Clannad is probably the best anime ever released. Much of its quality comes from that it probably has the most well-rounded and three-dimensional cast of characters in any anime ever. So I was happy when ADV released it, and immediately bought both volumes.

There was something that displeased me though. Clannad was very much a "budget" release for ADV and not only did they not include a dub track (no big loss), but their subtitles were too "professional, " often overlooking or ignoring character quirks which help flesh out their personality. What's especially annoying is that sometimes these quirks are pointed out by other characters in the show and it becomes sort of a contradiction.

Here are the points in particular which bothered me.

Honorifics: Clannad is a series where they really should've just included honorifics all the time, because its actually kind of important, not just a quirk of the Japanese language. Instead what ADV does is translate them when they're important, explain them once, then just kinda sweeps them under the rug.

Fuko-chan: Fuko speaks in third-person. "Fuko senses danger!" "Fuko wants to invite you to her sister's wedding!" "Fuko likes you more than sea slugs!" That sort of thing. For some reason ADV's translators decided to change it all to "proper" first-person speech, even though this is one case where its gonna create a contradiction if they ever get around to subbing Clannad: After Story.

Nagisa's last-name basis: For awhile at the beginning, Nagisa and Tomoya always refer to each other by their last names (Furukawa and Okazaki, respectively). This is done because both are too shy to admit they're close, and they're actually called out on it. The subtitles though sometimes (admittedly rarely) make an error and incorrectly translate their last names as their first names.

Clannad fans like myself are at an impasse. If we don't buy ADV's release we're telling them that there is no future for shows like Clannad in America, but if we do buy it we're rewarding them for what is essentially a rush job. My answer to this is to just buy ADV's DV Ds, then print out this review and slip it into the DVD case, and make sure anyone who watches the show reads this.

Everybody wins. Except Sunohara (gomen nasai, Sunohara-san!)

So they skipped out on the honorific and Third Person Person stuff... Meh, I'm still going for Eclipse's subs in any case.

It's kinda sad that they had to ruin Fuko's Third Person Person, otherwise, Kouko's intentions to correct Fuko's way of referring to herself in the finale of After Story wouldn't make any sense whatsoever.

There's also Kotomi's "When you talk to me, call me Kotomi-chan" schtick. Wonder what happened to that...

And then the change to First Name Basis is significant twice: first when Tomoya starts calling Nagisa by her first name (and not remembering why, thanks to Fuko), and in the first season's extra, when Nagisa finally switches to "Tomoya-kun."

Oh well, but:

Damn right. On a side note, have you played the game?

I love pairing the guy with Kyou. Somehow I feel that they're matched for each other.

edited 24th Aug '09 8:02:58 AM by Mapi-chan

They keep the Kotomi-chan shtick, have an onscreen footnote that explains it... and then just kinda drop honorifics after that.

Even thoguh I'm disappointed I bought it anyway. I want an official R1 release of After Story, dammit.

And no I haven't played the game.

Well that certainly sucks. Way to go licensing...

Not that I'll be affected anyway... If I bought the official release, I'd end up shelling out too much for international shipping.

Seems that if we get more stuff like this, then fansubs are the way to go.

Fansubs are better than official releases in many ways I think; official releases tend to try a little too hard with localisation in order to not alienate the target audience. The fandom are comfortable with cultural specifics and archetypal concepts of the genre; the average consumer, not so much. Sales always have to be aimed at the lowest common denominator, and anime is still a niche interest as far as commercial distribution in the West in concerned.

I'm surprised to see somebody else giving some love to Clannad: it's usually just Mapi-chan (and occasionally myself) who brings it up on the forum. I know they're out there, seeing how packed the main article is, but they don't usually take it here.

Well, Kanon, which was kind of a dress rehearsal, isn't that far behind. Incidentally, Eclipse's sub of that was the first Key title I ever watched; they did a beautiful job with that.

Hountoni?

Not Tomoyo?

Speaking of Tomoyo, why isn't she in Eternal Fighter Zero???

