Angel Beats! – Complete Collection (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

July 11, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

When you have Jun Maeda’s name tied to an anime series, you instantly know that you’re in for one hell of an emotional rollercoaster ride for an anime series! Filled with humor and action + episodes that may make you shed a tear or two, “Angel Beats!” is another wonderful anime series on Blu-ray that I definitely recommended!

TITLE: Angel Beats! Complete Series

DURATION: 13 Episodes + OVA (350 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0

COMPANY: Aniplex/Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV 14V

Release Date: July 26, 2011

Originally created by Jun Maeda

Directed by Seiji Kishi

Series Composition/Script by Jun Maeda

Music by ANANT-GARDE EYES/June Maeda

Original Character Design by Na-Ga

Character Design by Katsuzo Hirata

Art Director – Kazuki Higashiji

Anime Production: P.A. Works/Aniplex

Featuring the following voice talent:

Harumi Sakurai/Brittney Karbowski as Yuri Nakamura

Hiroshi Kamiya/Blake Shepard as Yuzuru Otonashi

Kana Hanazawa/Angel as Tenshi/Kanade Tachibana

Chie Matsuura/Elizabeth Bunch as Hisako

Eiichirō Tokumoto/Rob Mungle as Matsushita

Emiri Katou as Shiori Sekine

Eri Kitamura/Hilary Haag as Yui

Fuko Saito/Melissa Davis as Shiina

Kana Asumi as Irie

Megumi Ogata/Greg Ayres as Ayato Naoi

Michael Rivas/Adam Van Wagoner as TK

Mitsuhiro Ichiki/Dylan Godwin as Takeyama

Miyuki Sawashiro/Luci Christian as Iwasawa

Ryohei Kimura/David Matranga as Hideki Hinata

Shun Takagi/Leraldo Anzaldua as Noda

Takahiro Mizushima/Kalob Martinez as Takamatsu

Yui Makino/Serena Varghese as Yusa

Yumiko Kobayashi/Corey Hartzong as Ōyama

Yuuki Masuda/Andrew Love as Fujimaki

It sucks being dead. It sucks even more to be trapped in a surreal afterlife where you’re caught between the living and the dead – where a mysterious, violent Angel is trying to pull you over to… somewhere. What do you do? Well, if you’re this group of rough-and-tumble teens, you grab every weapon you can get your hands on and give Heaven hell!

One day you woke up and found out that you are dead and in another world with others who have passed on.

But to survive each day, you have to fight an angel.

This is the concept of “Angel Beats!”, a 13-episode anime series (which aired in Japan from April-June 2010) created by Jun Maeda and character designer Na-Ga, both from the visual novel brand Key (known for “Kanon”, “Air” and “Clannad”).

Produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex, the series is directed by Seiji Kishi (“Tentai Senshi Sunred”, “My Bride is a Mermaid”, “Persona 4 the Animation”) and a screenplay by Jun Maeda.

Because of the popularity of previous Key-related anime series, “Angel Beats!” was a success in Japan via the weekly Blu-ray sales charts constantly making the top 3 in sales. The series was also seen as recommended work by the awards jury of the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2010.

Also, to show how popular the series became, the opening and ending theme “My Soul, Your Beats!/Brave Song” debuted at No. 3 on Japan’s music charts “Oricon Weekly Singles” and also being awarded by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipping over 100,000 copies. The second single “Crow Song” by the band Girl Dead Monster’s (a band in the anime series) debuted in the top 10 of the singles charts, followed by another successful single titled “Thousand Enemies” and “Little Braver”.

“Angel Beats!” is an anime series about a young man named Yuzuru Otonashi. He has amnesia and has no memory of why he is caught up in the world of the dead. How did he die? And why is he being recruited by the Afterlife Battlefront (Shinda Sekai Sensen-SSS) to fight against the angel?

According to the battlefront leader Yuri Nakamura, every day they must fight against the Angel in order to survive. Of course, Otonashi can’t believe any of this and thinks that maybe its all a dream, so he goes to encounter Angel himself. He asks her if she is an Angel and she replies that she is not. He thinks its a joke that everyone is fighting her and that she would kill them and wants her to prove it, so she uses her knife and stabs him in the heart.

Otonashi wakes up in the school infirmary and instead of dying, he is alive? Thinking that it’s all a dream, he is shocked to find his shirt covered in blood and then to see other members of the Battlefront who confirm that he is not dreaming.

It appears that Otonashi is among the afterlife and the world is separated by those who have died (lived a bad life) and are now caught up in the world. The world which is pretty much a high school and a few locations. In this world, there are those who fight the angel known as the Battlefront, then there are the NPC’s which are like non-essential characters of a video game…just a character in the world that are programmed to act like normal high school students that are programmed to study and do school-based activities and then there is the angel, the person who makes sure those in the afterlife follow the rules of being students, going to school and not breaking any rules.

Otonashi tries to understand why the Battlefront is fighting the angel and with each member of the Battlefront, he gets to learn more about their lives and how many of them had bad lives in their reality but something led to their deaths and now not having lived a complete life.

In the afterlife, the world or purgatory that they live now, they can choose to live together and create their own destiny or be obliterated which means, satisfying their lives in purgatory and being reincarnated. But when they fight in the world and get murdered or hurt, they will return back to life in a short-time to continue living in that world.

But the more time Otonashi spends in the world, he starts to learn that maybe people satisfying their lives in this new world may not be a bad thing. But can he convince the members of the Battlefront?

Meanwhile, is Angel even a threat? Perhaps there is someone more sinister in the world that is pulling the strings of how things should be?

