Clannad tv Review

Deliquent Okazaki Tomoya finds himself starting his final year in high school with no hope for the future, no girlfriend, bad grades, and a strained relationship with his father.
All seems lost, until the moment he meets Furukawa Nagisa. This girl brings forth hope, love, and family into Okazaki's life.

Story & Characters

Clannad. Now you all must be wondering what "Clannad" actually means. Well to fully understand the anime you must first understand the word. The word "clannad" has been defined as "family" or "clan" by various dictionaries. Now that you know the definition, you can get a hint at the premise of this story. Clannad follows 2 main protagonists and a variety of supporting characters as they engage in various "family" activities. Now when we think family, we think blood-relations, but this is not the entirety of what this anime/game was about. Family can also be used to describe a close group of friends, which is where this series was mainly going. Now I have my personal favorite characters, but I say the entire selection of characters really rounded out the series. Some of the most notables include: The Furukawa Family (Nagisa, Akio, and Sanae), Okazaki Tomoya, Sunohara Siblings (Youhei and Mei), the Fujibayashi siblings (Ryou and Kyou), and more. I could really go on and on, listing the notable characters. Thats how well rounded the entire cast of characters truly is. Each brings forth great plot development and helps support other characters in big and small ways. Even the supporting characters have their own little side stories that last for a couple episodes. Now granted since it was based off the visual novel game, they wanted to include a bit of each character route, but however those who have played the game first can see where the changes were made so the story can flow smoother. One of my personal favorite characters is Sunohara Youhei. He's the goofball of the group and tends to act like he's a total idiot, but in reality he's smarter than he let's on. He supplies emotional/moral support for Okazaki while Okazaki deals with alot of issues. Pretty much Sunohara is the model "best friend" that any person would want. All in all each character provides a trait or action that any person can relate to that just makes you want to continue rooting for them. Very impressive cast list.

The story itself tries its hardest to hook you with the scenes about the "alternate universe", but to be honest, what hooked me was the meeting between Okazaki and Furukawa. At that point, you know the story has begun and things are going to go down hill. It can get kinda confusing flipping back and forth between the alternate universe and the reality world, but as long as you read between the lines and stick to it to the end, things clear up. Its not that deep of a meaning like animes "Boogie Pop Phantom" or "Serial Experiments Lain" but it doesn't just appear simply in front of you.

Rating: 9

Art

Hey, its Key animation. What else is there to say?.... Okay I guess I should speak more about it. Those of you not familiar with Key, they've worked on several popular romance related anime like Kanon and Air. If you haven't heard of these, you need to familiarize yourself with Key better. Key has always been one of the top animation companies and Clannad doesn't disappoint. When you get into the "alternate universe" scenes, you can see the fluidity of the motions, really smooth. The actions like Okazaki's fight scene with the leader of a gang during Miyazawa's story arch is nothing short of amazing. Definitely takes realistic actions to a whole new level which I think all slice-of-life animes should adopt. Unfortunately not all production companies have that oppurtunity.

Of course Key animation doesn't just stop with nice animation, but they make sure that the style they use appropriately matches their story. They've always done a good job matching animes to style and making sure everything works right to make it appealing to the eye.

Rating: 10

Sound

Okay if you played the Visual Novel game, then the music is the same in the anime, aside from some arrangement changes in some of the songs for uniqueness, plus some exclusive anime version only songs. For those who don't know the group Eufonius, one of the bands' members, Riya, originally did a couple songs for the visual novel version of Clannad (including the song "Chiisana Tenohira"). Fir the anime she, once again, supplied her musical talents to the series, but also brought the group Eufonius in as a whole so it no longer was a solo project (if it ever was considered as such). There was however one song that didn't quite sit well with not just me, but with a majority of viewers as well. The "Dango Daikazoku" song for the first season ending didn't fit right as an ending song. Being as it was basically the image song for Furukawa Nagisa, hearing it over and over again just made you get sick of it because not only were you hearing the lyrical version of it at the end of every episode, but then you had the instrumental version playing in nearly every episode about Nagisa. I love the song but it just wasn't worth listening to it that many times.

