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Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Series Rating: 8.8/10

Impressions:

Is it time for me to talk about Clannad as a whole yet? There’s still one more episode to be released as an OAV (I think), and of course there’s the after story which is apparently still in production, but I think it’s safe for me to give my final thoughts on the series. I’ll label this episode as the END, even though it should really either be episode 22 or episode 24, but oh well. I’m going to treat the After Story as a sequel, unless it’s ridiculously short—then it’d have to behave like an OAV or something. Regardless, it won’t change my opinion of Clannad thus far anyway.

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Popularity: 5% [?]

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Series Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

I’ve never been a fan of endings, as I’m usually left wanting more. But strangely, True Tears does such a nice job of wrapping things up, that I don’t really feel like watching any more anyway. Everything feels complete (except for how I was hoping Noe would finally cry in the end). All in all, a great romance/harem series, and a great ending as well. The story, music, pacing, and especially the quality, are all exceptionally high. And you can always argue about whether the characters are well-picked or not, but in the sense that they make the show interesting, I will have to say the writers came up with a pretty nice cast.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Rating: 8.5/10

Impressions:

Uh oh, second last episode already. And yes, this is what I meant in my Shana post. Some more deaths to plague us with…the show seems like it’s going to throw in a whole new cast next time round. Ok, maybe a little exaggeration there, but I can definitely foresee plenty of new characters. And they really need to develop things with old characters, like Saji and Setsuna, or Marina and Setsuna. I’m only stating Setsuna because, really, he IS the main character here—can’t have him being a character with no substance and whatnot. But before all that, we have to see the finale of this first season, and I doubt there will be much closure…

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Rating: 8.5/10

Impressions:

Wow, it’s already the second episode. Things feel highly rushed right about now, but it’s understandable, and with only one episode left, I have a feeling that this may end in a cliff hanger. Are they really going to settle things to a point where a conclusion can be drawn with the Bal Masque? Or will it be something like the ending of Code Geass? In any case, I’m really surprised to see the amount of blood that gushes out of Margery when she’s hit by something so blunt. It goes to show how accustomed I am to seeing Bleach-like violence, which usually involved highly unrealistic injuries and all that.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

I hate how animes can change a character completely in one episode. I liked Hiromi’s personality. Quite a lot actually. But quite obviously, she has been portrayed as the ‘villain’ in this episode, with her ‘leave us alone’ rant and tears/makeup, acting all high and mighty…and I can’t help but like Noe better. I also think it more likely that Shin ends up with Noe, which would be a good move if the writers wanted to NOT follow the traditions of harem anime. Noe has always been the main girl anyway, so I guess it would only be natural. She simply doesn’t seem like hte romance type though…

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

So is this technically the last episode? Well there’s still one left to air, so I will so no for now. But it seems safe to say that the real story has ended (at least in the anime version), so I’ll go ahead and talk about it here. Clannad’s story, or rather, sequence of arks, IMO, is slightly better than Kanon’s. But this ‘ending’ is a lot worse, so in the end, if you ask me to compare the two shows, I’m going to have to say they are roughly equal. Clannad is noticeably more light-hearted and comedic, with that extra romantic element that Kanon did not really have. Overall though, I still like Air better (it was short and very sweet).

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Rating: 8.3/10

Impressions:

This is what I love about Shana—the relationships (when they actually get somewhere). This episode certainly takes the one large lingering issue yet to be dealt with pretty far. They set everything out really nicely, even though it’s pretty corny and (most likely) wouldn’t happen in real life (as far as I know). Regardless, it seems like a tragedy is going to befall everyone, and a greater tragedy than Yuuji not going to either girl at that. Another highlight is Yuuji’s new younger brother or sister (though I doubt we’ll ever see it grow up). That also included some nice character development for his father, but at this point in time, it’s not really significant.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

Oh shit, the next episode is already out. Luckily it hasn’t been subbed yet. I think. Anyway, I have to say, if this really is the second last episode, the ending looks like it’s going to be crap. Honestly. Nagisa’s story seriously has nothing. It’s not very deep and has little substance compared to the usual stories of the other girls. And there’s no real climax anywhere, except maybe when Nagisa finds out about her parents, though that’s nothing big anyway. I can’t fathom what’s going to happen in the next episode, because in my mind, I’m seriously expecting something grand and spectacular. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen from the way things are going now.

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Popularity: 4% [?]