Summary:
Clannad is set in a high-school located in a Japanese town. Tomoya Okazaki is a third-year student who doesn’t take his studies seriously. Always late for class, he’s seen as a delinquent by the rest of his classmates who are busy preparing for their entrance examinations. Needless to say, he doesn’t have too many close friends either. Tomoya seems not to mind too–until he meets a few other girls from his school. Though he doesn’t care much about them at first, he soon opens his heart to them as they get to know each other better. Clannad is a romantic youth drama that’s likely to be more down-to-earth than Key’s other works. But like Kanon and Air, Clannad’s story is expected to be another touching and heart-breaking weeper. Based off the game of the same name.
Author: Key
Artist: Juri Misaki
I was randomly looking around for a new anime to watch, but at the time I was watching a lot of action animes and never considered to watch any romance/drama animes. I joined a chat on an anime site and asked for a recommendation. Someone mentioned Clannad and a lot of people supported the suggestion. In any case: I started to watch Clannad.
Art: 10/10
The first thing I noticed about Clannad was the art, it is probably one of the best elements in Clannad. I would often pause the anime for a minute just to watch the surroundings. I concluded that the sunsets were the most beautiful. Why? Because the orange glow it emitted was just stunning. Never before had I seen anything similar in an anime. Well, we do get other animes from Kyoto Animation, like Air or Haruhi Suzumiya. But I still found Clannad’s art more charming than any other anime. The character art is also brilliant and can resemble Haruhi Suzumiya, Kanon and even Lucky Star. A huge element which Kyoto Animation used was torn, you could for example often see Sunohara cry out of pleasure, pain or by being fooled by Okazaki. I can’t find anything bad about the art in Clannad and therefore:
Sound: 10/10
Another good thing about Clannad is the sound. From excellent voice actors like Yuichi Nakamura, Mai Nakahara, Ryō Hirohashi and Daisuke Sakaguchi too amazing situational music. Clannad soundtrack covers everything in a perfect manner: from spirited and happy moments too melancholy and sad moments. Jun Maeda, Magome Togoshi, and Shinji Orito who are the geniuses behind the music also made soundtracks for Air.
There are also soundtracks that fit each character. For example, you have Sunohara which has uplifting and spirited music that fits his personality. Nor in the sound can i find any flaws, and therefore:
Character: 10/10
One thing I simply loved about Clannad was the characters. How they were presented, their development and everything else about them. Each character had their past and views about things thoroughly explained throughout the anime, which was a first for me. And while watching Clannad, I felt like I was bonding with each character. Which made After Story a heart breaker, but let’s save that for later.
Story: 10/10
Clannad’s story is separated into several arcs. You have the very beginning of the anime were the main characters and some secondary characters are presented and also some relationships start to the spin-off. Then you have the Fuko Ibuki arc, the Kotomi Ichinose arc and after that Clannad keeps building the relationship between the characters. You often get a harem to feel in Clannad, although it is not presented on an “ecchi” basis which we often witness in comedy/romance animes. Well, you have Sunohara of course, but the protagonist, Okazaki, isn’t really the ecchi type. Of course, there are a few moments, but it is not the main basis of Clannad’s humor. I think affected the story in an excellent way.
Enjoyment: 10/10
Clannad’s humor is just flawless. It’s not too ecchi and you never seem to get tired of Sunoharas stupidity or Okazaki’s pranks. You also have Kyou’s anger and Tomoyo’s grown-up personality and her desire to be a student council president. These are of course just examples. But there are also sad parts in Clannad which I think we’re done really well. And it was all supported by excellent music.
Overall Rating: 10/10
What can I say? I loved everything about Clannad, and it is by far my favorite anime. I can recommend this anime to everyone, it is really worth taking a look at. Even if you don’t like romance/drama/humor as much!
Angel's Haven 