its sickeningly strong stench of moe, ludicrously contrived stories and array of cardboard template cut-outs masquerading as female characters, just what is there to like for someone who's not into moe or extremely sappy melodrama?

selena.oconnell - 2013-05-15 04:09:17

You can either A) Watch the review in Video form embedded below, or B) read the transcript of the review. THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

There comes a timewhile watching anime when you will finish watching a particular show and be in a sort of euphoria. The journey that theshow took you on was extraordinary. You felt an attachment to the characters, as if you were a part of that world that waspresented to you, and it was an experience that you might find hard todescribe. But now that it isover, you don't know what to do. You look around and people are moving on,oblivious to the world you have just experienced, the things you have seen, andthe story you were a part of. If you know of what I speak, then you know whatit is to finish a truly great anime. You canget these feelings from any kind of show, as long as it speaks to you somehow. Thestory could be about time travel, a mystic land in an alternate universe, aworld beyond the stars and your imagination. But sometimes, that story could bea lot simpler, a kind of story that you’ve seen many a time before, but not inthis particular way. Ladies, gentlemenand others, my nameis Arkada and welcome to Glass Reflection. Today, I'm talking about aparticular journey that is very close to my heart. Today I am talking about Clannad, and ClannadAfter Story. Let’s Jam!

Story

Clannad is the finalthird in the Key/Kyoto Ani Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is a series of Key’s visualnovels that have been adapted into animation by Kyoto Animation. It consists of Air, Kanon 2006, and of course Clannad,all of which share a surprising number of similarities, including art styleswith eyes as big as their hands, character traits borderlining on thecompletely fantastical andnot entirelyrealistic from mystic curses to shape-shifting females, and they all have moments that will make yousad and depressed as f**k. So!

The story of Clannad specifically is not too much different from your typicalvisual novel. You have your main male protagonist, in this case Tomoya, whoover the course of the series becomes surrounded by a group of females, all with differenttraits, personalities, and well, problems. It becomes Tomoya’s job to become afigurative wizard and solve all the problems so that everyone is happy. Butthat’s a problem. As some of you may know, in visual novels, you have to makechoices. Thesechoices lead you down several paths, usually one for each major female, and youfollow these paths to reach the perfect happy ending with that specific girl.But in the visual novel,you can only focus on one girl at a time and then you have to restart from thebeginning. In the adaptation however, Tomoya can only have one girl by the end of it, so then thestories change to accommodate this fact. This changes romantic plotlines into ones where they just becomefriends, and this is fine depending on how much of the original story relied more on theromance or if there were other elements upon which it could focus. So sometimes it worked, other times notso much.

CharactersLet’s go in order of thearcs without spoiling too much, shall we? Starting off the list is Fuko. Fuko is a young girl obsessed with starfish. No I'm serious, she’sREALLY OBSESSED WITH STARFISH. But she is a girl on a mission, and that missionis to attempt to get as many people as possible to her sister’s wedding, as hersister used to be a teacher at her school and it would be great if a lot of thestudents and faculty were present to help celebrate the momentous occasion. SoFuko carves wooden starfish as invitations and hands them out to as many peopleas possible before the faithful day. One problem: as time passes, people seem to forget about Fuko and her starfish,like she was never there.Like she never existed.

Next up is Kotomi, anexceptionally quiet girl who has grades that far surpass her peers, although she is heavilylacking in social skills. She spends the majority of her days alone in thelibrary, and it isn't until Tomoya stumbles across her one day that she gets more socially active and Tomoyabecomes one of her first friends. But she has a past she wants to forget about,an event that changed her life from then on, one that she does not want toface.

We also have Tomoyo, afigurative ice queen, rumouredto have once been the leader of a gang outside of school, and her prowess infighting does nothing to dispute that. Although she seems like a complete andtotal ice queen,she is actually very kind-hearted,working towards the Noble goal of becoming student council president in orderto stop the demolition of the nearby sakura trees to which she has a personal attachment. Butunfortunately, she has a history that she cannot walk away from, one that mayend her plans before she even has a chance to enact them.

