CLANNAD AbA 1 (Review)

CLANNAD Arc by Arc Review 1: Common and Misae Sagara

It’s finally here! The first of the Arc by Arc Review Series for CLANNAD. Now, since this is an Arc by Arc, I can’t really do the art categories and music categories for each arc (ya know, cause, they are all the same). So I’ll go ahead and get those two things out of the way. Also, for this Visual Novel, I am adding a new category called Crybaby, which is a measure of the sadness in each arc, based on how much I cry or shed manyl tears.

ART: 8/10
Now, the problem with CLANNAD’s art is not the backgrounds, those are very pretty. The backgrounds are well illustrated and beautifully detailed, helping to add to the story. The problem with CLANNAD’s art is the character’s faces, or rather, their chins. My God, the chins. Jay Leno would be proud of these chins. Now, it isn’t as bad as I make it sound, but it is a bit distracting in the begginning. You’ll get used to it though, as you see the characters so much. Well, the character designs are gorgeous, aside from the chins. The uniforms are cute and excellently designed and everything is pretty.

MUSIC/SOUND: 10/10
Hm, now WHY IN THE WORLD would I give CLANNAD’s music a perfect 10? If you have to ask, then you obviously don’t know KEY music. AS with all the KEY novels, the music is splendid and fits perfect with the mood for the whole story (I have played this before). The music alone is enough to make a man cry when it gets sad. The sound (character voice, sfx) is as always, superb. I don’t know how KEY does it, but they always manage to get the sound area of their visual novels correct. So, I don’t need to say anymore.

Common Arc Review: 10/10
Well, the common arc is the arc that you play through before starting on actual character oriented arcs. Now, the common arc will be played somewhere around 5 times since you have to replay it each time before you get to the individual character arcs. The common arc goes through introducing you to the characters Nagisa, Sunohara, Tomoyo, Ryou, Kyou, and sometimes others, depending on the choices you make. Since I started with Misae (going by the 300 hour guide), I was also introduced to Misae. Throughout the common arc, you given many choices that will determine which arc you ultmately end up with. Well, as I said, I chose the ones that brought me to Misae, who is the boy’s dorm lady. Sunohara is a bro, adding to the comedy needed to prepare you for the sadness and depression to come soon. The other characters serve as means to pad out the story and get you familiar with them so you know WHO the main characters are. The common arc gets a 10/10 soley because it is needed to make you want to read the story to it’s fullest and because of the way it is written. It is written quite qell and barely ever bores you.

Misae Arc: Crybaby: 9/10
Well, this arc gets so sad near the end that I have trouble writing this. The writing combined with the music is so ridiculously sad that you can’t help but cry. If you don’t cry, either you can’t because of some disease or because you are a sad ack of crap. I cried, and I felt so happy and depressed that I had to stop and think about how everything in the world was sometimes shitty yet it always gets better.

Story: 8/10
Misae is not my favorite character, but then again, the arc is needed to get the reader to understand exactly what is going on in the story, nd by this I mean miracles, wishes, and the plot related light orbs. Misae is the dorm lady of Sunohara’s dorm, who had a sad past in the same high school as the main character. She meets a boy named Shima, who is in Middle School who tells her to make a wish. She makes useless and pointless wishes that he refuses to grant. Slowly, they become close friends and eventually kiss. Misae’s friends, Saki and Yuki, serve to extend the story and help the reader get to know the story better. The Misae arc has a twist near the end, where you finally grant her wish, and this is where I began to cry. I won’t spoil it for you, cause it is too great of a thing to spoil. So I liked this arc, but it wasn’t my favorite.