The annoying inconsistency of Clannad
Clannad is one of the most frustrating shows in existence. I’m just going to put that out there to begin with.
Across the vast spectrum of visual novel fans, I imagine two distinct factions of people. Type-Moon fans and Key fans. Two sides, hungry for blood. The blood of each other. They rarely interact, except to exchange digital blows on some anonymous BBS or IRC channel. Actually, this probably doesn’t happen at all, but if it were to happen I’d be more with the Key people. I mean, you’re either a stupid pretentious fuck who thinks mollusk metaphors are deep, or you’re a guy who likes cute girls dying. I’d rather cute girls dying.
I like Air and Kanon. I think they are great shows. I actually consider Air something of amateurish masterpiece, and Kanon is great until you realize Ayu is the main character. I like Key stuff. Their work is heavy handed, mellow-dramatic, and pulls at your heart strings using some of the dirtiest tricks in the book. But I don’t fucking care. They are pieces of good, solid entertainment; and do have some degree of artistic merit. Clannad, however, is different.
Clannad is Key’s attempt to move away from this type of story writing. Stories in Clannad concern themselves with mostly normal things. Family disputes, misunderstandings and things like that. The problem is the manner in which these issues are handled. How many fucking times in season one is an issue resolved through a goddamn motherfucking sports competition. It has to be two times, maybe three– and they almost do this again in Sunohara’s arc in ~After Story~! What the fuck, Key? Another example can be found in the absolutely abominable Yukine arc which is so childishly handled that the only thing keeping me from running to Japan and murdering someone is its great ending.
But at the same time, some arcs are absolutely wonderful, or at least not totally horrible. Fuuko’s arc, even though it’s a total ripoff on Makoto’s story, is pretty good; Sunohara’s arc is great except for the ending; and the latest arc with Tomoya opens with an episode so good that I was wondering if they sacked Jun whateverhisnameis for someone who’s actually good.
The one consistent element throughout this whole mess is KyoAni’s amazing presentation of it all. The small background details, the carefully calculated levels of bloom and the detailed depictions of Sunohara getting beaten within an inch of his life keep me coming back. Also, when the show isn’t focusing on its plot, there are a lot of great humour scenes. Quite frankly, I would have liked it better if Clannad was a school comedy. It’d be a lot better than what it is now!
Clannad would be much better if it were Nagisa (and her family), Tomoyo, Kyou/Ryou, and Sunohara/Mei. No one else is needed.
I’d have to agree that I can think of few shows that I like and hate at the same time like this.
I would have to agree. I enjoyed Air and Kanon more from an emotional standpoint, but Clannad is good in its own way. It could definitely be better, but I’m happy with Kyoto’s work. So how long until Little Busters gets announced as a project?
I hope KyoAni never does Little Busters and moves to different adaptations that, while a sight to see and very competent, aren’t almost the same thing. Where’s my resurrected Tonari no 801-chan?
arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Awesomely hilarious first paragraph, WAH, but personally, cute mollusks dying is more my thing.
@Link: don’t worry, Munto’s up next.
Hmm. Public opinion of Clannad is really going down with the second season, and I have nothing but agreement with what you said. The first few episodes of AS were good in their slice-of-life nature, but the secondary-ish arcs are really just going to show that Key really has pretty much used all the aces up their sleeves already.
Except, well, I still expect the -actual- After Story part of the show to absolutely hammer this first half into the ground. Maybe it would have been better if it just did that part … the ol’ Sacchin paradox of do you give the fans what they want or not…
It’s all about Softpal’s Unisonshift: Blossom, Ito Noizi for the win @_@
“Across the vast spectrum of visual novel fans, I imagine two distinct factions of people. Type-Moon fans and Key fans. Two sides, hungry for blood. The blood of each other. They rarely interact, except to exchange digital blows on some anonymous BBS or IRC channel. Actually, this probably doesn’t happen at all, but-”
I’m a huge fan of both, and I know of a few other people I’ve met online who are too, so I’d vote on your latter statement. I just want to say the problem with Clannad seems to be coming from the design of it’s game roots and how the separate routes in it worked. They seem to be touching on as many of the original game’s routes as possible, but in order to do so there were several events that would happen in more than one route in the game, but the problem is they would be slightly different each time.
