In the Shadows of Clannad

I recently watched Amagami SS Episode 9.

It had slick artwork and solid animation, it showcased mostly good character designs, and it was rather benign. Few people who are already very familiar with anime would find it disturbing in the least, and the only scene that would even possibly raise the eyebrows of even a total newcomer to anime is the flashback scene of one girl giddily gleefully rubbing another girl's breasts.

Junichi may be a bit of a pervert, in the very broadest sense of the term, but he's the most innocent type of one. He gets aroused by even the slightest of physical contact with an attractive girl, even through layers of clothing. There's nothing in Junichi's approaches and reactions to girls that even a shy choir boy at the age of twelve would find alarming, or hard to appreciate. There's also nothing even coming close to the degrees of slapstick violence found in Love Hina!, Negima!, or even your typical Jun Maeda produced comedy bit. So Amagami is incredibly inoffensively innocuous.

Nice Girls: They Just Can't Win

"No one's going to side with you, you're stark-raving mad!" - Ash Ketchum

"Oh yeah? Just ask your mother..." - Giovanni

"That's all in the past!" - Ash Ketchum

"Listen to me, little boy, nice guys finish last, last...!" - Giovanni

Given the endings of many of the animes with romantic conflicts, that I've recently watched, Giovanni could very well be talking about nice girls instead. Indeed, that could explain why Ash Ketchum keeps moving on from one girl to another to another. Ash is internalizing what he was told by one of his greatest enemies, and hence he's not letting any of the nice girls that he's met end up with him...

A harem-esque Pokemon anime might be a lot of fun... ;)

Kanon 2006 Review

What Dreams May Come...

Back in 2006, I was not active in the online anime fandom. I was already an anime fan, but I was watching few animes apart from those that were recommended to me by my cousin who had been an anime fan before me. These animes tended to be of an action-packed (i.e. fighting) sort, and not of the romantic tearjerker variety. These animes also spread across several years, if not decades. They were not strictly from 2000 or after.

So it's only been within the last twelve months or so that these slice of life, school life, and harem mixtures have entered into my anime watching world, starting with Clannad. When reading this review, please keep that in mind. I saw Clannad (and Angel Beats! and True Tears and Sola) before I saw Kanon 2006. This means that, for me, Kanon 2006 is inevitably measured against some excellent romantic animes, a couple other prominent Jun Maeda and Key works, and animes of elaborately, exquisitely, excellent production values. Nice visuals are nice, and good audio is good, but I'm not going to spend too much time on them here. Because, I have to admit, I've grown accustomed to high production values in the top romantic comedies of anime.

With all of this in mind, I am not "wowed" by Kanon 2006 as much as many of the people who watched it more or less "live" were. I may very well have been wowed by it if I had watched it back in 2006, but unfortunately I only watched it recently. This is somewhat unfair to Kanon 2006 perhaps, but on the other hand, it could speak to how well (or poorly) it has aged.

Defending Moe

Welcome back, everybody!

After a two-month long hiatus, I've decided to make a short return to focus on a topic of much contention within modern anime fandom. And that topic is moe.



No, no, not you, Szyslak. Your dirty secrets are quite safe on this blog.

But the dirty secrets of this kind of moe is what this blog will be delving into.

And what do I mean by "dirty secrets", exactly? Well, 'dirty' might be blowing it out of proportion a bit, because it's nothing particularly scandalous. But they are the sort of secrets that a lot of people would rather not see the light of day. Before getting into what those secrets are, let's put forward some basic facts on anime that serve as important background for our upcoming Detective work!


One such fact is that anime, beyond its own borders of course, is a cultural export of Japan. Arguably Japan's most well-known cultural export, although karate and its teachers were pretty big back in the day too.

What we can easily deduce from this fact, my fellow Jimmy Kudos, is that anime reflects the current cultural norms and values, and hence sociological conditions, of modern Japan. In other words, the rise of moe did not occur in a vacuum. It wasn't simply the exotic brainchild of some powerful corporate executive. Something in the modern Japanese culture and/or society gave rise to it.

Some critics of moe argue that this something is simply sexism, and a culturally ingrained overarching chauvinistic patriarchy that reinforces it. In the eyes of these critics, the prevalence of moe within modern anime reflects a desire within many otakus for weak, submissive female partners.

However, that doesn't really make a great deal of sense to me.

Why?

Well, here's one reason why:

Nobody takes a punch quite like Keitaro does...

Love Hina! is one of the more prominent harem animes, and arguably popularized the genre. Being a harem anime with a large variety of female characters within the cast, it also no doubt contained moe.

If the dirty secret of moe was sexism then one would expect for the male leads of moe-centric shows to be paragons of traditional masculinity. To be real gar guys.

To be more...



And less...


"This. Is. Sexist Sparta!" ?

No, rather...

"I-I'm just the doormat messenger! Nobody kills the doormat messenger!" ;)


Now, don't get me wrong, anime does have it's real gar guys. But it's not often you see them alongside the most moe of females. It's probably fair to say that the target audience for Gurren Lagann is a bit different than the target audience for K-On! Or, at the very least, that the two anime shows are meant to have very different sorts of appeal.

To truly discover what's driving the popularity of moe in recent years, we have to uncover what's happening in Japan that might be giving rise to it. After all, the rise of the internet coupled with Japan's Lost Decade were in turn the catalyst for somewhat dark and philosophical musings on modern technology in the form of animes like Serial Experiments Lain, and Ghost in the Shell.

So what modern issues in Japan could logically give rise to moe?

The key clue is to be found here.

That's a long write-up, but let me sum up the pertinent points here:

• Japan has an aging population
• The nation's fertility rate in 2008 was only 1.37 (a healthy norm is 2.1).
  
• Up to 80 percent of Japanese singles over the age of 30 don't have a partner.
• A "Parasite Singles" lifestyle (i.e. being a NEET) has become more prevalent.
  
• Male temp workers, or those on low salaries, have virtually no chance of finding a marriage partner.

To put it into laymen's terms, this is a growing issue in Japan: Adult males and females in their 20s and 30s that are unable or unwilling to find steady work, are supported by their parents, have not smoothly transitioned into adulthood as their culture and society would have liked, and (here's the key part) have great difficulty in forming lasting romantic bonds.


So, let's break this down to the individual.


You're a Japanese man in his mid-to-late 20s or early-to-mid 30s that has had little to no luck with the opposite sex. You're either just making ends meet, or you're being supported by your parents.

Chances are that you look back quite fondly on your high school days, given how you had fewer cares and less concerns back then, than you do right now.

Or, perhaps you look back on your high school days as a time of missed opportunity. If only you had met that right young woman; the young woman who would actually accept you for you; maybe things would have turned out differently for you.

Yes indeed, you may be very insecure, and shy around women, knowing instinctively that your socioeconomic status does not lend itself to finding female mates in Japan's current society and economy. You may not have had sexual relations with a woman in a very long time, if ever.

You want to find entertainment that offers you some sort of blissful escape from the bleaker aspects of your reality.

What are you likely to turn to? Who are you likely to turn to?

Are you going to turn to entertainment with strong, firmly independent, and very competent female characters who would have no use for a loser like yourself? Are you going to dream about women impossibly out of your league, or at least that's what you think they are?

