Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School, Slice of Life, Supernatural

Age range: all ages

The Clannad animated television series is based on the visual novel Clannad by the Japanese visual novel brand Key. The episodes, produced by the animation studio Kyoto Animation, are directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, written by Fumihiko Shimo, and features character design by Kazumi Ikeda who based the designs on Itaru Hinoue's original concept. The story follows the main character Tomoya Okazaki, a discontented high school student whose life changes when he meets a girl one year older than he is, named Nagisa Furukawa.

The Clannad anime series has 24 episodes, 23 of which were originally broadcast between October 2007 and March 2008. The last episode was released as an original video animation (OVA) on the eighth DVD in July 2008. The anime series was released in a set of eight DVD compilations in Japan released between December 2007 and July 2008 by Pony Canyon, with each compilation containing three episodes. The license holding company Sentai Filmworks licensed the Clannad anime series, and Section23 Films localized and distributed the television series and the OVA starting with the first half season box set consisting of 12 episodes with English subtitles, Japanese audio, and no English language track, which was released in March 2009. The second half season box set containing the remaining episodes was released in May 2009. Sentai Filmworks and Section23 Films released the entire first season, including the OVA, in a complete collection set featuring an English dub on June 15, 2010.

A continuation of the first anime series titled Clannad After Story produced by the same staff as with the first series, and containing the same cast of voice actors, adapts the After Story arc from the Clannad visual novel, which is a continuation of Nagisa's scenario. Clannad After Story has 25 episodes, 24 of which aired in Japan between October 2008 and March 2009. The last episode was again released as an OVA on the eighth DVD in July 2009. The episodes were released on eight DVD compilation volumes between December 2008 and July 2009. Sentai Filmworks also licensed Clannad After Story and Section23 Films localized and distributed the television series and OVA starting with the first half season box set with English subtitles released in October 2009. The second half season box set containing the remaining episodes was released in December 2009. Sentai Filmworks re-released Clannad After Story with an English dub on April 19, 2011.

Aside from the theme music used for the episodes, the rest of the soundtrack for both anime series is sampled from several albums released for the Clannad visual novel including the Clannad Original Soundtrack, Mabinogi, -Memento-, Sorarado, and Sorarado Append. The cover art for Sorarado Append is also visible as the last shot in the ending video animation of the first season. This includes four insert songs used within the first season's episodes which include: "Kaze no Shōjo" (風の少女, Maiden of the Wind) and "Ana" used in episode nine, "Over" (オーバー, Ōbā) used in episode 18, and "-Kage Futatsu-" (-影二つ-, -Two Shadows-) used in episode 22 which is also the main ending theme from the visual novel.

Plot:

Okazaki Tomoya is a delinquent who finds life dull and believes he'll never amount to anything. Along with his friend Sunohara, he skips school and plans to waste his high school days away.

One day while walking to school, Tomoya passes a young girl muttering quietly to herself. Without warning she exclaims "Anpan!" (a popular Japanese food) which catches Tomoya's attention. He soon discovers the girl's name is Furukawa Nagisa and that she exclaims things she likes in order to motivate herself. Nagisa claims they are now friends, but Tomoya walks away passing the encounter off as nothing.

However, Tomoya finds he is noticing Nagisa more and more around school. Eventually he concedes and befriends her. Tomoya learns Nagisa has been held back a year due to a severe illness and that her dream is to revive the school's drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help her achieve this goal along with the help of four other girls.

As Tomoya spends more time with the girls, he learns more about them and their problems. As he attempts to help each girl overcome her respective obstacle, he begins to realise life isn't as dull as he once thought.

Review: Ohhhh boy this anime.
One of my favorites too. I watch this bunch of times and In some parts, I awed and in some parts, I cried like a bitch.

This anime is pretty good to watch though. Give it a try.

I would love to tell you my likes and dislikes about it but hardly have any of them. The anime is a classic.