Clannad After Story - Reviews

This is what happens when you get renewed for a second season, but only have one small plot line that barely fills five episodes.

Story - 5/10

The original show was very thin on real substance as it was, so it’s no surprise that for a second go round things were just as bad, and at times even worse. We start off with eight episodes that have absolutely nothing to do with any important plot point. First it’s one about a town baseball game, then a few episodes about Sunohara tricking his little sister into thinking he has a girlfriend, they even throw in another sci-fi-ish flashback episode about Misea, the lady that runs Sunohara’s dorm, and her time at the same school as the other children. None of these play into our story what so ever and are just worthless filler to make up for the fact that the creators didn’t have enough real ideas to complete the episode order they’d received. The two final episodes in this grouping, about an emerging gang war revolving around Yukine, are actually funny and entertaining, but again have no point to them being in the series.

After that initial train wreck the show does start to become the series it should have been from the start, a straight forward and thoughtful slice of life anime. After living at the Furukawa house for the last year or so, Okazaki decides if he ever wants to start a real family he’s going to have to go out and make it on his own. He starts by getting a small apartment and then a decent job with an actual career path, working as a lineman with Fuko’s brother-in-law Yusuke. While this is going on Nagisa is still at school, having to once again retake her final year due to sickness, but many evenings she goes to Okazaki’s and takes care of him, as if they’re already a young married couple.

Not much later, after Nagisa has finally graduated from school, Okazaki decides that their play marriage should become a real marriage. Nagisa starts doing her part by working to pay for their bills, but they soon discover she’s become pregnant, and due to her often fragile state it’s decided that it’s better if she just stays home and takes care of herself, as there is already a high chance for things to go down hill again. Despite the risk to her own life, Nagisa chooses to go through with having her child, as she believes the baby at least deserves a chance at having a life.

Once again fate conspires against Okazaki, and on a day where the city is shutdown due to heavy snowfall, Nagisa goes into labor. Giving birth at home, despite being one of Nagisa’s early wishes, proves to be suboptimal, and after powering through the labor she dies right there in the house that was suppose to be there to raise her family. For the third time in his life Okazaki is denied happiness and a decent life through no fault of his own.

The team creating the show then decides to just skip five whole years in the life of Okazaki and his child. They show a brief example of what he does during his time, but there is so much left out about how he grieved, how his friends might have tried to help him or basically anything that would have required some thought and imagination.

The time jump begins with Okazaki thinking he’s going on a family vacation with Sanae, Akio and his daughter Ushio, but it turns out to be a trick, where his in laws leave him alone with his child, hoping the two will bond as they travel out to the country. It’s hard for Okazaki, as it seems he’s only had minimal contact with Ushio throughout her life. The trip itself is also a slight manipulation by Sanae, as their final destination happens to be the town where Okazaki’s grandmother, from his father’s side of the family, lives. The two talk and she tells Okazaki how his father was a good man who just couldn’t properly deal with the loss of his love, though they then basically go off and say it’s Okazaki’s fault his father was a drunk and he should just suck it up and deal with the fact his father was mean and violent.

Once returning home Okazaki decides to start being the father he should have been, he starts by having Ushio come live with him. Part of his duties now include taking his daughter to school, where he comes to learn that his old friend Kyou is the kindergarten teacher. This was another missed opportunity, which could have been used in place of all the filler, as they could have written in a possible relationship between Okazaki and Kyou, as that could be seen as another step in Okazaki accepting his loss and trying to connect with others, something his father never did.

When everything just seems to be going fine suddenly another tragedy befalls this family. Ushio starts to get sick, and as weeks go by she still doesn’t recover. Soon her illness turns into a moronic diatribe about gentrification and how she’s only sick because they built a hospital on a field and because the city in changing, but thankfully Akio tells Okazaki to basically grow up and learn things evolve and that’s life. Not long after though Ushio also starts yelling about the dumb field, because in this series has to keep pushing this cosmic connection silliness, and on the way there she ends up dying. 

