@Eternal: yeah, Tomoya is ‘the’ central character I guess. I’ve been trying to look at it as both his story and Nagisa’s but I suppose you can’t disregard the first-person perspective of the VN that inspired it. I’ll probably check that out someday of course but it looks like Type Moon’s back catalogue will keep me occupied in that department for weeks to come!

I think that for a certain type of anime fan, Clannad is a tough watch because it’s so different from most slice of life, high school romance, and harem type anime. Like you said, Clannad ~after story~ does something rarely done in anime, it really takes the characters past high school.

Most anime that belong to the above ilk, the end of the story is the “big kiss”, “the confession of love”, or high school graduation, it’s like game over, end of story, and nothing comes after high school. But, Clannad truly moves Nagisa and Tomoya from a emoting high school love to a more mature adult form of love where the couple has to deal with their on-going relationship while dealing with things like jobs, forming a household, marriage, pregnancy, and all the joys and sadness of a adult life.

I also agree with you that many of the college anime in this genre the kids still act like they are still in high school in terms of how they deal with their relationships. Two anime that fall into this category for me are the EF series, and White Album (I actually like these anime) the main characters spend more time in emo pain than actually working out their problems like people of their age should.

When it comes to mixing the real world and fantasy in a series it comes down to the viewer being able to practice suspension of disbelief. I’ll argue that a show like Clannad with it’s floating lights and dream world requires less of this than real TV shows like Lost with it’s moving island and smoke monsters, or 24 with Jack taking out platoons of bad guys by himself and lets not forget his eternally powered cellphone.

I think that sometimes when certain anime like Kaiba, Clannad, and Mahō Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora tread to close to very personal and emotional issues a certain percentage of anime fans concentrate to much on the fantasy elements and ignore what the core of the story is about, it’s easier to just blow off the whole show than to invest the emotional commitment to really enjoy these shows.

@Peter S: I was torn from day one to be honest. Only now is it really picking up, but then it’s getting to a time of life closer in line with my own age (hence why I love Solanin so much). I don’t miss the humour much right now, but I’m getting the impression it’s going to go into serious angst territory so I could well miss the brightness later on!

@Hanners: the ‘group dynamic’ was one of the first season’s strengths; the scripting was really good at times, which is the thing I liked most about Haruhi actually. I’m just wishing the WS versions keep on coming (and hopefully will be the format used for the international DVD release).

@Omisyth: absolutely. As much as the stalling for time seemed like a waste, it’s proved its worth in recent episodes. I’d like to speculate on how KyoAni could cope with an original work that caters for a mature audience with drama to match, but the only on I’m aware of is Munto, which is geared to younger viewers from what I’ve seen so far.

I used to think Clannad was just light-hearted entertainment (that I enjoyed, don’t get me wrong) but the last few episodes have really done something to push the show to the next level in my eyes.

Having said that, After Story did deal masterfully with the “big thing” that crops up later in the series, and episode eighteen (the latest I’ve watched, widescreen be damned!) actually managed to move me to tears, so my respect for the show is growing by the week at the moment.

In short, it’s well worth persevering with it, and I look forward to seeing what you make of the series’ later developments.