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[[NOTE: NOT ONLY WILL I BE REVIEWING CLANNAD AFTER STORY, I WILL ALSO REVIEW THE ORIGINAL CLANNAD AS WELL, JUST SO I CAN SAY WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT BOTH SEASONS.]]

Emotions. When it comes to anime or just media in general, it can be quite hard for people to feel emotional when they watch a series. If you have a show that has bad characters and/or a bad story, it would be almost impossible for the person watching to feel any type of emotion. But if a show has amazing characters and/or a wonderful story, it is slightly easier. Now when a show is trying to ... make you cry, it needs to nail everything and get everything perfect for the person watching to feel for these characters, so much, that they cry when something happens to them. With that said, before I watched the series I’m about to review, I have only ever cried watching any sort of media 2 times. The first was when I watched the anime, “Angel Beats!” With very likeable characters and a good story, it was the first anime I ever cried to. I only cried once watching Angel Beats. The second was when I watched an Australian-made movie called “Red Dog.” It told the story of a red cattle dog as he lives in the Australian outback. I cried 2 times watching that movie. The one day, after many people telling me to watch the Clannad series, I watched it. And my thoughts of it were this: “This is the most perfect anime I have ever seen in my entire life.”

(MY REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)

[[Story – 10/10]]

Basically, I thought the story was perfection. Clannad tells the story of two high-school students named Tomoya and Nagisa, as we see their relationship together grow. The way the story goes is basically split into several arcs. Each arc was amazing to watch. Each one had its fair share of ups, downs, twists and turns. And each one went at a very steady pace, if a bit slow. But because the story advanced somewhat slowly, it worked to its advantage. To see the story unfold, it also had meanings to them. Seeing the story unfold will teach you that life is not easy, that you should always protect your friends and family and that your friends and family will always be there for you, no matter what happens. The story can make you feel emotions very easily as well. Not only does it have sad scenes of depression and sadness (An example is something like dealing with family problems, which is something I can relate to), but it can also make you smile and laugh your head off (An example is in one scene, where Tomoya gets locked in a gym storage room with one of the supporting female characters, producing one of the most awkward and funniest scenes I have ever seen in anime.) For the series to be able to make me feel these emotions perfectly is simply astounding. When it came to the original Clannad, it did portray scenes of sadness from time to time, but there was plenty of comedy to even it out. Clannad After Story, on the other hand, has much less comedy then the original Clannad. There was some comedy, but After Story focused more on emotions of sadness. Which isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I think it’s a good thing. Sometimes, when watching something sad, it’s best to not have comedy. With such a well thought-out story, it was a pleasure to watch.

[[Characters – 10/10]]

In terms of characters, the characters are also perfect. The main characters, Tomoya and Nagisa, were one of the most interesting, likable and put-together characters I have ever seen. Seeing these two grow and to see their relationship grow was amazing to watch. Tomoya is a very interesting character, who I can kinda relate to. He’s lazy and not very bright (just like me), but he would do anything for his friends. He was also quite a trickster, so he brought a lot of comedy to the show. To see him grow up as a person was brilliant. Nagisa, the main female character, is quite possibly the most likable character ever. She’s a pretty girl who’s very fragile and caring. To also see her grow up as a person was amazing. The supporting characters were fantastic as well. You had Kyou, the tough but caring girl, who bought a lot of comedy to the series, Kotomi, the shy, quiet genius who should never, ever, EVER play a violin, Tomoyo, the girl who could kick your butt without even trying, Fuko, the cute girl who loves starfishes, who I really liked throughout the series and then there is Sunohara, the wacky casanova that has no luck with the ladies. And that’s not even the entire supporting cast. Every single character is extremely likable in some way. And even if you didn’t like all the characters, there is bound to be at least one character you will like. I liked every single character in the entire series, which is kinda amazing to me, because whenever I watch an anime series, there was always this one character I didn’t like. In Clannad, there was no such character. The characters were amazing to watch. Many characters made me laugh, and many characters made me cry.

[[Animation – 10/10]]

In the animation department, it is also perfect. Now, although it isn’t the best animation I have ever seen in anime (The anime movie Redline, gets that honour), I thought the animation was amazing and beautiful, as expected from Kyoto Animation. The character designs looks fantastic, the backgrounds looks astounding and the anime was colourful and vibrant. And not only that, I liked the art style so much. Although for some, the art style does look a bit weird, I liked it. Wherever the setting was, it was a visual treat for the eyes. It should be noted however, that After Story’s animation looks far better than the original Clannad, which is to be expected. And since the original Clannad’s animation looked amazing in my opinion, then After Story’s animation was astonishing. If you’re looking for a beautiful anime, Clannad and Clannad After Story is the answer.

[[Sound – 10/10]]

In terms of sound, the sound was perfect as well. First up, the voice acting in the sub was magnificent. The voice-actor’s performance was done perfectly. Each characters voice matched the character so well, and they did such a wonderful job expressing feelings in many moments of the anime. And then there is the music. The music is beyond beautiful. Clannad’s soundtrack has a lot of piano playing, and quiet, almost lullaby-style songs. But it also has songs that can make you feel tense, make you laugh, make you sad and make you smile. The soundtracks and the scenes in which the songs play on those scenes, is done perfectly. When it came to the really emotional moments of the series, the songs really helped you feel emotional. Whenever there was a sad scene, a quiet and sad song play, making the entire scene even sadder. Whenever someone was tricking someone, a funny, upbeat song would play, making the scene that much more funny. The songs perfectly matched the scene it belonged to. The opening and closings of both series were also brilliant. The original’s opening was very nice, but After Story’s opening was beautiful, in both animation and sound. The closing song of the original Clannad, was a song about Dango’s. (A blobby creature Nagisa loved) The closing song of the original Clannad was such a quiet and beautiful song. It was used a fair amount in After Story, and whenever the Dango song was playing, it made me so emotional. After Story’s closing song was very upbeat and funny, so I really liked that as well. The whole Clannad series will make your ears feel like they are in heaven.

