Minimum Tempo

Anime fans commonly agree that every property that Kyoto Animation touches becomes gold; clear examples of this are Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu and Lucky Star. Less popular but still acclaimed and lauded are KyoAni’s Key visual novel adaptations. AIR and Kanon (2006) were both phenomenal and well received by the anime community. Kyoto Animation surprised no one with the announcement of a CLANNAD adaptation because nearly everyone thought they could do no wrong; it was the perfect animation studio. CLANNAD was a unique experience, sharing many traits with the previous Key adaptations but still largely different in its presentation and delivery. In it we saw the improvement of KyoAni and the makings of an excellent anime.

Silly Kyou, crashing into Tomoya like that.

CLANNAD remains mostly faithful to the original visual novel. Okazaki Tomoya is a delinquent at a local high school, and he often skips school with his friend Sunohara Youhei. He meets a girl named Furukawa Nagisa, who wishes to restart the school’s theater club. Along with Nagisa, there are five other main girls that enter Tomoya’s life: Fujibayashi Kyou and Ryou, Ibuki Fuko, Ichinose Kotomi, and Sakagami Tomoyo. Following the traditional KyoAni formula, CLANNAD narrows the focus to primarily one girl until the third arc, which is oddly enough, a mix of three of the girls. There was anxiety and worry when the fifteenth episode aired and there were still three main girls to focus on. How was KyoAni planning to fit those girls in nine remaining episodes? No one wanted KyoAni to rush the show and no one expected them to, but it was still a question that lingered in the minds of many fans.

Luckily for us, KyoAni has improved not only in technical ability, but in their narration techniques too. Despite complaints from and doubts of fans, CLANNAD successfully interwove multiple girls into the same arc. The nineteenth episode gave just enough time to lay the groundwork for the After Story (the second part of CLANNAD’s story; also airing in the summer of 2008). Also pertaining to story was the well executed delivery of the story’s theme of family. I’ll try to refrain from mentioning specifics to avoid spoiler issues, but each of the characters’ (with exception to the twins) critical developments are related to family. Whether that’s about siblings or parents, CLANNAD truly shows the power of kinship and love.

Cute Mei-chan is so cute.

One thing that’s far more prevalent in CLANNAD than in the two previous Key adaptations is comedy. From beginning to the end, the show had me howling in laughter because of Sunohara’s sheer stupidity, Kotomi’s innocence, the Tomoya/Kyou storage room scene, and other regular hilarious moments. At certain times, KyoAni overdoes the comedic bit with a certain girl that randomly and pointlessly enters scenes, but overall they did a tremendous job.

CLANNAD, although presenting the gist of the visual novel’s story quite well, fails to cover everything. This is understandable; there is no possible to cram all of that content into twenty-two episodes (After Story is coming in the summer after all). It’s disappointing, however, that KyoAni did not utilize the given time wisely: the first arc spans six episodes (after the initial three) and the second arc spans five episodes. That leaves only nine episodes to cover the three other main girls, three other minor characters, and Tomoya’s own resolution with his family problems. A few scenes in each episode were rather pointless and could easily have been skipped to push the story along faster without ruining the pacing of the show.

A delicious picture of Kotomi.

When it comes to a KyoAni show, there shouldn’t be a need to mention its soundtrack or visuals. They are always perceived as excellent by the vast majority, and CLANNAD’s audio and animation are the same. Backgrounds and characters are beautiful; one specific scene worthy of mention is of Kotomi in episode 11 (picture above). With every KyoAni work the quality improves, and CLANNAD is just another masterpiece along the way. The audio work is phenomenal; from what I have read, the music is directly from the visual novel which is acceptable. In this case, if the game’s music is good, then the anime’s music is good, yes?

I have failed to mention the supernatural element to the show, which I believe doesn’t add too much the story. In several scenes, most notably in the first several episodes, the show shifts its attention to a girl and a robot, who are said to be alone in the world with no one else. Throughout the show, these two unknowingly work toward a resolution that both are satisfied with. This portion, however directly related to a specific event in the show, felt rather insignificant and useless. These scenes did little to add to the overall picture. I’m sadly disappointed in KyoAni’s effort. It should have been fleshed out or dropped entirely.

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Verdict: A-

KyoAni didn’t blow me away with CLANNAD. Perhaps my expectations were too high and I hoped for a “baww-fest,” but I got a bag of lulz and a few tears instead. Don’t misunderstand; the show is top-notch in all areas and never ceases to entertain and amuse. I just expected more heart-wrenching scenes such as Makoto and Ayu’s arcs in Kanon (2006). A show of this caliber is what all studios should aim for or beyond. There is little CLANNAD does wrong, and the few flaws are mostly negligible because the fun and entertainment is there in full force.

This post is tagged Anime & Manga, Anime Review, CLANNAD, Kyoto Animation, Review

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