No, you're going to turn to entertainment featuring NEETs like yourself:



One of my earliest blog entries delved into how K-On!'s popularity probably lay, at part, in its natural appeal to the NEET demographic. Yui's appeal does come in large part because of her airheaded nature, and tendency towards goofing off, and eating cakes instead of practicing her guitar. But it has nothing to do with sexism. Quite the contrary, it has to do with the "Parasite Single", or lowly paid single, male viewer being realistic about the sorts of females he could ever hope to catch in modern Japan. Someone very approachable, cute and cheerful, but a fair bit airheaded and almost wastefully playful, is perhaps as good as it gets.

This even explains high-achieving tsunderes like Haruhi Suzumiya and Shana. The male viewer realizes that to win over a strong young woman like them, the young woman in question would need to be a bit eccentric and/or have a heart that could be won over by appeals other than simple socioeconomic status.


And this is why I defend moe in this blog. A lot of it is wish-fulfillment, but it's innocent wish-fulfillment. It's about anime presenting female characters that the male viewer could feel comfortable approaching; female characters that wouldn't make him feel hopelessly inferior to her or out of his league.


Beyond this straight-forward eroge game-esque romantic appeal, there is another aspect of moe that bears looking at. And that aspect is how perhaps moe is meant to counteract the stiff sociological socioeconomic structure of modern Japan.

Moe girls are often carefree. Innocent. Playful. They are not jaded, or cruel. They are often caring and genuinely nice. They often lack competence but at least they have a good heart.

And perhaps a lesson that comes from moe is that there is value to simply being a good person. That there is value to being a caring person who wants to help out other people, and have real friendships. And that people like this, no matter how airheaded they may be, are deserving of protection, yes.

Personally, this is something I saw a lot of in this anime:


The hatred that Nagisa Furukawa receives from some corners of the online anime community is a bit surprising to me. Perhaps we in the west have become overly accustomed to fictional characters that are ubercompetent. The forensics experts of CSI, the lawyers of Law and Order, and the effective gamesmanship of winning Reality TV contestants.

Competence, intelligence, shrewdness, efficiency, and pride in one's work: these are all highly valued in the western world. And rightly so, they are invaluable to have in a society.

You need all of those aspects to make this possible.

But to make something like that worth it, it helps to have good people with good hearts worth making that effort for. Good people like this:


And that, friends, is the heart of moe.

It's about characters that may be very flawed, but come across as approachable and friendly.

It's about characters that the domestic (and in some cases foreign) NEET audience wouldn't feel are out of their leagues, perhaps even as just friends.

And it's about characters that do in fact cause feelings of protectiveness to arise from within the viewer; not just because they're vulnerable, but also because at their cores they tend to be good people deserving of the effort to protect.


All of that being said, I will certainly concede that moe may be a bit too prevalent in anime today, and I certainly understand criticisms of it under that basis. However, I don't think that moe's very presence is as insidious as some make it out to be. It does reflect on a sad reality in Japan today, but moe itself does not push for a sexist reality.

And with that, I rest my case when it comes to defending moe.


However, I may branch off of this blog entry to discuss fanservice, and one other key point, pertaining to anime today.

But for now, that's all.

Any and all responses are welcomed. :)

The Strengths of Anime

This blog, particularly in recent weeks, tends to focus more on the weaknesses of anime; particularly of modern anime. It does this not out of a love of derision, but as a labor of love.

A very large percentage of the most captivating, imaginative, enjoyable, and moving, works of fiction that I've ever read, watched, or played through, has come in anime. I thus hold its potential in very high esteem, and can't help but to critique it whenever it falls significantly short of that, in my opinion.

But, this can no doubt leave me sounding like a negative nattering nabob. ;)

So, for this blog, I will focus not on the weakness that I sometimes see in anime, but rather on the strengths that I have frequently seen in anime; strengths that caused me to hold anime's potential in very high esteem in the first place.

I will look at what, for me, are anime's seven key points of strength; particularly in comparison to modern western animation.

Please join with me, cherished reader, as I outline the seven distinctive strokes of success of anime...


1. Full Range From Comedic to Serious


From the stupendously stupefying silliness of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, to the slighty more serious but still exquisitely explosive eccentric feel of Nabeshin's Excel Saga, to the even mixture of crisp careening comedy with dark daunting drama represented by Mai Hime, to the starkly serious sentimentality of Grave of the Fireflies, anime covers every point on the sliding scale of comedy.

Having a full range of options between complete chaotic comedies to stern suspenseful stories means that anime can appeal to a large array of fans, of a wide range of sensibilities and tastes.

Beyond that, it means that if you like a balance of comedy with drama in your entertainment diet, anime is readibly able to provide that balance for you all on its own.

This is in sharp contrast to western animation, where comedies definitely dominate disproportionately.

Many champion how "cartoons" are now more "adult" and "mature". They point to the Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, American Dad, and South Park to demonstrate their point.

And they are right in how these cartoons are definitely intended for an adult audience (with the possible exception of early seasons of the Simpsons which were very accessible to almost all ages).

However, as adult as they are, they also speak as loudly as an excited Peter Griffin would to the modern limitations of North American cartoons. That limitation is "comedies only".

Truthfully, North American-made cartoons are less serious now than they used to be. In some ways, then, they are actually less mature and thought-provoking.

I think of cartoons like the great Canadian cartoon The Raccoons...

The Raccoons had a playfully comedic streak to it, much like the streaks that Bert Raccoon would soar through before hitting a tree. ;)

However, the Raccoons also had sincere themes of family, friendship, forgiveness, generosity, and environmental stewardship that are not presented terribly different from how they are in Clannad: After Story and Princess Mononoke, respectively.

And, along with the Raccoons, North America used to produce cartoons like Babar, Chip N' Dale's Rescue Rangers, Ducktales, Gargoyles, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. All of these tried to convey heartwarming wholesome values in a serious and sincere way. Sadly, North America doesn't really produce cartoons like these anymore. Not from what I've seen anyway.

Thankfully, however, anime now fills this vacuum with many of the Key adaptations, and also recently with animes like Kimi ni Todoke, ef: A Tale of Memories, and some of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's works.

Anime realizes that the entertainment medium of animation shouldn't be restricted to pure comedy alone. Anime also realizes that the entertainment medium of animation has just as much potential to move and stir and impact upon its viewers as any other entertainment medium does.



2. Full Range of Genres and Styles


From the badass blade-brandishing Bleach butt-kickers, to the musically masterful moe of K-On!, to the sweet sparkling shojo of Card Captora Sakura, to the eloquently elaborate epic of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, anime covers a full range of anime genres and narrative types.

It is true that the popularity of each of the anime genres have peaks and valleys, but there's usually at least a new anime title or two covering every prominent genre that there is. Once more, we see anime be far more diverse than modern North American animation.

Futuristic war narratives like Legend of the Galactic Heroes, or even the various Gundams, are not something that you really see in western animation any more. And the aesthetic flair of an anime like Card Captor Sakura, or even K-On!, has largely been missing from western animation for a very long time as well. And the dark atmospheres and moods that frequently permutate through out Bleach is equally alien to modern North American cartoons.

Anime proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the potential that the animation medium holds for telling narratives of virtually all types.

This potential for variety is helped along a great deal by the third strength of anime that I'm about to get into.



3. Not Concerned With Political Correctness

One of the characters in this DBZ image
is very politically incorrect.
Can you tell me who it is? ;)

Respect and toleration for people of different cultures, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, races, and religions is generally a wonderful thing. It can lessen boundaries between people, and encourage a greater degree of mutual understanding and sense of common humanity. I certainly do not question that.

However, political correctness, which basically serves to persuade people to hold such approaches, is of more questionable worth. The reason being that even a well-intentioned idea or law, can be enforced overly strictly, become a bit too zealous and overreach, or have unforseen negative side-effects.