[[Enjoyment – 10/10]]

I absolutely loved every minute of the Clannad series. It was such an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish. I just loved everything about it. And no matter how many times I thought about it, no matter how many times I remember all the episodes and all the moments in the series, I just couldn’t find one problem with the entire series. Not one. Well, there is one problem: After you finish the series, you will feel the biggest void you will ever feel in your life. It is quite literally the most perfect anime ever made: a masterpiece. Although it isn’t my all-time favourite anime (Panty and Stocking 4ever!), I think it is the best anime I have ever seen. So watch this series. And love it. Then tell your friends to watch it. Tell everyone you know to watch Clannad. Everyone should watch Clannad. Oh, and one more thing. I’m sure you’re wondering: How many times did I cry watching the whole Clannad series? Well…

I cried 8 times.

[[Final Rating – 10/10]]

When you think about it, it would be insanely difficult for a new anime studio to make a successful anime series to get their company noticed. If a new anime company makes an anime, and the anime is bad, the anime company will have a hard time in making new anime for a long time. So Studio Trigger, who had a bunch of people that broke off from Studio Gianax, had a huge challenge ahead of them. But when they announced their new anime called “Kill la Kill”, they had a heap of hype surrounding it before the first episode even started. And now the ... anime has ended. Did Studio Trigger succeed in making their first mainstream anime they made a success? Or did it fail completely?

Well, I’m glad to announce that Kill la Kill was a complete success!

(THIS IS MY FIRST TIME REVIEWING AN ANIME, SO BEAR WITH ME.)
(ALSO, MY REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)

[[Story – 8/10]]
The story is kinda generic, but it still works. It’s sort of similar to the story of Gurren Lagann: where no matter how ridiculous the story is, it just works. The story was exciting, loud and funny. The story also got bigger and bigger as time when on. Again, sort of similar to Gurren Lagann. There was some hiccups along the way. Some examples were that even though they do explain stuff, it might make you confused. Half of the time they would explain something, I would just scratch my head and go “What?”. Another problem was the ending. I thought the ending was good, but it didn’t meet my expectations. Even though the ending did resolve everything, I had some questions that didn’t get answered. But ending aside, the story was fantastic.

[[Characters – 8.5/10]]
In terms of characters, the characters were also fantastic.
The main character, Ryuko Matoi, and the main antagonist, Satsuki Kiryuin, are a rare type of character in anime: The strong female character. There is not a lot of animes that have strong main female characters. And Kill la Kill has a fair amount of strong female characters. Both Ryuko and Satsuki are fantastic characters. They might not be perfect, but they are still awesome. And then the supporting characters. The supporting characters were also fantastic. Mako might have been the Jar Jar Binks of Kill la Kill, but Mako was still funny. The Four Divas were awesome as well. (Nonon is best Diva). There was some problems with some of the characters, but I barely noticed the problems most of the time.

[[Animation – 8/10]]
I will admit, I am a huge Hiroyuki Imaishi fanboy. And you can see why. He created the animation for Gurren Lagann and Panty and Stocking, two shows I love so much. I really liked the animation of Gurren Lagann and Panty and Stocking, so I assumed that Kill la Kill’s animation would look great. And it was…most of the time. The animation reminded me so much of Gurren Lagann and Panty and Stocking because it looked pretty similar, just like I predicted. When the characters fighted, it looked fantastic. However, there are some problems. Sometimes, instead of animating an action, they would instead use different frames of poses to make the characters look comical and/or fast. A huge example is whenever Mako does one of her speeches. Instead of animating all the actions and poses she did, they instead just quickly showed pictures of her posing. It did look comical, but I believe it would work if it was fully animated. It also sometimes happens when the characters fight, which kinda annoys me. Gurren Lagann and Panty and Stocking’s fight scenes didn’t have this problem. But overall, the animation looks amazing.

[[Sound – 9/10]]
In terms of sound, I believe this is the strongest part about Kill la Kill. (Although I think many people would disagree with me.) The Japanese voice-acting is fantastic. All the characters voices sound amazing and match their personalities. Although Mako’s voice annoyed me from time to time, it still matched her perfectly. If Kill la Kill gets an English Dub, I would be kind of scared that they won’t do better than the Japanese Sub. And then there is the music. The music is phenomenal. The songs in Kill la Kill are amazing. The song “Don’t Lose Your Way” is just perfect. And the first and second openings of the series are also amazing. Although people might disagree with me, I think the second opening’s song is better. If you want your ears to be in heaven, then Kill la Kill will help you there.

[[Enjoyment – 9.5/10]]
I really, really enjoyed Kill la Kill. Not only did I not only get over the fanservice, I actually liked the fanservice, due to it being funny to me, which Panty and Stocking does as well. The story worked very well, the characters were larger than life, animation was brilliant, and the sound was amazing. If you want to watch an entertaining anime, Kill la Kill should be your first choice. Congratulations, Studio Trigger. I cannot wait to see what you come up with next.

[[Final Rating – 8.75/10]]