Clannad The After Story

~Frentzen

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:15:40 -0500

I don't think there's ever going to be a show that will replace Clannad for me, and I doubt that I want one to. I love the Characters, in fact there was not one character that I disliked during the course of these nearly 50 episodes. That's saying something to me. I love the plot, it was well thought out and nearly every episode has at least one beautiful moment. And I love the Romance between Tomoya and Nagisa, one of the most believable couples I've ever seen. And they didn't even have to kiss onscreen. Ushio was a fantastic character too.

The ending I did not like so much though. I know that I am being bias here especially after praising it in the first paragraph. However, I did take a lot of consideration for the series as a whole. The continuous dramatic episodes especially after episode 16 is simply wonderful. I got carried over immensely. That's what makes this show beautiful. I am impressed on how they portrayed the dramatic events happened to the protagonist. You can say that I'm moved.

Therefore, I gave this show a perfect score of 10. I disregarded the ending part which made this show to go downhill for me. The bad ending too was even worse. They should have ended it with both of them alive. Anyway, it's all the matter of personal preference. Nevertheless, this show will be remembered. I enjoyed this series as a whole. I was about to give this a score of 8 when I watched the final episode. However, since the series itself is powerful enough to move people's hearts, I still gave this series a perfect score! I'm sure this will be a series I'll watch again and again. I loved every minute of it.

~Kasaru

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:23:41 -0400

silvermoon8573
episode 18 is one of the best episodes i have ever watched. i definitely shed many tears. the weird thing was that i was still able to cry even when rewatching. that generally doesn't happen and just proves how emotional episode 18 is. ushio is the most adorable child i have ever seen in anime. i'm looking forward to future episodes.

Tomoya: NAGISA!!!
I actually find most anime educational in some way. Like Death Note.

$gloomfox

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:57:37 -0400

scrutator

You know, I was really excited about this when I first heard and now after watching the first two episodes... I'm not so sure anymore. When I initially heard there was going to be an after story my thought was that they would show how Nagisa & Tomoya live their lives together after finishing school and such. I guess it's okay as it because it's another full season but I hope towards the ending of the series, they will show the real after story. I guess I'll just to watch some rather slightly humorous and some what interesting characters live their school lives again...sighs. Seriously though, I hope this show doesn't suck as it goes on.

It is one of those type of shows where you have to watch some before it really starts to hook you. I actually liked After Story more then the first season, there are many points in After Story where they are talking about profoundly deep ideas that many people never ask themselves until the day they are forced to confront it. The only negative thing I could say is the very last episode is just a rehash of events and there is really no need for it.

This is a rare anime where you may actually learn something about yourself or the world watching it.

~mayflowers

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:27:23 -0400

When I first heard of Clannad, I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to what it was, nor did I really care. It was pretty much just "some series done by KyoAni", which did sound kinda interesting, seeing how I had enjoyed both Haruhi and Lucky Star. Later on, a friend of mine mentioned that she was watching the series, although she actually thought it was really freaking boring, and she only kept watching because... I dunno. Anyway, I also heard a lot of other people saying how good it was, and around that time, I also started getting into visual novel-adaptions, so I eventually decided to check it out anyway, at pretty much the exact same time as the first season ended. My first impressions were pretty good. Not the "this will end up becoming my all-time favourite series in a year from now"-type, but I still enjoyed what I saw, and found it to be both funny and really emotional. I ended up going through the entire first season in about 3 days.

When it comes to said first season, I'd say it was at its best in the Fuko-arc, which, despite being the least realistic part of the story, still somehow seemed a lot more "believable" than the rest. Plus, the last episode of her arc was nothing short of a masterpiece.
After that, there's Kotomi's arc, which was, quite frankly, not as good. Mostly because they seemed to be going for a more realistic approach, but the entire story just seemed kinda poorly written. For starters, if that old man wanted to talk to her, couldn't he have tried to approach her in a way that didn't make him seem like a creepy stalker? And then there's the whole thing with the suitcase... Did they honestly expect me to just accept the fact that that thing was handed around the entire world and somehow made it back to Kotomi? Besides, if her parents had the time to write that message, why not write a clearer message, like "please send this to Kotomi Ichinose" or something like that? I dunno. But despite that, it wasn't a BAD arc, but it was probably my least favourite part of the first series.
Then you get the next arc, which is kinda hard to define as a single character's story, seeing how Tomoyo, Kyou and Nagisa were kinda all in the focus at the same time. But seeing how Tomoyo and Kyou's arcs in the game were, it makes sense that they'd do it like that. This part was more light-hearted than the rest in my opinion, but it was still good, and while the ending was somewhat cheezy, it still worked. There's not really a whole lot more to say, though, as honestly, I can't quite remember all the details of how everything happened in the anime at this point...

