Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

This is my first time writing a review, so please over look any errors. Story: 7 Over all, the story was good. Very few plot holes can be found, but the story itself can't stand on it's own. Although there is no "filler" in this anime, I found there to be allot of boring parts that seem to drag on forever, and I found myself wondering, "is this really that important?" at some parts, some whole episodes in fact. The reason why I say that there is no filler, is because the parts still have some kindof importance, as to either setting the stage for a upcoming event, or building up a back story. This is fine, but I think that most of the time the setting was bland. Most of the story takes place either at Jintan's, (the protagonist) house, or at their secrete fort in the woods. The story itself however, without all of the "not really filler but almost" parts, is one that will leave you wanting more when its over. (Spoiler ahead) At the end of the story, I simply didn't feel any sympathy for what happened. The end of the story can be summed up to this; Menma gets her wish fulfilled, and everyone cries, for a very long time. I know that this was the only possible good ending, but I thought the writers could have put a little more thought into it, rather than just people standing around and sobbing. It was a little anti-climatic in my opinion.

Art:8
The art in this anime was spectacular, and i wish other artists could live up to this. Through the whole anime it was pure eye-candy, and the animation was as smooth as can be. The way their hair moved, the way they walked, and even the lip syncing was some of the best I had ever seen, and made the characters allot more "life like".

Sound:6
The reason why the sound is a six is because there isn't really allot to work with, apart from the voice acting, which was average. Some times people would use a little too much or too less emotion, and even at times when they were crying they sounded like babies begging for their lolly pops back. Normally in anime, or any voice acting for that matter, the crying sounds very sympathetic, and makes you feel sorry for the character who is doing all the crying. The crying in this anime makes me think, "shut up!" after about ten seconds of excruciating, ear bleeding sobbing.

Character's: 7
The characters were typical from most anime's, the strong girl who has a sweet spot for the protagonist, the smart one, the over-archiver, the big jolly one, and the strong silent protagonist who is just trying to achieve a goal. But, this anime does something that others sometimes don't. All the characters we're all child hood friends, and you got to see how they have all changed in the last few years that they have been away from each other. This really gives allot of depth to the story. Although they did go very deep into it, I still wish some things could be more explained, but I think that's another reason I liked this anime; you could try to fill in the blanks as to what happened in their past.

Enjoyment: 6
As I have said before, there was allot of parts that I really hated, that didn't progress the story, but at the same time they weren't filler. I call this, "quality filler", which means that even though it's not relevant to the main plot, it still needs to be said. Other anime's do this as well, but they do it with a little more grace, rather than making you listen to a whole ten minute conversation about something I could care less about, and finally at the end of it, I get one small piece of the story. But at the same time, I liked being invited into the lives of the characters, and listening to their problems, and learning a little about them. But still, It puts the story on hold.

Overall: 7
The idea and story of this was great, and liked it. This anime is a must watch of you like this kind of genera, but for the rest of us it's not really that important. I felt as though this anime had the potential to be so much more than it is.