Dec 4, 2016
After not shedding a tear at the ending of Angel Beats!, I decided to take on the monster itself: Clannad: After Story, another masterpiece by Key, ranked (as of now) #11 in all of anime, and the absolute tearjerker. And of course, with its neverending emotional hits at the end of almost every episode, this series did not let me down at all and finally forced a tear down my cheek.
Btw, minor spoilers alert. Enjoy :D (I forgot BBCode was disabled D:, so all spoiler-y parts are marked with [spoiler][/spoiler] :D)
Character: 9
An amazingly wide range of characters were presented in the entirety of the anime,
...
each complete with their backstory enough to make you emotionally attached to practically every one of them. (most at least)
Story: 9
The initial 23+24 episodal count baffled me at first, as I wondered how the story could drag out this long. Clannad: After Story of course, managed to fill it in superbly, inserting backstories of each character that are surprisingly as emotional as the one before. These stories do not obstruct or conflict the main plot, and may even have contributed to make the main story make more sense. [spoiler](besides the fuuko one, that one was a little... but i was still pleasantly surprised when i saw fuuko return)[/spoiler] (applies to first season as well)
The main plot, of course, would be the main dish. Unfortunately, I wouldn't say that it is much better than all the other sidestories (other than the waterworks). The main good point it had though, was to make me realise how much our parents actually sacrifice for us, especially during the part where Okazaki had his weird nightmare thingy, where [SPOILER ALERT] and [SPOILER ALERT] [SPOILER ALERT]. [spoiler]Neither did I expect the anime to extend past their highschool life. (I was surprised when Okazaki graduated and there was still like 10 episodes left.) This extended the scope quite a bit to include appeals to other facets of life. [/spoiler]
Art: 9
Not used to the art-style at first, as it was pretty unique and weird-looking when I first started, and of course I got used to it eventually. The facial expressions were well depicted, character designs as well. A bit of inconsistency between the art style of the background and the characters, where hard, block lines were used as outlines for the characters but not the background. Not sure if this is normal but doesn't seem very fitting at all to me.
Sound: 5 (only applies for second season)
Horrible music imo. The beats are unnatural af, especially the second opening. The main melody also didn't appeal to me for some reason. Moreover, most episodes also end on a sad note, making the jumpy, (slightly) hyper ending rather ill-fitted.
But good job on the background music during sad moments. Those were commendable. Just pick better music next time.
Enjoyment: 10
The occasional jokes never fails to crack me up. The stories are also crafted so masterfully that I become so emotionally attached to the characters. I unconsciously smile and blush when they all gather after graduation after seeing how much they've changed and grown. (this would be a spoiler but everyone know this will happen, so meh)
The summary/recap episode also triggered a lot of pleasant memories of their previous adventures during their high school days. Unfortunately for some reason they decided to leave out the side characters' sidestories, but I feel this is a tactic every anime needs to take on.
So, if you want some smiles on your face, and don't mind the (even more) tears and heartbreaks, and have a load of time to kill, this should be the top of your list.
Even if you don't have a lot of time to watch (like me), go watch it episode by episode. You'll enjoy it nonetheless.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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