Past the credits

The heroine set is wider than Key's earlier books and the book is better for it — Tomoyo, Kyou, and Kotomi are not interchangeable. But Clannad is still a book that routes its women's arcs through the male protagonist's growth, and the cost of that is most visible in Kyou's route, where the narrative can't decide if her agency is a feature or an obstacle.

After Story partly redeems the structure. Nagisa gets to be a person whose life runs past the credits. I wish Tomoyo's route had gotten the same grace.