There will also be some small format changes but nothing heartbreaking probably. ~
Stay tuned!
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| What, you thought this was a joke?? |
wait... supernatural..?
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| .......Oh.. |
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| Do you like this school? |
As I said before, However, a small spark is all it takes to light a giant flame. For Tomoya, that spark is Furukawa Nagisa. An adorable girl with a strange obsession, some serious self esteem issues, and just..the most ridiculous level of adorableness ever. In this anime we explore the relationship and lives of these two teenagers, and subsequent growth into adults. It is a long, long ride, but well worth it in the end.
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Just in it for the review? Click Here!
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| D'aww |
(Lead Support)
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Traditionally speaking, the typical lead support is an almost perfect character, with perhaps what would be looked at as minor flaws. In Nagisa's case, well.. not so much. She is shy, awkward, has a strange obsession with Dango Daikazoku and lacks any kind of self confidence. She is also quite frail, limiting any and all physical abilities. She also has the rather strange habit of whispering the name of a food she plans to eat later to motivate herself, kind of like a sort of reward for overcoming whatever may be troubling her at the time.
All of that aside, she is extremely cute and sweet, and wouldn't hesitate to help anyone in need, even if she had to sacrifice to do so.
On top of all of this, Nagisa was afflicted with a mysterious illness at a young age, and often times will fall ill for months at a time. As a result of this, she is required to repeat a grade in high school, leading to a fateful meeting with our protagonist.
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| Pictured: Depth |
Okazaki Tomoya
(Protagonist)
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Ah, where to even begin. Tomoya is on the surface, a rather simple, underdeveloped character. He is your typical delinquent with a troubled past and daddy issues ala unfortunate child abuse. Except that it is far from that simple. Upon the death of his mother, his father is forced to raise him alone, work insane hours, and often suffer the consequences just to get by. Constantly striving to give his son a good life, he failed to be the one thing Tomoya needed, a parent. Giving in to alcoholism, Tomoya's father became disinterested in life, and as a result, they would often fight, until the point in which Tomoya lost all faith in his father. Growing up, Tomoya was very active, taking an interest in basketball, and quickly becoming one of the best players on his team. One day, the strain on his relationship with his father reached its breaking point, and during an argument, Tomoya suffered a severe injury, losing the ability to raise his right arm past his shoulder, thus ending his basketball career for good. With his main interest gone, his interest in schooling went with it, and thus, he became a delinquent, often skipping class to hang out with his close friend Youhei. Despite all of this, and a rather mischievous nature, his kindness mirrors that of Nagisa, and he can seldom ignore a person in need.
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| This is not a food anime. |
This Dango Daikazoku is waaaay too big to get too into, so join the family and discover the rest by yourself!
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Plot - 9/10
This anime, in my not so expert opinion borders on perfect. The plot is absolutely beautiful, well crafted, and emotional. It is an absolute roller coaster of feels. Just when you finish a character arc (there are a lot) and you just finished crying or whatever it is you do when faced with heart wrenching sadness, it launches right into another one, and you get to go on the ride all over again. Over the course of this Tomoya's relationships with all of his friends and of course, Nagisa grows, and it is a beautiful experience. The only reason I couldn't give this a 10 is because the ending is one hell of a cop out. To tell you the truth, I loved the ending. Even still, however, I can recognize serious bs when I see it. To say nothing of the girl in the illusionary world... ugh
Sound - 10/10
AHHH!!! I FINALLY GET TO TALK ABOUT THE MUSIC!!!
Okay, So the song "Dango Daikazoku" comes to mind. Real quick, a story. I was at work, doing my thing, not thinking about anything really, just listening to music, cleaning up, the usual. This song comes on, and I freeze. I freeze and everything from CLANNAD comes back in a storm of feels. My heart skips a beat and I just...choke a little bit. This song seems a little silly, a little trivial, but I said before, Dango Daikazoku has a huge role in this anime. It is Nagisa's obsession, she sings this song, this song is the outro, and when this song comes on, it draws so much emotion, and once you know what this song means....hearing it will make you freeze up too (unless you are a heartless monster). I have heard a lot of epic and beautiful songs, but this song....well, it's special. Honestly though...it's not just that song, all of the music fits right where it needs to, and it's just freaking perfect.
