clannad primer
Categories: anime, clannad
Tagged: clannad
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Key? Kyoto? Derailed by Darry? Wha? Ehhhhhhhh?
The real reason why I’ve been putting off writing about Clannad is that I refuse to watch 4:3 anime. It’s one of the three no-no’s in my life: I refuse to watch 4:3 anime, I refuse to date a chain smoker, and I refuse to eat at Jack-in-the-Box. Other than that, life’s peachy. Oh yes, high definition widescreen Clannad? It’s glorious. All it’s lacking is a meido and a galaxy-sized giant mecha.
The Plot
Plot? Egads. What do you think this is? Lucky Star? Isn’t that expecting a lot? It’s a slice-of-life/romance/supernatural/harem visual novel turned anime. Anyway, since it is a Key game, and we know that Nagisa is the end girl, just enjoy the ride. Though I’m not sure if it is better or worse than the Ayu ending, but I do know it’s nowhere as awesome as the Nayuki ending. Clannad does seem to have a running theme of togetherness and stresses friends helping friends more so than Kanon (where the girls left like they were on separate islands). Clannad has an even stronger theme of basketball. It has basketball references; how could I resist?
(I’d love to see an anime basketball league… we have three teams already: Team Clannad, Team ef, and Team School Rumble. Five more, and I’ll start up the March Madness again…)
The Characters
Since Clannad is a slice-of-life/romance/supernatural/harem visual novel turned anime, it’s driven by the strength of the characters since the interactions between them will dominate most of the proceedings. Clannad‘s got a ridiculously strong cast; they’re the 2007 New England Patriots. Most shows have a few interesting characters, but Clannad has a lot, certainly more than previous Key/Kyoto offerings.
Tomoya is the lead male protagonist, and he seems to be a typical Key/Kyoto male lead: sarcastic and biting and tortured and could appear on a VH1 “I Love the 90s” special. Though I think this concept was inspired by Kyon as Yuuichi was not like this in the original Kanon series. Tomoya does seem closer to Kyon than Yuuichi, and I’m all for this character type… mainly because I see waaaay too many typical loser male leads, and the Key/Kyoto/Kyon type (even I’m not brave enough to abbreviate that one) is an upgrade over the former. Anyway, he’s like Kyon, but not as awesome.
(Tomoya injured his shoulder after being slammed by his dad, and it still prevents him from playing basketball. I wonder who’ll bounce back from injury first, Tomoya or Sean May?)
I’m actually finding Nagisa to be the least interesting of the all the heroines. The problem is that she really doesn’t have a shtick besides the sickly girl, and I’m not a fan of sickly girls. Healthy girls 4tw! She’s not Chiaki, she’s not Kana, and she’s not Haruka. Blah.
(Her mom, Sanae, is funny, but she’s not as awesome as Akiko. Though it does make me wonder, if you put Akiko’s jam-mu in Sanae’s bread, what would you get besides a highly inappropriate sexual reference? And would you eat it… ?)
I think the best description for Fuko is that she is, indeed, Aruru, only she doesn’t have a tail and doesn’t ride around in a huge tiger and doesn’t have full control over her mental saneness. She goes around school carving starfishes! I’m not sure if that’s a moe mode, but that’s exactly what she does. Obviously, she’s part Kana, part Chiaki. (The Minami sisters are going to be to Derailed as Morningstar rankings are to mutual funds.) Fuko, though, is one of the more hilarious girls, and she’s easily teased by Tomoya. She uses her hands lot when speaking and is quite animated. She points. A lot. She could be Aruru’s and Phoenix Wright’s love child.
(Loved how she high fives. Can’t wait to see her try it with LeBron.)
Kyou and Ryou are twins who I think are the two halves of Nayuki. Kyou, the older one, is a tomboy tsundere who is overprotective of her younger sister, Ryou. Ryou is the timid, ultra-nice girl. Why do I think they make up the whole of Nayuki besides the uncanny resemblance? Kyou inherits Nayuki’s Haruka-class body while Ryou inherits Nayuki’s more sensible traits. If I were writing this visual novel, Kyou and Ryou would be the end girls, if only to finally get a frickin’ Nayuki ending. Plus, you just can’t go wrong with twins.
(When Kyou ran over Tomoya, shades of FLCL.)
(I’m almost willing to give Mag Mell 2007 OP of the year just on the strength of Kyou bouncing a basketball. Epic… bounciness. By the way, when did Kyoto turn into Team Ninja?)
