03.30.09
Clannad – After Story: final thoughts
The Clannad saga finally comes to an end, at least for now. The first Clannad series was touching, but in my opinion, After Story is where the series really shines…
I’ve already written my general thoughts about Clannad in my review of the first half of After Story here so I’m just gonna talk about the last half of the series. Now that I’ve seen all of After Story, I can definitely say that those last 10 episodes or so (minus episodes 23 and 24, which are just flashback and recap), are what make the series incredible and worth the wait during the sometimes slow-pacing of the previous story arcs. In Air, one of Visual Art’s/Key’s other series, the last two or three episodes are really what it’s all about, and the gut-wrenching emotion and holistic significance of those last few episodes almost make up for anything mundane or unimpressive that happened earlier. Clannad After Story is the same way, except it’s the last 10 episodes that stand out. That whole arc was handled beautifully, starting with Nagisa and Tomoya’s farewell at graduation, and then their emotional marriage proposal. After that, we get a few gentle and sweet episodes of them settling into their new life before the heartbreaking tragedy of episode 16. Over the next few episodes, the sadness starts to lift a little with the development of Tomoya and Ushio’s relationship, only to plummet back to tragedy in episode 21, until finally in episode 22, the mystical and miraculous conclusion that’s a staple of Visual Art’s/Key series. All of this was done beautifully in my opinion. Besides the obvious “other world” subplot, Nagisa and Tomoya’s life as a new couple, Tomoya settling into his new job, the raging emotions during Nagisa’s death scene, Tomoya’s indifference and then subsequent affection for Ushio, the backstory about his father and his final reconciliation with him – everything that happened in these episodes was so believable and so well done. In fact, for someone like me who never cries while watching anime, Nagisa’s death and Tomoya’s confrontation with his father were so emotional that I almost did shed a few tears ^^,,,
Besides the concluding arc, some of the other story arcs in Clannad and Clannad After Story were good as well. But for me, it’s the last half of After Story that really made the Clannad saga worth following. All of the previous arcs in both seasons involved Nagisa and Tomoya helping out the other characters with their personal problems. The last arc alone stands out because it’s just about Nagisa, Tomoya, and Ushio. In the end, we finally see what the significance of all the other characters were – helping them out allowed Tomoya to acquire good deeds and thus he was able to go back in time and get another chance to live a happy life with Nagisa and Ushio. Unfortunately, although the ending was happy, it did seem a little rushed; I think more should have been explained about the “other world” and its connection to Tomoya and Ushio instead of leaving it as ambiguous as it was. And instead of having that really dragged on and out-of-place Fuuko scene at the end, expanding more on the miracle that just occurred would have been a lot more welcome as a concluding scene. But other than a slightly rushed and choppy final episode, the ending of the Clannad saga was worth the journey. Episode 24 was also a surprisingly enjoyable compilation episode that did a great job pointing out the significant parts of both series and concluding the story. If you can put up with the sometimes mundane but sometimes inspiring arcs of the first series and beginning half of AS, the final arc is more than satisfying. There’s plenty of emotional and unforgettable anime scenes that tug at your heartstrings, and Clannad After Story has a lot of those. Although Air is still my favorite Visual Art’s/Key anime, Clannad After Story is definitely in second place =) I hope to find another anime that touched my emotions and sentimentality as much as this series did.
Rioraku said,
April 20, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I agree whole heartedly! And yea about the “rushed finale” and Fuko scene, I have heard others (and myself) complain that it was just kinda…thrown in there. Though I was surprised a little…I wondered what importance the scenes from the first opening played. Overall I loved this series and I was sad once the very last episode had finished. Well I hope to see more like this one in the future!
Petrofsky said,
June 17, 2009 at 8:56 am
The reason why I stumbled upon your review was because I was Googling “What really happened towards the end of Clannad After Story”, and indeed, I was slightly baffled by the rushed ending at ep. 22. They should have at least end it on 1 more episode and insert the recap as eps. 24, that would have been much better IMO. All in all, I am really glad that the ‘other world’ has the ability to grant wishes and stop Tomoya from suffering a life time’s worth of sadness. Just having to watch Nagisa died during childbirth at eps. 16 is hard enuff to my tear ducts as it is …
Odin said,
June 28, 2009 at 1:04 am
I to am here commenting for the same reason as pertosky. i was very lost at the end. This anime really touched me and it was the best anime i have ever seen. i to wish they would have explained the ending a little bit more but this anime really touched my heart. When Nagisa died i almost cryed and i never cry not even at funerals. i can never bring myself to cry but that just made me very sad inside when she just died out of the blue. after that i really wished she would have thought about her health and had the delivery at the hospital. Then when the Ushio died i just felt pain. Even tho its a anime i felt so bad for Tomoya. Just thinking about what happened after he was all alone with his wife and daughter dead idk how i would even make it in life with something like that on my mind. But this anime really touched me and i hope to watch others like this again. And most people dont know but anime can really change your life if you really understand it.
Seth said,
July 1, 2009 at 10:24 am
This was definitely the best series i’ve ever seen in my life, the most touching anime i’ve ever watched. This made me understand what it really means to have a child, to live with the difficulties that come with work, and with life. I can’t believe what Tomoya had to go through, it was just unbearable. And I did cry several times throughout the series, I couldn’t help it. When Nagisa died, Tomoya’s despair just reduced me to tears. “Look, I’m the first one to hold her”. Hell that was so sad, considering how Nagisa had wanted to have the baby home so that the first one holding her would be Tomoya. And the backstory about Naoyuki and him was just really moving, it was all Tomoya needed to start living his life with Ushio properly.
It was just a really believable story, with plenty of heartbreaking moments which i can say without a doubt that made me cry every single time. Key are just fabulous at what they do and I hope they keep doing it.
God bless them!
Saere said,
August 8, 2009 at 7:22 am
CLANNAD is a series that I can honestly say I watched for no reason. I tend to search for days to find good anime that I can download and that is appropriate to watch with my 14-yr-old brother, so when I stumbled upon this Key anime it seemed worth a try.
…and then we watched both seasons and the movie in a span of three days.
I did not play the visual novel or have any idea what was going to happen, so I can base my reactions purely on the brilliance of the show. I truly grew to love the characters; the first season’s humor and subplots made me attached to everyone, especially the main couple, Sanae, and Akio. The second season, After Story, continued their lives and transitioned beautifully into the last ten or so episodes. The reason I could not stop watching, even though I was bawling my eyes out, was because I just couldn’t accept the sadness. I’m glad that everything was resolved in the end, but the raw emotion I felt at Nagisa’s passing and the sight of Tomoya brokenly crying for Nagisa as he clung to Ushio still lingers.
All in all, CLANNAD was a brilliant show. My brother plans to rewatch it sometime in the near future (even though we saw it for the first time a week ago), and I will probably join him. Although I hated CLANNAD because of how it played with my heart, I also loved it insanely; I laughed as hard as I cried, mostly because of Akio and Sunohara.
So, Blood+ is still my favorite anime, but CLANNAD shot up to the #2 spot on my list the moment I finished. It. Is. Amazing.