Then there are thetwins, Kyou and Ryou. Kyou is an overactive tsundere with a bad habit of unnecessarilycausing physical violence, usually to a hilarious degree. Her sister Ryouhappens to have a very obvious crush on our main protagonist Tomoya, but isunfortunately the extremely shy character of the series and does not know howto properly express her feelings, even though she is helped along by her sister,who may or may not also have feelings for him. Admittedly, neither of the twins geta proper arc in the series,almost to the point of being delegated to the supporting character role theentire time. Thankfullyshe, as well asTomoyo, happen toget their own bonus OVAepisode at the end of each season, in which the regular storyline is forgotten andTomoya becomes their boyfriend. It’s sort of a ‘what if’scenario to pad out what had to get cut from the visual novel in the mainstoryline, because in the main storyline we have the final female protagonist, Nagisa.

Though she does notlook or act like it, Nagisa is older than the rest and is repeating a grade, having a history ofpoor health that causes her to be absent from school for long periods of time,so much so that she becomes unable to graduate. But she lives on regardless and, with the help of Tomoya, she works on her goal ofrestarting the school’s drama club and putting on a performance for the yearlyschool festival. The show spends the most time on Nagisa out of all the femalecharacters, allowing her story to be the most fleshed out, and Nagisa herselfbecomes heavily involved with Tomoya in the other girls’ arcs to help give her a fair bit ofcharacter development, because they want you to get emotionally attached to her. The more attached youare, the worse ithurts when they hit you over the head with the metaphorical baseball bat lateron.

The supportingcharacters also deserve mention, from Nagisa’s parents, Fuko’s sister, and of course Tomoya’s best friend Sunohara, who spends the entireshow as the comic relief punching bag, making idiotic statements that get himheavily beat up for the amusement of all.

But when comparingClannad to Kyoto Ani’sprevious works such as Kanon, I have to admit that where the story and characters are concerned,I prefer Kanon in a lot of ways. However, there is one thing that Clannad has that makesit so much better.

After Story

One of the mainproblems that I have with most romantic anime is how far they are willing totake the story. When the romance is only a side-plot, you're lucky if the characters even get together, let alone do anythingtogether as a couple. Evenwhen the romance is a focal point, you might only get a kiss. Anything beyond that though? Yeah, not happening. Those shows spend toomuch time getting to firstbase in the character relationships that by the time they get there, the show is over. That’swhere Clannad becomes glorious.

Clannad After Story isquite literal in its title in that it takes place after the regular story. Mostof the main characters from the first season have graduated from high school, found jobs and goabout living their life, and it is the story of the trials and tribulations oflife beyond high school. That’s one of thereasons why I love it so much, because usually you don't see this sort ofcontinuation. Normallynothing exists beyond high school. Hell,even when you're dead,you go back to high school or the dead come to you, either or. So all thefemale characters of the original season are out of the way and Tomoya andNagisa can begin their lives together. They move in, Tomoya gets a job, they do other things, andeverything is fine and dandy.We also get the conclusion of the girl and robot plot, but that all helps tieinto the saddest second half of any anime ever. Well, so far anyways.

If you've watched Airand Kanon before,you should know by now that sadness in these shows is standard fare, although unlike Air andKanon who just hit you once with a big emotional baseball bat, After Storydoesn't seem to know when to stop hitting you, so much so that the only peoplewho can survive its emotional onslaught are those with the heart of a brick, orjust dead. Well, maybethat’s being a bit unfair.There are reasons as to why someone would not get emotionally attachedto this show.

Animation

The character designsfor Clannad are par for the course, considering the show’s genre as well as Kyoto Animation’shistory for heavily moe infectedcharacters. I would argue however that in terms of design, the characters areanother factor that I think Kanon did better. This is more so the fault in the originalcharacter designers for the visual novel and not anyone at Kyoto Ani, and I do realizethat there is only so much you can do with characters who are all supposed tobe wearing the same school outfits. But seriously, having three main characters with slightly different shades ofpurple hair? Come now, you can do better than that. In fact, you have. It’s called Kanon. WhereClannad does completely shine however is in the actual animation department. While for the majorityof the show the animation can be considered standard fare (though obviously withKyoto Animation’s usually high production value), interspliced with the regular story of Clannad is a second,almost side story involving a young girl and a small robot in a world withoutpeople. These sections themselves do eventually lead to a resolution that doesrelate to the main plot in the end, but it’s the animation of these particularscenes that far exceed that of the rest of the show, and I would argue that it is also some ofKyoto Ani’s best animation work to date. 

Sound

Like most Keyadaptations, or rather like all Key adaptations, the music for Clannad is done by Jun Maeda, the main writer forall Key visual novels as well as their main composer. As such, most of the tracks arejust reiterations of the original visual novel tunes, and while they do fit thescenes rather well,none of them really stand out.The exceptionsare of course theopenings, endings, and then my favourite song titled “The Girl’s Fantasy”, which is usually played during theaforementioned girl and robot scenes, and then near the end of the series insome of the more emotional scenes of the show, helping to perfectly encapsulatethe emotional rollercoaster that the show becomes.

