Genre: Harem, Slice-of-Life, Romance, Drama
Story
Okazaki Tomoya is your average, yet wickedly good looking delinquent high school student. Aimlessly plodding through his adolescence, he doesn't have any particular ambitions, desires, goals, etc; most of it caused by teenage angst along with an unhealthy parental relationship with his father. While on a walk to school he passes by a young girl (Furukawa Nagisa) muttering some words to herself. She happens to catch his attention and they walk off to school together. Much to his dismay, Nagisa believes he befriended her. Particularly bored with his life, Tomoya decides to go along with it and learns about Nagisa's desire to restore the theater/drama club. As they both start to hang out more and meet other friends along the way, Tomoya begins to see his life moving in a more positive direction. Episodes are split up between various character specific story arcs, formatted to feature each girl like in its original visual-novel source material. Recurring themes about family are explored, focusing on issues between parents, siblings, or the family as a whole.
For the purpose of this review, I decided to pair up the two series together as they certainly can't be given a fair analysis on their own. The bonds and friendships formed during the first season are just as integral to the plot as Tomoya and Nagisa's life together after school. Clannad is nothing without its ~After Story~ and vice versa. Quite perhaps one of the best stories ever told in an anime, if not, the most most heart-wrenching for sure. At first glance through the first several episodes, one would disagree with the previous statement, but like any good love story, it genuinely takes time to develop and blossom.
Characters
Okazaki Tomoya: A particularly ambivalent harem protagonist; he's thankfully not dumb as dirt, and a very likable character. Considered a hopeless delinquent by many, most of his actions throughout the series proves otherwise. He currently lives with his dead-beat Dad, but frequents Sunohara's dorm/apartment quite often.
Sunohara Youhei: Tomoya's partner in crime, he's around for comedic relief by means of slapstick humor. Rebellious with his blonde hair class-clown nature, he has the characteristics of a wholesomely good friend. Some say he's annoying, but he gets plenty of beatings from Kyou and Tomoyo to compensate.
Furukawa Nagisa: Tomoya's accidental love interest as I would like to call her. It's hard not to like her since she's so darn adorable with her antennae hair. Despite being fairly timid, and lacking in confidence, she has a big heart and cares for the ones around her. That smile is just contagious. 
Fujibayashi Kyou/Ryou: The twins Fujibayashi, they are quite the polar opposites. Kyou is your typical bitchy, headstrong, direct, tsundere sister while Ryou is the docile, timid, more moe one. Unfortunately, their respective story arcs weren't explored in the anime; at least they were featured in one of the Another World OVAs. Ichinose Kotomi: Your usual aloof, book-smart, twin-tailed girl (above blushing). She has an extreme case of social ineptitude and in some cases tunnel vision. Oblivious to most of her surroundings, she moves at her own pace--she's harmless up until you give her a violin.
Sakagami Tomoyo: Not to be confused with Tomoya (our harem protagonist), Tomoyo is perhaps the anime equivalent of Street Fighter's maiden Chun-Li, the strongest woman in the world; and for very good reason. Interested yet? Her hobbies include sports, volunteering, and beating up random gang members. Although the series comprises archetypal characters, they are just well rounded enough for one to care why they exist in the grand scheme of things. The bonds made between characters are very real and emotions are illustrated naturally--nothing too forced.
Voice Acting/Sound
The original voice Japanese voice actors in Clannad deserve an award. Everyone casted did an exceptional job with their respective roles. Some special praise needs to be given to Nakahara Mai's role as Nagisa; I was thoroughly impressed with her, always delivering the right voice for the right moment. Unfortunately I have not gotten around to exploring the English dub, but in regards to the Japanese voice acting--top notch.Just like the voice acting, the soundtrack deserves some praise. At first it seems as though many of the tracks are recycled, but they've been remixed different times to fit different scenarios; the variety is certainly there. Notable tracks comprise mostly of the piano/flute variety. No track really does seem out of place except for maybe one or two tracks. Regardless, the soundtrack is nothing short of spectacular. If one is looking for BGM to sample for a depressingly dramatic montage, look no further.
Loved
Alternate Universes: Each season ended with special OVA featuring an alternate world if Tomoya were to pick a girl other than Nagisa; true to its original visual novel concept. Despite being one episode for each (Tomoyo, Kyou), a lot occurs and captures the romance/drama lacking in some of the character arcs. Despite feeling a little rushed and probably too condensed, the episodes are surprisingly deep and worth a watch.
Fuuko: After her character arc to start off the series, she shows up at random times to "help" out Tomoya and the rest during various incidents, with absolutely zero percent success rate, but one hundred percent random comedic gold--starfish can only solve so many problems. Hated
"Torch" Ending: Like I said above, there really isn't any track that seemed out of place, animation and sound coalescing to make a masterpiece, until you hear the ending track from ~After Story~. It's not a bad track by any means, it just immediately sounds out of place. They were probably going for a change of pace to lighten the mood after a drama heavy episode, but that's the absolute last thing I want when I'm absorbed into dramatic incident.
Loose Ends: Depicted at the beginning of several episodes is a mysterious illusionary world devoid of any identifiable life other than a girl and a robot she made out of garbage. This world does have its purpose in the long run, but became a stretch in terms of linking it to the main story. It's fair to say that some elements of Clannad heavily depend on themes of fantasy and the unknown, but it took awhile for me to grasp what the writers were going for in this case.The Lowdown: Upon reflection, there isn't anything too special about the first season of Clannad. Some might go and kill me, but it's fairly mediocre harem anime if you take out the Fuuko and Kotomi arcs. That being said, if one sticks with the series up until the last several episodes of ~After Story~, be prepared to be treated to some of the most powerful/dramatic scenes in anime. It will surely leave you in tears and pulling at your heart strings.
No comments:
Post a Comment