Clannad (film)
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''Clannad'' is a 2007 Japanese animated
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Osamu Dezaki , also known as , , or , was a Japanese anime director and screenwriter.
and based on the visual novel of the same name developed by Key.
Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...
announced at the Tokyo Anime Fair on March 23, 2006 that an animated film would be produced, and was released theatrically by
Toei Company () (also styled TOEI) is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution and video game developer and publishing company. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan (all but two of them operated by ...
on September 15, 2007. The film is a reinterpretation of the ''Clannad'' storyline which centers on the
story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vid ...
of the female lead
Nagisa Furukawa This is a list of characters from the ''Clannad'' universe, including the visual novel, manga, and anime of the same name. Main characters ; :''Voiced by:'' Kentaro Ito (DVD bundled with PS2 game), Yūichi Nitta ('' Tomoyo After: It's a Wond ...
. It was the final film directed by Dezaki before his death in April 2011. A promotional campaign took to the streets of Akihabara on March 10, 2007 transported in a large black bus with the words painted on the sides. A group of young women cosplaying in the female high school uniform from ''Clannad'' emerged from the bus to hand out flyers and pink and white colored
thundersticks Thundersticks, sometimes known as bambams, are long, narrow plastic balloons that are used as promotional noise makers. The noise is created when two thundersticks are struck together. They are most often used at sporting events. Origin and p ...
to passersby to promote the film.