Now the one problem Ihave sound-wise wouldbe, heh, the dub. Recall back to my thoughts on the Kanon dub, where I stated thatEnglish voice actors have a very hard time with moe characters, because theyjust don't sound right. While Air was somehow able to side-step that problemwith the help of Monica Rial and Luci Christian, Clannad has this issue coming rightback full tilt. Althoughthankfully, unlikeKanon, there aresome notable performances.Luci Christian andHillary Hagg as Nagisa and Fuko are examples of English moe done well. Beyond that though, everything is either hit or missdepending on your tastes. I would also like to point out other another problemI had dub-wise. Iknow I am not one who is very good at pronouncing Japanese names or words correctlymyself, and I have been told many a time, and I fully admit that, but when I spend whoknows how many hours of my life watching this show with a character calledNA-gi-sa, it really starts to get on my nerves when the dub refers to her asna-GEE-sa.  They are putting emphasis on the incorrectsyllable, and it’sfrustratingly annoying. So you can add this dub to a list of dubs from SentaiFilmworks that I just really do not care for, which so far is all of them. I'mblaming Steven Foster for this, but that’s just me. I find it hard to believe it’s the fault of the actors whenmost of them have done exceedingly well in other dubs. 

Final Verdict

There are some peoplewho would argue that the combination of Clannad and Clannad After Story createsthe greatest romantic drama that we have ever seen in an anime, and I'minclined to agree with them. It dabbles into a side of relationships that few, if any, other romance animedare to tread and does so with such a skill as to keep us invested even as thestory tries to rip our hearts out from our chests. It’s not perfection however. Early on, mainly in thefirst season, theplot has a hard time breaking away from its visual novel roots, placing focuson each femalecharacter while letting all of the others sit out of the spotlight, specificallywith our main female Nagisa stuck in her supporting character role for themajority of that season, regardless of the fact that she is the leading lady.Aspects of the character designs can be a bit much for some people, and if youexpect and/or wanta story that’s entirely based in reality without any supernatural orfantastical elements,then you are not really going to enjoy this show to its full potential. That being said, if you makeit through the first season with no problems, then you should find After Storyto be quite exceptional. Justbring a tissue box with you when you watch it and know that everything is going to be alright. You will make itthrough it. The ending may not be what you hope it to be. I know some who are right turned off byit. Thoughconsidering many aspectsof the original ending rely on the mechanics of visual novels, that’s not surprising.It’s not going to be clean cut, but to me, it was satisfying, so much so thatthe ending of Clannadwas the very ending that helped me to solidify my belief that the ending of anyshow is paramount. Hopefully you will agree.

With all that said however, I have meticulouslycalculated values for the categories of story, characters, animation, sound,and my own personal enjoyment, after which locking it into an endless time loopwith the purpose of gathering happiness from all the various could-have-been’s leaves me awardingClannad and Clannad After Story a combined score of 9.44 out a ten, and ratingthis series certified frosty,a rating for only the best of the best and those shows too important toignore. At the time of this video, Clannad is not available for legal streaming, however it hasbeen licensed by and is available from Sentai Filmworks. Though I will admit,their particular release of the series has not been, shall we say, of the best quality.But the show is worth having and supporting the creators is always the bestoption, even if you end up using fansubs when you actually watch it. Foralternate anime recommendations, besides the obvious other Holy Trinity titles Air andKanon 2006, I also recommend theromantic dramas Toradora and EF Tale of Memories, both of which have their moments ofemotional torment and also stand as some of the best in the genre.

With that, I leaveyou, Until next time, ladies, gentlemen, and others, Stay Frosty.

shanel.keebler - 2013-04-02 01:42:21

Don't get me wrong. I love Clannad After Story. However, the original Clannad series (and approximately the first half of After Story) is not that great. The problem with the series is that it is based off a visual novel, and feels the need to retread all the story arcs from the game. This leaves viewers with some unenjoyable side stories, and a lot of filler. I personally feel that Tomoya and Nagisa's story is the heart of the Clannad franchise, and this series spends too much time focusing out relationships that don't really go anywhere. If you want to really enjoy After Story, it is necessary to slog through this first series. Is it worth it? I would say yes. However, it wouldn't surprise me if this series turned away some viewers before the greatness of the second half of the second season.

