- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: English (Forced)
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: NR
- Discs: 3 (3 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: Sentai Filmworks/Section 23
- Blu-ray Release Date: November 8, 2011
- List Price: $89.98
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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Clannad is a brilliant, charming, and insightful anime series taken from the interactive visual novel of the same name. Focusing on Tomoya, a high school senior haunted by his past who has now become a delinquent with an uncertain future, the story shows his growth in his final year of high school after he meets the shy, clumsy, and unassuming Nagisa. Drawn to her for some reason, and her quest to get the school’s drama club reinstated, Tomoya’s world opens up, and he finds that life can be complex and heartbreaking, but that he also has a talent for helping others succeed in their dreams even where his have faltered.
The series follows the arc of several heroines from Tomoya’s high school that all come into his life, Fuko, projected consciousness of a girl in a coma, Kotomi, a genius whom he knew as a child that has been carrying the burden of her parent’s death all her life and the guilt of something she did as a child, Tomoyo, a strong girl with a delinquent past, and the twins Ryou and Kyou, both of which seem to have an unspoken crush of Tomoya. But it is Nagisa who ultimately grabs the center of Tomoya’s heart and whom all the characters will eventually gravitate around.
Despite the initial game for Clannad being somewhat risqué, this series really has none of that element.There’s no fan service here; it’s basically a quite studied, romantic, and at times heartbreaking coming of age series with lots of characters that really make you feel for them.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Clannad arrives in a strong AVC/MPEG- 1080p/24 encodement from Sentai Filmworks. The animation is clean, line art looks crisp and sharp, and there isn;t any apparent aliasing. Color fills don’t show any noise, although overall color saturation tends to look just a bit suppressed, but that is more due to the overall veiled appearance of the series itself rather than the transfer.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Both the Japanese language track and English dubs are offered in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes. They are really good, reference quality soundtracks, but not in an, “in your face” way. They are rather subtle, with lush amounts of ambience int eh surround channels, lots of atmospheric effects like the hushed sound of a breeze blowing, the rush of wind through trees, birds chirping and so on. Dialogue is upfront and clean with no hint of clipping.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
The supplements are rather limited, with only the clean opening and closing animation listed as the official supplements, but fans should know that the OVA is also on here.
The supplements:
- OVA – Tomoyo Arc – This OVA includes a separate story arc in which Tomoya and Tomoyo become lovers.
- Clean Opening Animation
- Clean Closing Animation
- Also Available on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks
- Disc Credits
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
It’s not often that works from games are worth watching, but this series is one of the exceptions. Well done from start to finish, Clannad is an engulfing anime series with strong characters and an involving story. It arrives on Blu-ray in high definition with an excellent transfer from Sentai Filmworks.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product] B005HWAOOI[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
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