すごく高いですねｗ

Story/Composition

The story was flawed in many aspects. For one, it failed to recognize the title of the movie, which is CLANNAD. It’s “family” or “clan” in Irish, so you would think with a name like CLANNAD that the storyline would actually adopt this stance. Instead though, they either ripped it out or mangled it. I’m not too sure which it is.

Either way, when Dezaki attempted to adapt the game into a motion picture, he went for a completely different take. Instead, it focuses more on the relationship Tomoya and Nagisa formed, with the majority of the movie taking part within the first 70 minutes, and the conclusion taking a bare 20 minutes. I don’t know how “tragic” he wanted to make this look, or whether or not it was a masterpiece… in my opinion though, it was a rush. The 20 minutes at the end of the movie was not enough to properly elaborate on what really happens to Tomoya and his friends, as well as what role he’s supposed to be playing.

In the TV animation, Tomoya was the player. He was the one out there helping people, having this attitude of his, but at the same time having family problems. In the movie, he is instead the victim of circumstances, just going with the flow and letting others support him rather than supporting himself. I’m sure that there are people who like one or the other type of main character, as it is quite a subjective and opinionated topic. I will admit though that in the game during After Story, Tomoya was indeed the victim, but that could only go for so long. He discovered he had to support himself, and to rely on others for so long would not be something that he could accept.

On the topic of the Illusionary World (幻想世界) , it appears that it was altered drastically in order to achieve what Dezaki wanted to do in order to build up the relationship between Nagisa and Tomoya, as well as the ending that he wanted to see. For better or for worse, the changes were indeed needed, as you only have a 90-minute span to tell the story, and I might have done the same thing.

Character-wise, the only people I found to be in the same line of character personality was Yoshino Yuusuke and Sunohara Youhei. Yes, even the idiot. Those two are closest to what they were always meant to be, while others were skewed in some way or altered a bit much that it felt a little odd (and sometimes not very convincing to the audience) at times.

Animation

What do you want me to say here? It’s a movie budget, of course. I noticed there were some interesting angles used, like splitting the screen in half and having the animation run differently on both sides. What I didn’t like though was the constant use of stills, triple-pans, as well as odd angles. I do like that they’ve avoided the Big Chin Effect(tm) that Kanon 2002 had. However, I don’t think there was a very good use of movie budget levels here for animation. Other notable companies like Sunrise (Z Gundam remakes) and Production I.G. (GitS: Innocence, Tsubasa) have done a much better job for movies, and even Kyoto Animation in its CLANNAD adaptation was many, many times better. Artistically, the only thing that really looked symbolic was Illusionary World. The scope of the level of despair in the world was pretty intense, and the imagery and visuals certainly showed it. However, they lacked this kind of symbolism for everything else, and sometimes their use of CG for the sakura petals didn’t seem to fare very well.

Kadonosono Megumi’s character designs were certainly brilliant, charming, and on paper were very beautiful. Unfortunately, a lot of it was lost in its transition from the concept boards to the filmstrip, instead adopting a style similar to Kanon 2002, minus the Big Chin Effect(tm).

Sound

I don’t have a 5.1 channel surround sound system to be able to accurately tell how well the soundtrack was, but the music was overall fine.  Inomata Yoshichika’s music was not bad, and certainly fit the mood for most of the movie

Acting Performance

This was one of the key, interesting things about the movie. If you recall, I mentioned Tomoya was the player in the TV animation, and the victim in the movie. Nojima Kenji really shows this in his acting, seeming much like a loser at first and then progressing to someone who felt like he was set. His voice acting in the drama CDs are of the same caliber, but you can tell that his voice is more suited for someone else like Tohno Shiki in MELTY BLOOD (who he also voices, by the way). This may have been a key point for Kyoto Animation in their choice of actor for Tomoya; Nakamura Yuuichi suited the role due to his assholeness as well as the I want to help others attitude. In fact, this was something that was left out of the movie considerably, letting Kenji fit the role better than Yuuichi.

Other roles seemed fine; Youhei, Yuusuke, Kyou, Tomoyo and others certainly fit their roles as intended. Nagisa however, comes off more like… you ever read those fairytales where it’s like an angel that comes down from the heavens, can only stay a period of time, and then leaves? It’s like that for Nagisa. She’s too carefree, cheerful, but at the same time Dezaki attempted to throw in her uneasiness from the games, making it all too awkward in my opinion. Even when she’s singing the Big Dango Family theme, it doesn’t seem like it suits her much.

Overall

This is going to be a movie where you just watch it once and you forget about it. The casual viewer won’t even give this a second look, and those who are biased towards the game will put it down for all it’s worth. I give this a 6.0/10.0.

