Clannad | Q's Anime Review & Commentary P.5

Voice Actor Choreography & Direction


Normally I usually go about reviewing both the original & English dubs, however due to this being a Shoujo/Moe anime set in a high school setting and just how great and eventful the story is in general, I think it's distasteful & quite frankly inappropriate to completely ruin your first time watching Clannad dubbed purely out of convenience/laziness. As a rule of thumb you should almost Never watch an anime dubbed that has an adolescent cast PERIOD - Moe & English simply DO NOT MESH. If you want an actual opinion, I think Clannad's English dub is completely lazy, awful and never should be watched on your first time if at ALL.  However the original Japanese dub is quite good and fitting, and while not fantastic It'll never go so far as to completely suck you out of the moment like the English dub and completely disrespect the original integrity of the character. In fact Clannad has an excellent and esteemed cast of industry veterans in addition to one of the most experienced sound directors in the industry in Yota Tsuroka, making for some of most memorable and impactful dialogue scenes you can witness in an anime.

Mai Nakahara as Nagisa Furukawa

While Nagisa is not entirely my favourite character of all time, I just can't deny just how well and fitting she was voiced by Nakahara. Being that she's able to capture that particularly frail and hopeful, but wavering side of Nagisa just perfectly. As her voice is gentle and soft with a light sibilance, and though her cadence is generally careful and measured, her modestly thin and pitched voice can burst into surprise and excitement for the sweetest and most hilarious of moments. In that Mai Nakahara has a particularly unique way of voicing Nagisa, as her voice has an airiness to it that her harmonics & plush sense of modulation really capture the timid and hopelessly innocent side of her character quite perfectly. Overall Mai Nakahara did an excellent job in providing a very pleasant and surprisingly dynamic voice to Nagisa character's that really did capture my heart - A good casting choice and performance.

Yūichi Nakamura as Tomoya Okazaki

Yuichi Nakarmura also has a great voice for his role, in that I like how his voice is grounded and level sounding but at the same time is excellent at transitioning to the more quick tempered and frustrated side that Tomoya goes through once in a while as well. In that he generally sounds laid back and indifferent in portraying Tomoya's more casual attitude, however with his somewhat more broad and resonant voice he's also able to capture the more reliable part of Tomoya's character, as he has the modulative and dynamic skills to channel a lot of diversity into how Tomoya acts, behaves and feels. Whether Tomoya is emotionally charged and frustrated, elated in laughter or perhaps completely devastated by tragedy, Nakamura is able to capture that with keen sense of dictation and tempo, in addition playing with harmonics of his voice for an unmistakable flare. As he's excellent in modulating the thickness and pitch of his voice as well, having the dynamic flare to really sell the urgency of the shot. Even down to how he parses his words and syllables to capture the frustration and sadness he goes through, Yuichi Nakarmura is truly talented and experienced voice actor who's clearly able to articulate the passion and nuance that goes into every line and scene - Excellent casting choice and performance.




Ryou Hirohashi as Kyou Fujibayashi

Kyou is totally my waifu I'll admit it, in that she's one of my favourites.. well is my favourite character in the series and Ryou Hirohashi's played a huge part in that. She's a pretty cliche character yes, but to me when I think of a tsundere character Kyou is probably the first one that comes to mind, since she's just an absolute classic embodiment of what the tsundere is and why it works so well. As Ryou Hirohashi's has such a buttery smooth and sonorous voice, but can just as easily snap into her more abrasive and heated attitude while still sounding effeminate, having a versatile cadence and strong sense of modulation. As this is really important because of Kyou's stubborn habit to deflect the issue or pressure off by keeping up appearances of a strong front by going on the attack, but in reality she's just a big fat liar and softy inside, which of course is a tried and true combination. As her harmonics are just as much of a mix as her character is conflicting, in that she has certain edge but lushness to the resonance in her voice that can interchangeably transition between her more amicable and cheerful side, to her fits of anger and embarrassment. 

As she's able to channel so much energy and nuance into her performance which makes her such an impressional character, however familiar or cliche she might be. As she completely melted my heart in Kyou's Ova during the raining scene, absolutely nailing the softer and fragile yet emotionally violent and compromised side of her character that we haven't seen before - Truly great stuff.