In all honesty I’m not entirely happy with how they’ve been handling it either, even though I’m glad that the fucking “DOUZO STARFISH!” girl is gone. Most of my dislike probably comes from the fact that Kyou and Tomoyo got ripped off (though at least Tomoyo got an OVA), but now with them starting to venture into the actual After Story parts of the game, I’ll probably be able to give a more objective viewpoint since I haven’t played through them all yet. I do agree though that Yukine’s arc wasn’t handled well, even if the end redeemed it a bit.
@Link: Personally I’m kind of curious what a Little Busters anime would look like…
@moonspeaker: I’m starting to feel like there will never be any justice for Kyou :(
@Freelii: Considering she’s been ripped off TWICE now, I think I agree… I mean heck, her route in the game even when I was successful made me think I hit a ‘bad end’.
I’ve played some Clannad, and I’ve played some Tsukihime; and I liked both.
Clannad anime… I’ll agree with Moonspeaker – putting all of the routes together in one story hurts each one of them. But the thing I like most about Clannad are the girls, and I’m content as long as they are still there. I liked Kanon’s story better, but there were no really interesting heroines.
Anyway, the first season of Clannad was nice, and Tomoyo’s OVA was awesome. As for After Story, I’ll hold out with my judgement until it’s finished.
Also I hope that this time around they’ll do Kyou’s OVA the same way they made Tomoyo’s… I think that would make a LOT of fans happy.
Note: I hate Tomoyo, think Fuuko is the best part of Clannad, and think Tomoyo’s OVA is one of the worst episodes of anime ever written and directed. Take from that what you will.
I also think the only good part about Kyou are her thighhighs and the art Ishikei does of her.
>>>Note: I hate Tomoyo, think Fuuko is the best part of Clannad, and think Tomoyo’s OVA is one of the worst episodes of anime ever written and directed
Yeah, I know. I was wondering though, have you played the game? I think I wouldn’t really enjoy the OVA that much, if I wouldn’t watch it right after completing Tomoyo’s route. Which is, in my opinion, by far the best route in the whole game.
And Kyou is awesome, unless you dislike tsunderes(and that seems to be true in your case)
I think WAH is on crack.
CLANNAD first season is actually a major improvement over Kanon, because the obstacle then and now is still the same–trying to adopt what works really well in a game in a way that doesn’t piss off the fans. Tsukihime anime anybody?
Personally, Air was really it. Kanon and CLANNAD both are sort of fail from looking at it from the anime perspective. The source material were just too hard to adopt without turning them into honest to goodness alternate works or splitting it up into separate movies or whatever.
I didn’t like season 1 a whole lot but I am really enjoying season 2 so far. Season 2 seems to have all the elements that I felt season 1 was lacking.
Heh so Clannad lures you in with something you deem good, then shows you something SUCK, then pulls you back in huh? XD
I have no issues with the sports stuff and etc since I have bias from being a fan and a game player. The side arcs for me was more “OLOL they animated this WIN” then “WTF MORE SPORTS”. Also some of the wierd uncomphrensible actions of the characters seem normal since I fill in the blanks with info from the game. There’s also an irrational love for all the characters in Clannad that blinds me haha. Well from what I know about the “real” AS that’s starting, it will probably get better for you. There should be NO MORE SPORTS, and more focus on real Nagisa x Tomoya, and some emotional manipulation too. This is bad in my opinion but, you won’t see much of Tomoyo, Kotomi, Kyou, or the likes (atleast if they follow the game like they have been).
Hm still I thought that the overall opinion of Clannad AS was more positive then negative though? Maybe I’m wrong x.x
Just. Amen.
I actually like Tomoyo quite a bit and found the OVA acceptable, although still in that dreadful “could do better” zone. But the truth is…I ship Tomoyo/Sunohara with an unhealthy rage. One of the reasons why Clannad should be a comedy, damnit.
>>>But the truth is…I ship Tomoyo/Sunohara with an unhealthy rage.
So, you’re into S/M?
All I have to say, is play the game. After reading your post it doesn’t look like you have. I am currently half way through the game and it is far superior to the anime. However, the anime serves as an awesome addition to the game.
@omo Yes, a tsukihime anime would probably be hard to pull off, so I’m rather glad they started with Kara no Kyoukai instead after that FSN-failure.
Too often visual-novel adaptations end up being only some attempt at full-animation fan service. Getting all major branches under one hat will never result in a smooth TV show suitable for people who haven’t played the novel in question. Probably that’s why the Kara no Kyoukai anime is actually good.