There are some positives. The music is lovely and the animation is quite nice to look at. The English dub is pleasant enough, and Luci Christian and David Matranga make a fine Nagisa and Tomoya respectively. However, great technical elements can't make up for a clunky story that could have used a good deal of trimming.

leuschke.leta - 2013-03-20 11:12:57

Based off of a visual novel made by Key, Clannad is a fantastic adaptation of its source material. Clannad follows its delinquent protagonist Tomoya Okazaki through his senior year of high school and his attempts to help out the various heroines of the story. The anime's storyline comprises mostly of his interactions with the main heroine Nagisa Furukawa, who tends to act shy in most situations and suffers from a mysterious illness. As the main story arc progresses it does so slowly and it tends to act as more of a background plot in between a series of small arcs which focus on telling a story about each of the main characters. Characters in Clannad have a fair bit of personality and it is very enjoyable to see how they interact with one another as the plot progresses, and I more than once found my self either laughing or on the verge of tears depending on the situation. While it's hard to find any major faults with Clannad its repeated divergences from the main plot and its abundance of sad moments some of which can be over the top or unnecessarily dramatic may be a turn off for some. Kyoto Animations has done an excellent job on the animation of Clannad and by far probably has some of the best visuals in any anime I've ever seen. They put a lot of emphasis on lighting and shadows which makes it quite visually appealing to the eyes and makes it easy to immerse yourself into the story. For the soundtrack of Clannad they reused a lot of the sounds and music from the visual novel that the anime is based off of. The soundtrack fits very well with the overall tone of the anime with only a couple instances where I felt that the music didn't really fit the scene or could've been used better. Overall Clannad is a very enjoyable anime with plenty of funny as well as sad moments that will leave you wanting more in the end.

I also highly recommend the watching of its sequel Clannad:After Story which is a little bit more serious than Clannad but improves on the original in almost every way. 

