Clannad Review: The Greatest Slice Of Life
Nagisa and Tomoya
'Clannad' (2007) and 'Clannad: After Story' (2008) make up the greatest slice of life anime story I’ve ever seen.
For this review, I’ll be talking about Clannad and Clannad: After Story. Spoilers are below, so please be careful.
Anime is one of the most expressive art forms in entertainment media. One genre of anime that I really enjoy watching is “slice of life.” What captivates me most with slice of life, is its ability to capture real life emotions, and portray them in animation. I guess you could say that’s how all anime series are, but there are a select few that “stick.”
It’s easy to pick up an entertaining show that throws you fan service and cool moments. That’s why certain anime get popular. Shounen is easily the most popular genre of anime because it delivers on the promise of being entertaining. However, when you stick around long enough to see quite a few different shows; you start realizing that you can’t define a show based on what you saw or heard.
You start judging anime by feel. You start judging anime by that “stick” factor.
For me, Clannad has that quality.
Clannad Review
Clannad was like an urban legend to me. Most anime rating systems have Clannad: After Story somewhere near the top. I constantly pushed away the idea of watching it, because I knew that if I did, I might never look at anime the same way after viewing it. It’s bittersweet saying it, but I was 100% right.
Instead of reviewing narrative choices and character designs, I’m going to tell you how watching Clannad made me feel. In my opinion, it is emotion that makes Clannad a masterpiece.
Clannad
That being said, I thought 'Clannad' (2007) was a pretty standard slice of life series. I knew that things were bound to get better, but I didn’t know when. More importantly, I didn’t know how. I did a pretty good job of staying in the dark with Clannad spoilers prior to watching, so I went into 'After Story' blind.
This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the first season of Clannad, I just thought it was pretty “regular.” It didn’t have that “stick factor.” Meeting Tomoya and Nagisa felt very run of the mill. “Let’s open the club, make friends, and fall in love. Oh and by the way, there’s also this strange parallel side story about a girl and robot.”
It wasn’t until episode nine of After Story that everything started coming together for me.
Clannad: After Story
Big Dango Family
You see, a typical slice of life will end once the couple gets together or the goal is reached. Once all the issues are resolved, and everyone is happy; the show ends. Along the journey, you feel empathetic toward the characters. You’ve felt their emotions once before in real life.
Clannad told a “regular” slice of life story in the beginning. We meet the characters. We become invested in them. We learn of all their quirks and personality traits. We see their problems, and we see the main characters solve these problems. It followed the formula to a tee.
Clannad could have just stopped there and remained as a regular slice of life. However, it doesn’t. It keeps going. Episode nine of After Story was a turning point not only emotionally, but structurally. That “slice of life formula” gets thrown out of the window, and now we are in uncharted territory. What happens after graduation? What happens after the story is over?
Tomoya is now faced with being an adult. Finding a job, a place to live, and a peaceful life to lead. What’s it going to be like when our main protagonist faces real life? He wants to get married, and Nagisa wants to have kids. They end up doing both, but tragedy strikes the young family.
A Real Slice Of Life
It’s the tragedy and sorrow of Clannad that makes it something special. As the main story is told from the perspective of Tomoya, we experience everything as he does. The death of Nagisa is tragic because it’s something that can happen in real life. More so over, Nagisa is a character who we’ve already come to know and love, making this event even harder to fathom. We are accustomed to seeing the story play out in favor of the main character, but Clannad is a story that does quite the opposite.
In fact, Clannad is a story filled with harsh truths about life. It forces the viewer to think about their personal “what if’s?” For Tomoya, he grapples with the pain of “What if I never met Nagisa?”, or in other words “What if I never chose this path of pain?” He basically spends the next five years beating himself up over this very question.
Just when Tomoya starts picking up the pieces, he is once again pushed into the dirt; and now it’s his daughter Ushio that dies.
Tomoya is again faced with same question: “What if I never met Nagisa?” With the “light orbs” and “miracle granting” nature of the plot, Tomoya is able face his “what if?” head on. Is this what he really wants? Would he rather give up his life of monotony for a life of pain and sorrow?
This is what makes Clannad a real slice of life. Are we as people willing to “do,” and act on our feelings and intentions? Or are we going to let the moment pass us by, and not worry about what could have been. I can recall many moments in my own life where these two questions come into play. Everyone has a “what if?”
Luckily for the audience, Tomoya decides to stick it out with Nagisa. Regardless of the heartbreak them meeting put him through, he still chooses his family (BTW family is another important theme in this show).
Another plus to Clannad, is the fact that it ends happy. Tomoya is granted a miracle, and the moment that ruined his life (Nagisa’s death) is changed. Instead of her dying, she gives birth to a healthy girl, and they all live happily together.
Obviously Clannad isn’t a “real” slice of life because of the magical plot elements, rather, it is the feelings that it awakens. Clannad taps emotions that aren’t typically found in anime. I’ve only seen storytelling at this level, in films. We have lists of amazing anime, but there’s a certain something that Clannad has that makes it different.
It goes off script and does something that narratively shouldn’t work, but does. We essentially get two differently themed shows. One being the typical, the other being a rule breaker. We don’t know what the goal of After Story is, until it’s over. You take each moment in as it happens in real time. You are watching life unfold.
A show like this just further proves the point that anime is one of the most creative media platforms. It told a story physically, symbolically, and unexpectedly; all while weaving in mythology and human emotion. I might never come across another anime with this many storytelling elements, done correctly.
When Clannad gets going, it never really stops. The way it handles life and death are so eerily real that it makes you think twice about this show being animated.
Clannad’s thematic elements act as a reflection of true human nature. These characters feel like they could be real. They aren’t larger than life people. Nagisa is a sickly girl, and Tomoya is a delinquent boy. Realistically, all they want to do is graduate and start a family.
This show resonates so deeply because these are things that regular people want. The way it handles emotion makes the characters genuine. I personally found myself very invested in the characters, so much so, I feel like I can’t pick up another series.
It feels like I’m in this “post-Clannad world” where I’m not sure if anything will make me feel the same way.
It sticks because it’s unpredictable. You cling to the idea of Tomoya and Nagisa getting together, and you get to see it; but it gets ripped from you, and that fulfillment is gone. Clannad takes you past the point of a regular slice of life. We always see characters “at the tip of the spear,” but rarely do we see them with their back against the wall. Tomoya spends much of his life not wanting to become like his father, but with the card he is dealt, all he can do is act like his father.
With all that being said, Clannad has changed the way I look at anime as a whole. I don’t know when I’ll find another show that “sticks” as much as this one does. It truly is one of the greatest anime of all time. It is not perfect by any means, but at the very least, it is real. It’s filled with raw emotions, and that is why Clannad lives up to the hype. Watch it if you haven’t. Watch it again if you have. This is one that will live forever.
TL;DR
Clannad is the greatest slice of life anime because of its portrayal of human nature. It tells three intertwined stories that form one plot. It has flaws, but it lives up to the hype on emotions alone. This is a show that feels real. Clannad is a true classic.
