Clannad: After Story

Clannad after story continues after the first season, which features long character arcs and backstories. While the first season is often described as underwhelming, After story offers more mature themes and situations.

The following review contains spoilers, so please keep that in mind.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

Clannad: After story starts off near graduation, where Tomoya, Nagisa and their friends are heading towards their future with bright hopes and dreams. The first half explores character arcs of side characters that I personally didn't find important at all, but that's not the point. Now, the second half is where the climax begins. Tomoya and Nagisa, now starting life together as a couple and soon a married pair, experiences the struggles of adulthood, work and stress as they navigate their path together.

To start off, I have to say that the reason why I didn't enjoy this series as much as everyone else is possibly due to the expectations I had going into it. Putting that aside, there are a lot of flaws I found during this series, and I will be discussing those. One of the most important and impactful factor about this series is the writing and creation of characters. In order to be truly, truly invested in the story and plot, the audience have to have a connection with the characters. Unfortunately for me, I didn't like any of the characters. That is not to say that they are bad characters, per se, but I personally feel like a lot of them are bland, and simply not written well. Nagisa is a very sweet girl who cares for others, and is the embodiment of a shoujo protagonist/love interest, but she was simply bland and didn't have much of a personality. Tomoya, on the other hand, was only developed in clannad after story when the tragedy hit. However, his path to redemption when it comes to his daughter developed too quickly, which makes it slightly unrealistic. While he did realize his mistakes, realistically it would take a period of time for a parent to settle into their new role. That much being said, I definitely enjoyed the father daughter moments between Tomoya and Ushio.

Now, let's talk about the arcs and their significance. Personally, I thought the last arc was the only good one, and it definitely deserves praise. It was done beautifully and is definitely a tear jerker. The tragedy of Nagisa's death evokes both heavy emotions in Tomoya and the audience, and does a good job of portraying the importance and significance of family and love. However, when it comes to the earlier arcs, the series falls off in comparison. I am someone who enjoys character backstories and development, but some of the character arcs portrayed in After story is insignificant to the plot; And those same characters end up insignificant to the plot, as well.

Concluding this review, I want to say that I definitely have conflicting feelings about it overall. Maybe if I got more attached to the characters, this review would look completely different. With that being said, I know that Clannad is a very well liked series, and though I might not have enjoyed it as much as others, I am simply stating my opinions and the flaws I found about it.