Might take a look at the 5cm collection; as its meant to look excellent. And yeah, can't really complain on the Clannad price by comparison; just a shame that doesn't come with AS
Edit:
Hard to know what to rate the series really; as in terms of pacing and plotting, .[you're almost looking at two different shows with the same characters and settings. Coming away from the series, I'm left with the debateable feeling it's a series, that paced as it was, both needed more than one cour to develop in the way it did; but ultimately didn't need 2 cours, and thus a lot of early material could be taken as virtual filler, although it does get you used to the feeling of the environment and setting at that point in the story; especially should you have been watching it weekly on TV (bearing in mind it's 26 episode run would take half a year to complete).
It must also be argued, that ultimately this is a plot, rather than character driven show. The characters themselves are somewhat stereotypical, although are used well.
You've got the new 'guy' (although in this case, Robin's a girl), the more serious ace, the hotshot younger team member, the blonde airhead, the tech ace, and the older woman who more or less holds things together aside from the bosses.
The main plot/crux of the show didn't really get going, bar some minor build up, aclimatisation and foreshadowing 'til approximately half way through the series, somewhere near episode 12; and up 'til that point, the core plot is painstakingly slow in developing, almost glacially to the point I got pneumonia watching it[/b]. After the over plot gets moving, the show, no doubt about it, gets a lot better.
By this point, the world is established, and suddenly there's pacing, direction, changes in the story and what you believe peoples roles in the story to be, and overall, it did need SOME of the buildup those first 12 episodes provided, but ultimately I think it should have been cut back to say 8, and characters like Harry; well they didn't really seem to have a purpose except to act as a filler character to provide someone to look at to take up time, until it was time for important stuff to happen.
In this sense, compared to the norm, this isn't a series that loses its way later in the series, arguably it's a series that FINDS its way later in the series.
It's not a bad series, but I do think in hindsight, it needs rating in two halves:
The first half -
Good introductions, and acclimatises you to the characters and setting; however ultimately it's dragged out for too long in my opinion, and some of the material felt substantially like filler to justify the 2 cour.
6/10 (decent but not great)
Second half -
The show really moves forward, some twists and turns in the plot for good or for bad. Pacing is far stronger; and there is a far more coherant story arc to follow, compared to the 'of the week' nature of the early episodes. 'Filler' dissapears.
8/10
Overall, I'm going to be generous and say 8/10, I think perhaps 7.5 might be more accurate.
The first half of the show could be considered TOO slow at times; and I'm sure has put more than a few viewers who'd possibly enjoy the second half of the show. This isn't an issue that can solely be attributed to this series alone, however I feel this series could have been far better if they'd simply paced it more evenly, and used the time they had more effectively to develop the characters.