I believe that this is true of political correctness, particularly in the realm of fiction.

As I've already argued in this blog entry, fiction is strengthened by variety. By having every point on the sliding scale of comedy covered. By having entries for every prominent genre, and narrative type. And, perhaps most importantly, by having true diversity in character types and personalities. Diversity is not only displayed at the physical level, as is the case with visible minorities. Diversity is also displayed, and perhaps most importantly so, with different personalities.

The problem with political correctness is that it says, to put it as simply as possible, that you can't portray certain characters in certain ways.

You can't have a female character like Kasumi Tendo (pictured above) from Ranma 1/2, who is perfectly happy and content living the life of housekeeper for her family. You can't have a soft-spoken bookwormish girl like Yuki Nagato or Kotomi Ichinose. Going by political correctness, every fictional female character should be strong, very witty, outspoken, and generally kickass in everything that she does.

There's certainly nothing wrong with a female character like that... but not every female character should be like that, just like not every female character should be like Kasumi Tendo, Yuki Nagato, or Kotomi Ichinose.

The central reason being that the more you have of the same basic type of character, the less valuable each character of that type becomes. Hitagi Senjōgahara is an excellent character, but if every female character in Bakemonogatari was like her, it would make Hitagi (and the rest of the female cast of Bakemonogatari) seem far less special because of it.

Political correctness also can make fictional stories, and the dialogue within them, very predictable. Frankly, you can often see the heavy-handed PC theme coming from a mile away, and hence it lands with a thud like an anvil being dropped on Wile E. Coyote.

Due to its lack of concern with political correctness (not going out of its way to be politically incorrect, nor trying to be politically correct), anime avoids these pitfalls that so often plague modern western entertainment.

Its character casts are rich and diverse, and its stories are frequently unpredictable because it's altogether possible that the anime will throw ideas or themes at you that would never pass the North American PC police.

Of all of my seven points, I suspect that this is the one where I will meet with the most opposition by my fellow North American anime fans. ;)

However, keep in mind that I'm not saying that characters like Buffy the Vampire Slayer are bad. Not at all. I'm just saying that a full range of characters, unconcerned with political correctness, leads to a more sincere and subtle piece of work with a greater liklihood of each of the characters shining for their own distinctive elements.



4. It's Actually 2D!

Which of the bottom two images looks the most like the top one?
Here's a hint: It's not the one distributed by Disney. ;)

As you've no doubt guessed by now, I'm a big fan of animation in general. I loved the afforementioned He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, as well as many of the serialized 2D cartoons produced by Disney back in the 80s, and early 90s. I also liked Transformers, Captain Planet, and a whole host of cartoons, when I was a kid growing up.

Saturday mornings were once famous for their several hour cartoon blocks, and I used to look forward to it every weekend, with gung-ho giddy glee. Some kids wanted to sleep in on Saturday morning, but not me! There's no way I'd miss one of my favorite shows. ;)

Along with random video game playing, those shows were the biggest treat of the seven-day week for me, back when I was a kid. I look back very fondly on my childhood, and 2D cartoons is a big reason why.


Sadly, the era of the Saturday morning cartoons has largely gone out with pet rocks, wild 80s hairstyles, and campy sitcoms. Furthermore, the Walt Disney company has, almost exclusively, taken to fancy CGI and 3D imagery for its "cartoons", particulary in movies.

I don't mind a 3D CGI-filled show from time-to-time, but it shouldn't take the place of 2D animation. Old fashioned hand-drawn 2D animation has its own distinguishing charm and visual appeal, imo. The subtle streamlined stylings of a Kyoto Animation have a visual flavor to them that 3D CGI simply can't capture, in my view. And this is a flavor that I don't want to lose, and hence I'm glad that Kyoto Animation (along with many other Japanese animation studios) continue to be influnced by Walt Disney to this day, and arugably moreso than even the company that bears his name does.

Many perhaps don't know this, but Haruhi Suzumiya owes her big eyes to Mickey Mouse. All big-eyed anime school girls do. The big-eyed look that has come to typify anime was inspired by Mickey Mouse. While the Walt Disney company increasingly turns its back on Walt's initial style, Japan continues to revel in it. And, as a big fan of 2D animation, I love seeing that. ^_^



5. Philosophical in a Practical Way

It's been said that Japan's culture values collectivism, while America values individualism. In other words, and to use a pro sports analogy, Japan focuses on the team, while America tends to focus on the star player. This is, of course, a huge generalization, but there probably is some truth to it. A real sense of brotherhood, sisterhood, or camaraderie is present in many animes, reflecting this fact. For all of its simplicity, even an anime like K-On! conveys a sort of sweet and dependable camaraderie better than anything I've seen in western entertainment in a very long time.

Perhaps because of this, the first fictional works to truly take a thorough and in-depth look at what impact the internet would have on our lives, came in anime. Much of the Matrix movies was inspired by anime. Animes like Serial Experiments Lain, and Ghost in the Shell.

A collectivist culture is one that has a good cultural context for exploring the impact of increased interconnectivity, which is, of course, what the internet brought to us. This increased interconnectivity poses many practical modern-day philosophical questions like "Where does the cyber world end, and the real world begin? When I interact with people on the internet, are they seeing the real me, or just a part of me? What is my place, as an individual, within a wired world?"

Anime was posing (and in some cases, attempting to answer) these practical philosophical questions. When philosophy interconnects with practicality, you arrive at a point of purposeful and heightened discussion and contemplation. You arrive at points that can help you better prepare for the future, and to be more successful in finding a satisfying niche in the world.

But even older animes, like the ones starring Char Aznable, would pose pressing practical philosophical issues. These issues also related to people finding a place in an often hostile world, while simulataneously exploring the impact of hostilities themselves upon humanity.

Anime's astute ability to be thought-provoking in a practical way is definitely one of its greatest strenghts, in my opinion.



6. How it Handles Settings


The Bugrom Palace, of El Hazard, is in a region of dark ominous clouds of a purple tint. The Hive itself is very mechanical in appearance, but also very organic. It does make one think of insects... but it also makes one think of the Borg, from Star Trek. And yet, on the interior, it's crystalline corridors and chambers and throne room are luxoriously gorgeous and convey a regal beauty. It is a setting that feels both alien, yet inviting. It truly captures the imagination, as it reflects a vibrant imagination on the part of the setting designers for El Hazard.

Anime has a magnificent sense for aesthetics, and settings that jump out at you, leaving an incredibly indelible impression on your memory and mind. When anime wants to "wow" you with architechture and interior decor, it very rarely fails.

But, at the very same time, when anime wants to put into place a realistic setting that makes you feel that it is very alive and natural, it tends to succeed here as well. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a great example of this, as its settings are based strictly upon real places in the real world. The settings are basically animated copies of those places; detailed line drawings, if you will.


Good, well-designed settings can make a huge difference to the quality of a fictional work, particularly those presented in a visual medium. For a fantasy anime like El Hazard: The Magnificient World, a fantastic setting can go along way to immersing the viewer in that anime, and making him or her feel a part of a grand journey or exploration.

And for an anime like the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, a
hyper-realistic setting can prove very helpful in enabling viewers to suspend disbelief when it comes to the more surreal or extraordinary elements of the anime. I'm of the opinion that the more realistic a setting and central characters are, the more a writer can get away with when presenting elements that some may otherwise find hard to suspend disbelief for.

