Clannad (2007)

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Clannad Review

Clannad is a 2007 drama anime show directed by Tatsuya Ishihara. It is the most disappointing anime I’ve seen so far.

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“Everyday people keep hurting each other.

It’s no wonder why you doubt what other people in the world tell you.“

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The story follows the life of Tomoya Okazaki, a high school delinquent who meets many people during his last year of school and helps them resolve their individual problems. Now this is famous for being one of the most heartbreaking anime shows and because I didn’t connect with the characters, I naturally didn’t feel anything myself. Both the characters and the story left me cold.

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The premise is excellent, but the execution of said premise is very weak. Instead of being a drama, Clannad is too lightweight and sometimes verging too much into comedy territory. It was just your typical silly anime that is sometimes way too tween-like in its approach.

Now of course the characters are okay, some of them are actually quote solid as the characterization is pretty good here. However, the overwhelming presence of moe really annoyed me and that is the major reason why I disliked the series. The girls looked too cute, too young and too silly. Not to mention that their hair color is almost exclusively blue which was definitely ridiculous despite the fact that it fits well into the whole Japanese idea of hair colors being defining personality traits, in this example blue means hidden talents as is the case for all of these girls. But that whole concept is silly and here it was more silly than usual.

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The voice acting is good and the main character is solid. Some of the girls are also pretty sweet, but most are too similar to each other and way too moe to my taste. But I really liked the main comic relief here as it was hilarious watching him get beaten up constantly by a girl.

Speaking of hilarity, Clannad is much more a comedy than a drama. However, it is rarely really funny with just a couple of scenes being funny and most of the characters and the dialogue were trying too hard. The drama here is solid and it may be relatable to some, but to me it wasn’t and I found it to be a typical high school drama for teenagers. In the end, I was thoroughly disappointed in Clannad and it is the anime show that is the most overrated of those I’ve seen thus far. It has its moments and the first half is solid, but the second half is weaker and the entire series is dull, uninvolving with the most unfortunate comedic and silly tone to it thus successfully rendering its emotion ineffective and its true drama mild and not as relatable as it could have been had it had a different, more serious approach to it. It is the definition of lost potential as it is disappointing on the all grounds you could think of.

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Worst Episodes: Stuck Problem, 3 on 3 and A Room Without Anyone.

Best Episodes: Once Again After Crying, The Girl Genius’ Challenge and The After School Rhapsody.

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