The Best Quotes from Clannad & After Story

Clannad is known for its emotional story. A lot of that comes from its simple but powerful dialogue. Let's look at the quotes that make the show so memorable.

The First Quote: "I Hate This Town"

This is the first line in the whole show. It sets up the main problem for the main character. The entire story is about how he changes his mind.

Why Tomoya Hated His Town

The show starts with the main character, Tomoya Okazaki. He's a grumpy high school student who feels stuck. His first lines are: "I hate this town. It's too filled with memories I'd rather forget. I go to school every day, hang out with my friends, and then I go home. There's no place I'd rather not go ever again. I wonder if anything will ever change? Will that day ever come?".

This quote tells you everything you need to know about him. His "hate" isn't angry, it's more like he's just given up. The "memories" are about his dad and an injury that ended his basketball dreams.

The town isn't just a place. It's a symbol for how Tomoya feels trapped and hopeless. He uses his bad attitude to protect himself from getting hurt again.

How He Learns to Love the Town

Tomoya starts to change as he helps other people. But it's not a straight line. After something terrible happens in Clannad: After Story , he goes back to hating everything.

He says, "We never should have met... We never would have gotten married and Ushio never would have been born. Then, at least I wouldn't have to go through so much suffering".

The story's ending shows the town is more than just a place. It has a kind of magic to it. The "orbs of light" Tomoya collects represent happiness and help him.

In the end, Tomoya realizes the town is part of his family. He says, "Nagisa, I finally found it. I finally found it. Something only I can protect, the precious thing only I can protect. It was right here".

So, the town goes from being his prison to being a place where he can make his own choices.

1. Start: "I hate this town." He feels like life just happens to him.
2. Conflict: Nagisa asks him, "Do you like this school?" This is the first time he's challenged. She teaches him to choose how he feels about his world.
3. Crisis: After Nagisa dies, his "We never should have met" thought is his lowest point. He wants to undo all his choices.
4. Resolution: In the real ending, Tomoya chooses to meet Nagisa again, even knowing it might lead to pain. He accepts that love is worth the suffering. He no longer hates the town because he made a life there.

Quotes About Love and Family

Clannad is all about family. It shows that family is something you build through love and sacrifice. It looks at two kinds of family: the one you create with a partner and the one you're born into.

Finding Someone to Love

Tomoya and Nagisa's relationship starts out a little awkward. They meet on a hill and have a strange conversation. It's not some big romantic moment.

Nagisa: "Anpan…!"

Tomoya: "French bread."

Nagisa: "I don't understand what you're saying"

Tomoya: "That's my line".

At first, Tomoya is just watching her, thinking she's talking to herself. But he grows to love her deeply. He later tells her, "Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. You made me so happy".

Here's the thing about their relationship: they complete each other. Tomoya feels empty and has given up. Nagisa is stuck because of her illness and is afraid to move forward. She gives him a purpose, like starting the drama club, and he gives her the support to keep trying.

What Family Means

Nagisa's dad, Akio Furukawa, gives a speech that sums up the show's idea of being a parent. He tells Nagisa that parents' dreams don't just disappear. They change into wanting to see their kids achieve their own dreams.

"A child's dream IS their parents' dream. You can make it come true for us! Don't you realize that our dream is to watch you live out your dream? Your mom and I didn't give up our dreams at all! We just made your dream into ours! That's what parents are. That's what family is!".

This idea is also in Nagisa's favorite song, "The Big Dango Family". The song is about a community where everyone is connected. It talks about "happy things and sad things" all being part of life together.

The show compares two different families. Nagisa's family, the Furukawas, are the ideal. Tomoya's family is broken.

1. The Furukawa Model (Akio): He shows selfless love and is always there for his family.
2. The Okazaki Model (Naoyuki): He also sacrificed for his son, but it led to him being distant and causing pain.

Tomoya grew up with his distant father, but he gets to see how a loving family works by living with the Furukawas. When tragedy hits his own life, he acts just like his dad at first and abandons his daughter. The rest of the story is about him learning to be a good father, like Akio.

The Funny Quotes

Before all the sad stuff happens, Clannad is actually really funny. The humor makes the later parts of the story feel even more serious. It shows you what the characters have to lose.

Youhei Sunohara, the Funny Guy

Youhei Sunohara is Tomoya's best friend and the main source of comedy. He tries to act tough but always ends up being the butt of a joke. Tomoya loves to play pranks on him.

• Tomoya is always making fun of Sunohara in a deadpan way.
  • Sunohara: "Okazaki, don't just stand there! Help me!"
  • Tomoya: "No, I don't want to turn into a lame-brain like you."
  • Sunohara: "Damn those rugby team jerk-offs."
  • Tomoya: " Damn those rugby team jerk-offs!"
• Tomoya also messes with Sunohara's sister, Mei.
  • Tomoya: "Sorry, sis. I'm actually in jail right now. I messed up and got arrested."
  • Mei: "Please don't involve me in your perverse incest fantasies!"

Here's the thing, messing with Sunohara is how Tomoya connects with people before he meets Nagisa. It's a way for him to interact with someone without having to be serious or vulnerable. Sunohara is a safe person for him to practice being engaged with the world.

Fuko and Her Starfish

Fuko is a strange and funny character. She is obsessed with starfish and carves wooden ones to give to people. She says blunt and weird things.

• "That vaguely feels very disgusting."
• "Vagueness is convenient."
• To Tomoya: "You are the person whose existence itself is weird."
• Her highest praise: "Right now Fuko likes you more than a sea slug."

