Anime Reviews (2000s): CLANNAD / CLANNAD AFTER STORY Complete Collection (2007-2009)

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“CLANNAD / CLANNAD AFTER STORY Complete Collection” on Blu-ray receives my highest recommendation! 5 stars!

TITLE: CLANNAD / CLANNAD AFTER STORY Complete Collection

SERIES AIR DATE: 2007/2008-2009

DURATION: CLANNAD: Episodes 1-24 / CLANNAD AFTER STORY: Episodes 1-25 (625 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Subtitles: English

RATED: TV PG

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RELEASE DATE: February 21, 2023

“CLANNAD”

Original Character Designs by Itaru Hinoue

Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara

Series Composition/Screenplay by Fumihiko Shimo

Music by Jun Maeda, Magome Togoshi, Shinji Orito

Character Design by Kazum Ikeda

Art Director: Mutsuo Shinohara

Chief Animation Director: Kazumi Ikeda

Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka

Direction of Photography: Ryuuta Nakagami

“CLANNAD AFTER STORY”

Original Character Designs by Itaru Hinoue

Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara

Series Composition/Screenplay by Fumihiko Shimo

Music by Jun Maeda, Magome Togoshi, Shinji Orito

Character Design by Kazum Ikeda

Art Director: Mutsuo Shinohara

Chief Animation Director: Kazumi Ikeda

Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka

Direction of Photography: Ryuuta Nakagami

Anime Production by Kyoto Animation

Featuring the voices of:

Mai Nakahara/David Matranga as Nagisa Furukawa

Yuuichi Nakamura/Luci Christian as Tomoya Okazaki

Ai Nonaka/Hilary Haag as Fuuko Ibuki

Akemi Kanda/Brittney Karbowski as Ryou Fujibayashi

Daisuke Sakaguchi/Greg Ayres as Youhei Sunohara

Houko Kuwashima/Kaytha Coker as Tomoyo Sakagami

Kikuko Inoue/Kara Greenberg as Sanae Furukawa

Mamiko Noto/Emily Neves as Kotomi Ichinose

Ryotaro Okiayu/Andrew Love as Akio Furukawa

Ryou Hirohashi/Shelley Calene-Black as Kyou Fujibayashi

Ai Bandou as Sugisaka

CLANNAD: Sometimes, something as simple as a chance encounter with a strange girl talking to herself can change your life forever. Alienated from his abusive father, Tomoya has been spiraling into delinquency since the death of his mother. Nagisa’s curse is her fragile health, which has forced her to repeat a year of high school. But when Tomoya impulsively agrees to help Nagisa restart the school’s disbanded Drama Club, a new mechanism for change is created, acting like a magnet for other girls with equally tragic stories.

Prepare to meet the ambitious Tomoyo, who dreams of becoming class president; Kotomi, a troubled genius with a secret past; and most mysteriously, Fuko, whose disassociation with the world has become so severe that she is literally fading from existence!

CLANNAD AFTER STORY: A few months have passed since Tomoya declared his love to Nagisa. Now their relationship is entering a new phase, and neither is quite sure where it will take them. As their friends move on to lives of their own, Tomoya and Nagisa get ready to start a family of their own. But Nagisa’s health has always been precarious, and an event that should bring nothing but joy delivers tragedy instead.

Now Tomoya must learn to accept the bitter with the sweet and to understand that the most important thing is to hold onto love, no matter what.

When it comes to the Japanese software company Key, many fans appreciate their work as the video games tend to be dating simulators for the PC and many other video game consoles.

Known for two visual novels “Kanon” and “Air” (both were adapted to anime series), the objects of the video games tend to be the gamer controlling the main male protagonist and with a lot of female friends, answering questions correctly in order to score.

The first two video games were adult-based but in 2004, the company released”Clannad”, a series that would not show nudity or fan service and a game for all ages.

“Clannad” received an anime adaptation in 2007 with a total of 23-episodes. The second season known “Clannad ~After Story~” (which takes place after the first season of Clannad and then ten years later) is now being released in the US.

While the series has been released by Sentai Filmworks before on Blu-ray, both series have been released on Blu-ray together courtesy of Sentai Filmworks in February 2023.

A summary of “Clannad” revolves around the character of Okazaki Tomoya, a high school student who tends to be late for class and has his share of personal problems at home (he and his father have not had a good relationship since his mother’s death) and pretty much spends most of his time with his troublemaking friend Sunohara Youhei.

Tomoya was once a promising basketball player in school until he was in a fight with his father which led to his arm being injured to the point where he can’t lift his arm up past his shoulder.

But life changes for Tomoya for the positive when he meets new high school student Furukawa Nagisa who he quickly becomes good friends with and helps her out.