Ending the story is Okazaki’s It’s a Wonderful Life moment, where he thinks if he just never talked to Nagesa everything would be okay, but his ghost of stupidity present tells him otherwise, instead rewinding history to the day Usher was born, changing things so everything is just nice and happy for all those who can’t deal with realities of life.

They decide to end the series right where it started off, with completely useless filler. First there’s essentially a music video outlining the years after the “twist” occurs, as it’s much easier to put music over images instead of actually writing something. After that is ten or so minutes where we’re forced into watching Fuko yet again annoy the heck out of us, all as a way of trying to further push the idea that the land where the hospital was built is really sacred ground that could cure illness. Also weaved throughout the latter half of the series are more pointless scenes involving the young girl and the robot, which we’re now told may be an alternate universe which possibly has the girl’s life affecting that of Nagisa and Ushio, with Okazaki being the robot, though they really stretch trying to make these two pointless plots intersect.

They do leave some pieces of the story left out, which again lead me to believe this writing team wasn’t very good. One such instance is Nagisa’s illness, which is just chalked up to being a mystery. I’m sure if they did some research or had a little imagination they could have found an ailment that matched or made up something that sounded realistic, but they flaked out and just went with saying they’ll never know. They then doubled down on this cheap tactic when they have Ushio suffer from the same problem, basically dropping on the viewer that she can’t be cured either, again trying to just inject drama instead of writing it properly.

The forty three episodes of this series should have easily been whittled down to twelve, or if they wanted to add some useful and intelligent writing twenty four, but instead they dragged on for far too long. For every successful moment in this show there are a dozen mistakes and omissions, and even to fans that shouldn’t be overlooked and excused.

Animation - 6/10

While much hasn’t change from the first series, I did notice many areas where the animation started to become extremely distorted in areas that weren’t even full of lots of movement or action. Granted those actions scenes at times looked even worse, with blurs and just scratch drawing replacing what was great animation in season one.

Sound - 7/10

Again there are few changes to talk about as the series pretty much picks up where the last left off.

You can say the music got a slight bump as they ditched the truly awful Dongo song as an ending theme, but then again they decided to have it sung during the show even more. The opening is a nice techno-isa piano ballad that works well for the series, the ending is a bit screechy, and doesn’t totally fit the show, but it wasn’t bad.

Voice wise everything was as good as the original, with possibly the only downside being the addition of Ushio, as pretty much every child character in anime (or almost all entertainment) is there just to annoy the viewer. What’s surprising is that she’s voiced by an actress that is usually great, but here she just gives a performance that’s both dull, screechy and at times equally as dimwitted as her portrayal of Nagisa. 

Characters - 5/10

Thankfully the show decided to keep the character list relatively small for this season, with those many many side characters showing up for only short and pointless cameos.

Unlike season one, Okazaki actually does more than just act as a player character trying his hardest to complete mission. For the handful of episodes that make up the true plot of the show, Okazaki is positioned as a great character with all the emotions, flaws and desires you need from someone who not only leads a series, but is also memorable for the viewer when it’s all over. The story of how he decided to try and make something of himself, despite not taking the traditional college route, and then going the extra mile when he now thought he had to raise a family was great. What came after that, even if presented with large time gaps, was entertaining, as this man who himself hadn’t really be raised by a parent, was now paired up with a five year old who he had to connect with.

The negative to the last half of the season was really the missed opportunity with Okazaki. Diving into those weeks and months after Nagisa’s passing would have giving the show real heartbreak and emotion, not the shocking junk we instead received, but again we were burdened with a writing staff that really had little idea of how to write a story or a character outside of a simple outline. As much as I wasn’t a huge fan of the show, I wanted those five years between Nagisa’s death and when Okazaki connected with his child, but it just never happened.

Now I know it’s a little tough to write negatively about Nagisa considering the subject of the show, but I again am not sure what the writers were going for with her. In the first season they wrote her more on the childish side, sure she was a little naive, but she always had her own thought out ideas and she contributed to many of the stories. This time around it felt as if the writers were actually trying to make her appear as if she has special needs, where her screen time was relegated to her blurting out random thoughts or going on about the Dongo family, this made things a little bit disturbing when out of no where she decided she wanted a baby, in the context that this was a spur of the moment idea which she didn’t fully grasp the enormity of.