For example, I've never had any difficulty whatsoever when it comes to suspending disbelief while watching the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, in spite of how it contains aliens, time travelers, espers, sliders, and God-like power within a teenage girl. There's some really weirdness there that many would find hard to swallow, but I never did, and I suspect that couching all of that within hyper-realistic settings like North High helps me in that regard.

Anime as a whole is often like this, as we see with hyper-realistic roads, traffic lights, and electric line poles. The latter has practically become a staple of anime scenes.



7. Romances That Feel Real


Not all anime romances resonate with me, but many do. And the ones that do are quite possibly my favorite fictional romances of all.

The romance between Tomoya and Nagisa (of Clannad and Clannad: After Story) is a perfect example of one such romance. It develops gradually, at a believeable pace, and it never ceases to feel heartfelt and warm. Tomoya and Nagisa's caring for one another moves, after a time, to close friendship, and that in turns moves, after a time, to a deep and abiding romantic love. This love manifests itself with sincerity, as both expresses that love with clear, unambiguous words and gestures to one another.

In its own way, the romance between Hitagi and Araragi (of Bakemonogatari) has this as well. Yes, Hitagi's teasing words to Araragi can often feel overly pointed, and she is a bit prone to pushing literal points up against Araragi during moments of bad temper, but yet... Hitagi is open and honest to Araragi about her feelings for him, and Araragi reciprocates to that in a manner that's easy to accept and feels natural for him given his generally laidback but helpful to others personality.

Perhaps due, in part, to its lack of concern for political correctness, anime is able to present sweet and tender romances that move the heart, and touch the soul.

Yes, anime has tsunderes and yanderes that are occassionally overdone, but many of its romances feel very real, and they're presented with honesty and integrity. It's not hard to see why anime can inspire many people to become passionate shippers for one pairing or another.


I bolded the word "integrity" above, because I believe that integrity is the common strand that runs through all of the greatest strengths of anime. Anime is at its best when it's telling stories in a honest and forthright way, and when it's true to the genres, characters, character types, character dynamics, and ideas and themes that it decides to explore. When its not concerned with appeasing or appealing to any one group of people in particular, but is only concerned with telling a certain story, based on true human nature and fitting settings, in a certain way with characters that can both reflect upon what's real while capturing the imagination.


Well, that sums up this post on the seven key strengths of anime, as I see them. I hope that I did justice in delving into them as I did, and I welcome any and all comments from others on those seven key strengths. :)

Kyoto Animation: My Take On It

Recently on the Haruhi board of Anime Suki, a lot of debate has sprouted up over the animation studio of Kyoto Animation. This relates to how soon it will be before future Haruhi content is adapted into an anime format, and it also deals with just how highly regarded Kyoto Animation should be by its fans, and by anime fans in general.

Basically, what should we make of this revolutionary animation studio that many would say has taken the anime world by storm?


Some, like Kaioshin Sama, has argued that Kyoto Animation enjoys a bit too much hype and praise for, in their view, merely accomplishing what many other animation studios also manage to accomplish.

Others, like Bri, view the animation studio in a very positive but perhaps mildly guarded light.

Finally, there are those who think that Kyoto Animation is the best thing since okonomiyaki.


Here in this blog post, I will try to add something of worth to this discussion by giving my own broader take on Kyoto Animation. Kyoto Animation has enjoyed a rapid enough rise up the ranks of prominent animation studios, and enough success overall, that I definitely think that it bears careful looking at for numerous reasons. In future blog posts, I may return to other topics that I have already hinted at writing blog entries for, so don't worry there tigermoon. ;)


Just to be clear, this blog post will be a bit deep and lengthy, and will delve into the business side of anime. It won't be for every reader, certainly, but I hope that some, at least, will appreciate it.


First, I will speak on what I think are fairly unique strengths for Kyoto Animation; strengths that have helped mould and shape an imposing brand image and reputation for the company. These strengths, I believe, come in the form of a few key combinations...


1. Moe Meets Realistic Anatomy


One of Kyoto Animation's greatest strengths is, simply, the quality of their actual animation. And at least most of their artstyles.

Sometimes when an anime tries to have one or more of its characters look cute, or moe, it goes too far, and the character no longer looks realistic because of it. Poor anatomy frequently results, and this can kind of drag the viewer out of the story. Poorly drawn characters, or characters that don't have realistic body types, can quickly sever the viewers suspension of disbelief, or at least the viewer's ability and willingness to become immersed within the story.

Kyoto Animation largely avoids this pitfall. Yes, Lucky Star's art style is not very realistic, but it's not meant to be; no more than Crayon Shin-Chan or South Park's art style is meant to be.

And, yes, K-On! can sometimes degrade into an amorhous moeblob character design style. But even K-On! has its moments of good anatomy...


The hands in the picture above are a bit scrunched up, but other than that, this picture looks pretty good, in my view. The key strength is the ratio of leg length to side length. In some animes, the legs of female anime characters look far too long relative to the rest of their bodies. Kyoto Animation largely avoids this, and makes their characters look both very attractive to gaze upon, as well as realistic to that gaze.


2. Moe Without Ecchi


I personally believe that there are some anime fans that loves a moe art style, but prefer to see their favorite female characters displayed with a sort of innocence to them; an innocence that ecchi and certain sorts of fanservice can undermine.

Kyoto Animation probably captures this particular sort of art style and art direction, to a greater degree than any other animation studio out there today.

Moe is typically accompanied by ecchi, as shows like Bakemonogatari and the Nanoha animes, display. This may certainly draw in a certain audience that may otherwise not bother with watching the anime... but it can also serve to downplay the moe aspect of the characters. A certain preservation of innocence; a playful lack of jaded or traumatized psychology, is key to moe, I believe.

By almost always presenting moe without ecchi, and by placing that moe within the confines of anatomically correct character designs, Kyoto Animation reaches a certain idealized form of moe. A moe that feels real and sincere. A moe with integrity, in that it doesn't come across as quite so fanservicey because its not accompanied by ecchi.

In Kyoto Animation titles, the presence of moe feels more like a honest and respectable artstyle and/or character design choice, and not like simple lowbrow pandering to the fans. That is my take, anyway.


3. Faithful to Source Material but With Wise Wondrous Flourishes


One of the most common complaints you'll find for many animes that are adapted from a manga, light novel, visual novel, video game, or 4Koma source material, is that the anime in question is "not faithful to the source material". In some cases, this is certainly true. There's no question, for example, that the Shana animes have deviated quite a bit from the Shana light novels. In other cases, this frankly can seem a bit nitpicking to me, as a complete pure translation from one entertainment medium to another is both unrealistic, and perhaps even undesirable.

Why is it undesirable, in my opinion? Because a narrative that may work fine in a novel or a game may be a bit too slow (novel) or a bit too fast (game) in an anime format. Basically, what works in one entertainment medium may not work in another.

Kyoto Animation, I think, are acutely aware of this. That is why Day of Sagitarrius, Live Alive, and Mysterique Sign all contained grand creative flourishes that added content to them that was not present in the source material. This added content suited the anime well, and made for a much more enjoyable viewing without detracting significantly from Kyoto Animation's faithfulness to the source material. The idea is to take a line of novel content, and expand upon it in a logical way.

Viewing the video game battle between the SOS Brigade and the Computer Club from within the game itself (as oppossed from the perspective of someone walking around the SOS Brigade's club room) does not alter the the plot in any meanginful way, but it does make the anime episode more explosive, flashy, and theatrical. These elements are frequently not important in a novel, but they are often very important in a visual medium like anime.