stark.madge - 2013-03-19 00:40:34

Recommendation: Clannad is not your typical slice of life anime. It boasts in a quality plot with an emphasis on the relationships between the characters. This never felt like a harem and has little to no fan service. There are many hilarious moments but equally as many tragic moments. A tissue box is also recommended. If you want a straight up slice of life that seems real, relatable and mature, this is for you. If you want a go happy on rails anime, this isn’t your best choice but I’m not stopping you.Clannad’s premise tells the tale of Tomoya Okazaki, a 3rd year student at Hikarizaka Private High School. Despite being at the school for three years, he hasn’t befriended much people and has earner the title of a delinquent, being late many times and skipping classes. His only friend is Youhei Sunohara, a fellow delinquent and class clown. One day on the way to school Tomoya met a girl (Nagisa Furukawa) at the bottom of the hill; speaking about how happy moments don’t last. Whether this is a destined meeting or not, Tomoya’s life is about to change. A new transfer student aiming to become student president, a silent girl hidden amongst knowledge, a weird cherry girl with a starfish, and more embracing friendships with his current friends. Clannad primarily focuses of Tomoya’s interactions with his friend, their relationship with him and his personal growth.One of the biggest strengths of the anime is its ability to tell a story, and boy what a story. The over-arching plot follows Tomoya and Nagisa’s attempt to act out a play. The plot focuses on Tomoya’s evolving relationship with Nagisa, and also on the other relationships between him and the other characters. The plot itself is very consistent with barley any plot holes and only minor problems with pacing. The story plays with emotions constantly and becomes a rollercoaster of emotions. This is the typical method Key adopts to keep players interested in the game and characters. The moment you meet a character it becomes light hearted and humorous then the next moment it gets serious and sometimes tragic. For the most part the anime keeps its humorous aspect and sometimes you question how after some heavy plot twist and you are still able to laugh off to some stupid action by Youhei. It somehow manages to still give you a laugh throughout the entire series it is the experiences that are shared between the characters that build on upon the plot and the overall theme. One of the biggest differences from previous Key adaptations is that Clannad is a much more mature story with more mature and complex characters. The tragedies that unfold are indeed mature, and for that I think it is a much better plot. The mature themes further develop a much deeper story and this too creates a more relatable experience and a highlighted personal response. It does at times get inspirational since many of these problems are relatable. I guess since it tackles more mature themes, such as death and self-blame, it becomes a much better anime for it. It’s just that there is so much that makes the characters human and the interactions between them much more interesting and real.The anime is split up into multiple arcs, which primarily focuses on one specific character. The arc builds up the characters, indulging in the backstory of the character and their evolving relationship with Tomoya. There have been a few consistencies with the arc lengths, some only lasting a measly few episodes and one lasting about seven. Of course pacing should be an issue when adapting a visual novel, since there is so much to cover within a limited frame, but Kyoto Animation- Kyoani for short- has done a good job trying to pace well. Though there are those small issues with the arc lengths, since the shorter arcs mean less development for that character and their importance to the overall plot may seem misplaced. The anime may have a somewhat slower start in its first arc but it is just as effective as the other arcs. Each arc places much empathises on each of the main characters whom play a big role in the overall plot of helping Nagisa in performing her play. With the relationships being so important, having distinct and interesting character is a must need. Character development is one of the story’s most important aspects. Thankfully, all the characters are unique and have characteristics of all shapes and sizes. Tomoya himself is not the usual delinquent, usually speaks in a somewhat sarcastic tone to make a mockery of others for his own benefit. His daily monologues are enjoyable and bring out a witty and hilarious tone to the serious. Despite all this, Tomoya still acts in a very mature way and still has well intentions to try and help people, but usually in his own way. This all contrasts with Nagisa’s personality, which is as pure as it can be. She in fact loves the dango daikazoku (big dumpling family) which aired in the past as a happy and cute family. She likes to hold old fashion values such as the strong relationship between the family members, which leads ultimately to happiness. She is usually seen as a weak minded person, usually being gullible to Tomoya’s antics and ploys. But, there are many times throughout the series that shows her personality growing as she eventually gets closer to Tomoya. But as with Tomoya, she likes to help others, but usually right until the end in a more moral and understanding nature. This contrast between the two characters creates some interesting chemistry and plentiful interesting situations. Not only is their relationship important, but it affects both of them in major ways. Well get to see Tomoya grow from an ignorant child who cares for himself towards a more grown and mature person, all thanks to Nagisa. Their relationship affects each other quite a lot over time, showing their growth is something we all like to see and believe. All the other characters are just memorable, and to say so myself, quite attractive. Not in the sense of physical beauty, but their personalities are attractive. Well, I guess their looks are also attractive. The cast is filled with many personalities; from a cute small girl with a starfish that is arrogant to a cool and calm girl, with womanly qualities and is strong both physically and mentally. It really helps when we learn much about their backstory during their specific arc. Since it was adapted from a visual novel, where possibly every girl you meet can become a potential partner, each character in the anime would go so well with Tomoya. Since the story is told from his view, we get to know what he thinks, what he feels and essentially live as he does. I will not go into further detail with the characters but they are so relatable, which makes us get somewhat emotional. It would be wrong if you didn’t finish the anime without a new favourite character. Whether it’s the lovable Fuko, cool and calm Tomoyo, smart and shy Kotomi, the ever so tsundere Kyou or the imouto Mei. Nagisa’s parents too, get a mention since they are so kind and rather cool. Sanae Furukawa, the mother, is an innocent mother who bakes bread for their business and usually runs away crying due to her bread skills being rather bad. Though, she is super supportive for Nagisa and Tomoya’s relationship. Akio Furukawa is father everyone wants. He is funny, cool and overall