Right so this review wont be entirely one sided there are some issues with the show for some, however they are very minimal and most of them are needed to make the show what it is. This review is for both Clannad and After story but won't contain any major spoilers. So if you've only seen clannad i still urge you to read this and hope it motivates you to watch afterstory

Story - 98/100
Right so a major gripe many have with the show is that the first season is slow, boring and nothing much happens, I disagree with this, however can see why some might say this. Clannad on its own is a fairly generic Romantic comedy drama with a very light sprinkling of wholesome harem (for approximately 10ish of the 23 episodes). But there is one thing to remember its all character development, all this time you are watching these characters you are slowly getting invested in them (even if you dislike them that's still an investment). The first arc i can see why it often puts people off the show as Fuko (main girl of this arc) is to a certain taste ill admit since I didn't particularly like her at the start, however as you go through her arc she gets way better, (episode 8-10) are the saddest in the first season. And whilst some of the arcs aren't as strong as others (looking at you Nagisa Season 1 arc and Yukine afterstory arc, although that's just me, most people really enjoy it), none of them are bad enough to skip or miss, but remember all this time is getting you attached to the characters, especially Nagisa (one thing clannad suffers from is each arc focus almost entirely on each singular girl in their arc, with a few exceptions like Nagisa) who gets a massive amount of screen time and a very clever musical association which I will talk about later.

Another common issue many have with the romance genre is that the show always ends with the couple finally getting together, some good old first-name calling and handholding, maybe a kiss if your very lucky however Clannad, straight up ignore this with Afterstory and goes beyond, the characters lives after school are shown and acknowledged and its this coming of age theme that so powerfully resounds with you due to the investment you have after all this time watching them, its effectively like raising kids and watching them leave for Uni and Work leaving you behind with just the memories of the time you spent with them. The after story arc (which doesn't actually start until around episode 10ish of Clannad Afterstory) i hold is the saddest most heart crushingly depressing arc in media full stop. What happens as you see the characters build a home and start there lives and work there way through daily troubles is so wholesome and is so lovely to watch and then the latter half of the arc comes along and i wont spoil or hint anything, but what happens in those episodes is so heart crushingly sad and then so happy sad and then so depressingly sad and it goes on and on. There were points where I (a 16 year old male teenager) who thought himself impossible to cry at media (anohana, angel beats, Kanon all didn't work) made me cry so much, that merely recalling those scenes in my mind caused me to break down and sob in the middle of college with several others watching (not even kidding). There where scenes that where so sad/happy/wholesome that it made you cry there were scenes that were so depressingly so I didn't even have it in me to cry, i just sat there depressed.

Music 500/100
The Clannad OST is the best OST you will find in anime. It has some of the saddest tunes you will ever hear, The place where wishes come true, Distant years, Dango Daikazoku, Nagisa, Spring breeze, A days work, Roaring tides, shining in the sky, Toki wo Kizamu Uta, flow of time, all are SS tier tracks and that's not even all of the best tracks. The music really does set the mood in clannad its the music that made me cry more than the scenes. This is because 1. Jun Meada is a musical genius

This next paragraph contains an implied spoiler for Clannad afterstory do not read it if you have not see the season

Spoiler, click to view

G G G G G G G G G G (This space so so peoples eyes don't see the spoiler when reading the paragraph) G G G G G G G G G G G G G Clannad does something very clever with its themes, take Nagisa, she has a base theme, its a fairly sad simple childish happy theme, that plays almost always plays when the anime focuses on her. However Dango Daikazoku, Palm of a tiny hand and At the foot of the hill, are all variations of Nagisa theme and these are often played in different sadder of more nostalgic scenes which leads us to also associate these songs with different memories of Nagisa, so then whenever these songs are played we become conditioned to think of her and all the time we've spent watching her so then when certain things occur later in the show and these songs are played, we think of all the memories of her happy and sad and it increases the emotional factor hundredfold. G G G G G G G G G G (This space so so peoples eyes don't see the spoiler when reading the paragraph) G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G

Themes - 100/100 Clannad themes are dominantly focused on Family and moving forward in life, these are very easily made into tear jerkers by the inherent nature of the themes themselves, for those who have family, issues or past trauma, or even those like me who have completely normal families and pasts, this show genuinely made me want to get closer with my family and appreciate them so much more than before, After story also includes a coming of age and growing up theme, with those who are going through the same stage of life as the characters being to relate very easily (since the character go through literally every stage between high school and starting a family together this is a very large audience. Even those who are older can relate and reminisce on younger years.

Characters and dialogue- 200/100
The characters are pivotal to this show, as with any drama slice of life it is the character interactions which carry the bulk of the show. Our main protagonist Tomoya Okazaki is a brilliant main character, he is not wish fulfillment by any stretch of the imagination, he is multifacted and comes across as a conciveable real person, who could actually exist not just a blank slate anime character whos only trait is "he's kind and selfless" and that's why all the girls in a 20km radius fall in love with him. Tomoya is most definitely not this, he is brilliantly written as a lazy comedic delinquent who's only wish is to move out of this town which holds nothing but bad memories for him. This all changes when he meets Nagisa our main (and best) girl. She is the singular best example i could ever think of for a Dandere done expertly, she is shy yes and she has a naturally nervous dispostion, however she still isn't defined by these traits being able to motivate herself to take a step of courage to do what she needs to do, on her own or with Tomoyas help, she isnt a stuttery person and she even has a dream of acting on stage in a play (which she forms the drama club to do). She is in every way a better version of Ryou (the other dandere of the show) who is a co mplelty average dandere with all the issues that come with that and so is completely overshadowed by Nagisa (sorry Ryou fans but its true). Again, as with almost all of Clannad's characters she could conceviably be a real human person with multiple dimensions and traits, yet she still retains the appeal of a dandere (that urge to just want to pick them up and hug them and protect them from everything might ever harm them because they are so kind hearted shy innocent). The only characters with which i don't feel this is true is Ryou (as mentioned before) and Sunohara (Tomoya's only friend at the beginning and the designated comic relief character) both of which are fairly standard fare anime characters. The only other characters i would like to spotlight is Akio and Sanae, they are once again conceivably human characters, yet they are also amazing comic relief dine right and the best parents ever, honestly, even someone who hates clannad will admit Akio and Sanae are cool. On that note, clannad's comedy is on the whole done very well, there where several scenes in which i straight up laughed out loud. Of course there were some jokes that fell flat, but with almost 50 episodes of content that's a given. The shows dialogue between the characters also works brilliantly, they all feel like humans, having human conversations with witty, interesting dialogue with several emotional scenes (both happy and sad) that got me sobbing either from sadness or a couple of times the dialogue was just so wholesome and lovely it brought tears to my eyes (that baseball scene where she falls in love all over again is a brilliant example, if you've seen the scene you know the one I'm talking about, if not go look up clannad fall in love again on you tube and watch the scene there aren't any spoilers in it unless you haven't seen the first 15 episodes of clannad or somehow think Tomoya wont end up with the main girl).

Art/Animation - 90/100
Its good, i know the art style is often a major factor in why people don't like it, but i got used to it really quickly and it really isn't that bad and don't be that guy who refuses to watch an amazing show because "the eyes are too big", the animation is decent, its Kyoani so the bar is high, there are however several exceptional scenes that are super beautiful (Kyoani is so amazing) especially Kyoani's usage of small character movements and details which portray the characters so brilliantly

Overall this show is brilliant amazing and perfect in every way, the music, writing, characters md story all come together to form one of the greatest shows of all time, please watch it if you haven't already i promise it wont disappoint