So, Kyoto Animation typically does a superb job of balancing the desire of many anime fans for faithful adaptations with the realization that some novel scenes need to be spiced up to work in an anime format, and some pieces of game content need to be greatly expanded upon to work in an anime (here is where Kyoto Animation's work with Clannad shines).

These spiced up scenes, I think, are often what leaves the biggest impact on viewers. One of the redeeming qualities of Haruhi 2009 was what I call "money shots". These are specific scenes of great plot importance that are portrayed with breathtaking artstyle and animation fervor, as colors and lines and symbolic imagery and striking shades explode upon the screen with a dramatic intensity that even Shakespeare himself would applaud.


However, I'll concede to Haruhi and KyoAni critics that these "money shots" can mask weaknesses. E8 is not a good arc just because of the last few minutes of Part 8 of it. As glamorous and stunningly impressive as those few minutes are, it would be wrong to think that they alone can make up for a bad arc (if that's what you held E8 to be up to that point; if you were liking it all along, then the last few mintues of Part 8 simply make it even better of course).

And yet, I will say this... years after I watch an anime, what I remember most are specific scenes that really captured the imagination and left me feeling like I was watching something larger than life. So, on the whole, I very much like Kyoto Animation's approach to putting an added special dash of soaring sparkling stupendousness into the key scenes of the material that they adapt.



So, Kyoto Animation has many strengths, it has to be said. And, finacially, they have carved out for themselves a very nice corner of the anime industry.

They have created a certain specialization for themselves (school-based comedies/dramas with moe character designs), and they have mastered that specialization. They have helped make the sort of animes that they like to do a very profitable part of the overall anime industry.


Where I think other studios could perhaps learn a thing or two from Kyoto Animation is through them trying to specialize with certain sorts of anime as well, hence perfecting their work with one certain type of anime, instead of simply being a kind of 'jack of all trades'.


In some ways, Kyoto Animation is to anime with CLAMP is to manga artistry. CLAMP similarly specialized in certain sorts of fictional works. In CLAMP's case, they focused on somewhat surrealist works (like xxxHolic) and pretty magical girls (Cardcaptor Sakura and Magic Knight Rayearth). CLAMP hence developed a reputation as producing works that had a distinctively feminine and slightly off-kilter look to them. They specialized in certain sorts of works, and developed a reputation from doing so. So for lovers of that particular kind of work, CLAMP became a "trusted name"; if an anime had CLAMP's handiwork behind it, lovers of the CLAMP sort of works could feel secure that they would love that anime.

This, I think, is what animation studios probably need to aim for from now on; building a kind of brand recognization as "the audacious artists of action anime!" or "the exemplars of ecchi!" or "the hallowed heroes of horror!", just as Kyoto Animation has become "the masters of moe!".


But... it is here that I think it's important to recognize Kyoto Animation's limitations. For just as being "the masters of moe!" has earned them an enviable spot of having a core base of fans that will almost always give them the benefit of the doubt and enthustiastic support, it also means that Kyoto Animation appeals very little to people who aren't into school-based comedic dramas, or into moe character designs.


Sunrise is still, in my estimation, the most important animation studio for anime. A vast number of the most successful anime titles of all-time have been produced by Sunrise.

Sunrise is probably known best for its mecha anime works (Gundams in particular), of course, but it's also been involved in such diverse animes as Cowboy Bebop, Dirty Pair, InuYasha, Mai HiME, and Witch Hunter Robin.

Its range is impressive, and its successes (most recently Code Geass) are many.

A strong case can be made that Sunrise has helped anime's fortunes and image in foreign markets more than any other animation company has.


So, as great as Kyoto Animation has typically been, it's impact on the anime world and industry can be blown out of proportion. It is also a very new studio, and so I'd like to see it consistently prove itself for at least a few more years before always giving it the benefit of the doubt. It's admirably true that Kyoto Animation has very, very few finanfical flops or artistic failures to its name... but then it hasn't had the time to really accumulate many, unlike the old animation studio standbys that have long records that hence will naturally include some disappointments.


And yet, it is the old standbys like Sunrise, JC Staff, Madhoue, and AIC that are the companies who set the stage that Kyoto Animation currently sings upon.

You could say that Sunrise is the Jimi Hendrix that helped pave the way for Haruhi Suzumiya. ;)


And Hendrix didn't need any bunny girls or witches to win fans, either. :-p


But, all told, Kyoto Animation has done some nice work for fans of the sorts of animes that it produces, and I'm one of those fans to be sure. But no company is infallible, and hence treating Kyoto Animation like it is is probably going too far.

Kyoto Animation has certainly earned a place of adulation, prominence and respect, at the table with the old animation studio standbys, but it shouldn't be placed on a pedestal above them.

And that's my final word on Kyoto Animation.

The Evolution of Anime

In recent months over on Anime Suki's General Anime forum, there have been a few threads basically questioning and debating over the recent direction of anime and its industry. Most of these threads have been started by critics of that direction; those critics tending to be people who were anime fans during the 80s or 90s or possibly even before those decades.

In those debates, I've often played the role of advocate for the critics position, since that's the more unpopular position, and I think that it's sometimes good to give voice to unconventional, unpopular positions in order to put conventional wisdom to the test. This can lead discussions into greater depths, as people dig deeper and deeper to support their own positions. In doing so, within the context of a debate over anime, people can learn more about anime itself, from both their own research, as well as from the knowledge put forward by the other side of the issue.


From these debates, and from paying closer attention to recent season line-ups for anime, I am noticing a profound shift of sorts, I think.

And the shift isn't necessarily what people think it is, although it is related to that.


The Anime Suki poster Bri provided data indicating that there has been a decline in anime of the fantasy and sci-fi genres (as well as in two other genres that escape me right now). By "decline", I mean a lower percentage of the total number of animes put out each year.


But, I don't think that the issue is so much a decline in any one particular genre.

I believe, good reader, that the issue is that the genres themselves have changed. But while the genres have changed, it has lead to a particular type of anime to thoroughly dominate the industry (i.e. account for, in all likelihood, over 50% of all animes produced since the conclussion of Code Geass R2). This domination of one particular type of anime is vaguely perceived by fan and critic alike, but is often mistaken for "moe", or "ecchi", or "fanservice", or "lolicon", or any number of anime elements or conventions.

What I'm refering to is ultimately bigger than any of that, and you'll see what it is that I'm referring to shortly.


First, though, let's look at the new genres...


Genre 1 - Avant Garde Sophisticaed School



Flagship Animation Company: SHAFT

Key anime examples: Bakemonogatari, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Durarara!!

Likely Spring 2010 examples: Arakawa under the Bridge


In recent years, this genre has taken off, and has truly blossomed. It is distinct from other school-based animes in that it has a certain level of maturity and literature quality to it. It is very dialogue heavy, and relies on genuinely witty repartee. Animes of this type have a crisp comedic edge to them, but also tend to take themselves somewhat seriously by casting a somewhat darker mood than what many school-based anime have.

They aim to be hip and trendy; they are your College Professor's anime, you could say. They are the animes that you would probably find the easiest to write lengthy College papers on.

This modern anime genre also tends to be accompanied by a very avant garde artstyle and animation flare. SHAFT has mastered this artyle and animation approach unlike any other animation studio. It could even be said that SHAFT has helped to give life to this modern anime genre.


Genre 2 - SuperSpecialSweet Moe School!


Flagship Animation Company: Kyoto Animation

Flagship Source Material Provider: Key

Key anime examples: Clannad, Kanon, Air, K-On!

