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It's the Dango Daikazoku. The Dango Daikazoku is a big family, so it has lots of members.
Okazaki Tomoya is a senior in high school who doesn't take his studies seriously. Always late for class, he's seen as a delinquent by the rest of his classmates, who are busy preparing for their entrance examinations. He has only one close friend, Sunohara Youhei, who's more of a Butt Monkey than anything.
Tomoya doesn't seem to mind, though... until one day, when he meets Furukawa Nagisa, a shy girl whose only friends at the school have already graduated. Tomoya just can't leave her alone. While helping her establish a theater club, he meets a few other girls from the school. Although he doesn't care much about them at first, he soon opens his heart to them as they get to know each other better.
The title, according to the author, comes from the Irish word for "family", with family being the major theme of CLANNAD. More accurately though, it comes from the name of the band "Clannad" of Ireland, which is a shortening of "Clann as Dobhar" (the family from Dore).
The original Visual Novel was made by Key Visual Arts. Kyoto Animation produced the TV series, and Toei Animation made the recent movie. The game story is divided into two parts, the school portion and the After Story, which takes place much later. The first season of the anime covers the school life, and the second season covers the story paths of the secondary characters and After Story.
Two special OVA episodes were made for this series by Kyoto Animation. The first is the bonus episode 24 in the first season, Another World: Tomoyo Arc, and the second the to-be-released bonus episode on the final Clannad DVD, Another World:Kyou Arc.
The character sheet can be found here. Wild Mass Guessing goes here. Fanfic Recs go here.
Provides examples of:
- After The End - Tomoya envisions a future with all the trappings of such series, with Fuko as the hero's sealed superweapon ("Starfish Manipulator!").
- All There In The Manual - Fuko's reappearances in the anime are based off of a mode in the visual novel, where, if you obtain the Fuko Master and Fuko Ninja statuses, when replaying Tomoyo's route, Fuko will pop up at random times. Unlike the anime, which uses stock footage, each reappearance gets a new CG.
- Alternate Universe - The bonus episode 24, whereas Tomoyo wins instead of Nagisa, and the DVD only episode for ~After Story~, where Kyou wins. It is also said that every playthrough in the game is somewhat of a bunch of Alternate Universes to each other, which becomes a PLOT POINT.
- In the canon storyline, the result of the Ichinose's researching, as continued by Kotomi after she graduates. Also becomes a focal plot-point for the Grand Finale.
- Art Shift - Of a more subtle sort, at least: the "Illusionary World" scenes are animated at a sharply higher quality than the main series, with no duplicate frames and consequently very fluid movement.
- It's actually entirely different mediums in use. The "Illusionary World" segments are done in CG, even the little girl. She's just colored in a different style than the garbage doll.
- No she's not. She's hand-drawn. It's just that she's animated on ones, with no drawing repeated.
- Aside Glance - Kyou and Tomoyo both do this after teasing Sunohara into another outburst.
- Author Appeal - Everything Key/Visual Arts usually likes to put in their games comes in here.
- Awesomeness By Analysis - Subverted with Kotomi playing baseball: at the plate, she starts a thought stream about angles, velocities, and so forth while fancy schematics and statistics flash by in the background... and then chickens out when the ball is thrown and ends up bouncing the ball off the handle by accident.
- Badass Adorable - Tomoyo, as is (frequently) demonstrated on Sunohara.
- Bait And Switch Credits - The OP prominently features a very important character from the After Story, which isn't reached in the first season. Might have counted as a Spoiler Opening for players of the game, if certain other considerations hadn't made the point quickly moot.
- Baseball Episode
- Beware The Nice Ones - When Sunohara still pursues what Tomoya calls "unrequited love" for Kappei in his route, Ryou is not amused.
- Big Lipped Alligator Moment - Tomoya's very strange dream sequence.
- Big Sleep - Both Nagisa and Ushio.
- Bishonen - Tomoya most definitely, as well as to a far FAR lesser extent,(even if he wasn't such a buttmonkey)Youhei Sunohara.
- Blue With Shock - Kotomi and Tomoya after receiving a bad fortune. Nagisa and her mother also do this separately in dramatic fashion, with identical lightning strikes in the background.
- Boke And Tsukkomi Routine - As part of his efforts to socialize Kotomi, Tomoya tries to teach her this. It cumulates in Kotomi, Ryou, and Nagisa working together to learn the tsukkomi role, with Kyou as their strict teacher.
- Boobs Of Steel - Tomoyo and Kyou, obviously.
- Break The Cutie - A male example in Tomoya.
- Brother Chuck - Kappei, as far as the anime is concerned. Particularly bad in that he doesn't get to appear at all. He doesn't even make a cameo appearance despite there being two opportunities to have given him one.
- The last opportunity for him to get an appearance is Kyou's upcoming OVA, as in Kyou's epilogue in the game, she states that Ryou's found a new boyfriend at her part-time job at the hospital, and we know that Kappei becomes Ryou's boyfriend in his route.