“Angel Beats!” features the following characters:

Yuzuru Otonashi – The main protagonist. Otonashi is the newest member of the world to join the Battlefront. He has no memories of his past but he is a kind-hearted person that starts to learn about everyone’s past life. What will happen when Yuzuru discovers his true past?
Yuri Nakamura - The leader of the Battlefront. She has made a vow to protect the human souls in the new world because in her real life, despite having a happy life with her family and three siblings, all came crashing, when burglars stormed her house and when they couldn’t find money, gave her 30-minutes to find the money or else all her young siblings would be executed. They were all murdered and for Yuri, she has kept this hatred towards God for letting the murders happen that she has been unable to pass on.
Angel – The student council president of the school in the afterlife and is seen as the antagonist. Very powerful and has developed quite a bit of weapons, her job is to stop any delinquency by the human souls. But is she a human soul or an evil person?
Hideki Hinata – Otonashi’s friend, who at first wonders if Hinata is gay. He is always at odds with Yui and in his past life, he lost an important baseball game when he dropped a catch.
Yui – A big fan of Girls Dead Monster. When lead vocalist Iwasawa moves on and disappears, she assumes the position of lead vocalist and rhythm guitar. Always in odds with Hinata. In Yui’s past life, she was handicap and unable to walk, so she tries to enjoy life in the new world.
Iwasawa – The lead vocalist of Girls Dead Monster. She and her bandmembers hold concerts in order to get the NPC’s away from harm when the Battlefront plan to attack Angel. In her previous life, she was a musician who was brought up in an abusive family. Her father and mother were constantly fighting and one day, when trying to breakup the fight, she was accidentally hit in the head which led to brain trauma.
Ayato Naoi – The vice-president of the student body who was assumed to take control of the school if anything happens to angel. Has a deep connection with Otonashi. In his past life, Ayato and his twin brother Hayato were sons of a famous potter. Hayato was the person who excelled and Ayato just had fun and never looked at by his father. But when Hayato died, he was forced to become Hayato and people were led to believe that Ayato died, so the family pottery legacy would continue. And no matter how hard Ayato worked, he never received praise. Ayato has the power of hypnotism.
Takamatsu – Wears glasses and looks very smart but he is actually an idiot. Likes to take off his shirt and show off his muscles.
Noda – Carries a Halberd and is also an idiot. Loves to fight and only listens to Yuri.
Shiina – A female ninja who rarely talks. She has a weakness for cute things.
Fujimaki – Another weapon carrying Battlefront member who can’t swim.
TK – Always dancing and saying something in English. Great with artillery.
Matsushita – The big man of the group. Loves to eat.
Oyama – A boy who helps the Battlefront.
Takeyama – The hacker who wants me people to call him by his username “Christ”, which no one cares to call him that.

VIDEO:

“Angel Beats!” is presented in 1080p High Definition and looks absolute vibrant and colorful on Blu-ray. Because you have Aniplex’s involvement with the anime production, one thing I have learned is that Aniplex loves to focus on the details of background art.

So, even though “Angel Beats!” takes place at a high school, one would think that the scenery would get boring but there is a good amount of focus on colors, lighting but also crowds. Also, a good number of characters are constantly on screen and for the most part, P.A. Works and Aniplex did a wonderful job!

I personally detected no problems, no banding, artifacting, anything negative. This is a clear-cut anime series in HD and looks great on Blu-ray!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Angel Beats!” is presented in English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The audio is front-channel driven but if you have a receiver capable of having stereo on all channels, that may be to one’s preference. But for voice acting, both are well-done. I am biased towards the original Japanese language but I did manage to watch a few episodes in English and for the most part, the English dubbing was made to give things a bit more of a Western feel. In terms of sound effects, both had no major difference from each other in how they handled the action sequences but overall, a crystal clear 2.0 lossless soundtrack.

I also have to add that the music of “Angel Beats!” did very well in Japan and the music for this series is fantastic!

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Angel Beats! – Complete Collection” comes with the following special features:

DISC 2:

Clean Opening Songs
Clean Closing Songs
Trailers – Trailers for Sentai Filmworks

I made my decision earlier on that if there is an anime series created by those involved with the visual novel brand Key, I would be watching the anime series!

“Kanon”, “Air” and “Clannad” especially latter, are among my favorite anime series and also a series that are known to make you laugh, pull you in and then suddenly yank your heart out and stomp on it and literally make you cry. Jun Maeda knows how to capture people with a storyline and make you cry.

And at first, I couldn’t figure out how “Angel Beats!” would be like the other series, after all, it seemed more action-driven than previous series. But I’ve watched all three previous Key-related anime series to know that the writers always have something in store for the viewers at the end.

For the most part, “Angel Beats!” turned out to be a fun, hilarious and action-packed anime series. For a series that is only 13-episodes long, there is so many things that happened in the series, I was quite impressed of how much Maeda was able to include in the overall storyline. And while, you will find yourself laughing and really enjoying this action anime series, there are some storylines that relate to a human soul that really tug on your heart. Not necessarily yank it out and really make you go threw emotional withdrawal like “Clannad” but still, “Angel Beats!” may make viewers shed a tear or two.

I was a bit concerned that with 13-episodes, there were far too many characters but Maeda did a great job in focusing on a few people that one can get attached to via character development but also integrating the supporting characters well-enough to make viewers enjoy everyone in the Battlefront. The pacing was well-done and it helps to have really good animation and production. Character designer Katsuzo Hirata (“Ben-To”, “Hand Maid May”, “G-On Riders”) did a great job in capturing Na-Ga’s original character designs..

All 13-episodes of the TV series are included plus the OVA titled “Stairway to Heaven” which is more of a comedy-based OVA as Yuri comes up with “Operation High Tension” and everyone has to be wild for a week.

If there is one thing that I wish was included in the US release that is in the Japanese release is the inclusion of the “Another Epilogue” which was in the Japanese Blu-ray and DVD release.

Overall, “Angel Beats!” was another wonderful anime series from the folks of Key and another well-done anime series from P.A. Works and Aniplex. Cool characters, cool storyline, vibrant animation, awesome music and overall, a worthy addition to your anime on Blu-ray collection!

Definitely recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

Clannad ~After Story~ Collection 2 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

December 12, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Incredibly emotional, hilarious and entertaining. The final half of “Clannad ~After Story~” is definitely an emotional rollercoaster that will definitely make you cry. Tragic and uplifting, the best dramatic anime television series that I have ever seen in a very, very long time! A fantastic conclusion to the series and most of all, highly recommended!

