B-b-but… why??? 
Why wouldnt it be canon? I dont think it really has anything to do with canon/not canon. Besides, part of the point of Clannad is that all the routes did indeed happen, otherwise the orbs of light part wouldnt work.
My point was why specifically point out Tomoyo After and not just Tomoyo’s route:
I misread his statement though.
It’s hard to explain…
It’s tragic backstory time! (not really tragic)
When I was 14, I watched Angel Beats! for the first time, and I really liked it, but not the way I like it now. It didn’t make me cry or feel particularly emotional or whatever (I used to be extremely stoic). A few months later, I stumbled across Clannad because some people suggested it for people who liked Angel Beats!, tried watching the first episode, and decided it wasn’t for me.
Anyway, the next half a year was probably the worst time of my life (for stupid reasons, but I was really depressed and I had a really bleak outlook on life). That’s when I rewatched AB! and I saw it in a totally different light. I appreciated the emotional aspects of it. So I decided to try watching Clannad again, which was probably the best decision I’ve ever made.
It was spring break, so I binge watched all of Clannad and Clannad Afterstory in a few days. At first I was skeptical, Fuko’s arc didn’t really affect me. However, Kotomi’s arc made me shed tears, and it was probably the first time I shed tears because of anything I’d read or seen. By the end of Afterstory, I was just… I dunno. I loved it so much, I rewatched it all again. And for some reason, the show was just so touching, I suddenly felt happy again. Here are my exact words that I posted on another forum I used to frequent: “Last of all, I’m…depression-free 030
I’ve actually been freed of my depression for a few weeks, but I wanted to wait a while before I said anything 
On the first day of spring break I had this really sudden urge to watch Clannad. Because I was told it was even sadder than Angel Beats! which I kinda found hard to believe.
Anyways, I watched both seasons in about 3 days. And Clannad Afterstory just inspired me so much and it made me realize that I can still be happy. It’s…difficult to explain.
So yeah. I’m still lazy and stressed, but I’m not weighed down anymore.”
You’re probably wondering what the point of this is. Basically, Clannad Afterstory made me see the world in a different way. To this day, I still haven’t rewatched Clannad, even though it’s been over 2 years. Clannad is this sacred thing in my mind, and Nagisa x Tomoya was essential for me to become who I am today.
So, I can see the value in ships like Tomoyo x Tomoya. I get that other people like diversity, shipping Tomoya with more than just Nagisa. That’s fine, but it’s not something I can ever do. I can’t mess with the Clannad that I knew.
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That’s a shame. It’s my favorite Key VN… Although Nagisa is one of my least favorite Key characters.
Well that was one of the big plot points of her route, and it’s the main theme of Tomoyo After.
It can be considered canon depending on how you interpret the ending. It fits with the structure of Clannad, so it’s events can be seen as canon.
They are all canon. That’s how Clannad works.
I don’t think I like any of the main heroines in Key VNs really.
The starting episodes of her arc really surprised a lot of the people watching.
I understand this, actually, because even after all these years, I still havent rewatched Clannad either. I can relate to the “want to keep your memories of the anime the way that they originally were” sentiment.
However I have read the VN (although that was awhile ago too), and I would like to encourage you to read it as well: not only it was a lot better than the anime in many ways, but having every heroine’s story completely fleshed out, unlike in the anime, no longer makes it seem like Nagisa is clearly the only heroine that would fit with Tomoya.
Trust me, I understand how you feel about the relationships; I think its probably how I felt between the anime and the VN. But I also want to encourage you to not think about this in terms of “pairings” and “shipping”, but actual stories. And if there’s one thing I want to convince you of, its that Tomoyo After tells an amazing story. As a Key fan, you would truly be missing out by not reading it.
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Wait for the Steam release though.
Yeah. An annoying thing about the anime is that Nagisa was shoehorned into every event, and the good parts of every other character’s routes were removed apart from a few exceptions.