- The OVA's out, and not a single Kappei sighting in miles. Isnt It Sad, Kappei?
- Butt Monkey - Sunohara, who gets brutally beaten, thrown out windows, and skipped across concrete on a regular basis (usually at the
hands feet of Tomoyo, which is his own fault). His gullibility also makes him a frequent victim of Tomoya's pranks.
- Sunohara enjoys a unique niche among buttmonkies; Everything that happens to him is pretty much his fault.
- By The Power Of Greyskull - Spoofed with Kotomi, whose naive attempt at a Magical Girl impression involves an HP Lovecraft incantation. Considering her surprise when nothing happens, one wonders what exactly she was expecting...
- Can't Hold His Liquor - Nagisa becomes fully-flushed drunk the second she downs her cup and turns into a Clingy Jealous Girl.
- Inherited from Sanae. Five seconds after the two get drunk, he's asked whether or not he likes her and she asks her daughter if it'd be okay to get really drunk and attack him.
- Captain Ersatz - Misae, of Kaname Chidori from Full Metal Panic. It helps that Satsuki Yukino voices both of them. Hell, her last name is Sagara.
- Cat Smile - Sunohara. Unexpectedly, Tomoya does one, too, at one point.
- Chekhovs Gun - The significance of the Light Orbs.
- Chew Toy - Sunohara. The only time his injuries are not Played For Laughs is when he and Tomoya brawl in the rain as a result of Sunohara's neglect of Mei.
- Cherry Blossoms - Clannad being Key's "spring" work, cherry blossoms are blowing in the wind almost all the time.
- Class Representative - Both Ryou and Kyou, Ryou however, was assigned the job via lottery, and Kyou was also the Class Representative during their junior year.
- Closeup On Head - With Sunohara and Tomoya. First, a shot of Sunohara (including his shoulders) commenting on something happening in the baseball field. Then, a closeup of Tomoya asking what's going on. A third shot reveals that after Sunohara's closeup, Tomoya somehow ended up sitting on Sunohara's shoulders. Sunohara doesn't realize/react to this until after he answers Tomoya.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander - Kotomi, when she first gets drafted by Tomoya. She gets better though. Somewhat. Fuko qualifies as well.
- They have nothing on Sunohara. Though to be fair to them, he also gets the benefit of being really stupid.
- Combos - Tomoyo has a rapid fire sequence of kicks that juggles her opponent in the air, and a combo meter actually appears on screen every time she uses it (on Sunohara). At one point, she and Tomoya do a chain combo. In the Visual Novel, she chain combos with almost everyone on the cast.
- Completely Missing The Point - Fuko's sister suggests that she stop referring to herself in third-person, to sound more grown-up. Fuko decides to start using atai, a first-person pronoun only used by immature little girls.
- Cooking Duel - Sunohara and Fuko, over carving.
- Cool Big Sis - Misae
- Crowning Moment Of Funny - The Running Gag about Kotomi introducing herself, the "Starfish vs Dango" duel, Tomoya pranking Fuko into thinking Ryou is actually Tomoya turned into a girl, Sunohara thinking that he and Tomoyo fall under The Only One Allowed To Defeat You status, Nagisa getting drunk and turning into a Clingy Jealous Girl, and the whole "father and son" conversation between Tomoya and Akio.
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming - the entire latter part of Fuuko's storyline in the Visual Novel, particularly the end, where she's finally able to wish her elder sister congratulations and happiness in marriage before her ghost, which the school, then the main characters, and then finally Tomoya ( albeit only for the better part of a day, when he's reminded by the senile old student counsellor ) have been forgetting and losing sight of cascade-style, disappears completely. This 21 year-old, male Troper was in tears throughout, and nigh-on inconsolable for five minutes afterward.
- That's undoubtedly a Tear Jerker. And it's just as bad in the anime. This Troper can't admit to never crying at the TV or movies thanks to Fuko's arc.
- The end of Episode 22 also applies.
- The second half of ~After Story~ Episode 18, where Tomoya, after finding out his dad's motives for winding up the way he is, realizes he became just like him. The kicker starts when he goes back to Ushio and reconciles with the enstranged daughter who he never once really LOOKED at for five years after Nagisa's death, and both of them erupt into tears. He thereafter takes her in as his own.
- "Yo, long time no see."
- Crowning Music Of
Awesome Heartwarming: Dango Daikazoku, the first season's ending and the song that Nagisa is obsessed with, isn't particularly "awesome", per se, but it is overwhelmingly adorable, and when it plays in the background of a touching and/or heartbreaking scene the effect is unbelievable.
- The Cyrano - Kyou, to Ryou. With various results. Various.
- Death By Childbirth - Nagisa in the movie, the anime, and the bad ending in the game.
- Subverted later in the anime, when Nagisa survives through the forced time-reset that Tomoya instigates.