Likely Spring 2010 examples: Kiss x Sis, Yutori-Chan, K-On! Season 2


When people talk about moe, in reference to entire anime series' (and not just to indvidual characters), it's the animes in this modern anime genre that they are thinking of.

Animes within this genre are there to pull on your heart-strings; they're there to make you feel all warm and cuddly inside, at least about the characters involved. They're there to make you go "oooooo" and "aaaaa" over the eloquent cuteness of it all. When it comes to pure emotional investment, this modern anime genre can touch the hearts of its biggest fans like no other.

Now... none of this means that these animes are necessarily dumb, or anti-intellectual. I want to be clear about that. Clannad: After Story, for example, has a very profound and touching story to it. Its principal characters are very thoughtful people, and its familial themes are not ones to be taken lightly.

But, on the flip-side, animes of this modern genre can also be as carefree and light-hearted as K-On!

What ties K-On! and Clannad: After Story together is that they both have that same moe visual style, and they both seek to arouse strong positive emotions from the viewer through watching cute and playful non-jaded characters try to achieve their hopes and dreams.

This anime genre fuses innocence with a gentle intelligence; represented best, perhaps, by the Clannad: After Story character of Kotomi.


Genre 3 - Lustful Lesbian Love School!


Key anime examples: Kampfer, Ikki Tousen

Likely Spring 2010 examples: B Gotta H Kei, Ikki Tousen: Xtreme Xecutor

This anime genre is basically the modern version of the ecchi genre. You can even think of this title as just "ecchi" if you wish. However, it's a bit more precise than ecchi in that it is always based within a school setting.



Genre 4 - Action School


Flagship Source Material Provider: Ryukishi07

Key anime examples: Higurashi no naku koro ni, Okami Kakushi, Mai HiME

Likely Spring 2010 examples: Angel Beats, Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou

Animes in this genre fuse loads of action with a predominant school or academic setting. The action can come both in a gorey type, but also in the more conventional combat style of the anime Mai HiME. The works of Ryukishi07 has really taken this modern anime genre by storm in recent years.



Genre 5 - School Sports!



Key anime examples: Prince of Tennis, Cross Game, Ookiku Furikabatte, Major

Likely Spring 2010 examples: Ookiku Furikabatte Season 2, Major Season 6

This genre is pretty self-explanatory. In fairness to Cross Game, it's about much more than just sports... but baseball certainly is a key component of the anime.

Along with these 5 modern anime genres, there is a sixth... Historical Pieces. This is a genre that seems to be rising in popularity as well.


However, for the purposes of this blog entry, I'm mostly concerned with these five.

Why, you ask?

Because they all have something in common.

If you can't figure out what it is, well... you probably should go back to school then. ;) :D


0utf0xZer0, a good friend of mine from Anime Suki, once took note of how little the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya appeared to impact on anime, at least as far as influencing future anime titles was concerned.

Au contraire, mon ami. ;)

What that anime did is become the catalyst of a vast number of new modern anime genres, all rooted to varying degrees in Haruhi's anime.

I'm sure she would be quite proud of this accomplishment...


You see, the way a new big hit within an entertainment genre influences the future of that genre is not always with carbon copies of that big hit itself. Rather, what often happens is that people are inspired by one or another particular part of that new big hit.

Haruhi's melancholic soliloquies and Koizumi's philosophical treatises inspire Avant Garde Sophisticated School

The moe character designs and art style inspire SuperSpecialSweet Moe School

Haruhi's molestation of Mikuru inspires Lustful Lesbian Love School

Yuki Nagato vs. Ryoko Asakura inspires Action School

And the Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya inspires Sports School


The five fingers of the hand of Haruhi are a creative force leading to these five new anime genres. ;)

And, as a big fan of Haruhi's anime, I do like a lot of the animes within them.


But... and you knew a but was coming, I'm sure ;) ... the result is that more and more anime are, I think, school-based.

Even animes that aren't school-based are increasingly borrowing from the school-based anime character types popularized in the Haruhi anime.

Case in point being the Sacred Boobsmi... er, the Sacred Blacksmith. ;)


This is why you don't see many of the traditional genres played straight any more in anime. The atmosphere of the school has spread out, and is touching many an anime now. Of course, a huge number of modern animes are school-based as it is.


Now, I want to be clear here on two points...

1. School-based animes can be great. As I've commented before, it's incredible how anime can make something as mundane (and usually hated) as school seem comedic, dynamic, thought-provoking, exciting, fun, and just an overall blast of adrenaline. A totally cool real rush, if you will.

However, there's only so many ways you can play out a Student Council. There's only so many ways you can play out school-based activities. School-based animes bring a nice structure with them, but because of that, they also bring limitations too. There's only so many different sorts of characters that you can have as students in a school. They generally can't be defined or fleshed out through a full-time profession or career, for example.


2. School-based animes aren't just animes that happen to have schools in them. For an anime to be school-based it needs to have a solid majority of its acitivity center around the school, and/or a group based on people who go to the same school together.


One of the limitations of a school-based anime is that it doesn't naturally lend itself to something that I've come to miss... and which I think anime has come to miss.

And that is... epic stories. Epic in the traditional pre-internet sense of the term. Epic as in stories where the fate of an entire world, for example, hangs in the balance. Basically, an epic story has a major plotline, and major reprocussions within its own fictional universe.


And... as hard as I find it to believe given what the 2nd half of its 2nd season was like... I'm really missing Code Geass now.

Code Geass and Gurren Lagann.

Because they had epic stories.


Looking at the Spring 2010 anime selection, I don't see a Code Geass or a Gurren Lagann there. The closest to it, as far as being epic is concerned, is probably Angel Beats. But that, of course, borrows much more from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya than it does from anything else.


This, I think, may be at the crux of many of the criticisms made of modern anime.

Just a simple lack of epic stories; stories that go beyond the limitations of the school.


Nothing wrong with school-based animes, and these modern anime genres... but they should not completely supplant the older genres of fantasy and sci-fi.

Overall, modern anime is still doing pretty good in most regards, I'll admit.


But we could badly use another Rebellion against Britannia, or another fight against the Anti-Spirals, just about now.


As always, any and all comments are welcomed. My apologies to anybody I may have inadvertently offended with this blog entry.

Clannd Review: Part 2 - After Story

This blog entry is the second, and concluding part, of my Clannad review. This part of the two-part review will focus on Clannad: After Story.


Note: This review will include a lot of content spoilers. You have been warned! ;)


Since this part of the review won't include much background information on my own personal life as an anime fan in general, it will enable me to get into greater specifics. With Clannad: After Story, I'm going to have a couple sentences (or more) to say about each of the following sections:

Episode 1 Kick-off

Episodes 2 through 4 (Sunohara arc)

Episodes 5 and 6 (Misae two-parter)

Episodes 7 and 8 (Yukine two-parter)

Episode 9 turning point

Episode 10 through 12 (Tomoya becomes an adult arc)

Episode 13 turning point

Episode 14 through 16 (Pregnancy arc)

Episode 17 through 21 (Ushio arc)

Episode 22 Conclussion


However, before delving into the specifics of these ten tremendously
thought-provoking sections, I will make a few general observations, with the first alluding to the picture that I used above.

The "hidden world" underlying subplot involving the lonely girl and her lonely mechanical friend was handled exquisitely well by the Clannad writing team. The appearances of this disturbingly daunted duo were spaced apart between good intervals. They never felt like they were overly encroaching upon the main storyline, but they also maintained a frequent enough presence to foreshadow their eventual importance in that main storyline.

