Clannad

Tomoya Okazaki has been coasting through his third year of high school since his mother died — fights, skipped classes, a basketball career he ended with his own shoulder when his father broke it during a drunk argument. He meets Nagisa Furukawa at the gate of the school: a year older than him, repeating the grade after a year out sick, talking softly to herself to work up the courage to walk inside. Their friendship anchors the rest of the show, which moves through Nagisa's attempt to revive the drama club and through the smaller lives of every classmate Tomoya stops to actually look at.