- Death By Despair - Tomoya collapses in the snow shortly after Ushio's death, pleading for Nagisa - for anyone - to save her.
- Deadpan Snarker - Okazaki
- Delinquents - Okazaki and Sunohara is known as this. Tomoyo has the record, but is trying to change.
- It's revealed in the ~After Story~ Extra episode that the victim of their second major prank in their second year was Nagisa, Kyou being the victim of their first prank.
- Deus Ex Machina - Arguably, the ending of the anime. For those who have played the Visual Novel, though, the ending of the anime is the visual novel's true end. Reactions to this dangerously tread on Fan Dumb waters.
- Diabolus Ex Machina - Both Ushio's and Tomoya's deaths. They got better.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud - Episode 20
Tomoya: *after hitting a home run* Did you see that Nagisa?
Nagisa: Yes, I saw it clearly!
Akio: You fell in love with him again, didn't you?
Akio: *cigarette falls out of his mouth* Damn it! So she is in love with him!
- Disney Acid Sequence - Tomoya's seriously stuffed-up dream-sequence in Episode 11 of Season 1.
- Do Not Call Me Paul - Honorific example: in the Baseball Episode, Akio calls Misae "Misae-chan," and Tomoyo "Tomo-pyon." Both are not amused.
- Dramatic Wind - The cherry blossoms have to move somehow. In the movie adaptation, dramatic wind seems to be blowing all the time. I guess that's why in the movie, Nagisa has to wear a scarf.
- Dropped A Bridget On Him - (game) Hiiragi Kappei. So effeminate-looking that Tomoya is unsure of whether he is a guy or a girl even after he states his gender. Even after having the truth dropped on him, Sunohara, in a state of denial, chooses to pursue what Tomoya calls "unrequited love." The implications are not lost on us.
- Early Bird Cameo - Ushio, in the first season's opening credits, no less.
- Earn Your Happy Ending - Quite literally. In the game, you have to go through every character route in order to get the "true" ending of After Story.
- Also applies in-universe. Tomoya had to go through all those hardships for him to be reborn as the Garbage Doll in the Illusionary World. He gets his happy ending when Ushio sends him back in time, this time prepared to prevent Nagisa's death.
- End Of The World As We Know It - Parodied in the game with this hilarious quote from Misae:
Misae: For Sunohara to have such a cute sister, and for Okazaki to have such a cute girlfriend... If it were the end of the world, it'd be bad for the sister and Furukawa-san, but... I'll say it. It's the end of the world.
- Ensemble Darkhorse - Tomoyo.
- If she wasn't one of the heroines then yes, but she is. Even in the anime she's still considered a main character.
- Her not being the Official Couple is enough to qualify her as one. Especially when in the anime, before the Bonus Episode, she's one of the characters who doesn't get her arc completed properly.
- The same could be said for Kyou, who now has the same status as Tomoyo in the fandom (incomplete arc becomes an OVA, not to mention being Ms Fanservice).
- Tomoyo even gets the sequel visual novel, Tomoyo After.
- Evolving Credits - When Tomoya's grandmother is introduced in episode 18 of After Story, she shows up in the ending credits as well. At the end of the next episode, Tomoya's father is added to the parade as well. In the final episode, Fuuko and Ushio lead the line.
- Even the scene where they state the episode number changed over time. After episode 22 in After Story, the Girl from the Illusionary World is now seen lying in the grass under the tree.
- Also applies to the game: when you've finally reached the True End, the Girl in from the Illusionary World can be seen lying in the grass under the tree in the game's main menu.
- Facefault - Repeatedly. The most amusing one is when Tomoya imagines Fuko announcing over the school intercom that the wooden stars she's been handing out are in fact starfish, with the entire class simultaneously facefaulting in response.
- This Troper contests that claim! The one where Tomoya facefaults because Akio mentioned that Sanae's boobs were huge, in front of a drunk Nagisa, no less, is hilarious as well.
- Faked Rip Van Winkle - Tomoya pulls this off against Sunohara (Twice. Inside of a minute) after waking him up, saying that Sunohara slept for a hundred years after being knocked out by Tomoyo and claiming to be first a hologram and then a cyborg. Sunohara really is that stupid.
- Fandom Nod - The Clannad After Story anime answered a much speculated question in the fandom: What happens if Sanae's Bread meets Akiko's Jam? "It's the ultimate combination!"
- Fun thought experiment: ignore context for a moment, and read that sentence again.
- You get knocked out members of Kazuto Miyazawa's gang. Sanae's bread and Akiko's jam is a WMD, even in the, or perhaps especially in the hands of Nagisa.
- Fangirl - Mei is something of a Yoshino Yuusuke fangirl.
- Fanservice - The Ship Tease, below, or Kyou in gym clothes in general (such as her Gainaxing like mad in the opening credits bouncing a basketball). A late episode features several of the girls stretching off each other's backs: chest in foreground, everything else blurred out. Goodness, were Ryou's breasts always that big? Also, the extra episode of the after story has the bath scene of the two sisters.
