Clannad Review – By Riley D (RIED14):
A dramatically life changing and perception shifting 'slice of life' philosophical masterpiece of love, family, connection, gratitude and simplicity (WITHOUT the ingenuine and uncalled for 'cheesiness').
Clannad was not just a 'good show'. It was an unforgettable experience that drastically rekindled the light in my eyes and opened up my mind a lot more. Haven't cried like that since I was 5 years old. This has changed me forever.
(Note: If you don't understand it after finishing it, read up on or play the original Visual Novel game which the anime was the adaptation of. That should clear things up for you).
If you think 'what's the point of living if we die?', Clannad shows you that the anime’s point is ‘what’ you put in-between life and death.
It shows you the anime's ideal thing to put in that ‘in-between slot’, and the character's (and your) journey of realization towards it. Quite an epiphanic anime indeed.
The art and music were astonishing as both were incredibly capturing and moving at the perfect places in the most natural way possible.
There is nothing in Clannad that is unnaturally rubbed in the viewer's face. Everything just happens by itself, nothing is desperately forced upon the viewer. Some may beg to differ, but that all comes down to how you view people in real life, weather it depends on the people you’re raised around, the area/country you live in or simply your own way of looking at it etc etc. (Speaking of desperate, there is absolutely NO fan service whatsoever, not even in the extras and OVAs, which is brilliant). Even the humour (to keep the viewer sane) is genuine and reflects off situations that would ACTUALLY HAPPEN in every-day life (my opinion). This is by far the most realistic, touching and insightful anime I've ever experienced.
WARNING: Could be left with a bit of bittersweet ‘post Clannad depression’ for a few days after finishing the anime, but that shouldn't last long because then you’ll feel the happiest you’ve felt in a long while (well I did anyway).
Recommended to: Anyone.
My Score: 10 out of 10.
(Believe me this is for anyone. I'm a big fan of 'Higurashi no Naku Koro ni' (which has a lot of gore and horror which Clannad most definitely does not) and I LOVED Clannad, which in the way it's set out, is actually quite similar to Higurashi...[the review ends here, but if you want - read the last few bracketed, unimportant, vague words of the sentence; it's a big Clannad spoiler, so don't if you haven't finished the series]...
------------!CLANNAD SPOILER!---------
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(Both having the arcs and the alternate realities etc)
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-------CLANNAD SPOILER OVER--------
