CLANNAD!!!!!
Clannad (クラナド Kuranado?) is a Japanese
visual novel created by the software company
Key, who also produced the successful titles
Kanon and
Air. Key released a limited version for the
PC on April 28, 2004, and the regular version less than four months later on August 8, 2004. The visual novel was later
ported to the
PlayStation 2,
PlayStation Portable,
Xbox 360, and
PlayStation 3. The
gameplay in
Clannadfollows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the five female main characters.
While both of Key's first two previous works,
Kanon and
Air, had been released first as
adult games and then censored for the younger market, Key's third work
Clannad was released for all ages and does not contain risqué situations or even any
fan service. On November 25, 2005, Key released an adult
spin-off entitled
Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life which expands the scenario of
Tomoyo Sakagami, one of the five heroines from
Clannad.
Clannad has made several transitions to other media. There have been four
manga series: the first serialized in the Japanese magazine
Comic Rush, the second serialized in
Comi Digi +, the third serialized in
Dengeki G's Magazine and
Dengeki G's Festival! Comic, and the fourth in
Dragon Age Pure. An animated film by the
animation studio Toei Animation was released on September 15, 2007, followed by two
anime series including two
original video animation (OVA) episodes by
Kyoto Animation, which also animated the previous Key titles
Air and
Kanon. Lastly, there are two sets of
drama CDs, totaling nine in all. Both anime series and their accompanying OVAs are localized and distributed in English by
Section23 Films. The first
Clannad anime series was released in North America in two half-series box sets in March and May 2009. The
Clannad After Story anime series was released in North America in two half-series box sets in October and December 2009.
The visual novel and the animated adaptations including the two TV series and film have received high sales figures in Japan. Across the national ranking of
bishōjo games in amount sold in Japan, the
Clannad limited edition PC release premiered at number one twice since its release, and the third ranking brought the PC release down to forty-six out of fifty. Out of eight DVDs released for the first
Clannad anime TV series, six were ranked first during their first week of sales for anime DVDs in Japan. Out of eight DVDs released for
Clannad After Story, seven were ranked first during their first week of sales. The special edition film DVD first ranked at number three during its first week of sales.
Setting and themes
The first half of the story takes place primarily at a high school in Japan, which is the best school in the city. Outside of the school, frequented locations include the bakery run by Nagisa's parents, and the dormitory where
Youhei Sunohara lives. Throughout the story, glimpses into an Illusionary World are shown. This world is devoid of all life except for a young girl, though she later makes a body out of junk pieces through which the player can interact with her. The remaining half of the story takes place in the same city, after the conclusion of the first half.
[1]There are recurring themes that appear throughout the story. The main theme is the value of having a family, as the title of the series implies since the main scenario writer
Jun Maeda misunderstood
Clannad to mean "family" or "clan" in
Irish,
[4] but is actually a
blend of
Clann AsDobhar created by the
band Clannad, meaning "the family from
Dore".
[5] Of the six main characters, Tomoya, Nagisa, and Kotomi have no siblings, though their parents factor in majorly in their stories. Nagisa's story was written to incorporate what Maeda described as a "perfect family" with a focus on mental consciousness.
[2] In Nagisa's story, there is a recurring appearance of "The Big
Dango Family"
(だんご大家族Dango Daikazoku?) (a fictional group
mascot for children) that Nagisa is fond of.
[1] Tomoya's and Nagisa's characters were written in a style to exemplify a "growth to adulthood" by the end of the story.
[2] Fuko's and Kyou's stories have their sisters playing an integral part, and Tomoyo's story is influenced by her entire family.
[1] A minor motif of Irish words continues with the opening theme of the game, "
Mag Mell", which means roughly "plain of joy" and is connected with Irish mythology.
[6] The
arrange album, a short music CD that contained remixed versions of songs in the game, that was bundled with the original game release was entitled
Mabinogi,
[7] which was a collection of
prosestories from
medieval Welsh manuscripts;
[8] Welsh is a
Celtic language, as is Irish.
[9][edit]Main characters
The player assumes the role of
Tomoya Okazaki, the protagonist of
Clannad. Tomoya has been labeled a
delinquent, or a young person who defies authority due to his non-committal attitude towards school and general
apathy towards living life; at the beginning of the story, he even hates the city he has lived in all his life where
Clannad is set. He is very straightforward in his comments to others and will not hesitate to speak his mind, even if he comes off as rude during such times. Despite this, Tomoya is very loyal to his friends, and has been known to dedicate himself for those around him in need of help or support. He generally has a selfless personality and does not ask much from others in return for what he does for them.
[1]Tomoya meets
Nagisa Furukawa, the main heroine of
Clannad, at the onset of the story. Nagisa is a soft-spoken girl who has very low
self-esteem and
self-confidence which causes her to rely on those around her for support; she developed the strange habit of muttering the names of favorite foods that she plans to eat as a way to motivate herself, such as
anpan.
Kyou Fujibayashi, another of
Clannad's heroines, is a bad-mouthed and aggressive girl well known as a good cook among her friends and family. When angry she does not hesitate to throw a dictionary at people that she often carries around for such purposes. Despite this attitude, she also has a more subdued side, especially towards her younger
fraternal twin sister
Ryou Fujibayashi.
