Clannad: Complete Collection

Boy meets girls, gets to know girls, and helps girls.

It is not easy to review Clannad without singing it's praises up past the ceiling.Story wise it comes across as a simple High School story, with comedic and dramatic elements interwoven in a very skilled fashion.The series roots as a Visual Novel are apparent through the 24 episode runtime, which is presented as a straight run for 23 of the episodes, and an alternate ending in the last, but is also clearly divided into 3 major arcs: The Fuuko arc, the Katomi Arc, and the Drama Club (or the Nagisa arc).The story flows at a smooth pace, introducing most, if not all the relevant characters, while still leaving bits to be revealed in later episodes. While segments can get a bit fanciful at times, at no point does it venture into territory that feels unreal, and the characters are all charming and interesting enough that they all earn a place in your heart by the final episode.The emotional connection to the characters is one of the strongest selling points of the series. As noted in other review, be prepared to cry, a lot. In no other series have I found myself laughing until I cried in one episode, and crying in the next because the material is so devastatingly sad, but relatable. But while the tear spawning content is never in short supply, the comedy and heartwarming parts shine even brighter. Characters form the overblown and insane antics of Sunohara, to the seemingly overly dramatic Yuuske, pepper the supporting cast and make them easy to love, and do not at all detract from the central relation between Okizaki and Nagisa. One of the highlights is the fact that almost every time Nagisa's mother and father appear on screen, you are almost guaranteed to laugh or cry.Another highlight is the soundtrack. Again harkening back to it's roots, the soundtrack, from the background in scenes, to each characters unique theme, is lifted almost exactly from the original work. I had not realized that I had picked up the background music from the series until I read through the VN, and hearing the music brought back memories and in some instances (Nagisa's Big Dango Family, for one,) brought me back to tears. Touching, uplifting, and haunting in all the right places, the score is top notch.Overall, I cannot recommend this series highly enough. The themes inside, of friendship, teenage anxiety, family, the desire to be loved, and more make this a series that I feel can be enjoyed by all age groups.In short, if you are a fan of not raunchy high school comedies, cute romance tales, entertaining yarns, or just stories that leave a lasting impact long after they are over, Clannad is a necessary watch.On the topic of Voice Over, while I have not viewed it in Japanese, I can say that the English Dub is superb, the voices feel right in each character, from the airy shyness in Nagisa, to the barely contained anger of Kyou, to the pure over the top energy of Sunohara.

I'll try not to be too long with this review. I know a lot of people don't enjoy reading enormous "book" reviews, so I'll be brief. Before Clannad, I hadn't watched any anime beyond the cliché ones of my youth such as Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, etc. However, after reading the visual novel, I decided to watch the anime for myself, as I had grown attached to the characters and wanted to see them in their animated glory.Story:The story is amazing. Let me get that out of the way first. It was successfully able to break my heart on multiple occasions, successfully melding your heart with that of the characters, until you feel what they feel, hurt when they hurt. It's not always sad, though, with a great, varying humor that will appeal to many different personalities. It also incorporates the arcs of the visual novel well without being ambiguous with its plotline. Although there is a primary love interest, it does its best to keep the stories of the other women intact, and it works brilliantly.Animation/Sound:Another thing that Clannad's animators managed to do so well is translate the visual novel's static artwork into a beautiful flowing animation. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and the characters look great and are well-animated. I've only watched the dubbed version of it, so I can't comment on the quality of the subbed voice actors, but, with a few minor exceptions, the dubbed voice acting is superb and matches well with the lips of the characters. The soundtrack is quite stunning as well, relying mostly on the soundtrack from the VN, with beautiful, heartbreaking tracks amongst lighter-hearted instrumentals that really help to set the mood for the scenes they're in.Overall:Clannad is truly a masterpiece and is now by far my favorite show I've ever seen (I'd even go far as to say my favorite non-interactive media, ever). From lovable characters to a sad yet compelling plotline, with great animation and voice acting to boot, Clannad is amazing in almost every regard and is definitely worth a purchase to anyone with even a passing interest in the genre it represents.NOTE: I would like to point out that the case for Clannad is a bit cheaply made. The plastic feels like it may fall apart in your hands, and, unlike other DVD cases, all DVDs are one spindle, which makes me a bit nervous to the long-term safety to the discs. Regardless, this should not prevent you from buying this in any way, just something to note.

