Clannad (visual novel)

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Clannad
クラナド (Clannad)
Genre	Drama, Fantasy, Harem, Romance
Game
Developer	Key
Publisher	Visual Art's (PC) Interchannel (PS2)
Genre	Dating sim, Visual novel
Rating	EOCS: Everyone (PC) CERO: Ages 15 and up (PS2)
Platform	PC, PlayStation 2
Released	April 28, 2004 (PC, limited ed.) August 6, 2004 (PC, regular ed.) February 23, 2006 (PS2)
Manga
Authored by	Key (story), Juri Misaki (art)
Publisher	Jive
Serialized in	Comic Rush
Original run	November 7, 2005 –
No. of volumes	3
Movie
Directed by	Osamu Dezaki
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	September 15, 2007
Runtime
TV anime
Directed by	Tatsuya Ishihara
Studio	Kyoto Animation
Network	BS-i
Original run	October 2007 (?) –
No. of episodes

Clannad (クラナド, Kuranado^?) is a Japanese visual novel created by the software company Key, who also produced the successful titles Kanon and Air. Key announced a release date of 2002 in 2001 and, after postponing the release several times, Clannad was finally released on April 28, 2004 for the PC as a limited edition version. The regular edition was released less than two months later on August 8, 2004. The visual novel was later ported to the PlayStation 2 on February 23, 2006. The gameplay in Clannad follows a linear plotline where the player interacts at pre-determined times to chose several options that appear on the monitor. The game was developed so that the focus for the player would be an intricate plot and the appeal of the five female main characters. According to Jun Maeda, the main scenario writer of Clannad, the title means "family" or "clan" in Irish.^[1]

Both of Key's previous works, like most bishōjo games, had been released first as adult games, which were then followed by censored versions for younger players. In spite of this, Clannad was released only as an all-ages game, which led to a certain amount of disappointment among fans of Key's adult works. Partly in reaction to this, an adult sequel-of-sorts, Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, was released on November 25, 2005.

Clannad has made several transitions to other media. A manga series was created based on the visual novel which was first serialized in the Japanese magazine Comic Rush, published by Jive, on November 7, 2005; the manga is illustrated by Japanese artist Juri Misaki. An animated movie by the animation studio Toei Animation is scheduled to be released on September 15, 2007. An anime series by Kyoto Animation, which also animated previous Key titles such as Air and Kanon, has been announced; it is scheduled for an October 2007 release.^[2] Lastly, five drama CDs will be produced based on the series. The first will go on sale in Japan on April 25, 2007.^[3]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Themes 3 Gameplay 4 Characters 4.1 Main characters 4.2 Secondary characters 5 Release and reception 6 Adaptations 6.1 Books and publications 6.2 Manga 6.3 Drama CDs 6.4 Movie 6.5 Anime 7 Music 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Plot

Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student who dislikes his life. Everything seems to be unchanging for his school life until he meets Nagisa, and Tomoya finds that his life is about to change.

Tomoya's mother died when he was young, leaving him to be raised by his father alone. After the accident, Tomoya's father turned to alcohol and gambling, and they used to argue all the time. However, one day in a fight, his father slammed him against the wall, dislocating Tomoya's shoulder. Ever since then, his father started treating Tomoya nicely, but distantly, as if Tomoya and he were strangers instead of family. This hurt Tomoya more than constantly fighting, and the awkwardness of returning home led to Tomoya's constant desire to stay out all night. In addition, due to the injury, Tomoya couldn't play in the basketball club anymore and quit his school activities. In this way, his deliquent life began.

Throughout the game, the player as Tomoya has dreams of a bleak world. At first, he just looks in on this world which is devoid of all people, except for one girl. The player never sees this girl, but is told about her. Each time he returns to this world, he finds out more about it. The girl has the ability to fuse junk together in to create things, and doing so, creates a body out of junk for him. He is then reborn into this empty world and follows around the girl, the only two existences who are "alive".

As the game progresses, more of the story is unveiled. To pass time, the junk doll and the girl go searching for more junk to build things with. They try to create another doll, but as it has no soul, it cannot come to life. Eventually, though, winter sets in, and the girl becomes cold to the point where she cannot move any more. Remembering a distant world where he came from, the junk doll tries to convince the girl to build a ship out of junk so that the two of them could escape the winter and live together happily. However, their flight was doomed to meet tragedy.