Anyway, by this point, I was completely hooked, and while awaiting the start of After Story, I also checked out Kanon (which I liked even more than Clannad) and Air (which was also great, though not quite as great as Clannad and Kanon.) I also ended up being spoiled on more or less everything that would happen in After Story, which I really wish I could have avoided, but somehow, this ALWAYS seems to happen in just about everything I watch...

So by the time After Story actually started, I was already completely aware that Tomoya and Nagisa would get married, have a kid, that Nagisa would die, that Tomoya would end up becoming just like his father and so on and so on. On the other hand, I didn't know how the story would end at that point, seeing how I wasn't entirely sure how the "Insane freaking tragedy"-ending actually, y'know... ended, and of course, they couldn't use the "True end" as that would completely contradict the other one... Then around came After Story episode 8, at which point I pretty much figured out what they would do, and I'll just put it straight: I initially hated the idea of doing a "magical resurrection", as I thought it would ruin the entire story.

As for how After Story started... at first, I wasn't very impressed, really. I mean, it was enjoyable and all, but the side-character arcs just weren't as good as the stories told in the first season. At that point, I didn't think After Story would be as good as Kanon, the first season, or even Air, although I did consider the possibility that it would get better once they got back to the main storyline...

...And boy, did it ever! Starting from episode 9, the series just got better and better for almost every passing episode, and I think I gave like, half the episodes a 10/10-rating here. (Let's see... Episode 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22... so 9 episodes.) Somehow, each of those "10/10"-episodes also managed to be even better than the last, at least until episode 18, which I considered the best episode in the series.
Also, Nagisa's death was probably the saddest scene I'd ever seen in any series, despite the fact that I more or less knew that she'd be alive again at the end of the series. But like I said, it was episode 18 that was the highlight for me, so the one scene that managed to be even more emotional than Nagisa's death was when Tomoya finally stopped dwelling on that, and decided to start treating Ushio like his own daughter after having neglected her completely for the last five years. God, that scene was beautiful. It was also at that point that I realised that, despite its rather slow start, this was quite simply the best series I'd ever seen... Although by episode 21, I was starting to reconsider that. Basically, if the ending played out the way I had imagined it, (Nagisa is revived and they live happily ever after) the series MIGHT stay on top depending on how they do it. If the story ends tragically... No way. I'd probably hate it for it.
Then around came episode 22, which was just everything I could have hoped for it to be. They did the happy ending, and at least in my opinion, they managed to make it believable. I saw a lot of people complaining about how it didn't make sense, but seeing how it all fit with my theory of what would happen quite perfectly, I understood it just fine. And the musical montage at the end, with Chiisana Tenohira playing in the background, was just perfect.

So, with that out of the way, there's also the music... Mag Mell was honestly just an average song at best, but it fit the series, so no complaints there. Dango Daikazoku was... weird. When I first heard it, I actually didn't like it at all, and all throughout the first season and until the start of After Story, I still didn't particularly care for it... Then along came After Story with it's super-happy ending-theme that just kept ruining the moment at the end of practically every single episode, at which point I suddenly realised that Dango Daikazoku was about a million times better than that, and what's more, it was actually an excellent song. So basically, I only started liking Dango Daikazoku because of another song...
Then there's the After Story opening, Toki wo Kizamu Uta, and I just can't express just how amazing I thought that song was. It fit the mood of the series perfectly, had a really catchy tune, great vocals, and the visuals were just gorgeous. It might just be my favourite opening ever.
The background music in the series was also quite outstanding, especially "Shining in the Sky", which was prominently featured at the end of Fuko's arc, "Distant Years", which was played at Nagisa's graduation-scene, and "The Place Where Wishes Come True II", which played at the end of After Story episode 18. While most of the music in the series was very good, those were the tracks that I felt stood out the most. The insert-songs were also generally good, except that the horribly broken english in "Ana" never stopped bothering me, and I was actually relieved to see that the song wasn't subtitled on the DVD, and "Kaze no Shoujo" wasn't anything too impressive. (Heh, the two insert-songs I liked the least both played in the same episode, and that episode was one of my favourite episodes in the entire series...) The other songs ranged from decent to excellent, and Chiisana Tenohira was just outstanding. All in all, Clannad had one of the most beautiful soundtracks I've heard. Jun Maeda, Magome Togoshi... Great job. (Shinji Orito was left out of this because his contributions weren't anywhere near as good.)