The Clannad: After Story opening is amongst the ten best anime openings I've ever seen, and is probably the best anime opening to be featured during 2009.

The background music was masterfully handled from start to finish. There's little doubt that the folks in charge of that would have made fine additions to Nagisa's Theater Club. ;)


With these general observations made, though... it's time for me to share my thoughts on the ten specific sections of Clannad: After Story!


Episode 1 made for an excellent launching episode for an anime sequel series, as it launched with all the force of a baseball struck soundly by Tomoya. It made for a seamless transition from the end of the original Clannad season to Clannad: After Story. The core cast was utilized well in this episode, and it gave fans of each of the key characters something to be happy about. It served its primary purpose, I think, of reminding fans of the original Clannad season of just why they loved this anime. All-told, I have no major criticism to make of this episode. Well... it might have been better if the celebration had happened after we see Tomoya bat in the winning run, but I can certainly appreciate the theatrical drive behind the plot direction of showing that celebration as a "flashforward" before showing the hit that made it possible.


Next is the Sunohara arc...



Episodes 2 through 4 went a long ways towards fleshing out the character of Youhei Sunohara. It took a character that had been used primarily for comedic relief during the original season, and helped to make him seem much more real, at least to me. While Sunohara certainly had his intense and meaningful moments in Season 1, he was so often used as the butt of the joke that it became hard for me to take him seriously at all. This arc changed all of that, all the while providing added insights to the characters of Mei Sunohara and Sanae Furukawa, as well as insights into the friendship dynamics between Youhei and Tomoya.

While After Story Episode 1 served the necessary purpose of seamless transition from the original season, this three-parter served the purpose of maturing the Clannad anime franchise, so to speak. It represented a bit of a break from the feel and style of the original season of Clannad, and it served notice to the viewer that the ultimately cheerful, happy, and victorious endings of arcs that typified Season 1 may not always be the case in After Story.

In a way, I was actually glad that all of the efforts of the protagonists continually backfired; especially the sports related idea of Mei's that was starting to represent a bit of a Clannad cliche. Some of the backfirings created splendid moments of hilarity, while other backfirings served to make the Clannad universe itself seem a bit more real to me. In real life, lasting solutions to important problems usually aren't as simple as playing a game of sports, or practicing with a sports teams. And here, Mei's idea, well-intentioned and understandable as it was, failed.

But while it failed, it did lead into some powerfully pulsating punching processions that were an unexpected delight for the eyes. I never knew Kyoto Animation had it in them to show brutal physical combat that actually had some slight shades of Kazuma vs. Ryuho from the final episode of s-CRY-ed. Beyond even this, however, it forced Youhei Sunohara to be more honest to himself, more open to Tomoya, and more appreciatory once more to his sister.

While I found myself questioning many of the actions of many of the characters in the arc (specifically, I felt that Youhei took more of the blame for the sibling squabbles than what he should have given Mei's abyssmal treatment of him during her earlier appearances in the two Clannad seasons), I was still impressed in the overall effect of it.


After Story than moves from cries of sibling affection to cat/girl love... ;)


Episodes 5 and 6 presents such a blushing sight for sore feline eyes, does it not? ;)

After this two-parter, there can be little doubt that "Katsuki Shima" is the luckiest cat around, ha ha! :D

These two episodes made for a nice break in the action, and a colorful charming contrast to the much more angst-ridden Sunohara arc.

Misae Sagara had been one of the least featured characters of the original season of Clannad, and hence it was nice to see After Story provide a bit of an added focus to her here, especially in how it helped to show why Tomoyo admires Misae so much and the similarities between the past and present Student Council Presidents.

Younger Misae was very easy on the eyes, as vicious as she was to the poor limbs of "Katsuki Shima". ;) In many ways, younger Misae was like a mixture of all of the "other" girls of Clannad; the ones that "lost" the "competition for Tomoya" to Nagisa.

Misae's younger self looked a lot like Kotomi, had the skills of Tomoyo, had the terrifyingly tumultuous temper of Kyou, and she had a sweetness that could compare with Ryou.

There's not a whole lot, really, to say about this two-parter, aside from what I've already wrote. I will add that it was a very heartwarming and pleasing story; in many ways it was like a modern romance fable. It certainly puts the love between a pet and his owner in a whole new light, doesn't it? ;)


From here we move into the Yukine two-parter...


Yukine pretty much spent all of Clannad Season 1 being a cute human female Yoda to Tomoya's Luke Skywalker. And just as Yoda's wise words, but lack of action, had left Warsies wanting wanton wicked wallops being delivered from Yoda to a servent of the "Dark Side", Yukine's wise words but lack of action no doubt left many Clannad fans wanting to see what the girl could do when the focus shined on her and her own life. And much like Yoda vs. Dooku, Yukine didn't disappoint when it came her turn to hold the audience's attention in Episodes 7 and 8. ;)

I found it funny that the rough gangs of Tomoya's city where honorable and polite ladies and gentlemen compared to a certain scummy school soccer team, but nonetheless, their feud had a fever pitch, and many nice twists helped along by the usual deceptiveness and pranksterness of Sunohara and Tomoya. Getting back to that for a second, I liked how After Story really highlighted the problems that can arise from deliberate dishonesty. This was a subtly casted "moral of the story" for much of After Story, and it was nicely played by the Clannad team to say the least.

So was, once again, the fighting scenes that we have in this anime. It's good to see that Kyoto Animation can handle these at least decently well when the plot calls for it.

My only criticism of the Yukine two-parter is that it would have been nice to have seen a bit more of her brother, even if only in a short minute or two flashback scene.

Nonetheless, Clannad gets props for taking three characters that sometimes got lost in the crowd of romantic conflict in season one; namely, the characters of Youhei Sunohara, Misae Sakara, and Yukine Miyazawa; and doing yeoman work to make them greater than merely the sum of their respective odditities and quirks.


And with that character upgrading complete, we then move... quite shockingly to me at the time, but quite logically so in retrospect... to the major turning point of Episode 9. Here we see the graduation of all the key school-based characters, except Nagisa, Tomoyo, and Yukine.


The Episode 9 graduation episode was a startling turn of events for me on initial watch throw, and it had left me questioning the wisdom of it, to be honest... particularly given how it threatened to divide up the cast into several separate parts. There can be no question that Episodes 9, 13, and 16 were all very bold, decisive episodes on the part of Kyoto Animation. Either one of them could arguably have concluded an entire anime series, at least if altered slightly for that purpose.

Those three episodes, as well as the episodes between them, were a distinctively unconventional approach to a "school life" anime, for in their three broad strokes, this school life anime metamorphosized into a more mature "slice of life" anime, it could be argued.

Beyond that, the most notable element of Episode 9 is how it put the focus squarely on the blossoming romance between Tomoya and Nagisa...


For me, personally, Nagisa Furukawa was the main strength of these "middle third" After Story episodes. Of the Episode 9 through 16 run. Of course, this meant that the events of episode 16 were that much more jarring, shocking, and heartwrenching...


The romance between her and Tomoya was one of sincerely sweet serenity, and I heartily approve of its every aspect, facet, and nuance... with one slight exception. Although, even this lone exception can perhaps be excused due to how Clannad might have had to err on the side of pure innocent love in order for Tomoya and Nagisa's romance to come off as brilliantly as it did.

