1. My faithful belief that anything KyoAni touches just...oozes with quality and care, that absolutely NOTHING that comes out of their studio ISN'T great and worth watching (Translation: I'm a KyoAni fan, with good reason, too, as I will explain later).
2. The emotionally manipulative nature of the source material and the resulting adaptation that only intensified such aspects of appealing to emotions of viewers. In simpler terms: This franchise very much tried to (and obviously succeeded) snipe their audience with a narrow but fatally effective tactic of appealing to raw emotion ONLY.
Now, when I rate shows for my own records or try to find new shows to watch, I usually take my personal connection and enjoyment as almost always my sole scale of comparison: did I ENJOY this director/writer/author's other works? If so than HELL YEAH, give me more. But, when I sit down to pen a "professional" review for the benefit of other people (translation: forcing my views upon others 'gently'), I try to bring forth the other aspects into play for a more objective view. And frankly, Clannad 1st season is; for the most part; pretty average or even mediocre in some ways. The plot takes way too many liberties for one that's set in a realistic world that looks and acts just like ours, some of the main characters lack the development to shed their cookie-cutter boringness, the melodrama and plot advancing felt all-too-forced and artificially constructed if one had the (un)fortunate ability to shut down their eye-taps and their hearts’ nerves and look at the show with emotionless, robot-like objectivity (I surprised myself with such abilities after FINALLY sitting down to rewatch the series for this review…I feel ashamed.)
The sole reason for this first season’s lasting popularity and being crowned as a gateway title into the romance genre of anime are its creators’ acute understanding of simple human psychology; understandably useful and welcome talents for any creators of entertainment; but it also makes the show feel lazy if that’s the only tool it knows how to utilise.
The relatively large cast which includes the male lead, a self-hating, sarcastic but inhumanely sympathetic and helpful Tomoya, sidekick punching bag Youhei, Fuko, a girl with a starfish fetish, a slew of love interests in a classic harem-like fashion in the form of quietly determined but shy Nagisa, bipolar twins of gangster Kyou and submissive Ryou, bookworm Kotomi and badass ice queen Tomoyo plus (some admittedly well-realised and effective) your usual group of side characters all make a very much entertaining ride. Thankfully, easily the most respectable aspect of this show being a harem; is that this show never tries to be cheap and allow the usually annoying parts of a stereotypical harem comedy show sipping in for the sake of cheap laughs and fan service.
Realistically, this show can almost not be called a harem, since the lead Tomoya never had any issues of choosing his ‘one’, with the other unlucky girls, who were almost immediately placed in the story as friends, without giving the audience a moment to doubt who Tomoya would end up together with by the end.
So, with the story NOT being ‘who will he choose?’, the multiple arcs are each a series of slowly-building canon music pieces-like stories that sees Tomoya attempting to aid one girl out of the group in her quest to achieve a task or to resolve a childhood tragedy, which after its eventual resolving; plus the inevitable cry-fest; the arc ends and we are back at it again with another girl. And this is the aspect of the show which I found incredibly difficult to critique: it’s the best AND possibly the worst part of the show.
When seen for the first time, each individual arcs did very well in their ability to steadily build up melodrama, effective character development for the girl in the limelight and for the male lead. It is for this reason, that Tomoya was effectively the most well-developed and well-rounded character in the series; a trait which was further solidified with the second season, After Story.
Each arc works well for different reasons, due to their large variety in subject matter. For example, the more fantastical nature of Fuko’s quest to fulfil her life-long dream of seeing her older sister happy with a husband; a simple folk-tale-like ghost story that ends with fitting bitter sweetness was nicely contrasted with Kotomi’s attempt to grow past a tragic childhood with her parents; and an ending which I felt was a nice example of perfect storytelling through non-literal imagery and well-placed plot devices that serve as representations of larger-than-life concepts: that the bonds between family transcends time and space. Watch the show and see how the show successfully portrayed this message with the use of a made-up Physics thesis and a teddy bear.
But these two arcs are also effective examples of what I find hard to truly believe as a marvel in storytelling in anime and a reason why I feel that Clannad is not a show for the intellectual, but for those who follow their guts and hearts only. In complete contrast to my above praises for Kotomi’s arc and its successful storytelling using tools beyond monologues, my main gripe against Clannad IS its reliance on direct manipulation of the viewers emotions; the placing of scenes, the wording of dialogue and the use of the astoundingly simple musical score are all intentionally and artificially sewn together with the sole intention of maximum effectiveness when the bombshell is finally revealed at the end of each arc; natural progression of plot is secondary to the writers and animators of the series, who are all instead focused on placing the audience in the right moment for their carefully staged reveal.
Regarding Fuko’s arc, without spoiling major plot points, the last 2 or 3 episodes of the arc is a classic example of emotional staging for the audience: the issue is revealed in a fashion that shocks the audience, enough to startle, but not enough for an emotional outburst. Then the show takes its sweet time in sprinkling salt on the wound, with scenes that are emotionally difficult to watch, all emphasising the nature of Fuko’s situation. A few tears are no doubt shed and feelings of sympathy are no doubt imbedded in the audience by this time. The show then proceeds to feint a few moments of light-hearted fun and moe-infused cuteness with Fuko celebrating her birthday with her friends. Then in the morning, the show pulls out all stops and decides to show the one thing that the audience were tricked into believing; would not happen. Of course, for 10 minutes, the audience are forced to watch as 2 of Fuko’s friends trying to deal with the unforgivable circumstances, before the bombshell is delivered, perfectly timed when the audience were properly traumatised; half-revived and traumatised again. All these scenes are not naturally progressive in a plot standpoint; they are delivered in a fashion that seems to be all-too-convenient for the show’s own intentions. Of course, you can argue that not all things in life are so predictable and can be logically explained; but then there’s the issue of explaining why these scenes are shown in such ways that were obviously storyboarded with the pure intention of a massive emotional pay-off.
