There’s certainly a reason why this is ranked #1 at Anime News Network’s Anime Top-10. It has a depth that no other Anime can dream of, an atmosphere like the Manga version of D.N.Angel, and it’s made by Key that are famous for three things: 1) Writing beautiful stories 2) Killing off major characters at least once per series 3) Playing the viewers’ emotions like a keyboard partially using #1 and #2. There’s also a whole lot of scenes that leaves the viewer on the venge of tears, if they’re not already crying.

AS first begins as just a Season 2 of the previous masterpiece Clannad, but then shifts focus progressively towards Tomoya and Nagisa becoming a family on their own, facing all the hardships and obstacles that comes with it. Then, something happens which I’m not going to spoil that completely shatters Tomoya’s life and almost has him completely break down mentally. After that, it shifts more attention to Tomoya trying to live on his own despite this, together with his and Nagisa’s daughter Ushio (Remember the little girl who was shown running through a field of yellow flowers in the opening of Clannad for half a second just near the start? That’s her). Like Clannad, the base story doesn’t impress much if just described – it’s the undescribably beautiful way it’s performed that makes it so great. The entire plot is much more adult-ish than Clannad, and so serious it makes Clannad look like Ponyo in comparisation. The comedy part is much piped down, as is most of the cast, but on the other hand the drama and romance parts are increased. There are far more tear-dripping parts in After Story, especially what happens in Episode 16, but also a lot of other places, and will leave you sad for hours after you’ve finished watching. I’d like to see anyone watching Episode 16 for the first time without almost crying. True to Key’s signature style, they manage to amplify the smallest of things into huge symbolical piles of sadness seemingly with ease, in a way I’ve never seen anyone do.

For all you fans of Fuko Ibuki (count me in that group) who apparently “died” in Episode 9 of Clannad(although it was actually her consciousness given physical form) is revived and back in After Story and immediately raised the comedy levels a few steps. In one scene she greets Tomoya, who pats her on the head, Fuko slaps away his hand, Tomoya places it back, Fuko slaps it away and they repeat that very quickly for almost 10 seconds (did I mention Key can make almost anything funny as well?), then Fuko runs off with a loud “Aiiiee!!” and hides behind a tree, and calls Tomoya a meanie. Then she spots Ushio, asks if she can hug her, and without waiting for a response hugs her – and spaces out like usual. When she returns to reality she proclaims that Tomoya is a meanie, and now Ushio would be her official sister instead of Tomoya’s daughter, then tries to carry Ushio away and exclaims with a surprised tone “She won’t fly!?”. All accompanied by Fuko’s cute voice acting… She makes several attempts at making Ushio her sister, and Ushio just plays along too.

In terms of visual appeal, the one and only Anime I’ve seen that could rival this animation is the ongoing Angel Beats!. And that’s a really good score, like rating it between starfish and sea cucumbers like Fuko does in Clannad. The soundtrack is the same as in Clannad for most part, and I must really agree that it’s one of the better soundtrack I’ve heard and fits so perfectly into the general atmosphere. Like Clannad, the voice acting is good with the exception of Tomoyo whose voice just gets on my nerves – and I’m not particularily picky when it comes to voices.

The ending is just about the strangest one I’ve seen(not counting those endings that doesn’t make sense, like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Soul Eater). Using a complicated series of events involving two concurrent time paradoxes, a mental breakdown, emotions from another world, an Orb of Light, an alternate reality, a mechanical doll, the song “Big Dango Family” and Fuko they somehow manage to put a beautiful happy end to the parade of misery that was the final episodes, without the ending seeming completely out of place(D.N.Angel) or making no sense. And when I say beautiful, I really know what I’m talking about. I didn’t know it was even possible to make a happily-ever-after ending to this, but apparently it was. While doing all this they also took the chance to reveal the true identities of the scrap metal boy and the girl in the white dress in the Hidden World, the pasts of several minor characters(like Misae), and the truth behind the orbs of light.

First watch Clannad here if you haven’t already after my last post, then the moment you’re done, watch After Story here. Or, if you prefer to download it to your iPhone/PSP, you can do so here for Clannad and here for After Story. If you want it on your iPhone, you can jack iTunes’ TV-Show feature by renaming the files from .mp4 to .m4v, importing them to iTunes, opening the Info dialog, filling in the Series, Season, Episode and Episode ID fields on the Video tab, and on the Options tab choose “Media Type: TV-Show” on all of them. The last one can be batched by selecting all of the episodes and applying it to the combined info dialog. Sync, and you’ll have a whole bunch of Anime Episodes to enjoy on the bus or during breaks in school.

Screenshots by Random Curiosity. Used with permission.