This Is Why Clannad Is The Greatest Romance Anime Of All Time

Anime of the Week

At first glance, Clannad might seem like just another slice-of-life romance set in a high school. It’s a very emotional anime

Adapted, by the legendary Kyoto Productions, from the visual novel by ‘Key’. There’s even a video game! Clannad explores themes of family, forgiveness, and personal growth. This is shown when the main character Tomoya Okazaki helps girls from his school and after school club with their problems.

This may sound familiar, this is because it’s a story trope used in many other anime. Other examples of the same formula would be Bakemonogatari and Bunny Girl Senpai. But these two mentioned are more supernatural than Clannad.

Check out the last Anime of the Week: Bunny Girl Senpai

Synopsis

Tomoya Okazaki is seen as a delinquent who views life as monotonous and believes he has no future. Alongside his close friend Youhei Sunohara, he frequently skips class, intending to drift through his high school years without purpose.

One morning on his way to school, Tomoya encounters a girl softly talking to herself. Suddenly, she blurts out “Anpan!” which catches him off guard. Intrigued, Tomoya learns her name is Nagisa Furukawa. She explains that she says things she likes aloud to give herself motivation. Although Nagisa insists they’re now friends, Tomoya dismisses the meeting and walks away.

Despite this, Tomoya starts to notice Nagisa more often at school. Over time, he gives in and forms a friendship with her. He discovers that she had to repeat a year due to a serious illness and that her dream is to bring back the school’s drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, Tomoya offers to help, eventually teaming up with four other girls to support Nagisa’s goal.

As he spends more time with the group, Tomoya begins to understand each girl and the struggles they face. In helping them confront their challenges, he starts to see that life may hold more meaning than he once believed.

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Why Do People Consider Clannad as the GOAT Romance Anime?

Nostalgia for sure plays a role in the fans ranking. It might have been their first anime, or their first romance anime.

Why I think many fans consider Clannad to be the best romance anime of all time is because of its ‘second’ season Clannad: After Story. These two anime are so good in terms of romance anime. The emotional rollercoaster that they put the watchers through is a wild one.

Do I Think That Clannad is the Best Romance Anime?

I thought it was good. I’ve watched it twice actually, once around 10+ years ago and another recently with my friend. Originally I gave Clannad a 8/10, after watching it a second time I didn’t change the score.

I think I’ve mentioned this in some other article; my favourite romance anime of all time is Golden Time. I don’t think I’d put Clannad in the Top 5.

What I Liked About Clannad

The Characters

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The Main two characters Tomoya and Nagisa are a usual pairing for the main duo. Nagisa is a shy girl who barely talks, while Tomoya is considered a ‘delinquent’ by his peers. But he really isn’t, he’s just friends with some. It makes for a great dynamic that we see a lot of in other anime.

The other girls in the club and friend group have diverse personalities. My personal favourite character is Kyou. She’s kind of the tsundere of the story.

The Story

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Like I’ve mentioned, this story is similar to Bunny Girl Senpai. The male MC helps girls out with their problems and hopefully finds a solution for it.

The Fuko arc is my favourite. Probably because it was the saddest arc of the anime. The first arc of Bunny Girl Senpai was probably heavily inspired by the Fuko Arc.

Art Style

The old, classic, retro anime art style. I’ve said this multiple times in my articles, it’s one of my favourite art styles. I’m actually watching Kowloon Generic Romance this season, and the old art style just fits so well.

Clannad has the big anime eyes that are synonymous with older anime. And watching it recently, I was so surprised at how the animation held up. The animation is so smooth and my friend said it looked better than some anime nowadays.

Clannad: After the Article

Are these reasons why Clannad should be considered the GOAT romance? Of course not. Whatever the GOAT romance is to you is your opinion. A lot of anime fans consider this to be their top romance anime. Mine is different. Yours most likely is different too.

However there is no denying how good Clannad and Clannad: After Story are. They may not be your top romance anime, but they inspired a lot of high school romance anime today like Bunny Girl Senpai and Oregairu.

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Miguel F.

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Miguel channels his love for manga, anime, and gaming into creating digital contents with a goal to become a notable writer who continues to captivate his readers.