I'm not a huge fan of romance animes. Sure, I like it when a show has a romance element to it, like Edward and Winry in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but I find most romance animes to be realllllyyyy cheesy and sometimes unbearably awkward. However, during my long and uneventful summer break, I decided to go ahead and try an anime that I've heard great things about and was a total romantic anime. I should clarify; I decided to finish an anime that I'd heard great things about (I'll explain more later). I didn't know what to expect from this show, except that pretty much everyone who watched it, loved it, and guess what, I loved it too! Not Clannad specifically, but the combination of Clannad and Clannad: After Story. Here's why.....
Our protagonist is Tomoya, a high school delinquent whose life consists of skipping class and hating his hometown. This changes however when he meets Nagisa, a girl in his class who is repeating his senior year and Tomoya ends up helping Nagisa find the courage to go to school. Eventually the two become friends and they attempt to restart the school's Drama Club. Along the way, Tomoya meets and helps several other girls at school with their problems while dealing with his own struggles.
I began this anime at some point before the summer began, but after the first story arc ended, I got bored and decided to stop. I picked it up again a few weeks ago and began to tear through episodes. For you see, my goal was not to finish Clannad, my goal was to watch Clannad: After Story. Before I get into that, lets talk about why people seem to enjoy the Clannad series.
First, the characters. While some characters lack proper development, all of the main and side characters in Clannad get ample amounts of screen time, so that we can properly meet and enjoy them. Clannad starts off as a one girl per story arc show, where Nagisa and Tomoya try to get a girl to join the Drama Club and end up helping her in some way. It could be overcoming a personal issue or doing something nice for them. The formula gets picked up and dropped several times in the series, which wasn't bad, because it allows us to focus on other aspects of the show, like Tomoya's and Nagisa's relationship.
There isn't that much I need to say about each individual character, since they're pretty bland in the beginning. Tomoya is a delinquent, Nagisa is sweet and clumsy and..... well, you'll learn about the rest. Like I said, there isn't too much development initially, but each character becomes endearing in their own way.
The art of Clannad is very stylized, with everything very bright and tall. The being said, there isn't anything super spectacular about Clannad's design. Most characters, especially the girls have similar body types and can only be told apart by their different colored hair. Still, it did the job that was needed, so I didn't have any problems with Clannad's art.
Overall, Clannad is a good anime. It's funny, has a good cast of characters and gives you the warm fuzzies. It's also predictable, like most romance anime. You know who is going to end up with whom at the end, pretty much from the beginning, and so you're just watching the show to see how they eventually say the "L" word to each other.
HOWEVER, Clannad decided to go beyond your normal romance anime and show us what life is like after finding the one you love in Clannad: After Story. Like I said in the beginning, After Story is where the beauty of Clannad really shines. It follows Tomoya and Nagisa as the finish high school and eventually start their life together. This leads to a whole slew of problems that you don't see in your typical romance anime, and it totally works. It shows that romance can leave high school, and lead to a life you would have never imagined. Though there are a few sad moments in Clannad, After Story will make the manliest man break down into tears. It really shows that life won't always turn out the way you expect, but its how you deal with these challenges that makes you into a better person. Tomoya learns that in After Story, but you'll have to watch to see if he gets the happy ending he deserves.Besides the normal Clannad story, there's a side story about The Last Girl on Earth and the mechanical doll she builds and comes to life. I promise you that it will be explained at some point. There are also 2 "What if" episodes, meaning, "what if Tomoya decided to date one of the other girls he eventually makes friends with?" You can ignore them if you so choose, but I enjoyed them a lot and kind of wish that they would have expanded those two episodes into their own mini series.
Not everyone is going to be interested in Clannad, and that's OK. I didn't think I would like romance animes either, and though I've found some really great ones recently, I've also found some pretty boring ones. My general rule of anime is to watch at least 3 episodes, and if I still don't like it after that, I don't feel bad about stopping. Again, After Story is the real draw to the show, so enjoy the 1st season as fast as you can, so you can see why everyone loves this anime!
For being a romance anime, Clannad is pretty tame, so just watch it! The entire series is on Hulu, so don't wait watch Clannad and join the hundreds of fans who have had their hearts broken! Yay!
Peace and Love
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