(Why is it that I keep thinking of ways how Potemayo could improve an anime? I think Dynames would be better served with a support Potemayo than a support Haro. And I think Kyou would have much more awesome pet in Potemayo than in Botan. This was one of the funniest scenes though… “Whose kick hurt more?” “Why are you asking that?!? But I think I saw some blue…”
(But not as funny as the “bi” scene. After watching episode four and her willingness to accept Nagisa, I finally understood why Ryou was crying upon hearing the news that her sister was bi… she’s overcome with joy! I think. In any case, both moments prominently featured Kyou.)
(Kyou reminds me also of Sharon Stone from Basic Instinct, especially in this scene. Delicious ice pick moe mode!)
The other crazy girl is Kotomi. I’m not sure which is crazier: Kotomi or Aruru’s and Wright’s love child, but Kotomi makes her case nicely by picnicking in the library and generally acting like a loose cannon. She’s turning into the Shiori of Clannad, if only because she’s the most solitary. Most of the other girls have met Nagisa already.
(When Kotomi wanted Tomoya to sit next to her, what was Tomoya thinking? Of course sit next to her! If you don’t, you may end up like K1 Maebara after he gave the doll to Rena instead of Mion.)
Tomoyo is my second favorite character. She’s the other tomboy, but she wants to become a girly girl. Every scene involving Tomoyo and Graham Acre just cracks me up. I do like how even though she knows she probably should just avoid Graham Acre at this point, she still puts up with his antics. Maybe part of me is hoping for Tomoyo and Graham Acre to be an s&m couple, much like Dokkoida?!‘s Sayuri and Pierre.
(I don’t care anymore. Just shoot me. No way there’s a penis on this. None. I won’t accept it. And I don’t think I’m wrong this time!)
My favorite character! Graham Acre cracks me up; he’s the perfect wingman for Tomoya. ‘Nuff said.
(My favorite running subplot for Clannad has to be what will be higher at season’s end? The hit counter or Tom Brady’s 2007 passing yards?)
The Production
Great visual quality, a step above Kanon. Animation’s really smooth (unlike ef), and the characters actually blink (unlike Kimikiss). Is there a studio that animates a TV series better than Kyoto presently? The music is pretty good, and I enjoy the OP if only because of the scene featuring Kyou bouncing a basketball. The ED, well, dangos… dangos… DANGOS!!! And, as I mentioned in the thin slicing post, very fitting seiyuu cast.
The Bottom Line
Kyoto really is a juggernaut. Trying to nitpick their stuff just isn’t fair because they’re so far ahead of all the other studios. They have the best animation. They have the best bounciness of melonpan. (Though Gundam 00 isn’t far behind on this one.) They have the most fitting seiyuu cast. They have great pacing and ridiculously appropriate translation of their source material. They are firing on all cylinders, much like the Patriots right now. (Insert well-worn cheating joke here.) With Clannad, Kyoto is continuing its nice run of solid, entertaining anime.
37 Responses to “clannad primer”
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I’m loving Fuuko more every passing episode, but I’ll have to wait until the rest of the girls have their chance at the spotlight to choose a favorite.
And yes, 4:3 is criminal for a show we know will make full use of the WS format.
Argh, ignore the last part of my last post…
Ahh, the wasted potential, how it haunts my dreams.
.
As for Clannad, I’m rooting for the dango ending, myself.
I dunno, when I look at screenshots side by side, Kimikiss wins very convincingly in the quality department.
Why is the screencap for Fuko also Kyou’s delicious thigh?
I can only hope Kotomi gets a nice long arc just for her, well.. at least let us see her do something besides sit down.
As far as animation quality goes, kyoto still wins by far, but I really took a liking to ef’s style. (I believe the character designer for ef is the same as Da Capo 1 and S.S. and Sola)
The biggest problem with kimikiss animation is that when you are able to see the female character’s eyes, it looks like they’re always staring at you.
I had a great image of Tomoyo in a wedding dress, but I can’t seem to find it. :( Does anyone here have it? (many thanks to whoever finds it!)
Jason, I think you will be happy to see meido in episode 6! They’re not epic costumes, but meido nonetheless!
Kyou and Ryou remind me more of Kagami and Tsukasa than Nayuki though. They even look and sound a bit alike. Also, I like Tomoya more than Kyon. The pranks he does with his friends are hilarious. It’s not something I can imagine Kyon doing.
Finally you have joined us Jason, glad to see that.
Doom for those idiots who still want to gave 4:3 anime a big shoot; Clannad deserves just 16:3 for Pete’s sake; is more appealing than that ugly format.
You know what; I guess Kyoto doesn’t want to be like other studios and that’s why we don’t get too many maids in their works. Yes, we have legendary Mikuru-chan in Haruhi, but that was necessary, if isn’t you won’t see a maid in a Kyoto work, sniff, sniff. You’ve to treasure those memories.
Clannad is going smooth, just waiting to see Fuko’s arc ending and who will be the next girl on the list, probably Tomoyo.
