Maybe I just got fed up with innocent-girls-with-problems stories, but Clannad was just too shallow for me. Almost every bit of a story was about an innocent strange girl (ripped off from the gallery of stereotypical anime characters) with a past of tragedy turned to a victim. Of course, the past would be revealed and her friends would be there to help her or cry with her. And it'd all end up either to a cheesy happy ending or a cheesy tear-jerker ending. It's a pretty thing for sure, a way for the viewer to channel empathy.
The problem is.. Those girls.. They were just there for the viewer to feel sorry for =| Drama? The series make none. Almost all the realizations and solutions it made were all something we all know already. Boring and really superficial as most of the characters didn't really go through anything, mostly only the surroundings changed. This is one hell of a ghost of character development. Well, it makes great entertainment and a lesson on empathy. It just bugged me a little the series would make me want to cry simply for the sake of crying.
And all the girls were practically saints, and cute ones at that >_> Of course, it's difficult to feel empathy for unlikable characters but that's the beauty of it. It's just so.. depressing that they make them so easily victimized, cute and innocent, just perfect dolls for the viewer to play with. If there should be a real flaw in their personality, or tragedy caused by themselves, they'd easily be thrown into a dumpster >_> Make a series about a bitchy overweight girl commiting a suicide for peer pressure or about a realistically self-centered depressed person and no one would give a damn =|
Well, Clannad's themes made me think a bit though. Loneliness has been portrayed before a hundred times before and this series didn't really bring anything new to the table on that. Loneliness and a fear of disappearing seems to be a common shared trauma of the japanese people.. However, I liked how it motivated for pursuing one's dreams. It was actually clever at some parts. I appreciate that =P The highlights of the show would be moments like Tomoya thinking about his aimless life and Nagisa while playing basketball. EF - A Tale of Memories did this better but that's one thing really positive about Clannad
Well I got hooked to Clannad, which was actually quite annoying because I truly didn't enjoy it that juch >_> I just got annoyed often. I felt manipulated >_> Often I'd feel like "Right, we all know this already. This girl is not at fault and what's up with all this pointless drama?" When Nagisa's past was revealed as if it was a big secret no one would have expected, I really wanted to beat my head against a wall -_- All this drama and Nagisa did absolutely nothing. I have troubles relating to this cultural phenomenon with feeling sorry for everything. Or maybe it's just my habit of focusing on hidden motives
Anyway, the series didn't really go through anything that would matter. Well at least personally I didn't feel like that. I already knew everything it was trying to tell me and everything was handled somewhat shallow..I need a series with realistic human beings. Why doesn't anime let humans be what they are? ;_; Seriously, the only anime character I'd actually feel sorry for would be Shinji (which is kinda strange..) especially in the end of Eva and EoE. He was painfully introspected and pretty much a stereotype of a loser, yet the weight of the world was tossed on his shoulders. Anyway, it's so off-topic I'm talking about Evangelion in a Clannad thread. The bottom line is, Clannad rarely got real at any point. It was pretty much just another pointless thing that just simply exists as a way for fans to channel empathy.
[add the infamous in my opinion here]