It is therefore undeniable, that rating a show ONLY on its ability to make audiences cry is not the best way to fairly judge a show; the human emotion is all too easily influenced by those who know the art; think of why Yu-Gi-Oh’s most cheesy friendship monologues made you cry, despite of your brain’s scoffing and moaning, and why WWII propaganda worked so well to convince the masses to commit near-genocides.
Now onto the various subjects that Clannad absolutely excelled at. In a standalone perspective, the girl and the robot scenes is another example of the constraints of adapting from another medium: scenes that may not take away from the experience in the visual novel made absolutely no sense in the 1st season, and it never gets resolved until the end of the 2nd season. However, ironically, these useless scenes are tiny moments where Kyoto Animation decides to blow up their coffers to provide us the best animation ever achieved for a 24 episode TV series during the time this show was airing…and it still holds up and beats 95% of shows in quality that are airing in 2015. A typical characteristic of a KyoAni show is their ability to somehow always produce shows that either just simply becomes the best looking show of whichever seasonit was airing, or with a production value and style so high or so popular that it begins to influence the anime industry itself; all with a reportedly modest budget, instead relying on a welcomingly well-knited small group of animators, writers and directors who are unconstrained by time and the pressure of working in subpar conditions and having to work on multiple shows in one season.
Clannad has the perfect combination of purposefully detailed background art that knows how to sell the personality of the setting and the town, varied animation that can portray action effectively, smooth in-between animation to keep movements steady and of course the prolific KyoAni touch of subtle character body movements to sell realism and a cinematic quality of the show. For 2007-08, this show handily beats all of its counterparts in the reign of production value and the visual department, all the while competing with the heavy-hitters of 2007-8, a period considered by many as the most recent Golden Age of Anime.
In the department of sound, the Dub vs. Sub debate remains; having watched both to completion, I would say that the Sub has the best voices for the male and female leads (Tomoya’s later-revealed girlfriend) I’ve heard in a while; with the male lead’s voice having a flavour that sells a damaged teenage delinquent, who is otherworldly passionate in helping others, without losing his sarcastic flare, while the female lead’s sincere and moe-infused voice fits the role perfectly. The dub, whilst inferior, does its job well for the most part for a more realistic take on the voices of actual teenagers.
The musical score is another issue of splitting hairs for me. Jun Maeda himself wrote the music to his creation; with his usual flare of dreaming up simple melodies that manages to carry massive baggage in the form of emotional onslaught. So what’s perfect about it? It knows when to use its character themes, when to let it all loose to add to the inevitable climax at an arc’s end, and it is one of the major aspects of the entire show that remains memorable for anyone who has seen the show.
I shall admit my distaste towards synth and anything not created by an acoustic instrument or vocal performance. Anything by a massive orchestra or a simple ensemble of piano, solo violin and a few woodwinds is instantly better in my books. So I should hate this soundtrack with a passion: cheap synth trying to replicate a solo clarinet or a strings section makes it impossible to listen separately most of the time. So why don’t I? The most celebrated theme in the whole show: Nagisa’s theme/Dango song, is what I believe to be one of the best single themes in anime history: it is utterly impossible to forget it once you finished the show, and it’s childishly simple melody carries with itself, a sense of child-like wonderment and nostalgia. I won’t be able to tell you the significance of the Nagisa/Dango theme without a) leaving it for the After Story review and b) crowning it as the one single aspect of the entire show that absolutely embodies the one SINGLE overarching theme of this 50 episode show: the title ‘Clannad’ and its obvious homage to the word ‘Clan’ and in turn, the theme of ‘Family’: the childish bliss that is the Dango song; sang as the ED for every episode of Clannad 1st season; is a constant reminder of the importance of family, a song made all the more effective the more episodes you watched. In short, this is barely scratching the surface in explaining the importance of this one deceptively simple musical theme. Read on to my eventual After Story review for a more complete answer.
So, in the end, IS Clannad a good show? So what should a good anime do? Take us on a journey that’s unforgettable, make us love the characters and lose ourselves in their world, teach us something profound and new and, most importantly, be enjoyable. Clannad achieves that in SPADES. Despite its issues with some character developments and my objective issues with HOW it goes about doing so, what it DOES achieve is practically unprecedented. It was no accident that Clannad/After Story is one of the most celebrated shows in the romantic genre; it is sincere and heartfelt, emotionally charged in amounts few has attempted successfully before and embarks on a noble quest on teaching the value of family. As a standalone season, Clannad is a flawed season with a few aspects of perfection that makes it only more important to finish the journey with Clannad After Story: In other words, it’s a must watch under the reality that; while not being an masterpiece, it’s a stepping stone FOR something greater.
For those who made it this far, thanks for reading one of my first reviews where I went this deep on an anime show; being an new anime fan and everything. Looking forward to writing more in the future.
