An Amazing Story

What gives a story "amazing" status? Plot? Setting? Theme? Use of words? Characters? The correct answer: D all of the above. However, one stands out from the rest in my mind. When a story is truly amazing, you feel what the characters feel. You feel like you are the character. And no I'm not talking about jumping off a building yelling "I'm superman!" hoping that you will take flight. I'm talking about when you are so involved in the story that you feel like what is happening to the characters is happening to you. Even after you walk away, the emotions won't leave you. When the character's faces get impressed in your mind. When you feel like you have woken up from a dream and you just want to go back. That's when a story reaches "amazing" status.
I recently watched something that not only reached "amazing" status, but it reached "epic" status. It's an anime, by the name of Clannad. If you don't know what anime is, it's basically a Japanese cartoon, in Japanese. They do dub some of them in English, but I would not recommend any English Dub versions to anyone, but if that works for you, fine. Clannad season one is dubbed and English subbed, while season two (Clannad After Story) is only subbed. Why do I bother telling you this? Because I want to recommend this show to you.
This is the most amazing visual story (show, movie, video game..etc) that I have ever seen in my life. I have read some books that reach that status that this show has, but never in my life have I watched a show or a movie that made me feel so much emotion. I was laughing. I was crying of joy and sadness. I felt hopeless and I felt like there was hope. I felt desperate and thankful. But most important of all, I felt love. I felt this overwhelming feeling of love. I felt like I WAS the main character in every aspect....and main character is a man. That takes some serious skill to push beyond the gender boundaries to make me feel like I was Tomoya Okasaki. I feel like I went through everything he went through. When, back in reality, I haven't gone through even ONE of the things that he went through. I had no link to anything in his life, and yet I experienced everything he went through as if I was him. It was the most surreal feeling I have ever felt.
My goal in life is write a story like this. I want to make people feel the same way I felt while watching Clannad. Please, lovers of anime, watch this anime. Please, haters of anime, give this one a chance. Please, people who don't have an opinion on anime, watch this anime. If I was to own a series on DVD, it would be this one. (you can find it online, however it has been taken off where I watched it: Youtube so I cannot give a recommendation)