Just as brilliant (if not moreso) than the original—and about 150 times more emotional.
What They Say:
A few months have passed since Tomoya declared his love to Nagisa. Now their relationship is entering a new phase, and neither is quite sure where it will take them. As their friends move on to lives of their own, Tomoya and Nagisa get ready to start a family of their own. But Nagisa’s health has always been precarious, and an event that should bring nothing but joy delivers tragedy instead.
Now Tomoya must learn to accept the bitter with the sweet and to understand that the most important thing is to hold onto love, no matter what.
Contains episodes 1-25.
The Review:
Audio:
For this viewing, I took in the English 2.0 dub, which is new for this release. The original Japanese track is also offered in 2.0. Being a stereo dub, there is nothing particularly special about the mix, though for a low-key series such as this, that is not a bad thing. The one thing I do love in this series is the soundtrack, which is both understated and hauntingly beautiful. They really did a great job of getting the music to enhance the scenes without being overpowering. It’s just about perfect.
Video:
All around, the video for this release is gorgeous. Great character designs, wonderful animation, and a top notch transfer. It does shift into a soft focus at times, but I think that’s more an artistic choice in the design rather than an actual technical flaw. Great release.
Packaging:
This is where the release isn’t so great: STACKpak. I like how Sentai is now including a thick foam pad in the case to keep the discs from bouncing around, but I still hate STACKpaks. I mean, I suppose it’s better than some of the old Funimation Veridian releases, but I’ve seen enough four disc releases that come in single width amaray cases that have two clasps on each half to know that it is possible. And I can’t imagine one of those cases costs any more than a STACKpak case. So Sentai, if you are reading: please ditch the STACKpaks.
As for the design, it is pretty nice. The front image is of Nagisa standing in the window and holding a basket of laundry. It almost looks like a memory the way it fades out at the edges. The back has another picture of Nagisa, this time in her waitress uniform, with the series summary, technical details, and screen shots. The spine has an adorable picture of Ushio in her little sailor suit. As I love the artwork in the series, I also love it in the packaging.
Menu:
The menus are pretty basic, with a picture of one of the girls to the right of all the selections, which are offered vertically to the left. Each episode and extra is offered right on the main menu, with no need to go to a submenu. In coloring and design, there is a light, airy feel to the whole thing. The menus are only marred by the fact that on the last disc, the episode titles for the last two episodes are reversed. Not a huge deal, but still notable.
Extras:
There are not a ton of extras on this release. The standard clean opening and closing are present, as is a cast commentary for episode 16 with David Matranga (Tomoya) and Luci Christian (Nagisa). What’s odd is that there is no mention of what episode they are commentating anywhere on the menu or anything. In fact, the commentary isn’t even mentioned on the packaging. You just have to watch it to find out what they are covering.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
When I saw Kanon a little over three years ago, I immediately fell in love with Key Animation titles. The disappointment I felt with Air didn’t dampen my enthusiasm, which made it a bit weird that I only finally saw Clannad for the first time just a few months back. Considering I loved Clannad, that made it all the more weird that it took me this long to finally pop in Clannad After Story, especially since all of the hype said that it actually surpassed the first series. Frankly, I’m not sure I completely agree with that sentiment, but I do know After Story was at least the equal of its predecessor.
Following the events of Clannad, Tomoya is finally dating Nagisa, and everybody settles in for what should be an easy ride to graduation. But a recurrence of the illness that already held back Nagisa once keeps her from graduation once again, meaning that Tomoya is forced to move on to his adult life without her.
After graduation, Tomoya continues to live with Nagisa’s parents and helps out at their bakery until he is able to secure work as an electrician with the help of Yoshino. This job also enables him to move out of the Furukawa house and try to take control of his own life. With things settled and looking up for the first time in a long time, Tomoya is able to ask Nagisa to marry him.
For the first time in his life, Tomoya is truly happy, made even moreso when Nagisa becomes pregnant with their first child. But her chronic medical condition makes her pregnancy a risky affair, and circumstances lead Tomoya to have to face all of the fears he has spent his entire life running from. The question is whether these fears will destroy him like they did his father, or whether confronting them will make him the best father and husband he can be.
As I said before, the hype for Clannad After Story is that while Clannad was excellent in its own right, After Story is even better. Having now seen After Story, I can understand why people would say that. As good as Clannad is, its inherent flaw that holds it back is that it is a harem comedy at heart. It might be more poignant than most others in the genre, but it doesn’t change the fact that the setup is there is a group of females all basically vying for Tomoya’s attentions and he has to choose one of them at the end (even if it is obvious who that will be from the beginning.