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I’m 100% for sure going to read the Clannad VN (and @Takafumi I am indeed waiting for the Steam release). The VN is like a seperate entity from the anime.
The main reason I don’t want to rewatch Clannad is because I know it won’t affect me as much this time around, and I resent that a little…
But the VN isn’t the anime, so I know it will be a unique experience. I don’t have to compare it to how the anime affected me.
As for thinking about each route as a story instead of a ship… I think that’s good advice, but it will take time for me to heed it completely ^^"
I know Tomoyo After is a good story, every Key story is a good story, I just really wish it wasn’t Tomoyo. Or maybe that it wasn’t Tomoya. Still, I’m sure I’d feel differently if I actually played TA.
Rewrite YoshinoxKotori because he deserves it.
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I’m not into bl, but SakuyaxKotarou was one of the best pairing of Rewrite, in the first place, in Sakuya’s route I felt that Kotarou was always trying to get his attention, like senpai please notice me!
(Sakuya’s route spoiler) All those competitions to see who Chihaya loved most (parental love vs romantic love), it felt to me that Kotarou was just trying to surprise Sakuya to make him recognize him.
Sakuya was being tsundere almost all of the time, because he just likes to tease Kotarou, but doesn’t want to admit that he likes him.
(Sakuya’s route spoiler) He was risking his life for him and he tried to make it that the reason was to make Kotarou to take care of Chihaya, but I only saw this as a tsundere behaviour.
(Sakuya’s route spoiler) The statement, Kotarou is more human than all of you! Best cool line of the VN and just for Kotarou.
(Sakuya’s route spoiler) At the end Kotarou was risking his life to personaly save Sakuya and when he couldn’t he was crying like a baby (my mental image) and wanted to have a duel to have some connection and lasting memories of him (Edit: I don’t know why I didn’t think that this was a blantant spoiler.
In the entire VN series, Sakuya was the one who made the best effort to be Kotarou’s partner so they are the best couple in rewrite.
Again, I’m not into BL, but this was how I saw Sakuya’s route.
Edit: I put in spoiler a lot of sentences that I thought it would be spoiler, I didn’t wanted to hide everything because I didn’t feel that everything was a spoiler, but everyone are free to flag it if they still see some spoiler.
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It’s time for some topic revival!
My favourite couple from Key is actually Akane’s boobs x Kotarou’s hands. Most people dislike this couple probably because of the absence of romance in Akane’s route but me, I just love 'em when they’re together. I could just see some kind of bond between the two of them even without the usual shy romance we find everywhere. And that “I love you. Talk to you later!” line Kotarou told to Akane in Moon made me ship them even more.
Other than that, there’s, of course, Kotarou x Tomoko!! Best pairing with the best romance ever… It may have been short… It may have been sad but… It’ll forever stay in my heart and my mind…
Of course, I can’t forget about Yoshino x Kotori!! Many people’d say “Kotarou and Kotori look great together!” but… I’ve read and watched lots of romance manga and series and seen many best friends or childhood friends turn into a couple and… the romance was shitty af. Kotarou and Kotori look great togeter but as friends not as a lovers. I do need to read HF first since it was apparently full of romance but the slight romance in Kotori’s route in the first game was seriously the sh*iest one in Rewrite. Anyway, going back to Yoshino x Kotori, they just look great together! And Yoshino, the unnapproachable chuunibyou delinquent havinga a crush on a girl like Kotori is just so cute! We might need a little romance here tho! Does anyone know of a fanfic invoving this couple? 'Cause I’d definitely wanna give it a read. I’m actually even thinking of making one!