- Well, she is Kyou's twin sister.
- Interestingly, there is nothing of this sort in the Visual Novel. Not one piece of perverse imagery. The closest thing to Fanservice in the V.N. are a couple of misleading conversations that clarify themselves immediately after for comic effect - most notably, the situation Tomoya and Sunohara engineer wherein Ryou thinks Nagisa is trying to confess to her. She's actually trying to ask for advice on forming the drama club.
- First Girl Wins - Played as straight as humanly possible, with the girl in question standing at the bottom of a hill, facing the sun, with Cherry Blossoms blowing through on the Dramatic Wind. What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic?
- First Name Basis - Tomoya calls all of the other main girls by their given name without honorific, adding "-chan" for Kotomi because she won't notice him otherwise, but he and Nagisa call each other by family name. At one point, Fuko, who approves of them as an Official Couple, tries to convince them to be more "adult-like" by switching to a first name basis (complete with -chan and -kun honorifics), but after a stuttering attempt both protest that it's too embarrassing (though Tomoya does manage it by leaving off the "-chan").
- Ryou and Tomoya switch to first name basis, as well, in her and Kyou's route in the game. It's the final scene in the Ryou end.
- And in the Kyou route it turns into Ryou's desperate attempt to keep Tomoya interested in her by acting like her sister.
- The same goes for Yukine in her route.
- Kyou calls everyone by their first names.
- Forgotten Childhood Friend - Non-villainous example. Kotomi Ichinose was Tomoya's childhood friend, yet after Kotomi's parents died in the plane crash, Tomoya stopped coming over to her house because Kotomi would not come out. The next time they would meet was when Tomoya wandered into the library in his senior year (both the game and the anime).
- Fridge Logic - During Misae's route, there is a scene where Yoshino is seen as a senior in high school. Since it's a flashback, you also see Kouko-sensei, while she was still an art teacher. It's only after the scene is over that you remember the two of them got married...
- The Gadfly - Poor, poor Sunohara. Then again, you have to be really stupid to put any faith in what Tomoya tells you...
- Gainax Ending - Seriously, to understand the Grand Finale requires a lot of analysis of the dialogue between Ushio and the Garbage Doll before the Illusionary World collapses. Also, one has to wonder why Nagisa has knowledge of Tomoya wishing that he'd never met her, as well as if the reality where the Okazaki family got TPK'd really happened. (Yes.)
- You would also have to had paid attention to both Misae's and Yukine's arcs to understand the properties of the Light Orbs.
- Playing the Visual Novel and reading this
 really helped this troper understand things.
- It makes sense for the Visual Novel, not so much for the anime, because in Episode 20 of After Story, Kyou mentions that she, Youhei, Kotomi and the others planned to visit Okazaki sooner or later, showing that the events after Ushio's death take place in the same timeline in which Tomoya gets to meet and befriend everyone. So the Reset Ending triggered by the Lights is, in the Anime, the result of a gigantic Karmic reward made possible by the Lights, earned by Tomoya with his good deeds in the series, and triggered by Ushio's and Okazaki's death. It still works. Just, differently.
- Gainaxing - Kyou while bouncing a basketball in the opening credits of season 1. What a way to get a bloke-viewer's attention.
- Generation Xerox - As much as Tomoya hates his father for neglecting him to dull the pain of his mother's death he has become exactly the same to his own little girl Ushio to forget that her birth killed Nagisa.
- The Glomp - The one performed by Kyou on Kotomi is especially famous.
- Genius Loci - The entire city, in certain characters' opinion.
- Genre Busting
- Glowing Eyes Of Doom - Kyou
- Go Into The Light - Parodied on more than one occasion by Nagisa's very theatrical parents.
- Go Out With A Smile - Nagisa's last smile, dying after giving birth to Tomoya's daughter in the movie was adorable.
- Which doesn't happen in the TV-series, though.
- It does, it's just subtler.
- Grand Finale - Doubles as a Crowning Episode of Heartwarming.
- Gratuitous English - Sunohara tries to use some, but his English is so bad "revenge" comes out as more like "rezombie". The anime version of Kotomi's arc ends with a misspelled note in English (SuitsCase?) also spoken in a variety of languages, with varying levels of success. The english note was free of errors in the original game.
- I am pretty dog. Thank you, my friend from New York!
- Like the fireball!
- In Tomoyo's extra episode, the top student has shown to learn English quite well, in order present a speech broadcast on television. Naturally, when watching it, Sunohara asks what language she's speaking!
- Hair Antennae - The entire Furukawa family. Ushio does not have this, but she's considered an Okazaki rather than a Furukawa.
- Hair Colors - Hair colors run the usual rainbow gambit, but it is Sunohara's blond hair that Fuko calls out as unnatural.