That exception is that... it might have been nice to have seen a bit more sexual chemistry between the two. However, that may have taken away some of the romance's charm, and Tomoya's romance with Nagisa is still lightyears ahead of where most anime roamnces are. The key reason being that it is a romance that progressed at a healthy and natural pace, involving mutual feelings of caring and love that are gradually made more open over time in a believable manner. I also have to admit that Nagisa's amused and/or shy giggling at some of the softer moments between her and Tomoya is absolutely awesomely adorable... ^_^

Also, and to be brutally frank, it's nice to see a major anime romance where neither half is a tsundere, and where neither half needs a major attitude adjustment.


Another strength of the "middle third" was this guy...


Having Tomoya end up working alongside Yoshino was a stroke of genius on the part of Clannad's writers. It helped set the stage for Yoshino's bodacious bombastic backstory performance, and there was a lot of great content that the viewer could glean from that.


However... here is where my most controversial critiques of Clannad: After Story begin. This is the first of two parts of my review that I expect will meet with the most disapproval.

As wonderful as episodes 9, 13, and 16 were, I found most of the episodes inbetween them to be, well... a bit dull, to be frank. Part of it is purely an issue of taste, I'm sure. There wasn't much wrong with the actual execution of the plotline. In fact, if anything, it was too realistic; which is a disconcertingly odd criticism for me to be making, as I tend to love realism in my animes.

But Clannad: After Story showed me that perhaps anime needs its oddities and quirks as much as it needs realism, if not moreso.


For in episodes 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15, I found myself missing much of the primary and supporting cast a great deal. I missed Kotomi, Kyou, Ryou, Sunohara, and Tomoya.

After Story turned into the Furukawa family story, and while the Furukawa family are all groovy characters, with the amusing Akio antics and the sensuous Sanae sweetness and the nicely neat Nagisa, they still couldn't quite make up for the complete absense of most of the rest of cast.

Simply put, I wanted my Kotomi back... :(


Aaawwww... isn't she so tall and voluptuous, yet so huggably moe? ^_^

Clannad: After Story may have been even better if it had taken an episode or two to focus on the other members of the cast. It might have been nice to see a few scenes of Kotomi adjusting to life in America, or of Kyou beginning her teaching career, or of Tomoyo saving all the trees. ;)


Still... if mature realism and thoughtful execution were the main goals for the makers of Clannad: After Story episodes 9 through 16, I can't criticisize them too much... because it met those goals in flying colors.

Needless to say, though, I was greatly enthused with much of the primary cast returning, en masse, for episodes 13 and 16.

Nagisa's special surprise graduation ceremony, and her ensuing speech, were wonderfully wrapped like a gift under the Christmas tree. It was serious sentimentality that made me think a bit about my own life, and my own high school graduation slightly over a decade ago. Clannad: After Story certainly succeeded in causing feelings of school nostalgia to rise up from within me.


And then there is the utter masterpiece that is Episode 16. Episode 16 was one of the very best anime episodes that I've ever seen. It was flawlessly presented from start to finish, with every scene and scene transition just feeling right to me. It brought the "hidden" or "illusionary" world subplot back into center-stage, and Kotomi did a great job of linking that world to the actual world through exposition.

And the ending... and the drama... and the suspense... and the timing... of episode 16. It was a perfect effort shown from start to finish. Clannad: After Story kept me guessing at the actual fate of Nagisa right to the oh-so-bitter end. Tomoya's emotional displays throughout the entire birth sequence were clear and raw, yet so appropriate. It never felt overdone, or underdone. It was just right, in every respect.

Except, of course, that Nagisa died...


When I finished watching Clannad: After Story episode 16, I was deeply saddened for Tomoya and Nagisa's family, but I was simply too impressed with the sheer showmanship put on display by Kyoto Animation to be brought to tears. I couldn't help but think of the expertise of the craftsman even while the picture perfect craft itself tore at my heart strings.


Oddly enough, though, After Story episode 18 actually did bring me to tears. It brought me to tears for this reason...



Clannad: After Story made me feel... really, truly feel... for Ushio. She was born under the most regrettable of circumstances, and hence she was born to a father that, in some ways, resented her for something that was not her fault. I felt so badly for Ushio... and while I also felt very sorry for Tomoya, I was also angry at him for how he had neglected his daughter for a full five years.

Against this backdrop, I just couldn't help but cry when Ushio confirmed to her father how lonely she had been during those first five years, and how she had missed him. It was so tempestuously touching and monumentally moving.

Here I want to point out that I don't cry easily.

For example, touching as it was in the end of its second season, Higurashi did not bring me to tears. Akasaka brought me goosebumps, but that's a different matter... ;)


Only two or three times previous to Clannad: After Story had an anime managed to move me to tears... and that's with me having watched, in total, dozens upon dozens of animes from three different decades. For After Story to accomplish the feat, then, speaks volumes to just how immersive the anime could be, and how likeable these characters are.

Since Clannad: After Story speaks volumes for itself with the general quality of its content, then, I should try to end this blog entry, which I fear is growing voluminous, as soon as possible.


Let me just say, then, that I liked watching Tomoya make peace with his father, I liked the neat reunion between him and his daughter's sensei, and I particularly liked the return of Starfish Girl! :D


YES! FUKO-CHAN IS BACK, BABY!!! Welcome back, she who uses the third person even more humorously than Dr. Doom does. ;) :D

Fuko's Episode 19 return was very unexpected. It was a nice feel good story after Nagisa's passing.


So, all told, I liked episodes 17 through 21 more than I thought I would. They were all handled well, with Fuko's return coming at just the right spot.


But what I'm not sure I like... is the conclussion.


All through out Clannad: After Story, I detected a grand theme of life emerging. That theme is that change in life is inevitable, and that growth through life depends on adapting to those changes, and making the most of what comes your way; through all the tragedies, toils, and troubles.

The value of family is immeasurable in this grand theme of life that I felt that Clannad: After Story was trying to convey. And, ironically, part of that value of family comes from realizing how the lost of one family member, as painful as that is, doesn't mean that you should ignore other family members.


This is what Tomoya learned from his father, and his father's mother. This is what Akio and Sanae displayed in caring for Ushio after their precious daughter passed on.


But then... Nagisa is... retroactively ressurected, I guess you could say. That is the conclussion of Clannad. And while it is certainly a very happy one, I can't help but feel that it takes a great deal away from the grand theme of life that I felt that Clannad: After Story had been developing.


It also makes me feel like Episodes 17 through 21 are lessened considerably in their value by the turn of events. Do the events of these episodes even exist anymore, outside of the mind of Tomoya?


Overall, Clannad: After Story was an exceptional anime, but I can't help but wonder a lot if it's ending was the right one for it...

It does a reflect a trend in anime, though - a trend of pulling last minute switches that seem to go totally against overarching themes. I saw it in Gurren Lagann, and I saw it in Mai HiME. And, in fairness, those are two of my all-time favorite animes.

So, if nothing else, Clannad: After Story is in good company here... ;)


I hope, though, that one day, an anime will stay true to its grand theme to the very end - be it a happy ending where Nia actually lives, or a sad ending where Tomoya learns to live on with out Nagisa by his side.


And yet... if Clannad's most passionate fans were to argue that After Story actually managed to eat its cake, and have it too, I would be hard-pressed to argue the point with them. Clannad: After Story gives you the bold bitter ending of episode 16... the controversial ending that could have been... and it also gives you the completely happy ending of episode 22.

If there's one final positive note that I can make about Clannad: After Story it's that it's boldness is matched only by the character of its cast; a cast that was admirably kept to a manageable and well developed number of characters; something that the shounen animes of the day could take a lesson from. ;)

And hence, with this one final Clannad picture, I pay a tribute to that cast. :)