Clannad ~After Story~ [ep 7]

ITT nice gangsters.

Yukine’s arc begins with a bit less than a bang, though Clannad continues to keep up its balance between comedy and slice of life. I’ve just gotta stop thinking of this as a tear-jerker…and sadly, by the time I will myself to do that, we’ll probably arrive at the tear-jerking parts.

Looks like Sunohara’s luck hasn’t improved…not that anyone expected it to.

She sure attracts the strangest of acquaintances, doesn’t she?

More stereotypical GAR, but thankfully this guy isn’t too important, and the whole Tomoya/Sunohara arc a few weeks back was surprisingly awesome.

Who in their right mind would mistake Sunohara for a gang member?

I think he’s getting just a little in over his head…

It took you that long to notice?

Unsurprisingly.

Like we’ve all probably noticed by now, we can leave it to Clannad to weave the themes of family into virtually anything. A stereotypical VN-style romance was one thing, and the stereotypical VN-style tragic romance was quite fitting as well…but giving the harem lead’s best friend an actual story? Giving the harem lead’s best friend’s dormkeeper an actual story? And here we are, with a seemingly ordinary visual novel girl that just so happens to have ties to gangsters who don’t appear to be all that evil after all.

Ultimately, though, I can’t bring myself to complain. I can’t bring myself to analyze any of this either – frankly, there isn’t much to comment on – but I also don’t think I should be whining. After all, creativity is the key when it comes to genres like this that so often fall victim to cliche, and I never once felt bored during an episode of After Story. It’s great to see the side characters getting developed, and it’s something that’s virtually unheard of in terms of VNs, so I’m pleased to see just how fleshed out this entire plot is. It’s quickly making me classify Clannad less as “typical Key brilliance” and more as “comedy/slice of life with a unique twist”, the unique twist being that it just so happens to be related to Key.

With all of that said, I suppose I’m just looking forward to the next episode. It looks like we’re headed for something involving high school dropouts that aren’t really that bad, which generally isn’t my thing, but I have enough faith in the original material and in KyoAni that they’ll pull through. A pair of guys engaging in a fistfight against injustice, only to later fight one another for the sake of a loved one is most definitely not my thing, but that worked out surprisingly well, so I guess we’ll just see how it goes. For now, I’ll satisfy myself by listening to the OP over and over again – it’s a really good song.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

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