DVD TITLE: Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 2

DURATION: Episodes 13-25 (325 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Japanese 2.0, English subtitles

COMPANY: TBS Animation/Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: December 8, 2009

Original Character Designs by Itaru Hinoue

Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara

Series Composition/Screenplay by Fumihiko Shimo

Music by Jun Maeda, Magome Togoshi, Shinji Orito

Character Design by Kazum Ikeda

Art Director: Mutsuo Shinohara

Chief Animation Director: Kazumi Ikeda

Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka

Direction of Photography: Ryuuta Nakagami

Featuring the following voice talent:

Mai Nakahara as Nagisa Furukawa

Yuuichi Nakamura as Tomoya Okazaki

Ai Nonaka as Fuuko Ibuki

Akemi Kanda as Ryou Fujibayashi

Daisuke Sakaguchi as Youhei Sunohara

Houko Kuwashima as Tomoyo Sakagami

Kikuko Inoue as Sanae Furukawa

Mamiko Noto as Kotomi Ichinose

Ryotaro Okiayu as Akio Furukawa

Ryou Hirohashi as Kyou Fujibayashi

Ai Bandou as Sugisaka

The course of love doesn’t always run true. Nagisa may have accepted Tomoya’s proposal, but her father, Akio, withholds his permission until Tomoya can meet his terms… and even if that can be achieved, darker clouds are gathering that will shatter their dreams forever, as Nagisa’s health begins declining. When what should be a happy moment turns instead into tragedy, Tomoya’s rage and frustration at being unable to do more than be by Nagisa’s side leaves him unable to handle the responsibility left to him. But the story is not yet over, and there is still another act to follow. Happiness can still be attained, provided that Tomoya holds onto love, the most precious thing of all. The grand climax, plus several enchanting side stories, await in the second collection of CLANNAD AFTER STORY.

When it comes to the Japanese software company Key, many fans appreciate their work as the video games tend to be dating simulators for the PC and many other video game consoles. Known for two visual novels “Kanon” and “Air” (both were adapted to anime series), the objects of the video games tend to be the gamer controlling the main male protagonist and with a lot of female friends, answering questions correctly in order to score. The first two video games were adult-based but in 2004, the company released “Clannad”, a series that would not show nudity or fan service and a game for all ages.

“Clannad” received an anime adaptation in 2007 with a total of 23-episodes and was released on DVD earlier this year in the US from Sentai Filmworks. The second season known “Clannad ~After Story~” (which takes place after the first season of Clannad and then ten years later) is now being released in the US. The anime series is directed by Tatsuya Ishihara (“Air”, “Kanon”, “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”) and a screenplay by Fumihiko Shimo (“Full Metal Panic!”, “Air”, “Burst Angel”, “Gravion”, “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”). The character design for the anime series is by Kazumi Ikeda (“Kanon”) and is faithful to the original designs by Itaru Hinoue (“Air”, “Kanon”).

“Clannad” was an anime series that focused on high school students Tomoya Okazaki and a girl he meets his senior year named Nagisa Furukawa. Tomoya, who was a brash teenager who got into a lot of fights with his father and Nagisa, a frail teenager who has been out of school for periods of time due to an illness but somehow along the way, these two have found a special bond and love for one another.

As the first season of “Clannad” focuses on these two characters and their friends, the first part of “Clannad ~After Story~” continued with storyline of high school life and focusing on a storyline for each of the main and supporting characters and life for Tomoya and Nagisa after he has graduated from high school.

But with “Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 2″, the final half of the series focuses primarily on the two as they now prepare for marriage and having a family life and the story moves forward ten years later. Needless to say, as the series has had its share of emotional episodes, the end of those story arc’s have ended with happy endings. With this second collection, things grow much darker and tragic and if you thought the prior episodes were emotional, this final volume is much more deeper than ever.

The main characters of “Clannad ~After Story~” are:

Tomoya Okazaki – The main protagonist. A delinquent in school who tends to cut class or fall asleep from class, his life is changed for the positive when he meets Nagisa Furukawa. He hangs out with his good friend Youhei Sunohara. In “Clannad ~After Story~”, Tomoya continues to live with Nagisa’s family and are now a couple.
Nagisa Furukawa – A shy teenager who is passionate towards an old commercial for the Dango Family. Her parents Akio and Sanae run a pastry shop where Nagisa helps out. Because of her poor health, she has been forced to repeat her senior year in high school three times but has grown stronger and more appreciative of life after she has met Tomoya. Now dating Tomoya.
Youhei Sunohara – Tomoya’s good friend who always gets in trouble and is often seen getting beat up. He is known for his blonde hair and has a younger sister named Mei who constantly worries about him. Has no real aspirations in life.
Kyou Fujibayashi - The twin sister of Ryou Fujibayashi. Very tough girl who gets in Tomoya and Youhei’s face and always thinks he is mistreating her sister or other girls. Dreams of becoming a teacher.
Ryou Fujibayashi – Twin sister of Kyou, she is the most reserved and quite of the two. She’s always defended by her twin sister Kyou. Dreams of becoming a nurse.
Kotomi Ichinose – The smartest girl in school. Plays the violin badly. Is given the chance to study abroad and is considering it.
Tomoyo Sakagami- The transfer student who is rumored to be a violent girl and she demonstrates her fighting skills by taking out two gangsters. She wants to become a student body president and idolizes Youhei’s landlord Misae (a former student body president who was tough).
Fuko Ibuki – A girl that Tomoya meets in school and learns about her obsession with starfish. It is revealed in the first season that the girl Tomoya met was the spirit of Fuko, as the real person (the younger sister of teacher, Kouko Ibuki) has been unconscious in a hospital for a long period of time.
Yukine Miyazawa – A student who works/hangs out at the Library Reference room. Most people go to her to listen to her problems. A kind person who tends to help delinquents and gang members.

“Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 2″ features a total of 13 episodes on two DVD’s. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:

DISC 3:

EPISODE 13 – Tomoya and Nagisa plan to get married but Tomoya must win her father’s approval.
EPISODE 14 – Nagisa and Tomoya are now married and take another step forward into their relationship with even more happy news.
EPISODE 15 – Nagisa is pregnant but her illness has come back. Tomoya is told the risks of Nagisa’s pregnancy.
EPISODE 16 – Nagisa is about to give birth but with her ill and the snow so heavy in their hometown, what will happen after she gives birth?
EPISODE 17 – Five years later, Nagisa’s parents find a way to bring Tomoya and his daughter Ushio together.
EPISODE 18 – While Tomoya and his daughter are on their first trip together, Tomoya learns from his grandmother of how his life is similar to how his father was when his mother died.
EPISODE 19 – After hearing the story of his father, Tomoya decides that he must take the important steps in making things right with his father.

DISC 4:

EPISODE 20 – Tomoya now does his best in trying to raise his young daughter Ushio, meanwhile Fuko and Ushio become friends.
EPISODE 21 - Ushio suffers from the same illness as her mother and now Tomoya makes sure that he is there for his daughter.
EPISODE 22 – Final episode: We then learn the purpose of the opening sequences of each episode of “Clannad” of who is the girl and the robot and an alternate universe.
EPISODE 23 – EXTRA – We learn how life was for Nagisa a year before she and Tomoya met.
EPISODE 24 – OVA: Another World: Kyou Chapter – Similar to the Tomoyo chapter OVA, this alternate universe is about what if Tomoya and Kyou were a couple.
EPISODE 25 – SUMMARY – A summary of events of how Tomoy and Nagisa met, to the day they got married, when she became pregnant and gave birth and Tomoya entering into a new world with a different outcome than what he had experienced before.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

So far, each anime series that were based off a Key video game such as “Kanon” and “Air” have both been fantastic anime series featuring vibrant animation, colorful backgrounds and just many settings that really make the series stand out. The same can be said about “Clannad ~After Story!”, the animation and production is absolutely fantastic. Kyoto Animation has done a wonderful job with the artistic backgrounds. Also, the animation is solid and character designs are also done very well. “Clannad ~After Story~” is featured in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen and picture quality for the anime series on DVD is wonderful! The OVA “Another World: Kyou Chapter” wasn’t aired in Japan as part of the TV series but because its an OVA, has better production quality than the TV series with more detailed background art and more shading in the animation.

As for the audio, the audio of the series is in Japanese 2.0. Japanese voice acting is solid and a lot of well-known Seiyuu are involved in the series. Dialogue is understandable and clear. Personally, I chose to have my receiver play the series with “Stereo on All Channels” for a more improve soundscape. As for English dubs, there are no English dubbed dialogue available for “Clanand” or “Clannad ~After Story~”.

Subtitles are featured in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 2″ features the clean opening and closing animation and Sentai Filmworks trailers.

This is the part I have waited for and have heard so much about from fans of the series. “Clannad ~After Story~ Collection 2″ becomes more real as Tomoya and Nagisa now live their adult lives as a married a couple and eventually wanting to start a family. We have received hints from the opening of the anime series with a girl and a robot but the storylines were vague until you reach this final half of the season.

The final half of “Clannad ~After Story~” is fantastic and emotional. I don’t think I have cried this hard for an anime series since I have watched “Grave of the Fireflies”, that is how depressing and emotional that “Clannad ~After Story~” has gotten and episode after episode, I couldn’t stop, it was that captivating and suffice to say, you are pulled in as you have watched many episodes of Tomoya and Nagisa grow from their high school years and now to their married years and you have two bombshells dropped on you that is so emotionally hard to take in.

Also, knowing that those emotions and what you see, mirrors reality in knowing that there are fathers who have had to deal with a similar situation that Tomoya had to go through. The series does have a happy ending and of course, the realism of the storyline can be lost but in the context of what we experienced throughout this series, especially with the Fuko and Yukine storyline, there are magical things that happen in the world of “Clannad”. The balls of light that we have seen in several episodes and the discussion of alternate universes (especially with the two OVA’s), the screenplay plays off possibly like its video game counterpart that this is not a an anime series based on reality, it’s a series based on possibilities and anything is possible.

For the realists, one can feel that with episode 21, the tragedy that unfolds is their true conclusion. For those who want that magical, happy ending… episode 22 and the final episode summary gives you that other option. It’s interesting because typically, you don’t get a choice in the matter at the end of an anime series. Pretty much at the end of a series, what is done is done (unless there is a movie or OVA version reimagining the series). Not for “Clannad ~After Story~”, the series has always had its enjoyable happy moments and its emotional moments. As a viewer, part of me felt that episode 21 is how things should be, to capture that realism of the storyline. But knowing how things happened during the Fuko, Misae and Yukine storyline in “Clannad” and “Clannad ~After Story~”, magical things happen in the town where Tomoya and Nagisa live which can’t be explained and thus episode 22 and the summary episode is an ending that makes sense.

In the end and now watching this series from beginning to end and almost like a marathon, so captivated that I couldn’t stop, I realize why this acclaimed series is loved by many. Definitely one of the best dramatic anime series I have seen in a very long time since “Kimagure Orange Road”, “Maison Ikkoku” and the “Video Girl Ai” OVA series.

Overall, “Clannad ~After Story~” and the whole entire “Clannad” series on DVD receives my highest recommendation!

Filed Under: Anime on DVD, TV BOXSETS: DVD/Blu-ray

Clannad ~After Story~ Collection 1 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

December 12, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

With the popularity of the first season of “Clannad”, the second season “Clannad ~After Story~” is now available and focuses on more characters from the series but also life after high school. Things start to become more serious and emotional but definitely sets things up quite nicely for the final half of “Clannad ~After Story~”. Enjoyable, fun and also episodes that will make you cry, “Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 1″ is definitely recommended!

