Anime 4181 Clannad After Story Reviews Filter Check 3

The original series, the highly rated "Clannad", was one painful viewing experience for me - not because it's full of tragic tales, but because of how dire it is. Female characters sugary enough to induce diabetes in a lump of rock, combined with atrociously forced "drama" fast tracked it to a lofty position on my "Overrated Shite" list. And yet its ratings pales in comparison to that of its sequel, "Clannad: After Story".

Given my experiences with the first series, I hadn't originally intended to watch "Clannad: After Story", but people kept telling me how much better it was and how different it was compared to ... the first season. Intrigued, I decided to give it shot...

...and boy was I disappointed.

"Clannad: After Story" was supposedly a different kettle of fish from "Clannad", but it's obvious to me that it's the same kettle, with mostly the same fish inside - it's still very moe; the melodrama is still clumsily manipulative; it's still unmistakably "Clannad".

Unlike "Clannad" though, "Clannad: After Story" is somewhat inconsistent. But I mean that as a back hand compliment, in that "Clannad: After Story" had the some good moments amongst the crap, while "Clannad" was just consistently crap.

The first part of "Clannad: After Story" is almost indistinguishable from "Clannad". It continues from where the original series left off, taking on a similar format comprising mini-arcs of various happenings around the school. Since Tomoya and Brown Haired Girl are already an item at the start of this series, there is no longer a harem aspect. You would think this would improve things, but in the case of this anime, all it meant was that it concentrated on mass producing contrived melodrama instead.

The first arc, starring Sunohara, was one of the worst offenders. It started off as a comedy, and although some parts were a bit tasteless, it was at least tolerable. Half way through though, it tried to turn into a serious drama, and it was all downhill from there on. The problem is that, as with most stories involving Sunohara, the comedy is quite ridiculous, involving an absurd set up that you simply can't take seriously, but the drama directly extends from that set up, and the anime seems to think it's fine to try and deliver emotional punches off this same platform that was used to deliver goofy punchlines shortly before. There are also glaring problems in the plot and inconsistencies in the portrayal of Sunohara's character, but the real crux is this: these problems are not oversights - these are the consequences of the show's willingness to sacrifice everything in order to crank up drama to 11. Not surprising then, that I found it so unconvincing.

And so "Clannad: After Story" continues in typical "Clannad" fashion, spinning implausible, almost surreal sob stories about its bizarrely troubled characters ... until around episode 10. This is the point where Tomoya and his ex-harem members graduate and make their way into the big wide world. It marks the beginning of what made many consider "Clannad: After Story" to be one of the greatest anime ever made. So I approached the show renewed hope...

...only to be disappointed once more.

However much "Clannad: After Story" changes its settings, it still approaches drama with the subtle touch of a rapist. While I admit that the show does mature somewhat, its maturity is much like the way Brown Haired Girl matures during the show - she became more like a 15 year-old than a 10 year-old. An improvement it may be, but it's debatable whether this 50% increase in maturity is worthy of lavish praise when

1) the initial bar was set so stupidly low, and
2) she's supposed to be in her twenties by the end of the show.

But allow me to pause in the middle of my acid spewing in order to acknowledge that there are definitely merits found in this part of the story, and that's enough to make it by far the best part of the whole franchise.

As is always the case, these best parts centred around Tomoya himself and not some dipshit moe girl or some other retarded side character. One of the stories dealt with Tomoya trying to settle into a job and striving to overcome, amongst other difficulties, his physical handicap. This I liked, because above all, it was unembellished, believable drama - he actually had plausible real world problems to deal with, which isn't something to take for granted in the world of "Clannad", despite it often being labelled as a real life drama.

It's fair to say that the franchise would be a lot worse without Tomoya; he was almost carrying the show single handedly. But there was one other, newly introduced in "Clannad: After Story", who shared his burden of being a rare good character stuck in the cesspit of shit ones. It's not too surprising then, that the stretch of episodes focusing almost solely on the two of them are the best ones that "Clannad: After Story" has to offer. Its emotional apex, a gorgeous scene set in a field of golden flowers tinted red in the setting sun, is hands down the most touching moment in the combined two seasons of the show. Emotional but not forcefully so, it captured the central theme of family with a poignancy and sincerity that's most unusual for the show.

But that, I'm afraid, is the last remaining good thing I have to say about "Clannad: After Story".

In between the aforementioned high points, and even entwined with them, crappy arcs and sub-plots are found in abundance. Amongst them, there's the incident of an all important decision reached via baseball, and another one that dealt with matters between Tomoya and his dad. The former looks to be an instance of "Clannad: After Story" trying to be subtle by approaching the matter at hand in a round-a-bout manner, in the same way that an elephant might try to do ballet; the latter is another classic case of the show sacrificing its characters to the drama. Time and time again over the course of the two seasons I witnessed Human Plot Device, aka Tomoya's dad, demonstrate his immense capability by taking on whatever personality the plot required, and this unsurprisingly resulted in his character feeling like an unfathonable, contradicting mess.

To say the remaining episodes were unsatisfactory would be an understatement. To begin with there was the re-appearance of one of the most fucking annoying characters I've ever had misfortune of encountering, which invoked more sadness within me than all the sad stories in the whole series put together. And then there's the ending. I don't want to give spoilers, so I'll just say that not only was it confusing, but I would have felt cheated if I didn't have so little emotional investment in the show to be cheated out of.

That aside, there's also some weird business going on with the ending to the main story not being the last episode of the series. There are two more episodes after the main ending: the first one is an alternative reality side story; the other one, the final episode, is just a recap. It's as if the show was going for the most anti-climatic end to a series ever. The purpose of throwing in that side story eludes me, but the re-cap's summarising did help to make the ending clearer. It doesn't clear up everything though, and there are major plot elements that remain baffling to the end. I did come across an informative time line that made references to the visual novel, and in all honesty, I was quite impressed with the grand scheme of what I saw. Unfortunately, various aspects of the plot failed to translate during the adaptation. Most notably, the visual novel mechanics they tried to port across caused plenty of confusion. The irony is that by trying to be more faithful to the source material, the anime actually ended up being worse off.

That said, the ending is just a single nail in a rather large coffin; the show's problems run far deeper, right down to the conceptual level. Other than being filled with moe blobs that barely qualifies as characters, I get the impression that the franchise has been developed from a completely wrong approach. Instead of starting with some good ideas and letting them grow into good stories organically, it feels like the writers started with the intention of making the biggest fucking weepfest ever, then threw in whatever ludicrous ideas that came into their heads in order to achieve their goal. As a result, values like story and character integrity were continuously being compromised to make the show more tragic superficially. This might have been forgivable if it only happened on occasion, but when it's the bread and butter aspects of the story, the end product simply isn't a good drama.

It's just emotion pr0n.

If a work of fiction drags its audience into the depths of hell with tragedy, does it retain its artistic merit if the entire experience is nullified by the conclusion?

This is the principal question faced when attempting to reach a verdict on Clannad: After Story, a work of fiction which has a compelling power to manipulate the emotions of its audience: to make them laugh, to bring them to tears, and to leave their hearts warm with joy. Exploring themes such as redemption and heartbreak, it does many of these things wonderfully, but in desperation to end with a certain tone, it destroys everything it ... achieves in a single moment.

After Story is the continuation of the first series of Clannad, a harem anime which distinguished itself from its contemporaries by treating its subject tactfully and managing to be amusing along the way. This is largely because of the strength of the main protagonist Tomoya Okazaki. In a genre which is infamous for bland main characters with no purpose other than being a body the audience can insert themselves into, Okazaki is a breath of fresh air. He had a back-story, a personality, and a sharp wit. That he spent so much time around women was not surprising, because his character was charismatic and interesting. His relationship with best friend Sunohara was also like a comedy double act, and was genuinely funny to watch.


The female cast, while based on familiar archetypes and not as strong characters as Okazaki, also had more depth than their contemporaries in the genre. They had their own interesting stories and subplots, and most of these were entertaining to watch. It was pretty clear from the offset that Okazaki would end up with Nagisa, and yet these diversions from the main storyline did not feel like distractions. Those characters were important to the story as a whole and their subplots helped to develop them. Afterstory takes things to another level. While the myriad of female characters are still present, it progresses from a harem story to a pure romance. Those female characters from the previous series are retained but they become less like groupies and more like a community. Their relationships with Okazaki and Nagisa are not just on good terms, but they behave like real friends. There is no underlying sense of competition among them for Tomoya’s attention and they interact with the couple cordially.

Similarly, the presentation in Afterstory is up to the high standards of the first series, with excellent animation and a quality soundtrack. While the art style is primarily a question of taste (though I question the legitimacy of the ‘bug eye’ critique) there is no doubt that the animation is consistently smooth and polished. It’s not daring or experimental, but it is highly articulate. The soundtrack fits the series wonderfully too, tugging at your heart strings at the appropriate moment, and easing you into laughter when Okazaki and Sunohara are up to their antics. It never errs and even if the same melodies are used time and time again, they never feel repetitive, and they linger on in memory long after the series is over.

In short much of the original series’ qualities are retained; the most striking difference between the two is the storyline, which in After Story develops into something far grander than its predecessor. While the first series of Clannad works as a piece of entertainment, in Afterstory the saga evolves into a work of art that explores complex themes, principally the theme of redemption. It does not do so with religious imagery or symbolism, but by masterfully crafting a story around the principle itself. Okazaki, as is known from the first series, is dealt a fairly bad hand early in life. Despite these difficulties he strives to help others and eventually manages to take some control of his existence and improve his situation. After Story does this without coming across as moralising or feeling contrived, a difficult task for a story with such themes. The series also contains a fair amount of tragedy, and this executed masterfully. In one key scene, a blissful moment is thwarted suddenly, quickly spiralling downwards into sorrow. One cannot help but shed a tear for poor Tomoya, whom life had finally begun shining upon. The theme of redemption resurfaces later in the story, where it is played to even greater effect. After reaching a catastrophic low, Okazaki is eventually able to reconcile his relationship with a character he earlier abandoned, in a climactic and touching scene which frames the rest of the series beautifully. This scene is balanced perfectly with the tragic scene mentioned earlier, and the emotional swing between misery and bliss leaves the audience with a feeling bittersweet happiness that every work of fiction strives to instil in its audience accomplished with finesse. Then, in front of our eyes, the beauty of everything before us unravels into something unspeakably ugly.

In a decision which can only be described as madness, the story incorporates another tragedy into the storyline- one which serves no greater artistic purpose or develops Okazaki’s character further. It is merely a tragedy for tragedy’s sake. And at that point, After Story enters into the void of sentimentality and emotional exploitation. One cannot empathise any further with the characters or feel any sorrow. In fact, the most appropriate response is anger. Anger that creating something interesting or making any kind of statement was never the intention of the creators, only to toy with our emotions in the hope it would provide us with some kind of masochistic pleasure.


It is a plot development from which no story could recover; any meaning one had found in the story until that point is completely lost, and we find ourselves unable to care in the slightest what else might happen to Okazaki. It is perhaps only the desire to get the damned thing over with that compels us to continue with the rest of the series. But continuing the series is an even greater mistake, because the rest of the story serves no purpose other than to add insult to injury.

