Clannad Reflection

Clannad reflection/review/analysis/whatever

So I'm writing this because I wanted to just write my thoughts about Clannad as a whole given its popularity.  I'll start by saying I definitely did not like or think it is as good as most people make it out to be, but I don't dislike the show, I actually think it's really good and there are a lot of scenes and episodes that are done very well...also spoilers.

I'll start with things I liked and move down to the things I didn't like.

Music:
Honestly there's nothing I can say about this.  The music is amazing, Jun Maeda/Key write godly music.  Music accompanies the show perfectly, and always plays the correct song to fit the atmosphere of the show. Easy 10/10.

Animation:
As much as I love to make fun of the appearance of the Clannad characters, this show is animated very, very well.  Even though this was made in 2007, it still looks amazing almost 10 years later.  And don't even get me started on how good the scenery in this show is.  The show looks and sounds amazing and is definitely the strongest aspect of the show in my opinion.

Story:
The story of Clannad was actually really interesting and I did enjoy how it was broken down into a lot of short mini arcs.  I think the show did a good job capturing the Visual Novel aspects while still making feel like an anime.  The short arcs provide a good way to introduce all the characters and their interactions.  Some of them I really enjoyed, some I really did not enjoy.

Fuko arc - This is one of the longest and stronger arcs in the series in my opinion.  While the first 2 episodes get you introduced to most of the characters the next 6 are focused almost entirely on Fuko.  Fuko started out as this annoying, childish character, but as the arc progressed, she really grew on me and the relationship between Fuko and Tomoya was very well done.  Their interactions all felt very natural, comical, and overall just fun.  This also helped set up for the end of the arc, while it may not be the saddest, I still think was a very nice and touching moment.

Kotomi arc - I'm not going to beat around this bush on this one, this arc is pretty trash.  The pacing of this arc feels super awkward and the tonal shifts between comedy and drama just come out of no where in this arc.  The ending scene with the briefcase is also just really awkward and it felt like Clannad was just trying to find a cheap way to give Kotomi a tragic backstory (a theme we'll be seeing again soon).

Rest of Season 1 - I don't really know where arcs start and stop after this but the rest of season 1 was pretty enjoyable.  I liked that the show wasn't focused on solely 1 character and it follows a more general slice of life format.  There are a large number of funny scenes and the conflict between the characters (Tomoyo's fighting/election, Nagisa getting sick, etc.) never felt awkward and out of place.  I also really enjoyed Tomoya's struggle with his father knowing that it will lead to a lot of good character development later on.  The ending of season 1 was also good, nothing too special, but still good.

(I've already written a lot I'll keep the next few a little shorter)

Mei arc - Pretty good arc, I like the way it portrays the other side of Sunohara.  He's no longer just the goofball comic relief character and he is actually shown as a honest, caring person.

Misae arc - This one was good, I really like Misae as a character and it was nice seeing her past...then her boyfriend is a cat and telepathically told the story through a dream...that was kinda weird.

Yukine arc - This is probably the worst arc in my opinion, mostly because it makes literally zero sense.  The conflict of this arc just felt so awkward and pointless and felt like it was only done to introduce the light orbs.

Graduation to Nagisa's Death - This section of the show is ok.  The tone of the show takes a huge left turn and goes from a lighthearted romance, comedy slice of life, to a much more serious, dramatic show.  While I do think this works very well for what it is setting up (Nagisa' death/Ushio's birth) at the time of watching, it felt almost out of place.  The silly characters and their antics are no more, and the show started to feel almost mundane.  Tomoya goes to work, Nagisa is at school, Tomoya complains about stuff, they get married, Tomoya goes to work, etc.  These episodes do a good job transitioning the show from the first and half of the second season to the final stretch of the show.  A pretty obvious metaphor for Tomoya and Nagisa's transitions to adulthood, but overall kinda boring and way too serious and melancholy.

Nagisa's Death to Ushio's Death - Even before I started watching this show, this was the part of the show everyone told me was amazing.  "The first season is boring, but don't worry the second half of season two is so worth it."  Well after finally having watched this show I must say...they were right, these episodes were damn good.  These episodes are a perfect way to wrap up Tomoya's character.  His character is able to come full circle, going from a brooding edgy teen with no one to live for to finally finding light in his life (shout outs to the first scene being monochrome and doing the thing where the world has color when he first meets Nagisa, I like scenes like that, see YLiA).  The way Nagisa's death affected Tomoya and Ushio's lives are portrayed very well, you can completely feel the pain Tomoya is in, being a borderline workaholic wanting nothing to do with his daughter.  While Nagisa's death may not have been emotionally very impactful (more on that later) the following episode showing how everyone reacts is very, very depressing, and rightfully so.  I don't think there is anything I can say about the Sunflower Scene and train home scene other than it was amazingly well done.  A very touching scene that completely wraps up Tomoya's entire character.  Tomoya, again goes from a brooding, depressed character with nothing to live for to finally finding another reason to live, and I thought it was great.  Looking back now, I really appreciate the foreshadowing/mirroring from episode 1.  In the first episode, Tomoya monologues about hating the town and tells Nagisa that when things you love change, you should simply go find new things to love, however when the things he love changed (Nagisa's death) he wasn't able to move on until he found that new thing to love and move past Nagisa's death.  Tomoya now is living for Ushio and her dream, much like Akio said to Nagisa in season 1. Probably my favorite scene was the scene where he finally makes up and has closure with his father, as it is basically a summary of all the growth Tomoya did throughout the show. I really enjoyed how you could see how Tomoya is a reflection of his father...and then as soon as everything is cool the show decides "fuck you Tomoya" and kills off Ushio because he apparently hasn't had a shitty enough life.  Not my favorite decision the show has done mostly because it came out of nowhere and for basically no reason other than to set up the deus ex machina ending.  Speaking of which...