DVD TITLE: Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 1

DURATION: Episodes 1-12 (300 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Japanese 2.0, English subtitles

COMPANY: TBS Animation/Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: October 20, 2009

Original Character Designs by Itaru Hinoue

Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara

Series Composition/Screenplay by Fumihiko Shimo

Music by Jun Maeda, Magome Togoshi, Shinji Orito

Character Design by Kazum Ikeda

Art Director: Mutsuo Shinohara

Chief Animation Director: Kazumi Ikeda

Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka

Direction of Photography: Ryuuta Nakagami

Featuring the following voice talent:

Mai Nakahara as Nagisa Furukawa

Yuuichi Nakamura as Tomoya Okazaki

Ai Nonaka as Fuuko Ibuki

Akemi Kanda as Ryou Fujibayashi

Daisuke Sakaguchi as Youhei Sunohara

Houko Kuwashima as Tomoyo Sakagami

Kikuko Inoue as Sanae Furukawa

Mamiko Noto as Kotomi Ichinose

Ryotaro Okiayu as Akio Furukawa

Ryou Hirohashi as Kyou Fujibayashi

Ai Bandou as Sugisaka

At long last the hit series Clannad continues…

Sometimes, a new beginning can start with a “goodbye.” As summer vacation ends, Youhei slowly finds a way towards his future under the concerned and watchful eyes of his little sister Mei, complicated by Tomoya’s “brilliant” plan to find a girl to pose as Youhei’s girlfriend. The relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa develops and blossoms, even as Mei, Misae and Sane all have their own unique revelations concerning love, trust and their place in the world. But not every story ends with a “Happily Ever After,” and unnoticed by all, a dark cloud is building on the horizon; one that will shatter their young lives forever. The greatest tragedies and heartbreak lie ahead in the first collection of the long awaited masterpiece: Clannad ~After Story~.

A summary of “Clannad” revolves around the character of Tomoya Okazaki, a high school student who tends to be late for class and has his share of personal problems at home (he and his father have not had a good relationship since his mother’s death) and pretty much spends most of his time with his troublemaking friend Youhei Sunohara. Tomoya was once a promising basketball player in school until he was in a fight with his father which led to his arm being injured to the point where he can’t lift his arm up past his shoulder.

But life changes for Tomoya for the positive when he meets new high school student Nagisa Furukawa who he quickly becomes good friends with and helps her out. Throughout the school year, he meets other female students that he tries to help out and becomes their friend. And in the process, his friendships with these people help other people who are in need of friends.

The main characters of “Clannad ~After Story~” are:

Tomoya Okazaki – The main protagonist. A delinquent in school who tends to cut class or fall asleep from class, his life is changed for the positive when he meets Nagisa Furukawa. He hangs out with his good friend Youhei Sunohara. In “Clannad ~After Story~”, Tomoya continues to live with Nagisa’s family and are now a couple.
Nagisa Furukawa – A shy teenager who is passionate towards an old commercial for the Dango Family. Her parents Akio and Sanae run a pastry shop where Nagisa helps out. Because of her poor health, she has been forced to repeat her senior year in high school three times but has grown stronger and more appreciative of life after she has met Tomoya. Now dating Tomoya.
Youhei Sunohara – Tomoya’s good friend who always gets in trouble and is often seen getting beat up. He is known for his blonde hair and has a younger sister named Mei who constantly worries about him. Has no real aspirations in life.
Kyou Fujibayashi - The twin sister of Ryou Fujibayashi. Very tough girl who gets in Tomoya and Youhei’s face and always thinks he is mistreating her sister or other girls. Dreams of becoming a teacher.
Ryou Fujibayashi – Twin sister of Kyou, she is the most reserved and quite of the two. She’s always defended by her twin sister Kyou. Dreams of becoming a nurse.
Kotomi Ichinose – The smartest girl in school. Plays the violin badly. Is given the chance to study abroad and is considering it.
Tomoyo Sakagami- The transfer student who is rumored to be a violent girl and she demonstrates her fighting skills by taking out two gangsters. She wants to become a student body president and idolizes Youhei’s landlord Misae (a former student body president who was tough).
Fuko Ibuki – A girl that Tomoya meets in school and learns about her obsession with starfish. It is revealed in the first season that the girl Tomoya met was the spirit of Fuko, as the real person (the younger sister of teacher, Kouko Ibuki) has been unconscious in a hospital for a long period of time.
Yukine Miyazawa – A student who works/hangs out at the Library Reference room. Most people go to her to listen to her problems. A kind person who tends to help delinquents and gang members.

“Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 1″ features a total of 12 episodes on two DVD’s. For the first half of “Clannad ~After Story~”, the series picks up with storylines that feature the supporting characters and also revolves around Tomoya and Nagisa who ended with the first season becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:

DISC 1:

EPISODE 1 – Furukawa Bakery is challenged in a baseball match and Tomoya and friends team up to take on the opposition.
EPISODE 2 – Mei comes to check on her older brother Youhei. Youhei and Tomoya feel that if he had a girlfriend to watch over him, Mei wouldn’t have to worry. So, Youhei finds a willing person to pretend to be his girlfriend.
EPISODE 3 – Mei and Tomoya are disturbed that Youhei doesn’t seem to care for his younger sister. So, to test to see how much Youhei cares, Tomoya pretends to be Mei’s boyfriend.
EPISODE 4 – Things start to become tends between Tomoya and Ryohei as Tomoya can’t understand why Youhei doesn’t care for his sister.
EPISODE 5 – Misae (Youhei’s landlord) tells her story to to Tomoya and Nagisa about a boy she knew when she was younger named Katsuki Shima.
EPISODE 6 – Continuing the storyline of Misae and Katsuki Shima and how the story affects Tomoya.

DISC 2:

EPISODE 7 – Tomoya, Nagisa and Youhei finds out why the gang members tend to flock towards Yukine. A rival gang mistakes Youhei as
EPISODE 8 - With a gang brawl about to happen, Tomoya and Youhei are brought into it and we learn the truth about Yukine’s brother.
EPISODE 9 – Tomoya and friends discuss what they want to do when they graduate from high school. Meanwhile, Nagisa becomes ill again and is bedridden.
EPISODE 10 – Tomoya takes a job at Furukawa Bakery while Nagisa repeats her senior year in high school once again.
EPISODE 11 – Tomoya gets a new job and moves out of the Furukawa home in order to become independent.
EPISODE 12 – Yusuke tells Tomoya his story and how he went from a popular musician to working at the same electric job as him. Also, something happens to Tomoya’s father and Tomoya and Nagisa take the next step up in their relationship.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

So far, each anime series that were based off a Key video game such as “Kanon” and “Air” have both been fantastic anime series featuring vibrant animation, colorful backgrounds and just many settings that really make the series stand out. The same can be said about “Clannad ~After Story~”, the animation and production is absolutely fantastic. Kyoto Animation has done a wonderful job with the artistic backgrounds. Also, the animation is solid and character designs are also done very well. “Clannad ~After Story~” is featured in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen and picture quality for the anime series on DVD is wonderful!