While the second tragedy is nothing more than emotional blackmail, we could say that at least it doesn’t betray the emotions we had felt prior to it. To end on another low point seems meaningless but one still has the beautiful journey reaching it to reflect upon and the opportunity to ponder over its significance. One could satisfy oneself with the fact that while the narrative was obliterated, that such unfortunate double tragedies do occur and that the story is at least ‘real’.

Yet even this is desecrated by the conclusion, in which everything preceding it is rendered moot. We are inexplicably transported to a world where all the terrible events of the story do not occur and Okazaki is able to experience the happy life he had always longed for. This is completely unforgivable.

If you read any book on writing fiction, there will invariably be a chapter on ‘bad endings’ and the most prominent of these is ‘it was all a dream’. The reason being that such endings mean any inconsistencies do not need to be explained, that no real development occurs, and that anything that did occur is now meaningless. Afterstory’s ending is more or less equivalent to this. As the story had been cohesive and logical until this point, it is unlikely they did so to cover up for any errors made previously or to escape any inconsistencies. Clannad’s underlying supernatural themes go some way into explaining how the series ends the way it does, but does nothing to justify why it should end that way.


Such an ending does have one use though, and that is making a happy ending possible despite the previous plot developments. But why do we necessarily need such a conclusion? There is an implicit point being made that the audience would be unable to cope with a sad ending, making it necessary to conjure a happy ending by any means, even at the expense of the rest of the story. This is nothing less than an insult to the intelligence of the viewer. It is disgraceful. To take the audience into their emotional depths under the pretence that there will be a message or something meaningful behind it, only to betray their sense of empathy by providing an escape no-one who faces such tragedies in the real world shall ever have. Such abuse of emotions in works of fiction can only cause harm. It only leads one to refrain from investing too much feeling into fictional characters, making them hesitant to do so in the future. Worse still, while the audience is able to take in the sadness of the situation the characters experience, the opportunity for contemplation of its wider significance is severed. The consequences mean nothing because the problem has ceased to be a problem.

In works of fiction, the conclusions you reach are not as important as the journey taken to reach them, since the journey itself is what should lead one to reach those conclusions. In the case of Clannad Afterstory this process has been, not even reversed, but completely ignored. There is no connection between the two events. The journey exists, and it is a wonderful experience. It exhibits a kaleidoscope of human emotions on a powerful level, and does so beautifully. But that journey has no bearing on the conclusions reached either by the plot, or in the mind of the audience.

Hence the dilemma posed in reaching a verdict on this series. Does one simply praise the series for what it does well, criticise its faults and attempt to find a balance between the two? This is the approach one would usually take, but when the conclusion is not only disconnected from the journey but contradicts it entirely, that is something which cannot simply be forgotten. It obliterates all meaning, it excavates all depth, it makes the whole damned thing sum up to nought. Take your wish fulfilment and intellectual depravity if you wish, but I would rather be left in the depths of hell.

Magical, one of a kind beauty, executed and told in the most emotional way. Extremely unique and fascinating character development lead through life with its ups and downs. Realistic and tragic tale of love, life and living. A story which has lot to say and even more to offer. Life goes on, people change, but some things always stay the same. Or.. do they?

When I first watched Clannad, I thought it was a dull harem which had nothing spectacular to say. When I watched Clannad After Story, I thought it would offer the same dull nothing which Clannad was all about. This actually happened, but ... only for a short period of time. Soon after the start, Clannad After Story made some tragic acts and took a different route, completely new and fresh route. This route started a story which would never be forgotten. A story which would burn into the minds of all the people who end up watching the series. The mark it would leave would be a very positive and warm which would be treasured by majority of its viewers. But, in the same time, there would be people who would absolutely hate it and bear a great hatred towards the series and people who made it.

During the run, Clannad After Story becomes very realistic. So realistic that it is closer to truth than anything, and the truth is something we can't handle, so we get to see something else instead. A conclusion where the world is something "better" and far more "good" than what people would expect from reality. A conclusion which makes Clannad After Story a series which gives absolutely no value to the dead nor those who have dealt with the death of someone close. The ending is the prefect way to ruin one of the most impactful series possible, and change ones views about the series completely. It's an immature wish fulfillment ending which is executed solely because of viewers preferences for happiness. This unneeded happy ending destroyes everything the series itself managed to accomplish, but only in terms of the fiction, and not in terms of already experienced emotions, which is why majority of people can keep calling Clannad After Story a masterpiece.

There is a lot of people saying that Clannad After Story is the most perfect anime out there. World changing and life changing series which determinates ones humanity and shows how good of a person they are. This is ridiculous. What I, and majority of people seem to get of Clannad After Story, is that there is definitely good people in the world. This is where I stop. After that becomes the conclusion that good stuff happen to good people. There are miracles in the world and these miracles happen and make people happy. What Clannad After Story really makes is not a miracle, it is a cop-out with a lot of foreseeing. One very popular topic about the ending is the use of deus ex machina, which frankly, doesn't even matter. The trope used there is irrelevant since tropes aren't defining quality. The ending is nothing but a second change given in a situation where you don't fucking need a second change. You are supposed to live like the rest of us, not to fucking miraculously get back the things that can't be gotten back.

Lastly, I loved Clannad After Story, and that's why I hate it.

What is this? Is this anything?

Clannad: After Story is the anime equivalent to watching a YouTube video titled something like “Sad animal videos to make you cry - Part 6”. Is what I’m watching “sad”? In the most basic sense, yes. Does it in any way rely upon a particular connection to the characters/animals involved? No. It relies upon a sense of sympathy/empathy that most people just instinctually have. Clannad: After Story is, to borrow a phrase, all fart and no shit.

To accuse a piece of fiction of being “emotionally manipulative” feels strange; most, if not all, art falls under this umbrella. Of course any ... given movie/show/book/song/whatever is attempting to instill within you a certain emotion. Whether or not it succeeds in that, however, has to do with subtlety, pacing, tactfulness, and a ton of other factors that a writer (and their team) should carefully consider and balance. At no point in my viewing experience did the writing in Clannad (either season) feel carefully considered or balanced in the slightest.

I found Clannad (S1) to be thoroughly uninteresting. It was essentially impossible for me to care about its boring world, one-dimensional characters, and contrived drama. Adding to that, the humor was about as funny as being told that I have terminal cancer and the supernatural elements were so awkwardly implemented that it led to more confusion about the rules of the world than suspended whimsy. Still, I persisted because the light at the end of the tunnel (After Story) was promised by hordes of anime fans to be complete and ethereal salvation. And I swear to God if I keep falling for this shit...

Clannad: After Story is better than Clannad (S1) in the sense that being kicked in the balls is less painful than having all your teeth pulled; both are still thoroughly unpleasant experiences, but at least one doesn’t leave you permanently disfigured. The worst fucking metaphor I’ve ever come up with aside, I will give After Story (AS from here on out) some credit for at least trying to be ABOUT something.

Sure, S1 was about Tomoya and Nagisa starting up the drama club and their relationship, but most of what actually transpired was just a bunch of dumbass kids awkwardly bumbling around. S1 was, essentially, a harem that was too scared to call itself such. AS tries to strengthen its focus and be more mature. Does it succeed? Relative to S1, yes it does. AS is more “mature” than its predecessor. It focuses on more serious subjects and has slightly more of an edge. In the wider world of fiction, however, it’s more like the difference in maturity between a 10 year-old and a 15 year-old. Nobody in their right mind would describe it as “mature” except for in relation to S1.

To illustrate my point, newlyweds Tomoya and Nagisa are shown to be borderline nervous to hold each other’s hands. In their own apartment. In front of nobody. The subject of them having sex is broached more as though they just figured out how to roll a condom onto a banana than that they’re both high school graduates living together alone.

When AS cuts that nonsense out and focuses unabashedly on Tomoya’s struggles with acclimating to his job and adult life in general, it really shines (at least in comparison to what S1 and the first half of AS were doing). As compelling as THAT is though, I’d still never really think to call Tomoya (or any of the other characters) anything close to compelling, interesting, or likable on their own. Or even together, actually.

Tomoya in S1 was almost unbearable for me. His only real character flaw was that he was a “delinquent”. As much as he slacked off academically, though, he still found the time to help a gaggle of girls out with all of their personal issues, offer his services and time selflessly to an insane degree, and act heroically in the face of any and all threats. Outside of Optimus Prime, Captain America, and maybe Goku, the whole “my only flaw is my devotion to others and unfettered heroism” is a super boring and often times annoying archetype to me. Being “too good” is not compelling or relatable 9/10 times. Fortunately, AS does go out of its way to shit all over Tomoya and knock him down a few pegs and, as a result, the situations he finds himself in become more interesting.

The same can not be said for the rest of the characters, who remain thoroughly whelming in every facet. Am I honestly supposed to care about Nagisa? Why? Her personality is just so aggressively nothing. She’s earnest, shy, naïve, and just so moe, but whatever. Outside of S1 stuff related to the drama club, she doesn’t want anything or have any ambition. That’s actually one of my biggest issues with AS as a whole; nobody wants anything aside from stuff they’re given or already have.

What does Tomoya want? To be with Nagisa, of course. Okay, well he already has her, so what else is there? He wants to keep her, obviously. But Nagisa seems almost incapable of independent thought, so I don’t think her leaving him of her own accord is a situation to be fearful of. What does he want outside of the relationship? To just work wherever and be wherever? How interesting. Certainly I wouldn’t fault anybody in real life for being this way, but characters in fiction kind of have an obligation to be interesting to watch. The ones featured in Clannad seldom are. They neither come from the dirt and aspire to normalcy or start at normalcy and aspire to greatness. They start at normalcy and just kind of stay there.

This all comes to a head when a certain *thing* happens. I won’t spoil it, but if you even halfway pay attention to the OP it should be obvious (genuinely, even as someone who went spoiler-free the whole way through, I called it immediately). This *thing* changes the trajectory of Tomoya’s life until it doesn’t but I’ll get to that. Point is, this *thing* could have been easily avoided if these empty-headed idiots heeded even the most basic of warnings they had been given. That’s the impression I got, anyway.

I understand the themes of “the importance of family” and “the value of overcoming adversity and finding something to live for” as trite as they are, but would they not be more impactful if the characters actually, y’know, fought for something? They mostly just roll with the punches in a terribly blasé way. It’s just a series of things happening to them and them reacting in either a supremely uninteresting or insanely saccharine manner.

The *thing* I mentioned eventually gets reversed and, with it, the themes collapse in on themselves spectacularly. It would be one thing if it felt like something we’d been working towards for the duration of the show, and ostensibly there are, like, barely hints that *something* will happen, but it’s not really enough. The *thing* doesn’t get reversed because the characters work towards it, though, it just... happens. It might as well have been a dream. Sure, it dictates how Tomoya approaches life, but it’s not all that different from how he would’ve without the *thing* happening in the first place. There’s no sacrifice and there’s not even any real compromise – things just suck to make you cry and then they don’t because the showrunners wanted to hit a certain tone.

