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OK, so here we have a spin-off manga of Saekano. Spin-offs normally just feel like a cash grab that are rarely as good as the original, but I believe this one is an exception. This review is written assuming that you've already seen some of the original series, but I do believe this manga can hold up as a stand alone even without seeing/reading Saekano.

Saekano is a harem series, and while it is one of the best harem series I've personally seen it ultimately was not above the tropes that seem to define the genre. To the people that are turned off by harem ... series, or even love triangles but liked other aspects of this show then this manga might be for you. This manga is basically an alternate universe where the doujin circle is never formed and Tomoya helps Utaha pursue her writing career instead. Here, Tomoya probably never met Megumi to begin with, and characters like Eriri and Michiru are only given a passing mention. There is a new girl introduced that I don't think is even present in the original but thankfully so far no love triangle has formed. To put it simply, this manga is the Utaha route.

The original story did require some suspension of disbelief in the sense that the main character conveniently happened to know multiple hyper-talented attractive girls to make a visual novel with. Instead of being the director of a doujin team here, Tomoya is thrust into an even more implausible role as Utaha's official editor. If you can get over the implausibility of a high schooler being a professional light novel writer and her junior from school being allowed to be her editor the rest should be easy enough to accept. The story is basically following Tomoya and Utaha as they go through the process of working on her new light novel series. It plays the story pretty straight, though it doesn't exactly reach the depth of Shirobako or anything like that in dissecting the process. But to be honest that isn't really the most interesting aspect of this manga any way. It's not so much about the process of making a light novel as much as it is about seeing our quirky novelist go through it. The story isn't anything groundbreaking, but it serves its purpose.

One thing you might notice if you have seen or read Saekano before this is that the art style is a bit different. This manga is not illustrated by the same guy that did them for the original series. Honestly, I don't think that's a problem at all because the characters still look nice even if the art style is a bit different. The characters still look like who they're supposed to look like, and the art looks nice regardless. The backgrounds are pretty simple and unimpressive if you care about that, but otherwise there's no major flaws to the art style. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it does its job.

Of course the main attraction of stories in this genre are the characters themselves, and this is where the story is strongest. Of course there is Utaha herself, who was my personal favorite character from the original series. Due to a lack of competition she is not as aggressive with her seduction attempts, but otherwise she's the same as she usually is. This manga obviously puts more focus on her than the original source did, so there's the added bonus of expanding on her character more than the original did. Also, since the situation is different from the original source you get to see certain sides to her character that weren't as apparent in the original. Utaha being herself is one of the main things that makes this manga so enjoyable. If you like her character, you will probably like this manga. If you don't like this character, you probably won't like this manga. It's really that simple.

Of course we still have Mr. Ethical, our male main character as well. And yes, he's still dense as hell when it comes to romance here. He's not a fundamentally different character than he was in the main series or anything, but people who dislike his character will probably find him at least a bit more tolerable here. He doesn't screw things up as often as he does in the original, and he has mellowed out a bit. He's still not an amazing character, but he still has enough of his own quirks that stop him from being a completely generic protagonist.

Then finally there is Mayu Sagara, who I believe is a character unique to this manga. From what I gather her main purpose is to serve as Utaha's illustrator without the love triangle stuff that would happen if Eriri filled that role. She also has the distinct honor of being one of few girls in this series that gets reasonably close to our protagonist without completely falling head over heels for him. While the story doesn't place that much focus on her she's likable and gets fleshed out a decent amount.

As a spin-off manga of a light novel series it would be easy to assume that this was written as an after-thought. Maybe some might see this as a cheap cash grab for Utaha fanboys, but it appears to me that there was actually a good amount of effort put into this. I will note that there's less of an emphasis on humor compared to the original series, but you will still find a good dose of humor here and there. Also, while this is in many ways a more straightforward romance series between two characters the romantic progression is certainly on the slower side. The fact that chapters are released monthly doesn't help matters. Overall, this story is not exactly breaking new ground for the genre. However, for a romance manga the story is above average, it has an enjoyable cast of characters, and a great main heroine. I will confess that I love Utaha, she is among my top 20 favorite anime/manga characters. This manga certainly would be lower than an 8 if I didn't love her character so much. But even if you don't like her character as much as I do it's still a solid romance manga.

If there's one thing you can say about this show, it's certainly unique. But this show is one of those ones that are kind of hard to rate, because it's really not for everybody. I personally enjoyed it but I could very easily see someone else getting bored out of their mind by it. Might as well get started then.

