Tomoyo After -It’s a Wonderful Life- CS Edition

Genre: Visual Novel

Players: 1

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Review:

In my review of the Visual Novel Clannad, I wasn’t shy about flat-out saying I hated it. Hated the story, hated the characters, hated the art style. This may be one of the more popular games in the genre, but I honestly didn’t see what others enjoyed about it. However, I try to withhold judgment on sequels and related games, as it’s always possible they could end up quite different. After all, imagine if we judged all Street Fighter games based on the terrible first entry in that series, or if the Assassin’s Creed series was judged purely on its mediocre first installment. So it was in this spirit that I tried to approach Tomoyo After with an open mind.

Originally released on Japanese PCs in 2005, a year after Clannad, Tomoyo After is a sequel or side-story of sorts taking place after one of that game’s endings, with protagonist Tomoya ending up in a loving relationship with Tomoyo (no relation). Originally released as an adults-only game, it was subsequently ported to numerous other platforms with the adult content removed, with its first release outside of Japan coming in 2016 on PC and then ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020.

This game’s plot has Tomoya starting a new life in his own apartment as he starts a new job working in collecting junk and repairing appliances, while he is joined in evenings by his loving girlfriend Tomoya, who is finishing up her classes in school during the day. The game’s prelude acts like a series of sitcom episodes all running off the same basic series of events where Tomoya convinces Tomoyo to dress up in a fetishy outfit and do some light fetishy role-play with him, only for Tomoyo’s little brother Takafumi to drop by uninvited and catch her in the act, embarrassing her. It’s cute, but it gets old quickly enough.

However, the plot properly starts out about an hour or so into the game, when Tomoya arrives home to discover that Takafumi has brought home a small girl, Tomo, who he reveals is Tomoyo and Takafumi’s illegitimate younger sister. Fearing that bringing her back to his home could ruin the family by revealing his dad’s infidelity, Takafumi hatches a plan that Tomoya and Tomoyo act as Tomo’s parents, a plan they feel grudgingly obligated to go along with to spare Tomo’s feelings. Naturally, the awkward situations and misunderstandings this leads to make for both hilarity and some heartwarming moments as well. Again, this definitely feels like something akin to a sitcom.

Despite starring the same main character, I would argue that Tomoya in this game is far more likeable than he is in Clannad, or at least in that game’s early hours, and the story in general is overall lighter and easier to get into. Players who enjoyed Clannad will surely find some fun references here and there, but overall you needn’t have played Clannad to enjoy this game.

That’s not to say it’s a great story. The plot is pretty unrealistic and contrived, Tomoya may not be unlikeable here but he also seems somewhat generic, Takafumi seems to go well beyond “annoying little brother” territory into straight-up inappropriate, and on the other hand Tomoyo’s insistence in calling Tomoya “perverted” in front of Tomo seems highly inappropriate in the other direction – either this is a case of a poor localization where the accusation isn’t quite as damning in Japanese as it is here, or Tomoya’s embarrassment at being caught out in fetishy play has caused her to lash out in ways that are really unkind and unfair, something that otherwise doesn’t seem to suit her normally kind and understanding character.

While I hated the character designs in Clannad, it feels like they’ve been somewhat refined and the exaggerated qualities I so disliked in that game are less prominent here, though I still don’t think the anime-style character designs in this game are anything exceptional. The backgrounds are still nicely-detailed though.

Oh, and I should note that while the adult content is no longer present here, there are still scenes depicting Tomoko in skimpy outfits and fetishy poses, and with this and with topic matter involving child neglect, mental illness, and infidelity, I wouldn’t say this is a family-friendly game.

The visuals are joined by an instrumental and synthesized soundtrack and full Japanese-language voice acting for all voiced lines, and I actually think both these elements are much-improved from Clannad, with some really good voice acting and some excellent mood-setting tunes, like Love Song, Dear Old Home, Morning Glow, along with a few nice voiced themes.

Before finishing, I should mention that this game also includes a minigame of sorts, a Turn-Based Strategy RPG called Dungeons & Takafumis. However, since this is only unlocked after completing the game’s full 13-14 hour story, and has been kinda’ tossed in as an extra rather than a main feature of the game, I’m not including it in my assessment.

Overall, I like Tomoyo After much, much more than Clannad (and I know, I’m probably a rare exception in that regard). However, that doesn’t make this a truly great Visual Novel – the plot is still contrived, the characters not especially compelling, and I don’t think the art is anything special. If you’re looking for a romance story, a drama, or a comedic Visual Novel, I think you have much better options. However, if you’re a fan of Clannad who wants something light-hearted to follow up that game with, you may find Tomoyo After to your liking.

tl;dr – Tomoyo After is a Visual Novel taking place after one of the endings in the game Clannad, following protagonist Tomoya and his now-girlfriend Tomoya as Tomoya moves to a new place and takes on a new job, only for the pair (and Tomoyo’s annoying younger brother) to have their sitcom-like hijinks interrupted by the arrival of Tomoyo’s illegitimate kid sister, who she and Tomoya feel compelled to pose as parents to. The plot is silly and contrived, but I still like it far better than Clannad. That said, I still think players have numerous better options in the genre.

Grade: C

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