Ending/Last Episode - So this ending was pretty interesting.  I've seen people say the ending was really bad and was a cop-out ending, but in my opinion, I really liked the ending. The entire series has been making such a big deal about the illusionary world so it didn't come as a surprise to me that the spirit of the robot was Tomoya or that the illusionary world would have an impact on the ending.  The light orbs were explained (not very well but they were there) earlier in the show and as deus ex as it was, it felt like a nice way to tie together the entire show.  Also considering the source is a Visual Novel, it didn't come as a surprise that the "true" ending would be a happy end, which was also done in Steins;gate.  The way the show ended was great because you got to witness the character growth of Tomoya as well as witness all the touching scenes and still end on a happy note.  I think it's very hard for a shows ending to end on such a tragic note and still be good, and Clannad definitely did not set itself up to end as tragically as it could have.  I'm glad it ended on a high note like that.

Characters:
This section right here is my biggest gripe with the show.  Before I go into talking about each major character worth talking about, I'll quickly mention some of the things I disliked about how Clannad handled the characters of this show.  1) I did not like that they tried to give almost every single character this sad/tragic backstory and/or big obstacle they've had to overcome, not because it was bad but because 2) none of the side characters ever changed throughout the show or they were completely forgotten.  Number 2 is the big one.  Number 1 was sometimes an issue because in some situations it just felt awkward and I wasn't really sure what to take away from it (see Yoshino's story) but number 2 was and issue because we didn't ever see any of the side characters develop.  Almost every side character stayed the same from episode 1 to the last episode they were featured in.  I'll give a quick rundown on my thoughts about each character and talk about this a little more as well as say what I liked/disliked about each character.

Tomoya - I already talked about his character development a lot in the last section, go read that.  He was a good main character.

Nagisa - Nagisa was interesting, not because she was an interesting character, but because she never did anything.  Nagisa's entire role in this show was to stand there and be Tomoya's cute love interest. Obviously this type of character was needed to make Tomoya's character work, so in terms of story telling, her role was done well but it unfortunately made her this 1 dimensional, shell of a character (basically the Madoka of Clannad).  Because of this, I cared for Nagisa mostly because Tomoya cared for Nagisa, not because she was a very deep character, but because she was Tomoya's driving force.  This caused also is what made her death actually have any impact at all, but it wasn't so much the death, but the aftermath of the death.  I didn't care about Nagisa, I more cared about how Tomoya cared about Nagisa (trust me that sentence makes perfect sense).

Ushio - see Nagisa, except slightly more interesting.

Akio - I think Akio is one of the strongest characters in the entire show.  He was a likable goofball, but also a great parent, and knew when to act serious and felt like the great guiding tool for both Tomoya and Nagisa.  Very good and relatable character.

Sanae - Very similar to Akio, funny but also serious when she needed to be.  Always looked out for everyone and very likeable.

Main friend cast - Fuko, in my opinion, was probably the best side character in the show (excluding Akio and Sanae).  I touched on this slightly early, but she grew on me overtime and I loved her silly antics, which made me sad when she disappeared again.  However, she still made her own random appearances in very funny scenes several times making us not forget about her character.   Then toward the end of the show she and all her shenanigans returned and the show livened up again.  I really enjoyed how Fuko was brought back, and while she didn't have a large impact on the show, she was still present as a character.  Fuko, I think, was done perfectly as a side character (more in a bit), as opposed to someone like Tomoyo.  During season 1, Tomoyo was definitely one of my favorite characters.  A badass, funny characters who didn't take shit from anyone, but with a clear, reasonable goal she had set her mind to.  She never felt hopeless and I was really excited to get to see her in action more during season 2.  But alas, I was given no such pleasure.  Tomoyo is almost completely forgotten as a character.  Tomoyo, a character highlighted in the opening of season 2, is seen in 2 episodes and has less than 2 lines of dialogue.  Why? Why go through so much effort to build up and make this character interesting if you completely throw her away and never use her.  I really liked Tomoyo and it all just amounted to nothing.  When I said earlier that I had an issue with some of the characters, this is exactly what I meant.  Obviously the side characters need to step back to make room for the show to focus on Tomoya and Nagisa, but they don't need to be almost removed entirely from the story.  This is why I think Fuko was perfect.  She plays an important role in season 1, and when she returns, she is still present as a character and plays a role in advancing the story, but Tomoyo is just gone from the story. This also happens to Mei, Misae, Ryou, Yukine, Kotomi, and Sunohara, fun characters that become completely absent from the story come season 2.  To me, this just made the show lose all of its charm.  It turned this fun slice of life to an almost no-fun-allowed drama with no side characters aside from Fuko to keep things interesting.

