Final Thoughts on Clannad ~After Story~

The end of an emotional journey.

I always thought of the original Clannad series as a mostly light-hearted, entertaining romantic drama. There wasn’t anything in particular to distinguish it from other romantic dramas (be they animated or otherwise) except for the fact it was truly hilarious at times. otou-san was right when he said that the series was too removed from reality; the original show and the first half of ~After Story~ was the typical fluff we came to expect from Clannad and (for me at least) I never attempted to think about the believability of what I was watching simply because I was enjoying it too much.

But somehow, the second half of ~After Story~ justifies almost all the time I spent wathcing the show. But the word “justifies” is more for others than myself as as I said, I loved watching Clannad. What I mean is that the entire 37 odd fairy-tale episodes were needed in order to make those last 7 episodes as great as they were. They established the characters, no matter how underdevloped, for us; they had us experience, no matter how trivial, the highs and lows of their lives. We identify with them and when the show strips away most of the fantasy elements and gets down to the real essence of things, it’s all the more emotionally moving.

That brings me to the highlight of ~After Story~ and the entire show: the shift towards heavy drama. I haven’t seen many (if any) shows that are focused on a single couple, but I was suprised when KyoAni, who’d been messing about for so long with Tomoya’s ever present harem and side-characters (including cats!) that you don’t really care about did just that with Nagisa and Tomoya. Without all of the aforementioned distractions, there was more time for development of the characters and to flesh out the show’s key theme of family. The show gained substance and with it, the viewer became more invested in the struggles of Tomoya, Nagisa and Ushio.

I think part of what makes the latter half of ~After Story~ so good is how much of a contrast it is with the rest of the show. The thing is that Clannad, from start to finish, grows up. Everything about the show evolves: the convential harem is distilled down to the focus on the couple, the messages that the show tries to convey become more concise, even the directing takes a step-up in some of the key scenes later in the series. The actions and emotions of the characters become more realistic and believable as the show progresses and as such it feels as if there’s more of a reason for us to experience such strong reactions during the show. Not only do the characters grow but we do as well. We can look back more fondly on episodes such as 18 of the original series and see it more as a part of our past experiences than the B’AWW-fest it may have been at the tome. The heartbreak of young love was tragic, but in comparison, a son’s reconciliation with the wishes of his father seems so much deeper and more heartfelt.

So in answer to otou-san’s question:

Are we meant to perceive this as dreamlike or memorial, since inevitable tragedy will strike somewhere down the road and shit’s gonna get “real?”

YES.

The only problem I had with Clannad ~After Story~ was the ending. I believe (and I also think the general consensus is so) that simply performing a reset just undermines all of the experiences between the main cast and makes everything that happened seem pointless. Of course, in my heart I’m just thankful that nobody dies and everyone’s happy but in my head I’m thinking what the point of all that drama was if they’re going to cheapen it by wishing it away with light balls and feelings. For all that build-up with the parallels between the illusionary world and the real world, it was disappointing (not to mention a little bemusing) that everything simply explodes and we move on to a good end.

However, with that said, Clannad was definitely an experience well worth it. It managed to mix elements of romance, comedy and drama in such a way that I was always engrossed during the show, even when I should have been sceptical, and if that isn’t a good mark of a show, what is?