SPOILERS ALL AHEAD FOR BOTH CLANNAD AND CLANNAD: AFTER STORY
Before I get into the nitty gritty of this review, I just wanted to give a little background. I came into Clannad and Clannad: After Story completely blind, only knowing that it was an emotional anime that is one of the best anime of all time. Needless to say, I had very high expectations and sadly this anime did not meet them for reasons that I will get into right now.
Let me start off with the strongest aspects of Clannad and Clannad: After Story, which is the soundtrack and visuals. Even though Clannad and Clannad:
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After Story came out in 2007-2008, the anime looks absolutely gorgeous and the soundtrack is breathtaking at times. However, I am sure that a lot of the soundtrack came from the visual novel by Key studios, so I don’t really give the anime too much credit for the visuals and music, despite their outstanding quality. Now let’s get to the bad stuff.
The characters are just bland and the story is a drag for most of the viewing experience through Clannad and Clannad: After Story. Clannad is really only about Nagisa trying to start a drama club and the many contrived obstacles that she must face to start it at the school. This would be okay if the characters and subplots were interesting, but all the characters are basically boiled down to characters with gags (Tomoyo is strong, Sunohara is a moron, Sanae’s bread sucks, etc.), the only characters that get proper development are Nagisa and Okazaki, as Nagisa starts to gain confidence and become a stronger person and Okazaki begins to like the city and school he attends. So yeah, most of the characters are shallow and bland and this isn’t really fixed in Clannad: After Story for the most part.
Clannad: After Story is basically Clannad 2.0 for the first half, as it presents many different boring subplots and unnecessarily contrived backstories to try to evoke emotion (Misae’s cat, Miyazawa’s brother, etc.). The anime gets much better in the second half with Okazaki’s graduation and his subsequent marriage to Nagisa. I wish that their romantic relationship was developed more, as they only really show them holding hands as they sleep separately and then BAM they have a kid, maybe a little in-between development?? Nonetheless, the good stuff happens around episode 16 with the birth of Ushio and the subsequent death of Nagisa. When Okazaki begins to get involved in the 5-year-old Ushio’s life with their trip, it actually begins to become a seriously good show in terms of its character development. Okazaki learning to become a proper father figure, while also recognizing the same sacrifices and downfalls of his own father is just the best part of the whole Clannad saga by far. Too bad it's only 3 episodes out of 47 total between Clannad and Clannad: After Story. Nonetheless, the sad nature of the anime lives up to its name in the next few episodes as Ushio comes down with the same strange illness as Nagisa, and yearns to go on a trip with Okazaki one last time. On the way however, she dies on the snowy ground and Okazaki subsequently dies of heartbreak.
Now of course this was way too grim of an ending, so the anime had to find some deus ex machina device to save the day, and that was inevitably the hidden world with the lone girl and trash doll that are revealed to be Ushio and Okazaki respectively. Okazaki begins to wish he never met Nagisa, to save her from her inevitable death. However, he soon realizes that being with her was the best part of his life and doesn’t regret meeting her at all. The girl then uses the wish from the lights of the town from Clannad to transfer Okazaki back to the moment when Ushio was born except that Nagisa does not die, and everything turns out just fine and dandy. Now, I am actually not complaining about the illusory world and the power of the lights that grant wishes, as those are actually elements of the show that are well-documented and aren’t just shoved in at the last seconds, which would’ve made me even more mad. No, my main problem with this is that it retroactively makes the strongest parts of Clannad and Clannad: After Story worthless, which is Okazaki struggling to raise Ushio by himself, and Okazaki and Ushio both breaking through the tragedy of Nagisa’s death to form a perfectly happy and functional family on their own. The strongest part of Clanand and Clannad: After Story are made worthless and we are given a cheap, happy ending where the tragedy and emotional moments seemingly worthless. I know that Okazaki still experienced these things so they aren’t all worthless as he may take Ushio and Nagisa for granted more than he would’ve previously, but the ending still just doesn’t work for me.
So anyways, I cannot recommend Clannad as most of the viewing experience is a drag, filled with contrived backstories to evoke emotion, shallow and one-dimensional characters, and simply boring subplots. However, Clannad: After Story has some real gems in the second half mainly as a result of Nagisa’s death and Okazaki coming to grips with the reality of it. However, these gems of episodes are retroactively cheapened in light of the ending. Nonetheless, combining the stellar soundtrack, breathtaking visuals, and diamond episodes that are buried in this rough of a series, I can say that you should at least experience Clannad: After Story once, even if you have to sit through the rest of the series.
Clannad: 4/10
Bad
Clannad: After Story: 7/10
Good
Jan 18, 2021
Clannad: After Story
(Anime)
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SPOILERS ALL AHEAD FOR BOTH CLANNAD AND CLANNAD: AFTER STORY
Before I get into the nitty gritty of this review, I just wanted to give a little background. I came into Clannad and Clannad: After Story completely blind, only knowing that it was an emotional anime that is one of the best anime of all time. Needless to say, I had very high expectations and sadly this anime did not meet them for reasons that I will get into right now. Let me start off with the strongest aspects of Clannad and Clannad: After Story, which is the soundtrack and visuals. Even though Clannad and Clannad: ... 
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