This next metaphor probably only serves to showcase how terminally online I am, but here goes... Y’all know the “Chad” meme? Of course you do, but do you also know the one where it’s the male and female “Chads” and it’s really pushing “traditional living” and stereotypical gender roles? The dude says something like “My only purpose is to provide for my wife and child” and the wife says “And my only purpose is to take care of the house and children while you’re out providing” or whatever? That’s all Tomoya and Nagisa feel like at the end of the day. That’s all it feels like Clannad has to say and it does it with a hilarious amount of earnestness and an equally hilarious lack of self-awareness.

I don’t know, I just cannot fathom how this is the 16th highest rated anime on this site. That’s higher than anything Ghibli, Your Name., Cowboy Bebop, anything Evangelion, Wolf Children, anything Satoshi Kon ever made, etc. It’s astounding.

But it looks nice I guess, and the music’s nice. Whatever. Nagisa and most of the female characters look more like what I’d find under a rock in my yard than any human being, but whatever. Most anime characters look like cats, so why not have them look like praying mantises?

Certainly not the worst show I’ve ever seen, but it’s just utterly unsurprising and unchallenging. Not that something being “challenging” is synonymous with quality, but when the characters are this flat, the drama is this poorly plotted, the story is this obvious (aside from the ridonkulous ending), and the emotions I’m intended to feel are this plain and unsubstantiated... Eh? I’m not a particularly unemotional guy (I’ve cried like a bitch at stuff like Anohana and Wolf Children) so when you’re showing me an “emotional” moment and I’m either laughing my ass off or my face resembles Squidward’s house, you’ve done fucked up.

Scores:
Art (7/10)
Music (6/10)
Characters (3/10)
Story (2/10)
Objective (4/10)
Subjective (4/10)

If nothing else, Clannad is proof that you can accomplish your wildest dreams. If somebody’s still paying Jun Maeda to write garbage, then by golly, the sky’s the limit for us.

Before you read this review, there are two things you should know.

1) It is only going to add fuel to the fire for those who don’t like Clannad: After Story and infuriate those who do. Read at your own risk.
2)This review isn’t telling you to not watch Clannad or After Story. On the contrary; if you have ever considered it, go watch it. Form your own opinion. This is mine.

Still here? Great.

Ill start off with what I did like about it, so that I don’t come across as a jerk right off the bat. Oh and dont worry; Im not going to tell you Clannad: ... After Story is only good or bad because it plays with peoples emotions. I think emotions are great and if an anime or any form of art makes you really feel something, thats a triumph in itself. I’m also warning you though, I’m not going to be talking about the art style/music/enjoyment stuff in detail. If you wanna know, all those aspects of the show are good (Ill go minutely in depth on the subject at the end). What I will be discussing are the overall cinematic and story telling aspects that stood out to me, for better or worse.

You'd think most anime producers never made it out of high school by the sheer plethora of Slice of Life's that deal with just plain high school semantics. Don’t get me wrong; I’m aware other SoLs exist and honestly high school is a great setting for characters, relationships, and relatablity to just about all of the anime community (over 13). What makes Clannad: After Story great is how it takes the step further. It goes beyond the confines of the above-ish average (Clannad review pending) high school SoL it starts as to the setting of adulthood, a league of its own, and I'll admit: Clannad: After Story knows what it does, and does it well. This is the main selling point of the series. Clannad: After Story creates a highly relatable tale by going, well, what most of us consider after the story, like that moment you wonder what the characters do once they save the world or share their first kiss, etc. And it does this without fluffing it up or getting too supernatural on us (NO BEACH SCENE included). I.e., it doesn’t forget what it is, and what it is is pretty compelling itself.

The other thing I liked was really a person: Tomoya Okazaki. I'm not trying to say I dig the pseudo bad boy gets good girl gig, but I mean to say I like Tomoya's development as a character. You can truly see, not by shape or body size, but by actions, Tomoya grow and change from a stereotypical ‘delinquent’ kid to a responsible adult. This makes sense. While his character isn’t particularly compelling or amazing, that's what makes him great. He's relatable. He is us, and we can get his problems and triumphs.

Alright, enough praise. Many now may be questioning what my problem with the series could be if I’m praising both the premise and the main character, both the very basics of practically any show. But the greatest aspects of Clannad: After Story are overshadowed by equally glaring flaws surrounding them. Ill be employing a three strikes rule.

Strike 1: Remember how I said Clannad: After Story knows what it is? Problem here is the fact that it takes about the first eight episodes for it to remember that. As in, the first eight episodes are just more Clannad, not really After Story material. As in plot doesnt necessarily progress until episode 10ish. The first eight episodes are just small side stories, the stuff Clannad was good at, and by themselves they are still cute and mildly touching, but in the grand scheme of Clannad: After Story, they didn’t fit. To be specific, there’s the equivalent of a character recap episode and then three two episode long arcs that concern Sunohara, the lady that kept up with the boys dorm, and that girl in the library who served tea separately (if you can’t tell I’m assuming you’ve seen Clannad. You should). I honestly couldn’t remember the other two's names unless I looked them up because they were just static characters before then, and yet now there have been five episodes devoted to them.

Admittedly, these sections aren’t bad, and they at least follow the Clannad code of giving every character a bit of backstory and- Oh wait. What about Kyou? Tomoyo? Ryou? The very girls in the intro? You're going to tell me your static characters get more priority than the actual heroines of your source material? Why? The first eight episodes do nothing to progress the Nagisa and Tomoya relationship the series is based around (except one section that explains some supernatural mumbo jumbo that wont be of importance until much later).

And this wouldn’t be a problem if it was just regular Clannad, but its supposed to be After Story. Then around episode 9 the series suddenly remembers its Clannad: After Story and not Clannad: More Useless Side Story, in which WHOO timeskip half a year or more! Boom- Graduation- all those characters they just spent 30 plus episodes developing GONE. The shift is so jarring youre almost left wondering if you’re watching the same show.

And all you’ve got now is Nagisa, her family, and Tomoya. Clannad: After Story begins.

Now Ill take a pause and say that some, maybe most, would say that this sudden transition from youth to adulthood is very realistic and is one of the greater strengths of After Story. I can’t exactly agree. I mean, there is no build up to the graduation, no foreshadowing the transition. There's just a sudden timeskip. My question is, why didn’t you just start after graduation? Imagine this:

As I’ve said, the first set of episodes feels like Clannad, and as I’m going to say (Clannad review pending), Clannad feels drawn out in the first arc and rushed through at the end. If you want a break down, the Fuka arc of Clannad was 9 episodes long, the Katomi's like 6, and a sort of dual Tomoyo and Nagisa arc carrying out the final 7 canon episodes. I say dual because while Nagisa's drama club attempt is directly related to Tomoyo, the focus is definitely heavily focused towards one or the other. So 9, 6, 3, 4, and then a string of 2s (episodes per arc). doesn’t that seem like they just tried to cram as much as possible in the longer they went on?

Now lets say instead the Fuka arc was made a little shorter, and all those extra episodes at the end were thrown away, and the first eight of After Story were then tacked with Clannad instead (minus the introductory one and the total useless one about the gangs), and you'd have a nice 26 episode series, and then a 13 episode After Story series that had all its shit together (dont be fooled by the length. After Story ends on episode 22 here too.) THAT would be a fabulous transition. Or just SCREW all that static character crap and focus on what the VN was about; the heroines. Its like if the entire first act of Romeo and Juliet was about all extras for the party, and then Romeo and Juliet just ditching the place in the very next scene, never to return. All in all, the execution was poor planning and poor production.

The rest of my problems can be summed up with one word.

Strike Two: Nagisa.

Seriously. Screw her. I laugh at the thought that I was ever supposed to cry over her. Okay, okay, hold on, dont leave. In Clannad terms, she's really not that bad. I mean the first season. As a high school girl, it makes sense for her to be innocent, naive, immature, and generally all things moe. Problems arise when, following graduation, she doesn’t change. She fails to grow out of her moe bullshit. While Tomoya gains some sense of responsibility, Nagisa manages to still sound like a small child that might get lost if you leave her alone too long. She doesn’t grow up. She doesn’t develop. She remains totally unrelatable. So whenever something happens in which I’m obviously supposed to blinded by tears, I’m honestly feeling boredom. While the first few episodes at least managed to make me care just a bit about characters who barely had more than five lines the first time around, the mid arc doesn’t even bring a twinge out of someone I’m supposed to care deeply about by now (I guess...). Instead, I found myself more often than not listlessly waiting for characters to just quit monologuing. Seriously, I can’t stress how useless Nagisa is. Its like her entire character is meant to never grow up, show cased by her repeating school multiple times. Maybe its just her stupid moe voice, but everything she said following getting together with Tomoya sounds equivalent to a grade schooler, not a supposedly grown woman. Case in point: "Tomoya and I have sex and sex makes babies!" And while this sounds cute, remember, this is supposed to be the SoL all about 'adulthood' and 'the real world'. I wouldn’t trust this girl with a potted plant, much less a baby. Her moe quits working its charm when she’s not sheltered in the high school atmosphere anymore. That’s a realistic statement, my friend.

Why couldn’t they have followed some normal girl, like... okay, none of the other characters are really relatable. The girls are either dependent on moe or ultra-violent, and every man besides Tomoya is a ditz. Every single one stays in the cardboard cutout of a personality except maybe Kyou who tones down the crazy near the end, but its not like they take the time to develop her or anything. She’s just in every intro. (no getting over that) They’re all so glued to their stereotypes, And take pride in it! One episode there is a mock graduation ceremony for Nagisa in which everyone returns and looks exactly the same as from the beginning of the Clannad. And then one final get together in which Sunohara has the audacity to say “I’m just so glad to see that nobody has changed.”

To which I proceeded to beat my head against a wall than watch more of this show.

Lets get something straight. People are meant to change, especially when you grow up. If you’re acting the same as a thirty year old as you were a thirteen year old, you’re doing something wrong. And while I’m not expecting a total transformation on Nagisa’s part, I would at least like so see something of the equivalent of Tomoya or at least WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP HUGGING YOUR STUPID DANGO DOLLS. Look, if you like stuffed animals at twenty, great, but symbolically in this show, its just another check on the not growing up side of things. I mean, Tomoya grows up, so why not anybody else?

Whatever.

Strike Three: The Happy Ending.

Look. I have nothing against happy endings (Im thinking Steins; Gate). I simply have a problem with endings/resolutions that dues ex machia their way out of a bad/sad ending(Im thinking the first arc of Sword Art Online. Ya know, the Sword Art Online one?). And I loathe endings that attempt to explain their dues ex machia ending. Shows like Steins; Gate get around this loathing because it was built up from the very beginning and succeeds in explanation. You could argue further that Clannad planned it very the very beginning as well, but there was little success in said explanation. It was kinda like ‘Oh but don’t worry everything works out just because yay!’. Yes, his repairing his relationship with his dad was well played on their part, and had been a theme since the beginning. But was it really necessary to tack the supernatural wish stuff with it? What was that whole business with the other world? Did it really matter? Was the happy ending really necessary? Maybe I’m fighting with the source material here again, but damnit producers, make a choice! Clannad, the show that was 95% realism pulls a supernatural ending out of its hat that just destroys what the show was heading to be about, which was perseverance. Or maybe its saying that if you try hard enough everything will work out, but again, not everything is just going to fix itself.

