Season one of 'Clannad', with a total of thirteen episodes, had its average paid viewership stagnate at 9.4 million per episode before July arrived.
Compared to Jing Yu's earlier expectations, this figure was actually a bit low.
But there was no helping it — the first half of the series, i.e., season one, wasn't exactly considered god-tier. It was essentially a well-produced romance drama.
You could say that season one mainly served as a setup for season two.
And when 'Clannad' season two began airing on July 9th...
Emmm, honestly, the market response to the first two episodes was also just average.
The plot of season one mainly focused on introducing the male lead, Tomoya Okazaki, and the female lead, Nagisa Furukawa, as well as their interactions with various friends and classmates in the same school, in a story that leaned toward the fantastical.
After removing the romance developments between the protagonist and the other characters (present in the original game), the drama lost a fair bit of excitement and charm. Still, it was passable.
At the very least, season one achieved its purpose — establishing initial popularity and making viewers familiar with the cast.
It made the relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa feel natural and paved the way for that fragmented tale of the lonely girl in a deserted world and her robot, told through Nagisa's theater story.
And, of course, most importantly, with each resolved arc, a light orb would be collected.
In the original game, 'Clannad' had a set number of characters who would provide these orbs:
Classmate Yukine, Haruhara's younger sister Mei, dorm supervisor Misae, Tomoyo, Kotomi, Yukine's boyfriend Kappei, teacher Kyou Fujibayashi, and then an extra one from Tomoyo's added storyline.
You had to play through three full game routes to collect all thirteen light orbs and unlock the final true ending — saving Nagisa Furukawa.
According to official estimates, the fastest possible clear time is 90 hours, and that's just hammering the spacebar to skip through everything. If you wanted to truly savor the plot and complete all side routes, you were looking at over 300 hours.
Compared to a two-season drama with just over twenty episodes, the game's content was more than ten times larger.
Trying to fit all those character storylines into just season one would inevitably make it feel crowded and shallow.
But by the time season two rolled around...
The story wasn't so chaotic anymore. The main plotline of the show started to become clearer.
The first episode of season two focused on the everyday life of Nagisa and Tomoya after they started dating.
It was cheerful.
The second episode is also a lighthearted slice-of-life.
The third episode covered Misae and her long-standing bond with a cat she had raised over the years.
A cat that had secretly loved Misae for over a decade and stayed by her side — a heartbreakingly bittersweet tale.
Then came episode four...
And suddenly, 'Clannad's story began to take a turn.
Nagisa Furukawa's childhood illness — the one that had nearly killed her — returned.
In season one, it was mentioned that she'd had a serious illness as a child, and it was her father who had prayed to the town to let her live, allowing her to survive into high school.
Sure, that kind of plot sounds ridiculous — praying to a town to cure a disease?
But considering earlier stories in this series — like a cat turning into a human to repay kindness, or Fuko's soul running amok in the school to help her sister's wedding go perfectly — this kind of setup wasn't too surprising.
Due to the recurrence of her illness, Nagisa couldn't meet the required class hours and failed to graduate.
She had to repeat a year. It was her second time repeating her senior year because of this illness.
The underachieving male lead, Tomoya, decided to forgo college after graduating, choosing instead to be with Nagisa and work toward marriage.
"I've graduated. I hate school. I'll never be a student at that place again... but if I can live with you, I'd gladly stay there forever. That last year of high school with you — I was really happy."
Episode four ended on a warm note, but the foreshadowing it planted left many viewers uneasy.
"Wait — is this going to be a tragedy?"
"Are they gonna kill off the female lead again?"
"For real?!"
"Nagisa just relapsed — she's not dead, no need to panic."
"How can we not panic? 'Your Lie in April' aired just a few years ago — did everyone forget?"
"Right — that one had You Youqing and Jing Yu-sensei, and then the female lead died."
"I'm already sensing bad vibes."
"Jing Yu-sensei saw the ratings weren't as good as 'Kaiji' and decided to rewrite the script and go full angst, didn't he?"
"Honestly, even if 'Clannad' isn't doing as well as 'Kaiji', it's not bad either! With over ten million average views per episode, it's still profitable. Just not as profitable. No reason for Jing Yu-sensei to go full dark."
"Exactly! If you go angst just for the sake of it, it'll ruin the show's reputation."
"I don't think it's just for the sake of it. Remember the girl and robot in the lonely world? That's been mentioned repeatedly since season one — no idea what that's about yet. And those light orbs that appear at the end of each arc? Did you notice how the count increases with each episode? It's all been set up from the start — not some sudden change. They even mentioned Nagisa's illness in season one."
"So... is Jing Yu-sensei going back to his tragic roots? He's only made a few cheerful shows before this."
"No clue. But gotta admit — after episode four aired, 'Clannad's buzz definitely spiked. That graduation scene between Nagisa and Tomoya made me tear up. And all the hints about her illness really stirred up the silent fans."
"Sigh... let's hope Jing Yu-sensei acts like a decent human this time."
After the broadcast of episode four, the drama's buzz increased slightly. Long-time fans of Jing Yu could already sense from the early episodes that 'Clannad' season two might be heading into heartbreaking territory.
But for now, most of Jing Yu's fanbase was still focused on 'Kaiji' and 'Fate/Zero', so 'Clannad''s streaming numbers remained steady.
Soon, July passed, and August arrived.
As August began, the state of the entire autumn drama season became clear.
'Kaiji' continued riding the wave of popularity from its first season, and its second season still carried massive market influence.
But other networks weren't slacking either — Xingtong TV's flagship detective drama this season was also getting great reviews. In terms of online discussion, it nearly rivaled 'Kaiji'. After the fifth episode aired, the praise poured in, and it topped the day's trending charts in the Great Zhou entertainment scene, surpassing 'Kaiji' by a good margin.
After all, unlike season one, 'Kaiji' season two's plot focused entirely on strategizing against the Swamp Pachinko machine. It was thrilling to binge, but a bit less satisfying when watched weekly.
In this context, 'Clannad' season two started gaining traction from episode six onward.
The show's ratings and discussion volume began to visibly climb.