When you watch this show, the most obvious thing that will pop out is the atmosphere itself. Taking place in *gasp* Japan in... I don't know shit about Japan's time periods but either way it's not modern. It takes place in a time where the resident's ... interactions with nature are more you know, relevant. A time where people didn't have big modern cities or advanced medicine or anything like that. This is a time where people are forced to directly live off of and be at the mercy of nature to survive. In many ways, this makes the setting and time period practically perfect. As our protagonist, Ginko, wanders around the countryside we see a good variety of settings, all of which can be almost equally beautiful. Quite frankly, the art and the atmosphere are pretty much the best I've seen in any anime I have ever watched. It's great, it really is, especially when it comes to the designs of the mushi.

The thing is, even though this show focuses heavily on nature and the spiritual sides of things (well, I guess I wouldn't exactly call Mushi spirits but that's not important right now) some of the events, concepts, and ideas presented in the show are still very much relevant to us today. This show is completely episodic, but some of the individual episodes actually end up covering some pretty heavy topics. The show can really make you think some times, which is another thing that I like about it.

Still, that's not to say the show isn't without its faults. Whether these issues are actually a big deal to you is going to make all the difference between whether you enjoy the show or not. If those issues don't bother you, this show is probably going to be one of the absolute greatest shows you'll ever watch. If they are problematic, than this show might end up being a bit boring to you. In which case, I suggest you might want to just watch a few episodes and then drop it (you can basically watch the episodes in any order by the way. I personally think episode 21 is a really nice one by the way.)

So what are those issues? Well, one of them is simply the lay out of the show. Ginko is a wanderer, going from place to place... and he can't stay in one place for long. This is central to his character, and fortunately it's explained pretty decently why he's actually like this... as opposed to "wanderers will be wanderers. Loners will be loners." Like you might see some shows say xP What does this translate to? Well, it's a completely episodic anime, with no overbearing plot to any of it. It's literally just the guy going from place to place trying to help people that have problems pertaining to mushi. In a similar fashion to crime shows like CSI or whatever, it might end up feeling a bit repetitive after a while. There are plenty of recurring themes, and it doesn't help that some of the side characters look ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME. The show can be monotonous at times, so if you don't like shows that follow this sort of format in general, you might not like it too much. I personally wouldn't call this a flaw as much as it's simply a format that some would find appealing and some wouldn't. Though I will admit it would've been nice if the show at least attempted to have some sort of plot that brought the episodes together.

The only other thing I think is worth mentioning is the characters. The thing is, there's really only one character worth mentioning, and that's Ginko. Everybody else is pretty much gone after they're episode is over. So I guess I'll talk about Ginko first. As a protagonist, Ginko seems like a good fit for the show. He's designed in a way that makes him more modern looking than anyone else in the show. Apparently they originally intended the show to be more modern... and changed that... but kept Ginko's design. However I'm not entirely sure about the source on that so if I'm wrong don't lynch me. Either way, he's actually a surprisingly bad ass character. I am a person who likes character development, so it's a bit of a disappointment that Ginko didn't get more of it. His backstory is actually pretty interesting in a way but it basically only answers the most basic questions you have about the character. Still I can say that I enjoy his character.

Every other character on the other hand only gets an episode of development so it's challenging at times to get invested in them. But for what they got in the time frame, some of their stories can actually hit surprisingly hard. Not as hard as they would if we got to know them better instead of just one 20 minute episode but still heavy nonetheless. The characters are a lot more realistic and toned down then you would expect from an anime. This is a positive thing to me especially if you want to take a break from... well, almost every anime ever. Still, this could be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. One of the main reasons this show can feel so repetitious is because the side characters aren't really all that distinguished from one another. They're all unique in some way, but because they're *mostly* just pretty normal people reacting to abnormal situations they don't really distinguish themselves that much.

This is made even worse because of the way they're drawn. This is the only reason I give the art a 9 instead of a 10, the side characters all look way too similar. In most anime you'll see different hair colors (many of which won't be realistic at all), different hairstyles (many of which won't be realistic AT ALL), different clothing (except for you know, most high school animes) etc. This show really highlights why somewhat unrealistic but varied characters designs are actually a good thing a good portion of the time. Yes, they all look like actual Japanese people in that time period. But seriously, some of those character designs look almost exactly the same. You'll see a decent amount of young couples throughout this series, and it's almost impossible to tell them apart design wise some times other than say, the hair length of the girl. The characters are just that similar looking.

