Forum - View topicREVIEW: Clannad After Story Sub.DVD 1
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Hentai_JP
 Posts: 605 Location: Toronto, ON |
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They don't even compare... there are two MAJOR emotional scenes in second half of AS that just don't compare to anything. I was weeping for quite some time, unable to watch more for a short while, after witnessing each of those scenes. And then when the series ended, and I finally thought I couldn't cry anymore I watched Kyou ark... If I take AS as having the most powerful emotional scene(s) the runner up would be last three episodes of Fruits Basket, and that is one amazing sequence as well! Feel excited yet, Key? |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18247 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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That last comparison isn't going to win me over because while I found those last eps of Fruits Basket to be very good, I didn't find them to be especially emotional. (There were other places in that series, but not there.) But we'll see. Certain scenes in the previous KyoAni titles have gotten to me to minor degrees, so I have no doubt that it will make at least some impression. There have been perhaps three places in anime titles that have gotten to me as hard as what you describe (and one didn't hold up as well on repeat viewings), so it's certainly possible I'll be impressed. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Hmmm, I genuinely found Saikano very depressing. There weren't too many "high" points. Yes, (Saikano spoilers)spoiler[seeing Chise go off to fight and kill another 1000 people all the while slowly dying was tragic and watching that one girl on her death bed confess her love to the main character meanwhile a guy who had gone to war to impress said girl gets his head blown off] is certainly somewhat moving, it doesn't quite reach the level of the three episode arc mentioned. Mainly the reason being that there is a very intimate relationship involved in After Story, and you feel as if you're right next to the characters, since the conflict isn't nearly as broad as it is in Saikano.
And while I love Koi Kaze dearly, the conflict involved just gets resolved without seemingly much resistance. And really I didn't feel much had actually changed with the characters themselves, other than their acceptance of each other's feelings. So yes Key. I would say that due to the close and intimate relationship of the characters involved, and by how narrow the conflict is, and by how well executed it is, those three episodes at least are more moving than anything in Saikano or Koi Kaze. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18247 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Oh, come on. You're honestly trying to tell me that Shuji and Chise's relationship in SaiKano lacked the level of intimacy seen between Tomoya and Nagisa? This is starting to sound like fanboy/girl enthusiasm. |
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neocloud9
 Posts: 1178 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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I think s/he might've been referring to the scope of the threat facing the characters' happiness. I've never seen Saikano, but from what's been posted in this forum...it's about a war, yes? Whereas the threat in Clannad is much more domestic in nature. Since it's a little closer to home, I could see where people would find that more emotionally affecting... But like I said, haven't seen Saikano. Just playing devil's advocate here. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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That Air contained episodes contributing little to the main arc or its conclusion is something I'd have to admit, even though the lead character's plight culminated in an excellent finale. In comparison, Kanon is perhaps slightly more comedic when introducing arcs and separating out its narrative peaks. I could see how one might be deterred by this- perhaps I would have been also, were I not already informed by others as to its overall tone. Your claim about the ending of After Story seems perplexing: you claim to love and dislike it within the same sentence. Is it genuinely something the viewer may react to ambivalently, or do I misinterpret you? |
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Megiddo
Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Let me put it this way. In Saikano we see the very start of the relationship between Shuuji and Chise. However, by the time Shuuji realizes how much he loves Chise it's by far too late. The journal in which he never wrote in, the time that he didn't meet her, etc makes their relationship not quite as intimate in my opinion. Now granted we get to see the two of them living what looks to be a 'married' life (without actually being married IIRC), but by this time Chise is on her last days. Whereas in Clannad: After Story... well, you'll just have to see cause there's no way I can explain it without spoiling it. Let's just say that the closeness of family in my opinion surpasses the intimacy (not sexuality) of Chise and Shuuji. Well, if you think I'm a fanboy, I can understand. Let me just say that I gave Saikano, Koi Kaze, and Clannad: After Story an 8/10, and promptly acknowledge the faults in each series. EDIT: Reading over my quote once more, I want to again emphasize that in Saikano the conflict of the war is always looming and we get a panoramic view of the war from many different characters. Whereas in After Story the conflict isn't war at all, but rather something that really only affects the family involved. I feel that since the conflict isn't as all-impacting as the war in Saikano, the viewer is able to feel closer to the characters. |
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Swissman
Posts: 769 Location: Switzerland |
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I've seen all of Clannad After Story just over one month ago and while I must admit that the series has its emotional highlights which didn't leave me completely cold, I wouldn't get too excited about those aforementioned couples of episodes if I were you. Because, well, because in the end, they're very much melodramatic schmalz - Clannad AF is a wheepie for boys as much as what melodramas were in the forties and fifties for women. Those aforementioned episodes and the resolution of the story are made to make you cry. I react a bit allergic to such melodramatic storytelling and prefer the more subtle approach by series like Maison Ikkoku in which the emotional resolution feels more natural and hence real, but you'll see soon for yourself. |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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A little slow to catch on there my friend. 
