Okay, so I feel a bit behind in my reviews. I blame my laptop. I’m back on top this time with a review of all of ~After Story~. I’m taking in to consideration episodes 1-22, as they are the episodes which have the main story. This review is completely spoiler free. I’m also going to assume you know what ~After Story~ is about. ~After Story~ has a rather slow beginning with some mildly interesting story arcs. It all serves a purpose in the grand scheme of things because everything that happens builds up to something later in the story. The first episode re-introduces us to the characters and quirks we know them for. Each and every character is interesting in their own rights, with some characters being more interesting than others. None of the characters are quite as interesting as our main character Tomoya, who is by far one of the most interesting male leads I have seen in most anime shows to this date. He grows up and proves he’s not some blank slate by making decisions for himself and helping the other members of the cast when the time arises. He has limits just like everyone else, and he stretches to his to show his loved ones he truly cares. Quite beautiful really. The story builds up satisfyingly although as mentioned the beginning is a little slow. The story arcs that come before the main event captured my attention with varying degrees of success.What I mean is that some stories were more interesting to me than others, but I was never really bored of a particular story. Things move smoothly enough so that we’re never messing around long with stuff that doesn’t matter. The show possess a little bit of the supernatural, and you’ll see what I mean as you progress further on in the show. However it is far from ridiculous and my suspension of disbelief is never broken. It gives the show a bit of that “Romantic mystery” feel. At least that’s how I feel. The animation and feel to each scene is done very nicely. Kyoto Animation is no slouch when it comes pretty backgrounds and animation. Lighting hits each scene nicely and animation is pleasant and appealing to the eyes. I like the character designs and the subtle changes that happen as time progresses. Very nice. Don’t be put off by the “moe-ish” character designs. I know some people don’t like that kind of thing. I know character designs can be off putting for some people, but I guarantee you can get used to it in no time. The music is slightly generic yet still likable. I’ve heard people say it’s very midi-ish…meaning that it doesn’t sound like they are using real instruments in the music. I can kind of understand this because it seems most of the music comes straight from the visual novel which most of the time they don’t bother you assemble a full band together to actually perform these songs for them. The music is still appealing and comes in at all the right parts. The swelling parts in the music causes emotions to swell inside of me so…yeah. To summarize, this is a excellent sequel to the original Clannad. I think I even like this sequel more than I like the original. It’s hard for me to say though…both are very good. If you watched the original and haven’t started this yet I recommend getting on to it right away. I give ~After Story~ a 9 out of 10. A great show in the midst of all this crap that seems to be swallowing the anime world these days.
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