Anime Analyze: Clannad (Anime)

So the next anime that I watched was definitely a different one from the last few.  It is definitely not as "actiony" as some that I have seen and the main reason that I watched it is that Hikachan told me to.  He said it was good and I do have to agree with him in some respects.  And while this genre of Anime is not one that I usually watch, I will say that I enjoyed watching it.  This is Clannad, a slice of life anime that was released originally as a visual novel for the PC in 2004 and was adapted into an anime and released in 2007-2008 by Kyoto Animation.  It has 23 episodes, 22 of which are normal while the last one is a special OVA based around an alternate timeline where two different main characters are dating instead of how it normally worked.  The series has a sequel series called Clannad After Story which is considered one of the greatest anime series of all time, but we will get to that one later.  The opening for the series is "Megumeru ~cuckool mix 2007~" by Eufonius.  So, here is my review of the series Clannad. 

The story starts out with our main character, Tomoya Okazaki, a high school student who has a lot of family issues and doesn't really like going to school or doing anything really.  His mother died in a car accident before the series began and this drove his father to alcohol and gambling, causing Okazaki to despise him for the choices that he has made.  He has a friend that he goes to school with (when he goes), who is constantly trying to pick up girls and is constantly rejected and then beat up every time.  This gets really entertaining when a girl who really knows how to fight comes to school there and this kid constantly tries to beat her, and then constantly gets beaten over and over.  Anyway, Okazaki meets a girl by the name of Nagisa Furukawa, a soft-spoken girl who has low self-esteem and doesn't like to get out and do stuff much.  He learns that she wants to get the drama club that had shut down back together and going again, and he decides to help her.  Through his helping her, he also meets other strange girls throughout the school, including a genious,  a pair of sisters who like to scheme a lot, the girl who beats people up, and a girl who has an obsession with starfish who has a secret that will be revealed later in the series (and it is a supernatural secret, which when I saw that label in the series as to the genre, I was really confused until I got to it).

After meeting all of these people, there are two main arcs that happen in this series.  The first is about the starfish girl named Fuko.  She has a problem, she wants to invite all of the students to her sister's wedding since her sister used to be a teacher at the school.  Problem is, she wants to do it by giving people wooden carved starfish and not explaining why.  So Okazaki helps her with this issue and you will have to watch to find out if it goes well or not.  There are a few episodes in between and then the second half is about the theater club as well as the forming of relationships between Okazaki and others especially Nagisa.

Alright, well this show is definitely an interesting one.  While the story is intriguing, it was sometimes hard to get what exactly was going on.  I will admit that at times this show made me laugh pretty frequently, mainly because (get this) the show is full of video game references.  I know, it is a romance show with video game references and it just made my day whenever another one came up.  Example, when Okazaki's friend got beat up ever once and a while, on occasion a hit combo counter would show up on the screen.  It was pretty awesome.   Anyway, the story itself when I could follow it, was really well put together and I could see why so many people were split on this show as to whether it was really good or just "meh".  The series itself took me some will power to get through completely, but not for bad reasons, mainly because it is a slice of life anime and while they are good, they are not my absolute favorites.  I really have nothing to say about the premise, while it was not bad, it wasn't really spectacular either.  It's a slice of life anime......premise is almost ignored for the most part.

Animation wise, this show is made by Kyoto Animation, so you know it's going to look good.  While Kyoto isn't known for their action-based anime, they instead try to make the scenes look more beautiful, and they do a great job in this one.  The colors are just all around and they make everything come out with life.  It was a really well made piece.  The characters were all really well designed and the way they added stuff into the scenes in order to make jokes was really fun too.

Being a slice of life anime, this show focuses on the character development hard core.  While you have this socially struggling guy meeting a socially struggling, and yet happy girl, we see throughout the whole series how their relationship grows with every step, and while they are not sure of their relationship with each other through most of it, we know that they will eventually get together but it's not where they are going, but how they get there and they really did good at showing the progression.  Also showing how the other characters grew with themselves was interesting as each one of them had something that they were dealing with and showing how they worked through that with other people.

Overall this show was fun to watch, and while for some it may take some time to work through, it is something that is worth watching at least once even if you are not mainly into the slice of life genre.  I give Clannad an 8.5/10 because while there is really no original premise to speak of, other then it being an original show, the animation is amazing, the story is good, and the character development is to die for.  This show is a worthy addition to the slice of life genre, and even if you aren't usually into that sort of thing, check it out at least once and see the things that made this show great.  That is my review of Clannad and I will see everyone next time.  Have a great week everybody.

Final Rating: 8.5/10
                 Plot:                                9/10
                 Premise:                          5/10
                 Animation:                      10/10
                 Character Development:    10/10
Episodes: 23
RWF: Japanese Dub
MRS: www.nwanime.com