- That's because it's not his natural hair colour. It's explicitly stated that he dyed his hair.
- And in the alternate universe of episode 24 (season one), we see Sunohara with his hair back to its natural black.]
- In After Story, after he got a job, he went back to his regular hair apparently due to him getting into trouble otherwise in work.
- Happily Married - Akio and Sanae, as well as Tomoya and Nagisa.
- Headbutt Of Love - (game) Tomoyo checks Tomoya's temperature this way after he claims to have a cold, naturally oblivious to how intimate it might look to others.
- Her Heart Will Go On - The Gaiden Game eroge sequel to Tomoyo's route Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life and the manga based on that (Tomoyo After: Dear Shining Memories).
- Heroic BSOD - Tomoya in the Toei movie, after Nagisa dies. Also, Kotomi's Freak Out, when she thinks that Ryou was involved in the bus accident.
- Hey Its That Voice - This could get a bit long...
- Nagisa's voice, tweaked just a teeny bit, sounds exactly like Rena Ryuugu when she isn't shouting "USO DA!".
- Mei's normal speaking voice is almost identical to Rika Furude's cutesy voice and to Sakura Yoshino. In a twist of fate, Rika's adult voice sounds like Mai Kawasumi, who is from another Key game (Kanon).
- Tomoyo sounds exactly like Kagura from Azumanga Daioh.
- Of course, Sanae's voice has been all over the anime industry in the form of Kikuko Inoue.
- Misae shouting "Shima-kun" at the festival sounded exactly like Shion shouting for "Satoshi-kun."
- Ushio sounds just like Chi only without the speech impediment. Just as adorable though.
- Hikaru Midorikawa - Yuusuke.
- Ho Yay - Kappei with both Tomoya and Sunohara, having dropped Bridgets on them. Sunohara, in denial, still pursues what Tomoya calls "unrequited love."
- Hot Blooded - All Akio needs is the mecha.
- Hot Shoujo Dad - Nagisa's Father, Akio.
- Who, after Ushio's birth, is now a Hot Shoujo GRANDPA!
- Hot Shounen Mom - Nagisa's mother, Sanae, who is frequently mistaken as her sister. She pretends to be Sunohara's girlfriend in the second season; her disguises make Tomoya blush, which in turn make Nagisa rather nervous...
- Identity Amnesia - After their respective deaths, Tomoya and Ushio forget who they are when they become the Garbage Doll and the Girl in the Illusionary World respectively. Don't try to think too much about how the Girl was there since episode 1, despite Ushio's birth happening in episode 16 of ~After Story~. Most of the fandom believe that time doesn't pass in the Illusionary World, though this may be a case of remembering MS T3k Mantra to prevent a serious case of Mind Screw.
- Ill Girl - Nagisa was held back due to illness while her friends graduated. Meanwhile, Fuko has been lying in a coma for years, and is projecting her ghost into the school.
- Im Taking Her Home With Me - The adorably innocent Ibuki Fuko says she wants to do this to little Ushio-chan, Tomoya's daughter, to be her little sister.
- Informed Attractiveness - Nagisa is supposedly a lot more attractive than average, but this isn't evident by her character design.
- Innocent Cohabitation - Tomoya temporarily moves in with Nagisa and her family due to issues with his dad. Sunohara is shocked when he finds out and rather annoyed when Tomoya continues to insist that they aren't a couple.
- Instant Fan Club - Fuko, who actually summons them as an attack if provoked.
- Intertwined Fingers - Ryou and Nagisa.
- Isnt It Sad - Kyou. And Ryou. And Kotomi. And Tomoyo, especially in After Story. And Fuuko — Ah, heck. Let's just say that After Story is one hell of a Demotion To Extra for any heroines not named 'Nagisa'.
- The tennis episode Ship Sinking was really brutal to the Fujibayashi twins.
- Justified in that the game, the ~After Story~ only gets unlocked after you complete both Fuko and Nagisa's routes, as well as having at least eight Light Orbs. Also, you cannot proceed to the True End without completing every other route and obtaining a light orb from each completed route. As for the anime... Nagisa and Tomoya are really the Official Couple, so it's obvious that the After Story portion focuses on the main couple more than any other character set.
- It Is Always Spring - For obvious reasons.
- Subverted after Kotomi's arc, when the girls switch to the summer uniforms from Tomoyo After.
- Jerkass - The soccer club is seriously filled by Jerkasses.
- Kikuko Inoue - Sanae-san. Appropriately.
- Large Ham - Yoshino Yuusuke, who after hitting a ball in a baseball match, proceeds to give out a hammy speech about ' Intangible Memories'... and gets balled out. (He remembers to call for a time-out the second time he tries it.)
- Leitmotif - For all of Tomoya's harem, excluding Ryou. Yes, even Yukine. Also, the first season ED, Dango Daikazoku, functions as both the ED and Nagisa's Leitmotif.
