It's an amazing game, but it isn't 5 stars because of stuff like Misae's light being in Tomoyo's route after doing hers first means have fun doing Tomoyo's again if you did Tomoyo's first. Also some routes just being okay like the counselor to bad like Kappei's. And Sunohara's bad end/Eeek! just leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

With that out of the way, holy crap this game. Every story beat is powerful, the music selling each pinnacle moment from the joyful comedy to the painful tears. The cast all memorable in their own ways and really feeling like a dango daikozaku by the end. And I haven't even mentioned the After Story yet, which is some of the most emotional game writing out there. "It was the first thing from Papa" still hits hard whenever I think about it.

I would say "play Clannad" but this review uses spoilers, so I'm assuming you already did. If not, what are you doing? Go play Clannad! Even if you did, play it again, you'll never know what scenes you're randomly missing!