Plot

Tomoya Okazaki is a male third-year high school student who does not feel at home anymore. He used to play basketball, his distant father works the night shift, and his mother died in a car accident when he was a child. He simply goes to school in Hikarizara for no reason and does not have any interest in school activities. One day, Tomoya meets a third-year girl from his school early in the year named
Nagisa Furukawa This is a list of characters from the ''Clannad'' universe, including the visual novel, manga, and anime of the same name. Main characters ; :''Voiced by:'' Kentaro Ito (DVD bundled with PS2 game), Yūichi Nitta ('' Tomoyo After: It's a Wond ...
. Repeating her last year due to illness most of the previous year, Nagisa is determined to graduate nonetheless. She comes up with restarting the Drama Club. By the time the sakura trees are done blooming, Nagisa has already started hand-making posters advertising the drama club's reformation, with an old group mascot called "The Big Dango Family". Tomoya and his good friend Youhei Sunohara, who used to play soccer, help Nagisa with putting them up around the school, but the student council president, Tomoyo Sakagami, and
Kyou Fujibayashi This is a list of characters from the ''Clannad (visual novel), Clannad'' universe, including the visual novel, manga, and anime of the same name. Main characters ; :''Voiced by:'' Kentaro Ito (DVD bundled with PS2 game), Yūichi Nitta (''Tom ...
, quickly go around using red paint to deface the posters and write 'invalid' on them because of school policy. This angers Youhei greatly and he beats up one of the student council members despite Tomoyo and Kyou's warning; Tomoya also takes a stand for Nagisa. Kouko Ibuki, the teacher who had been the adviser for the drama club before it disbanded, gets involved by telling Nagisa that if she can gather more members then she will talk to the school about reforming the club. Tomoya and Youhei try again by this time making copies of hundreds of posters and putting them all around the school, but no one joins the club. In the end, Nagisa gets Tomoya and Youhei to sign up, and she reassures them that she will not ask them to act on stage. The drama club is reformed, and with a month left until the school festival. Nagisa decides to do a soliloquy based on a dream she has had ever since she was a child; meanwhile, Tomoya and Youhei will work backstage with the music and lights respectively. Nagisa gets to writing the script, and invites Tomoya and Youhei over to her house for dinner, though only Tomoya comes, due to Youhei taking up a
part-time Part-time can refer to: * Part-time job, a job that has fewer hours a week than a full-time job * Part-time student, a student, usually in higher education, who takes fewer course credits than a full-time student * Part Time Part Time (styliz ...
job at an electrical company with Yusuke Yoshino; a former musician revealed to be Kouko's fiancé. At Nagisa's house, which turns out to double as a bakery, Tomoya meets her energetic parents Akio and Sanae. Tomoya is challenged to a baseball match with Akio to see if Tomoya's a man worthy for Nagisa, but cannot throw the ball due to an injured shoulder he received from his father in a bad fight, and even gets to stay overnight after being heavily persuaded by Akio. Like Nagisa, Tomoya has also had a recurring dream ever since he was a child. In his dream, he initially is disembodied in an illusionary world where he is the only thing "alive". He finds a discarded human-sized doll and uses it as a body to travel around the world on an old bicycle. After some searching, he finds a large sakura tree known as the "Tree of Promises" where he believes he will meet the person he has felt is with him in this illusionary world. When the school festival finally begins, Nagisa reveals that she has not finished the script, but still wants to go on with the play since the story is still within her. Nagisa has her performance in the evening, so in the meantime, Nagisa hangs out with Tomoya and Youhei. During lunch, she tells them her story why she wanted to do drama was due to her parents formally having been theater actors, but they both had to give up acting after Nagisa was born. Nagisa wants to do drama so as to continue her parents' dreams in her footsteps. For the play, Sanae gives Nagisa her wedding dress to use as her costume, much to Akio's surprise. Nagisa starts with her monologue without a hitch, and during her recitation, Kouko gives stage directions to Tomoya and Youhei via headsets. Gradually, Tomoya comes to realize that the story Nagisa is reciting is the same dream that he has had, and is shocked to find that Nagisa also had the same dream of the illusionary world. At the play's conclusion, Tomoya believes that he and Nagisa were meant to be together and confesses his love to her. Shortly after the festival, Nagisa's health falters once again and she has to take another leave of absence from school, meaning it is not until a year after Tomoya's class graduated that Nagisa is able to graduate high school as well. After this, Tomoya and Nagisa start living together in a small apartment in town while Tomoya is recruited full-time at Yusuke's electrical company as well, Nagisa works part-time as a waitress at a local family restaurant, and Youhei becomes a businessman in Tokyo. Eventually, Nagisa becomes pregnant, but her doctor informs her family and Tomoya that if she gives birth to the child, due to having a weak constitution, she may die in the process. After the meeting, they agree on telling Nagisa. Tomoya and Nagisa's parents take her to the beach where she decides the name Ushio for the child. Despite the doctor's warning, she insists that she will be fine. One winter night, Nagisa finally gives birth to a baby girl Ushio and Nagisa dies giving birth. This causes Tomoya to go into a deep depression, during which he does not go to work, or even visit his daughter who is now being raised by Nagisa's parents. For the past five years, Tomoya's friends try to get him out of his depression, but Tomoya is very stubborn. Then one rainy night, Tomoya's father Naoyuki Okazaki comes over and tells Tomoya that he is putting Ushio in the same relationship he did when his mother died, which greatly stuns him. Later, Naoyuki requested Tomoya's friends: Youhei, Tomoyo, Kyou, Kouko, and her husband Yusuke to take him out on a retreat for a few days in order to break his depression, and they drag Tomoya out of his house so fast he does not even know what is going on. Once they tell him on the train, Tomoya is dead set on going back home but Yusuke convinces him to stay. When they arrive at their destination, Tomoya searches for another platform at the station, anticipating this, Akio and Sanae were waiting for him with Ushio. Just as Tomoya begins to walk away, his friends arrive blocking his way, then Tomoya turns around back at Ushio, she runs towards him holding a stuffed dango. She trips midway which makes Tomoya leap out and catch her. Picking her up with them smiling, he is able to see the continuation of his old dream once more, and sees Nagisa under the Tree of Promises smiling lovingly at him and Ushio.


