Ranked #111

Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter

Sometimes fate determines who you are and who you should be with.

If there's one thing that Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter shows us is that there are moments in which we choose who we want to be and who we want to spend the rest of our lives with, even if every other cosmic element does not want it to be so.

Now, there are two ways you can look at this OAV. You can look at it as a possible alternate outcome for the Clannad series, or you can look at it as a stand-alone anime. The beauty about Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter is that it is not reliant on the history of the characters to make any bit of sense. In fact, forgetting that it is part of the Clannad franchise and looking at it individually will prove this OAV to be a rather bittersweet romance simply about a boy and about the girl he's in love with.

Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter follows Okazaki Tomoya, a delinquent, who is in a relationship with the student council president Sakagami Tomoyo. They are both drawn to one another and care deeply for one another. But of course, when you're in love, you tend to do rather stupid things. Or in Tomoya's case, he tries to do a rather selfless, mature thing. Realising that Tomoyo's position in society conflicts with society's perceptions of him, Tomoya decides to do something about it. And that something is probably one of the hardest things he has ever chosen to do. The storyline presents a romance about two people who handle their situation rather maturely. Yes, there is the internal emotional struggle and conflict, but when have we seen two people in love make rational decisions about their relationship? Hardly ever. And what makes it even more interesting is that they choose, they aren't forced. They could have both taken the easy way out, find some quick-fix solution, but what would something like that ever amount to?

The art has amazing production values. It looks beautiful and colourful. There is vibrancy within each frame. Sound as well was also pretty good. The seiyuu work was rather commendable, and the music for the most part goes well with the atmosphere of the entire OAV.

Tomoya and Tomoyo are two great characters as far as one-episode OAV goes. We of course know much more about them from the series, but I'll be looking at them from Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter's standpoint. Tomoya is a rather selfless person if you think about it. While his entirety screams that he should just stay with Tomoyo and just forget everybody else, he understands that things don't work that way in the world. He knows that, for her to succeed in life, he has to get out of the picture.

Tomoyo is seen as a rather together character who doesn't quite have it all together. She is the student council president, but she isn't just a reliable, strong, level-headed person as her position in society would detail her to be. She is vulnerable. She makes bad decisions. She acts rashly at times. Why? Well, have you ever been in love? The relationship between the two is rather electric. Tomoya and Tomoyo together just seem to work, even if nobody else in their world seems to think so.

What is there to say? Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter is romantic, bittersweet and thoughtful OAV. I thought it was great. The thought of Tomoyo and Tomoya together, well, I was not very receptive to the idea (Nagisa has a special place in my heart) until a few minutes rolled by in this OAV, and I was sold, mainly due to the believability of the two as a pair and their chemistry.

There are things in life that might be called fateful, but then there's also something called 'choice'. Tomoya and Tomoyo gladly choose what they want the most in Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter. read more

This one episode Clannad OVA is to me one that is filled with emotions. Aside from that, it manages to do three things to the Clannad series: One, it provides the romance that was mostly minimal in Clannad. Two, it provides the drama that gradually fell from the plot after Fuko and and Kotomi's arc. And three, it allows satisfaction to Tomoyo supporters, since not everyone was a Nagisa fan. Many people expected Clannad to be a series with significant romantic struggles and a high level of drama, but it instead turned into a slice-of-life comedy after the first one or two arcs. But with this OVA, many will finally find what they have been searching for.*

Story: 10/10

It should be first clarified that this is an alternative world to the Clannad series; it's not a continuation of Clannad. Although it is only one episode, it manages to drive the plot very well without pacing issues. Except for the first few minutes where I needed to "adjust" to the situation, I was never lost or confused. Some wanted this to be two or three episodes, but I must admit that I rather like the one episode presentation, mostly because I cannot see how this OVA could improve. The suspense was always there, just right, and dragging out the story might lessen the impact that the OVA had on me, and possibly for many others as well.

Story-wise, it was excellent, and I repeat: I am not a Tomoyo fanboy. The mood in the beginning was awkward at first because I just simply didn't expect what was happening, but the relationship that Tomoyo and Tomoya have until she was made president is very romantic without ever going over the top. The story then progresses to an internal struggle in both Tomoyo and Tomoya - the struggle betwen affection and ambition. As both strive for their similar goals, they realize how much of an influence they have on each other, even after they both said their good-byes. For some reason, I was very touched by this, and every scene portraying their internal struggle and external façade was completely believable. I felt as if I was one of the two, facing the exact same pain. This is to me a sign of excellent scripting and directing, and for that, the adaptation and story gets a ten from me. The episode succeeded brilliantly at conveying the message of how love cannot be simply replaced by something else because love cannot be easily sacrificed and forgotten.

Art: 9/10

I must admit that there were several noticeable inconsistencies about animation, which makes me think that Kyoto Animation did not try very hard animating this OVA. However, that's comparing the OVA to Kyoto Animation standards. To the casual viewer, this episode would be beautiful from Tomoyo's expressions, which is very unlike her usual "tough" expressions, to the scenery of the snow falling in the background. I don't want to over-criticize an episode served mostly as a promotion to remind us of Clannad for After Story, so I will give this category a solid nine.

Sound: 8/10

Well I wasn't really impressed by the score of this episode, but then again, I'm never really satisfied. An eight means that I most did not notice the background music due to it being not exceptionally engaging but also not bad enough to be annoying. But then, there's "Ana," the Engrish song at the end of the series which was very hard to listen to. To be honest, the melody of the song was perfect for the scene, but since English is my main language, I tried to comprehend the words of the song, which did not work very well. However, I will still give this category an eight because I will give this OVA the benefit of the doubt that a Japanese viewer would not be distracted by this song. It was really hard watching a serious scene while trying not to laugh at how bad the lyrics are.

Character: 10/10

As I mentioned before, not only was I absorbed into the episode, I felt the emotions of the characters. Tomoya and Tomoyo seemed to real, and everything was clicking into place - the background, the scenes, the dialogs. What I love best was how Youhei was handled. Even in such a serious episode as this, he still gave the viewers a few laughs like he did in the Clannad series, but not enough to distract from the mood. I think that the strongest aspect of the series is how the characters were portrayed.

Enjoyment: 10/10

If enjoyment means sitting through the episode feeling as if you have never even taken one breath, then yes, it was very enjoyable. Analysis aside, this is one of the few series that gave me a "wow" feeling after watching it without doing any extra thinking. In short, it was just a good experience sitting through the episode, and at the end, I started thinking that I was definitely glad to be able to see this OVA.

Overall: 9/10

Because this is still a typical romance/drama, a nine is the highest I can give it. However, I will say that it did impact me quite a lot. I see Tomoya and Tomoyo as two people I should look up to, two people I should strive to be. They have their ambitions, and even though their obstacles were each other, they managed to overcome that obstacle to achieve their goal. What I learned from this series is that I have to also strive for what I believe in, because who knows? Maybe what I left behind will return to me later on.

*Just for clarification, I do not dislike the Clannad series. read more