One of my favourite series of the year returns with a similar formula but smartly manages to incorporate the development of our leads whilst continuing to do what it does best – comedy and character development, with the first hints of drama on our way ready to strike…
What They Say :
Life continues on for Tomoya. A few months have passed since he confessed his love to Nagisa. Now entering the second semester, he continues to meet a variety of different people, expanding his own world in the process. As well, Tomoya and Nagisa’s relationship begins to enter a level of intimacy unlike before. Through his relationship with Nagisa, and his various encounters, Tomoya begins to understand the meaning and importance of family. Unfortunately, as Tomoya and Nagisa begin their own family together, they are faced with many hardships and challenges along the way.
The Review :
Audio/Video:
Whilst I had no overall issues with the visual or audio quality, will advise that both tracks are only in the Stereo 2.0 format sadly, which is unfortunately because it’s actually a really good audio track, no problems with subtitles and the visuals have no issues with either, in fact considering how good the show looks it’s one of the few shows I dream gets a UK Blu-Ray release.
Menu:
Each menu on the 3 discs is very basic, on a white background with a cast member from the series (Yukine on Disc 1, the Sunohara siblings on Disc 2, and Misae and her cat on Disc 3). It’s very basic, there isn’t even a play all option (if you pick episode one it will play all on your DVD player, but notice it does reset to the title screen on my PC, and also defaults to Japanese each time even when you watched the previous episode in English). There are no extras, only language setup from English to Japanese with subtitles due to only the one audio styling. Disappointing, whilst it looks nice, was hoping for something extra for Clannad.
Extras:
There were no extras on this release.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Clannad, if you couldn’t guess, is one of my favourite shows this year that’s been released in the UK. Despite having a similar Key formula, it works by managing to incorporate all the main cast in one way, get the girl of the moment into an arc because slowly putting the leads involving for the finale. It’s moving, funny, and dramatic, has a fantastic cast, animation and music are superb, and really hits the mark for me in all way. So as you probably guessed, this was a sequel I was looking forward to, but also intrigued on how they would take it.
At first, it feels like they are returning to a similar formula, but a bit different. The first episode basically reintroduces all the cast as they get together to play for Akio at a baseball game. It’s established that Nagisa and Tomoya are now dating with Tomoya living at the Furukawas, and it does the smart job of not only including the girls from Season 1 (Kyou, Kotomi, Tomoyo, Ryou) but also bringing in a lot of the support cast, because interestingly the first half of After Story involves them a lot, which actually was a good idea because even the side cast are incredibly fun and interesting.
They also only take a couple of episodes, whilst still incorporating Nagisa and Tomoya (along with others, Sanae is heavily involved in the first arc and Tomoyo in a later arc) so these arcs are short and sweet, and seem to hint well into what After Story is about. Take the first arc, which is focused on the Sunohara siblings. Youhei is the lovable chew toy that is Tomoya’s best friend as his sister, the adorable Mei, is worried about whether he’s thinking about his future. It leads to my favourite mother ever, the gorgeous Sanae (so attractive that it’s not Kotomi, Kyou or Tomoya that Nagisa is mostly worried as a threat to her relationship to Tomoya, it’s her mother!) actually acting as Youhei’s girlfriend so that Mei doesn’t worry. However, she soon sees through the ruse, and it does lead to some touching moments where Youhei was a good older brother to her but not seems only concerned with himself and she wonders how to get him to be like his better self. It actually leads to a real strong and touching bond not just between the siblings, but also Tomoya and Youhei and how they met, and whilst there is a lot of comedy here (the finale cracks me up) it continues to do what Clannad does best, in mixing the serious with the comic.
The second mini-arc focuses on the boy’s dorm manager Misae, and whilst her arc seems unimportant at first, it does tie in with the supernatural elements of the series which may suggest something for involving Tomoya’s future. We get a flashback of Misae when she was younger, and her relationship with a mysterious young boy named Katsuki, where he has apparently been sent to her to make any wish that she requires. Again, there is plenty of comedy gold (young Misae resembles both in looks and in wrestling moves Kaname from Full Metal Panic), is probably the weakest of the arcs but still important as Misae basically acts like a mother and mentor to Tomoya and Nagisa in trying to get their relationship started as they are both still nervous about the concept of dating, which is actually quite refreshing to see a much more realistic interpretation of romance.
