~After Story~ is the second half of Clannad, and where everything comes to light, and everything changes.
I've seen Clannad many times, and every time it hits all my sweet spots. While i have cried to it in the past, i've even cried myself to sleep listening to Chiisana Te no Hira (the song from the last episode, 22), but i don't cry every time. I don't feel something should be measured in terms of how much it makes you cry either. What matters most is how much you understood it and how much it impacted you in the process.
Clannad is exactly as it's genre describes, however taking it to a different level: slice of life. Or rather, a while life pie.
You will experience the rollercoaster of life, full of it's joys and sorrows, hellos and goodbyes, it's simplicity and it's beauty.
=======================
How it impacted me:
There was a time in the past where i was a stoic shell of a person, wasting time in games and becoming sick of the mundanities of life, and had no perspective or care of people, i hated people in general; they all seemed pathetic and dumb. I saw this anime at a point in my life when i really needed it, and it forever changed me. Clannad puts everything into perspective: friends, parents, children, the struggles of life, confusions, desires... but most importantly, appreciating the aspects of life which cannot be easily explained. I gained an understanding and respect for the difficulties of others, in which i'd never previously thought about. For the first time i really saw the beauty in humans; not just the anime characters i'd been familiar with, but actual people i'd never met. From the unparalleled life experience, that is life itself in a nutshell, which is Clannad, i can now always manage to dig out positive traits or understanding of anyone's circumstances given i try. If you really think about the meanings of all of the mundane things that happen on your journey through this story, you will also come to this realization if you didn't have it already prior to seeing Clannad.
As a person interested in the sciences, i found Kotomi's arc in the first half to be very enlightening. Before then, i considered science and the approach as just that cool thing that is used for exploring the physical world and creating technology, but when i heard the analogy her father used, it made me realize what i wanted. The world is beautiful (even if there's a lot of ugly things in it), and can be explained in beautiful terms; there is no need for nitty gritty jargon. From then i've ever sought to discover the meanings of life and the universe, through understanding and with the words mentored to me, i wish to someday be able to express it with the most beautiful words. In the future when i'm standing on top of a story and important scientific works, i will be able to look back and say Clannad is at my roots (amongst other things).
I experienced a lot of things like sad goodbyes... i never thought i'd get so attached to the characters as if they were my friends, that the change was sad, and would remind me of things i'd left behind as i went through life. Ponder what's ahead of you, look at what's behind you, understand where you are. I hope anyone watching Clannad can have the same level of self-reflection.
=======================
Analysis:
While Clannad, as a material anime, does have numerous flaws, judging it based on those shows that you probably missed the point. Life itself is full of flaws and errors, cringes and 1-dimensional characters. No amount of sensational individualism is going to erase the fact that people can fit into psychological taxonomy, and people do often appear to be very straight forward and undeveloped; it's not stereotyping unless you use it to make assumptions. There is nothing wrong with understanding personality types and how to interact with them; it's just how you're born. The lack of understanding of social taxonomy is why people don't have a bloody clue how to handle people who act differently than they feel; nobody has the social precedent to understand that it is common, and there's nothing wrong with it, try to understand it, and you can befriend even the most awkward of people.
Often times in stories characters will develop so much that it'll blow your mind, and from that you get a full understanding of all of these aspects. With this you have the impression of a deep multi-faceted character, especially if they're very much different in a fundamental way to when they started. However, in real life, that doesn't happen as often as one might think, and even if you feel you're a completely different person as an adult, someone who hasn't seen you for a long time might think you've changed, but also very much not changed. Each person is always themself, unless they completely lose themself and have to find their way back. Clannad's characters may seem simplex, and they are, and more people were simple back then as well. If you hadn't noticed, Clannad is set probably around the 80's, before the digital age. If you lived in a small town, that's how you lived, the small town life.
Something many people don't realize about anime, and especially Clannad as it was actually implied as such, is that characters are usually made to exaggerate their archetypal traits for the sake of character study. The characters are simplified, and stood out dramatically from eachother so it can become very clear what it's like to have very different people interacting with eachother. Just as how often anime will colour hairs via colour theory to match their traits. It's a well studied endeavour, and very much intentional. If there's one thing that anime is always dead accurate on, it's individual aspects of natural human psychology. Characters are simplified for a reason, and a good reason at that.
Experiences can change how you see and react to the world, even have you discover new things about yourself, however they will never change you at your core.
Psychologists recommend you read biographies to understand how people got through troubles, what better than a heart-wrenching fictional biography on the difficulties of family?
Overall the material presentation is exceptional (even if not perfect), and the care put into it is clear. There are many things hinted towards for a long time, until they're finally revealed, such as the episode title cards and ED. Be sure to keep an eye open for details :)
______________________________
PS: If you were cynical towards Clannad, then perhaps you missed the point. This is what makes it an art piece and not a product of expectation.
I'm no sensationalist, i'm no fanatic of the show, and i'm certainly not a follower of any paradigms, thus this is a completely genuine and independent review without anyone's influence. As a scientist and philosopher, i seek the most objective understandings possible, even if i explain them through a particular perspective (such as my own, which i'm most familiar with). There are other anime which have given me more excitement and joy, but none have the depth and impact that this has, and objectively i cannot identify an anime with more combined intentional/unintentional meaning. When i say this is the best anime i've ever seen, that's not meant to be just an opinion, that's what seems to be so even through extensive study and self reflection. Clannad doesn't have to be your favourite, but i do recommend respecting it.
Clannad also answered me this question: "What is the meaning of life?" The question that seems to be on everyone's mind but for some strange reason seems to elude everyone even though it's answered for them.
"The meaning of life is to live on and pass on." –Aria (author)
You can take that quote any way you want, it has limitless connotations.
