A disclaimer, I played the original game and then watched this movie. If you have not played the game or even at least watched the anime...just ignore this.

Every successful franchise has some kind of part which sucks. And in the Clannad franchise, this is it.

The movie's rushed. It's obvious from this that you can't put everything that made Clannad great into just 90 minutes. So to fit the time slot, they made some cuts. They removed Fuuko, Ryou. And Kotomi is passed off like a minor character. The After Story only consists about 25% of the film and it's so incredibly fast that it doesn't register what's going on. There's not enough given time to understand the characters at all. It feels ridiculous to watch most of the time, but that's how they justified with their new script hoping to be different and fresh from the original.

Most of the characters were changed completely for the movie but nothing is as drastic as Nagisa's. The only thing that's consistent is her voice. And her new change doesn't work for the fact that what made Nagisa a real lovable character isn't in the movie.

However, there are some good things to this movie. The art direction is good as it tries to symbolize a lot of things. It also conveys a lot of mood into any particular scene. Although some of it might be irritating, but that's only me. The sound direction is good but that's nothing to write about. So which leaves Music. Inomata Yoshichika's compositions almost certainly fits the mood of the movie but doesn't stay in the mind like the original KEY composers did.

Over all, the whole thing feels like a play from drama which I think is intentional. The still sketch shots, the pan shots, the artistic symbolization, they all do try to make a powerful effect. Sadly only sometimes it works.

In the end, here's what someone said in some forum, and to which I agree..."Play Original Game, Watch both Anime...Forget the movie."

Set in the beautiful surroundings in somewhere South Amercia, the anime will grab and keep you till the end. Right from the first episode, I was reminded of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. And by the fourth episode, I was convinced that somehow Shinichirō Watanabe had a hand in this. He produced the series' music.

Story wise, it's just like Cowboy Bebop. There is a story in this, but it's not shown as important as is to the main two characters who are the most different characters I ever saw. The character voices are realistic and feel fresh especially Michiko's lazy delinquent style.

Animation is done by my favorite 'Manglobe Studios' known for their work in Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy (one reason I decided to watch this XD). So it feels bright and original. The sound work is also very good and goes well with the whole art presented.

And the Re-Encode is superb. Feels really high-quality. Thank you for doing this series, cesc.

Michiko and Hatchin goes along with my Favorites animes currently. I would recommend you to watch this if you want something enjoyable and also if you miss the style that was there in Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo.

You know, there's a reason why people love anime. It's animes like these that make you sit up and think about the millions who haven't discovered anime yet.

This anime is set in a futuristic, post modern Tokyo where humans and spirits live. The main character of the story is Otoha, a Karas, meaning a crow or raven, to overlook Tokyo. He is able to turn into a very Transformers like car or aircraft and Armored mech. His mission is to stop his predecessor with help from others.

The story is not told in detail in the first half. The story only makes sense when you watch the second half. Although it will still require a reviewing to get more understanding, but if it required, it's worth it.

I felt the story was just a minor thing next to those visuals. No wonder it won so many awards in the CG side. They have fused the 2D and 3D animation that left me very impressed. The intensity of the fights, the beauty of movement and the agile camera turns leaves me nothing but wanting more.

At most, it was like a relaxing ride in a roller coaster.

My initial thoughts on this anime were not that great. It was only that until second episode that it got me interested. The anime is okay to watch but will not keep you hooked as the story moves towards nowhere. But there are some good points to the story as well. The characters are great and funny and they do pull the show forward especially that Mariya-sama guy (I just want to know why he's cross-dressing).

Animation is good and the overall style reminds me of Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei. It has the same weird sense of humour like it or perhaps just a little tamed version of it. Parody and story meshed within eye ripping visuals.

Sound and CV is good. And the main fact is that Yu Kobayashi has really done a great job at voicing Shidou Mariya (I wondered if they used double voices). And like 'lukextear' says, I agree about OP song. It's the horrible song I ever heard (but it's naughty =P). But I kinda like the ED song a little.

This anime has good bits of enjoyable action combined with a very heavy story line.
In fact, the story is so heavy, that you might be squashed from it. They throw every bit of plot at you from the second half of the first episode. That will make you confused and the anime more complicated than it's seems. You will be usually wondering 'what the hell is going on in this anime?' in the start. But then everything does makes sense later as they reveal bit by bit in more episodes.

But the main attraction of this anime is it's action. It's a real treat to watch; the camera angles move with the characters, the backgrounds don't disappear suddenly. The animation is almost fluid and feels real in these sequences, and not a bunch of animated figures raging while their background is covered with coloured gradient.

Watch it, if you want decent action with good voice acting and if don't mind a little run of the mill story.

I can't find anything bad about this movie. It's just feels so perfect. So light and easy to watch. The title of the film says it all : There's a girl who leaps in time.

Story wise, 17 year old tomboyish Makoto suddenly finds a device which enables her to go travel time. And that she uses to the fullest extent from the ten hour Karaoke or getting 100% in her class test and correcting all the mistakes she had done previously. But as she changes her past and present, the consequences are waiting for her in the future and then again, she tries hard to correct which leads to more mess then before.

The animation is flawlessly smooth and it shows too. The various effects and backgrounds are all rendered perfectly on screen for the viewer. And without Taurgis' exquisite encode, it would been very hard to appreciate the full quality of the film.

The film's charming in a way and it's got nice vibe to it. Watch it if want some drama told in a enjoyable fashion.

Downloaded and watched this for the Japanese voices which I could say were okay as I have watched the anime in English. So it might depend on you which you prefer.
The story as the creators say that it is anywhere from ep 24 or 25 from the anime series but it doesn't matter much. So this time, a deadly virus is going to be released in Mars unless someone does something. The crew of the Bebop ship take the Case hoping to profit from it. But they get sucked in the mystery of all of it.
That said, Animation is frikkin' great. It's just eye-candy. Despite old-skool anime, the quality shines through. The sound and music perfectly complement the scene that is playing out in front.
Watch it if you want something interesting and not cliched. Although you might want to watch it again because it took me two times to understand the whole picture.

This series reminded me of all the past school days I had. The show has almost perfectly captured the realism of a typical school life. The series protagonist is a just another guy who's having more than his share of perverted situations that is often hilarious and typical.

The characters are good enough to convine you to watch it. The stories are divided into events that can be anything from your typical 'locked in a gym' to the other almost random stuff.

Watch it if you got free time for light unintended echhi comedy.

The name's misleading, but I watched it because the info sounded good to me. I got only three or four episodes and then totally got hooked on to it. The series really had that slice of life quality to it which really enhances the whole story's realism. And you do get to learn quite a bit about music along the way. This is a must watch for all those who are music aficionados and music junkies.

I'm always a sucker for graphics. So when I saw the screenshot of this one, I knew I wanted to watch this one for sure. And surely the animation and backgrounds were top-notch and the best I ever seen in recent times. The sounds also feels good to hear.

The main story is the problems between protagonist's and his android who he believes that she's been acting independently. This causes him to follow her to the cafe called Eve no Jikan. From there secondary stories starts with cafe regulars and other visitors and how the protagonist reacts to them. Okay story but not great.

One thing that frustrates me is the gap of airing of this anime. From what I heard, the next episode would be aired in April 2009 or around. And also this anime has some 5 to 8 minutes short than the regular. The reason all the above is because that it's a ONA -Original Net Animation-. This is streamed over the net in Yahoo Japan.

All in all, worth a watch if just for the visuals and drama.