So the ending single handedly cuts down any sense of reality you got from the show. I would have been content, even happy, with it just ending like episode 19 or 20, and it would have felt resolved. Then Id have to find something else to bitch about, or maybe then I would’ve liked it enough to not fuss this much. But no, they had to push the feels to the farthest level so that Clannad goes down as being the most emotionally damaging show ever and then making a full 180 to singlehandedly win back all those people who would have otherwise cursed the shows very existence, because God forbid anything but a perfectly happy ending. Admittedly some not so happy endings suck (Im thinking of Gurren Lagann), but that’s just because they forget the theme of the show in the last minute, or maybe screw it up just to insure the bittersweet ending because I honestly don’t know. Endings are just straight up hard I guess.

And what was with the last ten minutes of just filler in episode 22? Okay, sorry, I’m done.

Endnotes:
Art: Consistently beautiful and a plethora of well-made characters, I can’t bash on the art. It was easy on the eyes. 9/10

Sound: While not a ton of tracks stood out in particular, there were a couple like what I’d call the ‘Feels Track’ that they play whenever shit gets real that are memorable. The dub, on the other hand, feels really spot on. 5/10

Story: If I were to give a score on a per episode basis of when I cared, it’d be about a 10/25. Sooo… 4/10? Look, After Story part is a 8/10, and if the other stuff was Clannad, itd be a 8/10 too actually, but side by side, it’s a bad juxtaposition.

Characters- 2/10. Tomoya is that two. Well him and Ushio. They carry the day. (But I do have moderate affection for Akio).

Enjoyment- 5/10. I didn’t fall in love with it or anything, and I did put it down for a while. That entire mid arc had be pulling nails out, but the end arc was enjoyable enough to redeem it, and the beginning, good. It’s a good show.

Overall: 4/10
By MAL standards, Id rate this as Bad (or Decent/Poor). Not because its actually bad to the point of unwatchable, and it feels like it should be above average, but honestly the parts as a whole feel like a broken system, like that sad little robot in the world that’s coming to an end. It works and can move on its own and has heart, but I can only think of small sections of which I actually enjoyed watching and understood its relevance.

With that, Id love someone to come and fight me now. Preferably bleached hair. I gotta work on my Tomoya cosplay.

I'll admit that "Clannad"/ "Clannad: After Story" was my first, and probably last venture into the anime "slice of life" genre. I know this genre can be done well, but given the esteem that it appears most viewers hold for Clannad I don't expect to find any better. My problem with this series is that it starts out asking you to suspend your disbelief and ends up asking you to just lower your standards.

What I mean by this is that is starts out with things like : a girl has a pet boar, comatose girl's spirit walks among the living, etc. which to me added ... to the flavor of the story. Then there are the improbable/ mundane scenarios peppered throughout the first series that we all tolerate, because we're invested in the characters; an example from the first series Kotomi being allowed to live on her own. But once all the supporting characters are gone/ all their individual sob stories are addressed or resolved and school is over what are we left with?

Tomoya's puritanical (and hence) underdeveloped relationship with his generic/ underdeveloped girlfriend. I managed, bordering on liked, the first season, because there were plenty of distractions from this, and it was high school so Tomoya and Nagisa's relationship, which wasn't as prevalent, came off as being unlikely instead of just flat out impossible, which is what happened/ ruined the after story.

What I can't understand is who would be offended by a- committed couple kissing, sharing a single bed (I mean this isn't the 1950's.) If you want to pretend that street gangs don't deal in illegal weapons and illicit substances and aren't morally reprehensible, fine. But crying in someone's arms isn't romance. The definition (in case you were wondering): a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love. Where was the mystery, where was the excitement? Love (according to the triangular theory of it) is composed of passion, intimacy, and commitment. There wasn't any passion, there wasn't any physical intimacy. So to recap this is a romance without romance, and a slice of life where young individuals experience no passions (physical or otherwise,) and display little to no desire for independence.

Now I'm not saying in order for the relationship to be believable or enjoyable the writers needed to be explicit, but in there efforts to whitewash a young couples relationship while conveying intimacy they substituted Nagisa's incessant crying for a conventional/ socially acceptable/ standardized forms of affection. This kind of thing layered atop hackneyed and melodramatic plot points like sports duels... it's too much, it's not funny or interesting. In the end nothing about this slice of life story was believable and so it stopped being enjoyable.

Above is my review for Clannad After Story episodes 1-15. By the last episode I was so disappointed/underwhelmed that I quit watching. A number of people on this site said to finish, because the story takes a dramatic turn and the quality picks up etc. so I finished, but because 16 to 22 are so different that the first 15 I felt it was more appropriate to address them separately. I'm not going to address 23-25 because they're extras.

Writing about 16-22 without spoilers is difficult; as I see it this second piece must be broken into three different stories (episode 16, 17-21, 23) trying to critique the writing without addressing the plot twists present in each component presented a unique challenge but I've tried not to give anything vital away.

The first part from a viewers perspective seemed obvious or inevitable. From the main character's perspective getting themselves into that situation so soon after Nagisa's previous ordeal, or falling into as it may have been (the writers didn't see fit to specify, not that I'd expect them to) was not impossibly reckless... just stupid beyond words.

In part 2 there is a time lapse of five years. Now, try as I might and I invite anyone whose seen it to as well imagine a scenario where after five years things would emerge as they did. There was no way, things would have either been infinitely worse, or have gotten better sooner. The reason five was the magic number was they need time for that character (you know the one) to develop, but sacrificing logic towards a paradigm shift within a series is just bad writing.

Finally part three: part three left me feeling off balanced. Compare the weight of the previous piece to the ending and you finish this series as if the ending didn't happen at all.

My final summation of the series: 1- 15, it was terrible. As for 16-22... I have a friend who once said that "anything set to the Benny Hill theme song is funny" (it is). In the same way the two big events that take place in the second half of the series are deeply moving, but they would have had that effect on anyone with any feelings at all regardless of context i.e. if they knew the characters, or the story were any good. Therefore, I say that those who defends this series based on the strength of 16-22 must have confused/ placed a cheap gimmick repeated twice in the span of six episodes (five really) over quality writing.

I don't even know where to begin with this really.

The artwork is terrible, their eyes are ridiculously far apart, putting me off the entire show and making each and every character completely trivial.

The story is truly truly awful; it wasn't interesting at all, nothing even happens for pretty much all 24 episodes. Sure there's a bit of sadness but then it all goes back to a clean slate. What got me most though was the terrible idea of what seems like a dream world that vaguely related back to the actual story which made no sense whatsoever and then once that was over with, the ... last 3 episodes were just a waste of time all together.

The soundtrack was actually okay and made this show almost watchable.

I didn't enjoy this at all. This was recommended by friends and I also saw that this show had a rating of just over 9 on MAL to which I thought, "I have to see to the end exactly why this is one of the top rated anime of all time on MAL". It was a complete disappointment.

SPOILERS AHEAD

From looking anywhere, you may get this idea that clannad is this objectively brilliant anime that can instantly move anyone to tears. So, you might start watching expecting on of best anime of all time.

Deflate your expectations.

If I had to summarise my issues with clannad it’s that it is written ‘backwards’, let me explain. Clannad has many emotional moments. It churns them out by the hour jumping from on tearjerker scene to the next, this brings its own set of issues but the main problem is that the emotional scenes are written and then a stupid build up is attached to said scene. So, ... while the cast is bawling their eyes out, I’m sat here doing mental gymnastics on the show’s behalf, I cannot be sad if none of these moments make sense. But that’s not it the characters range from passable to annoying and the emotional moments are overly sappy and melodramatic its hard to take seriously, this is even worse considering most of the cast are meant to be adults. Allow me to go into more depth all though I’ll keep this brief, for your sake.

Sunohara’s arc: Sunohara’s sister is worried about Sunohara for not going anywhere in his life so Tomoya comes up with the brilliant solution of giving Sunohara a fake girlfriend. How this solves anything is beyond me. Later on, in the arc Sunohara and Nagisa’s mom are one a fake date later on in this arc there is an incredibly out of character scene that Sunohara doesn’t want to help so lost children because it will get in the way of his (still fake) date with a married woman. The reason this doesn’t make sense is that is doesn’t make sense is because the point of this date is to show Sunohara’s sister that he is mature and responsible, but he ends up acting out of character to progress the plot. Some shenanigans and more out of character moments eventually Sunohara see’s Mei and tomoya together so in his brilliance tomoya pretends to be Mei’s girlfriend instead of explaining everything and ending this clusterfuck. We didn’t even need this arc, Sunohara is just comedy relief and some for Tomoya to bounce off this arc (and the first 8 episodes of after story) are pointless. So, one thing leads to another and Sunohara and Tomoya end up betting each other up. This arc perfectly exemplifies my issue with clannad’s ‘backwards’ writing. The emotional scenes come first, then a nonsensical explanation after.

I’m going to speed though the rest of the arcs, so this review doesn’t push 1000 words.

Misae’s arc: Time for an arc of a side character that’s barely even shown with Jun Maeda’s staple supernatural elements that don’t sense but could be sad in the moment. TLDR Misae loves this boy but he dies and then he’s a cat, somehow, Misae’s sad and then tomoya wakes showing us that it was all a dream, and everyone believes him, somehow.
Yukine’s arc: Tomoya and Sunohara get caught on two sides of some gang war, weirdly enough.

Nagisa’s death: After a few slice of life episodes Tomoya and Nagisa decide to have a kid. One thing leads to another and Nagisa dies in childbirth. I don’t care because A. Nagisa has no personality and is either boring or annoying B. Its been hinted throughout the series that Nagisa will die and C. Tomoya and Nagisa don’t have any chemistry, they just love each other because the plot demands it.

Tomoya’s arc: I’m calling the section of the anime where Tomoya gets over his depression and meets his grandmother an arc even though it’s a random bunch of events. This arc is mostly fine if you ignore the massive coincidence the Tomoya and his grandmother just happen to be at the same place at the same time. And the fact that his dad went through an almost identical situation. And that they are playing in the same field that Tomoya played in as a kid. How convenient.

Ushio’s death: Ushio gets ill gets ill and its hinted that he will die, as we’ve already seen a scenario like this and that we know the type of story clannad is it’s safe to assume he will die. Ushio says he wants to go on another trip, fair enough. But tomoya says no because it is not safe to do so. Obviously. But he eventually caves in and takes his sick daughter out into the snow, and then she dies. No, it doesn’t make sense and yes, it is incredibly stupid, he knew this would happen, but he went along with it anyway.
Ending: Even clannad fans dislike the ending so I’m not to go on about it.

Overall: There are positive elements to clannad, there is this one good song that inserted to every scene and the OP was nice. But the reason I gave it a 3/4 and not a 1 is because after the first moment of contrivances and unexplained supernatural elements I just stopped caring and let its mistakes slide so the genuinely okay moments stuck out.

