I watched this after finishing Clannad (season 1) by recommendation from a close friend, and quite frankly I was kind of underwhelmed. It's been a little while so.....take a moment to decide if you'll be emotionally compromised by reading a review that doesn't compliment this series and if you will.....just keep scrolling down.
Still here? Okay please don't kill me.
Story 5/10
I found the story was pretty mediocre. Tomoya pretty much takes whatever life throws at him and I didn't really see much more than that. A lot of sad things happen to him but I wasn't really phased by any of it. I applaud him for handling the whole ordeal pretty well, but as a story I wasn't really impressed by anything that was written; just....sad things happened to him.
There was an interesting bit about the hidden world throughout the entire series, but the more I try to explain it the more I find that there isn't really enough evidence in the series to explain what's happening with it. I understand that there are outside resources that explain it (I've read some stuff online), but strictly talking about Clannad Afterstory the TV anime series, it's a plot hole.
Art 6/10
Personally I'm not a fan of this era of Kyoto Animation's art style. The animation is really good, but I find that the eyes creep me out. That's a personal opinion and not a point of criticism, but I will criticize how similar the characters looked to me. When I first started watching I had trouble differentiating the girls from one another. If you were to show me a picture of all the girls in black and white I don't think I'd be able to identify them and personally I just think that's a result of lazy art. That might not be the case for you, but I feel that the artists could have done a better job in putting some more detail in features other than eye and hair colour in each character.
I will compliment Kyoto's animation and background art though. They do an incredible job in making every day scenes. My beef is just with the character art.
Sound 9/10
The music was pretty good. I found the dango song pretty perfect for the mood of the show, and the way they used it was very well done. Good job.
Character 7/10
Okay, here's where I might hurt your feelings. I didn't like Nagisa. I felt like she was a little too childish (is that the word? Maybe clumsy? Bubbly? Something along the lines of light-headed) to be convincing as a lead character. Sure, there were moments that she seems more mature in this season, but to me that kind of development seemed like the same change you experience when you go to the principle's office for crushing someone's sand fort for the first time. She just really didn't appeal to me.
I mean, I guess a lot of the development happened in the first season, but the second season doesn't really offer anything new about the characters. I never found a connection to the characters which may be the reason I missed out in enjoying the series.
I did enjoy the parts about Akio and his baseball battles with Tomoyo. It was pretty interesting and empowering to see this guy be a father even though a lot of the time it seems like he's just dicking around. If there's one thing that saves my opinion about the characters in the series, it's Akio.
Enjoyment 5/10
I didn't really find a lot of enjoyment in watching this. I really wanted to finish it because a close friend had recommended it to me, but afterwards I didn't really feel like I had enjoyed it.
Overall 5/10
Clannad Afterstory was just mediocre for me. Was it worth it to watch? Not really. I remember feeling a little....resentful (bitter? not sure on what word to use here).....while watching this because of how good and kind all the characters were. I think my exact thought was something like "I enjoy seeing realistic, corrupted people in cartoons and would rather see pure, kind-hearted people in real life," and watching this show kind of riled me up because it was the opposite. I guess it doesn't really make much sense, but all I'm trying to say is that it irritated me seeing kind people in the show. Whether you understand that feeling or not doesn't really matter.
Well if you're still reading I'd like to thank you for putting up with me this far and to remind you that this is all my opinion, and that I'm just a dog behind a keyboard surfing the interwebs. This show was rated very highly because it was popular with its viewers, but to me that doesn't mean it's good. And I guess that's the reason I'm writing all this even though it might mean some hate.....because I disagree with it being up here.
Don't let me take away from you enjoying the show. If you're reading this wondering whether or not you should watch it, I just ask that you ask yourself how much you consider other people enjoying it is a factor in your own enjoyment. If it doesn't matter then I don't think it's really worth the watch. If it does then this is one of the greatest anime's ever created. And for everyone who's reading this regardless of the reason......please don't kill me.