I give full 10 to the actors and actresses of the series. I mean you really get the feel for the characters that it makes you forget you're watching an anime. Sure people have their preferences on voices; for example some don't like that soft, innocent voice because it just drives them up the wall for some reason. I just hope those of you who have the problem with certain voices and how they sound by your preferences to look at the bigger picture on how well it works for each character.

Overall each sound works perfect!

Rating: 9

Presentation

Well you have two seasons of Clannad with 22 episodes each, with of course 2 OVAs each. Now each season provides about 10 episodes of backstory for the supporting cast so if you're looking for main plot-related material, you'll have to suck it up and wait. The backstories were definitely worth the watch, but there were a couple that seemed a little drawn out, but easily overlooked because the characters themselves were interesting to watch when interacting with others.

There was plenty of comedic scenes (especially with Sunohara, Kyou, Akio, Tomoyo, and/or Okazaki involved), but as you head into the second season, it gets depressing very quickly, with no hope of any real comedic relief. Now as I mentioned at the beginning of this review, the word clannad ("family") is what this series is about and it clearly defines itself at the start. Now I also said that you have to do more than scratch the surface on the meaning because just because there's the main concept, doesn't mean thats the only one in this series. Its a very emotional and complex series that wants you to relate and review your own life to put it all into perspective. I know at times I looked back on my own life to kinda relate to the story (there was plenty to relate to).

You're definitely in for one of the greatest yet emotional rollercosters rides of your life, but let me tell you, its one well worth it. Must see!

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

9.1667 (very good)

Reviewed by SaitoHajime101, Oct 10, 2009

Comments

angelbell00 Restricted Member Oct 11, 2009

I Love

merged: 10-11-2009 ~ 03:12am
and well done^^
Matanteloki Oct 11, 2009

the best drama anime that made my tears fall many times T__T
more clannad! XD
salmaGX Oct 12, 2009

OMG i_i whenever i see this anime i start crying it's the best drama anime i saw it
nakakainis Oct 13, 2009

is this anime good? i havent watch this yet
vangjlee Oct 14, 2009

awesome pix and story...
Kakalun Oct 14, 2009

nice review.
I'm normally a cold person, but after watching this series, i just cannot stop pouring out my tears ...
Stevengonzales Oct 15, 2009

He supplies emotional/moral support for Okazaki while Okazaki deals with alot of issues. Pretty much Sunohara is the model "best friend" that any person would want. :-)
mona12 Oct 17, 2009

happy ending
Warpten29 Oct 18, 2009

Good review!
SchRita Oct 27, 2009

Thanks for the review!
Ilona Dec 11, 2009

That's a good review with interesting notes, especially the name of the serie.

Sunohara Youhei may be the model "best" friend... I felt bad sometimes for him when Tomoya used him just for entertainment (especially if he got kicked, punched...).

It's a lovely moving anime. I really like that it usually talks about every day things... and there's no real baddies. We just see people cope, help.
SaitoHajime101 Dec 12, 2009

Thanks for the comments. I have updated this review to fix some wording, fixed some information errors in the music section of the review, plus added some screenshots for those who haven't see the anime can get an idea of the animation and artwork.
SchRita Dec 22, 2009

Thanks for the review!
back07 Sep 26, 2012

thanks for the nice review
:)
fitarol15 Sep 19, 2014

this series is perfect specially in the songs! and the ending is ok i love clannad i love everything on it~~
but the relationships are i dunno not well going...I Personally prefer Tomoya x Kyou but the story focused on Tomoya x nagisa a lot liek it is there anime i mean i understand the two are the main characters but the 2 ova of tomoyo and kyou aren't long too short they should make them long.. (don't get me wrong i love tomoya x nagisa but i love kyou more)

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