I don't think it's overrated, I love clannad it was my first romance anime (and then me and my cousin watched school days as a challenge it was shit). I think fan base killed the series for some people and watching it off recommendation can dull down the experience. Clannad is amazing
In some anime I forget the characters names, its mostly characters that I have no feeling for, if like them or hate them I will remember their name if not they become known as "dat dumb bitch"
Serial Experiments Lain - episodes 1-6 I didn't know what to think but from 7 till the end it started to make more sense. Over all it was pretty good and challenges the viewer to think and come up with ideas of their own. I am currently watching monster it is amazing
If it has a good dub then dubbed, but if there is no dub or the dub is shit (4kids) then sub, but with most series i'll give it 2 or 3 episodes each language. (btw biased dub haters suck and those who dont give subs a chance are missing out). currently almost 50/50 with dubs and subs with a few more dubs for nostalgia reasons.