Ryou and Kotomi - Ryou and Kotomi and the other part of my "Number 2" gripe with the show.  These 2 characters, throughout all of season 1, do not change at all.  Kotomi was even given her own arc and a huge backstory to her life, but afterwards, she was almost the exact same character.  Maybe a little more open, but it felt like there was no development in her character at all.

Yoshino - Yoshino unfortunately falls into the "sad/tragic backstory." The episodes leading up to his story made him out to be a serious, but also caring kind of guy that wants to see Tomoya and others around him succeed.  But his backstory made almost no sense and did not do anything for his character whatsoever.  Tomoya might have learned that you should always remember what's important, but why did he need to have this whole sad life before hand? It just felt awkward and pointless.

Sunohara and Mei - I really enjoyed these two characters.  Great comic relief and they had good development during their arc.  Sunohara was shown to actually be a good person who actually cared for someone other than himself and that was nice to see.  However, both characters again fall into the "completely forgotten" category during later parts of the show.

Yukina and Misae - Good characters, both very similar to Sanae, but again completely drop off and are never seen again.

Kyou - I saved my favorite side character for last.  Kyou, similar to Fuko, I think was really well done as a character.  She is essentially the "tsundere possible love interest for MC" character, but I still think she was done very well for this show.  She is very similar to Akio, very brash and angry, but still knows when to be serious and help out her friends.  I also really liked her side story with Ryou, it was very sweet.  I say she is similar to Fuko, because, like Fuko, she is brought back is still important as a character.  It was nice to see Kyou accomplish her goal of being a Teacher.  She didn't feel overburdened as a character with some tragic backstory and she still played a role later in the show.  Not a major role, but at least she is still present and reminds the viewer of "the good times."  She's also the owner of Botan, so major bonus points for her.

Tomoya's Dad - This character is very hard for me to judge because I don'd know if he was one of the best characters in the show or the most disappointing.  Since he was introduced I knew there was so much more to his character and I very much looked forward to seeing his story and how he would inevitably lead to Tomoya growth.  For all of the first season and most of the second, I was speculating his backstory, what lead to his imprisonment, when did his depression lead to alcoholism, etc., but it never came. We were given a short explanation of how hard he worked, but I felt like something was missing.  When did he start drinking? What made him get arrested?  I like being able to speculate and come up with my own answers, but I also want to know more about him (granted this probably means he was a well written character).

Other characters - Any character I didn't mention I either forgot or don't think was important enough

Final Thoughts:
Now that I've finally gotten out most of my thoughts I guess it's time I rate the show overall, but I think that's pretty difficult to do because season 1 and season 2 almost felt like completely different shows.  I liked the character/mini arcs more in season 1 and overall season 1 felt much more lighthearted and fun, which I really enjoyed.  It tried to throw in some sad and touching scenes here and there, but it never felt over the top and pointless (except for the end of Kotomi's arc).  Right off the bat of season 2 I could already feel the change in tone of the show, and honestly, I don't think it worked very well for the first half of the season.  The first 10 episodes of season 2 were still short mini arcs, but to me it didn't have the same charm as season 1.  Then once the second half of season 2 began, everything changed, and I don't think it was quite for the better.  All these characters the show put effort into making fun, likeable, and interesting were now completely scrapped and we were left with Nagisa and Tomoya.  I've touched on how I feel about these two characters, but I wanted more of the side characters (see character "rant" above).  Season 2 I think tries a little to hard to make the first half as serious and dramatic as the second half and I personally do not think it worked well.  As for the final episodes, I talked about how well done they were and again, I don't think the show set itself up for a depressing ending where everyone dies, so the "true" ending of the show did feel like a great relief.  However, I don't think the fact that the last 6 episodes out of 24 in a season make up for its lackluster start and lack of side character interaction throughout the second season.

Do I like Clannad? Yes. Do I think it the best anime I've ever seen? Far from it.  The show was good, and I can see why some people regard it so highly, but I personally felt the show was lacking in some aspects.  Season 1 was a good SoL/comedy anime with some nice romance thrown in and a good cast or fun, likeable characters, but nothing too special. Season 2 had some amazing scenes and great character development and interactions, but the overly serious tone and complete disregard of side characters made the show feel empty.

Rating Breakdown:
Story/Plot - 3.5/5 some really good parts, other not so good parts
Characters - 1.5/3 some really good characters, other pretty bad characters
Music - 1/1 Kreygasm
Animation - 1/1 Kreygasm
Overall - 7/10