- Les Yay - The "misunderstanding" between Ryou and Nagisa on the rooftop. In one scene Kyou also appears to like Kotomi a lot, leading to the famous Glomp.
- Loser Guy - Sunohara. Tomoya would be much less impressive without him.
- Lucky Translation - "Fujibayashi Kyou's Bi-"
- Magic Skirt - Skirts always cover everything despite all the kicking that Kyou and Tomoyo do.
- For the audience, that is. Sunohara gets a glance of Kyou's light-blue pantsu. Needless to say, Kyou is not amused.
- Male Gaze - In ~After Story~ 20, when Kyou greets one of her students with his mother, the camera pans on Kyou's butt, and Tomoya's eyes are seen looking towards Kyou's ass for about two seconds◊.
- Matchmaker Crush - Kyou tries to push Tomoya to be with her sister Ryou at every opportunity... though she has a crush on him, too.
- Meaningful Name - The town is called Hikarizaka. Hikari means light.
- Medium Awareness - (game) Tomoyo, Tomoya, and Sunohara hold a brief conversation with Sunohara's upside-down sprite suspended in front of the screen (he had just been kicked in the air), ending with Tomoya telling him "Hurry up and fall, this screen looks unnatural."
- Mind Screw - See Gainax Ending above.
- Mistaken For Gay - "Fujibayashi Kyou is bi!" One of Tomoya's pranks, though Kyou certainly isn't helping things.◊
- Okazaki also tricked Nagisa into believing that Sunohara was gay.
- Okazaki, in an Imagine Spot that Mei has mistaken him as gay for Youhei when playing Cupid.
- Mood Dissonance - Very badly done with the second season. Episode 16 ends with Nagisa dying after giving birth, a flashback over Tomoya's happy moments with her, and Tomoya wishing he had never gotten involved with her so that she might still be alive. With the words "I should have never met her", the screen fades to white, aaaaaaaand... cue the cheerful, bouncing ending theme (which showcases the whole cast, ending with Tomoya and Nagisa)!
- Depends on how you see it; this troper loves the contrast.
- This Troper is glad that he skipped the ending theme during the marathon he watch these episodes, otherwise the mood of the whole thing would've been lost. Besides, he likes brooding over sad things in anime and crying about it for a good half an hour after he sees it.
- Moon Rabbit - Mentioned in the first ending song.
- My Girl Is Not A Slut - Upon finding out that his daughter Nagisa is pregnant, Akio is torn between denial ("A stork brought it, right?"), happiness at becoming a grandfather and wanting to strangle Tomoya for sleeping with her ("Congratulations.... you bastard!!")
- My Name Is Not Durwood - Tomoya, in regard to meeting Akio and Sanae for the first time, when they invent strange names for him (e.g., "Cosmic-san")
- Odango - Nagisa is almost fanatical about the "Big Dango Family", which is the subject of her theme song (also the ED).
- Narm - The Engrish present in that one song. "The plaaaace is a lofty lord..." "So merely has the worshiiiiip..."
- Never Got To Say Goodbye - Kotomi's last words to her parents were how she hated them, because they were going to miss her birthday to go to a conference. Their plane crashed...
- Not So Weak - Nagisa. She even defends Sunohara but refuses to believe she could be even slightly cute or that she isn't a burden.
- Official Couple - Nagisa and Tomoya. After all, Nagisa is the first girl, Tomoya spends the majority of the show with her, and her theme song (also the ending) refers to a "mischievous" blue dango and a "kind" pink dango as a couple. The opening scene, where Tomoya describes their long path up to school, can be a description of their developing relationship.
- Older Than They Look - Sanae and Akio, who look to be in their early to mid twenties. Fuuko is also about the same age as Tomoya, despite looking - and acting - about ten.
- Parental Abandonment - Tomoya's father neglects him to forget the pain of losing his wife unfortunately, like father like son.
- Subverted by ~After Story~ 18, where Tomoya's grandmother explains to him that his father threw away all his chances to have a good life just so he could raise Tomoya as best as he could. To be fair, Naoyuki did have breakdowns in the later years, but when Tomoya realizes that he's been doing a Generation Xerox ever since Nagisa died, he wholeheartedly forgives his father, and reconciles with Ushio.
- Inevitably leads to a Tear Jerker moment in the next episode, where Tomoya sends his father up north to finally, peacefully live with his grandmother.
- Player Punch - And how! Late in Fuuko's storyline of the game, Tomoya and Nagisa come up with a plan to see if Fuuko, who thus far appears to be a spiritual projection from her comatose, in hospital body, can be seen by her elder sister; something she was very uncertain about and required great assurance from her friends it would work. The plan is interrupted, brutally, as when Nagisa brings Fuuko out in front of the elder sister whom Tomoya is chatting with at the festival, the sister comments almost nonchalantly to Tomoya, and in front of Nagisa and looking straight through Fuuko, 'That girl stopped breathing yesterday.'.