[edit] Themes

There are recurring themes that appear throughout the story. The largest one is a theme on the values of having a family which the title of the series implicitly implies since Clannad means "family" or "clan" in Irish.^[1] Of the six main characters, only two — Tomoya and Kotomi — are only children. The minor theme of Irish words continues with the opening theme of the game, "Mag Mell", which means roughly "plain of joy" and is connected with Irish mythology. The arrange album that was released with the original game release was entitled Mabinogi which was a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts; Welsh is a branch of Celtic, as is Irish.

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent on simply reading the text that will appear on the screen, signifying that a dialogue has occurred. In the original release, there was no voice acting for the characters, but in the later versions ported for the PlayStation 2, full-voice acting was included in order to heighten the experience. Every so often, the player will come to a "decision point" where he or she is given the chance to choose from either two or three options that are displayed on the screen. During these times, gameplay pauses until a choice is made that furthers the plot in a specific direction, depending on which choice the player makes. There are five main plotlines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. In order to view the five plotlines to their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices during the decision points to further the plot in an alternate direction. In addition to these plotlines, the total number of endings possible in the game is thirteen.

The game begins on April 14, a Monday, which puts the year setting at 2003. Clannad is Key's longest work, comprising 62,830 lines excluding very minor characters that were not given actual names.^[4] There are two story arcs in the game, the first of which is the School Life arc. During the protagonist's last year of high school, he meets all of the characters in the game, though the focus is kept on the five heroines in the story. The second arc is called the After Story arc and is mainly a continuation of Nagisa's story, though minor characters do appear in it as well. After Story takes place ten years after School Life.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

Tomoya Okazaki (岡崎 朋也, Okazaki Tomoya^?)

Tomoya is the male protagonist of Clannad. Due to his habit of always arriving late to school, skipping classes during the day, and staying out all night, he has been labelled as a delinquent. Ever since his mother, Atsuko, died in a car accident when he was young, Tomoya has been living alone with his father, Naoyuki, who he argues with constantly. Tomoya was injured during a fight with his father three years ago; since then, their relationship has been very distant. Voiced by: Kentaro Ito (game), Kenji Nojima (movie)

Nagisa Furukawa (古河 渚, Furukawa Nagisa^?)

Nagisa is the main heroine of Clannad. Although she is in her third year in high school, as is Tomoya, Nagisa is actually one year older since she had to repeat her third year after an illness that lasted nine months. Tomoya met her on the first day returning to school at the long hill path in front of school. She has a strange habit of muttering the names of food that she plans to eat as a way to motivate herself, such as anpan. She wants to reestablish the once-disbanded theatre club. She does not have much self-confidence so she often needs help in order to motivate herself through the day. Voiced by: Mai Nakahara

Kyō Fujibayashi (藤林 杏, Fujibayashi Kyō^?)

Kyō is Tomoya's schoolmate, though they are in different classes. She has a bad mouth and is very aggressive, but is known for being a good cook. In their second year, she was in Tomoya's class; in her class this year she is the class representative. She has a pet baby warthog named Button (ボタン, Botan^?). Voiced by: Ryō Hirohashi

Kotomi Ichinose (一ノ瀬 ことみ, Ichinose Kotomi^?)

Kotomi is a school mate of Tomoya'sin the same year but like Kyō, she too is in a separate class. She is the number one throughout the whole country in standardized exam results — she always goes to library to read extra materials, especially books in foreign languages. Kotomi is a very quiet girl and it is quite difficult to communicate with her. In her spare time, she plays the violin. Voiced by: Mamiko Noto

Tomoyo Sakagami (坂上 智代, Sakagami Tomoyo^?)

Tomoyo transferred to Tomoya's school as a second year student in the spring. There are rumors about her being a very fierce girl in her previous school and having a record of fighting. These rumors are later confirmed after she beats up several students from her previous school one day at her new school during school hours. Although Tomoya is older than her, Tomoyo does not show him respect. She has a younger brother named Takafumi (鷹文, Takafumi^?). Tomoyo appears in Key's fifth game, Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, as the main heroine. Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima

Fuko Ibuki (伊吹 風子, Ibuki Fūko^?)

Fuko is a first year student at Tomoya's school. She is always alone by herself, making wood carvings of starfish with a small knife to give to other people as presents. When working on her woodcrafting, she will totally concentrate on it without noticing her surroundings. Voiced by: Ai Nonaka

[edit] Secondary characters

Yukine Miyazawa (宮沢 有紀寧, Miyazawa Yukine^?)

Yukine is a second year student who always appears in the library's reference room during lunchtime. She takes care of many delinquents from other schools, and in particular, people who knew her brother. She's very kind, and has a book with a lot of magical spells that Tomoya and Yōhei attempt to do. Voiced by: Atsuko Enomoto

Ryō Fujibayashi (藤林 椋, Fujibayashi Ryō^?)

