Tomoya giving Sunohara “great” tips on how to win Tomoyo’s heart.
“Daijoubu!” The squats killed me xD
2 Likes
Oh yeah!! I remember that part, that was so hilarious!! xD 
If you’re in the US or Canada (not sure about other regions) TubiTV now has CLANNAD and After Story for free. Not sure how long they’ve been there so sorry if old news but they weren’t there last time I used the site.
http://otakomu.jp/archives/469668.html
CLANNAD has been announced for Anime Japan
Is this something to look forward to, or is it likely just for VN-related releases?
We’re in the middle of dealing with this. For now, everything being said about announcements and OVAs and whatnot is obvious, disgusting clickbait and should be kept off of Kaza
Next year is the anime’s 10th anniversary so it’s probably some kind of celebration with a few cast members or something. I’m not expecting anything new to be announced aside from a re-release or re-broadcast or something.
It better not be anything but, Code Geass has already torn my heart enough with the idea of messing up such a good ending just for “anniversaries”. I don’t think I’ll be able to stay sane if one of the best VNs ever were afflicted with something like an unnecessary sequel that could potentially decrease its predecessor’s glory. 
But as said above, the likeliness of it just being filthy clickbait is really high so we needn’t concern ourselves with that unless something gets officially announced from a trustworthy source with evidence.
Considering the list where it’s shown also has Little Busters, Rewrite, and Angel Beats, I’m betting it just means that someone somewhere will be selling Key merchandise
I have just finished Clannad VN and Tomoyo After for the first time, I was in two minds about buying it as “Romance/Slice of Life” is not really my thing, (although it clearly offers far more to the player than that) but decided to go for it when it was at half price on Steam. It took a while of playing but I’m glad I bought it and stuck with it!
This is only my 3rd VN, the first two being the Russian “Everlasting Summer” (free to play at Steam so worth a try), and Steins; Gate. Being a senior middle aged male (oldest VN player ever?!) I should have better things to do with my time but I have discovered this game genre late in life so…time to catch up…
First playthrough I played blind and after about 10 hours, mainly following Nagisa’s path, got the generic bad end. Then I found this bookclub with the walkthough and followed that apart from delaying Kotomi to between Sunohara/Fuko. Finished the game at the True End with 100 hours play over 14 days so although I’m a fast reader it can be said I binged quite addictively!
It’s hard to give complete judgement on one playthrough, many times I found the stories seemed to drag and get a bit weighed down with (IMO) overlong / uninteresting scenes - but I can understand that the writers really want the player to completely understand the personalities, issues and mindset of the main characters. A 2nd playthrough would clearly give some more hindsight.
Favourite story is definitely Kotomi and I rate this even over the After Story for emotional impact. Favourite character is more difficult as they all have their pros and cons and it’s more a matter of who you can relate to I guess - but it may be Kyou as I seem to have a thing for tsundere 
Can’t say I dislike any of the characters, just some I like more than others.
Funniest moment? So many to chose from 
: maybe the Fuko or Sunohara pranks…
The bookclub discussion has really helped me get a deeper appreciation of the characters and the story - often very thought-provoking, so thanks for all the contributions. Definitely a few things I didn’t get or think about as I played though. I don’t expect I can add anything of great insight or interest!
I have now got the anime DVDs and am enjoying seeing how it captures/differs from the VN experience. Next VN for me is probably Steins; Gate 0, then after that more “conventional” games on console but I hope to replay Clannad at some future point.
10 Likes
Hey @BotanRugbyBall, thanks for following along with the Bookclub and sharing your insight! Love the username 
I know we have some members into their 30s here, but I think you might be one of the older members here, so I’m especially excited to hear your perspective. I’m really glad you gave CLANNAD a chance despite feeling it differing from your tastes; it seems that you did genuinely enjoy it for the most part. May I ask, what appealed to you in CLANNAD? Did the comedy scenes hit their mark? Was it the emotional impact that kept you coming back? Or did you find it genuinely thought-provoking?
I’d be very interested to know if you plan on playing any of Key’s other titles, in the hope that I might be able to offer some recommendations. planetarian in particular is amazing, and only lasts about 4 hours reading time total if you’re looking for a short experience that delivers in some pretty different ways to CLANNAD.
Thanks Aspirety
Well I still enjoy slapstick/juvenile humour so that appealed to me with Sunohara as buttmonkey , Akio and Kyou are just so much fun too so there was that, but it was really the Kotomi story that got to me emotionally, perhaps I can say more in that discussion (not sure how to do spoiler tag here yet!). Plus you have the mystery element so that it became more than just “questing” for objects and winning or making the good ends. The VA too is outstanding even though I know little more than a few words of Japanese, plus some great tunes ( “Country Lane” just gives me a huge lift!)
If anyone remembers a turn of the century TV show called "Roswell (High) " that is another story that sounded very unappealing to me but with a similar background of High School kids on the cusp of adulthood trying to find out who they really are and reach their goals while dealing with many issues. There is a little synchonicity with Max (wants to use his powers for good) and Michael (delinquent with a good heart) from that show and Tomoya. I grew to love it so it could be that background which made CLANNAD interesting for me after all, despite being animated rather than real actors or photo-realistic character art. The characters do become like friends you can care about; and, er I had something in my eyes a few times 
As for other titles, well I could put Rewrite+ on my shopping list when the official English version comes out…
5 Likes
Okay, I’m convinced. You need to read Little Busters when it comes out on Steam. You’ll love it.
1 Like
I guess I could end up playing the whole Key Studios catalogue 
Could be I’m a sucker for nakige and I’ll be playing them until I’m as old as Koumura…
2 Likes
Talking about funnies: last night I watched the anime episode in the After Story where the Furikawa family drink saké with Tomoya - oh boy, having read the VN I knew what was coming but they really nailed it in the anime and the animated scene was just fall down funny - I haven’t belly laughed so much in years
1 Like
Clannad was the first Key Anime that I watched, and after watching Kanon, and in the middle of Air right now, Clannad is by far my favorite right now. The emotional high and low, and the attachment that you get with the characters is definitely beyond the attachment to any other anime series for me. I recently got the VN (man kickstarter physical editions are sooo expensive… yet worth it haha), and I am looking forward to diving in more.
For those who have watched both anime and VN, which VN route would you suggest for someone to start first? I’m very new to the VN genre, and I am interested in learning more about the story. Even after watching anime several times and using the Google, there are still many questions I am curious about.
1 Like
Hi, I think the “Baseball” route is often suggested as the first ( which I did after blind playing my way to the generic bad end first which turned out to be fairly short in my case) - and it’s good but it’s just the same as the anime albeit taking longer through the VN, I hadn’t seen the anime though before playing.
Since you have watched the anime though it’s not the same brand new experience for someone who hasn’t seen the anime to get a good introduction to all the characters, but it’s quite satisfying perhaps for someone new to VNs.
That said playing blind without walkthrough and just seeing how it turns out for your choices isn’t a bad idea, because going badly wrong is a good lesson! The golden rule is save often…
You should follow the CLANNAD Bookclub! https://kazamatsuri.org/clannad-bookclub/
There’s a recommended route guide, and a walkthrough. Plus, you can listen to the podcasts after each route.
3 Likes
That is a fantastic idea! So I do the line and then listen to the podcast and here what other people say about it?
3 Likes
Yeah, you should read the topics and post in them too, since not everything talked about in the podcast is from the forum.
If you read and hear the podcasts as you finish the routes, it would be a nice idea for you to make a post for each route talking about what you thought about it and agreeing or disagreeing with what they say. I’m sure everyone’s views on every route is at least slightly different.
3 Likes
