You know…I don’t really know how to start this post…I want to praise CLANNAD for it’s wonderful story and characters…but at the same time I want to rant about the not so good Deus ex Machina ending, which is fresh in my mind. I guess the smart thing to do is start with what’s on my mind to get it over with…and so I don’t forget it! ^_^’ The thing that made me want to write this in the first place WAS the ending…so I guess I’ll start with that.
If you didn’t catch it in the first paragraph, then I’ll say it here. I didn’t like the ending to CLANNAD…no that’s too nice. HATED, I HATED THE ENDING…is how I really feel about it. The ending had something that I’m not so fond of in stories, it’s something I wanted to write about for a while now, but am too lazy to do so, I’ll get around to it sometime…someday…eventually…anyway, that thing is another gripe I have about anime, that is when they decide to hit the reset button of the story and go the easy route…not only that, that’s not the only thing, they went ahead and brought a character back from the dead…my most hated thing EVAR!
The episode prior to the finale was very engaging and drama filled. I was waiting for the conclusion of what happened to Ushio and Tomoya…but they went ahead and disregarded that and choose to push the reset switch on what happened. But the thing is, they reset EVERYTHING that happened after Nagisa’s death. So all those emotions from the Ushio/Tomoya relationship and even the Tomoya/Father relation was for NOTHING…SO WHY? Why did they have to do that? It was already dealt with and felt ‘complete’!! So why did they have to reset it all!? >_<
That’s not all, no, they didn’t stop there. They even brought Nagisa back to life! *sigh* I hated that the most. I dunno about you guys, but I hate it when a character is brought back to life. I belive it f*cks up the story…like it did with CLANNAD, in order to bring Nagisa back to life, they had to reset whever happpened after her death…so all those emotion filled episodes were for NOTHING. It was all taken back to add a cheesed up story that felt too Deus ex Machina-esque.
It would be better if it continued with the Ushio thing instead of going back in time to redo sh!t…I would prefer a fitting (bitter end) finale rather than a cheesed-up-let’s-make-everything-happy ending.
Honestly, the ONLY thing I liked about the finale was the thing that looked like it had NOTHING to do with the finale…and that is the Fuuko scene. That was pretty much the thing that made me like the finale, other than that it was disappointing…
But overall, CLANNAD ~After Story~ was a great anime. It was an emotion filled with a great sense of humor/comedy, which I believe is the best aspect of CLANNAD. It brings you in with it’s comedy and slowly but surely leads you to drama all the while making you fall in love with the characters along the way. I may even say this is KyoAni/Key’s best work…but it may be just the recent effect talking…>_>
CLANNAD and CLANNAD ~After Story~ gets FOUR Gym Short-less Kyou…outta FIVE!!
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This turned out being more about the finale than a “review”…-_- Oh well!
Open Your Mind 
I would agree. I felt like…although the ending was something that made me “feel” better….it negated everything that happened. And the more people try to justify this to me the more it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Good thing you mentioned Deux Ex Machina. I was thinking of the same thing, in fact, I even mentioned it when I commented on Omisyth’s post.
Like I said on IRC, if Tomoya woud’ve ‘dunnit’ with Kyou, the amount of glowing light orbs you’ll see will be similar to the amount of GN particles a Gundam emits with in TransAm, maybe even enough to revive a hundred Nagisas. -_-
Dunnit does make you happy, doesn’t it? >.<
If you don’t like this ending, why not just go with the Ep22 ending? Nagisa’s dead. Ushio just died in her father’s arms. The End.
The best part about the ending was hearing “Chiisana Tenohira” since I was waiting for them to play that song ever since I first heard it. Why even lie. :p
I slept on the ending and it came to me.
Clannad has become the Neon Genesis of Harem Anime. Complete with a seemingly nonsensical ending. However, unlike NGE, the ending actually makes sense if you think about it. Tomoya hated this town but he ended up helping so many of its residents and releasing Ushio’s light.
If you think about it, it wouldn’t really make sense that Tomoya helped all of those people linerally. He has been looping time over and over again that finally resulted in the miracle ending. Dues ex machina only applies if the ending came out of nowhere. This was not one of those endings.