Ryō is Tomoya's classmate and his class representative. She is the younger of the Fujibayashi twins. Unlike her older sister, she is timid and doesn’t cook well. Ryō is very keen about fortune telling, but her predictions, while incredibly specific, always manage to be either somewhat skewed or extremely wrong. Voiced by: Akemi Kanda

Misae Sagara (相樂 美佐枝, Sagara Miase^?)

Misae Sagara is the resident manager at Yōhei's dorm. She was the student council president when she was in high school. Misae has a good relationship with the dorm students, but is strict when it comes to the dorm rules. Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino

Kōko Ibuki (伊吹 公子, Ibuki Kōko^?)

Kōko is Fuko's older sister. Currently the art teacher of Tomoya's school, she treats everyone kindly. Kōko is one of the familiar faces in the Furukawa Bakery, and Nagisa admires her very much. Currently she is engaged with Yūsuke Yoshino. Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi

Yōhei Sunohara (春原 陽平, Sunohara Yōhei^?)

Yōhei is Tomoya's delinquent friend. He entered the school on an athletic recommendation in soccer, but was kicked out of the soccer club after being involved in a fight. After this incident, he became lazy, becoming the only student with a higher absence rate than Tomoya. He and Tomoya are known as the "Dirty Pair" in school. Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi

Mei Sunohara (春原 芽衣, Sunohara Mei^?)

Mei is Yōhei's younger sister. Worried about her brother's situation, she comes from the country to town to visit him. She loves Yōhei as a brother. Mei is a smart girl and likes to see new things. She is a fan of Yūsuke Yoshino. Voiced by: Yukari Tamura

Akio Furukawa (古河 秋生, Furukawa Akio^?)

Akio is Nagisa's father. Although he often talks with a rude tongue and plays nasty tricks, he is really very kind and sympathetic. Having a childish side, people find it easy to befriend him. He runs the Furukawa Bakery with his wife, Sanae. Akio has a hobby of playing baseball with children in the small park next to the bakery whenever he's free from work. In his spare time, he indulges in the Gundam fandom. Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu

Sanae Furukawa (古河 早苗, Furukawa Sanae^?)

Sanae is Nagisa's mother. Normally she's very childish and a cry-baby, but when needed she can be very strong-willed and dependedable. She runs the Furukawa Bakery with her husband, Akio. She often uses strange concepts to make new kinds of bread that are anything but edible and never get sold. She's quite proud of the way people often mistaken her as Nagisa's older sister because of her youthful appearance. Besides the work in the bakery, she run a private classroom for children. Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue

Toshio Kōmura (幸村 俊夫, Kōmura Toshio^?)

Toshio Kōmura is the language teacher at Tomoya's school. Seeing how old he is, it is hard to imagine that he was once a very enthusiastic teacher. He taught Kōko Ibuki many years ago. Voiced by: Takeshi Aono

Yūsuke Yoshino (芳野 祐介, Yoshino Yūsuke^?)

Yūsuke is a graduate of Tomoya's high school. He is an electrical engineer who was once a rock musician. Therefore, he sometimes roars with his soul full of rock; Mei is a fan of his music. Currently he is engaged with Kōko Ibuki. Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa

Kappei Hiiragi (柊 勝平, Hiiragi Kappei^?)

Kappei is a mysterious nineteen-year-old young man who is traveling around despite suffering from cancer. According to him, his goal in life is "to live like a man". Voiced by: Ryoko Shiraishi

Naoyuki Okazaki (岡崎 直幸, Okazaki Naoyuki^?)

Naoyuki is Tomoya's father. After Tomoya's mother died, he raised Tomoya alone, but lives with a self-defeating mindset. Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka

Atsuko Okazaki (岡崎 敦子, Atsuko Okazaki^?)

Atsuko is Tomoya's mother. She died in a car accident when Tomoya was still young.

Shio Okazaki (岡崎 史乃, Okazaki Shio^?)

Shio is Tomoya's grandmother on his father's side. Voiced by: Miyoko Asō

Ushio Okazaki (岡崎 汐, Okazaki Ushio^?)