But Fuko's weirdness is actually really sad. She's a ghost-like being, and her spirit is connected to the world only by her wish to see her sister get married. As her connection to the world fades, people start to forget her, so the funny things about her character are actually symptoms of her tragedy.

Akio's Big Personality

Akio, Nagisa's dad, is loud and passionate. A lot of his humor comes from his wife Sanae's terrible bread. He's always dramatic about it.

• Sanae's Bread: "Everyone that lives around here...says that her bread is good! It's the unspoken rule! It's the law! So you better obey! Else I'm gonna beat you silly!".
• The Ritual: This is followed by him running from a "crying" Sanae with bread in his mouth, shouting, "I love them!".
• Dramatic Pronouncements: "It's a sad day for a man when he has to give up the harem life!". "YOU'RE STILL TEN YEARS TOO EARLY TO LOOK AT MY DAUGHTER'S ASS!".

Akio's over-the-top personality is an act. He used to be a theater actor, and he uses his skills to keep his family happy. For example, he can't tell Sanae her bread is bad, but he also can't lie. So he creates a whole funny routine where he insults the bread and runs away, which is his way of protecting her feelings.

The Saddest Quotes from After Story

Clannad: After Story gets very emotional. These quotes are from the toughest parts of the story. They deal with family, losing someone, and finding a way to move on.

Quotes About Grief and Loss

The saddest part of the show is when Tomoya loses Nagisa. He falls into a deep depression and wishes he'd never met her. He says, "We never should have met. We should have kept going down our separate paths... Then, at least I wouldn't have to go through so much suffering".

At the same time, he knows how much she meant to him. He yells, "Nothing good ever happened to me until I met you. I thought I had a crappy life but even someone useless like me finally found something to live for. Right, Nagisa? Right? NAGISA!!!".

This shows how much Tomoya has changed. At the start, he suffered because his life felt empty. Now, he suffers because his life was full and he lost it.

1. Quote 1 (Apathy): "I hate this town." He feels nothing.
2. Love: He meets Nagisa and finds a reason to live. "I finally found... Something only I can protect".
3. Quote 2 (Pain): "We never should have met." He feels too much.

The story asks if it's better to feel nothing than to love someone and lose them. The ending suggests that love is worth the pain.

Being a Father

After Nagisa dies, Tomoya abandons his daughter, Ushio, for five years, just like his own father was absent. He becomes bitter. He tells Ushio, "You should cry while you still can. When you get bigger, sometimes, you can't cry even if you have something you wanna cry about".

Things change when he takes a trip with Ushio. She loses a toy robot he bought her and says, "But it's the one you chose and bought for me... First thing from daddy." This makes Tomoya realize how much he's hurt her.

As Tomoya starts to cry, Ushio asks him a question that changes everything. "Daddy... Is it alright not to hold it in anymore? Sanae told me there are two places I can cry. In the bathroom… and in Daddy's arms".

On that trip, Tomoya also learns the truth about his own father, Naoyuki. His dad sacrificed everything to raise him. Tomoya finally understands and forgives his father, asking, "Have I done everything I need to do yet?".

Tomoya breaks the cycle of bad parenting in one trip. He gets two things he needs. One, he learns the real story about his dad, which helps him understand. Two, Ushio shows him what being a dad means, which helps him feel again.

Tomoya told Ushio she wouldn't be able to cry when she grew up, but he was really talking about himself. When Ushio says she can cry in his arms, it gives him permission to finally let his own feelings out. In that moment, he becomes a real father to Ushio and a real son to Naoyuki.

What the Quotes Mean in Japanese

The way the characters talk in Japanese adds a lot of meaning. Sometimes, things get a little lost when they are translated into English. Here's a closer look.

Key Japanese Phrases

The following table shows some important quotes in Japanese. It shows how they are written and what they literally mean. You can see how that compares to the official English translation.

Table 1: Analysis of Key Japanese Quotes

Lost in Translation

• Nuance 1: The Town (町, machi) vs. The City (市, shi)
  When Tomoya says "I hate this town," he uses the Japanese word "machi." "Machi" means a smaller town or neighborhood, not a big, faceless city. This makes his hate feel more personal, since it's aimed at the community he feels stuck in.
• Nuance 2: The Core Thesis of "Dango Daikazoku" - 全部まるめて (zenbu marumete)
  This is probably the most important detail in the whole show. It's a line from the "Dango Daikazoku" song. The line is: 「嬉しいこと 悲しいことも 全部まるめて」 (Ureshii koto kanashii koto mo zenbu marumete).
  • Linguistic Breakdown:
    1. Ureshii koto = "happy things"
    2. Kanashii koto = "sad things"
    3. mo = "also" or "too." This word is inclusive. It means "happy things and sad things as well ."
    4. Zenbu = "all," "everything."
    5. Marumete = from the verb marumeru , which means "to make round," or "to roll into a ball."
  The Core Message of Clannad: The phrase "zenbu marumete" (rolling everything up together) is the key. The story isn't about overcoming sadness to find happiness; it's about accepting that joy and sorrow are inseparable parts of a meaningful life. True fulfillment comes from embracing both.
  • Thematic Conclusion: Some people think the song is about getting rid of sad things to be happy. But that's not what the Japanese words mean. The song says to take both the happy things and the sad things and roll them all up together.
  • This one line is the main idea of the whole show. It's not about choosing happiness over sadness. It's about accepting that life includes both. You can't have the joy of having Ushio without the pain of losing Nagisa, and a real life means embracing it all.