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REVIEW: Clannad After Story Sub.DVD 2


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jenthehen



Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 835
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:07 am Reply with quote
I agree 100%. I could have written this review myself. This is EXACTLY how I feel about the second half of Clannad: After Story.
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Splitter



Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 1276
Location: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:41 am Reply with quote
Yeah, um... I have nothing to add or debate. Bravo, Theron.
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Quark



Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 710
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:56 am Reply with quote
Only an A-? Theron, how could you, this is Clannad we're talking about, it should have gotten A+++++
All kidding aside though, I can't wait to get my After Story discs in the mail. Currently, Clannad is my least favourite of the Key anime, so I'm really interested to see what happens in After Story that is so wonderful it causes Key fans to go into an insane rage whenever anyone says anything slightly negative about it.
Once I've watched it, I'd like to properly read Theoron's review of the show. Both Kanon and Air made me weepy for two straight episodes, and I'm looking forward to another good Key cry, but only if I don't know what I'm in for.
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neocloud9



Joined: 06 Oct 2008
Posts: 1178
Location: Atlanta, GA
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:05 am Reply with quote
Quote:
But that is actually not the series' biggest emotional punch. No, that comes two episodes later, when the wonderfully-handled fall-out from the big tragedy combines with a major lingering unresolved issue from the first series into one simple but powerful scene set in a field of flowers – and really, one specific line of dialog.


YES.

Cop-out endings and moe whatnot aside, THAT SCENE made this show absolutely worth it for me.
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Pneumekian



Joined: 09 Dec 2009
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:05 am Reply with quote
I hesitate to call the ending a complete "cop-out" spoiler[because the deus-ex-machina (the other-world) was hanging around right from the start. That's why it didn't feel exactly "cheap" or a cop-out to me, as it tied up with the other world side story, and didn't just come out of the blue.

I guess I could see the ending as cheap in that it gets out of Okazaki dealing with the death of his daughter -- on the other hand, Okazaki died from grief right after, anyway, so I kind of know what would have happened were the story to take a more realistic resolution. Dude would have died from grief after the shock of both his wife and daughter dying in quick succession. Pretty dark and I don't think it fits with the "feel" of the show (power of love and all that).

But he definitely did deal with Nagisa's death, and his father as well, so it didn't cheap out there. ]
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Koji98



Joined: 13 Jun 2008
Posts: 112
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:07 am Reply with quote
I know I'm probably nitpicking here, but I counted about 1 error in the translation per episode. Some misspelled words, and some just forgetting to delete a word after rewriting a sentence, like having the word "have" come up more than it was suppose to.

However, they were very painless (and apparently not very noticeable) and didn't ruin the show for me.
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boredandlazy



Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 189
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:32 am Reply with quote
Overall a fair review, which is more than I was expecting so thankyou very much for that.
The emotions I felt while watching this show were not forced down my throat at all like some shows(cough... Saikano...) and I felt so much during it because I genuinely loved the characters. This is my favourite series of all time as it is the first form of media to elicit the kind of emotions that it did.
I don't agree the ending was a complete cop-out, it probably could have done with some more explaining(I had to look up a few things after it concluded myself) but in the context of the story it actually makes a warped kind of sense.
Personally after the emotional battering I'd received I was hoping for this type of ending so I couldn't have been more pleased, so I'm firmly in the "masterpiece" camp.
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pachy_boy



Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 1323
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 7:02 am Reply with quote
Great review, Theron, although like some of the other forumites I also don’t really agree on the ending being a real copout. There’s always been mystical/fantastical elements to Visual/Key Arts stories, and when I watched it I felt it worked. spoiler[ Yes, it did feel redundant to have Tomoya’s daughter die. But when it seemed like the world came to an end for Tomoya, it felt so emotionally uplifting for the other world to help start things back and have Nagisa still alive, and for everyone to live a happy family life. It all made it feel like a big, nightmarish what-if before the characters were rescued from the darkness and are allowed to have the life they wanted. I felt very fulfilled, rather than cheated from a ‘copout’.]

I was so incredibly surprised by the entirety of the gorgeous Clannad saga. This series has succeeded in making me really feel for the characters as they grow up and learn to deal with the changing things in their lives, I really believed and rooted for Tomoya and Nagisa as a romantic couple, and I give the series credit for having more than one male character and for making them as quirky as the female characters (unlike Air and Kanon, that is). The return of Fuko was stunning in its own way, and overall it was really great to see her back. The music was wonderful, but the Dango theme especially really stayed with me long after the story was over. I give my most heartfelt thanks to Sentai for letting me see this. Maybe there will be a future license of the Clannad movie? I wouldn’t mind.
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jenthehen



Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 835
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:07 am Reply with quote
I felt like spoiler[THIS particular deus-ex-machina ending was cheap. I feel like it could have been done better. It would have been perfect for ME if after Ushio died, Nagisa sent a "miracle" from beyond the grave that brought her back - that would have easily tied in with the lonely world, as well ... without it just feeling like a re-set/do-over that lost all the emotional punch. Just my opinion, though.]
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Karisu



Joined: 18 Apr 2008
Posts: 94
Location: PA
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:40 am Reply with quote
I'm not sure what it says of the intelligence of people who consider the ending a cop-out. Well, ok, I know what it says, but since I have nothing nice to say about those people, I'll stop there.