A Clannad post. I’m happy :)
>>Nagisa resembles Ayu, but with a bit of Makoto mixed in
Ouch. That’s possibly the largest Kanon related insult imaginable. Nagisa may be a little bland compared to the rest of the cast, but thankfully she doesn’t remind me of either of them, save that she has Ayu’s position as female lead. I think if I had to compare her with anyone in Kanon it would be a less well-endowed sleepy Nayuki.
If anyone in the cast is channelling Ayu it’s Fuko. In plenty of ways. Though she’s preferable to the original too.
Tomoya as a less introspective, more imaginative prankster Kyon/Yuuichi hybrid fits.
Kotomi as a Yuki/Shiori hybrid fits too…and probably explains why I enjoy her appearances so much.
I also don’t believe you passed the chance up to compare Kyou and Ryou to Kagami and Tsukasa. That was my first impression of them certainly. I look forward to their appearances too.
Tomoyo’s badass with her ever increasing combo counts.
And finally can we get a Yukine/Sayuri comparison, for completeness sake?
1. Kotomi 2. Ryou 3. Fuko 4. Yukine 5. Nagisa
going to write something… here… but too much of hassle… meh.
Since my posts here are usually ignored anyway, I might as well just post another salmon trying to swim against the river flow of pro-moe and pro-“hatred of men.”
Those who know me through my webpage, anime reviews, and LiveJournal know that I can’t stand anime that features even one guy who’s physically inferior to women (as oppose to being on the same level, espeically physically). I’m angered that the hentai anime isn’t coming fast enough to counter this bull####.
And I have to strongly disagree about Kyoto Animation being the best out (because Gonzo is IMMHO). Companies that work towards the fanatical geekafying of anime at the cost of everyone else’s enjoyment should not receive any points at all.
A boycott. I need to get in contact with somebody over at the government about this.
>> Jason, I think you will be happy to see meido in episode 6! They’re not epic costumes, but meido nonetheless!
That’s like two weeks away! Don’t tell me these things. I’m going to have to do a lot of pacing to work off this nervous energy.
>> Why is the screencap for Fuko also Kyou’s delicious thigh?.
Because it’s too awesomely delicious. Fixed…
As for Clannad, I’m rooting for the dango ending, myself.
Yep… these are my readers.
Tyrenol’s rants always makes me laugh, all the more so when I’m coming off 3 hours of sleep in two days.
On topic, yes, the 4:3 is unforgivable. No arguments there.
Kotomi is Yuki? I thought she had a rather uncanny resemblance to one of Kozue’s split personalities in Mahoraba (or was it Maburaho? I always get those two mixed up).
I just really love how they animate in these minor gimicks/actions that just make the characters seem adorable… like how Kotomi shuffles around on her knees to face Tomoya or Kyou’s boun- nevermind.
I agree that 4:3 Clannad is a disgrace, but I can’t help watching it anyway. I just go back and rewatch the 16:9’s as they come out each week. I still can’t decide if I like this or Kanon better; too early to really tell…
Clannad needs some better storyline. Kanon was very average in it’s story, this is also the problem with Clannad. Production values and characters only do so much for this type of anime.
So here I am, deciding that attempting to follow both minami-ke, Gundam 00 and Shana II was enough, that I could at least pass this up with no severe repercussions.
DAmmit, kyoto! Why do you waste my hard drive space so! I cant stop watching this…Seriously, I’m going to have to watch this.
4:3? They actually broadcasted it in 4:3? It’s not just unforgivable. It’s a sin equilvalent of having no Mikuru fanservice in a Haruhi novel. I think it’s that bad.
I probably should have used spoiler tags. My apologies. Though… now I wonder… what would a tag look like? The mind boggles.
Sorry, I meant meido tag. It looks like the parser cuts away any text in the post that is written like a tag.
Kotomi Ichinose FTW!!!
and yay for the Fujibayashi Twins!
KyoAni kicks ass
Despite being a solid show, Clannad is merely Kanon the Second in terms of mood, atmosphere and storyline. I can’t see it any other way.
When you say “basketball references” you mean Team Ninja (DOA?) references right? And I like how you have the same GIF linked three times. And why is his name Graham Acre anyway? Sentence. Fragments.
Jason, you do know that the guy who voices Graham Acre also does Tomoya’s voice. Besides, Graham is smart enough not to charge at Tomoyo. It would be like him charging at Destroy with only a lowly grunt mecha.
Very nice Jounin, I haven’t noticed that just yet.
Damn it! We need mroe Tomoyo Goddness into the show. I wodner if she’s the next girl after Fuko’s arc ends. Never played the game before, that’s why I wonder.
