The cancer that is killing Kyoani, PART DEUX

Oh, and the cancer that is killing KyoAni? They are too reliant on attention-to-detail. If you read the  manga, the quality is almost the  same as the animé. While this may be KyoAni’s strongest point, it is also their weakest. Without any form of minor rewrite to the script, they are only able to  produce animé that are a bit too faithful to the manga series. So I hear you liek mudkips. And that’s the cancer that is killing Kyoani.

I was kinda wondering why they had that one shot where they showed Misae in a typical porn pose that emphasized how smoking hot she was (AS IF WE DIDN’T ALREADY KNOW). Also, TOMOYO KYOU IN DA LOCKA. Apart from that, the episode itself was a masterstroke in shot placement, pace, and scenery porn, but then again, so was the whole first season.

And again when Kotomi wasn’t needed and still showed up. And the Fuuko Master scenes (which were really annoying, cinematically speaking). And the misture and sudden tying up of the Kyou/Tomoyo route mash. Or the fact that the OP scene was pretty much a Key staple OP in extremely pretty animated form (personally, Kanon did the Key OP thing a lot better. I have never seen such a recockulous amount of effort into SHOWING Ayu eating her taiyaki. Or Mai’s hair. Oh lawks the hair) Yes all the Key VNs have this annoying roll call of characters. Usually the main heroines tho. But rest assured, IT’S ALL THERE IN THE VNS.

Nor could I understand the seemingly unrelated scenes where robot and girl interact (though this originally was attributed to my unwillingness to suspend my disbelief). Which also manifested itself as Ayu’s I HAS A DREAM scenes right before every arc. AND THE END. DRR DRR DRR.

It is of my personal opinion that CLANNAD is still one of the most beautiful works of animation I have ever seen. In terms of animation, storytelling, and cinematography, it’s top-class. But it does seem that everyone has more than just mere reservations about the show, sometimes even bordering onto outright hatred, which also echo my personal reservations about the series.

Which would mean that there is some fundamental problem that cannot be atributed to just the human sentiment of wanting either more or too much from everything (which is still the root cause of the problem here.). Too much attention to detail, perhaps, KyoAni? I believe so.

The problem here is this. KyoAni prides itself on attention-to-detail. Probably waaaaaaaay too much. CLANNAD is not your typical VN, where you can pick your girl and be a happy man (relatively speaking). Every single arc is connected to the main plot (or so I hear). It is one of the most ambitious VNs ever made (it was 4 years in the making and drained a lot of money, too), so any adaptation has to be extremely ambitious in order to meet this extremely tall order.

It’s painfully obvious that KyoAni has stretched itself to breaking point to deliever what I personally feel is their magnum opus (AS IF KANON WASN’T ENOUGH ALREADY), and it’s showing. The pandering (OH LAWKS NOT THE PANDERING), the seemingly un-CLANNAD shots (like that one Misae shot), the sloppiness (as some people has said), all the minor nitpickings people are nitpicking over…

If you ask me, it’s clear that KyoAni has taken a job that is too big for their britches, even for a studio like thiers. CLANNAD was an insane gamble that paid off big-time for Key, and to adapt something this big requires not just extremely big balls (which KyoAni have already shown by taking on this Sisyphyean gamble), it requires nerves of steel, an insane director with an extremely creative BENT (think Shinbo, but less artsy),  and unwavering belief in what they do. And even when they lack some of the things required, they still pull through, even if it feels lacking (like pretty much everyone around these parts here feel).

Though if you ask me, by saying CLANNAD the animé sucks, you’re gonna have to say CLANNAD the VN sucks too. For being way too ambitious. Because the fault does not lie with the studio, it’s with the source material.

Are you forcing me, then, to say Key sucks? Because that’s what everyone wants me to do. And because it’s not just cool to hate on sacred cashcows, it brings in the hits, and in the interests of more hits, I’m going to say it out now.

Key sucks. ONE sucked monkeyballs. Kanon is a piece of shit. AIR deserves to be consigned to a trash heap. CLANNAD is tripe and deserves to be thrown into the shredder. Tomoy o After is more than crap, it’s anathema (OH WAIT), Little Busters is made of fail and lose and is so overrated it needs to die in a fire (AND THE PORN EDITION TOO). And planetarian may be a step in the right direction, but it still sucks. In fact, Maeda Jun deserves to be anally raped by FROZEN ICYDONGS for making such shit.

*just died even more inside.

Notes:

1. I’d love to link to Hianano’s FANGIRL RAAAAAAAAGEEEEEEEEEEEEE, but SERVER DIED, BLUEHOST SUCKS.

2. The main problem is still the fact we demand too much from everything. When we finally learn to expect less and accept more, it is there that we find true enjoyment.

3. GONZO is was awesome.

4. I hate myself.