All opinions and views are purely subjective, but while I may be less experienced with every Key Visual Novel and anime adaptation I still think Clannad is the best series Key has. Keep in mind that the opinions of other Key series I share are based mostly upon the animes, since I haven’t read many Key VN’s at this point in time.
One of the big standouts in my opinion in both the Visual Novel and the anime of Clannad is how much the protagonist changes. Sure, there is ample change in many of the protagonists in Key’s work but Tomoya I felt like had his personality brought out differently in each character’s route and interactions with him. His gentle side was brought up with Nagisa and Ryou, his patient and dedicated side with Kotori, his immature and introspective side with Tomoya, his cruel side in Sunohara… I could go on but I think I made my point. This made the protagonist be more than just a self-insert one since he had a bias one way or another. This is especially evident when comparing the anime adaptations, since I felt like both Riki and Yuuichi, for the most part, were written as a typical self-insert Visual Novel protagonist.
Another big thing character wise is the characters themselves. Clannad does have the advantages over others wherein we see where the other characters go after High School and even at times get further development from them in After Story. Now many of the characters across all Key series all had individual goals and motivations but Clannad shows what the characters ended up doing and how they fit into society now while also helping Tomoya grow in some way. It made the characters feel more real (by real I mean like I felt as if they felt like they gave the illusion of being real people I knew in real life) and I felt like each end in a route had a meaningful impact on everyone. Additionally, people entered and re-entered his life and they all felt vital and purposeful in pushing Tomoya, the themes, and the narrative forward in a cohesive way. To an extent, this can also be argued for Little Busters, but I didn’t feel as if they were quite as real. Sometimes, I felt like the characters were a bit hollow or because of the anime adaptation, they weren’t given sufficient time. That view may change when the LB VN releases on Steam, but we’ll see.
There is also the setting to consider and while I like the more realistic and plain locales of Kanon and Air, I feel as if they town itself in Clannad was its own personified attributes. The environment the characters are in plays a pivotal role in their development and I feel like since the town was given frequent mention by Okazaki and especially Akio, it made it feel like less of a backdrop and more of a real place where people exist in. It shows the suffocation, idleness and gossipy that a more secluded and rural community has as well as the tight-knit and closeness as well. It also highlights how much memories and events are tied to a place as the characters discuss their pasts with Tomoya. It creates and influences their outlook immensely and I felt that is a unique thing that most Key series don’t always have.
In a given Key series, there are a few tracks I find myself returning to relisten and relive memories. With Clannad, I felt the entire soundtrack was filled with memorable track after track and eventually it became nearly impossible to pick my favourite. The intro music I felt was soothing and calming, setting the mood perfectly when loading the game each time. And that goes for the rest of the soundtrack too. All the tracks were memorable in their own way and stood out to me, making an unbreakable link between the song and the scene where it plays in.
Lastly, to every Key series, there is going to be a differing level of emotional attachment to them because of how they relate to each of them. Clannad for me was by far the one I related to the strongest. Without going into a lot of detail, I have often questioned the true implication and meaning of the word “family”. Clannad showed a different perspective and presented its own thematic definitions of it and I saw the importance of having that family unit exist in one’s life. In comparison to the others, Clannad’s themes were very potent for me and were things I really needed to hear when I watched/played it.
Again, this is all just opinions but for the following and various other reasons, Clannad will always likely be my favourite Key series.