I think these should be my three favourite Rewrite couples… Other than that, there’s Yoshino x Kotarou, Nishikujou x Imamiya, Sakuya x Kotarou, Tsukuno x Tsuchinoko, Suzaki x Kashima Sakura, Kotarou x Lucia, Kotarou x Chihaya (one would normally expect the Kotarou x Shizuru pairing written next but because of a certain anime episode, I’m on a Shizuru hating mode and I’ve never been much of a Kotarou x Shizuru fan anyway… This post might be edited one of these days to remove this note and add that pairing but that won’t be happening any time soon) and finally Moon x Earth which is probably the best romance in Rewrite… No, in real life too!! No matter how much I look at it, this is one of da best romances ever and there’s soooo many flags detected here!! Just read Moon and think about it throughly and you’ll get what I mean!
My favourite couple of Little Busters! is Riki x Kurugaya… I still don’t understand why some people think that Riki is too childish for Anego. Riki isn’t childish, he’s just being Riki ! Anyway, I like how the roles are switched and it feels like Kurugaya’s the guy and Riki the girl. And seriously, Kurugaya’s route had the best romance in LitBus, better than that shty romance of Riki x Rin which is actually the worst pairing for me.
Other than that, there’s everyone’s favourite couple, Kyousuke x Riki!!! I mean, seriously, Kyousuke is the main hero and Riki is the main heroine of Little Busters! no matter how I look at it. Too many flags and Riki is always on about Kyousuke. He’s been crushing on him since his childhood obviously… He might’ve started thinking that if he got married to Rin, he could never be able to lose his bound with Kyousuke even if he had to turn it into ‘Family’ instead…
There’s also Komari x Rin!! One of the best Yuri couples of Key. I’m not much of Yuri fan but I’m definitly shipping them! I mean, Rin’s true love is Komari otherwise, they wouldn’t make much of a big deal out of her in Refrain. Do you seriously think that whole scene was some pure friendship? Fk it! That was a flag! A romance flag! I’m a girl and I know that girls don’t make that much of a big deal out of frienship unless there’s some wicked feelings hidden somewhere!
And there’s also many couples like Sashimi x Rin, Masato x Riki, Riki x Mio, Kinniku x Kinniku, Strelka x belka and many others…
That’s pretty much the Little Busters coupling for me… Time for CLANNAD!
My favourite Clannad couple would be… Actually there’s no favourite couple in CLANNAD for some unknown reasons… Same thing for Kanon, Air, Angel Beats and Charlotte…
I was all talking about romance in those pretty long previous texts, let’s talk a little about Bromance!! Best bros pairing would be… Sunohara x Tomoya!! I think someone recited the reasons before and I’m kinda too lazy to redo so… Anyway, you should understand why that is, right? Anyway, there’s also the Yoshino x Tennouji, Hinata x Otonashi and Masato x Riki tho in the last one Masato’s more of a bro than Riki.
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There’s a pairing topic! And yasssssssss it’s great that quite a lot of people like Yoshino x Kotori. I ship that too, if one of my ridiculous theories says anything. :))
I’m totally talking about romantic pairings here.
As for my ships, there’s Hiiragi Ryou, Riki x Kurugaya, Komari x Rin, and Kotarou x Shizuru. There’s just this strange sort of chemistry between Kappei and Ryou that I just really love, plus they’re so protective of each other. Riki and Kurugaya just strangely match to me, and I love their dynamic in her route. I’m pretty sure Komari and Rin are totally in love with each other, and it helps that they’re even gayer in the anime.~ Kotarou and Shizuru smelled each other’s underwear in her route, nuff said.
I do hold the opinion of Kotarou x Kotori being the most aesthetically pleasing Key pairing. I mean
This particular artwork is just nice to look at <3
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Hilarious.
Stop it please, you are killing me.
Talking about Little Busters, I’d go for Kurugaya x Anyone. Seriously, she is really perverted and is behind anything and everything that moves in Little Busters!
Now, talking in a more serious (and romantic) way, I’d ship for Riki x Kurugaya, Tomoya x Kyou, Tomoya x Tomoyo (I might regret this with Tomoyo’s After), Yuuichi x Nayuki and Otonashi x Iwasawa. These are my main choices. There are others that I consider, but they don’t fit enough IMO for me to post them here.
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