The first anime on our list is Little Busters! An anime about a boy named Riki Naoe who has a condition known as narcolepsy, which he developed after the tragic deaths of his parents when he was young. Because of his problem, he couldn’t have a normal life as he could have collapsed at any moment. Fearing this, Riki becomes a shut-in and had detached himself from the world. Until one day a boy named Kyousuke saved him, who created a team known as the ‘Little Busters’. Along with Masato, Kengo and Rin, these kids spent their childhood days fighting evil and enjoying youth.

Their friendship lasts many years, despite eventually growing up and out of the Little Busters childhood playgroup. Until high school where Kyousuke is on his last year of school before he has to leave everyone behind, he decides to make the best out of his final year and re-ignite the Little Busters by forming a baseball team with them. With only the five of them, Riki is tasked to find new friends to join the Little Busters.

Little busters! is a light novel adaptation that comes from the same creators as Clannad. Its similarity can be seen in how the story brings a lot of the same characteristics, a similar style in expressing the values of family and friendship, and also with plentiful romance, and drama embedded in the heartwarming story. They both also follow a similar format in where characters are introduced one by one, each with their own unique story in the form of an arc but still stay true to the main story. If you loved the light humor and the dramatic turns in Clannad, then you’ll definitely want to check out Little Busters!

Next up, we have not an anime series strictly speaking, but rather an anime movie called Byousoku 5 Centimeter. A movie with a unique style in which it is split into three parts, following the story of Takaki Toono and Akari Shinohara. Byousoku 5 Centimeter is about two very close friends who eventually come to love each other, but then get separated when Akari’s parents decide to move to another part of Japan.

They keep in touch by writing letters but inevitably begin to grow apart, until one fateful day Takaki discovers that his family is planning to move to the other side of the country. Takaki decides to personally see Akari before he moves, as it will be very difficult for him to ever see her again. After their meeting, they grow even further apart as the years pass, until eventually they completely lose contact. Even though from time to time they still remember each other, they wonder if they will ever have the chance to see each other again.

Byousoku 5 Centimeter is a very emotional story, with a lot of stunning visuals. It is very similar to Clannad After Story in the way it tells a story of the protagonist and his relationship with someone, and then how that changes over time. Byousoku 5 Centimeter illustrates the painstaking reality of the world, in showing that life is more complicated than it appears and it also contains a lot of tear jerking moments. Byousoku 5 Centimeter is a short movie that will make your heart melt.

The third recommendation that we have for you is the anime, Plastic Memories. A story about an 18-year-old college student named Tsukasa Mizugaki that failed his college entrance exams. However, he was able to find himself a small job at the Sion Artificial Intelligence Corporation, otherwise known as SAI Corp that is responsible for the creation of human-like androids known as ‘Giftias’. However, the technology has not yet been perfected and Giftias have only a lifespan of 81,920 hours, which is approximately nine years and four months.

After Giftias expire they lose their memories and become hostile, which is why Terminal Service One, a SAI Corp station, is assigned to collect Giftias and reset them. Tsukasa joins this station and becomes partnered with a Giftia by the name of Isla, who is a veteran in Giftia retrievals. Tsukasa and Isla soon begin to fall for each other, despite Tsukasa being a human and Isla being an android. However things become much more complicated when Tsukasa finds out that Isla is losing time, as she is already near the end of her own lifespan.

The similarity of Plastic Memories to Clannad After Story lie in the fact that they both tell a love story between the protagonists that eventually comes to a tragic end, and how they end up facing the reality. Both Plastic Memories and Clannad start off with a relationship that has a high potential for a great future, and just when things are looking good and promising, disaster strikes and it hits hard on the protagonists. If you loved Clannad then Plastic Memories is a good, more recent anime to watch. Just prepare some tissues for those tears beforehand!

Coming next on the list is Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! An anime about people who have what is called the ‘88h grade syndrome’, an apparent ‘disease’ that regresses the mature mind back to a point in time where your imagination could go as wild as believing you had innate magical powers. Where you would feel like you are a chosen special hero, with no shame in doing what would be seen as embarrassing things in public.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! follows the story of Yuuta Togashi, a boy who once had the ‘8th-grade syndrome’ and had called himself the ‘Dark Flame Master’ during his middle school days. Which he now regrets ever doing it and even had to go to such lengths as, moving far away from his middle school to not get recognized in public anymore.

Yuuta aims to have a normal high school life with his past locked away and forgotten until one fateful day, he meets Rikka Takanashi. A female classmate at his high school who currently still has the disease and goes by the name of ‘Wicked Eye’, whom inevitable gets intertwined with Yuuta’s life.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! is a very lighthearted anime and has very similar vibes to Clannad. Yuuta is very comedic in nature and has a similar sort of a humorous personality as Tomoya in Clannad. Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! also has a relationship between the protagonist that grows and develops over time, until one point they realize they’ve become deeply in love with one and another.

Our next recommendation is Hyouka, a lighthearted anime that follows an intelligent but 'energy-conservative' high school student by the name of Houtarou Oreki. Who joins the school's classics club to avoid doing any strenuous activity. Though Oreki thinks he found the perfect way to have a peaceful and calm life when one day he meets a girl name Eru Chitanda, whom together with his friend Satoshi Fukube and another girl by the name of Mayaka Ibara, become involved and entangled with local mysteries to solve.

Although Oreki wants the conserve energy where possible and just get through school, he is constantly dragged into solving mysteries thanks to Chitanda's curiosity and charm.

Oreki from Hyouka is actually voiced by the same voice actor as Tomoya from Clannad, both characters have a similar personality. Oreki is lazy whereas Tomoya is a 'delinquent' who likes to skip class. They have a similar tone to how they interact with the female protagonists, gentle and can't help but to give them a hand when they are in trouble or in need. Both anime have a very similar tone in the way they present friendships and the school life. If you enjoyed the calm pace and character development of Clannad, then you will be guaranteed to like Hyouka.

The final recommendation that we have on this list is Angel Beats! Made by the same creators of Clannad. It follows the story of a boy named Otonashi who wakes up in a world with no memories other than his name, where he finds out that he had actually died. Otonashi meets a girl named Yuri who tells him that he is in the afterlife and that there are others like him, and that he is trapped in this world where he can't die permanently. Yuri is the leader of a group called the Shinda Sekai Sensen (Afterlife Battlefront) who are at war with a girl named Tenshi, who they believe controls the world. Otonashi ends up joining with the SSS to go against Tenshi, but somehow Otonashi seems to find himself strangely drawn towards her. He follows Yuri in her ridiculous antics to try and defeat Tenshi, whilst trying to find out the truth of the afterlife and to regain his lost memories.

Angel Beats! has an emotional story that is as heart-tugging as Clannad, though it has a lot of humorous moments too. Otonashi has a similar personality to Tomoya in the sense that he is someone who will help people from the kindness of his heart. Like Clannad, Otonashi ends up trying to help each individual character with their own problems. They both have very dramatic moments and draw upon the same themes such as life and death, and the struggles of coping and tackling obstacles in the world they exist in. Both anime share a very similar thing, which is that both will make you crave for more after watching them.