The third mini-arc involving the library girl Yukine, who was the one who gave the ‘charm’ which made Tomoya see Nagisa as the one. We learn she is well loved by a lot of people, including rival gang members – where her brother is apparently the leader of one, yet she helps both gangs with injuries and food. There is a mix-up where they think Sunohara is Yukine’s brother, which leads to some tension but it finishes with a rather tense and sad finale when the truth about Yukine’s brother is discovered, and like the Misae arc, does actually lead into the supernatural and for those who have played the game, the symbolism of the ‘magic’ that occurs.
But throughout all the arcs, it subtly showcases what After Story is about – the developing relationship between Nagisa and Tomoya. And it hits hard when we get to graduation – Tomoya, Youhei, the Fujibayashis and Kotomi are all graduating…but Nagisa sadly develops a fever which reminds us of her being ill in the first season, and with too many sick days she is held back yet again for another year. Tomoya, unsure what to do in his future, now sees his future with Nagisa, and whilst he initially continues to enjoy the hospitality of the Furukawas, he doesn’t see himself as a freeloader and intends to began a life with Nagisa. He actually finds Yoshino, and asks for a job at his company where he works at as an electrician, and taking his friend under his wing, Tomoya begins the next stage of his life. He grows as a worker under Yoshino, thanks to Ryou finds an apartment cheap enough to stay, as Nagisa actually goes over and stays with him whilst she struggles under her own new stage of life, most of her friends have graduated apart from Tomoyo and Yukine, the drama club sadly gets disbanded because of this, and she has trouble making new friends because of her age, yet she makes sure she does dishearten Tomoya as he is now getting exhausted from his new work as the two finally slowly work into the stages of becoming a true couple. And none so much as the final episode of this set, where Yoshino gives Tomoya a flashback of his own life experience of what he wanted to do, how it collapsed, and how love redeemed him, so when Tomoya goes through a bad experience himself thanks to his father, he realizes he needs to stay himself for Nagisa’s sake…
Clannad After Story for the most part is one part rehash of the first season with a difference, one part wonderful told story. It does reuse the ‘focus on character’ bit that Season 1 did, the difference is that it focuses on the side characters, and only for 2-3 episodes, and even those don’t lose the main focus – that being of Nagisa and Tomoya growing up. It’s told really subtly whether it’s Kyou noticing they are getting more couple like, their lack of dates, nervousness even holding hands, up to Tomoya rushing to meet his girlfriend at a festival late. The side stories are good at giving the side characters a bit of fleshing as they all had their memorable moments, my favourite being the Sunohara arc, as we get a lot of good comedy (Nagisa jealous of her mom, Mei using the ‘big brother effect’ on Tomoya, Sunohara ‘proposing’ to Sanae as Tomoya realizes he hasn’t told him that Sanae is Nagisa’s mother, not sister!) but also some great characterization between Tomoya and Youhei as whilst Youhei is a bit of a jerk at times, he is a good guy and does well to go by his sister whilst still solidifying his friendship with Tomoya. There is a ton of good comedy moments, but also the realization that the cast is going to be moving on. When Kotomi reveals she’s going to the US to study, it hits the gang hard as it does the viewer, as you know this is going to be different, but also the focus on Nagisa and Tomoya growing up, living together, working, etc – this is actually a mostly realistic story (the supernatural elements still appear, we get the return of the girl and the broken robot) and the way it’s told is great. It’s not perfect yet, but you get the feeling now that Tomoya has proposed to Nagisa, we are going to get into some real strong stuff.
The animation is superb, the characters are still fun, and whilst it’s a bit rushed in how Tomoya manages to get a job and a place to live, it’s still manages to get the story developing well, and you know you are waiting to see what the future holds for these characters, and I for one, am looking forward to it.
In Summary:
Clannad After Story: Part 1 continues where the original series left off, but slowly begins to expand the leads horizons as they go into adulthood. You may feel sad that a lot of the main cast may not show as much, but this story is Nagisa and Tomoya’s. There was a lot of fun in this first volume as well as some drama, and yet the story still holds up as we see Tomoya’s growth as he begins his life with Nagisa. The side stories fleshed out a few of the side fan favourites, and whilst some were better than others, they all interlinked with the leads so it didn’t feel pointless and instead made you love this cast even more. Recommended for anyone who like a good developing romance with both good comedy and good drama.
Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: A-
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: C
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Manga Entertainment UK
Release Date: September 24th, 2012
Running Time: 300 minutes
Price: £22.00
Review Equipment:
Playstation3, Sony Bravia 32 Inc EX4 Television, Aiwa 2 Way Twin Duct Bass Reflex Speaker System.
