CLANNAD ~After Story~ Episode 03: Small Note – Horiguchi and Lucky Star

While everyone went “OMG MEI IS SO MOE I’M BORKED ONIII~CHAAAAAAAA~N”, I watched the episode and thought everyone over-reacted. I only fapped three times! She’s not that moe.

I thought more note-worthy was how much parts of this episode looked like Lucky Star.

The fifth cap in particular – Tomoya looks like he’s been possessed by Konata.

Quick search in Wikipedia revealed that this episode’s animation director, Horiguchi Yukiko (堀口悠紀子), also acted in the roles of chief animation director and character designer for Lucky Star. It’s pretty interesting to note how the episode animation director can influence the looks of a show in such small ways. Now I know some of the things that an animation director can bring to the table.

I really liked the art and animation in Lucky Star (particularly the OVA), and I like what Horiguchi did with this episode. Whether it is some kind of signature style for her or not I’m not sure, I never noticed it in any of her previous works (she is also the animation director for Haruhi episode 5 and Kanon 2006 episode 6 and 12, amongst others). Either way, I will be keeping an eye out for any involvement by her in the future!