Story: 8
Two years ago when I first saw Clannad, I would have given this a 10 without second thoughts, for a long time afterwards I had significant troubles finding animes that compared with it, however now I'd drop that down to an 8. I say this because while I enjoy the unique story lines to each of Okazaki's girls', the whole scenario of "I'm a loser and I start getting all the babes around me", has been done before, many times. I enjoy the progression of the arcs, from Fuko to Kotomi, then Tomoyo, and finally Nagisa, and how the stories build up upon one another and past stories affect future ones (as to be expected). The main feature that struck me was even while maintaining these different pursuits of aiding girls, Tomoyo and Nagisa's relationship seems to always increase, rather than have "speed bumps" as one would expect. This was a nice change in scenario because in those short times through out the season, it made me feel happy inside, rather than out of place depressing moments.
Art: 9
Kyoto Animation is nothing less than my second favorite animation studio (only being seconded to the almighty Studio Ghibli). The main thing that Kyoto does that other studios don't is the lighting. While I'm not implying that other studios don't, there's a strange heart warming feeling about the sunsets shared with Nagisa, or the Cherry Blossoms with Tomoyo. Kyoto does a spectacular job making the scene beautiful when necessary, but doesn't abuse it. I'm trying not to write any spoilers, so I'll just say that as an artist, I found myself enamored with the dynamic art that you just don't see in a lot of other shows.
Sound: 10
In my opinion, the sound and music is what makes Clannad. It took me two years to realize this, but I think that this is the deciding factor that makes me claim my "10". I don't like a lot of the sound effects, and more specifically I dislike the Fuko theme song, but otherwise I think that Kyoto did a magnificent job in musical selection. An example that doesn't give too much away, is in episode 16 during the basketball scene, a remix'd techno version of "To the Same Heights" played that not only got my heart pumping, but it immersed me into the scene and rendered everything else incomprehensible. Then, afterwards, to celebrate the merry mood, they play the original "To the Same Heights" which is a light piano/ orchestral composition that is nothing short of enlightening to the mood. It pulls you back out of the scene magnificently and calms you. Obviously, this is all personal experience, so I can't promise the same experience to all viewers, but I honestly was enthralled while watching, and I wasn't even an avid anime watched back then, so, yeah haha.
Character: 8
I enjoy all of the characters and stories, as I've kind of already mentioned before, but unfortunately they're really not anything new. I'm not saying that their specific histories have been done before, but their general ideas have. Tomoya is a delinquent with a bad family that gets all the girls, been done. Kotomi and Tomoya were friends but as usual, the protagonist forgot all about his past, BEEN DONE BEFORE. Kyou is trying to hook her sister up with her love interest while suppressing her over feelings, it's happened. Not to be confused with dissatisfaction, I believe that it's a solid story system, and it's always entertaining, but I want originality, that's what I'm looking for in an anime. The one thing that I don't believe I've seen done before, is the Fuko ark, which is a girl in comatose turned into a ghost. Maybe it's been done, but I don't know haha.
Enjoyment: 9
It's a cute, funny, heart-wrenching, creative anime that I enjoyed immensely, but it's not "10" material. 10 material is Suzumiya Haruhi No Shoushitsu, for reference. I enjoyed the good moments, bad moments, awkward moments, sad moments, etc, but I didn't like the whole "other worldly" secondary story going on. To be fair, the story itself isn't bad, I also understand how it connects together at the end, but it isn't clear, the relativity throughout the story isn't clear, and it's necessary to watch the After Story if you want to figure out what's going on, which I think is a good concept that they're wanting to connect the two, but I don't think that it should be required to understand the story. Other than that small complaint, I think it's a solid story that will have you balling every other episode.
Overall: 10
This, without a doubt, is my favorite anime series I've seen. Being my first, it has that unfair bias, but I've given ample time to find and try new series, and nothing can top the Clannad story, thus far.
Oh yeah, this IS a spoiler.
>>>>BE READY TO CRY A RIVER