Production

The film was first announced to be in production at the Tokyo Anime Fair on March 23, 2006 for a planned 2007 release by
Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...
. The original character design was conceived by
Itaru Hinoue is the pseudonym of a Japanese artist from Osaka, Japan, who is one of the founding members of the visual novel brand Key under VisualArt's. Hinoue's choice of her pseudonym stems from the manga ''C'' by Shō Kitagawa; the protagonist in the man ...
, the art director from Key who worked on the
visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
. This design was later used as a template for Megumi Kadonosono who provided the character art for the film adaptation. Kadonosono previously worked on two other animated films released in early 2007: ''Fashionable Witches Love and Berry: Magic of Happiness'' as the chief animation director, and the ''
Kiddy Grade is a Japanese 24-episode anime series produced in 2002 and created by gímik and Gonzo Digimation and directed by Keiji Gotoh. The series is licensed and distributed in North America by FUNimation Entertainment. In October 2006, ...
'' film, also providing the character design. The screenplay was written by
Makoto Nakamura is a Japanese screenwriter and producer of anime from Saitama, Japan. Anime staff in * '' Tenchi Muyo Movie 3'': Tenchi Forever (1999 film), Opticals * '' Kanon (TV series)'' (2002 TV series), Storyboard (Ep 7, 8, 11), Series Story Editor * ''M ...
who had worked on the first '' Kanon'' anime television series in 2002, and the ''Air'' film in 2005, two other anime adapted from
visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
s originally made by Key. Finally, the film was directed by
Osamu Dezaki , also known as , , or , was a Japanese anime director and screenwriter.
, who has been involved with animation direction since the first ''
Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan by its original name , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 '' tankōbon'' ...
'' anime in 1963, and had previously directed the ''Air'' film.


Media releases


DVDs

A set of three
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
s packaged together contained preview footage and promotional material that was released on April 28, 2007, which came bundled with a promotional poster. The main feature was a nearly nine-minute teaser for the film which provided a general overview of the important characters and revealed some of the plot. Another video is a short one-minute-fifteen-second piece compiling scenes from the film that come together as a backdrop to the original version of the song "Mag Mell" taken from the
visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
's
original soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...
. The last two videos included are short television commercials, one thirty seconds in length, and the second fifteen seconds. The DVD set was only available to those who pre-ordered film tickets. The film was released on DVD in three editions: the Collector's Edition, the Special Edition, and the Regular Edition on March 7, 2008. The Collector's Edition is sold in a specialized box including, with a special illustrated jacket, a picture label, and a deluxe booklet. The Special Edition was similarly released in a box set containing the film DVD, along with the special illustrated jacket and the picture label, but also contained a bonus
drama CD Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
, and a bonus DVD. The Regular Edition contained no special features and was sold in a normal DVD case containing only the film DVD. Anime licensor
Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...
licensed the film and released the film in both English-subtitled and dubbed format in March 2011.


Music

A
maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, " In the Summertime" was t ...
entitled was released on July 14, 2007 by
Frontier Works is a Japanese company specializing in the creation and distribution of media related to anime, such as producing OVAs, radio dramas, drama CDs, anime soundtracks, or other related products. The company was established in August 1990. Projects ...
containing the two theme songs to the film
arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...
by Eufonius. The first track is an arranged version of "Mag Mell", the opening theme to the original visual novel, sung by Riya. The second track is an original song, again sung by Riya. The final track is an off vocal version of the first track. The music CD was only available to those who pre-ordered film tickets. An image song single by Lia named " Yakusoku" was released at Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007, but was only given to those who bought film tickets in advance. The film's original soundtrack was released on November 21, 2007 by Frontier Works.


References


External links


''Clannad''
at
Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...
* * {{Toei Animation films 2000s 2007 romantic drama films 2007 anime films Animated drama films Animated romance films Anime films based on video games Film Drama anime and manga Fantasy anime and manga Romance anime and manga 2000s romantic fantasy films Japanese fantasy drama films 2000s fantasy drama films Sentai Filmworks Toei Animation films 2007 films