To much drama to enjoy the show. To much Death, to painful to enjoy any part of it.

Thanks to the Dramatic climax of season 2, i now have a destroyed door in my home from the rage it inspired. There was absolutely no need to make events turn out the way they did. i truly hope the creator gets some what he has coming to him from someone..

The comedy at times is Sick... not in a good way.. it uses dramatic events of sadness and tries to use them as comedy at times and that is just wrong.

i dont understand why people really enjoy ... this show and give it high ratings when its absolutely dark and sad... its not enjoyable to watch good innocent people have the worst possible thing ever happen to them. Humans are sick for enjoying that....

Once upon a time, Tomoya Okazaki had been depressed. The child of a single, alcoholic parent and a delinquent at school, there was nothing in the world for him to live for, and he knew it. That was before he met Nagisa Furukawa, a sweet, docile, anemic girl with a dream to live and no strength or will to see it through. With the help of a strange bevy of friends and romantic options, Tomoya was able to guide the girl through the hard times that came her way, pulling her over every obstacle and believing in her until that dream could ... be realized... And once it was over, she had practically no choice but to pay him back by becoming his girlfriend.

In most anime, that’s where the story would end, but here, it’s not so simple... Their relationship is only the beginning of a winding tale of fate that will affect the boundaries of reality itself. As they leave behind high school... Along with their friends, Tomoya’s need to help people, and the hearts of half a dozen other girls... And embark on their journey into adulthood and the real world. This means taking a bold, courageous leap into independence, responsibility, and consequences as they get jobs and learn to support each other. They’re warned that there’s going to be trouble along the way, but nobody could possibly guess just how much heartbreak and tragedy is awaiting them... Because surviving high school and becoming a couple may be the beginning, even marital bliss is far from the ending.

Like it’s predecessor, Clannad Afterstory was produced by famed studio Kyoto Animation, the crown kings of the moe art style(A1 is the queen)... And yet it doesn’t look quite the same. The over-all style of Kyoto Animation is well known to have changed drastically in the mid to late 2000s, and a lot of people blame the financial success of K-On! for this shift... Their artwork used to be very solid and consistent even at it’s most active moments, but following this change, faster on-screen motion looks a lot cheaper, as though they found a more affordable method of capturing motion without sacrificing speed or energy... But it’s unfortunately highly noticeable, and it doesn’t look nearly as impressive as their work from the first half of the decade.

Basically, it started to look Gainax-y. Honestly, though, I don’t really think K-on! is to blame for this. Clannad Afterstory is their earliest work where I actually noticed this change, although it looks more prototypical compared to K-on. I mentioned in my last review how the artists were able to create life in the eyes of their female characters, and while their eyes don’t look quite as dead as I implied a drop in the budget would make them, they do still have their iffier moments. This can make faster fluid movements can appear choppy or cheap looking at times... It’s probably at it’s worst when Akio is moving his arms to rap... But thankfully, after the first eight episodes, bigger actions are few and far between, leaving a decent amount of money available for the rare CG effects and some of the better moments towards the end.

The music really hasn’t changed since my last review, so there isn’t a whole lot I can say about it. Instead, I’ll talk about the opening and ending, both of which are apparently beloved. Despite the show’s step down in animation quality, the opening looks a LOT better in Afterstory, despite their similarities. The song is Toki wo Kizamu Uta by Key veteran Lia, it not only sounds but also looks far more interesting than the generic, snooze worthy track that opened it’s predecessor. This opening begins rapturously, showcasing the supernatural lights and shots of the town on a far more visually arresting note. One thing I found odd is that even though the series has left behind it’s harem-y roots, it still announces the game’s romantic options in the opening. They had the good sense to get rid of Fuko, but that still leaves Kotomi, Tomoyo and Kyou, who’ve all been largely downgraded to supporting roles in what’s supposed to be Tomoya and Nagisa’s story.

The english dub has also greatly improved, with Steven Foster taking less and less of a role in the show before moving on from it completely. Clint Bickham is a decent writer who’s very good at transforming Japanese idioms and turn of phrase into something more accessible to Western viewers without bastardizing it. Janice Williams takes over directorial duties, and while Foster was a producer on the dub, it was short-lived. The acting is just as strong as it was in the previous show, despite a few tweaks here and there. David Matranga is still carrying the series, and Luci Christian is still sweet and supportive. She gets more opportunities at range, but said opportunities are limited... She alters her approach hilariously when Nagisa gets drunk, and her vocal work during childbirth(Yeah, i’ll be spoiling that here) are heartbreaking.

She plays her won child, which would be a great opportunity to show more of her abilities, if her child wasn’t as bland and artificial as pepperoni pizza. Illich Gaurdiola returns as Yusuke Yoshino, who is now Tomoya’s sempai at work, and while I enjoy him during his weirder moments... Take the glorious baseball game for example... The rest of his performance just sounds like one-note mumbling. The pitch sounds right for the sort of character he’s playing, but he sounds like he doesn’t want to be in the booth, and is just getting his lines out as quickly as possible so he can go home. I didn’t mention this in the last season’s review(although it applies there too), but Andrew Love and Kara Greenburg are the undisputed stars of the dub as Nagisa’s parents, Akio and Sanae. Both characters are almost bipolar in nature, showing vastly different attitudes whether they’re acting calm and quiet or crazy and over-the-top, but either way, they’re a joy to listen to. It probably helps that they’re playing the best characters in the show.

Now, I should probably begin by saying that yes, Clannad Afterstory is better than Clannad, to the point where I wish they’d reversed the names and called the first one Clannad: Beforestory. Because let’s be honest, the first season didn’t have much of a story... It featured a collection of small stories that were as interchangeable as the girls Tomoya was helping. The whole thing climaxed with a love confession, and while that may have been believable when you consider Tomoya’s self-worth issues, it doesn’t put up much of an argument for compelling stakes. Afterstory, on the other hand, drops the disjointed nature of the series and decides instead to buckle down and tell a solid, extensive story... Nine episodes in. Yeah, apparently there were still a few mini-arcs to get through, and I’ll be honest, they’re a chore.

The first episode, which revolves around the entire cast being reunited for a baseball game, is awesome, even if the plot may have been lifted from Haruhi Suzumiya. There’s some great comedy in this episode, and it does an admirable job of reintroducing the last season’s characters to the audience, as well as establishing where Tomoya and Nagisa are in their relationship. The next two episodes quickly go downhill as Mei comes back to town to check on Sunohara, and these are some miserable damn episodes. Not only are they stupid and entirely pointless, but they take the somewhat unlikeable Sunohara and turn him into what can only be described as a reprehensibly selfish creature. I’ll spare you A LOT of the details, but ultimately, Tomoya pretends to be Mei’s boyfriend to try to piss Sunohara off. He doesn’t, and later on, he reveals that even though they blatantly claimed to be sleeping together, he didn’t try to stop it “Because it was you, Okazaki!” Yeah, if you’re gonna trust a pedophile with your 12 year old sister’s virginity, it had better be Okazaki.

The following arc isn’t as bad, per se, but equally pointless, and deeply unintentionally funny. The woman who runs the dorm... Whom in any other show would be too unimportant to have a story arc, but this is Clannad and filler is it’s art form... And how a boy she fell in love with turned out to be a ghost, but she made a wish to turn him into her immortal pet cat. Yeah, just imagine the implications as she cleans out her one true love’s litter box. Then we get an arc for the quiet girl in the library who occasionally helps them with their problems, and while it’s probably the best of the three arcs, it’s still entirely lacking in purpose. As I said before, you could easily skip all of these episodes without losing anything in translation... But whether you watch it or not, that won’t change the fact that immediately afterwards, something amazing happens... Clannad finally begins to feel like a real story.

If you’re counting the first season, plus OVAs, this is around episode 34, and the main character finally begins to develop. You heard me right. No longer does he just exist to surround himself with broken people, help fix them and occasionally give us something to feel sorry for him about, oh no... He grows, faces some real flaws, and learns some actual lessons. He moves out and into his own apartment, supports Nagisa while she repeats her final year of school, and gets a job, actually having to learn his new trade from the ground up. He’s living with Nagisa all the while, pops the question to her, and goes through one of my favorite episodes as he tries to get her father’s permission to make the engagement official. It’s not perfect, but it’s clearly the best kind of writing the series has to offer. Which is a shame, because it all comes crashing down due to her pregnancy.

Well, let’s back it up a bit. Tomoya would be a great character in an anime where the rest of the characters were even close to having as much depth as him. The way it is, with Tomoya having this tragic past, all of this emotional damage, and an entire cast of other characters hanging on his every word constantly reminding him(and us) how great he is, he honestly just feels Mary-Suish on an almost masturbatory level. He gets an idealized wife, because that’s all that’s left of Nagisa after her play is over, leaving her as a straight up anti-character. Their marriage feels like a couple of kids playing house, which might be because they sleep in different beds and NEVER KISS. The moment when she announces her pregnancy(in the most infantile way possible) is probably the most shocking moment in the whole series. She gives birth, and their daughter is the perfectly idealized well-behaved child who will stay home alone and not get any trouble while her sole caregiver goes through a full-time workday. I mean, sure, she goes for walks on her own, but that’s never addressed as a horribly irresponsible thing for Tomoya to allow.

And speaking of Ushio, let’s get to the one spoiler I have to talk about(It’s not the only one, don’t worry, I’ll avoid the others); Nagisa dies during childbirth, an act I’m pretty sure she was written purely for. When this happens, Tomoya spirals into depression, and hands his daughter off to her grandparents... Which we learn after a five year time skip. This is where my appreciation of Tomoya as a character comes crashing down like a plane with a teddy bear on it. Yes, I know it hurts to lose someone, but wallowing in self pity for five years? I once saw a movie where Kevin James failed to file some important financial paperwork for a year after his wife’s death, and I called bullshit on that, too. If you have children, you have a responsibility to those children, and if you fail to even attempt to live up to that responsibility, I have no sympathy for you.

Which would be fine, if he were portrayed in an unsympathetic light from then on. I don’t mind horrible people in a story, as long as they’re recognized as being horrible. But the very idea that after five years, Akio never once stormed into Tomoya’s apartment to kick the crap out of his selfish ass is completely out of character for him. Even his daughter, after a bonding trip that’s full of more coincidences than the movie Rat Race, has no problem moving from her big house over the bakery into a smaller apartment to be with her stranger-daddy, even after undoubtedly forming parental bonds with her doting grandparents. Everyone treats poor Tomoya with an “Oh, you must have had it tough” slap on the back when he deserved a kick in the nuts, which destroyed his very real chances of earning my sympathy.

So what does this all lead up to? Well, harkening back to my last review, that depends. To half the viewers, it leads to one of the most heartbreaking and then uplifting tragedies of the anime medium. To the other half, it leads to emotionally manipulative tripe that barely deserves to lick their feet. I can’t really speak to which of these opinions is right... Oh wait, yes I can, because this is my review. The ending of Afterstory is terrible. We get a second tragedy, which I won’t spoil, and while it’s perfectly set up by the internal logic of the series, the punch is soon pulled by a sudden happy ending that’s so cheap, even people who explicitly understand the dream world logic call bullshit on it. Not only does it directly undermine the much-adored dark, tragic tones that everyone likes to sell it on, but it backtracks on some of the most important development that Tomoya went through in a way that can easily be compared to the Prince of Persia movie. Yeah, try washing THAT analogy out of your mouth.

