Clannad: Sub or Dub?
Sentai's English dub arrived years after the subtitled release. Two ANN critics found it solid but behind the Japanese cast; here are the checked casts and their grades.
Watch Clannad in Japanese if you can. The two ANN critics who reviewed the dubbed Blu-ray sets of the two series liked it and still placed it behind the original: Carl Kimlinger called it "a pretty good dub" before concluding there was "no escaping which is the superior version," and Carlo Santos found the English acting "solid, if not quite as confident as the Japanese recording." The dub is a reasonable choice, not the stronger one.
Who plays whom?
Kyoto Animation's two series, Clannad (24 episodes, 2007–2008) and Clannad After Story (25 episodes, 2008–2009), both directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, share their casts. ANN credits Yūichi Nakamura as Tomoya Okazaki, Mai Nakahara as Nagisa Furukawa, Daisuke Sakaguchi as Youhei Sunohara, Ryō Hirohashi as Kyou Fujibayashi, Mamiko Noto as Kotomi Ichinose, Houko Kuwashima as Tomoyo Sakagami, Ryōtarō Okiayu as Akio Furukawa and Kikuko Inoue as Sanae Furukawa in Japanese.
In English it lists David Matranga as Tomoya, Luci Christian as Nagisa, Greg Ayres as Sunohara, Shelley Calene-Black as Kyou, Emily Neves as Kotomi, Kaytha Coker as Tomoyo, Andrew Love as Akio and Kara Greenberg as Sanae. ANN credits Steven Foster and Janice Williams as ADR directors on the first series and David Williams and Janice Williams on After Story, and lists Sentai Filmworks as licensor of both. The Clannad and After Story entries have the full credits.
The dub came later
The English track was not there at first. ANN's encyclopedia lists the 2009 DVD collections as "Sub.DVD" releases, and Kimlinger's Blu-ray review of the first series, published in January 2012, notes that "Sentai Filmworks also dubbed the series for this release."
What the critics heard
Kimlinger praised Luci Christian's "fine, sensitive Nagisa" and David Matranga's "bracingly masculine Tomoya," and wrote that the dub "gets the spirit of the original right." His objections were small and many: Sunohara played as "a goofy nerd," inconsistent honorifics, a miscast teacher and "a rather lackluster turn by Kara Greenberg as Nagisa's mother." Set against "the original's dream cast of anime legends," he concluded, the comparison was not close. He graded the dub C+ and the Japanese B-. His review is hard on the show itself, with a C- for story.
Santos, reviewing the After Story Blu-ray in August 2012, was warmer. He wrote that Matranga "manages to span the entire emotional range," from one-liners to the scenes where the character's life falls apart, and that Christian brings "a cheerful, girl-next-door quality" to Nagisa. He flagged "strange casting choices for minor characters" and "Japanese names being accented on the wrong syllable." His grades are B+ for the dub and A- for the Japanese. His review covers the second series.
Where both tracks are listed
ANN's encyclopedia, whose listings are contributed by users, records HIDIVE as an outlet for both series marked "Subtitled & Dubbed." That is a listing, not a check that either series is streaming now, so look on your own service.
A fair way to compare
Choose a quiet scene between Tomoya and Nagisa in the first series and hear it both ways, because both critics rest their case on those two performances. Then try a scene with Sunohara, the role Kimlinger thought the dub misjudged. If the English versions of both work for you, the gap the critics heard is not one you need to worry about.
Use the Clannad watch order for where the film and the extra episodes fit, and our checked Clannad quotes for the lines. If you have finished After Story, our ending explainer covers the final episodes, with spoilers.