The title is meant to imply "Family" but the creators became confused....This one started as a pc game and comes from the same stable as Kanon. We follow a number of girls with problems who are helped by our hero - note that this one is a family show, there is no "fan service". The emotions may run a little high at times (I know of males in their late teens shedding a tear...) but this one is gentle compared to the severe emotions of the follow up, Clannad-After Story.There is a funny little side story regarding a girl on her own who makes a robot of sorts. You might get this if you also watch After Story but otherwise try not to worry about it, it is a very complex bit of plotting.Instead enjoy the youngsters trying to make a go of bureaucratic school administration and the triumph of getting together a school drama society. There is some comedic violence, deliberately in the style of a video game (with bonuses awarded) but the violent reputation of one of the characters if one of the problems to be oversome, it is essential to the story. There is no excess of blood.The concept of the school "ghost" does not translate from Japanese culture too well- the "spirit" is not a ghost as understood in the West but something else which does get communicated in the story quite well.Lovely animation, great characters, a storyline which is complex but sticks to one character at a time so that as one character is helped we suddenly jump to concentrate on another character. Nice animation and reasonable family fare but do observe the 12 certificate for strong emotions and comic violence.

CLANNAD is one of many great anime made by key.it is based on the final year in high school for the dilinquant Tomoya Okazaki who is tired of both his life and the town he lives in, that is until he meets a shy Nagisa Furukawa on his way to school and befriends her whilst helping her revive the schools drama club.Without giving away any spoilers it is hard to put into words of how good this anime (as with Key's other work (Kanon, Air)) actually is. This anime would be perfect for anybody who is a fan of Animes with great character personality builds (even in secondary and minor characters) and anybody who find any school based shows interesting, this searies of CLANNAD also has many aspects to grip the veiwers to it, using Comedy, drama and part of a tale that leaves the veiwer wondering of its significance (which is explained in the afterstory Series of CLANNAD). The veiwer is also bought into the story with the excellent usage of music for any major scene.This is a great purchase and i would suggest any anime fans and anybody interested in veiwing animes to purchase CLANNAD and CLANNAD afterstory, also i would recommend Kanon, and Air which are 2 of keys other animes.

I first watched this series online and once I finished, I immediately wanted the box set as I love this Anime SO much no word in the English language even BEGINS to describe my passion for this Anime!~It truly touched my heart and I felt captivated by the wondrous and beautiful story line and the characters were so brilliantly portrayed; I cried many times watching this series AND the second series Clannad After Story~'The only reason I gave this product four stars and not five is because I live in the UK and I tried this product out yesterday and it wouldn't play in my DVD player saying it was 'The Wrong Region'.So, I am having to buy a multi-regional DVD player to watch this product which isn't bad it's just annoying that I didn't realise this before.But the overall Anime series deserves as MANY stars as it is possible to give!~I highly recommend this Anime to people out there!~It's beautiful and amazing!~DEFINITELY my favourite Anime~

It is by far the best anime I've seen. Animation is smooth, beautiful backgrounds, characters and soundtrack ( which is amazing ). Clannad is different than any other anime. Script is great however I would personally done certain things differently. It seems like this anime floats between happy moments and sad, it's like those two emotions intertwine.For me, a little bit let down was a fact that Okazaki ( main character ) being a delinquent doesn't act as one. Instead he appears to be lost and angry that's why he acts in certain ways ( not gonna spoil anything :)) . Another let down was a English voice cast. Main character sounds like an adult (tough guy) and Kyou sounds like a voilent village girl. It spoils a little bit of atmosphere in some episodes. But I gotta say they tried their best with some emotional scenes. I would advise to watch original japanese language with subtitles, it feels natural that way.I would like to hear voice actor from Kanon ( english voice actor for character - Yuichi Aizawa ) as Okazaki in Clannad. Because he did great job with Kanon! And as Nagisa ( Clannad ) voice actress that dubbed Ayu from ( Kanon ). She sounds adorable...Concluding : you will get great package that will make you laugh hard and make you sad inside. Possible to shear a tear or two.Definitely a Buy!5/5 Overall.

What can I say about this animation series....This a roller coaster of emotions. The characters are great the story lines are fab. The music to this series is exceptional. Trust me buy this you won't be disappointed. Also dare you not cry in this series because trust me you will.