Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life

An example of the RPG "Dungeons & Takafumis" featured in Tomoyo After

Tomoyo After is a romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Tomoya Okazaki.[1] Much of its gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue. Tomoyo After follows a branching plot line with multiple endings; depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction.

Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made.[1] To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and make different choices to bring the plot in an alternate direction. In the adult versions of the game, there are scenes with sexual CGs depicting Tomoya and Tomoyo having sex. Later, Key released versions of Tomoyo After without the erotic content. Additional gameplay in Tomoyo After is a minigame called "Dungeons & Takafumis", which gives the player chances to play in a role-playing video game setting.[1] "Dungeons & Takafumis" becomes available to play after the game is completed once.

Tomoyo After's story revolves around Tomoya Okazaki (岡崎 朋也, Okazaki Tomoya, voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (all ages Windows, PSP, PS3, Xbox 360), Yūichi Nitta in the role-playing mode only), the male protagonist from Clannad, and Tomoyo Sakagami (坂上 智代, Sakagami Tomoyo, voiced by: Hikaru Isshiki), one of the main heroines of the same game and the title character of Tomoyo After. Tomoya has already completed his first year of being a full-fledged member of society; he works as a garbage collector and a repairman.[1] Initially, he is living in an apartment alone, as opposed with living with his father Naoyuki Okazaki (岡崎 直幸, Okazaki Naoyuki, voiced by: Shunsuke Tani) with whom he does not get along well. Tomoya still has a close friendship with Tomoyo, who has her story expanded upon than what was seen in Clannad. She has stayed in touch with Tomoya and they are starting to see more of each other in a romantic relationship.[2][3]

The story takes place a month after the events of Clannad during summer vacation after Tomoya has graduated from high school; he is still in the same town Clannad was set in.[1] One day it is discovered that Tomoyo has a younger half-sister named Tomo Mishima (三島 とも, Mishima Tomo, voiced by: Akari Sasaki) who had been living with her mother.[2][3] Tomo, a young kindergartner, is the illegitimate child of Tomoyo's father and another woman named Yūko Mishima (三島 有子, Mishima Yūko, voiced by: Soyo Asaki). Tomo moves into Tomoya's apartment due to her mother's psychological problems which greatly affected the young girl.[1] Tomoyo loves her half-sister very much and takes care of her constantly since she has always had a weakness for children.

Tomoyo also has a younger brother named Takafumi Sakagami (坂上 鷹文, Sakagami Takafumi, voiced by: Keiko Suzuki) who is very skilled with computers. He installs a personal computer in Tomoya's room, and then comes to live in the apartment.[1] Takafumi has an ex-girlfriend named Kanako (河南子, voiced by: Keiko Suzuki) with a foul mouth and who is excessively sarcastic, whose surname is not revealed. She is not happy that her mother remarried and thus does not like to live at home. She too comes to live in Tomoya's apartment.[1] She has a cameo appearance roughly eighteen minutes into episode six of the Clannad anime series.[4] A central theme in the story is the ties between families, much like in Clannad.

Typical dialogue and narrative in Tomoyo After depicting the main character Tomoya talking to Tomoyo, who appears different from when in Clannad

After releasing Clannad, Jun Maeda decided to make a game based on Tomoyo's scenario from Clannad. Maeda handled the game's planning and scenario, and Leo Kashida, a new member of the team, accompanied him.[5] As opposed to Itaru Hinoue who was the character designer and art director for Clannad, Fumio was the art director for Tomoyo After, while Hinoue helped Fumio with the character design.[5] As such, characters who appeared in Clannad such as Tomoya and Tomoyo look similar but visibly different from when in Clannad. Maeda also composed the music for the game along with Key's signature composers Shinji Orito and Magome Togoshi.[5]

When Tomoyo After was ported to the PlayStation 2 (PS2), improvements to the game were included. This edition's scenario was expanded by the original staff after the removal of the adult content consisting of sex scenes.[1] Yūto Tonokawa wrote some of the additional story for Takafumi and Kanako.[6] With the added scenario and visuals combined, the PS2 edition is 1.5 times longer than the Windows edition. In the original version, the entire cast excluding Tomoya Okazaki, had full voice acting; this was not changed for the PlayStation 2 version. Added support was included so as to make the visuals on the television sharper than in the past with visual novels played on a consumer console rather than on a computer screen.[1] The PS2 version also reduced flickering of the picture, reducing eyestrain.[1]

According to a national ranking of how well bishōjo games sold nationally in Japan, the original Tomoyo After Windows release premiered at number one in the rankings.[32] This game stayed on the charts for a month longer, ranking in at 35 and 36.[33] Tomoyo After for Windows was the eighth most widely sold game of 2005 on Getchu.com.[34] In 2006, the Japanese gaming magazine PC News reported that the PS2 version of Tomoyo After was the fourth-highest selling bishōjo game of 2005 with 49,226 units sold.[35]

• Key's official Tomoyo After website (in Japanese)
• Prototype's official Tomoyo After website (in Japanese)
• Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life at The Visual Novel Database