Ushio is Tomoya and Nagisa's daughter. She only appears in the After Story portion of the game. Voiced by: Satomi Koorogi

[edit] Release and reception

Clannad was first introduced to the public on April 28, 2004, playable only for the PC, as a limited edition version, in DVD-ROM format. It retailed for 7,500 yen (~US$62.33) before tax.^[5] The regular edition went on sale less than two months later on August 6, 2004 and retailed for the same price as the limited edition. A consumer console port of the game for the PlayStation 2 was released on February 23, 2006, retailing for 7,560 yen (~US$62.83), including tax.^[6]

According to a national ranking of how well bishōjo games sold nationally in Japan, the Clannad limited edition PC release premiered at number one in the rankings.^[7] It stayed at number one for the next ranking, but was bumped down to forty-six out of fifty in the ranking after that.^[8] The final ranking for the original release was during the first two weeks of June 2004 when it was ranked at fortieth place.^[9] The Clannad regular edition PC release premiered at number twenty-six in the rankings.^[10] The next, and last, two rankings for the regular edition were at thirty-seven and forty-one.^[11] Clannad was the third most widely sold game of 2004 on Getchu.com, just behind Fate/stay night.^[12] The PlayStation 2 version was the tenth highest selling video game in Japan according to a sales chart for the week ending on February 26, 2006; it sold 28,986 units.^[13] The PlayStation 2 release in 2006 was reviewed by the Japanese video game magazine Famitsu that is known for its tough criticism. The game had an overall score of 26/40 (out of the four individual review scores of 7, 7, 6, and 6).^[14]

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Books and publications

A magazined-sized thirty-nine-page book called pre-Clannad was released on April 15, 2004 containing images from the visual novel along with short explanations of the characters. Production sketches were included showing what images looked like when they were initially being drawn; the book was published by Soft Bank Creative.

A set of fourteen illustrated short stories which extended Clannad's story were serialized between the September 2004 and October 2005 issue of the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine, published by MediaWorks. The title of the collection was Official Another Story Clannad: Hikari Mimamoru Sakamichi de (Official Another Story Clannad 光見守る坂道で, Official Another Story Clannad: Hikari Mimamoru Sakamichi de^?) The installments were written by Key's scenario staff and each story was accompanied by illustrations by Japanese artist GotoP. Two more stories were included when they were collected into a bound volume for sale on November 25, 2005, containing 103 pages.

[edit] Manga

A Clannad manga was first serialized in the Japanese magazine Comic Rush on November 7, 2005. While the manga is still being serialized, the chapters already released have been collected into three separate volumes published by Jive; the third volume came out on December 7, 2006. The story was adapted from the visual novel version that preceded it, and was illustrated by Japanese artist Juri Misaki. The first two volumes contain six chapters each, while the third volume contains seven chapters.

[edit] Drama CDs

It has been announced that there will be five drama CDs based on the Clannad series. The first is set to go on sale in Japan on April 25, 2007 as a limited edition with an extra track added. The second will follow on May 25, 2007.^[3] Each CD will focus on a different heroine in Clannad's story: Volume one will focus on Nagisa Furukawa, and volume two will focus on Kotomi Ichinose.

[edit] Movie

A Clannad movie, animated by Toei Animation (the same team who worked on the original Kanon anime and Air movie) is scheduled for release on September 15, 2007, directed by the same director of the Air movie, Osamu Dezaki.^[15]

[edit] Anime

On March 15, 2007, Japanese television station BS-i announced a Clannad anime series^[16] to be produced by Kyoto Animation and directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, the creative staff behind Air, Kanon, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime. It may be scheduled for an October 2007 release,^[2] although no official date has been given yet.

[edit] Music

Main article: List of Clannad soundtracks

Between the time before the original game's release in 2004 and the announcement for the movie in 2007, six albums were released related to the Clannad series. The first album, an image vocal album entitled Sorarado, had six tracks and was released prior to the visual novel on December 28, 2003 in order to promote the game. An arranged album entitled Mabinogi Clannad arrange album was first released with the limited edition PC version. The next album that followed was the Clannad original soundtrack released on August 13, 2004. Another image vocal album went on sale on December 28, 2004 called Sorarado Append. That same day, a remix album, -memento- was released. The final album, entitled Piano no Mori, featured five of the songs from the game in piano versions; the other five songs on the album were piano versions from Clannad's sequel Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life. Piano no Mori went on sale in Japan on December 29, 2005.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Key's official Clannad website
• Interchannel's offical Clannad website
• Official Clannad anime website
• Official Clannad movie website
• Clannad translation project
• Clannad (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Clannad (movie) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

Key v • d • e
Kanon	Anime episodes | Characters | Soundtracks
Air	Anime | Characters | Movie | Soundtracks
Clannad	Nagisa Furukawa | Soundtracks
Other games	Planetarian (Albums) | Tomoyo After (Soundtracks) | Little Busters! (Album)
Pre-Key games	Dōsei | Moon. | One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
Related	Key Sounds Label | KineticNovel | Tactics | Visual Art's