In spite of everything I’ve said, I’m still not entirely sure whether I prefer Little Busters or CLANNAD. There’s no doubt in my mind that CLANNAD is a better-written story, but something about Little Busters makes it more special to me. Maybe it’s the fact that I read it first, maybe I have more defined feelings about the characters, or maybe it just has a more unique story than CLANNAD. CLANNAD has quite wade variation within its common route, where the version you see before each route can be radically different from others, sometimes with important characters being completely absent from others’ common routes and even having different possible lengths. Meanwhile Little Busters’ is more consistent, instead evolving over the course of multiple playthroughs as the overarching storyline unfolds. Maybe that’s it; Little Busters has a vital connecting story that joins the routes together, and while CLANNAD has one as well, it’s much less pronounced, and only affects the storyline once you get to the end of After Story.
Much like Little Busters, CLANNAD has a rock-solid soundtrack. Some standout tracks include Fuko’s theme “Hurry, Starfish”, a song that’s just adorable as she is; the driving, adventurous “Country Train” that unfortunately is only used in a few short scenes in After Story; the beautiful and emotional “Shining in the Sky”; and “Nagisa”, which more than any other should be familiar to anyone who has seen the anime series. The game also features four vocal themes: “Mag Mell”, which was used as the intro for both the game and the fist anime, performed by Eufonius; the regular ending theme “Two Shadows”, with vocals by Riya; the insert song “Ana”, featuring weirdly-phrased English vocals by Lia, and the After Story true ending theme “Tiny Palms”, also featuring Riya. “Tiny Palms” is a particular standout that can bring tears to my eyes just by listening to it; but while none of the others are bad, they just don’t make as much of a name for themselves as “Little Busters!” or “Alicemagic”. Actually, most of the music in general is like that; while many of the songs are good, they seem to blend together in my mind, and there are fewer standouts within the bunch than in Little Busters, or even in Rewrite. That also seems to go for the stories in general, with all of the routes in CLANNAD adhering to the aforementioned formula while those in Little Busters have more variation. And while that variation has some mixed results, such as Kurugaya and Mio’s routes, it also has some particularly outstanding ones like Komari, Kud and Haruka.
I realize I’ve been comparing CLANNAD to Little Busters a lot in this review. It’s the closest point of comparison I have the experience to make, since Little Busters is my main reference for quality when it comes to this kind of game and story. I think it’s a fairly apt comparison, especially considering how much Little Busters borrows from the earlier game. One thing in particular that I noticed was that Kotomi Ichinose reminds me of some kind of hybrid of Little Busters’ Kurugaya, Mio and Komari, in terms of personality quirks, academic status and some backstory elements. Nagisa’s father Akio Furukawa also seems like what you would get if Kyousuke Natsume from Little Busters grew up and started a bakery. I just find it interesting to see where the inspiration for these characters seems to have originated.
As one could probably expect from a Jun Maeda visual novel with basically 14 routes, CLANNAD is a very long experience. My playtime clocked in at just over 60 hours to get the true ending, and there are still secret endings and routes that I haven’t seen. Getting through the common route can be very complicated given the number of choices available, and there are some routes that require some particularly non-obvious choices, such as needing to start Nagisa’s route to progress in the Kotomi and Tomoyo routes, and needing to start Kyou’s route to even get the chance to see Kappei. You’ll want to use a walkthrough, since I can’t imagine how I would have been able to get through any of the routes without one.
While this version may have some very minor technical and proofreading errors, CLANNAD is nonetheless an enduring classic that people are still talking about nigh on 12 years following the first release. Its universal story themes mean that everyone has something to relate to; and After Story is a kind of love story that you don’t see particularly often, showing the strong love between two people that transcends everything as they use each other to support each other. It shows how nobody can survive on their own, no matter how strong they may be; but at the same time, no matter how weak someone may seem on their own, they can become stronger than anyone else with the right support. CLANNAD is a story about unconditional love, both between lovers and within a family. It’s definitely one that gives it longevity, since it’s something that will be a part of the human experience for as long as the species exists. Maybe this brings a certain sense of mundanity to the normal routes that isn’t present in Little Busters, or maybe I’ll never figure out what about Little Busters I like more than CLANNAD. Ultimately it all comes down to personal preference though, and I highly recommend CLANNAD to anyone with even a cursory interest in this style of game. The entry price may be a bit steep, but if you have $50 to spare you could find a lot of worse ways to spend it.
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Review copy provided by publisher.
