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Clannad: Complete Collection (4pc) Review

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Clannad visual novel is divided into two segments, or story arcs--School Life and After Story--which serve as different phases in the overall story. At the beginning of the game, only the School Life arc is available to play, but once the player has completed the scenarios available in School Life, After Story is made accessible. This is through the collection of eight lights, or orbs, which can be obtained after a character's scenario is completed; one of the lights will disappear while still in School Life, but will reappear in After Story.[1]

School Life contains the final year of high school of the main protagonist, Tomoya Okazaki, in which he meets all of the characters in the game, though the focus is kept on the five heroines in the story, including the main heroine Nagisa Furukawa. After Story is mainly a continuation of Nagisa's story, and is set immediately after School Life when Nagisa and Tomoya are now living their lives as a couple, and extends into the next ten years.[1] Characters from School Life do appear, but play minor roles compared to their roles in that arc. In order to view the true ending of Clannad, all thirteen lights must be obtained. Originally, the lights were meant to be items that players could use in the game, but since this increased the game's difficulty, and detracted from the storyline, the function of the lights was changed to be simpler and less intrusive.[2]

Clannad's gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent simply reading the text that appears on the game screen which represents either dialogue between the various characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. An important aspect of Clannad (as in nearly every visual novel) are the "decision points" which appear every so often which give the player the chance to choose from a limited number of options. The time between these decision points is variable and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. The game pauses at such moments and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are five main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story, and there are thirteen possible endings. Each plot line can be achieved through multiple replays.[1]

Clannad is Key's second longest work, as reported by Yûto Tonokawa where he stated that Clannad is about 4000 words fewer than Key's 2008 game Little Busters! Ecstasy.[3] While both of Key's first two previous works, Kanon and Air, had been released first as adult games and then censored for the younger market, Key's third work Clannad was released for all ages and does not contain risqué situations or barely any fan service other than one small scene.[1]

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Customer Reviews

Great DVDs, If I can ever get them out? - Pablo -
As I may have already hinted at, I have a little problem with the way the dvds are set in the dvd case. One of those kinds where all four are stacked on a single spindly pole thing, you know, what goes through the little holey thing in the middle of the DVD, thus securing it in the case. Though I'm sure it has done a fine job of preventing them flying around the place during transit, every time I wish to watch them, I have to face the fear of the dvd shattering in my hand as I remove it, as well as the inconvenience of removing several dvds. Hence, if one does not miss dubs, I suggest going for the sub only collections. For packaging reasons only.

As for the dubs, I now wonder why on earth I bothered with them. Though admittedly I am a strong sub-supporter at the best of times, these dubs really irk me. One cannot replace Nagisa's Japanese Seiyuu; Mai Nakahara has just mastered the voice of cuteness. Sunohara is overly squeaky and thats as far as I got. But hey Clannad is awesome, if you hate subs, dubs could work I guess, but thats just common sense.

Subs have two colours<-(thus indicating, I am not American), white or yellow, allowing two people to talk at once without much confusion. Not as pretty as most fansubs, but are they ever? They do the job.

Gem of a top Series. Poor packaging and so-so english dub. - M. Ma - Las Vegas, NV
The short review:
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The good: An excellent emotional drama with depth, beautiful animation, and memorable music. One of my top 3 (#1 out of my dramas) and I have seen/own > 300 titles. Good for all ages.

The not so good: Poor packaging (spindle), mediocre English dub. In Japan they released a Blu-Ray version.

The long review:
====================
This package includes the entire first season of Clannad including the 2 short alternate storyline OVAs (24 episodes, each 25 minutes.) It does not contain the movie or the second season known as Clannad After Story. This one is also the first English voice dub as opposed to the previous release which was Japanese with English subtitles only.

This series is THE benchmark for slice of life drama with a touch of the surreal. It is NOT another 'high-school' anime. The more you watch the more hidden themes you pick up. The story begins slowly then as it goes on there is more and more character development. The characters have depth, flaws, and are not cookie-cutter stereotypes.

If you are unfamiliar with anime in Japan anime is not just 'cartoons for kids' Anime can be mature dramas, romance, period/historical as well as the action 'blow-em up' varieties we in the states are more exposed to. This show make a fine choice if you want to try something else other than guns, swords, giant robots, spaceships or magic explosions.

The parallel "Hidden World" storyline is very abstract and appears to be unrelated. It's not (although you have to watch Clannad After Story to get the entire picture.)

Clannad engendered a plethora of emotions from a quick chuckle to gut-wrenching tears. I own about 300 anime titles and have watched hundreds more. This show is in my Top 3 however among the dramas I have seen this is by far the best. If you liked this one I'd recommend seeing Kanon (the newer one with 24 episodes.)

Why I did not give one of my favorite series 5 stars:
======================================================
You will miss a great deal of the original intent and emotional cues if you listen to the English version. The packaging was also very poor: all DVDs stacked on a spindle. This is very prone to scratching and if you value your DVDs you'll be picking up individual cases. Only in Japan is this on Blu-Ray. The soundtrack is not available in the US.

Still if you have never watched any anime and want to start with a drama that will leave an impression, pick this one up.

English Dub is Terrible - Buy the Sub-Only Version Instead - Kel - New York, NY United States
I am not a voice-purist. I've watched many other animes in both English and Japanese subtitled. A good English dub might sound different but it shouldn't really contradict the characterization and the tone of the story. But this English dub of Clannad fails for all those reasons. Most horrendously, it transforms Nagisa from a demure, uncertain girl into a loud, sarcastic, go-getter right from the beginning. Her English voice is not cute at all. It is not the Nagisa whose growth of shy, subdued confidence is elemental to the storyline. You will be surprised how different the tone of the story comes out merely from the change in voice. Yes, it is really that bad.

If you absolutely must listen to a story in English because you're incapable of reading a sub-titled version, then go ahead and buy this monstrosity. All others, however, should buy the original subtitled-only version: Clannad: Collection 1, and Clannad: Collection 2. Don't pay for this English-Dub version even though it also has subtitles, because you're watching a DVD that had to degrade the quality to fit all of the terrible English voicetracks on it. Plus, why pay to be insulted? Buy the original version instead.

I give this review 3 overall starts: 5 for the fact that it's Clanned, zero for the English-dub.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 26, 2010 01:17:04

Animation

Wednesday, August 25, 2010