Okay, besides tantalizing you with the twin meido in episode 6…
The one thing I really like about Clannad over Kanon is that Tomoya and Nagisa work as partners through the story arcs (well, the first one at least). It’s no longer a one-man show, which makes their relationship all the more believable.
Nagisa isn’t sickly. Not yet anyway. She doesn’t remind me of anyone from Kanon, she’s more of Kamio Misuzu from AIR. She’s bland in the anime sense, but I think there’s a lot going for her “normal” personality, being that she’s quite determined and strong willed in what she does (but of course with a little push from her counterpart, Tomoya).
Also, could Tomoya and Nagisa be the most fleshed out couple in anime history? I can’t think of any other couple that seems to blend so well.
If Kyou and Ryou are twins, how does Kyou only get the nice body? It’s probably hard to see Ryou’s figure because she keeps her arms in front of her most of the time, but in a couple of scenes where they’re together it’s hard to see a difference between the two. And with anime, you can never tell when the animators may get generous and “add” to certain parts of the figure (Tiana from MGLNS).
> I refuse to eat at Jack-in-the-Box
Whaaaaa? Are you kidding me? I love Jack in the Box. It’s one of the things I miss most about the US now that I’m abroad. That and Waffle House.
I think the issue I have with Gonzo isn’t that they arent’ the best, its they to me use to be the best, and now sorta have gone crappy on us. I am not a fan of their recent stuff like Witchblade, Welcome to NHK, and others that have, to me at least, shown that they are spreading themselves thin. Thier latest shows ot me aren’t on par with shows like Last Exile, Saikano, or Vandread on even animation quality. I think this is partially due to them doing something like a half-dozen shows a season,w hent hey use to really only do one or two.
Right now, KyoAni doing really one show a season helps them stay focused. They actually point this out in Lucky Star that their studio is pretty small (they ahve two offices according to their website.) So by keeping the quanitity low, they can keep the quality up.
As for the show itself, the 4:3 is annoying as hell, Ia gree. I know i should probably wait for the wider stuff, but I know that somoene will batch that eventually and so I’ll wait. The thing I like about Clannad so far though is just how damn funny it is. Kanon had its moments, but was prety muchd rama, drama, drama with some funny. Clannad so far at episode six (Note, the end of the angst that was Makoto in the prior series) has had soem pretty hilarious moments, such as pretty much anything with Fuuko being crazy, or Nagisa being a ditz (I am going ot agree she’s not so much “sickly” girl save backplot. She’s mostly spineless girl.)
As for the twins, they are probably just faternal like Tsukasa/Kagami (who they bear as triking resemblance to). And Ryou isn’t Lucky Star class at all. I noticed how much more…full she was when I first started watching the show in episode one (I had procastinated on watching the last episode of Raki Suta ’til the week before) she went to get her cards and the first thing to mind was “Hips! BOobs! Lucky Star has ended!” It also, as noted, might just be poses. I would say that much, need to find a shot of them standing side-by-side.
Random thing I also notice is the eye-coloring. I wonder if this is something KyoAni will change later, but i notice when characters in prior shows had a o_o look going, their pupils became a lot more distinct. So far it seems that all that happens is the irises shrink some. Sorta makes me sad, since that was a favorite aspecct of the last three shows of the “Oh noes!” thing for KyoAni.
And stuff. Nyarr.
“(I’m almost willing to give Mag Mell 2007 OP of the year just on the strength of Kyou bouncing a basketball. Epic… bounciness”
KyoAni bounce > Gainax bounce
Yeah you tell yourself all that stuff Jason. You just continue with all your one liners about football that nobody cares about, and keep writing bad articles that try to be funny and fall flat on their face. By the way Kyoto Animation is not the be all end all best company Evar. GASP! Who would have known?! Obviously not you since you still think your clever.
EPIC QUOTE
Hey someone let the troll out!
4chan is done trolling Jaalin and is now trolling AoMM?
lol. I like how his argument boils down to “Because I Think Kyoani is overrated and Gundam is srs business, and because he’s not writing about what I want him to write, this blog sucks.” Way to go man. Way to complain about what someone is writing in his personal blog.
ARRGH can’t believe I took the bait.
That troll is making Canada look bad.
I think Kyou and Ryou look like the Hiiragi sisters honestly. They both have the attitudes like them and they both have the eyes (One evil sexy sister and one nice moe ‘I want to be treated gently’ sister) for it. I love Sunohara, man hes my favourite too. I just love his thoughts they’re tops. The way he thinks he liable to either:
A: Get himself shot down
B: Get hurt real badly
C: Go out with Tomoyo one time or another with his words
D: In order A,B, then if lucky C.
Hes just a regular Joe Guy and hes that type of guy that makes this show priceless, period.