Kazamatsuri is very excited to finally announce the long-awaited CLANNAD Bookclub! To get you up to speed, we’ve produced a video including everything you need to know about the CLANNAD Bookclub and why you should get involved!

Thanks to forum members SuikaShoujo and cjlim2007, and also to blog.catzie.net for allowing me use their fanworks in the video. To keep things clear, I’ll re-state the important details below.

The CLANNAD Bookclub is an event which will be hosted on the Kazamatsuri forum, which will see the entire community read through the visual novel together once in launches on Steam. Members will have topics to discuss each route on the forum as they read through, and are also encouraged to produce fanworks to celebrate CLANNAD. The Bookclub will run for approximately three months, and at the end of each week, a select few of the Kazamatsuri community will come together to record a Podcast discussing a new route each week, using the forum discussion and Key Points posted by forum members in each topic to guide the conversation. We’ll be concluding the Bookclub with an Anthology video including members’ final thoughts on CLANNAD in the form of recorded voice clips, together with a showcase of all of the fanworks produced by the community.

As for route order, the Podcast will follow this schedule:

Week 1: Common -> Baseball (Fun Week)

Week 2: Misae

Week 3: Tomoyo

Week 4: Yukine

Week 5: Kotomi

Week 6: Fujibayashi (Ryou & Kyou)

Week 7: Kappei

Week 8: Sunohara

Week 9: Fuko

Week 10: Koumura

Week 11: Nagisa

Week 12: After Story (May take two weeks depending on how we’re going)

Week 13: Final thoughts and Anthology preparation.

Members are encouraged to read ahead in their own time, only using the Podcast schedule as an indication of the absolute minimum you’ll need to have read up to. If you finish reading CLANNAD in a week, then that’s great! If you end up falling behind or simply aren’t interested in reading every route, that’s fine too; you can choose to participate only for routes you’re interested in reading. Of course, if you plan on reading After Story, you’ll need to keep in mind the requirements for unlocking it, and skip through any content you haven’t read if necessary.

We’ll be keeping an eye on all the forum discussion and eventually decide on a CLANNAD Bookclub MVP, or Most Valued Poster: the member we’ve determined has made the most positive contribution to the Bookclub. They’ll be rewarded with a snazzy CLANNAD Bookclub Prize Pack! We’re still arranging the contents, but we know it’ll include the CLANNAD 10th Anniversary Art Book, CLANNAD Image Vocal Album "SoLaLaDo", maybe even a dango or two, and more! We’ll keep the CLANNAD Bookclub Page updated with more prizes once they are determined.

We’re also accepting applications for the Kazamatsuri Podcast! If you’re interested in being a guest, then head on over to the Podcast Applications Topic on the forum for more details.

And of course, there’s the thing many of you came here for, our giveaway! From now until the 18th of November, we’ll be accepting entries for the chance to win one of three steam keys of CLANNAD, generously provided to us by Sekai Project themselves! The winners will be picked randomly from all of the entries. Once the winners have been determined, they’ll be contacted and sent their steam keys. Make sure you check your forum PMs, because if we can’t contact you within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

To enter, all you have to do is sign up on the forum and post a reply in the discussion of this blog, linking to your Twitter account to prove that you’ve followed Kazamatsuri or that you’ve retweeted this tweet. Each action counts for one entry each! Alternatively, if you don’t have a Twitter account, you can like us on Facebook and provide proof in your post for one entry. You can’t link to both Facebook and Twitter for more entries though; it’s either Facebook for 1 entry, or Twitter for a max of two entries if you RT and Follow! Sorry, but we’re favouring Twitter for this giveaway!

The giveaway has ended. Congratulations to winners Lissomia, RedRavenW and AniBanani! Please check your forum PMs to receive your Steam keys!

Once the Bookclub is over, it’s my hope that we’ll have introduced many new readers to the CLANNAD visual novel, and that they enjoy the experience enough to recommend CLANNAD to their friends. For all the effort Sekai Project and VisualArt’s/Key have put into localising the game, we who’ve loved reading it will need to do our part to spread the word to help ensure the release is as successful as it can be! So if you do end up enjoying CLANNAD, don’t forget to spread the word about it! Let’s not let it end up as another overlooked visual novel release on Steam!

This post will serve as our announcement for the Bookclub and as a hub for the initial giveaway, but moving forward we’d like to direct your attention to our CLANNAD Bookclub Page. It’ll include all the relevant links you’ll need to follow along with the Bookclub. You can access it through the navigation menu on the forum and blog, so you can’t miss it! And if you have any questions or feedback regarding the CLANNAD Bookclub, you can bring them up in our questions & feedback topic here. If you’re new to our community, be sure to visit our Welcome Page first! And if by any chance you’d like to learn more about the CLANNAD series, check out our CLANNAD Information Page!

We hope to see you join us for the CLANNAD Bookclub soon!