So yeah, that's the show. I personally enjoyed it, but this is one of those shows that are kind of hard to judge. It's just the kind of show that will be completely amazing to some viewers and a complete snooze-fest for others. It's a nice slow paced atmospheric anime, and it also has one of the most relaxing theme songs I've ever heard. So if you don't have a tolerance for a slow pace or a little repetitiveness then this might not be for you. You might want to just watch the first few episodes, a couple of other random episodes and then drop it. Or you could watch the whole thing. The show's not for everyone, but for anybody who thinks they have the patience to watch a sort of laid back show like this then give it a try. It's an interesting show, it really is.

I have never played the game so I'll simply judge this show on its own merits.

With that said, I don't need to play the game to know that this simply isn't very good. It's fun to watch in its own right, and fans of the genre should still check it out because it's short any way but...

First I'll talk about one of the most obvious things about this show, the art style. It's... unique to say the least. All of the characters have very expressive and exaggerated designs, and many of the backgrounds are very stylized. This is especially true when the "punishments" are shown. ... This gives the show a very artificial look, and whether that's a good or a bad thing is up to you. On one side the art is the thing that REALLY makes the show feel unique, on the other side well... it makes it very hard for this show to be taken seriously. For a show about people dying one by one and central themes of hope vs. despair... the tone's a lot lighter than it should be. I'm fine with a show that seems sort of light on the outside but very dark and gruesome at its core but this show does not pull that off well. Frankly, it's harder to care when people die when the blood is fucking PURPLE.

That's the problem with the show, its plot isn't too bad in theory but it rushes through everything so much that absolutely nothing has the weight that it should. None of the characters are that interesting because barely any of them get much development, and the development they do get is either A. rushed or B. just used as a plot device. So the characters are basically just a collection of cardboard cut out tropes that you barely end up caring about.

And the story itself was... OK. It got kind of convoluted towards the end, some of it didn't make all that much sense, and it was pretty rushed the whole way through. But at the very least it held your attention.

And that's the show, it's the kind of show where you keep watching because you want to see what happens next but never actually get that much satisfaction from the results. The art style is very unique but its over the top when something more subtle might have been more effective. it can be fun to watch at times, especially with the main villain's antics, but if you're expecting good mystery, good characters, good depth... quite frankly you're looking in the wrong place. I think the show had potential to be a deep and gratifying experience, something that seems colorful on the outside but is actually quite grim and thought provoking when you actually think about it. That's what this show completely failed to be. But if there's one thing I can say about it, it was never boring. So give it a watch if you want, but don't expect too much out of it.

Ahhh Clannad After Story, there's very little praise I could give to this that hasn't been said before. It's funny when it wants to be funny, depressing when it wants to be depressing, and flat out amazing when it wants to be amazing. It starts out a bit slow but when it gets into gear it REALLY gets into gear.

In After Story, most of the characters from Clannad really start getting the shaft, with Nagisa's parents really being the only ones other than the main couple that stay a consistent presence throughout the series. I'll say that Clannad has one of my absolute favorite ... cast of characters in pretty much any anime I've ever seen, so seeing a lot less of them in this series is in a way, sort of disappointing. But it's also realistic, and really makes the impact of moving on all the more effective.

After Story at its core is basically just about two young people being forced to accept change and trying to become adults in their society. It brings up a lot of powerful points, and is one of those animes that really gets you thinking about your own life. This is one of the many reasons this show is so powerful for people.

NOTE: THIS PARAGRAPH MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS

But... if there is one thing I'll say about this show, quite frankly, the ending kind of sucked. It's hard to say what I disliked about it without saying any spoilers but seriously. It was handled really well, and in some ways it was downright beautiful. But when you take a moment to think about what actually HAPPENED in the ending... umm... yeah, just bullshit. The paranormal aspect of this show is pretty much my absolute least favorite part. It just makes things more confusing and takes away from the realism that made some of the scenes so emotionally affecting. And then they somehow make THAT happen... just... what. Everybody loves a happy ending, but in this case it's an ending that pretty much just gives a middle finger to all of the events that lead up to it. It is one of the absolute worst ways to end it I could even think of, because it sours up some of the amazing scenes and made me question why the F those even happened in the first place.

END SPOILERS

The slow start and the ending stop me from being able to justify giving this show a 10. But that doesn't mean it's a bad show, it's still amazing. Beautiful from start to finish even. If you haven't watched it yet, do it. Even if you didn't like the first season all that much. And if you haven't watched the original Clannad... well watch that first :P