Clannad Afterstory is available from Sentai Filmworks. Much like the first season, it’s available in both DVD and Bluray formats, for between the prices of forty-five and sixty dollars. Each season comes with OVA episodes, and there are three of them in this one... A story that allegedly takes place right before the beginning of season 1, and two episodes dedicated to the Kyou and Ryou story arc. There are also undubbed DVDs that are somewhat cheaper. Several manga and live action spin-offs have been created, but none of them are officially available in the States, although there’s a petition to translate and import the first visual novel.

Earlier, I said that Afterstory was better than the original Clannad, a statement I still stand by. What I probably should have specified is that better does not equal good, and in this case, it’s more a drop in the bucket than a noticeable mark in quality. Really, it was only able to pull itself above it’s predecessor by dropping the harem elements and developing it;s main character, both of which it did way too late, and not very well. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind while writing a tragedy is that you can’t make the audience like a character just by having bad things happen to them. Rather, write them to be interesting beforehand, so that we get to like them before those things happen. The only character we get to know on an intimate level is Tomoya, and we get to know everybody else through their relationships to him... Thus, when somebody dies, we don’t feel as though WE’VE lost someone important, but instead we’re expected to feel it through him. Nobody else gets a lover, or an interesting job, or anything else in the future, just Tomoya, and while he’s a good character by Clannad’s low standards, he’s just not good enough to get THAT invested in. I give Clannad Afterstory a 4/10.

Overrated.

Back in 2011, I heard a lot of hype about Clannad AS. So I decided to watch it. Not only did it fail to meet my expectations, but crushed them and burned it into ashes. I was highly disappointed.

It was an anime that was meant to be slice of life, romance, drama and sadness. It was quite boring. Even the comedy is stale. Yes the Art is nice, yes the music's good but the characters, the story line was so plain. The only characters I liked were Kyo, Tomoyo and Kotomi. The opening was also bad: I didn't enjoy it. There was so many ... fillers, I thought it was pretty lame. I wanted more of a depressing, romantic anime which could've made me cry but the story was bad and I couldn't understand it, including the ending so therefore, 2/10.

Clannad: After Story 4/10
Biggest weakness - the characters (a shame, because the story had potential, but if you have somebody like Nagisa Furukawa, who is now my officially least likable main character of all time, then it's just painful to watch this anime)

Clannad and Clannad: after story are pretty popular shows, so I though I should check it out. But it only took a few episodes to make me hate this series. I figured everything out quickly, because every character is a damn stereotype, even if you try to compensate with a tragic background, they're still boring cliche characters, that I couldn't identify with (especially ... the girls). Except funny dad Akio Furukawa, every one pissed me off, excuse my French. But let's keep it real, what is the most important thing in ANY anime (especially romance)? That's right - the characters! Who voted this show up nr. 2!? Is it really enough for so many people to see some kawaii girls and a troubled boy, trying to figure out life? There are so many great animes out there, with similar and definitely better plots, writing, animation....I can't believe I was able to sit through all episodes. The pseudo melancholic, that didn't move me at all, all the forced dramatic, the first half didn't have much to do with the second half of the anime, but apparently made other people cry and cry *smh*...dull characters that don't exist in real life, I continue to say that because this show is not just trying to be magical, it wants to be realistic...which is the main problem, it is NOT! Very disappointed how mediocre this show is, after reading so many good reviews about it.
I don't recommend this show, simply because there are at least 1000 better animes to recommend. Sorry.

Okay, so I was pleased to see that Clannad actually had a second "season" if you'll call it that. Seems like it is more of another series but with the same characters, rather than a continuation of the previous plot. So far, I was enjoying myself up until the story got to be a bit weird, which was around episode 14 or so. I mean that fact that Tomoya and Nagisa (main characters) are a couple that has been together for I'd say about 2 years and we still have yet to see them kiss, not to mention that fact that they get completely embarrassed ... about just holding hands?

Soon after that, I think the writers of the series kind of wanted to see how far they could take things with the story. It gets very fast-paced, heavy, and somewhat depressing. Honestly I should've stopped watching after episode 14. It gets very sad and depressing after episode 15. But I applaude the writers for taking a chance like this. You don't see too many anime series end in the way that Clannad After Story did. Try it but be prepared for the unexpected (and Fuko (supporting character) doesn't make her ninja appearances)

When the weaboo era had hit the internet around '08 or '09, I believe I was still in middle school time; young, naive, and a hopeless romantic (though I won't deny the fact I probably still am a hopeless romantic now it seems hA). I revered Clannad as of the most subperb, subliminal, greatest thing to ever be created-- like a kiss blown by God himself. I learned all of the piano songs, mentioned any references if I could, drew dango everywhere... and well, you kind of get the picture.

Now after graduating high school, entering into university and being introduced to a plethora of ... other anime with different genres, I literally have to fight the urge to not punch myself in the face and cringe as to how much I idolized Clannad when I was younger.

(there's a tl;dr at the bottom if you do not want to read my full frustration and anger)

Story and Character: 4

Looking back and taking a long while to reevaluate the anime again, it was filled with sub-par to mediocre devices that dragged an already mediocre storyline from season 1. My cousin urged me to watch it because it was one of the most greatest anime at its time (I had really just wanted to jump on the bandwagon), but to be completely honest, I was already ready to drop the anime the first few episodes by how boring, bland, and slow the plot was (I'm pointing at the Fuuko arc) (although that review should be saved for the first season). And much to its early predecessor, After Story follows the same premise. If I can remember correctly, the arcs within the second season were unmemorable and terribly characterized, living off of the deus ex machina trope to save the day. The plot relies heavily on melodramatic clichés and pathos to appeal to its viewer, and I believe that very same device really creates the misconception of how basic the plot actually is (because the very same thing happened to me when I was younger).

The characters introduced in season one were swept off to a corner basically as the plot focused on Tomoya and Nagisa's relationship and maturation as a couple, family, individuals etc. To be completely honest, Tomoya is probably the only redeeming character of the anime and the most memorable to say the least. I was especially empathetic towards him during the arc with his father. Definite props to the writers for addressing a very real, raw conflict and theme that can be exemplified in every day lives.

Art: 5
THE DANG EYES. WHAT ARE THOSE EYES. Other than that, the artwork was actually pretty good.

Sound: 8
Now this was probably one of the most memorable things of the anime that still resonates with me today; the melody of 'Dango Daikazoku' definitely tugs at my inner laden nostalgia especially. There are many tracks I would definitely relisten to.

TL;DR
Although After Story may be a decent watch, it definitely does not deserve a spot in the top 10 considering there are far better anime that are far beautifully detailed, elaborate, and well written than Clannad. Really, the only reason I can draw After Story's high reverence by casual viewers alike could only be its excessive implementation of melodramatic scenes. After Story manipulates this to its advantage when in reality the plot has no real density at all. Yes some anime may be very touching and moving, even to the point of tears, but just because it's so unbelievably sappy and melodramatic DOES NOT make it one of the greatest anime to be created.

I literally shake my head at the rushed excuse of a deus ex machina ending the writers decided to take.

Yo so Clannad afterstory, the second installment to the Clannad story is one of those animu that people love for them feels. After recently watching it again i realised that there were some problems with it which i thought were DOGSHITE . Admittedly, i am a hater so before you call me out to fight at your local park (It's how we settle things in Australia), imma tell you what parts about the second season i didn't like and why.

The art and animation are fine, same as the previous. While it is good, its nothing groundbreaking. nothing i feel that i need to speak much ... about.

Now the story and characters is where i started having serious problems with this series. When you agree to invest your time into watching a highschool love drama, that's what you'd expect to get right. And that is what we got in the first half of the season. Now I'm not saying I don't like that, in fact I didn't mind the whole screwing around in school, with Okazaki going about his usual troll and yohei getting beat up. In one of the arcs there was even a hint of the cliched highschool delinquent rumble (which i am quite fond of). Yup, the first 10 odd episodes were I thought mostly good. It was only after the first half that i REALLY started having problems with where we were going, specifically after Okazaki graduates from highschool. Remember how i said i expected high school drama from a high school drama? What i DID NOT expect was the series to go all heavy on me where instead of a lighthearted high school love story drama they move onto the real life issues of Okazaki having to deal with his crap (getting a real life/sorting out shit with his drop kick dad). WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LIGHT-HEARTED HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA? Now now, i'm not saying i hate this kind of story, I mean if its done well im down for it (Usagi drop). However if you asked me if i was expecting this shit after watching season one then my answer is: I WAS NOT. It also does not help that afterstory goes all hunter x hunter on us, completely ditching like half the characters for pretty much the rest of the season to focus on Nagisa and Okazaki. I GET that my ships (Tomoya & Kyou) just so happened hit icebergs and I GET that they gotta make space for the real mains, but that DOES NOT excuse bailing on characters in which i was all emotionally invested in then throwing us a bone and expecting us to be satisfied by reintroducing them at the end. And quite frankly i think Nagisa is the most boring out of our other options of female mains. I guess one could interpret this as me venting from being butt hurt (which i guess i kinda am), but these points are what i thought was, straight up, ass about afterstory.

Oh you thought i was done? NAW BRUH you got off the station before Central. I mean even after taking into account the above perceived flaws, if that was all it was i would be willing to give Clannad a passing mark. But another thing that i feel HAS to be talked about is the frankly DOGSHIT ending. For those who have not yet watched i will try not to spoil too much, but my suggestion is that if you haven't, just go to the end.

[spoiler]So basically it's this, complications arise making our hero, Okazaki, turn into something resembling his dad from grief. After he finally attempts to redeem himself and things are looking up for him, more complications arise which basically spell the end of the world for Okazaki (how it became like this from the high school love drama, i dunno). Ok, yeah its kinda dark but that wasn't what i hated the most. What i hated the most was the COMPLETE bullshit Deus Ex that ensues after. I mean why bother showing us like three episodes about Okazaki trying to redeem himself then quietly sweep all that under the carpet in exchange for the ending they gave us? Honestly i thought it was a cop out. I can hear all the retorts already saying stuff like: "But crave, its part of the source, they can't help it" or "They were leading up to it during the entire series". SHUT UP BRO, showing us like 5 minute of COMPLETELY random scenes, and having Akio explain some phenomenon that happened years ago is NOT enough to explain the shit that happens at the end. Oh and about it being part of the source, its still bullshit. I mean if you hadn't already played the game I'd be surprised if you had ANY idea what was happening at the end. I thought it was junk, enough so that even they remade the ending to one where they drop the resolution, it would be better than what we got. sure it would have ended on a dark note, but at least i wouldn't feel so cheated at the way they seemingly dodge logic.[/spoiler]

So in the end, a focus on boring characters, out of place story, and cop-out ending were the problems i had with Clannad. If you disagree then 8:00 PM, Moore Park West fite me bro.