Subtitles are featured in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 1″ features the clean opening and closing animation and Sentai Filmworks trailers.

After gushing about how much I enjoyed the first season of “Clannad”, I was definitely looking forward to “Clannad ~After Story~”.

I’ve heard many times from fans of the series that “Clannad ~After Story~” is an absolutely wonderful conclusion of the series, so I definitely was looking forward to it.

For the most part, “Collection 1″ is similar to the first season of the series in that it focuses on storylines of several key characters. In this case, a mix of the main characters but also supporting cast with storylines focusing on Youhei and his sister Mei, Youhei’s landlord Misae, the library worker Yukine, the musician turned electrician Yusuke and then back to the primary characters Tomoya and Nagisa.

Like the first season of “Clannad”, the storyline for each of these characters are quite emotional. From learning more about Youhei and his sister’s relationship and his respect for Tomoya, Misae’s storyline is quite interesting because she’s a character that is rarely and if anything, her storyline is tied to the character of Tomoyo. But for the most part, her storyline is equally emotional and somewhat tragic as it deals with her past and why she has not moved on. Yukine’s was OK and was more explaining her ties to the gang community and her trying her best to stop the fighting. Yusuke, a character who really never factored into the first season plays an important part in Tomoya’s storyline, especially post-graduation. But his story is short and is more to show Tomoya about protecting the person you love and doing what you can for that person.

But the underlying story in each of these episodes is the relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa. How these two are truly in love with each other and no matter how frail or how sick she gets, Tomoya’s love for her is strong and unconditional and it was great to see their relationship blossom even after Tomoya graduates from high school.

As each of the character storylines were enjoyable (and emotional at the same time), what I found interesting are the short opening animation on each episode featuring a robot and a girl which points to dismal storyline which is quite vague at this point but you suspect that something bad may happen in the series. Is it a dream or is there some underlying meaning for those scenes? Needless to say, “Clannad ~After Story~ – Collection 1″ sets up the emotional storyline which will take place in Collection 2. So, if you enjoyed the first season, you know what you’re going to expect in “Collection 1″ but knowing how enjoyable the first season is, you’ll find this DVD release to be quite enjoyable, emotional and entertaining.

As for the DVD, like the previous releases, there are not a lot of special features included with “Clannad” nor is there an English dub included (which I know is disappointing for those who have been waiting for one). But you do get 12 episodes and for the most part, a popular series that many people have hoped to come stateside, is now available on DVD. The voice acting by the seiyuu are well-done and the animation is just vibrant, artistic backgrounds wonderful and more the post part, another solid release from those responsible for “Kanon” and “Air”.

If you enjoyed the first season of “Clannad”, “Clannad ~After Story~” is another wonderful season and I just can’t wait to see what happens in the final half of the season (and I have been warned that the second half is a tearjerker and one heck of an emotional rollercoaster). Definitely recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on DVD, TV BOXSETS: DVD/Blu-ray

Clannad – Collection 2 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

December 1, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

If you thought the first volume was enjoyable, fun but also emotional, the second and final part of “Clannad” just gets even better and probably will make you cry as well. An awesome anime series from beginning to end! Just wonderful and highly recommended!

DVD TITLE: Clannad – Collection 2

DURATION: Episodes 13-23 + OAV episode (300 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Japanese 2.0, English subtitles

COMPANY: TBS Animation/Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: May 5, 2009

Original Character Designs by Itaru Hinoue

Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara

Series Composition/Screenplay by Fumihiko Shimo

Music by Jun Maeda, Magome Togoshi, Shinji Orito

Character Design by Kazum Ikeda

Art Director: Mutsuo Shinohara

Chief Animation Director: Kazumi Ikeda

Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka

Direction of Photography: Ryuuta Nakagami

Featuring the following voice talent:

Mai Nakahara as Nagisa Furukawa

Yuuichi Nakamura as Tomoya Okazaki

Ai Nonaka as Fuuko Ibuki

Akemi Kanda as Ryou Fujibayashi

Daisuke Sakaguchi as Youhei Sunohara

Houko Kuwashima as Tomoyo Sakagami

Kikuko Inoue as Sanae Furukawa

Mamiko Noto as Kotomi Ichinose

Ryotaro Okiayu as Akio Furukawa

Ryou Hirohashi as Kyou Fujibayashi

Ai Bandou as Sugisaka

Sometimes, something as simple as a chance encounter with a strange girl talking to herself can change your life forever. Alienated from his abusive father, Tomoya has been spiraling into delinquency since the death of his mother. Nagisa’s curse is her fragile health, which has forced her to repeat a year of high school. But when Tomoya impulsively agrees to help Nagisa restart the school’s disbanded Drama Club, a new mechanism for change is created, acting like a magnet for other girls with equally tragic stories.

Prepare to meet the ambitious Tomoyo, who dreams of becoming class president; Kotomi, a troubled genius with a secret past; and most mysteriously, Fuko, whose disassociation with the world has become so severe that she is literally fading from existence!

“Clannad” received an anime adaptation in 2007 with a total of 23-episodes which was followed by “Clannad: After Story” (which takes place ten years later), OVA’s, an animated film and a manga. As for the anime series, the series is directed by Tatsuya Ishihara (“Air”, “Kanon”, “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”) and a screenplay by Fumihiko Shimo (“Full Metal Panic!”, “Air”, “Burst Angel”, “Gravion”, “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”). The character design for the anime series is by Kazumi Ikeda (“Kanon”) and is faithful to the original designs by Itaru Hinoue (“Air”, “Kanon”). All episodes for “Clannad” and “Clannad: After Story” are now currently available from Sentai Filmworks.

