Clannad: After Story is the second part of a series called Clannad, a Slice of Life anime. In truth, Clannad, as a franchise, is not in the Slice of Life category, for it has little touches of mystical concepts. But I still consider it as such because it still features the ordinary lives of high school students. It doesn’t introduce the viewers to different worlds with different rules. Also, Romance is just too vague a category for me, so I feel the need to put Clannad to another genre that could describe it better.
The series, in terms of story, continues to portray the lives of Tomoya Okazaki and his friends. The first half of the series focuses still on the characters’ high school life -- much like Clannad. However, what makes it interesting is how the storylines are not pulled out of nowhere. They are well established in the previous series, making them feel very natural as plot points. Aside from that, the character development in this first half is also worth praising; this is the point where the characters begin to mature drastically. This is good preparation for the second chunk of the story.
What really makes Clannad: After Story an amazing series in terms of story is the second half, which portrays the life of Tomoya Okazaki after graduating high school. What makes this claim even more justifiable is the story’s ability to portray mature concepts about life in general and not just about life as high school students -- and this is one of the reasons why I consider this series as a Slice of Life anime, and not just of Romance. Speaking of romance, the story also develops his relationship with Nagisa Furikawa so tremendously that, I must admit, it has become the first anime romance I’ve seen that has ended in marriage and family life.
Some romance titles just end when the characters finally confess their love for each other, or when they finally have their first kiss, or something similar to that effect. This is what makes Clannad: After Story unique as a romance title -- it actually shows us more than what others offered. And it is fairly obvious that an anime title that talks about both of romantic and familial love is full of heart-wrenching moments -- and those are exactly what this series is offering.
The story is not perfect however. The problem I have with it is the fact that it starts to neglect some characters at a certain point. This is actually understandable, for it is a necessary adjustment to put focus on the main storyline -- the relationship of Tomoya Okazaki and Nagisa Furikawa. It only becomes problematic when these neglected characters, which viewers have already been attached to, have not been given proper closure. The series just ended without the viewers knowing what really happened to them. Sure, the viewers get to see a glimpse of them in the final moments, but these scenes are too abrupt and not established well to be considered a proper closure.
However, I consider this flaw to be minimal, and it doesn’t really affect my overall enjoyment of the series. I understand that it is an anime title that only has a few episodes in its disposal to tell the story it wants to tell, so some parts tend to be left out just because of the lack of the number of episodes.
Overall, Clannad: After Story is, for me, one of the most heartbreaking anime titles out there. It makes the viewers so attached to the characters that it comes to the point that it becomes depressing when they see them get hurt. This is the real magic behind this series; it offers many subtle emotions, while telling us a wonderful story of a Slice of Life. I just hope that, Clannad: After Story, or, should I say, Slice of Life in general, will get the attention it obviously deserves.
