Clannad

Tomoya Okazaki is a delinquent who finds life dull and believes he'll never amount to anything. Along with his friend Youhei Sunohara, he skips school and plans to waste his high school days away.

One day while walking to school, Tomoya passes a young girl muttering quietly to herself. Without warning she exclaims "Anpan!" (a popular Japanese food) which catches Tomoya's attention. He soon discovers the girl's name is Nagisa Furukawa and that she exclaims things she likes in order to motivate herself. Nagisa claims they are now friends, but Tomoya walks away passing the encounter off as nothing.

However, Tomoya finds he is noticing Nagisa more and more around school. Eventually he concedes and befriends her. Tomoya learns Nagisa has been held back a year due to a severe illness and that her dream is to revive the school's drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help her achieve this goal along with the help of four other girls.

As Tomoya spends more time with the girls, he learns more about them and their problems. As he attempts to help each girl overcome her respective obstacle, he begins to realize life isn't as dull as he once thought.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Okazaki, Tomoya Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Furukawa, Nagisa Main

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Sakagami, Tomoyo Main

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Fujibayashi, Kyou Main

Hirohashi, Ryou Japanese

Ibuki, Fuuko Main

Nonaka, Ai Japanese

Ichinose, Kotomi Main

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Sunohara, Youhei Main

Sakaguchi, Daisuke Japanese

Fujibayashi, Ryou Main

Kanda, Akemi Japanese

Furukawa, Akio Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Furukawa, Sanae Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Hatta, Youko Producer

Nakamura, Shinichi Producer

Tafu, Naohiro Producer

Ishihara, Tatsuya Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Nov 3, 2024

masteromlet

Recommended

This synopsis and analysis has minor spoilers but nothing that will flat out ruin the major moments in the show. I just finished watching both Clannad and "After Story" for the second or third time. And here is why I think it is a good or even a masterpiece story.

The opening episode is great. It contrasts the funny and lighthearted nature of Tomoya and how he interacts with his friends and Nagisa’s parents, with the hardship of growing up with an alcoholic dad. This first episode is a microcosm for the entire show. Clannad also does a fantastic job in the “slice of life” category, ... because many of the major plot points are relatable and not blown up or unnecessary because the writers can’t tie plot points together well. Clannad is like life in many ways, capturing the mundane, the goofy, and the depressing all in one story. It doesn’t need to add any unnecessary conflict because it is good on its own.

Characters
The characters are interesting and unique. It is less often nowadays where characters leave an impression on me. All the characters don't follow main stereotypes and in fact in a lot of ways they defy stereotypes. Tomoyo for example, is a badass and is regarded as the strongest character in the show. Having a female character being the strongest, and coming to the rescue of Tomoya and Nagissa later in the show is something that breaks social stereotypes and makes the show more interesting because it is something that we don’t get to see often.

Sunohara is horny, misogynistic, but not overbearingly so, and often gets made fun of because of how desperate he seems. This a breath of fresh air from a lot of anime where a side character is endlessly horny and added fan service just for the sake of fan service. He is also a redeemable character because of his loyalty to Tomoya.

The characters are also lovable. Every time I start the Fuko arc, I am annoyed with her character but every time I grow to love and appreciate her character. All of the characters are funny, engaging or interesting in their own way. Nagisa's parents are endless entertainment but also have a soft side and end up becoming Tomoya's parents in many ways.

All the characters have reasons for doing the things they do and the show stays true to the characters. Even if these reasons are goofy or childish, I think the author intends for some of the plot points this way because this is how high school students act. There are some strange story arcs that are hard to get through (like Fuko's story) but they all serve a purpose in the end.

Tomoya is by far the most fleshed out character and makes an amazing main character. He is funny and caring but also has flaws of being ambivalent to his own life path, avoids taking care of himself and can't forgive his father for the way he treated Tomoya in middle school/ high school.

Real
Clannad is mostly a free spirited story, with moments of hardship. These moments of hardship aren't exaggerated by the writers, or built up bigger for the sake of a show, but they stay true to how the characters would feel in that moment. Moreover, the light hearted and funny moments of the show juxtapose the hardships that the characters go through and make them more impactful in the end.

Nagisa

I have seen some comments online of people being annoyed with Nagisa as the “true heroine” (I was one of these people the first time I watched the show) but I think Nagisa is the best fit for Tomoya in many ways. One of Tomoya’s flaws is that he feels unworthy of love and has a negative self image. Nagisa feels the same way since she knows that she is the reason that her parents had to sacrifice much to help support Nagisa’s sickness. They are both extremely nice and selfless to help other people and in this way they are very similar. Although they are a lot alike, they also deal with their hardships differently. Tomoya stands up for himself and other people, sometimes to a fault, when he thinks that other people are being wronged. Nagisa does not, and prioritizes being polite to other people over striving for what she wants. The two of them cover for each other’s shortcomings really well, and they also provide the other with what they need. Lastly, Nagisa was able to provide Tomoya with something that he was missing, a family. They also immediately have some nice moments together in the start of the show that hints at their future relationship, and makes it more special when they finally get together.

I also think that it is admirable of the writers to pair up Nagisa and Tomoya together, because Nagisa is not the most “pretty” character. I think it is important for young men especially to understand that life is not all about who is the best looking and there are more important things in life than looks.


Great Art and Story Direction

There are few examples of steller story direction. The first being that in the first scene, the camera has muted colors until the two of them speak with each other at the bottom of the hill. The color that ignites signifies the spark of life that Nagisa gave Tomoya. Before this moment, Tomoya was wallowing in his hardship of not being good in school, not being able to play basketball anymore and not feeling accepted and happy at home with his dad. This is echoed by Tomoya’s first thought in the series of hating the town he grew up in and telling himself that nothing good has ever happened to him.