@purelyshin: The ones happy about it are just the ones who love Nagisa to no end…
@7: Screw reviving Nagisa! I’ll clone them Kyou’s with the orbs or lights! ^_^
@zzeroparticle: I too wondered when or if “Chiisana Tenohira” will be played.
@Roy Mustang: Or better yet, the Orbs of Light cause a miracle…curing Ushio and preventing her death.
And on the Evangelion thing…just like NGE, what you said made no sense to me… -_-
a nonsense ending needs people like roy mustang to completely understand the nonsense part.
true, felt like being cheted out but hey, i got the anime from freefansub, so i know that clannad is not one that i will be buying the dvd when i goes out.
my hard earned money deserve a better anime.
The ending was the unlockable ending of the game… it feels out of space for the anime, but its not random bullshit pulled out of the magic hat. The lights were the badges you collected during the game, and if you had all, you could “unlock” the harpy ending. At least if wikipedia is to be believed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clannad_(visual_novel)
Dude, stop being such a sourpuss. If you want a sad ending where everyone dies just watch real life.
I was actually defending the ending…
Didn’t do a good job there, did I?
woopsie daisy. Didn’t mean to make that a reply to you Raksasha. Mah bad.
Its ok, for compensation I replied to you before reading this. Silly me.
All the emotions and things that happened after Nagisa died weren’t for nothing. All those things actually happened. The miracle was that Tomoya was able to go back in time, and that his family was saved.
The reason I say it wasn’t for nothing was that, through those events, Tomoya learned how important family is, and learned to love the city (and in a larger sense, life), even through all the things that change with time. In the end, he remembered the wisdom he gained, as well as all of the events that transpired, and was also able to realize his wish of being with Nagisa and Ushio.
There’s a very important point to be made here, I think. Eventually, Tomoya, Nagisa, Ushio, and all the other people in Clannad would die, even if they live full lives. I can only speak for myself, but the thought of Nagisa dying to never return really bothered me. It may seem silly, but the night I found out that she dies, I couldn’t sleep, and I was distraught. It just seems so unbearably sad that all of the things that happened between Tomoya and Nagisa would be erased forever. And so, in my eyes, the ending was the only one that ultimately makes sense. In a way, it can be compared to real life. We all die. But, is that the end, or are we reunited one day? Maybe one of the most important points to be made in Clannad is that, ultimately, we will be with the ones we truly love.
dango daikazoku
does anyone know if someone has ripped all the story parts of the girl and the robot from both series’s into one file i’m interested in getting this if possible cheers
I felt this anime had to have that type of happy ending, in order to be received by a larger population, it might be cheesy, it might be out of place and difficult to understand or accept. But it’s the ending none-the-less and we need to accept it as a great story. The emotions you felt were real, the ending you might not have liked, but you were able to cope with the gains and losses much better with this ending.
Have to disagree with the point that the “happy” ending invalidated all that had gone before.
For instance at the very end we see Tomoya visiting his grandmother and his father is briefly also seen. His dad is not still slowly rotting away back in the city. The scenes where he was at last told that he could put down his burden and that he had successfully raised his son had actually happened. They weren’t a dream.
Perhaps the ending is problematic and a bit of a copout but then again, deep down I wanted the “everyone lives happily ever after” for this wonderful series.
The ending kinda reminded me of the “Shuffle syndrome”-what’s the point of watching the whole series and watch the main characters die and then it all becomes a moot point as they jettison all that happened in the final episode? “And all that happened prior to the ending was a dream?” WTF!!
I just finished watching this so I wanted to reply. I think the ending would have been truly amazing if the miracle showed something like the ghost of nagisa saving ushio since that’s the same exact spot her father took her when she was saved. I dunno Nagisa dying was sad but it brought out a lot of emotions and the part where usio and Tomoya went on a trip were extremely emotional and touching. I felt like there was a lot of great lessons there and it was bitter(I cried) but it was also very happy and satisfying in a strange way. If Ushio had just been cured and they lived happily ever after with no time reset I feel like this could have been a near flawless story. The last half of after story touched me in so many ways, I’m not an emotional person at all and I cried many times after nagisa died and felt so many things. If the miracle had just saved ushio and maybe the girl in the other world was nagisa instead it would have been a perfect ending for me.