(Feel free to skip it)
*This is my first anime review. It will probably be poorly structured, somewhat ranty and make no sense.
*This is also the first anime I've dropped. Thus, I have not seen all the episodes.(15/24)
*There may be some minor spoilers
*I will make a lot of comparisons to Clannad ("Season 1")
*Feeling lazy? TL;DR at the bottom
~The Actual Review (or my thoughts on Clannad and After Story)~
I watched the first season of Clannad, and I liked it. I gave it 8/10. It had a bunch of fun, quirky characters and it had a bit of everything. Funny moments, sad moments, some mystery, cute girls (and pig) and a tiny bit of that OTT anime violence we all love (citation needed for that last part). As I said, I watched all the episodes, and I wanted more. And there was more to get, in the shape of After Story. "Woohoo!", I thought to myself. It even has a higher score than S1, so it has to be really good. Right?
Oh, how wrong I was. I mean, it starts of in the same spirit as S1, so I was happy at first. [MINOR SPOILER INCOMING] However, after seven or so episodes it really takes a turn for the worse. Why? Because they graduate. And suddenly it's like a different show.
You know that large cast of interesting characters from S1? Well, you can wave goodbye to them! They all go their separate ways and we're left with the two least interesting characters; Tomoya and Nagisa.
A quick simile: imagine a tree during summer. The tree is full of leaves and is lush and green. The trunk and branches represent Tomoya and Nagisa, while the leaves are the supporting cast. OK, now imagine he same tree during fall/autumn. All the leaves fall off, except for a few that stubbornly cling on, and we're left with bare branches and a trunk. That's the most poetic way I can describe Clannad vs. After Story. Not sure why I did that, I don't even like poetry. Back to the review.
After Story is a lot more serious. And a lot more boring. Instead of humorous antics at the school we get three episodes of Tomoya working as an electrician. Not even kidding. The series is plagued with people doing really mundane things. Sure, I get it. It's meant to touch on the hardships of growing up and becoming a responsible adult and whatnot. But is that interesting? Is it entertaining? No, I don't think so.
As for the sound and art, there's really not much to say. The art is good. Look at a picture. The music however... It feels like there's only one song that's played every time something sad/serious happens. Which is pretty much always.
TL;DR: Too serious, really boring. Lots of drama, but not the interesting kind. Very small character roster.
Well, this has been a review. I hope it helped. If it didn't, I'm sorry for wasting your time.
Thank you for reading.
