I ended up watching Clannad during the school year, obsessively instead of, you know, doing my homework. Whenever the next day rolled around I would spend a good 90% of my P.E. class raving to a friend about the episodes I'd watched.
The Basics
Episodes: 23Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, School, Slice of Life, SupernaturalAired: October 4, 2007 to March 27, 2008Directed by: Tatsuya IshiharaProducers: Kyoto Animation, Pony CanyonOpening Theme: Megumeru ~Cuckool Mix 2007~ by EufoniusClosing Theme: Dango Daikazoku by Chata
The Review
The Story: Tomoya Okazaki is in his senior year of high school, with no plans to go much of anywhere in his life. As he is walking to school one morning he meets Nagisa Furukawa, a girl who should have graduated the previous year; she is repeating, however, because she is sickly and missed too many days of school. The two become friends as he helps her to restart the drama club, something she very much wants to do.
As mentioned in my review of Kanon from a few days ago, this series also revolves around a single male lead and his interactions with the girls around him. But unlike Yuuichi, Tomoya hasn't forgotten a million different girls. Instead he's either known them for awhile, or he's just meeting them (with one exception—there is one memory failure involved with this series).
Of the stories Key has given us, Clannad is probably the most heart-warming. It does have its depressing moments, but in comparison to Kanon and Air, this is as upbeat as they come.
The Characters: Most of the time in series where there is one boy surrounded by a number of girls, most of whom either openly want to date him or don't even realise they want to do so, I sit and wonder why they're so into him. With Tomoya, that thought never happened. He's seriously amazing. He looks down on himself as a slacker, but he goes to serious lengths for the girls in his life.
And the girls? Oh, they're completely lovable. I know someone out there disagrees with this (if you read this, you know who you are), but I think Nagisa is adorable and sweet and there's no better girl than her. Then there's the sister Ryou and Kyou Fujibayashi, both of whom are clearly into Tomoya, but one is trying to help the other go out with him. Not that they have a real arc. The other primary girls are Tomoyo Sakagami, someone with a very impressive goal and admirable reasoning, Kotomi Ichinose, a bookworm with a serious shell, and Fuko Ibuki, who is just...probably the most depressing yet cute thing I've ever seen in my life:
The other primary characters include Tomoya's best friend, who is awesome, but also something of a douche...just every once in awhile. Then there are Nagisa's parents, Sanae and Akio, who are the greatest parents in the history of parents. Especially Akio.
The Art: I'm sorry, it's Key, it's a miracle I didn't do this section for Kanon. Of all of the art I've ever seen from anime...sure, a lot of it's pretty, a lot of it is well-done and I enjoy looking at it, but Key has a very clear of understanding of the word gorgeous. The second time I watched Clannad I paid more attention to just staring than doing anything else.
Clannad is basically a springtime series, so the setting is always lush and green. The character designs are lovely and individual (though if you watch Clannad, Kanon and Air, yes there are characters who look basically identical with different hair colours, but they're so pretty that it's hard to mind). Key is just ingenious when it comes to art, I swear by it.
Conclusion?: If you're looking to watch something by Key, but you don't want to watch the sort of thing which turns into a blubbering mess for the next week of your life, Clannad is probably your best choice. It's got all of the beauty of their work, it's got the great storyline and great characters, but the amount of tears involved is kept to a minimum. Sure, it's still likely to make you cry a bit, but for the most part it actually manages to be pretty happy.
My rating: 10/10. The fact is, Clannad is my second favourite anime series of all time. It gave me the most perfect combination of laughing and crying, and the characters are some of my favourites, and there's not a thing I don't adore here.
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