The sound is pretty standard beyond the music. I mean, it's good, but that song though!
Voices (Dubbed) - 8.5/10
The dubs in this anime are pretty good. If you are a fan of dubs I feel like you will definately enjoy this version of the anime. My only real complaints here are some minor pronunciation quirks (as per usual) and the way Nagisa (Christian Lucy) sings Dango Daikazoku really just kinda sucks (imo). Beyond that, the voices match the characters quite well and the cast for the dub is quite talented. Everyone's emotions are...or well, FEEL, real. For a dub, it seems like that is especially rare.
It should be noted that even though I hate how the song sounds in English, Nagisa's voice dubbed is really rather adorable. ^-^
Voices (Subbed) - 10/10
This time the subs just barely edge out the dubs, everything matches up just like a brand new jigsaw puzzle, and it is a beautiful thing. I don't know what else to say.. Even more so than the dub, which did a great job, the emotions expressed by the cast felt absolutely real. I felt convinced that everything they went through was really being gone through. I felt captivated by every speech, every story, and every conversation.
Art - 10/10
Where do I even begin? CLANNAD makes the art part of the story in a way that you seldom see in anime today. Nagisa brings color to the otherwise dreary world Tomoya lives in, and we see it. The backdrop is often times faded, but still very alive. The colors always directly reflect the mood of the current setting, and sometimes the backdrop even looks almost...painted, rather than drawn.
Then we get to the illusionary world and the art style completely changes to some kind of pseudo 3d, which I thought was pretty cool. (Between wondering what the hell the illusionary world was, that is.)
Characters - 10/10
Now, in anime, character arcs tend to be pretty hit or miss. If you screw up and overdo it, you can ruin an anime with enough filler to turn away even a die hard fan. (Looking at you, history of the leaf.) Other times, when done right, it can fully flesh out a story and make it beautiful. In CLANNAD, every single character has an arc, and they are all done really well. (I think because this was originally a visual novel?) It has harem elements, but for once it doesn't matter. Though most characters do like Tomoya, they have lives outside of him, they have pasts, some with him, some not with him. Their lives go beyond that of just wanting to marry the protagonist and this just makes them all come alive and feel much, much more real to me.
Overall - 9/10
And then...we bring it all together. The anime opens and it is bleak, borderline sad. Tomoya speaks about how boring life is, his voice melancholic. The muted colors and music pointing to a lifeless, sad world. Then, on the hill leading to their school, Tomoya sets his eyes on a strange girl, Nagisa, and when they meet, we get the explosion of color, the character dynamics, the music, voices, and that beautiful art all blend together all at once and it is one of my favorite scenes in anime. From the emotions to the humor, to the deep characters and beautiful story, I would recommend Clannad to anyone. Just....bring a box of tissues.
The Movie - 0/10 Normally I reserve this section to pretend I am funny. Not so this time. Take all of the things I just said, and defecate all over them, and you have the movie. Character arcs? Nope, Great voices? Nope. (VA swaps, NOOOO). They even ruin everyone's fantastic personalities, because why not. The movie retells the same story, again, except with minor changes. Missing support characters, some only showing up in cameo form. This is a bland, terrible retelling, and the only reason to watch it is to VISUALLY see what happens to Tomoya's shoulder. They even butcher Dango Daikazoku with a new version that I hate. Jerks.
Spoiler alert from movie for those that don't want to watch it :
Click to Skip
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| Yaaaay! |
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The Anime:
CLANNAD
CLANNAD: After Story
No, You don't get a link to the movie. Find it yourself.
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I need to go wipe my eyes but totally not because I am crying. BYE T_T
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Thanks to Ashley C. Who truly understands how to CLANNAD feels.