The anime series focuses on the character Tomoya Okazaki. A high school student who tends to be late for class and has his share of personal problems at home (he and his father have not had a good relationship since his mother’s death) and pretty much spends most of his time with his troublemaking friend Youhei Sunohara. Tomoya was once a promising basketball player in school until he was in a fight with his father which led to his arm being injured to the point where he can’t lift his arm up past his shoulder.

The main characters of “Clannad” are:

Tomoya Okazaki – The main protagonist. A delinquent in school who tends to cut class or fall asleep from class, his life is changed for the positive when he meets Nagisa Furukawa. He hangs out with his good friend Youhei Sunohara.
Nagisa Furukawa – A shy teenager who is passionate towards an old commercial for the Dango Family. Her parents Akio and Sanae run a pastry shop where Nagisa helps out. A kind and shy teenager who cries when she’s sad but through her friendship with Tomoya, it helps give her strength to try and start a drama club at their high school.
Youhei Sunohara – Tomoya’s good friend who always gets in trouble and is often seen getting beat up. The character used for the comedy portions of the series.
Kyou Fujibayashi - The twin sister of Ryou Fujibayashi. Very tough girl who gets in Tomoya’s face and always thinks he is mistreating her sister or other girls. Secretly, she likes Tomoya. A class representative at school.
Ryou Fujibayashi – Twin sister of Kyou, she is the most reserved and quite of the two. She’s always defended by her twin sister Kyou. Ryou enjoys fortune telling.
Kotomi Ichinose – The smartest girl in school. Very quiet and spends most of her time inside the library. Tomoya tries to help her by introducing her to friends and giving her encouragement. We learn through the anime series of why she’s so hooked on learning and pushing herself too hard.
Tomoyo Sakagami- The transfer student who is rumored to be a violent girl and she demonstrates her fighting skills by taking out two gangsters. This upsets Youhei Sunohara because he can’t believe a girl is beating up on boys, so he tries to figure her out. She dreams of becoming more ladylike but also the school president.
Fuko Ibuki – A girl that Tomoya meets in school and learns about her obsession with starfish. But things start to become weird when people are unable to see her but tomoya and his friends.

“Clannad – Collection 2″ features a total of 11 episodes + 1 OAV episode on two DVD’s. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:

DISC 1:

EPISODE 14 – Tomoya finds out about Kotomi’s past.
EPISODE 15 – The gang needs Mr. Koumura to be an adviser for the Drama Club but the Choir Club has him as an adviser. Meanwhile, Youhei’s sister Mei comes to visit.
EPISODE 16 -Tomoya, Youhei and Kyou take on the Freshman basketball team.
EPISODE 17 – Nagisa collapses and has to stay out of school. Meanwhile, Tomoyo tries to get closer to Tomoya.
EPISODE 18 – Tomoyo has a bad reputation at school that can jeopardize her chance at becoming Student Body President.
EPISODE 19 – With Tomoya having problems at home, Nagisa asks for Tomoya to stay at her family’s place.

DISC 2:

EPISODE 20 – Nagisa’s father reveals to Tomoya of their past.
EPISODE 21 - Nagisa must prepare for her play but in the process, accidentally discovers her parent’s secret past.
EPISODE 22 – It’s the day of the big play but with Nagisa discovering her parent’s secret, she may not be ready for her big day.
EPISODE 24 – It’s summer vacation and Tomoya and Nagisa try to figure out what to do during vacation but Youhei’s sister Mei has an idea.
OVA – CLANNAD: Another World – Tomoya’s Chapter – An alternative world storyline featuring Tomoya and Tomoyo as a couple. But Tomoya, as always, thinking about others first, knows that Tomoya has much more to accomplish in her life (and for her career) than being with him. So, he questions his relationship with her.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

The OVA episode titled “Another World – Tomoyo’s Chapter” features a more higher production style compared to the television episodes. Artwork, character design and shading and colors are absolutely vibrant and beautiful.

Subtitles are featured in English. I did notice some typos and interesting selection of word translations for one episode.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Clannad – Collection 2″ features the clean opening and closing animation and Sentai Filmworks trailers.

After recommending “Clannad – Collection 2″, I eagerly was anticipating the second collection of the series and needless to say, I was just as impressed with how the second half of the series concluded.

Similar to the last series, the final half features several arc’s based on certain characters. Collection 2 continues with the Kotomi arc, then the Tomoyo arc and then finalizes things with one last Nagisa arc. These episodes were much more dramatic and in someways are tearjerkers compared to the lively, lighthearted first half of the series.

Also, I was glad to see Sentai Filmworks including the “Another World – Tomoyo Chapter” OVA as well. In some ways, I suppose like the video game, it would have been nice to see these “Another World” OVA’s in which we see Tomoya choosing each female character as his girlfriend and seeing the different stories the writers can come up with. But overall, the Tomoyo Chapter was actually quite intriguing.

As mentioned in the last review, I absolutely love the animation and artistic backgrounds of “Clannad”. If one thing that I noticed, “Kanon” and “Air” have solid artwork and “Clannad” is just as impressive and vibrant. Voice acting by the seiyuu talent is well-done and I can understand some fans being upset that there are no English dubs with Sentai Filmworks anime DVD releases but still, if you have been curious or have wanted to see the series, even with subtitles, I still recommend giving “Clannad” a try.

If you own the first collection, the second is literally a no-brainer, its definitely a must buy. Now, I look forward to the “Clannad: After Story” series which takes place ten years later also available on DVD from Sentai Filmworks.

Overall, “Clannad – Collection 2″ is highly recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on DVD, TV BOXSETS: DVD/Blu-ray

Clannad – Collection 1 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

November 29, 2009 by Dennis Amith · 1 Comment

I can see why many anime fans have told me to watch “Clannad”. It’s fun, humorous but also emotional and touching. It has the touching moments and many characters like “Love Hina”, some school like craziness like”Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” but really, “Clannad” is a series that is fresh, unique and enjoyably fun. “Clannad – Collection 1″ is highly recommended!