Character-wise... Fuko was the epitome of ultimate awesomeness, Nagisa was one of the most lovable characters ever, Tomoya was amazingly well-developed, and... the others... were also pretty good characters... Not much more to say about that, really. STARFISH RULES!

Animation... KyoAni. Enough said.

Adaption from the game, I can't say too much about that, as I haven't finished it yet, but with the exception of Yukine's arc, they've been more or less completely faithful to the source, with the only significant changes being made to make everything fit into one single timeline, and I'd say most of the changes were for the better. I don't quite get why they decided to leave out Kappei, though... Meh, I guess they just cut his arc out for time or something, and come to think of it, it's probably just as well, as my biggest complaint with the After Story was that the secondary character-arcs lasted too long.

So, at the end of this insanely long post, what is my conclusion? In short, Clannad is now my all-time favourite show. It's got some of the best humor I've seen, great characters, fantastic music, and no other series ever made me want to cry as much as this one. Key and KyoAni truly did create a masterpiece here, and I can't wait for their next series.

Total rating: 9.5/10

~moemio1030

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:04:14 -0400

Good Show. it's really touchy and messes with your emotions.

I swear After Story punched me in the stomach like 5 times from being so I dunno...

I couldn't really describe it too well with words how i felt from watching the show and the events that happen.

every episode felt like everything you know is a lie : |

The show succeeds in giving you something to stay interested in and giving you surprise twists.

~scar89

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:28:36 -0400

One of the best anime if´ve ever seen! pure drama till the end!

~sf741852963

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:49:52 -0400

So moving...
Clannad After Story is so good....

~scrutator

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:36:37 -0400

You know, I was really excited about this when I first heard and now after watching the first two episodes... I'm not so sure anymore. When I initially heard there was going to be an after story my thought was that they would show how Nagisa & Tomoya live their lives together after finishing school and such. I guess it's okay as it because it's another full season but I hope towards the ending of the series, they will show the real after story. I guess I'll just to watch some rather slightly humorous and some what interesting characters live their school lives again...sighs. Seriously though, I hope this show doesn't suck as it goes on.

~HyuugaMikan

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:21:44 -0400

Yay~!! XDD

~studmuffin176

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:20:50 -0400

SO I just finished watching this series the whole thing clannad and the after series all in like a week. and I have never been so mad. I loved the series and for those of you who have finished the after story know why it could make you mad. Even though I kind of saw it coming I was still really mad about it but the ending was pretty good and I ended you happy.

~Shazza

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:11:23 -0400

Looks like we have a new winner for my #1 in myanimelist. :) Best series so far. I'm compelled to watch Air and Kanon because of it. Very emotional and touching series. I'm glad I chose to watch it.

$gloomfox

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 03:55:30 -0400

I have just got into this series and I am amazed on how well everything is done. The comedy is wonderful, the drama is very well developed and realistic. Every character grows on you as time continues, and you learn more about them.

I haven't played the game yet but plan to after watching the series. It is so well done I find it hard to believe the game is going to be able to stack up to what the show provided.

By the way...Kotomi is my favorite character in the series

~Avegaille

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:32:50 -0400

It's been a while since I last saw anything CLANNAD... I should reconsider watching this since well... it's already finished and it's shorter than the first one... XD

~bluelion

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:43:06 -0400

I am happy the boy and the girl find the happniess at last.

~algaesia

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:48:10 -0400

This not really in topic, but does anyone know the names of the background music used in the series? O_O Is there a cd or something... cos the tracks that were used are really good :D

~edshin95

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:56:53 -0400

I just finished watching this series, and it's absolutely amazing!
I hope the translations for the visual novel Clannad and Tomoyo After get finished soon!