[1]Tomoya meets a
genius girl named
Kotomi Ichinose, also a heroine, one day at school. She is ranked in the top ten throughout the whole country in standardized exam results of every subject—she always goes to library to read extra materials, especially books in foreign languages. Kotomi is a very quiet girl with poor social skills and it is quite difficult to communicate with her; Kotomi can even completely ignore someone when reading, even if they make loud disturbances around her.
Clannad's fourth heroine is a second-year student named
Tomoyo Sakagami who transfers into Tomoya's school. Tomoyo, like Kyou, can be extremely aggressive, and Tomoyo is a very strong fighter, preferring to use kicking over punching, and is very athletic. Although Tomoya is older than her, Tomoyo does not show him his due respect as a senior student.
[1] Tomoyo appears in Key's fifth game,
Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, as the main heroine.
[10]The last main heroine in
Clannad is a first-year student named
Fuko Ibuki who has a distant attitude towards others and, before she met Tomoya, was generally seen alone by herself making wood carvings of
starfish with a small knife to give to others as presents. Fuko is extremely enthralled by starfish, or things that are star-shaped, and will often go into short
euphoric bouts where her awareness of her surroundings is completely overtaken.
[1]Clannad's story revolves around Tomoya Okazaki, a third year high school student who dislikes his life. Tomoya's mother (Atsuko) died when Tomoya was young, leaving his father (Naoyuki) to raise him. After the accident, Tomoya's father turned to
alcohol and
gambling, and held frequent fights with his son. One day, Naoyuki, again arguing with his son, slammed Tomoya against the wall, dislocating Tomoya's shoulder. Ever since then, his father has treated Tomoya nicely, but distantly, as if Tomoya and he were strangers rather than a family. This hurts Tomoya more than his previous relationship with his father, and the awkwardness of returning home leads Tomoya constantly to stay out all night. Additionally, the injury disables Tomoya from participating in his basketball club, and pushes him to distance himself from his school and other activities. Thus his delinquent life begins. Tomoya's good friend Youhei Sunohara, who got thrown out of the soccer club for a dispute, is also a delinquent and often hangs out in his dorm room with Tomoya doing nothing much.
The story opens on Monday April 14, 2003 at the beginning of the school year,
[1] when Tomoya meets by chance Nagisa Furukawa, a soft-spoken girl one year older than him who is repeating her last year in high school due to being sick much of the previous year. Her goal is to join the drama club which she was unable to do due to her sickness, but they find that the drama club was disbanded after the few remaining members graduated. Since Tomoya has a lot of time to kill, he starts to help Nagisa in reforming the drama club. During this period, Tomoya meets and hangs out with several other girls who he gets to know well and help with their individual problems.
[edit]After Story
In the second part of the story, which starts immediately after the end of the first part but extends into the next ten years, Tomoya and Nagisa live together as a family. Tomoya has to endure several hardships that the family has been suffering from, mainly involving Nagisa's illness. Just after Nagisa
gives birth to their daughter
Ushio, Nagisa dies, leaving Tomoya to fall into a state of depression. This causes Nagisa's parents,
Akio and
Sanae to look after Ushio. Five years later, Tomoya meets
Shino Okazaki, his grandmother on his father's side. Shino explains to Tomoya about his father's past and tragedy, similar to Tomoya's current situation after Nagisa's death. After hearing that, Tomoya decides to raise Ushio and acknowledge Naoyuki as his father. Shortly after Tomoya regains his purpose for living, Ushio is struck with the same disease as Nagisa. Tomoya, Sanae and Akio struggle to save Ushio, with Tomoya retiring from his job, but all efforts are futile. In the coming winter, wanting to do anything for Ushio, Tomoya decides to take Ushio on a trip, but Ushio falls unconscious and dies shortly after.
Tomoya's psychology developed in his dreams of a bleak world where small orbs of light float around called the Illusionary World
(幻想世界Gensō Sekai?). In the first few dreams, he sees a world devoid of all life except for one girl (and grass). Each time he dreams, he finds out more about the world. Tomoya discovers the girl has a special ability to fuse junk together to create new things, with which she creates a body for him. Thus he is reborn in this world, and fills time following the girl around. Tomoya conceives that only the two of them are "alive". To pass time, Tomoya and the girl try to build another doll with more junk they find, but as it has no soul, it fails to come to life. Remembering a distant world where he came from, Tomoya convinces the girl to build a ship so that the two can escape the approaching winter and continue a happy life. Eventually, winter sets in, and the girl becomes cold to the point where she cannot move any more. Upon meeting this tragedy, the girl tells Tomoya that he has another chance to go back and make things right. To do so, he must collect certain "lights" (symbols of happiness) similar to those floating around in the Illusionary World. If all the "lights" are collected throughout both story parts, a chance to save Nagisa from dying in childbirth will become available, and the true ending where Nagisa survives and lives with Tomoya and their daughter Ushio will also become available.