If you think an ending set-up from episode 1 of the series is a cop-out then you may as well consider everything that happenes in any story ever told to be a cop-out.
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Fletcher1991



Joined: 14 Apr 2009
Posts: 514
Location: Long Island, NY
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:03 am Reply with quote
Pneumekian wrote:
I hesitate to call the ending a complete "cop-out" spoiler[because the deus-ex-machina (the other-world) was hanging around right from the start. That's why it didn't feel exactly "cheap" or a cop-out to me, as it tied up with the other world side story, and didn't just come out of the blue.

I guess I could see the ending as cheap in that it gets out of Okazaki dealing with the death of his daughter -- on the other hand, Okazaki died from grief right after, anyway, so I kind of know what would have happened were the story to take a more realistic resolution. Dude would have died from grief after the shock of both his wife and daughter dying in quick succession. Pretty dark and I don't think it fits with the "feel" of the show (power of love and all that).

But he definitely did deal with Nagisa's death, and his father as well, so it didn't cheap out there. ]


I completely agree with this. If they ended it the without this "Cop-Out ending" as the review says it I doubt Clannad After Story would have been as popular. It definitely would have been a lot of a lot more sad.
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Machius



Joined: 16 Sep 2007
Posts: 23
Location: Australia wishing I was back in Japan
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:08 am Reply with quote
Good review overall.

I wouldn't exactly call the ending a copout as such spoiler[it may have drained some of the emotional impact but the reset and more optimistic ending felt like something of a necessity to me after the deep sense of sorrow throughout most of the series]
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s.alsa-man1991



Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Posts: 137
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:09 am Reply with quote
I'm a big fan of Clannad (didn't like Air, and haven't watched Kanon, though), but the ending really felt like a cop-out. I love the show all around, except for the way it ends. I know, it's an adaptation from a visual novel and it is common to have the "true ending" be revealed once all the main heroine routes have been cleared. I also know that it was hinted at since the very beginning with the robot and the girl sidestory, but that didn't diminish the feeling of being insulted as a viewer. KyoAni: I can deal with characters dying, I'm fine with that. I wouldn't be watching this if I weren't looking for a bit of tragedy.

The perfect ending, in my opinion would have been like this:
spoiler[Everything that happens in the story up until Ushio's death. Ending the series with Tomoya raising his daughter, like the happy family they both craved for.]

Also, one last thing: Akio and Sanae rock xD
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18101
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:18 am Reply with quote
jenthehen wrote:
I felt like spoiler[THIS particular deus-ex-machina ending was cheap. I feel like it could have been done better. It would have been perfect for ME if after Ushio died, Nagisa sent a "miracle" from beyond the grave that brought her back - that would have easily tied in with the lonely world, as well ... without it just feeling like a re-set/do-over that lost all the emotional punch. Just my opinion, though.]


Yes, this kind of approach would have also worked for me without feeling like a cop-out; in fact, I probably would have bumped it up to an A rating had they done that.

And some people seem to be thinking I'm referring to "deux es machina" when I say "cop-out." The series was, indeed, setting up that option all along, so it's hardly like they just dropped that ending in there, but that does not make it feel any less like they're resorting to a cheap gimmick and does not lessen how much the great content in episodes 17-20 is cheapened by pulling that trick.

Also, I should clarify that when I said "repetitive," I was referring to the way the second tragedy practically duplicated spoiler[the ending of Air].
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Otaking09



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 637
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:30 am Reply with quote
The thing with me was: spoiler[Nagisa dying was very predictable... It didn't have a huge pull on me, no matter how well-executed it was. The child and Tomoyo's dad scenes impressed me for the very first time since both series... No joke!]

The ending was well done, for a deus-ex machina ending. And, besides the Kyou chapter ep (I liked Tomoyo-girl chapter better...), I didn't see the rest. And I'm certainly not going to finish them now!

All in all, Clannad could have done a LOT better! A lot! It's one of those series where, in the end, you just wish they did something different!

To me, Air is, and always will be, to me, the best and is my favorite out of the three scenarios...

While I'm glad I saw Clannad just to be sure, I am still very disapointed with overall achievement... Crying or Very sad

Now.. it's time to move on everyone... like Nagisa and Tomoyo... Theron said his piece, so let's just move on to the next series...
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