Houko Kuwashima as Tomoyo Sakagami

Houko Kuwashima on the other hand has a bit more of a neutral and collected sounding voice & it bodes quite well with Tomoyo's more reserved personality. As such she has a bit more of a sibilance and less of a resonance to her voice than Kyou's that makes her sound a bit more stoic and colder. Though I say that in a positive light as her somewhat measured cadence and personality is more subtle and minimalistic, which some are more suited to. Her voice is somewhat higher pitched, though her harmonics are a bit more contrasted and stark, as her voice has a drier edge to it with a more bodied and acute lower resonance that's very complimentary to her core character traits as a collected and strong willed character, who can occasionally sound earnest in her more amicable & affectionate side. In that similar to Kyou, Tomoyo also receives her own standalone Ova to cover her character arc where we also get to see the more stubborn and poignant side of her personality, as the bench ice cream scene also did plenty to melt my heart and Kouko Kuwashima played no small part in that - A great casting choice and performance.




Kikuko Inoue as Sanae Furukawa

Sanae while appearing to be somewhat of an oblivious character, she's actually one of the core supporting figures in the series, having to do a lot with regards to Tomoya & Nagisa. Her voice has a very potent and pure resonance to it with regards to her harmonics, as it does wonders to sell her characteristically air headed and silly antics she pulls off with Akio alot of the time in their many routine comedy sequences. And while she may be overlooked a little due to her perhaps simplistic character, I feel there's an underlying complexity there where we can see her more serious and sympathetic side that has to do with more with the second half of the series in After Story. As she has a very gentle sibilance and a curiously whimsical sense of cadence and modulation that makes her quite an impressional character. Overall a a pretty decent performance and casting selection, as she too has a particularly unique voice that bodes very well with her character. 

Ryotaro Okiayu as Akio Furukawa

Akio Furukawa is definitely one of the best and most important characters in Clannad, being that not only does he have a hilariously combative relationship with Tomoya, he's definitely one of the strongest support figures that Tomoya has. Generally speaking he usually is over indulgent and hyper active, as he's immature and eccentric in his antics and not to mention lazy at times as well. It's always in a positive light however, being that it's way and effort in trying to be entertaining for Nagisa sake, as Ryotaro has a particularly charged and rough voice with a lot of stress placed on his intonation that's great voice for capturing Akio's highly eccentric and animated attitude. It's that particular edge, that his rough harmonics and stern voice that's able sell his more down to earth and moments of seriousness, particularly when giving advice to Tomoya that comes from experience, as there's not another actor in the cast the puts the amount of force and energy into their performance that Ryotaro Okiayu does. He's great in playing the role of Nagisa's father and offered a lot of hilarity in addition to the sheer amount of dramatic energy he brings from an episode to episode basis. 

Ai Nonaka as Fuuko Ibuki

While Fuuko probably has the best arc in the first season, in the end she's still a pretty simplistic character that's portrayed like wise by Ai Nonaka. Being that she generally speaking is used often as the banana man counterpart to Tomoya's straight man routine, speaking accordingly in a silly and childish way with short phrases and sentence fragments. As Ai Nonaka has a sweet and potent voice with whimsical sense of modulation and intonation that captures Fuuko's cheerful ignorance, while also having a congested tone that also makes her seem childish and clumsy. In all, she's portrayed as this cute and fluffy character, and while it's in line with the character, I don't really think much of her character from an individual standpoint and was only occasionally entertained by what she had to offer. She's a simplistic character and as such she's was performed,  portrayed and written as such, as I don't think there was really much there in the first place to work off of.




Akemi Kanda as Ryou Fujibayashi

Not the most interesting character, as she only plays a supporting role throughout the entire series, however despite her more docile and passive nature, I do think Akemi Kanda was still able to work in a good amount of personality to her character despite that. As she's able to capture that extra delicate and anxious part of character, that also has the dynamic range and sensitivity to also nail the wavering and uneasy part of her character as well. In that when frighted in some manner, her voice can be piercingly frantic speaking volumes of her particularly insecure personality. However with her thin and gentle voice with regards to her careful cadence and soft intonation, it goes along way in supporting her sympathetic and optimistic way of seeing the world. Overall a decent casting selection and performance by Akemi Kanda.





