Sorry, I’m a little confused. When do the podcasts start, and then they go each route a week, right? I know the order, just not the dates.
According to our admin the podcast dates are as follows.
28th November - Baseball
5th December - Misae
12th December - Tomoyo
19th December - Yukine
26th December - Kotomi
2nd January - Fujibayashi
9th January - Kappei
16th January - Sunohara
23rd January - Fuko
30th January - Koumura
6th February - Nagisa
13th February - After Story
Approx. 20th February - CLANNAD Bookclub Anthology!
If you have a copy of CLANNAD, you’re welcome to start reading now. It’d be best if everyone finished their reading as soon as they can~
Yeah, it’s my opinion that 4 days is a bit too short to read up to the entirety of baseball route, but you can still finish a big chunk of common in that time
Bookclub discussion begins from this post onward!
If I may be the first to post as part of the “official” discussion, I’ll go ahead and share some of the observations from the opening scene alone.
They set the tone for Tomoya as a delinquent from the get go, but it also subtly foreshadowed his rough life as well. “The expression on her face… Ah, yes… I remember those days - what it felt like to be naive, simple. That’s something we’ve all experienced.” When I read that, it just screamed some level of trauma to me: he had seen/gone through some shit that had stripped away the innocence, the veil of ignorance that had been over his eyes blinding him from the truth of the world. I know the way I’m saying this is making him seem like he had gone through very dark experiences (like Elfen Lied level dark if you understand my reference), which I actually know better since I went into this having already seen the anime, but it’s something that I picked up on.
Then again, I may be over analyzing Tomoya. Maybe, this was intended to highlight Nagisa’s innocence in contrast to Tomoya’s more serious demeanor.
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Just noticed how when Tomoya and Nagisa introduce themselves to each other, Tomoya’s narration remarks that “This was the fated day that we met.” Slightly awkward since most of the narration is in present tense, or is this a ‘second’ narration and this story is being told to us from a future perspective?
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You could also see it as him foreseeing in that moment that their meeting is fated… though you don’t need to go onto Nagisa’s route after their meeting, do you?
I read a bit of the game earlier today. Okazaki trolling is probably one of my most favourite things in this novel. I almost feel bad for Sunohara, but not really. They show amazingly quickly that Sunohara is such a heinous guy that Tomoya trolling him shouldn’t quite matter.
And the illusionary world… there are creative parallels with the main game? Because Tomoya is alone in the main game, and complaining that never changes. And the person in the illusionary world is also stuck in a never-ending world that is changed by the appearance of a girl, just like Tomoya’s own situation when he meets Nagisa. I’m sure that’s at least part of the relationship it has with the main story. It’s the kind of thematic writing I’d expect from a Japanese writer.
Is there a good guide with no spoilers to make sure you do the correct route for the bookclub each week?
http://kazamatsuri.org/clannad-walkthrough/
Just be careful not to accidentally scroll far if the choices would be spoilers.
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Thank you! 
So I started my first reading of Clannad. It feels pretty weird to follow a guide for the first reading of a Visual Novel, but I really enjoy it so far.
The thing that strikes me the most is the quality of the music. The songs are great and really help creating the mood. The music of this game is the kind of music I would listen for entertainment. Also, I really like the art and general quality of the images.
I don’t know much about the story yet (other than what I learned from the internet in the past), but I can’t wait to read more.
I already have a couple of theories about the illness of a certain girl we meet at the beginning but will keep them for myself for the moment. I’ll reveal what I think once I lean more about the story and world of Clannad.
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One thing that has caught my attention so far is the alternate world, the world that has ended where nothing is born nor dies. I can tell that there is something deeper to it, but I can’t put my finger on it. And this is strange coming from me because I have actually seen the anime a handful of times and it’s still a mystery to me.
If anyone has any kind of interpretation, that would be great. That is unless it deals with spoilers for later routes, even if it was adapted into the anime. In which case, I’ll do my best to figure it out on my own.
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So I doubt I’ll have much of a chance to mention this on the podcast, so I just wanna say that the first scene in CLANNAD is just so different compared to other Key works. For most of the other Key works, when the game starts, it gets right into action. Like in AIR, where the first thing that happens is Yukito getting off a bus and looking for a Ramen Set. Or in Little Busters, where they go straight into a comedic battle between Masato and Kengo.
CLANNAD’s introduction begins with a heap load of introspection from Tomoya, which then flows through to the beautiful scene with Nagisa under the cherry blossoms. If anything, it gives a lot of feel for the kind of VN we’re about to start, and I really like that.
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Hey now, that’s the second scene 
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I’ve only been able to play about 2 hours so far, but it is 2 hours so good. I really like the lead in both in the world in the snow and meeting Nagisa on the path.
Fangirl Moment{Oh god, I almost cried with happiness when Nagisa delivered her first lines. I love her so much and it made me fall in love with Clannad again instantly! It made it hard to perfectly follow the guide for the common route because I just wanted to be with her 100%}/Fangirl Moment
I am really hoping to get a good set of hours in tonight since I don’t have work tomorrow I can stay up later.
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@DMB Just so you know, they remastered the soundtrack. And in some of the songs, you can seriously hear the difference. Ushio (Title screen theme) strikes as an obvious one. You should Youtube the original and do a comparison, it might just surprise you. And Key’s music has always been top notch.
@Aspirety It’s the scene we all remember. 
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Am I the only one who noticed how much more screen time Nagisa’s gotten than the other girls? As far as I’ve gotten right now (morning of April 16), neither Kyou nor Fuko have even been introduced. It’s like they are trying to make it obvious that Nagisa’s going to be the main heroine.
I can’t remember exact dates but unless you go out of your way you never meet some characters. I believe Sunohara, Nagisa, Misae, Kyou and Ryou are all you’re ever required to meet.
