I totally agree with you, that the anime is forming the relationship of each character little by little, also the romance between Tomoya and Nagisa makes you appreciate and empathize even more with the characters.
The turn that Tomoya's life took was amazing, I remember that I didn't believe what happened to me and when I saw the other chapters is when I accepted that this kind of things really happened to him, I think there is no one who hasn't cried with this anime. Thanks for your comment <3