Basically, a delinquent guy named Tomoya Okazaki meets a shy, weak (physically) girl named Nagisa Furukawa and the story tells how they get to know each other.
A big difference in this show (from Air and Kanon) is that they took out a lot of the mysterious/magical elements so expect this to be a pretty solid school/slice-of-life anime with a little drama and a lot of comedy. There is a bit of magic/non-realism with Fuko-chan but it doesn't feel nearly as mystical as Air on Kanon.
Another big difference is how they arranged the plot line. Unlike in Air and Kanon where it seemed that the main character met different girls in arcs, it feels much more like one large piece of work here.
Overall, this was a solid piece of work. It is not nearly as dramatic as the last two works but it definitely maintains the awesome sarcastic humor from Kanon. Just be sure that you follow up this with the second season- it's not to be missed!
Animation:
The animation quality is absolutely awesome, as were all previous works done by the Key/Kyoto Animation combo. Expect crisp animation and a full color palette. The male lead looks significantly younger than the equivalent in Air and Kanon and the girls don't have the huge wide eyes from Air.
The characters are all drawn very well and the CGI graphics (for the side-story about the girl alone in a world) were actually extremely well done - I'm referring to the girl, not the strange robot).
Whereas Air took place on a breathtaking seaside rural village and Kanon took place in a magic-like snowy city, Clannad takes place in a comparably plain town so don't expect all that much from the backgrounds.
Overall, it's definitely worthy as a successor to Key's previous works.
Sound:
I'll start off with what I thought was good. Coming in to the series, I noted that I didn't know a lot of the voice actors. However, they've proven through the series to be a very talented and passionate cast and so they get 5/5. Nagisa's slightly-frail voice and Tomoya's brash voice fit their characters perfectly.
As for the actual sound, I think it could have been slightly better. The BGM by itself was above average but it doesn't touch the perfection that I heard in Kanon or Air. The OP was... interesting but the different chords didn't sound all that nice to me. The ED was fairly nice though and blended to the theme of the series quite well. 4/5.
Overall, an above average sound combo. Not Kanon/Air but still definitely good.
Story:
The story tells the daily occurrences of Okazaki and his friends as they go to school. Okazaki meets and befriends a girl named Nagisa who had to stay behind for one year due to an undisclosed illness/physical weakness. Because of this, Nagisa was afraid of not being able to meet and make friends.
When the two get to know each other more, the male lead decides to help Nagisa form a theater club despite having no interest in it himself. The progress for the club progresses (and regresses) as the two meet and make new friends.
This show reminded me a bit of Da Capo because the early episodes were for the most part relatively light and humorous while the last few episodes were quite dramatic.
As for the humor, there are a bunch of misunderstandings that create extremely hilarious situations. There were times where I had to pause due to uncontrollable fits of laughter.
The ending, like the one in Kanon, gave a satisfactory conclusion to the situation but still left me wanting more. However, in this case there IS a followup.
The only part of the story that bothered me was the parallel telling of the story about the girl who is alone in the world. Basically, a portion of certain episodes is dedicated to telling a story about a girl (CGI graphics) whom is somehow alone in some world and builds a robot that somehow comes to life. Unlike Kanon where there is a very clear relation at the end of the series, the relationship between the main storyline and the supplemental story seemed rather shallow. I spent some time thinking of a possible deeper meaning to no avail. This parallel world will not make sense until Clannad Afterstory.
Overall, the story was fairly good but it's main value is setting the stage for Afterstory.
Character:
The characters in this show are well done and have vibrant, distinct personalities.
Okazaki Tomoya is a delinquent who used to skip school after his dream of basketball was shattered. He often hangs out with another delinquent (Sunohara- who is egotistical, leading to many humorous situations, and who was dropped from the soccor team). Both characters don't really look like delinquents and actually go to school regularly after joining Nagisa. The only thing that isn't really developed adequately is his relationship with his father. Supposedly the idea of a "family" is one of the core themes of this show but it seems he "adapted" Nagisa's family and his friends as a family instead of bonding with his alcoholic father (though we only see his father as a nice if albeit messy fellow).
Nagisa is a sweet girl who always have felt that she did something bad to her parents when she was young though she doesn't recall what it is. She was held back a year due to being out due to an illness (much like a certain character in Kanon *cough*). She gains a lot of confidence after meeting Onizuka and the two eventually become quite close as friends.
There are also many supporting characters such as the ever-cute Fuko chan and the confusingly strong new female from the city (voiced by Sango-Inuyasha/Natarle-Seed). They all contribute to the story and provide additional sources of humor and support for the main characters. Finally, there are Nagisa's parents who seem to be awesome people who really enjoy life and love their daughter.
Value:
The fact that I thought that the story could have been slightly more engaging took off a bit of the value factor but the humor definitely helped push this far beyond a typical series, though not to the level that Kanon and Air were. Overall, a definite good series and definitely worth a watch if school/slice-of-life series or sarcastic humor is your thing.