Actually the threat in Clannad as it is with pretty much every key work is simply the threat of Jun Maeda's (a hack of the highest order in my eyes) willingness to have the characters suffer for cheap melodrama, be it by catching a mystery illness, getting into some kind of vehicular accident, turning out to be an animal or just plain turning out to be dead already (surprise!). I think the impact would be greater if we all didn't see the melodramatic twists coming a mile away based on the fact that this is key. spoiler[The reason episode 18 escapes this problem is by virtue of the fact that the twist comes from a different source of trauma being resolved and one that isn't so heavy handed on the part of the author. Unfortunately then there's what comes after which made me just shake my head in dismay, because Key had the perfect ending with that note and yet they still had to go for the cheap melodrama in the end.] Last edited by Kaioshin_Sama on Sun Oct 18, 2009 3:45 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Megiddo
Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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spoiler[If you feel that a month long high school romance offers more intimacy than years worth of friendship and a year of married life, then that's your call.] I'd like to see some argument in favor of Chise/Shuuji if you're going to be so incredulous. |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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I'm not talking about Saikano, I'm just speaking in general about how the recommendations and assurances to Theron strike me as stemming from a personal subjective fanboyism filter rather than trying to appeal to his own senses and tastes which clearly don't come with a lack of scrutiny and skepticism. Quite the opposite in fact. Now I don't know about him, but if I started to feel skeptical about what I was being told I might end up subconciously carrying that skepticism with me into the anime and being disappointed when the promise of incomparable greatness doesn't pan out. Though I don't think anybody is really going to believe it when they are told that a scene is the greatest thing ever so perhaps there's been no harm done.
Ah so there are others like me out there who had a similiar reaction to Clannad AS. It is pretty unabashed the vast majority of the time in how it plays out it's melodramas and I still can't figure how some people will call it subtle in any way shape or form. The problem I have with it's execution that puts me off a fair bit is indeed that the whole point of the Key/Visual Art's story is to make the player/viewer cry and to be melodramatic, rather than that sense simply coming as a result of the story being told. However again in all fairness Clannad After Story did have a good theme of spoiler[loss, family values, and reconciliation woven into it's narrative for a very VERY short time, but like I said before it doesn't last and ultimately it falls back into the old habits of the Key/Visual Art's story being woven around working up to the big melodramatic "crying" moments.] I think as a result it's the biggest disappointment I've had with a Key/VA story so far because it really got my hopes up for a while that it was going to hit all of the right buttons for me in the end as far as what I would calling good story progression and thematic devices. If I ever shed a tear while watching the ending it was because of that. That's why sometimes I just like to pretend that it ends with episode 18 or 19. |
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Miranox
 Posts: 247 Location: Montreal, Canada |
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I've said this before (and many of you should know this already) but I'll say it again. If the second season of any anime series maintains the same level of quality, it will almost always have a higher rating. This is because those who didn't like the first season don't watch the second. Obviously this means less bad ratings, thus bringing the overall rating higher than it should be. Code Geass, Clannad, Honey and Clover, Ghost in the Shell, Black Lagoon, Full Metal Panic, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and many, many others are good examples.
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grooven
Posts: 1425 Location: Canada |
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Saikano? Please... That show was the biggest waste of time and space. I won't even start on it. Any emotion that show had was thrown out the window in episode 1.
I'm pretty sure you haven't played any of the KEY games so just from reading and watching the anime is very different. That is like complaining about the movie version of a book and saying how bad the original writer is without reading the original. Things are changed and as is the impact. The melodrama comes from having separate arcs for characters. What would you have 13 characters for their stories? How would make them interesting? Have them care for the character, in this context of game? As well your reaction to the end is baseless since you can't seem to grasp the actual work it was based on. It is fully explained when taken with context to the game. Simple as that. As a stand alone sure, if you didn't get what was shown. This is driving me nuts it is like people refuse to understand. |
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Retcon
Posts: 4 |
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This is my first time reading a ANN review and I'm severely dissappointed. If I hadn't already watched After Story I would have felt the review spoiled alot of the story; I felt the reviewer went into too much detail with the plot. I also loved the first season which the reviewer lambasted so we probably have different tastes. Needless to say I'll be avoiding these reviews from now on.
Also please don't watch the last half with all this hype. Watching something with so much hype usually isn't a good idea. Just forget what anybody said about the second half and watch it with a blank mind to begin with. |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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Ok..... 
[EDIT: Corrected a quote tag issue. - Key] |
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