“Even if I don't cry when I'm sad, I might do it when I'm happy. That's just the kind of person I am.” - Nagisa Furukawa

CLANNAD is arguably one of the most famous and influential visual novels out there. It's earned a cult following for sporting some of the saddest, most bittersweet stories guaranteed to pull your heartstrings and wring your tear ducts. Yet, it's not all melancholic gloom. The story is beautifully harmonised with cute moments of moe and romcom. The Kickstarter for CLANNAD's English translation fetched a whopping $500,000 USD, the highest on record for a visual novel as far as I know. That should stand as a testament to how many people loved the game, despite it being more than a decade since its Japan release.

The game follows a wide cast of heroines with numerous possible routes, including the soft-spoken introvert Nagisa, tomboyish prankster Kyou, studious beauty Kotomi and innocent loli Fuuko. Every character is memorable and unique in their own way.

One of the most contentious aspects of the game is its art. For most, it's something that they'll either love or hate. I'll admit that I didn't enjoy the art too much at first, having been spoiled by the anime studios of 2010 and beyond, but it eventually grew on me. If I had to describe the art I'd say that it's unpolished, but endearing, much like the art of Higurashi When They Cry.

(Random fun fact: In The World God Only Knows, Katsuragi Keima's 2D waifu "Yokkyun" was based off Nagisa's artwork from CLANNAD.)

Another controversy was raised over the price of the game upon its Steam release. Commanding a $50 price tag for a game over 10 years old?!

While the pricing is undeniably steep, what most critics fail to notice is that CLANNAD is the longest visual novel on Steam by far, with no titles coming close except perhaps Muv-Luv. The game easily takes 50 hours to complete, and I must applaud Sekai Project for coming up with a quality, error-free English translation of so much text. Also, the game was released in its entirety, and not in episodic/chapter format unlike numerous other VN titles on Steam, a practice which I'm very keen to support!

Overall, if you enjoyed the anime (or even if you didn't), consider getting this VN for a much more fleshed-out story and some unbelievably immense Niagara Feels.

Thanks for reading till now. Have a uguu~