Throughout the school year, he meets other female students that he tries to help out and becomes their friend. And in the process, his friendships with these people help other people who are in need of friends.

The main characters of “Clannad ~After Story~” are:

Okazaki Tomoya – The main protagonist. A delinquent in school who tends to cut class or fall asleep from class, his life is changed for the positive when he meets Nagisa Furukawa. He hangs out with his good friend Youhei Sunohara. In “Clannad ~After Story~”, Tomoya continues to live with Nagisa’s family and are now a couple.
Furukawa Nagisa – A shy teenager who is passionate towards an old commercial for the Dango Family. Her parents Akio and Sanae run a pastry shop where Nagisa helps out Because of her poor health, she has been forced to repeat her senior year in high school three times but has grown stronger and more appreciative of life after she has met Tomoya. The two are now dating..
Sunohara Youhei – “ Tomoya’s good friend who always gets in trouble and is often seen getting beat up. He is known for his blonde hair and has a younger sister named Mei who constantly worries about him Has no real aspirations in life.
Fujibayashi Kyou – The twin sister of Fujibayashi Ryou. Very tough girl who gets in Tomoya and Youhei’s face and always thinks he is mistreating her sister or other girls. Dreams of becoming a teacher.
Fujibayashi Ryou – Twin sister of Kyou, she is the most reserved and quite of the two. She’s always defended by her twin sister Kyou. Dreams of becoming a nurse.
Ichinose Kotomi– The smartest girl in school. Plays the violin badly. Is given the chance to study abroad and is considering it.
Sakagami Tomoyo – The transfer student who is rumored to be a violent girl and she demonstrates her fighting skills by taking out two gangsters. She wants to become a student body president and idolizes Youhei’s landlord Misae (a former student body president who was tough).
Ibuki Fuko – A girl that Tomoya meets in school and learns about her obsession with starfish. It is revealed in the first season that the girl Tomoya met was the spirit of Fuko, as the real person (the younger sister of teacher, Ibuki Kouko) has been unconscious in a hospital for a long period of time.
Miyazawa Yukine – A student who works/hangs out at the Library Reference room. Most people go to her to listen to her problems. A kind person who tends to help delinquents and gang members.

So far, each anime series that were based off a Key video game such as “Kanon” and “Air” have both been fantastic anime series featuring vibrant animation, colorful backgrounds and just many settings that really make the series stand out.

The same can be said about “Clannad ~After Story~”, the animation and production is absolutely fantastic. Kyoto Animation has done a wonderful job with the artistic backgrounds. Also, the animation is solid and character designs are also done very well.

During my viewing, I did not see any banding or artifacting issues, black levels were deep and as mentioned, the series is absolutely vibrant and colorful in HD.

The series iis presented in 1080p High Definition. Back in 2009, the DVD featured only the Japanese audio soundtrack in stereo but now on Blu-ray, both English and Japanese lossless soundtracks are presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

Lossless audio is primarily dialogue and music coming from the front and center channels. Surround channels are utilized for musical instruments and ambiance.

Japanese voice acting is solid and a lot of well-known Seiyuu are involved in the series. Both Nakahara Mai and Nakamura Yuuichi were fantastic in the series and I wasn’t sure how the English dialogue would be, but sure enough, Sentai Filmworks did a fantastic job in the casting as David Matranga and Luci Christian were absolute marvelous in the English dub. So, anime fans should feel comfort in knowing that both lossless soundtrack and the voice acting are well-done.

Subtitles are featured in English.

For those who truly want to enjoy “CLANNAD”, definitely start out with the first series and then its sequel, “CLANNAD AFTER STORY”.

“CLANNAD” features several story arc’s based on certain characters. The first half was lighthearted, while the second part of “CLANNAD” were much more dramatic and in someways the arcs were emotional.

The anime series is well-written in a way that the main protagonist, Tomoya is not a perfect guy. He’s a guy who has his set of problems and the girls he meets, have their own problems as well.

Granted, this series could easily go dark but instead, its about people who have found friendship within each other. I can easily see how the video game series could have gone, since there are many female characters that Tomoya can try to be closer too either. But for the anime series, relationships thus far have been kept platonic. It’s not more of him liking these girls, it’s about him wanting to help them, even though he has a problem of helping himself.

For the first half of “CLANNAD”, the theme is friendship. Nagisa, Fuuko, Kotomi… they all have reasons why they haven’t had many friends, so we see three major arcs between these three girls and how Tomoya starts to help them and in someway, they end up helping him as well. The second half of the first season continues with the Kotomi arc, then the Tomoyo arc and then finalizes things with one last Nagisa arc.

I wouldn’t go as far calling each character lost souls but Tomoya becomes a person that touches their lives, more than he thinks.

