Josh’s Anime Blog

I’m very happy to bring you my episode reviews for Kyoto Animation’s latest series CLANNAD. This series is possibly the most anticipated series of the fall season. As is usual for Visual Art’s/Key visual novel turned anime series is that there appears to be a lot of mysteries festering under the surface and we’ll get to unwrap those mysteries one by one over the course of the series. I have a lot of expectations for this series, given that Kanon became an instant favorite for me. But those eyes….those eyes…

The story starts with the main male lead, Tomoya Okazaki, lamenting how much he hates his life - school, his family, everything - and longs for a “day that will change everything.” He then runs into a girl who appears to be talking to herself, lamenting that, even though she loves everything about the place where she is, things will inevitably change. Tomoya remarks to her about how she could just find those happy times again if he wants, and then continues on towards school, with the girl in tow.

The next day, Tomoya arrives to class late, and a girl named Fujibayashi approaches him and timidly tries to tell him that he should try to come to school on time. Tomoya remarks how she’s “acting like the class representative,” when she corrects him by saying that she is the class representative. Tomoya says he’ll try to be in a better mood tomorrow, which causes Fujibayashi to take out a pack of cards, saying that she’ll tell him his fortune for the next day. She accidentially spills all the cards on the floor, then tells him that the cards are telling her that Tomoya will be late tomorrow as well.

Tomoya frustratingly asks her if she’s saying that on purpose, but Fujibayashi tells Tomoya that he’ll run into a “gentle girl” the next day, will become attracted to her, and lose track of time as a result. Tomoya remarks that it’s kind of general when a huge book comes flying towards his head, but he’s able to dodge it. Suddenly, Fujibayashi’s sister Ryou storms in and accuses Tomoya of picking on her sister but Fujibayashi and Tomoya are able to convince her that he wasn’t.

Later that day, Tomoya is walking around the school’s campus when he spots the weird girl who was talking to herself hanging out and eating under a tree. He tries talking to her, but she tells him to excuse her until she’s finished eating. Once she’s done, Tomoya asks her why she’s eating by herself. She tells him that everyone in the school used to hang out with her, but a year ago he had to take a long time off from school, and everyone she used to know already graduated.

Suddenly the pair hear a loud noise and they go to check out what it is, and they find two bikes circling each other on the soccer field. Then, a girl named Tomoyo, who has a reputation for being really strong, goes out to stop the bikers. The two bikers charge her and she easily dispatches of both bikes and their riders. Afterwards, Tomoya remarks to the girl he’s hanging with that if she just looked up at herself that Tomoyo does, she would be popular. He then excuses himself to go back to class, but she stops him to thank him, and introduces herself as Nagisa Furukawa.

Meanwhile, Tomoya’s troublemaker friend Sunohara approaches Tomoyo and tells her that he thinks what she did to the bikers was an act, since no girl could be that strong. Tomoya, who had been brought along to witness the girl’s revealing, distances himself from Sunohara, not wanting to get hurt himself. Sunohara, trying to prove that he’s right, charges Tomoyo, but she just kicks him away. Tomoya then remembers the story of a girl who lived in the town who was really strong and took on guys who bothered other people and Sunohara tells him that he wishes he would have remembered that sooner.

After school, Tomoya peeks up on the performing arts area of the school and spots Nagisa standing outside the drama room. She enters, but finds the room cluttered and devoid of people. Tomoya then remembers that the club was put on hiatus due to lack of people, but that Nagisa should still hold on to her hope of joining the club if it ever gets restarted. Nagisa asks him why he cares about her so much, but Tomoya can’t really come up with a reason. When walking home, Nagisa has to split off to go to her house, but she tells Tomoya that her house is also a bakery, and that he’s free to come over and visit anytime.

Later that evening, after wandering around town, Tomoya pops into Nagisa’s bakery. Suddenly an older lady shows up and asks if Tomoya would like to try one of the left over bakery goods. Tomoya gladly takes a bite, since it’s free, and finds that it’s bread with a rice cracker inside. She notices that Tomoya doesn’t seem to be enjoying it and asks him what’s wrong. He tells her that, to be frank, her creation is a failure, which causes the lady to run out of the store crying.

Suddenly a man shows up with a bat and chastises Tomoya for speaking the truth since “the truth is always cruel,” and that it’s an unwritten law that you should eat whatever the lady makes and say it’s good. The man then realizes that Tomoya is wearing a uniform from Nagisa’s school and asks if he’s a friend of hers. After discovering that he is, both the man and the lady (who has returned) apologize to him and the rather unique family ends up eating dinner with Tomoya.

Tomoya then heads off to be home, remarking how close Nagisa’s family is. Tomoya then arrives home to find his drunken father passed out. In frustration and disgust, Tomoya runs out of his house. Tomoya explains that his father has became a drunkard and a gambler since Tomoya’s mother died in a car accident. Tomoya then runs into Nagisa who is being lit up by a light, and who asks Tomoya to come to her to “the place where wishes are granted…”

Well, I can already see where this is going, but whether this is a head fake to just make me think I know where it is going or not, I’m not sure. Tomoya overheard some guys while walking around school talking about the spirit of a girl killed in a car crash showing up every now and then, and this girl that Tomoya hangs out with is certainly weird. The fact that she had to take a long time off from school before also raises suspicions. Is she actually alive and is she this spirit the boys were talking about?

My guess is that CLANNAD will follow the same pattern as Kanon did and which Air appears to be taking (I’ve only seen the first volume) of the main male lead running through the girl’s story lines one-by-one. I’m just wondering whose arc we’ll see first. It took Kanon about 5 episodes to finally get really into the first story arc so I’d expect the same of this.

I also thought Nagisa’s family was hilarious, especially with their familial cheer or whatever it was. And her father seems unique…simultaneously telling Tomoya that he should go after the girl he wants, but if it’s Nagisa, he won’t let him have her lol.

It’s still hard to tell whether I’ll like this series or not - of course it’s usually hard after one episode - but I still have high hopes for it. Obviously there is something “different” about Nagisa - we’ll just need to see what. Also..Tomoya…Tomoyo…I feel some confusion coming on. Maybe I should use their last names instead…

I guess one of the few things I’m confused about is why KyoAni decided to show this in 4:3 instead of the now normal 16:9. A marketing ploy to try to get more people to buy the DVDs maybe? Not that I’m cynical or anything.