- And how again! Nagisa's death, no matter how you look at it, was meant to be this in every aspect. After all the Character Development she went through, no doubt because of Tomoya's presence with her, we're then reawakened to the fact that, even if she's a strong person, she's still physically weak. When she insists on home delivery, the alarms were already being raised, and when we find out that a heavy snowstorm occurs on the day she gives birth, it's really no surprise that she was going to die anyway. And yet, knowing this, it's still a Player Punch.
- Pose Of Supplication - Fuko's fan club, after she rejects them.
- Post Episode Trailer - The next episode trailer consists of clips of conversations from the next episode, sometimes pasted together from completely unrelated ones to form new, humorous dialogue, like Nagisa and Ryou appearing to happily agree that they're bullies...
- Rape As Comedy (game) - Tomoya uses an expression involving Kotomi (who has a fear of being bullied) having a tail. Kyou launches a thorough investigation and checks breast size while she's at it. Kyou later uses threats of "massages" to coerce Kotomi. This is downplayed—somewhat—in the anime.
- Really Dead Montage - In the anime, you could almost hope Nagisa, and later Ushio, just fell asleep or something, were it not for all the flashbacks.
- Relationship Voice Actor - Quite a handful:
- Reset Button Ending - Inverted in this series, as compared to other Reset Button Endings.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter - Botan, Kyou's pet piglet, who seems to be following in the spiritual footsteps of Potato and Piro.
- RPG Elements - After Tomoya successfully pulls off a prank on Fuko, the action will sometimes freeze and a congratulatory "you mastered a new skill!" message will appear to an old video game-style tune. Mastered "Shooting Juice up the Nose!" Also, when Sunohara wants to join Tomoya and Nagisa to help the theater club, Tomoya's perspective for his response changes to that of the Little Busters visual novel, and all of the choices are attacks...
- Room Full Of Crazy - A room covered with certain newspaper articles.
- Running Gag - Any events where someone says Sanae's bread tastes like trash, especially if it's Akio who says it
Sanae: "Sanae's breads... is... trash material!?!?" *runs off crying*
Akio: *stuffs said bread on his mouth and chases her off* "I LOVE IIIITTT!!!"
- Also, Kotomi introducing herself by saying, without fail, "Hello, Tomoya-kun." Tomoya even lampshades the Running Gag.
Tomoya: This is getting really old.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend - Gradually increases in frequency with Tomoya and Nagisa, as people see them interacting and come to the natural conclusion, resulting in highly-embarrassed denials from both of them.
- Ship Sinking - The three alternate crushes are swiftly dispatched all at once during a tennis match late in the series, the girls becoming increasingly miserable as Tomoya's unconscious behavior makes it crystal-clear what the Official Couple is. Their tears were matched by tears of rage from shippers, the obviousness of the couple be damned. Well, there's always the Visual Novel and episode 24...
- And the upcoming OVA Another World: Kyou Arc.
- Fortunately, almost none of the non Tomoya X Nagisa shippers really had their hopes up, though they may still be unsatisfied about it. It was blatantly obvious from the beginning who the official main couple was.
- Ship Tease - Perhaps in apology for the impending Ship Sinking, an earlier episode features Kyou getting locked in a gym storage room with Tomoya, instantly turning deredere to the max and misinterpreting her conversation with Tomoya into thinking she's about to have her first time. Fanservice~
- The upcoming OVA Another World: Kyou Arc continues this. Finally.
- Shout Out - In addition to the standard Kyo Ani cross-referencing, Kotomi quotes a line from the short story "The Dandelion Girl": "Day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, and yesterday a deer, and today, you." (See also By The Power Of Greyskull, RPG Elements.
- Sibling Yin Yang - Kyou and Ryou
- Sibling Triangle - Kyou and Ryou with Tomoya, obviously.
- Sleep Cute - The end of Fuko's arc has Tomoya and Nagisa sitting on the floor of a classroom during the evening, with Fuko in-between, only to have the two end up leaning against each other sound asleep by the next morning.
- And, in Fuuko's storyline in the Visual Novel, Tomoya and Fuuko wind up like this. Although come morning, it's just Tomoya until Koumura reminds Tomoya of Fuuko's existence, and it turns out she's been invisible and following him around since he woke up.
- Sleeping Single - Tomoya and Nagisa. In 2009. What the hell.
- Smoking Is Cool - Akio always has a cigarette sticking out of his mouth, even while playing baseball in heavy downpours, though a great shock causes it to fall out on at least one occasion.
- Snow Means Death
- Spam Attack - Tomoyo's signature rapid kicks
- Spoiler Opening - See Bait And Switch Credits above.
- Spotlight Stealing Squad - Justified in that Nagisa Furukawa is the winning girl, complete with offspring, and that the game's (and the Kyo Ani anime adaptation's) True End is of the Light Orbs saving Nagisa, Ushio, and Tomoya from death, while the Toei movie focuses more on Tomoya's post-traumatic-stress-disorder after Nagisa died.
