Clannad

Despite complaining about the last series I watched, I did not switch it up and I stuck with the romance shojo genre. I either do not learn from mistakes or I hope for the best. Also (once again) I decided to go with what others have said that were popular (the sheep says baaa) and went with Clannad to watch next. After two episodes, I was left with a happy impression of the show.
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Slighty dark atmosphere....

Who is she talking too...

The show starts off dreary with Tomoya walking to school, acting as if his life is in the pits and school is not worth attending. He comes across a girl named Nagisa who is talking to herself. She is trying to give herself a pep talk it seems and Tomoya speaks to her in a positive way and suddenly the show has color. Tomoya later hangs out with his friend Youhei after a little bit of tough love from some bigger students. Tomoya happens upon Nagisa eating lunch alone. Despite his negative outlook on life, he seems very positive with her and tries to cheer her up. During the next two episodes, we are slowly introduced to other characters that include: Kyou the overprotective older twin with a crazy attitude, Ryou the younger twin who is shy and reserved, Kotomi the genius with poor common sense skills, Tomoyo the transfer student with super strength, and Fuko the random crazy kid who makes no sense.

Gotta have some crazy twins...


Creepy voice...

Under this school plot/Harlem atmosphere lurks something else, slightly darker. Nagisa claims she was giving herself a pep talk, but it looked like she was talking to someone else. Nagisa claims she was sick last year and flunked out and that is why she has no friends. There are scenes with something else talking, talking about THIS GIRL is the only girl in the world and nothing is born and nothing dies in this world. It has been mentioned by red shirt students that there is a ghost of a young girl who has been seen around school. The girl in the scenes with the ominous voice looks like Nagisa, but in the anime world, everyone sorta looks like everyone else. I would not be surprised if Nagisa is the ghost, but then again, she could have a dead twin sister. A little mystery is good in my book. With only two episodes under my belt, I don’t know much yet. Hopefully it will be enjoyable.

I wish to know more...

Not one of the girls is so incredibly annoying I want to slam my head into the nearest wall. Sure Nagisa may come across klutz and dependent, but she has done so in a cute manner. Her family members are over the top, but enjoyable. I especially enjoyed her father’s attitude in regards to changing Tomoya’s name. Ryou is the shy girl who needs to work on being outspoken, but her scenes have been limited and revolve around Kyou. Kyou is the typical psycho older sister with attitude and she is fun to watch. My favorite scene about her so far is when Tomoya announces she is bi-sexual when she requests he hid the fact she rides a bike. Kotomi’s scene in the library trying to cut up the books was very odd…as was Fuko’s scene trying to carve a star with a dull knife. All the girls come across as odd actually, leading me to believe this school is for freaks. But freaks are fun. I expect them all to fall in love with Tomoya despite his cold personality he keeps inside.

Fear not, the bike is okay!

Yes, cut up school books please...

Best random line EVER!

One of the cutest thing about this show…are the dumplings. The ending theme song has little dumplings being a happy family and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head at the sheer amount of cuteness invading my brain. Then in episode two, it seems as if Nagisa is a fan of the show Big Dumpling Family and sings the theme song as she draws dumpling all over her flyers for the theater club. The dumplings are a very cute mascot for this show and I hope to see more references to them.

TOO CUTE!

Brain exploding from cute!

Cute dumpling family!

In a typical romance animes, everything starts off cute and innocent and later down the road it is revealed there is a dark secret or past behind some of the characters. This show brings it up right off the bat. Tomoya has a drunken father, which has been done before, but he has been injured due to a fight he and his father had. Nagisa has had to deal with whatever this illness is and the loss of her friends. Then there is the “ghost”/voice talking about dark matters on the show. This show almost had a The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya type opening, with the grey background and the monotone voice talking about ordinary life. I like the slightly darker aspect of this show and I hope it finds a good balance between the laughs and the tears.

Drama already in episode two!

There was one thing that made me go Huh? in the two episodes I watched. Nagisa stated in episode one she was afraid to try out for the drama/theater group because she had a weak body. But then in episode two, she states that she is athletic and wants to play basketball….Unless this ties into that creepy voice in the log house scene stuff, I want to know how this makes sense. :P Yes anime, make sense to me please!

Of course one of the biggest draws to this show…was how it is drawn. I love the style of it and how the boys are not these big giants over the girls. I actually find Youhei quite feminine at times. I find their uniforms cute without being slutty. And being the biggest hypocrite in the world, find the purple hair LOVELY on the girls.

After only two episodes, I am pretty impressed with this show. I can only hope that Clannad pulls the rest of the episodes off well and some real plot can come forth. I have heard nothing but great things about this show and I really REALLY hope it lives up to the hype. Live up to this stunning review Clannad and don’t leave this author hanging on any plotlines you start!

Ten guesses where i watched this series from!