The first season had 23 episodes, but you will notice that 24 is listed. That is because the inclusion of “Another World – Tomoyo Chapter” OVA as well. In some ways, I suppose like the video game, it would have been nice to see these “Another World” OVA’s in which we see Tomoya choosing each female character as his girlfriend and seeing the different stories the writers can come up with. But overall, the Tomoyo Chapter was actually quite intriguing.

After gushing about how much I enjoyed the first season of “Clannad”, I was definitely looking forward to “Clannad ~After Story~”.

I’ve heard many times from fans of the series that “Clannad ~After Story~” is an absolutely wonderful conclusion of the series, so I definitely was looking forward to it.

For the most part, the first half of the series is similar to the first season of the series in that it focuses on storylines of several key characters. In this case, a mix of the main characters but also supporting cast with a story focusing on Youhei and his sister Mei, Youhei’s landlord Misae, the library worker Yukine, the musician turned electrician Yusuke and then back to the primary characters Tomoya and Nagisa.

Like the first season of”Clannad”, the storyline for each of these characters are quite emotional. From learning more about Youhei and his sister’s relationship and his respect for Tomoya, Misae’s storyline is quite interesting because she’s a character that is rarely featured and if anything, her storyline is tied to the character of Tomoyo. But for the most part, her storyline is equally emotional and somewhat tragic as it deals with her past and why she has not moved on. Yukine’s storyline was OK and was more explaining her ties to the gang community and her trying her best to stop the fightingÂ Yusuke, a character who really never factored into the first season plays an important part in Tomoya’s storyline, especially post-graduation. But his story is short and is more to show Tomoya about protecting the person you love and doing what you can for that person.

But the underlying story in each of these episodes is the relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa. How these two are truly in love with each other and no matter how frail or how sick she gets, Tomoya’s love for her is strong and unconditional and it was great to see their relationship blossom even after Tomoya graduates from high school.

As each of the character storylines were enjoyable (and emotional at the same time), what I found interesting are the short opening animation on each episode featuring a robot and a girl which points to dismal storyline which is quite vague at this point but you suspect that something bad may happen in the series. Is it a dream or is there some underlying meaning for those scenes?

The second half of the series is more realistic and heartbreaking as Tomoya and Nagisa now live their adult lives as a married a couple and eventually wanting to start a family. We have received hints from the opening of the anime series with a girl and a robot but the storylines were vague until you reach this final half of the season.

The final half of “Clannad ~After Story~” is fantastic and emotional.

I don’t think I have cried this hard for an anime series since I have watched “Grave of the Fireflies”, that is how depressing and emotional that “Clannad ~After Story~” has gotten and episode after episode, I couldn’t stop, it was that captivating and suffice to say, you are pulled in as you have watched many episodes of Tomoya and Nagisa grow from their high school years and now to their married years and you have two bombshells dropped on you that is so emotionally hard to take in.

Also, knowing that those emotions and what you see, mirrors reality in knowing that there are fathers who have had to deal with a similar situation that Tomoya had to go through. The series does have a happy ending and of course, the realism of the storyline can be lost but in the context of what we experienced throughout this series, especially with the Fuko and Yukine storyline.

There are magical things that happen in the world of “Clannad”. The balls of light that we have seen in several episodes and the discussion of alternate universes, the screenplay plays off possibly like its video game counterpart that this is not a an anime series based on reality, it’s a series based on possibilities and anything is possible.

For the realists, one can feel that with episode 21, the tragedy that unfolds is their true conclusion. For those who want that magical, happy ending, episode 22 and the final episode summary gives you that other option.

It’s interesting because typically, you don’t get a choice in the matter at the end of an anime series. Pretty much at the end of a series, what is done is done (unless there is a movie or OVA version featuring a re-imagining of the series). Not for “Clannad ~After Story~”, the series has always had its enjoyable happy moments and its emotional moments.

As a viewer, part of me felt that episode 21 is how things should be, to capture that realism of the storyline. But knowing how things happened during the Fuko, Misae and Yukine storyline in “Clannad” and “Clannad ~After Story~”, magical things happen in the town where Tomoya and Nagisa live which can’t be explained and thus episode 22 and the summary episode is an ending that makes sense.

In the end and now watching this series from beginning to end and almost like a marathon, so captivated that I couldn’t stop, I realize why this acclaimed series is loved by many. Definitely one of the best dramatic anime series I have seen in a very long time since “Kimagure Orange Road”, “Maison Ikkoku” and the “Video Girl Ai” OVA series.

It’s that magic that I have missed when it comes to romance and realistic drama series and it’s great to finally watch a series that really shows you the value of life and absolutely captivates you from beginning to end.

Overall, “CLANNAD / CLANNAD AFTER STORY Complete Collection” on Blu-ray receives my highest recommendation! 5 stars!

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