So, if you're like me and didn't like this anime, follow along.
If you're someone who liked the anime and would like to get another perspective on it, follow along, but be prepared that it will become pretty ugly at times. I decided to write this review after finishing only 22 of the 24 episodes of Clannad:Afterstory, because I think this anime has failed so hard in some crucial aspects to this point that the last 2 episodes, no matter what they are about, can't change my opinion anymore nor can they contribute anything to the "quality" of this review.
Besides, I must admit that I ... haven't much practice in writing reviews for anime, so if I sometimes fail to give the review proper structure or concise formulations, please accept my apologies. I also won't break the review into "story, sound etc." categories, since I will discuss specific points that upset me, and the categories then intermingle anyway.

My review will contain huge spoilers, in part also for Clannad (2007). So if you plan to watch the show or if youre amidst of watching it, dont read any further.

SPOILERS INCOMING.

So, first...what the heck? How did this anime get to rank 11 on MAL???
That's what I've been asking myself over and over while watching this anime.
Frankly, I found this Anime

abysmal
horrible
atrocious

Yeah, I think of this Anime as an atrocity. Clannad (2007) just had bored for most of the time, and especially the female lead character Nagisa wasn't my type.
But Clannad: Afterstory, really made it over the top. I've never watched an anime before which made me CRINGE in agony so hard and so many times, and I don't mean the type of agony that leads to voting this anime up to rank 11...

Okay, so what exactly is it that me set me off so hard?
I'll start out with the points that angered me the least and work my way up to the tip of the iceberg.

MINOR STUFF (skip if you want to get to the real fun):
First, I often struggled to determine what this anime actually wanted to be genrewise. I got it that it's slice of life, and basically this genre pretty much contains everything you could ask for. But it usually builds an implicite ruleset, what scenarios to unfold and what characters to bring forth. In this case, the anime started out with three minor storyarcs, one about sunohara and his little sister, one about the woman who keeps sunoharas dorm (sry forgot the name) and her past, and one about the librarygirl (yukine I think) and her "brother". Now, I found all the three arcs rather mediocre, but sunoharas and sunoharas dormkeepers arc remained within the boundaries of what we had seen so far. It introduced us to an individuals crisis, showed us all the ugly details and then how the individual somehow overcame this obstacle.
What really bothered me was the librarygirl arc. First, the idea of her being involved with a huge gang using her library as a safe haven was really far fetched and didn't fit into the commodities the series had developed over the course of clannad (2007) and neither did it fit into the commodities the series developed over the course of clannad:after story. It kind of felt like a half-assed reception of "westside story", gauged down the throat of the typical contemporary high-school anime.
Then, the arc almost purposefully seems to remain below its potential. After starting out with its ridiculous premise, it seems like it cant decide wether the arc shall be comedy or drama, and ultimately fails in both disciplines. I didn't enjoy the jokes and neither found I any depth in the plot of the gang war and librarygirls involvement through her dead brother.
The only thing the plot manages is to show librarygirl coping with her pain of losing her brother, although the viewer isn't even told what exactly was the cause of his death. How and why someone died is a huge point though for those staying behind. If you're loved one died a sudden,gruesome, violent and pointless death, I guess you will agree that it affects you differently than when he died peacefully after his death had been predicted months before.
Of course death is always harsh, but even this harshness knows variety, which this anime seemingly wanted to play down. This leads us to the second half of the anime.
After this first half, the anime basically resets with the male leads (Tomoya) graduation and his entry into the world of adulthood.
This second half is almost like another anime. It is largely detached from the first half because the plots from the first half don't even contribute characterwise. Tomoya hasn't gone through any development so far and the characters that actually had development simply disappear entirely for a long time and when they reappear, they dont fill any meaningful function.
Well, so much about my MINOR issues with the anime.
One last thing: it's not like I dislike an episodic format in general.
I simply disliked that the anime on the one hand had characterdevelopment, but on the other hand mostly discarded these developments after each arc. They simply have little to no meaning even though the characters are still there oftentimes!

MAJOR STUFF (continue reading for the juicy moments)
So, lets get to the MAJOR issues, obviously also revolving around the MAJOR plotpoints of Clannad:Afterstory, converging in the second half of the anime.
So, up to this point, Tomoyas and Nagisas relationship was rather unimportant. The anime was about other characters so far and therefore both screentime and development of these two characters relationship was simply set on "hold", metaphorically spoken. I don't like this style, although I can live with it.
What I can't live with is what happened AFTER this hiatus. (Maybe thats why its called AFTERSTORY, haha :P Sry, but I couldnt keep it in.)
Around the 10th-12th episode, the pacing is really picking up. Just to set up my own referencepoints to which I will refer to during my final rant, I'll give a very brief summary of what happens from the start of half II on (I'll also leave out many important details I must admit, but I will bring them in when needed)

Tomoya graduates and decides to look for a job.
After some time, he starts out at a company repairing streetlamps and stuff.
He moves out from nagisas home and she decides to care for him in his new apartment. Sooner or later, he proposes to her and she accepts. They get married and ultimately nagisa moves in at tomoyas apartment, so they live together now. Nagisa wants a baby, she gets pregnant, has the baby and then dies. Tomoya is crushed to say the least, for years he's not even having much contact with his child giving it into care at nagisas parents.
Nagisas mom finally manages to bring tomoya and his child together while also arranging a meeting with his grandma for him (which he cant even remember anymore!) who tells him stuff about his and his fathers past. This clarifies a lot to him and he starts to respect his father, he repairs his relationship with him and sends him home to his mother (tomoyas grandmother). He continues to care for his child, which ultimately dies as well. Then lightbubbles appear, time is rewinded and nagisa survives the birth of ushio. Then I decided to stop watching before writing this review.

THAT MUCH about the plot. Now, the plot by itself isn't what brought my rage on. It is the characters acting inside this plot.
The very core of this beast is Nagisa. As I already said, she wasn't my type in Clannad (2007), and this didn't really change throughout the very little screentime she got in the first half of Clannad:Afterstory. But what she did then in the second half really went beyond whats bearable in my opinion.

Basically living together with Tomoya, she immediately slips neatlessly into the role of the caring wife centering her whole life around her husband. After finishing her duties for school, she immediately turns to the needs of tomoyas life, who gets sucked up by work so much that he can't even attend the school festival on the weekend to which nagisa was looking forward so much. Nagisa fails to make friends in her new class, becoming increasingly isolated especially through her sickness which regularly puts her out of school for weeks and months. The bonds from earlier on with tokomo etc. seem to have vanished in an instant as well, which might be plausible, but in my opinion not very smart for an anime which revolved around building friendships between these very characters for about 75% of the time.
However, even if I accept this since it might just be a sad reality in japan for the average schoolfriendship (which I hope it isn't), I can't accept the extreme dependence on tomoya that unfolds before us.
Seriously, the individual Nagisa, of which there was very very little to begin with, has been dissolved entirely now and the process of reassembling her into an uncompromising stereotype of a suicidal motherbeast has just begun.

Before I proceed, I want to make one thing clear: I'm not one of these rabid social-justice warriors who is taking out the flag of feminism now. I can totally imagine that someone WANTS to play the maternal role in a relationship because he/she has developed into a person which finds personal fulfillment in caring and nurturing others. I can also understand fully that someone might want to take the paternal role and step into a big job with lots of responsibilities and very few spare-time left for yourself.
But here it's not just about the decisions that the characters made, but about the thought processes that lead to them, or better said: The lack of a thought process leading to it.

In very short order, these two have made multiple big decisions. Tomoya has started work directly after obligatory education, Nagisa is doing the same and both have moved into an apartment just now and are freshly married. They haven't even lived together for a year, they haven't even lived through their new life situation for more than a year or two or three or ANY considerable amount of time, and they already decide to HAVE CHILDREN, NOW!
THIS much alone is enough for me to make these two characters a little dimwhitted, but still kind of lovable since I actually _do_ think of it as a rather sweet concept to start out your young life like this.

In a fairy tale of course.

But we don't live in a fairy tale but in a reality where problems don't get solved by white knights or benevolent pixies, so when you make such a longterm decision like parenthood, for gods sake you have to think about it thoroughly. But Nagisas thinking at this point seems to consist of singing the Dango Daikazoku song while dreaming up shiny visions of a picturebook familylife.
THIS is what almost got me vomitting at my screen! This girl has NO other perspective on her life, on REALITY, than getting pregnant and raising childen and doing the household! How old is she? She probably hasn't even reached her twenties yet, although I must say that in the scene directly after their marriage, the artists did a fairly well job in drawing her like 15 years older than she usually looks. And no, its not just the outfit, her facial outlines have been clearly changed for this very moment where she is intended to begin adulthood in her new role as a wife and soon-to-be mother.

But it doesn't stop with Nagisa. Nobody and Nothing from her/their social environment has anything to say about their plans for life before or after her getting pregnant. Not even Tomoya himself, who plays a crucial part in making them both parents. HE is affected by this as well, yet the whole thought process boils down to an astonished face when Nagisa asks him to impregnate her and thats it! Holy cow, what is this meant to show us?
These two are like propaganda-figures in the manifesto of a fanatic back-to-the-pre-industrial-times! I mean comeon, she even wants to have the baby at home despite her bad health, so they can uphold old traditions!

This is simply too much, it is despiseable, stupid and ignorant! It is also highly implausible, since Tomoya himself had to go through the pain of seeing his father getting destroyed by the sadness and overburdening duty to both work and care for his son all alone after his mother had died in an accident.
I know what I'm speaking of, since such a calamity has run in my family as well! NEVER would someone with a past like Tomoya willingly put his partners life at such danger through such an irresponsible act. Failing at contraception is one thing, pulling the trigger on purpose is a whole different story.
It's not only a catastrophe for both parents, it's also for the child.

But hey, when we're talkin about the child already, lets go deeper. Lets talk about the iron grandma Sanae-san forbidding the child to cry in the presence of others! WHAT THE F...??? Are you really really serious? You aren't making this up right?
I know japanese culture is rather conservative on such topics, and I've seen enough anime where people handle this issue the same. But an Anime thats been seen by a global community and ranked by a global community cant rely entirely on that argument. The rank 11 must come from somewhere. The reviews of glory over this anime must come from somewhere.
I can't understand how so many people can dwell in praising this anime to Elysium and back for its "authenticity" and its "emotional impact", when we only get stupid, ignorant and cold-blooded stereotypes of the pre-industrial japanese social rolemodel?

I could rant on like this forever, like about Tomoya and Ushia engaging in highly artificial, staged encounters and conversations, about Nagisas parents behaving like emotionless comedyrobots before and after Nagisas death (Yes, they should've talked to her about wether or not to get pregnant at all in her condition, about alternatives like adoption, they should have talked to her about giving birth in a hospital instead of at home in her condition, they should have talked to her about THEIR LOVE FOR HER AND THAT THEY MIGHT GET CRAZY IF SHE DIES), about Tomoyas fathers family seemingly not giving a shit about the stupid decision to take it all on himself!
Yeahyeah, the japanophile will now raise his finger and say "Shouganai" = "it can't be helped", the fatalistic japanese attitude towards unpleasant circumstances "that can't be helped", but this doesn't suffice here!
Tomoya and Nagisa willingly chose this path and there was PLENTY of time and ressources to thoroughly think this through.
If for example the same had happened to tomoya, that Nagisa just died through a tragic accident, then all would be fine.
I would've shed unspoiled tears of true sorrow.
But this way it didn't work, because these two characters and their environment are such artificial stereotypes, desperately clinging to a late 19th century (in terms of european culture, dont know whats the equvialent for east Asia) life and partnership moral codex that it hurts my innates inside out. I almost can't write a normal sentence anymore because of this disgusting, foul stench of a narrow-minded, bigoted, regressive, antirational worldview emanating from these characters.

