Clannad

I have never been so moved by another film, TV series or animation in my entire life as I have been with 'Clannad'.

Prior to watching this, I had seen 'Air' which is another made by the same company. 'Air' was the first thing that had ever brought a tear to my eye, I considered myself as emotional as a stone wall when it came to watching things like films and TV series because I couldn't connect with the characters but for some reason I cannot explain, I was simply captivated by 'Air' whether it was the animation, the voices, or the story, it was incredible.

I truly believed I would never experience something greater... and then I watched 'Clannad'. Clannad is split into two parts (Series), the first revolves around Tomoya Okazaki helping Nagisa Furukawa re-establish the theatre club and as a result become better socially as they meet characters along the way, I won't divulge any further about what happens in the second part because it all builds up from the very start.

Prepare your heart for an intense emotional roller-coaster that never stops until the very end. In a lot of series, you can often find episodes that are somewhat irrelevant or weaker compared to others. Fortunately this doesn't occur in 'Clannad'. Characters are explored in incredible depth, not just the main characters either, but all of the peripherals too.

The characters are simply unforgettable, the OST (Original Soundtrack) is incredible and fits seamlessly with the entire series but 'Clannad' strikes hardest with its beautiful and incredibly touching story. I shed so many tears while watching 'Clannad' and it felt like a truly cleansing experience.

While 'Clannad' would be the first Anime I recommend to someone, the story can be quite difficult to understand in its entirety due to the unconventional subplot that is often seen in Anime that prevents them from being immediately accessible and I don't wish anyone to have a tainted experience of it by not understanding it fully. However I believe anyone that has even a decent experience of watching Anime would be able to understand it fully and appreciate it for what it truly is. A masterpiece.

I'm an action junkie, I usually watch anime with lots of violence, actions, etc. I have lots of favorite anime like Black Lagoon, Space Battleship Yamato 2199, Soul Eater, etc. I decided to give this anime a watch one day. After the first episode, I got hooked. After I finished watching the entire series, both first and second seasons, I was crying like a baby...no joke. I stayed up till 4 am watching this anime. I have seen lots of great anime before, but Clannad and Clannad After Story is considered my number one favorite anime of all time. It's simply one of the greatest anime EVER! It's funny, it's serious, and especially sad. This show is guaranteed to make anyone cry. If not, that person has a heart cold as stones. It's one of those shows you have to watch before you die. And this anime will stick to you forever. I'm a Clannad Man! Clannad forever!!

I had only ever heard of stories about shows or movies that could actually change one's perspective or outlook on life and just brushed it off as "what a joke" but after watching this not only did I discover that not only is it possible for guys to cry but yes indeed there are shows/movies that can change one's perspective for the better and this is probably the best example I have ever seen because before this show I was so very deeply depressed to the point of both suicidal thoughts and contemplating self harm because when I thought of myself all I thought was that I was a monster that had done the most horrible and terrible of deeds but after watching this and seeing how much I related to the main character I realized I hadn't done anything else that other people had done in there lives and was actually a good, decent kind hearted human being and after having my "barrier" broke down I was finally able to tearfully apologize to my mother for all the things I had done with my Brother saying "it's okay I was just as bad as you were" and my mother just hugging me nicely just saying "shh it's okay it's over now" and Since then my life has been more positive and I try my very best to look at things from a positive perspective though yes I am negative sometimes but that's just the human condition and that can't be changed but at least now I don't have suicidal thoughts or contemplate self harm so I can say is Clannad after story guided through the darkness to the light that had to be seen by me so to end all I have to say is thanks for showing me the light and saving me from myself and showing me that I am a good person never again will I tread that dark path again Thank you thank you thank you. Truly the experience was life changing in the best ways possible. If anybody has the time and/or they're an anime fan just watch this you'll love every bit of it

This is a review of both 'Clannad' and 'Clannad Afterstory', if your wondering.

Story: Based on the visual novel of the same name, 'Clannad' tells the story of Tomoya Okazaki, a former basketball player who had been forced to quit his school team and all of basketball, and who's now going through life aimlessly. With him on this downward spiral is his 'friend' Sunohara, a former soccer player who had also been forced from his team, after he had attacked his coach; it's hard to tell what their relationship actually amounts to, though that'll be mentioned in a minute. Okazaki has to go up this hill to get to school; one day he meets this girl, who's standing along the path, who asks him if he'd go up it with her. This incident sparks a kind of chain-reaction. Okazaki develops a relationship with this mysteriously gentle Nagisa Furukawa, her family, others from his school and all of these girls who all, in normal harem fashion, fall in love with him.

Simple enough. Of course, the visual novel this is based after was developed by 'Key', and in true 'Key' fashion, the story doesn't end too happily, or begin happily, as a matter of fact. After a while, what little which has been established is fully revealed to us, like why Okazaki isn't playing basketball anymore or why Nagisa talks with him. It's not depressing. Sad maybe? It's ending isn't depressing either; it may even make you smile, while your crying manly tears (or maybe that's just me). That's not to say the story isn't fun either, in fact there's more of an emphasis on comedy than on romance, and for a harem, the humor's pretty smart. There are laugh-out-loud worthy scenes to be had, if your interested, and when I say Tomoya's living life aimlessly, I'm not saying he's moping. He's sad and depressed of course, but he manifests it by playing pranks on others; he mentally tortures Sunohara, in particular, and all with this sarcastic smile. Getting past that and going back to the romance and this whole emphasis on 'family', the whole production has this warm, genuine heart to it. Unlike with most other harem shows, this develops it's heroines (if only just enough) to all be likable instead of just setting up some caricatures to drool over. Okazaki himself defies how a male lead in a harem should be by not being a completely unlikable failure, and then comes when you try to decide the story's genre; there's romance and comedy, but then there's fantasy and tragedy thrown in, and then there's the drama-club plot that's been developing this whole time. It accumulates back to this being a very comfortable/nice show (in tone and story and it's production-style) to watch, which ought to get you emotionally involved, if only a little.

Production: The music score sounds like something from a visual novel (no shock there). The opening looks like something from one as well (maybe it's the same opening as the game's; I don't know). This was produced by Kyoto animation in between making 'Lucky Star' and 'K-ON!', and it shows; it tries looking like the visual novel and that works, and the actual animation is very fluent, like everything after Lucky Star, though not so much as K-ON!'s.

Conclusion: A sometimes visually breath-taking show with simple but engaging intertwining stories and characters, who could've been forgettable but who are handled by obviously talented writers (I mean, it was written by Key, the people who did 'Air', would did you expect?).

Wow....What an experience, I have just started watching anime, You know that weird interest that people are into, the one where people would make fun of you and say it's weird or stupid.To those people I can say... Watch this anime and look me in the face after that. Because this is an amazing series and one genre that i am not into being a guy and all. The story is really well told and written, The characters are lovable with interesting amounts of depth and character development Like the main character who goes from hating his father and being a little childish to a full grown up who ends up respecting his father. The relationships with every character feels real and the way they react to one and another makes it even more interesting to watch. The soundtrack is powerful as well and fits every scene rather nicely. The animation is nice looking and the voice acting in the Japanese audio is great to. The comedy and drama is well done and it made me smile, cry, and gave me a whole range of emotions I had never had in any form of entertainment. This is one of the many reasons why I would love to visit japan one day. Because even tho they have made some crappy stuff(like every country) The staff they do put out like this is even more beautiful then American content IMO Because I tend to have tighter connection to the characters.Overall this anime is emotional, funny, powerful, memorable, lovable, and will stay with you to the day you die.