Sidenotes Beyond The Review

If, and I say if, I happened to have my way with this review, I would have given it a 4.0 instead. The movie failed on many levels to deliver the correct theme, instead changing it to something else as well as taking too much time with the School Life aspect of the storyline and little on After Story. Delivering a conclusion in 15-20 minutes was rubbish and failed to properly elaborate on the important parts of the storyline. Instead of “a man that goes with the flow” as the topic of the movie, as it appears to be… I would have gone with “a man that grows up and learns what it’s like to raise a family” instead. That would have been a much better theme, and would follow the origins of the game more closely, even if it has to lose a lot in content.

If I had to say so myself, TOEI Animation signed up on CLANNAD not for making a movie worthy of the name “CLANNAD”. They made it for the money; for milking, and just to enjoy some extra financing. I must imagine that Key/VisualArt’s charged them a lot in order to let them skew the story this heavily. Kyoto Animation’s adaptation of the game is more noteworthy and true to the source material, while at the same time delivering a composition that isn’t rushed, takes its time, and lets it sink deep into the audience.

What I’m coming to notice is that a lot of people are claiming that CLANNAD TV as a whole was a “failure” as an anime, mainly because it failed to throw in After Story within the last arc of the series. Let me tell you something; I am actually glad Kyoto Animation didn’t squeeze it in. After Story is way too big of an arc, probably just as long as School Life on its own. It cannot run as a 3-episode OVA, nor as a single episode, but it will require minimum 13. If it doesn’t meet that requirement, there is no way CLANNAD can be properly explored. After Story is the most important part of CLANNAD, and it needs to be told properly. To end on episode 22 is a hard decision to make, but one that is necessary (and will tick off a lot of fans, I will bet).

My personal note is that, playing the game is not a prerequisite for watching the anime and enjoying it to its fullest. It’s rather that it’s a prerequisite for understanding the decisions that the higher-ups had to make.

CLANNAD was a very ambitious project by Key back in 2004, and as a result, its anime counterpart will also be as ambitious. To properly develop it takes a lot more time than AIR TV or Kanon 2006 did.

The other thing to note is that Haruhi is the bigger money-maker for Kyoto Animation. They’ll likely need it to help funding for the second season.

Current details regarding this release:

• Published Feburary 21, 2008
• Normal Edition ISBN 978-4-7973-4664-0, 620円
• Limited Edition ISBN 978-4-7973-4665-7, 1,575円
• Size: B6/196p

Normal Edition Cover:

Limited Edition Cover:

More details in Japanese here.

http://www.i-love-key.net/archives/2…_voice_cg.html

Key notes:

1. Retails for 6800 yen
2. Supports Windows Vista
3. 640×480 -> 800×600 upgrade!
4. Redraws? Looks like it, CGs shown in the link imply so… (Little Busters! style of drawing)

It comes in seven flavors! Chocolate, strawberry, green tea, butter, raisin, blueberry, and milk!

… uh, why is it canned?

As announced and reported by MOON PHASE as well as houkoholic, CLANNAD is to air October 4, 2007, 25:55. Stations are MBS, CBC, and BS-i, as MOON PHASE reported.

Main route should cover:

• Nagisa
• Sunoharas’
• Koumura
• Fuuko
• Yukine
• Misae
• Kotomi
• Kappei

Kyou can’t make it into the showing. It has a lot to do with the fact her route is purely the run-of-the-mill romance and having very little to do with the family theme central to the game…

Tomoyo’s route is all about her trying to become Student Council President so she can keep the sakura trees from being cut down so when her younger brother, Takafumi enters, the two can walk together with the sakura trees still around. Lots of family themes, but one problem. Tomoya has to get involved and romance between the two is the main conflict; conflict between the romance and her job as the President. Without that conflict, she’s sure to keep the trees around, but no lights are going to be given to Tomoya (due to lack of involvement). Tomoya has to be there.

I did a quick math with the game so far; 82% of the game revolves around the School Life section, and 18% of it in the After Story. If we were to go by that, After Story would be 13 episodes, and School Life would be 59 episodes (!!). Of course, that’s unreasonable; it should be possible to cover School Life in 26 episodes (given the merging), with Kyou and Tomoyo’s routes in DVD specials. Of course, this means shafting the two in the main anime, but not much can be done in this regard due to the way their stories were written originally; unless Maeda can come around and come up with something completely new for the two (yet allowing them to give lights for 幻想世界).

List of possible DVD specials:

• Kyou’s route (likely two DVDs)
• Tomoyo’s route (likely two DVDs)
• Sunohara, TV, and games
• Red Lightning Flash Zillion
• Baseball route
• Yukine’s spells
• Fuuko Master
• All the CLANNAD Another Story chapters, including the ones in the fanbook

Doing it this way, it’d leave some leeway for Kyoto Animation to do a Tomoyo After OVA (likely 3~4 episodes).

Anyone out there who can manage? Only needs to be a purely translated script; no timing, typesetting or any of that needed whatsoever. Preferably, be able to translate the script sometime within the 24 hours of the episode airing. Everything else will be handled. Thanks to anyone who can answer the rollcall!