Almost every single song featured in CLANNAD will either make you go "d'aww" or start sniffling. Or both.
- Clannad's Opening
is amazing, both in the original and in the official Cuckool Mix. - While the opening is incredibly beautiful, the ending, "Dango Daikazoku", counts as a Heartwarming Moment, given how... adorable it is. It even spawned a meme in which the dango family in the animation were replaced with Pikachu. See it here. (And a Pikachu version of the song, for good measure!)
- "Nagisa's Theme" is "Dango Daikazoku" without vocals, but it has a beauty of its own. However, hearing it "combined with Eminem", you won't hear the theme the same way again.
- "Nagisa ~ Saka no Shita Wakare" ("Nagisa ~ Parting at the Bottom of the Hill"). At first it's played over Nagisa's death and Tomoya's subsequent vision where he left Nagisa rather than lead her to the moment where she met an untimely death, making it a Tear Jerker moment to start. It then becomes Awesome Music when it's repeated after Tomoya's second chance and realization that meeting Nagisa was the best thing that happened to him. The music starts as Nagisa survives Ushio's childbirth, leading directly into "Chiisana Tenohira" to highlight a wonderful ending.
- The song is basically symbolic of Tomoya's feelings about Nagisa over the entire series. In the first season, it's adorable and twee. In the second half of the second series, it is heartrendingly sad (especially when Tomoya sings it to Ushio).
- "Nagisa's Theme"
- "Chiisana Tenohira", the final version of "Dango Daikazoku" played during the Golden Ending, is especially moving after Tomoya finally sets everything right.
- Lia's version of this song is just as beautiful.
- The Piano Version is quite lovely, as is the New Seasons Mix.
- Then there's the eufonis version, same singer who sang the opening for the visual novel.
- Lia's version
- The epic Tear Jerker, "The Place Where Wishes Come True".
- Also "The Place Where Wishes Come True II", played in two of the important reconciliation scenes.
- And then there's the vocal versions: Lia's version and Aoi Tada's version, neither of which, unfortunately, were used in the series, but the latter version WAS used (to great effect) in fanmade visual novel Clannad: The Past Path. Check it out here.
- Also "The Place Where Wishes Come True II"
- "To the Same Heights" is one of the many emotional piano pieces in the soundtrack.
- And the remix version used in the basketball scene in the anime.
- The Piano Arrangement Version is no slouch either.
- This track gets reworked into ~After Story~'s OP song, "Toki wo Kizamu Uta", which counts as a Heartwarming Moment and a Tear Jerker. Directly translated, it means "The Song of Ticking Time," which, put in context, is perfectly symbolic of Tomoya's love for Nagisa. The lyrics are absolutely heartrending when placed in context with the series:"I loved you, and you alone. That song I sang with you, and you alone. That time ticked for us, and us together. And now you want me to go on alone? No! I won't!"
- And the remix version
- The ending for every arc in the CLANNAD visual novel, "Kage Futatsu", helps deliver a satisfying closure to each route.
- "The Girl's Fantasy". Ambient, breathtaking, enchanting, and downright hypnotic.
- "Over". Melancholy, yet upbeat. Heartbreaking. Played in Episode 18 when Clannad employed the Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends mechanism.
- The Gaiden Game, Tomoyo After ~It's a Wonderful Life~ also has an excellent soundtrack. The opening song, "Light colors", and the ending, "Life is Like a Melody", in particular, are just amazing.
- "Nagisa Warm Theme Piano" is possibly one of the most heartwarming themes on Clannad. When Tomoya finally meets Nagisa and decides that meeting her was the best thing that could have happened in his life this music is the best. It depicts quite well the love of Tomoya toward Nagisa.
- "Town, Flow of Time, People" plays whenever something sudden or amazing is happening; which means it plays at many of the greatest moments. A worthy song for it, too. Sometimes specifically starts at around 1:45 to maximize the music's impact.
- Although it's not the first piece of music heard in the visual novel itself, bonus points in that it starts off the first episode of the anime.
- Someone took this song and reversed it, and it's oddly still beautiful. It must be heard to be believed.
- The vocal version of the same song is just as great and moving.
- "Roaring Tides", a theme which, like "Town, Flow of Time, People", plays during some of the important scenes. "Roaring Tides II" and "Snowfield" are also both gorgeous songs.
- "A New Life Reborn" plays only twice in the series, but is honestly one of the most effective pieces due to the placement.
- "Komorebi (Sunlight Shining Through the Trees)": heartbreakingly beautiful.
- "Fuko's Theme" - impossible to listen to without smiling!
- "Ana", used to great effect during Kyou and Tomoyo's endings in the novel, and at several points in the anime such as during the conclusion of the Fuko story arc.
