Sep 13, 2013
"The world is beautiful, even when they are filled with sadness and tears"
To put it bluntly, Clannad: After Story is arguably one of the best pieces of work that you could possibly hope to find out on the anime market right now. After Story is the sequel to the original Clannad series and boasts a large development in several aspects; it's execution of visual, audio codes and conventions are used masterfully to produce an outstanding masterpiece.
STORY (10/10)
After Story puts forth a story with no questionable comparison, the story is largely unique and cliches are uncommon it's also simple and incredibly easy to relate
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to. Resistance is remarkably futile and the phrase "just one more episode" will be frequently used, in fact you'll find yourself moving on to the next episode almost subconsciously. An element that makes the story so wonderful is it's connection that it makes to the audience almost subliminally, the viewer becomes immersed almost instantaneously and it's very easy to become attached to the story and how the events turn out.
ART (10/10)
The art in Clannad is brilliant, marvelous, extraordinary, wunderbar, spettacolare! I could use every countless artsy expression to enunciate how wonderful the art is in this anime. Every animation is executed perfectly especially at critical and intimate times, this compliments the story beautifully and adds to the atmosphere and mood the anime gives off to the viewer. Art in this anime is at it's strongest during the most pensive of times which offsets strong emotions.
SOUND (10/10)
Sound is an indispensable convention when it comes to producing visual texts, Clannad utilizes sound in the most phenomenal way I have (personally) witnessed ever. Every emotion, every moment is complimented lovingly by a suitably congruent soundtrack that assaults your emotional resistance with no mercy. The sound illustrates and accounts for almost every emotion and mood the anime looks to convey, there are happy tracks and then of course there are sad tracks (which I personally prefer) that really hit nerves. Even after watching and completing the anime you will find yourself regressing back to listen to the OST and you will love it.
There is no doubt that some of that tracks combined with the melancholia of some scenes made me irrefutably upset and I did cry at several points within this anime sheerly because of the power of the music. In fact I would have been able to hold tears back if it weren't for the music. Making it an essential part to the powerful emotions this anime trajects.
CHARACTER (10/10)
Another factor that contributes to the brilliant success of this anime is the characters; of course if there were no characters there would be no story but what makes the characters of Clannad so good is the fact there's really something really extraordinary about them in inconceivable ways. Each character, both major and minor have broad and complex personalities and background stories which are shown to you throughout the prequel as well as the rest of them in After Story. The connection that is drawn between the characters and the viewer is strong, there are no "extras", you know and understand every character in and out, how they feel, what they desire and what they've been through. And more importantly, you begin to feel that any moment where their life or happiness throughout the series could be jeopardised that it readily affects you just as much as them, in a sense this almost allows you to feel the same emotions as the character is feeling. This creates an extreme immersion for the viewer.
CONCLUSION (SUBTLE SPOILERS)
Clannad: After Story is a masterpiece that will indefinitely change your perspectives on life, it encourages the viewer to understand that even though life can be full of never ending tragedies and that we may lose the ones we love forever, that these tragedies shouldn't pull you down further. Although the ending and the morals of Clannad have been interpreted in several different ways, the actual uncertainty of the events allows for wide scope on how different viewers critique their interpretation of the anime and thus allows for wider scopes on how people see and understand it's message, this elaboration makes for a wonderful conflagration of analysis and interesting morals.
To sum it up, we've all been through many different things and perhaps most of us can relate to extreme misfortune of Tomoya but because of those experiences Clannad spoke to us differently and that's what makes this anime great, that there isn't one moral, one explanation, it's what you've experienced beforehand and feel afterwards that defines how you feel about this anime
NOTE: Keep a box of Kleenex's handy, you'll need them.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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