awesome. But his most highlighting trait is being a father. He does get serious when protecting his daughter and takes extreme measures to make sure she is happy. From hiding skeletons in the closet (figuratively) to openly supporting her in the time of need, Akio is one great and loving father.A major emphasis of the plot is placed on relationships, and this focus of building relationships allows us to connect and relate to the characters, to feel what they feel and mimic what they do. The main relationship is between Nagisa and Tomoya, and through that we can see and understand their past experiences through their interactions. Many past experiences are rather tragic but in time have a content outcome with the help of Tomoya and Nagisa. Another relationship that is profound and relative is between Tomoya and his father. This is quite a common relationship in the real world, a distant relationship where they won’t even acknowledge each other despite living in the same house. Of course, this affected the both of them in many ways but as I said before this is common in the real world. Tomoya and Youhei have a friendly relationship between each other but Tomoya usually takes the mickey out of Youhei just for fun. With the other main girls, the relationship is at its peak tension during their arcs, since it is primarily focused between Tomoya and that character. But due to the nature that the anime must follow one route, the romance between those characters and Tomoya is never explored. Nor does it need to, since there is a sense of relief and completion to know that their troubles have been solved. Previous Key adaptations by Kyoani have been done in a somewhat immature way, when compared to this, and the relationship factor isn’t as strong. It also doesn’t help how many magical elements play a major role in their story. Not to say that there isn’t any magic at work in Clannad, since the Illusionary World is a prominent reoccurring idea. This Illusionary World appears every now and again and features a small robot and a little girl (the only human) living in a sad world. This is the play that Nagisa acts out in the end. How she knows the story of the Illusionary World is a mystery, and so is the Illusionary World itself. Not much is revealed about this world and how it ties into the story, but it’s there… I guess. It is a somewhat desolate place that adds another tragic theme to the story. Of course if you do want answers, watching the next series Clannad After Story is what you want. Kyoto Animation have been known for some top notch animation. Nothing that can be defined as the best, but they have done some really solid visual representations. Though, all the character designs are based on the visual novel they are done very well and with good taste too. The characters have distinct features that differentiate themselves from each other, and this is before the big moe character explosion. Fan service is pretty much non-existence since it serves no purpose (like it ever did) especially in this relationship based anime. The usage of colours is apparent throughout the series; even in the beginning of the first episode a large colour contrast between Tomoya’s inner monologue about his hatred towards the town, and his first interaction with Nagisa. The screen goes from a monochrome purple to flashes of bright colours where they’re surrounded by Sakura trees. The entire anime likes to show sakura trees in general. So, colour plays an important part in the story and also in the Illusionary World where things seem desolate and dull. The backgrounds are all done well and the animation seems rather smooth and fluid.The original visual novel doesn’t have any voice acting so finding the right voice actors/seiyuus is vital to express the correct emotions and gestures. Kyoani has done a magnificent job in finding the correct people and the voices are all done with full effect. The entire cast does a great effort and may even give shivers in the right situation. The cast contains some pretty well known seiyuus such as Mai Nakahara (Working!) and Yuuichi Nakamura (Ore no Imouto). They all convey their characters effectively and have no annoying voices that pierce your back.One of Key’s biggest strength in their visual novels is their music. Composed by Jun Maeda, all composed tracks and songs are so brilliantly well done. The anime takes all the tracks from the visual novel’s soundtrack and apply them wonderfully in scenes. From the simple yet elegant tune of Nagisa’s theme to the sorrow and complex theme of the Illusionary World; Illusions, it is without a doubt that the music further enhances the emotive scenes throughout the series, playing at the right time complementing the scene’s portrayal. The songs are well memorable and so are the scenes that play with them. Even when searching through YouTube for a particular track, all the memories, the actions and emotions come rushing back. That is the effect the music has on you, it is just that amazing. Most of the soundtrack is composed of melodies only, and is usually played on the piano but some of the more complex pieces are more orchestral in a sense. To me, the opening credits of the anime aren’t anything too spectacular. I guess I get turned off by the song but the video itself is well done and has some foreshadowing. The opening isn’t too memorable, but what is, is the ending credits. Dango Daikazoku. This song follows the Nagisa theme and has a vocal track over it. It is deemed as the official song of the anime, since in the background are the cute Dango dumplings hopping around. The ending may seem so innocent and cute, with a very catchy rhythm and rather cute lyrics, but since many tragic scenes are played towards the end of episodes (as cliffhangers); the song recalls all those sad moments and essentially the entire experience of watching Clannad for the first time. The ending song now will recall all the memories once you finish, that simple tune will give you shivers and all these feels.Clannad isn’t your typical slice of life anime. It focuses on what is important in any good media, plot. The character development and the relationships are done very well that not only do they grow on you and you grow on them… somehow. The plot may have some arc length issues and maybe a couple pacing problems but the overall plot package is so well done that negligible damage is dealt. The anime visually looks pleasing, as most Kyoani anime production do. The anime has some of the best tracks around, all thanks to Jun Maeda’s wonderful composing abilities. The songs are unforgettable and show a ton of emotions that is experienced throughout the series. You get very attached to the characters and it is sad to see them go once you finish the anime. But then again, there is Clannad After Story.Verdict: Clannad is an amazing piece of anime, with some amazing characters, character development, mature themes and an outstanding soundtrack. There are a couple minor issues with the arc pacing but is just very minor. This anime is for anyone who wants to have a wild emotive ride, that resonates with real life and see how inspirational and emotional you can get. Slice of life fans will indeed enjoy this, and I do recommend any otaku to watch this. If you want this review summed up horribly into a scoring system (which I don’t like)9/10