Daisuke Sakaguchi as Youhei Sunohara

Having seen so much of his work on Gintama and NHK! Ni Youkoso, Daisuke Sakaguchi's voice is instantly recognizable as he's well known for his roles as the sort of "Robin hood/punching bag/comedic relief type of character and his performance as Sunohara really is no different "Shinpachi is that you?". I think he's the first person you'd go to if you'd want someone to voice a smaller/younger character that's conceited and particularly intense in how exaggerated and ridiculous the character can be. As his narrow but loud and raw voice bodes quite well for the general slapstick comedy scenarios Sunohara often finds himself in, as you can rarely ever take him seriously with his whimsical cadence and modulation. In that he plays right into all the comedic absurdity that goes on in the show and while he's not exactly the most interesting character in the show, Daisuke undoubtedly does his job by fulfilling his role and bringing the energy needed to the routine comedy that occurs on a episode to episode basis, regardless of how repetitive and/or cliche it may seem.




Mamiko Noto as Kotomi Ichinose

Since Kotomi is generally quite slow emotionally speaking, Mamiko Noto portrays her that way with a monotonous tone and slow sense of cadence. As her voice is generally soft and rounded that's placed more in the midrange, so like Fuuko she can sound somewhat cheerfully oblivious, just shorter and more slowly spoken, as Kotomi is also somewhat clumsy and clueless in her own right. As I've touched on before she not the most interesting character as she's quite simplistic, so as you might imagine she's not voiced with much variety or dynamics, however I still do think she's casted well and that Mamiko Noto is fitting for her role. In that there's just not much interesting subject matter having to do with Kotomi Ichinose in the first place for much anything inspired to happen.






Atsuko Enomoto as Yukine Miyazawa

Although Miyazawa has a minimal role during the series and the arc that she does get screen time in was somewhat botched in my opinion, I actually like her character quite a bit with how subliminal and gentle her character is. As simplicity can also be a positive depending on how organic and well written the character may be, in that as a supporting character Atsuko Enomoto does a great job in having such soft and sweet voice that has subtlety to it that captures the more reserved part of Miyazawa's character very well. Although she's quite similar to Ryou, the difference here being is the characteristic poise and collected personality she has, in that she has a very even sense of cadence and modulation, with the sibilance she does have in her voice is actually quite minimal and polished thanks to her very even and fairly rounded sounding harmonics. As there's a particular earnest quality to her voice that always seems to be my soft spot when it comes to how a character is voiced. While somewhat of a minor character, she's none the less a very pleasant character to listen to who was casted and portrayed quite well.

Hikaru Midorikawa as Yūsuke Yoshino

Yoshino was yet another one of the characters who I thought had the potential to be more interesting and play a larger role. However what we did get was still quite good and respectable as I find that Hikaru Midorikawa left my impressions of Yoshino on a positive note. Being that he did a great job in portraying Yoshino's more stoic and intense personality with his particularly edgy resonance that went really well with his particularly starker set of harmonics and tone of voice. In that he's a great supporting figure for Tomoya that's tough and harsh on him, as he has a particular force to his voice that's vital to nailing the more intense and silly lines, in addition to his more sympathetic and poignant side when offering advice to Tomoya. Playing a similar yet less comedic role to Akio, as they both have a strong sense of intonation and dynamic force to how they portray their given characters. A great casting selection and performance, who in my opinion could have benefited more from having more screen time and a larger role in the main story.

Yukari Tamura as Mei Sunohara

Lastly is definetly one of my favourite characters, as I think that Mei is such a cute but devious character that I'd quite frankly choose over Fuuko any day of the week. In that I think she has a beautiful balance between having somewhat of a charged and excited voice, that has the right amount of body and softness to it with regards to her keen sense of modulation and slick sibilance that makes my heart skip a beat or two once in a while. As I think that balance between the edgy and sweet part of her voice that Yukari Tamura is able to pull of really nails that particularly playful and youthful part of her personality that really is an absolute blast to watch at least in my opinion. Overall a sure fire favourite of mine as she's an excellent casting choice and performed very well by Yukari Tamura.






Segment Conclusion -

Overall casting & performances we're quite good all round with an experienced cast such as this, even if a given character was inherently simplistic, the given cast members were always able to make the best of the situation and still be fitting of the role. So from a production standpoint I couldn't ask for much more.

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Article Contents - Comments Section

1. Plot & Narrative Aspects 
2. Character Analysis 
3. Production Aspects [A History Overlook | Cinematography] 
4. Animation & Art Direction
5. Voice Actor Choreography & Direction
6. Sound Direction | OST & Addendum