- Starfish Character - Fuko, and not merely because she loves starfish.
- Stock Footage - Fuko's reappearances.
- Though in the visual novel, the opposite is true - she gets a whole, new CG, just for that little epilogue.
- Stocking Filler - Fuko.
- Story Arc - Fuko (4-9) and Kotomi (10-14) get discrete arcs in the anime based on their paths from the Visual Novel, while the other characters are more mixed together.
- Strapped To An Operating Table - Tomoya finds himself strapped to an operating table (and attended by nurse Kyou) during an odd dream sequence that rapidly grows disturbing.
- Student Council President - Tomoyo Sakagami and her spiritual predecessor, Misae Sagara.
- Takahashi Couple - Kyou and Tomoya in the her route in the Visual Novel and the OVA Another World: Kyou Arc.
- Tastes Like Diabetes - The season one ending, "Dango Daikazoku," for those who don't find it a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
- Team Mom - Yukine's role involving both of the city's gangs, as she tends to their injuries after a brawl happens, regardless of the injured person's affiliation.
- Also Misae's role in regards to the residents at the student dorms, especially the rugby team.
- Tear Jerker - This series/game could wring tears from a stone.
- Does it ever. But you are always given fair warning before it strikes: there's a simple 3/4 music box tune with this lullaby vibe that almost always plays underneath all the major gutwrenchers. You first hear it in the preview for the next episode at the end of episode eight of the first season, accompanying Fuko's little narration. You soon learn to reach for the Kleenex on cue.
- The Only One Allowed To Defeat You - Subverted. Sunohara believes that he and Tomoyo share this dynamic, but he's quickly proven wrong with a kick into the sky and nothing else, not even a passing glance from her. Ouch. Also a Crowning Moment Of Funny.
- Third Person Person - Fuko, of the small, childish variety. It's quite endearing.
- Those Two Guys - Misae's two friends Saki and Yuki. Saki even comments on their background status
Saki: Come come now, ours have always been the lives of supporting characters. *Turns to Shima* Go give it your best Main Character!
- Background characters to someone who is a background character to start with.
- Thunder Shock - Experienced by both Nagisa and her theatrical mother, Sanae. In Nagisa's case, her antennae-hair is temporarily withered as a result.
- Token Loli - Mei. Played with to no end (and by Mei herself, no less!) early on in the After Story.
- Too Dumb To Live - Sunohara. And too comic relief-y to die. Yeah.
- Trickster Archetype - Okazaki... just... Okazaki.
- Tsundere - Kyou. She wears light blue panties, by the way. This is important.
- Twisted Knee Collapse - Kotomi reads books in this highly uncomfortable position while she sits on a pillow on the floor.
- Unwanted Harem - Kyou, Ryou, Tomoyo and Nagisa in Nagisa's route alone, where he does not have the chance to meet Yukine or Kotomi. The anime no doubt corrects this grave injustice. Also, Fuuko, who may or not like him outside her own route. Oh, and there's a mild mutual attraction between him and Sanae but neither even want it to go anywhere. This troper can confidently declare, however, that uh... Misae doesn't like him outside her own route. So that's seven, plus Sanae a little.
- Utsuge
- Victorious Childhood Friend - Kotomi in her route.
- Wham Episode - Nagisa's death, the Grand Finale and for some, the Recap Episode.
- Where Are They Now Epilogue - The montage at the end of the Grand Finale (while "Chiisana Tenohira" plays).
- Wholesome Crossdresser - Misae's friends get Shima to don a girl's uniform in After Story after he expresses a desire to see what Misae does as the Student Council President. Everyone (including Misae) remarks on how cute "she" is, and Hilarity Ensues.
- Wistful Amnesia - Both subverted and played straight in the anime after Fuko disappears.
- Woman In White
- The Wonka - Whatever you may say about her odder traits, Kotomi is still the most successful student in the school. Why carry scissors around everywhere? To cut paper of course!
- Woobie - Tomoya, in spades. First he loses his wife, and becomes estranged with his own daughter. Five years later, they reconcile, but after a few months, the daughter falls ill and dies. Tomoya then dies from despair. He got better, thankfully.
- Wrong Genre Savvy - Sunohara, who tries raising relationship flags as much as possible and is convinced he had a crash into hello with Kappei. Who he refuses to admit is not a Bokukko but an actual girl.
- Yaoi Fangirl - A bit of a stretch, but in Kappei's route in the game, Ryou states that Kyou owns some yaoi manga.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Kotomi, Tomoya and the Fujibayashi sisters.
- Zettai Ryouiki - Various grades:
- Kyou - Grade A.
- Ryou - Grade A when not wearing the summer uniform; she's a Grade C when wearing the summer uniform.
- The rest of the main harem are Grade C.
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