I don't know why they did this, or why the source material did this. I have trouble figuring out wether this shall be some form of propaganda or poorly executed satire. To me, these two characters and Nagisas parents have willingly brought destruction over their lifes. They are prime-examples of what Kant called "self-imposed immaturity" in my opinion, because they really excelled in constantly ignoring that red flashing button telling them to activate their brains and at least TRY to prevent the calamity.
But at least I got the pretty firm _feeling_ that the author/producer/whoever wrote this, indeed intended to confer a very very very conservative, nay antiquated, nay almost antediluvian worldview with his story.
The intrusion of the supernatural, or should i better say the transcendent, into the ordinary world completes the picture of a world connected to absolute, unquestionable values and determinants.
Unsurprisingly, this supernatural component is in a benevolent connection to the world and its inhabitants, so that even in the face of all hardship, at least a "happy end" is in sight, or better said: it's all part of a greater thing in which all the bad that happened is put into a higher context in which all finally resolves in happiness. "All dango-friends take each other by the hand and live happily ever after" or whatever that line was in nagisas favourite song. Thats basically what the line suggests.

To me, this anime has a very high manipulative potential. I still could see it theoretically as some kind of persiflage, but to be honest, there is nothing hinting at it. The characters are just meant to display what they are, I cant even find a single example where the story would try to urge the viewer to take a critical perspective. Its characters follow invisible rails laid out before them, internalized through traditions they seem to have sucked up with their first milk. But this is dangerous, and so this is the first time I really feel urged to warn of an anime. Again, dont get me wrong, Im not holding anyone from making their own decisions, and be it to become a puritan living a hermits live on a solitary mountain. But whatever decision we make, we must use our mind. we must reflect, and then we must decide for the best of ourselves and others. This is the gift we were given by nature, god, coincidence, whatever you want to call it. If we dont use this gift properly, we are irresponsible about ourselves and others.

Finally, I want to finish this very gory, spiteful review on a positive note. There was something that I really liked about this second half of Clannad:Afterstory. It was the reunison of father and son and how they forgave each other. It doesnt matter in this case why tomoyas father got into this miserable situation in the first place. In the end, as a family all we can do is to make amends with each other and move on together, supporting each other (at least in most cases, unfortunately reality sometimes wont even let us do that). Thats what this scene has told us.
Indeed, this scene has moved me to tears, and it still does thinking about it.
Also, because I think that we, our generation, must learn again how to live with our parents and grandparents. It takes a lot of effort to get there, in most cases I guess, but it is worth it, both for the child(ren) and the parent(s), I think. Sometimes it might not be possible, but we should at least try. Because, if we cant even bring ourselves to join hands with our family, how are we supposed to truly join hands with others? How shall all the dangofriends join hands, if they werent able to join hands inside their family?
Yeah ;)

Clannad: After Story how many say this anime influenced and changed their lives I decided to review this anime and point out both the good and bad aspects of the anime.


Art: 8/10 The art is very good nothing bad about it. I've seen better but also has the Key style art theme so I like it.

Sound: 8/10 Great Voice Actors/Actresses and the soundtrack was great but a bit repetitive.

Now for the real part of the review.
Story: 2/10
The story is about Tomoya who is acting like a spoiled brat who cries every few minutes about his dad. Tomoya develops slightly as the show progresses ... but very slowly. He even has to take out his anger on a child. The development of the story was just horrible. I really don't understand how people consider this a such a beautiful story.

The Characters: 6/10

As a fan of the visual novel they pretty much adapted all of the characters correctly in terms of personality with the exception of one but i'll get to that in a bit. The characters are all fairly likable and easily able to be attached to if the show actually had character development.

Tomoya: Horrible protagonist in the anime. He cries about his father trying to take good care of him and doesn't understand anything about being an adult. He takes his problems out on others. He is a good friend to the few he has is his only positive trait.

Nagisa: Nothing bad about her except her taste in men. She is nearly a perfect heroine you are really able to get attached to her as the story progresses.

Ushio: The character that I feel sorry for the most. Unlike Tomoya she isn't a crybaby who has a legit reason to cry yet she shows more maturity than Tomoya ever has.


The Enjoyment: 0.75/10

I enjoyed 1 episode of After Story, Ushio, Nagisa, and that is pretty much it.

I am grateful for seeing this anime because it introduced me to the visual novel of Clannad which I gave a 9.5/10 but I really don't know why people enjoy this anime.

Overall 4/10 I recommend this anime as a comedy on how they tried to make a serious anime but failed horribly and turned it into a mockery.

I was recommended this show told it would bring me to tears and it was the most moving piece of visual media ever. Sadly, I was disappointed and my only emotions throughout the show were confusion and uncomfortableness.

Story 6/10 - An improvement on the first season. While it has random unrelated arcs like Sunohara dating Nagisa's mom for no reason, the final 10 episodes actually followed Tomoya's life and tied up loose ends, so I will give it credit for that.

Art 2/10 - Same as season 1, all the women have the same face with only different eye and hair colors. They look ... like Gollum cosplayers with fist sized eyeballs. Their whole face is 10% forehead, 85% eyeball, 5% 1 inch wide mouth. Funny to look at in a nonsensical surreal way, but it made me unable to take any sad scenes seriously when they are all O_O. It would be much more fitting in a Parody/Comedy than something trying to be serious.

Sound 3/10 - Again, good soundtracks but I hear the same song loudly every episode, on repeat, multiple times an episode. There's about 3-4 songs, one for each emotion like happiness, sadness, etc. that play once an episode. More songs would help break up the monotony.

Character 3/10 - Tomoya is basically the only character with depth. All of the cast basically disappears because they have no real backstory; the first part of the season is just them doing their stereotypical things. For the girls, they just giggle, and squeak while Kyou yells. Sunohara just does random nonsense stuff while getting beat up for amusement. They're not characters. They're backdrops. Sunohara doesn't exist outside of saying stupid stuff and being beat up for comedy. Kyou has no other personality than being Tsundere who is madly in love with the MC because of..... plot reasons? Every single character just has 1 annoying action that is their whole personality and existence. They don't exist outside of this 1 action. Watching Nagisa or Fuko speak evokes feelings of embarrassment, there is an awkward comfortability seeing adult women in their 20's sounding and acting like children. They don't feel like characters, but actors in a children's show portraying a character type. They would fit much better in Looney Toons or Spongebob than something trying to be moving and serious.

Enjoyment 3/10 - After story suffers the same issues of failing to evoke any emotion in me like season 1 did. It contradicts itself, it tries to be absurd and nonsensical, yet also drives down realistic themes about family at the same time. I cannot take either theme seriously. The redeeming aspect for me was Tomoya forgiving his father, because I felt that was a real, relatable moment for the audience. I could tell the deaths in the show were meant to be meaningful, but how am I supposed to feel anything if they just timeskip right after? All of the grieving, growth and discussion is gone. They basically just waved a wand and made the characters disappear. Overall, I tried very hard to be invested in the story, but the contradictions, poor art and absurdity just pushed me out and made me see it as parody instead of drama. Related note, Nagisa and Fuko still have the same high pitched shrill voices that are like a cheese grater on my ears. They also have the same uncomfortably childish personalities and intelligence. It is simply too contradictory, I am presented with both realism and absurdity, sadness but also a timeskip so there is none. I want to be sad, but the characters are so ridiculous and nonsensical, I can't empathize with them.

Overall 3/10 - Inconsistent and honestly strange. Has one meaningful moment, but most of it is just weirdness. I had high expectations for after story as it was highly rated but ultimately it only improved on a few of the issues with season 1.

They cheated. That's not how life works. The story didn't prepare itself for any kind of sci-fi, Dr. Who, Cody Lyoko, "return to the past now" divine interference.
I don't appreciate the ending and how it felt like nothing that transpired had ever truly mattered. As I had written for my review for Clannad, I just don't see why people regard this series as a good anime. Just because something has cute Moe characters, makes you cry, and pulls on your heartstrings doesn't necessarily make it a good show. I feel like you can get ... away with that in, let's say, Higurashi.
People should identify that Moe is, if anything, a marketing practice where the focus is to illicit feelings of protectiveness and heartfelt emotions just based on the character's existence. But for those people, such as myself, who don't really take to children like that and who don't necessarily go into parental mode when they see small children we will need an ACTUAL storyline to convince us to care about these characters!

From the time Ushio came onto the screen I just regarded her as another character. She was just Tomoya and Nagisa's daughter. It wasn't until episodes later when she was crying in the field and he asked why she was crying when he could just get her a new toy that she said, "It's first present from Daddy..."

THAT is what made my heart melt. I won't spoil anything, but the reason why that ONE line hit so hard was because of the events prior to it. After that my heart really started to warm up her and care about her relationships with the other characters. That being said...

.....again I won't spoil anything but they cheated. There was an appropriate time to end the show and they missed it. I wouldn't say that watching this season gives you any real "closure", but rather...it's a fanfiction that everyone decided they liked...

I watched all of Clannad, mostly because I saw the rating for this show was so good. However, while watching the 8th episode, I had to stop.

I REALLY wanted to like this show. And even after the first few episodes weren't great, I really wanted to finish it before writing any review. However, I couldn't force myself to watch another second.

The story in this show has all the same problems it did in the first season. The mini-stories are overly dramatic and the resolutions never make sense. None of these situations could ever be resolved like they are in this show by any real human. ...

Okazaki is basically a god, able to resolve any problem by simply getting involved. Yagami Light would be jealous. Everyone loves Okazaki no matter what he does; both guys and girls. Even though he's a boring character, who has no personality.

Meanwhile, Sunohara, who's not very different from Okazaki is the most repulsive human ever created, who's only role in the anime is to be trashed by everyone as comic relief.

But the characters are not the only problem. This story tries to be touching, emotional, and impactful. But with every problem resolved magically, forced dialogue, and nonsensical characters, it can't be.

I have nothing against slice of life or even moe anime. I really enjoyed shows like: K-on, Non Non Biyori, and Yuru Camp. For me, a story doesn't have to be some life-changing tale, it can be the simple progression of a friendship or random daily events in something like Nichijou.

All a story needs to do is promise a feeling and deliver on that feeling. It doesn't have to be epic. It doesn't have to be long, dramatic, or grand. Simple stories make simple promises and execute on them well. And that's the problem with Clannad: After Story.

Everything from the tone, to situations, to the ethereal music promise something more, they promise an emotional, engaging, and dramatic story. But all it delivers is boredom.