Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life Review:

Unbelievably moving experience that stands strong as my favorite game developed by Key and a simply beautiful work to its very core that with both Tomoya and Tomoyo shows a relationship between two very strong willed characters that simply manages to exceed with not only its very emotional high points, their genuine relationship with all these respective more than touching moments, but also its honest feeling combined with its more than deeply personal message and impressive ending that managed to go entirely straight into my heart and firmly affected me on a powerful emotional level like few other Key works did and feels profoundly intimate throughout its most fundamental essence.

There are possibly not enough words out there to express my feelings towards this work, but what I can say above anything else is that Tomoyo After is something truly special and I feel like this comes most to life and examplified in regards to the whole genuinely beautiful relationship between Tomoyo and Tomoya that feels very sincerely written in the way both of their respective personalities come together and manage to overcome their hardships together, while this altogether also being a very youthful and lively relationship that has to withstand many struggles throughout the respective story of this game paired with all the beautiful very intimate scenes with both of them that manage to convey their romance, their romantic and sexual, physical relationship, in a very dear, affectionate way and its themes of love and eternal love that stands strong as one of its most beautiful aspects that gets examplified especially through the whole last arc which manages to shine as one of the most emotional gripping moments this story is leading up to and feels like the most sincere written piece by both Maeda Jun and Kashida Leo that at its very heart feels extremely personal and manages to hit all the emotional points in a more than gripping way.

On top of this not only does their relationship stand prominently as one of the primary best aspects of this game that feels so tender and close, but also the rest of the cast is mostly just as engaging and generally makes for a great and more so engaging time with their respective personalities and the dynamic each of them has with each other. Every one of them in this small cast has something going for themselves and mostly just adds up to the game's themes and its respective story, while both Tomoyo and Tomoya stay as the fundamental main characters who serve as the very core of this work. There might be a few jokes repeated slightly too often at the beginning and some of these side characters need a bit of time to completely warm up to them, but I feel like at the end they manage to all stand fairly strong and add up to making this game so special.

Love is eternal like the waves of time, no matter what may come, as long as we keep believing and keep moving forward, our love can be eternal. There might be days when it seems like all hope is lost, as if we would live in a desolate world all alone, but despite all this, even if there might be the utmost feeling of despair, one isn't truly alone and there always will be someone. Someone, somewhat, who can give us hope, the confidence to keep on going, to keep living, to find and treasure what is precious to one, and eventually find meaning in life.

Added to this is simply the beautiful art of this game that genuinely features some gorgeous illustrations that truly manage to capture and embody the emotions and impact of the respective scenes throughout its whole story and is something I fairly adore about this work as well, similar to the whole soundtrack itself which manages to be even more beautiful and emotionally moving with some of its incredible outstanding tracks, a few filled with a touch of nostalgia, others conveying the feeling of radiant summer days, and some that still genuinely manage to bring me to tears every single time with how emotionally moving and powerful they are and put me back in the emotional state I was while experiencing the game for the first time every time I hear a few of them. Let alone the beautiful title theme, hope, or tear breaking ending song.

Also it eventually has to be mentioned, and something I stand by, the later released all ages version of this game is possibly the worst version of it and something I wouldn't recommend playing to anyone who wants to experience this work in its pure state. Not only is it missing some of the scenes that show both Tomoya and Tomoyo's relationship in a very intimate, direct way, but it also and primarily has a rewritten ending that not only wasn't even written by the original creators but to put it bluntly completely misses the mark and feels like it doesn't get what the original's intention was and what it wanted to accomplish, because of which it loses most of its powerful impact as a consequence. If anything, because of this, I would recommend everyone to do themselves a service and play the original 18+ version and more so avoid the later released all ages versions. The way the original ending works and is portrayed is just something truly astoundingly beautiful with the way it conveys the characters and, furthermore, the writers emotions.

Not only does this game have some incredible emotional moments with its very strong cast of characters and the exceptionally beautiful relationship between Tomoyo and Tomoya, but it also feels so honest, so deeply sincere to its very core, and even more so just profoundly personal like possibly in this specific way no other of Key's and Maeda's works that because of these remarkable aspects and its incredible strengths with its immensely emotionally moving ending and sincere mature writing, from both Maeda Jun and Kashida Leo, has a very special and dear place within my heart.

Their love is eternal, and it's a beautiful life that flows like the sounds of a melody