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I started loving Banana Fish, then ended up wishing I'd never watched it. Without spoiling anything, let me just say that the last episode was too hard for me, and made me dislike the show overall (I still adore Ash and Eiji, though.)

Story: 8/10
The anime started off beautifully. I was completely enthralled in the idea - the gritty gang scene of New York, the complexity of what was happening with the character's backgrounds and the history of the Banana Fish drug. I have a higher score because the concept was so good, but the execution went pretty downhill starting about halfway into the ... series (I was already too in to stop at that point.) And I LOVE Ash and Eiji. They were the only two that kept me interested in the show. Their short scenes together were great, but I wish the surrounding story around them had been strong as well.

Art: 8/10
There is nothing to complain about the art. It is always clean, fluid, and well-done. It's not the most outrageous and unique of styles, not the most AMAZING (which is why I'm giving it an 8), but it also differs from the the generic shojo/bishonen style enough to make me like it. I enjoy the art from the opening/ending songs as well, as they are well done.

Sound: 8/10
Not much to say about the soundtrack used within the show, but I found the openings pretty good. Some might say they were boring, and they do follow a similar route like other shows of this genre, going for a rock style. But I find the second opening to be less generic and to fit perfectly with the show's style, and honestly the part where it goes "Get away from me, get away from dark nightmares ... yeah, we don't want to go through that again~!" THAT PART GOT ME, not gonna lie. Second ending is nice as well, but the FIRST ending was AMAZING and I love it. It just fits the show so well, and is probably my favorite song from the show.

Character: 4/10
I said I love Ash and Eiji, but wow. The rest of the characters . . . ?
A lot of them are 'not bad'. Shorter, Max, Ibe, etc. are all good guys, have nice relationships with the main characters. No complaints there, really. Then there are the not-so bad guys, like Blanca, Sing, Yut-Lung, etc. They could've been more fleshed out, more dynamic. THEN there are the villains of the show, which really bring the "character" score of this review down. I was considering lowering the score for "story", but I'll explain what I mean here:
- Dino is a lame villain. He's vile and disgusting but what kind of qualities make him terrifying, commanding and able to control his whole gang empire? He's not so much concerned with keeping up his business than fucking Ash.
-They introduced those military guys towards the end who I don't even remember their names, but they became the main bad guys for like the last couple of episodes, so it wasn't that impactful for me.
-And then there are the OH SO many pedophilic and/or gay gang members that are constantly around Ash. I'm personally a fan of BL so the suggested romance between our two main characters wasn't a negative for me, and as I said, I ADORE Ash and Eiji together. But really, how many gay people can be around to target Ash?? As a LGBT person myself, I find it unrealistic and also setting a bad message out there that all gay people are predators or something. This anime is adapted from a manga made in 80s Japan, which was a time and place not the most knowledgeable on LGBT relationships and people in general... but come on. That was a big annoyance for me throughout the show.

Enjoyment: 3/10
I listed a lot of good things and a bit of bad things. I'll say I really enjoyed the show UNTIL things started subtracting from it, including:
- As I mentioned before, the ungodly amount of sexual predators who have it for Ash.
- The crumbling storyline that made my disinterested as the main plots were somewhat ignored. The Banana Fish drug wasn't really important/played out well enough towards the end, becoming kind of usless. Also, all the fights that was happening in the end were not the interesting, and didn't make much sense or were too simplistic (like saving hostages, or hunting Ash in the musuem, etc.) They were supposed to be exciting, dangerous situations, but they felt flat. Like, we knew Ash was going to make it alive like he always does with his gun skills and intelligence, so it didn't feel as high stakes.
- Dino and his gang. As I said, he's just a wimp, I don't know why people follow him. He'd be so easy as a target for someone to kill him and take over his business.... just saying....... And if you make it towards the end of series, you'll see that his resolution with Ash is dissatisfying too. I'm sure everyone was waiting for that big moment when the two of them had a showdown but that didn't happen. And it made Dino seem somewhat (**SOMEWHAT**) of a good guy, which I dislike.
- THE ENDING KILLED ME. Honestly, if you're in for PAIN, for your HEART TO BE RIPPED OUT, for you to LAY IN BED CRYING AND THINKING, "WHY?????" then watch the whole damn show. But I honestly wished I never watched it to spare me the tragedy of the last episode; it honestly brought my score down for the show so much. The second half of the series wasn't great but then you end on that note and it just ... ugh. I know it's supposed to be tragic and dramatic but it was SO UNSATISFYING. Even if it's a sad ending, at least let it be something I can accept...

Overall: 6/10

Clannad was the first anime I'd watched that I knew was an anime, having seen only Pokemon and Yugioh up until then. In my memory, and first encountering the show at 11 years old, Clannad was an anime that was magical, ethereal, and heartbreaking. So, 8 years later, I decided to rewatch it so I could enjoy the experience all over again.

And damn was I disappointed.

It was not magical, definitely did not make me cry, and I dropped it at episode 6 because it was so painful to get through. Here's why.

Story: 3/10

The story is poor. Very poor. The first 3 or ... so episodes are purely slice of life with a little tragedy and some sci-fi (with the "other world" stuff) thrown in just for fun. It tries to be funny at some points but fails miserably, the scenarios that happen are either generic or stupid, and the backstories on the characters are uninteresting. I also hate the random video-game-like affects they do (like when Tomoyo kicks Sunohara to hell); even though Clannad is based on a game I still think it doesn't fit with the anime. Also I got annoyed at the gay jokes they made throughout the series, this coming from a queer kid (the Ryou and Nagisa moment was semi-okay for me but Tomoya "outing" Kyou as bi gets a thumbs down.)

Art: 5/10

Mediocre. The very generic anime style of 2000's dating sims, as is what the source material is. The super huge eyes actually weirded me out the first 2 eps but I (somewhat) got used to them later on. Idk, they were so big and shiny they were like big bug eyes and it was kinda freaky. Some backgrounds with the cherry blossom roads and stuff were pretty.

Sound: 8/10

No matter how much I dislike this series now, the opening song is a bop and the ending will forever be nostalgic. Dango daikazoku forever bich

Character: 3/10

Basically, we get boring story lines of these boring high school students, with only Tomoya being slightly interesting or likeable with his sarcastic personality. The many, many lookalike bishojo girls are there to force the moe feeling out of us, and it does it poorly. It makes all the girls except Tomoyo and Kyou impossibly airheaded and ditzy. Fuko is the worst because they make her downright stupid, but seeing as she's basically an out of body projection I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. I have no interest in any of the characters, especially Sunohara with his stupid "trying to expose Tomoyo as a guy" arc in the beginning. For some reason the only character dynamic I liked was between Nagisa's parents lol.

Enjoyment: 3/10. Enough said.

Overall: 4/10. It's sad because Clannad was the series that pushed me into becoming a full blown weeb, and because I had so many fond memories of it for years. I think I'm still going to try rewatching After Story, because I like the soundtrack better and remember liking that season better in general. I would say, if you read my review and don't intend on watching Clannad, maybe try skipping directly to After Story because you might like that.