Say it with me now: Hyakuretsu Kyaku!

edited 24th Aug '09 10:15:34 AM by zeroplusalpha

I really have to watch this already..

I, too, love Clannad, though I... wouldn't go nearly as far in my praise as Pratt did.

I haven't seen Kanon yet (been meaning to). Seen Air though, and honestly didn't like that as much.

Clannad is better, but then it had 50 odd episodes in which to develop the characters. For a thirteen episode series, they did a pretty damn good job with Air, and Kannabi No Mikoto is a triumph of character design.

...wow, this thread is depressing. Remember when fansubs existed to create exposure and not to be a replacement for licensed releases?

Gosh, I wonder why the North American anime industry is collapsing in on itself.

I remember when fansubs were there because of a dearth of licensed releases.

And it's not always financially feasible for everybody to access the North American market, if I can refer you to Mapi-chan's post: we speak English in other regions too, remember.

edited 24th Aug '09 7:56:44 PM by zeroplusalpha

That's right Mr.zero+alpha.

That reminds me, is it just me, or are more R1 anime DVDs using multiple sets of subtitles for songs? As in, both romanization and translation simultaneously, where they would've alternated between the two before. Was that a result of fansub influence? (They're essentially fansub karaoke subtitles with the restrictions of the DVD format imposed.) I know the Haruhi DVDs did it.

Try going through the entire page's edit history and see how many of those I authored.

EDIT: I can't seem to go back to the page's old history, I swear I added a lot of entries when the anime concluded last March.

I feel like rewatching this, no idea why.

Sunohara and Kyou are each other's Foil. The reason why I'm suggesting this is because I read a fanfic which showcased all the problems that I saw in a Tomoya/Kyou long term relationship, and the same author wrote a Youhei/Kyou fic which really made me see how much they compliment each other.

Tomoyo is best paired with Tomoya, and seeing that he's got Nagisa...

Tomoyo isn't and never will be in Eternal Fighter Zero because Twilight Frontier no longer plans to release any future patches for EFZ. So no chance for Tomoyo combo kicks, Kyou book throws, and Kotomi's deadly violin in Eternal Fighter Zero.

Of course there's MUGEN but I can't seem to find any Clannad characters on the net, no matter where I look.

EDIT: Speaking of MUGEN, I should be uploading to You Tube a few of my fights in the near future (coincidentally, I usually use EFZ characters in MUGEN by force of habit).

I'd have to agree on this, since ample time was given to both Kano and Minagi's arcs. And yes, Kanna is a wonderful character too. Air is downright depressing despite the implied Bittersweet Ending, and I swear the word "Goal" never meant the same to me ever again.

Do it already!

edited 25th Aug '09 7:58:30 AM by Mapi-chan

The main reason I didn't like Air was because he turns into a bird HE TURNS INTO A F***ING BIRD!!!. Actually in general there was just too much that came off as Deus Angst Machina for me.

For some reason though I really liked the episodes that took place in Ancient Japan, almost to the point where I wished that had been the whole show instead of this Kunasaki / Misuzu stuff.

You're not alone in that. I thought the Jidai Geki bits were the best parts of the show, if only because Kanna, Ryuuya, and Uraha were awesome characters. The Summer Specials get more repeat viewings from me than the show proper because of this.

Kanna made Air for me.

edited 30th Aug '09 9:23:34 PM by zeroplusalpha

I still liked the "Goal" bit. Even if it was horribly sad, made even worse that Yukito was no longer there because he was turned into a fucking bird. :|.

Oh, "Goal" was definitely one of the most painful things I've seen, but Kanna was my favourite character, for some reason.

ADV just died. This explains things.

Reset Button Ending Nao!

No sorry, no Light Orbs for them. Hikarizaka residents only.

Except maybe Ayu.

She has special powers, she doesn't count.

On a more serious note:

It's likely that ADV licences will just be picked by whoever acquires their assets; as the article says, the name's gone, but that doesn't really mean anything.

Section 23 took all of their anime production, so I imagine they'll be getting rebadged. Though the real question is how long the pieces of ADV will live on.

Oh the irony. Region lockout.