After the “surprise ending” they decide to write Nagisa as if she was an adult who had spent her last few years living out there in the real world. Now they can chalk this up to saying “well this twist is that they are in an alternate universe where Nagisa never had problems to begin with,” but like most of this series it would just seem cheap and degrading to the viewer.

As I alluded to in the sound section, I pretty much feel no show should have anyone between the ages of two and seven in any form of entertainment, as their addition is often just a giant negative on the series. Okazaki and Nagisa’s child Ushio isn’t as bad as many others we’ve dealt with, but still there is the need to just make all children whiney and annoying instead of for once having a child be a nice and soft spoken kid. Using her to basically rehash Nagisa’s story, with snow and all, also was just extremely cheap and again showed us that the writers don’t have the ability to write real drama, they can only do the shock kind.

Once against Nagisa’s parents are a painful attempt at comedy for a vast majority of the show. Between Akio’s unfunny attempt at “being young” or (not) joking about molesting his daughter, and the repeated joke about Sanae’s food not being edible they couldn’t hit a hilarious note even once. When it came time for them to be serious following the loss of their child they had them literally disappear, only showing up for a few brief moments that should have been longer and written fully into the story, such as when Sanae finally gets the chance to grieve over her daughter.

Bringing back Mei Sunohara was another one of those moments in anime where I question the minds of those creating it. While the story about Youhei dating Sanae was actually pretty funny, the majority of Mei’s storyline was to give something to those viewers who yearn for creepy lolli and incest stories, where the young girl moans “Oh Big Brother” over and over again. They could have played her and her story in many different and entertaining ways, but instead they went for the way to best placate their most likely soon to be incarcerated viewers.

The last semi important characters that returned from season one were Fuko and her older sister Kouko. There major reason for being in After Story was to remind you how useless and annoying Fuko was as a character. There is no reason what so ever for her to be in this season, or the first really, other than the writers had so little material for the show they needed to just waste time on whatever they could to fulfill their episode quota.

Somewhat new to the season is Yusuke, the man who married Fuko’s sister Kouko in season one. While he isn’t a major force in the show, he does now act as Okazaki’s confidant, helping him at work and in life by giving him advice. He works as a great replacement for Sunohara, as he’s actually a likable person with a good story behind him, heck if they changed this into a BL series where Yusuke and Okazaki went around fixing telephone poles and drinking beers it would have been a much more tolerable show.

This time around they did a much better job actually building characters and making use of their stories, it’s just unfortunate that so much of that is overshadowed by the massive amount of junk again cluttering this show.

Overall - 5/10

Right there in the middle of this season you had what should have been an amazing show. The story about a huge loss, how different people deal with it in different ways and ultimately how they bring themselves out of that despair was really one of the most perfect blocks of anime. There was also a good story about how Okazaki is a boy who has just been dealt a bad hand at every turn in life, and how if he doesn’t change he’ll turn into the father that he hates. But it was instead ruined by everything else within the series. Those first ten episodes were unfunny and pointless, the twist ending was complete garbage and a slap in the face to the viewer, treating them like dumb little children, and that last episode was one of the biggest wastes of time I can remember.

There was a great story in this anime franchise, but it was hindered by awful writing, the need to pander to those who followed the original format, a moronic shoehorned in social message that again tries to make this a sci-fi show and a cheap surprise that perfectly summed up how the creators really didn’t care about this series in the first place.

Beautiful story which ties together all the loose ends on the first season. I laughed, I cried, but most importantly, this show left me with one of the worst cases of post anime depression I've ever had... I knew this show was special as I watched it, and I felt like I was being taken on a journey. This anime is a journey I'd recommend to anyone. Easily one of the greatest slice of life anime ever made.

[HEAVY SPOILERS FOR CLANNAD & CLANNAD:AS]

This review will have spoilers in it, so please don't read it until you've read the both seasons.!!

Starting with something rather petty, it made 0 sense to have Kyou's alternative arc occur at the end of Clannad:AS, and would've made far more sense to be an extra episode tacked on to season 1, running closely together with Tomoyo's alternative arc.