The story of the Robot and the girl is another great story device. It is not clear what it means until Kotomi’s arch where the existence of another world is mentioned. Little pieces of the picture are dropped throughout the story to make sense of something that seems to bear no meaning at first glance. When I was watching initially, the mystery of the Robot and the Girl drew me in to keep watching.

The way the show hints at future story developments is a prime example of master foreshadowing. In the first episode Tomoya hears students talking about the ghost that haunts the school that later blossoms into the Fuko arch. In the second or third episode a civilian tries to get Tomoya to be a witness against Yusuke Yoshino, who later becomes the person that offers Tomoya a job.

This is all to say that this show feels very purposeful, many things that happen do so to set up something that happens later in the show. Which makes the story engaging the first time, and enjoyable to watch a second and third time to pick up on other small details that augment the show.

In Clannad “After Story”, there is a scene around when Tomoya starts working where the clouds change and morph strangely. The animation is very strange and not seen anywhere else in the series. This change in the clouds symbolizes a shift in the story itself, and foreshadows a much harsher reality in the episodes to follow.

Overall, if you are thinking of starting this anime please do. It is an excellent show and is worthy of your time.

The last thing I want to say is that this story takes a certain level of maturity to enjoy. I first watched this in early high school or late middle school and I hated the ending. I wasn’t ready for Tomoya to forgive and apologize to his dad because I wasn’t ready to accept my own father’s way of treating me. I also hated the ending and thought it didn’t make sense. I totally missed all the hits dropped earlier in the show and didn’t accept the main hardship Tomoya faced in the after story.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Oct 22, 2024

Inbetweener

Mixed Feelings

Story: 2/10
There is no plot. The scenes of the toy robot story were confusing in the first few episodes and had no connection to anything. You might argue that it foreshadowed Nagisa's play but it just made the viewing experience worse. Including supernatural elements was also jarring because it adds nothing to the story and only involves fuko. The decision to do separate arcs for each girl was a bit disrespectful to each of their 'character developments' because it eventually led to them being sidelined at the end of their respective arcs. The comedy was repetitive and was never funny. Watching sunohara repeatedly challenge tomoyo ... never made me laugh and only made him look like a fucking idiot and fuko coming back randomly was not funny either.

Characters: 3/10
MC is OK, he is not as annoying as the typical harem lead(the bar is in hell) and has his own issues with his dad, which were never explored in enough depth. Unfortunately, I just don't see why characters like the twins or tomoyo would fall for him-it's not like their relationships were built up overtime and the attraction just sort of happened. MC probably has the most screen time with Nagisa, who is not an interesting or entertaining character. The twins were randomly placed into the story and contributed nothing to the plot. Short haired twin was utterly useless in the story whereas long haired, tsundere twin was probably just there for fan-service and also has absolutely no reason to fall for MC. Tomoyo was not given enough development despite being one of the better characters-her love for MC was the most surprising.

Soundtrack: 7/10
The opening was catchy and the OST was great during 'emotional' moments. Never paid much attention to the ending though.

Art: 1/10 (does not contribute to overall rating)
Objectively fugly faces unless you're attracted to bugs or something.

Overall rating: 4/10. I don't know what people find endearing about these characters who don't even feel like real people. They are all a bunch of cliches and you can tell this was adapted from a harem visual novel. I just hope afterstory will be better.

EDIT: Afterstory elaborates on the supernatural elements and the robot storyline, making everything finally make sense. Tomoya and Nagisa's developments were amazing to see and Ushio is a very cute addition to the cast and also very essential to the plot. Even though I had to force myself to sit through the sunohara siblings' and yukine's arcs, everything during and after graduation were beautiful. The second half was probably a masterpiece. The comedy and lighthearted moments worked too when they stemmed from likable characters like the main 3, Sanae and Akio. The problem with the prequel was probably that it gave too much screentime to useless characters and didn't flesh out the main ones the same way afterstory did.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Apr 7, 2023

lastnameEver

Not Recommended

Funny

Clannad is a visual novel created by Jun Maeda and adapted by the only anime studio in Japan to respect the human right to a salary for a day’s work. Clannad is astonishingly trite. It would take an unbelievable amount of naivety to take on its clearly manipulative storytelling tactics in good faith and glean any sense of enjoyment out of it. It’s considered a classic by people who have no idea what they’re on about. They must’ve been off a perc, off a xan, too much henny, baby-battered out of their mind to consider Clannad a classic. Clannad is not a classic. A classic ... implies it has stood the test of time. Clannad can’t stand any test. It is chronically paraplegic. The story is paced so slowly that it feels as if centuries pass before an episode finishes. You can marry, have kids, buy a rabbit, buy a dog, watch the dog eat the rabbit, watch every season of Friends on Netflix twice, adopt a cat, sell its kittens online, shoot the dog, sell your kidney to a Nigerian politician for his daughter, brush your daughter’s teeth, become the head executive of five oil companies, lose it all, write detective fiction, understand an anime directed by Ikuhara, decipher the entirety of Ulysses, grow old, and die, and the same episode will still be playing. That’s what it feels like watching Clannad. That is exactly how it feels watching Clannad. The minutes stretch on like hours. Each frame of animation lasts a lifetime. Any enjoyment cultivated will wither up and die before the narrative reaches any sort of conclusion. You will wither up and die watching Clannad.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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