DVD TITLE: Clannad – Collection 1

DURATION: Episodes 1-12 (300 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Japanese 2.0, English subtitles

COMPANY: TBS Animation/Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: March 3, 2009

Original Character Designs by Itaru Hinoue

Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara

Series Composition/Screenplay by Fumihiko Shimo

Music by Jun Maeda, Magome Togoshi, Shinji Orito

Character Design by Kazum Ikeda

Art Director: Mutsuo Shinohara

Chief Animation Director: Kazumi Ikeda

Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka

Direction of Photography: Ryuuta Nakagami

Featuring the following voice talent:

Mai Nakahara as Nagisa Furukawa

Yuuichi Nakamura as Tomoya Okazaki

Ai Nonaka as Fuuko Ibuki

Akemi Kanda as Ryou Fujibayashi

Daisuke Sakaguchi as Youhei Sunohara

Houko Kuwashima as Tomoyo Sakagami

Kikuko Inoue as Sanae Furukawa

Mamiko Noto as Kotomi Ichinose

Ryotaro Okiayu as Akio Furukawa

Ryou Hirohashi as Kyou Fujibayashi

Ai Bandou as Sugisaka

The main characters of “Clannad” are:

Tomoya Okazaki – The main protagonist. A delinquent in school who tends to cut class or fall asleep from class, his life is changed for the positive when he meets Nagisa Furukawa. He hangs out with his good friend Youhei Sunohara.
Nagisa Furukawa – A shy teenager who is passionate towards an old commercial for the Dango Family. Her parents Akio and Sanae run a pastry shop where Nagisa helps out. A kind and shy teenager who cries when she’s sad but through her friendship with Tomoya, it helps give her strength to try and start a drama club at their high school.
Youhei Sunohara – Tomoya’s good friend who always gets in trouble and is often seen getting beat up. The character used for the comedy portions of the series.
Kyou Fujibayashi - The twin sister of Ryou Fujibayashi. Very tough girl who gets in Tomoya’s face and always thinks he is mistreating her sister or other girls. Secretly, she likes Tomoya. A class representative at school.
Ryou Fujibayashi – Twin sister of Kyou, she is the most reserved and quite of the two. She’s always defended by her twin sister Kyou. Ryou enjoys fortune telling.
Kotomi Ichinose – The smartest girl in school. Very quiet and spends most of her time inside the library. Tomoya tries to help her by introducing her to friends and giving her encouragement. We learn through the anime series of why she’s so hooked on learning and pushing herself too hard.
Tomoyo Sakagami- The transfer student who is rumored to be a violent girl and she demonstrates her fighting skills by taking out two gangsters. This upsets Youhei Sunohara because he can’t believe a girl is beating up on boys, so he tries to figure her out. She dreams of becoming more ladylike but also the school president.
Fuko Ibuki – A girl that Tomoya meets in school and learns about her obsession with starfish. But things start to become weird when people are unable to see her but tomoya and his friends.

“Clannad – Collection 1″ features a total of 12 episodes on two DVD’s. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:

DISC 1:

EPISODE 1 – The first time Tomoya meets Nagisa.
EPISODE 2 – Nagisa wants to start a drama club at high school and Tomoya agrees to help her.
EPISODE 3 – Nagisa is bedridden after the events of episode 2. Tomoya learns about Nagisa’s health.
EPISODE 4 – Tomoya meets up with the weird starfish loving girl Fuko and learns why she is giving out wooden starfish to the students.
EPISODE 5 – Tomoya and Nagisa agree to help Fuko out.
EPISODE 6 – Tomoya wants to invite Fuko’s sister Kouko to test out an idea he has in regards to Fuko.

DISC 2:

EPISODE 7 – Tomoya and Nagisa are learning that people can’t see Fuko but them and a few others.
EPISODE 8 - More and more people are starting to forget who Fuko is and Tomoya and Nagisa worry they will be next.
EPISODE 9 – Tomoya, Nagisa and Fuko work together to prepare for Youko’s wedding.
EPISODE 10 – The drama needs club members and thus Tomoya goes to Kotomi and tries to make her more sociable.
EPISODE 11 – Tomoya and friends try to help Kotomi give her first live performance at school.
EPISODE 12 – When a bus accident takes place near school, Kotomi sees the accident and memories of her past start rushing in causing her to collapse. Is she OK?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

Subtitles are featured in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Clannad – Collection 1″ features the clean opening and closing animation and Sentai Filmworks trailers.

Anime fans have told me that I had to watch “Clannad” for a few years now and I have watched “Kanon” and really enjoyed “Air”. But I suppose part of me being a bit hesitant was that I have seen so many “harem” like anime series in which the girls throw themselves after the main guy and I wasn’t in the mood to see an anime like this. But after watching “Clannad”, I was wrong.

The anime series is well-written in a way that the main protagonist, Tomoya is not a perfect guy. He’s a guy who has his set of problems and the girls he meets, have their own problems as well. Granted, this series could easily go dark but instead, its about people who have found friendship within each other. I can easily see how the video game series could have gone, since there are many female characters that Tomoya can try to be closer too. But for the anime series, relationships thus far have been kept platonic. It’s not more of him liking these girls, it’s about him wanting to help them, even though he has a problem helping himself.

In the first collection, the theme is friendship. Nagisa, Fuuko, Kotomi… they all have reasons why they haven’t had many friends, so we see three major arcs between these three girls and how Tomoya starts to help them and in someway, they end up helping him as well. I wouldn’t go as far calling each character lost souls but Tomoya becomes a person that touches their lives, more than he thinks.

As for the DVD, the DVD comes with the first twelve episodes and there are not really any special features but the opening and closing theme. I know there are some anime fans who are bummed out that there the series is not dubbed in English but the voice acting in Japanese is very solid and a good number of talented seiyuu involved in the series.

I can see why many anime fans have told me to watch “Clannad”. It’s fun, humorous but also emotional and touching. It has the touching moments and many characters like “Love Hina”, some school like craziness like “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” but really, “Clannad” is a series that is fresh, unique and enjoyably fun. “Clannad – Collection 1″ is highly recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on DVD, TV BOXSETS: DVD/Blu-ray