My biggest issue with this show by far is episode 22, plain and simple. Episode 22 effectively rendered the story telling of Episodes 16-21 as completely useless, though does give us a happy ending to the story of Ushio's parallel character and her robot. In my opinion, I considered Episode 21 being the canon ending, and therefore take the stance that this show is simply put, a tragic rom-com. 

For its time being a 2008 anime, it's Animation design was definitely stellar, along with a solid sound track. 10/10, as there isn't much to speak on. 

This show does one thing perfectly, which is bringing out both paternal or maternal instincts from the viewer, causing them to build a deep emotional bond with both Nagisa and Okazaki through the latter-half of Season 2. What begins as a comedic pair of delinquents getting themselves through their last year of high school and the numerous friends they encounter, ends as a show not entirely about romance, but about the importance of Family. The tragedy of Okazaki centers around his various families in the show. His relationship with his father and how it connected with the relationship he had with his daughter. The family he built around his friends and colleagues, and the relationship he built with Nagisa. I honestly can't think of a moral to this story, or a greater meaning, especially in Okazaki's rough life of losing both his wife, daughter. It's simply put a sad story, and this is alluded to throughout the small scenes and clips we get from The world that has ended. 

Okazaki initially carries heavy regret in meeting Nagisa, wedding her, and ultimately having a child with her leading to Nagisa's death. And I suppose it's here where a message of confidence and determination shine best. This message of confidence and determination is a repeating motif throughout the story, such as seen in the "extra" episode 23, in Okazaki's and Sunohara's message (left in their prank), in Nagisa's pursuit for a theatre club, the (painfully annoying) determination Fuko has for setting up Ibuki-sensei's wedding, or coming to terms and facing the reality of a painful childhood like in Okazaki's and Kotomi's backstories. 

I think I left a review on season 1 of clannad but I'll repeat this here. In the first 9 episodes of Season 1 the one thing they did completely wrong was wasting time on Fuko's "ghost" character. This could've been used to advance the story creating extra episode time at the end of Season 2, resulting in either extended closure to the tragedy faced in Episode 21, or extra episodes focused on the alternative happy ending following both Ushio's and Nagisa's resurrection. 

This anime is an adorable puppy given to you by a loving friend. You bond with the puppy and love it more then anything and then suddenly your friend takes that puppy back and murders it right in front of your eyes. 

So Clannad After Story....where to begin. Definitely one of my all-time favorites. When I went through it my first time my poor virgin heart was not ready to be violated by all the feelings in this anime. I think I started crying around ep 4 or 5 and I didn't stop. I think I got a little bit of a break in there but it was quickly followed by unease and then from ep 16 to the last episode...24 or 26? I bawled. I bawled like a baby. Clannad After Story taught me that one box of tissues isn't enough to capture your sorrow and pain and suffering. 

If you're about to watch this, make sure you're alone. I've rewatched this anime several times and although I don't cry nearly as much, there are those certain episodes that just destroy you. 

This anime is incredibly moving and sad and its not for the weak. I know some people stop watching it at ep 16 because they can't handle the sadness. I'll tell you right now, if you're going to commit finish it all the way through! I promise you won't regret it at the very very end. Up until that part though you probably will. 

Clannad is also a bit confusing too, there is this bit with a girl & a robot in an alternate dimension, DO NOT SKIP THESE SCENES. They seem unimportant now but they're necessary for the climax of the story at the end. 

I love this series and I suggest it to all my friends when I can. Whenever I go to watch this anime from the very beginning in season one the first song plays and I'm already crying because I know whats coming. 

In my review for season 1 I said that you would have the dango song committed to your soul, well by the end of this it will probably also be attached to your tear ducts. 

From my personal preference, this anime, or I say a life story of hardship and joy, nothing beats it. this anime might have old graphics and old designs but you must try it twice before skipping or dropping it.  I just wanna say I am truly grateful to those who made this with brilliant perception. I have waited and looked for many years for something closer to this category but found nothing. I might not ever found that. truly amazing. I hope Kyoto animation would make something similar like that as "A silent voice".