After Story doesn’t have this problem. With Tomoya already with Nagisa when it starts, we can really settle down and deal with the issues that are at the heart of their relationship and his own personal hangups. It means that After Story is almost an automatically deeper story because we are beyond the surface level issues that have to be sorted out in the first series.
And man, what issues there are. I don’t really want to spoil anything, but I will say that the final half of After Story is one of the most intense emotional roller coasters I have come across in anime. They really put Tomoya through the ringer in order to rebuild him as the adult he strives to be. And since we’re with Tomoya the whole way, we get put through that same roller coaster. While the ultimate result might be a little cheesy, by the time we get to it, there have been so many incredible highs and ultimate lows that it frankly feels right.
As a story, Clannad After Story is definitely better than the first series, but it can be a bit frustrating to follow at times too. Like all the Key titles, After Story moves at a measured (read: slow) pace. That in itself isn’t a problem; the problem is more in the fact that it takes place over the course of ten years. Because the individual episodes move so slowly, this often meant there would be a large jump in time and we’d have to figure out what was going on through context. For example, Tomoya’s five years of depression might have meant more if we actually saw a bit of it rather than just jumping right to the end of it. There is also a disconcerting lack of his father’s presence considering that forgiving his father is part of Tomoya’s own redemption. Basically, there some stuff in here I would have liked to have seen more done with. While I enjoyed the OVAs at the end of the series (more on that below), I’d have almost rather them dedicate that space to fleshing out some details in the main story.
And on a more personal note, while I was happy to note the lack of a harem plot, I did find myself missing many of the characters from the first series. When everybody graduates early on in After Story, most of them leave the town, and they basically all leave Tomoya and Nagisa’s daily lives. I missed the constant wrangling between Sunohara and Tomoyo, or Kyou’s boisterous need to protect her sister from perceived slights. While they were all recurring gags in the first series, to me, they were welcome ones, and I missed them when everybody moved on. I found myself really looking forward to the brief moments when Tomoya would sit and talk with Kyou at Ushio’s school (Ushio being Tomoya’s and Nagisa’s daughter; Kyou being Ushio’s teacher), or when Sunohara would randomly show up. This isn’t really a flaw with the series, just more my own personal wishes.
All of this means that I would personally put Clannad After Story right on par with Clannad. After Story definitely had the better plot, but I missed a lot of the characters from the first series and felt it was also paced a bit better. Considering how much I enjoyed Clannad, it’s definitely not a bad thing that I “only” like After Story the same amount. But they are definitely different titles as well; Clannad is more surface level and a bit less dramatic than After Story, which tries to hit every button it can to tug on the heartstrings.
As mentioned above, the final few episodes of After Story are actually OVAs. While 25 episodes in total, the main story only goes through 22 episodes, the final three standalone stories. The first OVA deals a bit with the school year before Tomoya meets Nagisa for the first time, and shows a bit of where everybody came from and how they got to where they were when Clannad first started. The final episode is just a series recap, which adds some context if you happened to miss anything. Both are pretty fun, but the best OVA is the second one.
If you weren’t aware, Clannad (like Kanon and Air before them) is actually based on a visual novel dating sim. While the anime is based on the “main” scenario of the game, there are options in the game to get Tomoya together with some of the other girls. At the end of the first series, there was an excellent episode that explored the possibility of Tomoya and Tomoyo dating. The second OVA for After Story deals with the possible love triangle of Tomoya and the twin sisters, Kyou and Ryou. While not as good as the Tomoyo episode from Clannad, it is still really well done.
In Summary:
Clannad After Story is more than a worthy follow-up to the excellent Clannad. It’s rare that a sequel to a fantastic title can live up to the expectations the first one sets, but After Story definitely does. Most people would suggest that After Story actually surpasses the first series; I don’t think I would go quite that far, but I’d happily suggest it is at least as good as Clannad. I can pick on a few things in here, but even its flaws aren’t really that bad. Like Clannad before it, After Story hits every emotion you can think of (and even a few you can’t) and hits them hard. And just when you start getting settled in on one emotion, it completely switches gears and gets you thinking in a different direction. It is just an absolutely excellent series, and if it seems like I am pandering to it, that’s because I am. Highly recommended.
Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening Animation, Clean Closing Animation, Commentary with David Matranga (Tomoya) and Luci Christian (Nagisa)
Content Grade: A+
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: C
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: April 19, 2011
MSRP: $69.98
Running Time: 625
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 anamorphic widescreen
Review Equipment:
Magnavox 37MF337B 37” LCD HDTV, Sony BDP-S360 BluRay Player w/HDMI Connection, Durabrand HT3916 5.1 Surround Sound System
