Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Total Episodes 11 (about 20 minutes each) Plot: B *Years after the death of their childhood friend Menma, a group of friends drift apart and remain broken versions of themselves feeling guilty over what happens. These are feelings that everyone kept bottled away for some time until Jinto, the one who was taking Menma's death the hardest, sees Menma's ghost who says that she can't leave until all of her friends are able to complete her wish. But there's two problems with this: 1) Menma doesn't remember what the wish was and 2)her friends have a grown lot of animosity amongst each other throughout the yearswhich makes their full cooperation rather difficult.
Visuals: B *Cute character designs and a pretty world. I loved the firework and the artwork during the opening and closing titles the most.
Voice Acting: B *Menma's voice can be a bit grating at times and Yukiatsu having the voice of a seasoned adult despite only being a teenager is a bit distracting. But other than that, the voice acting in the show is pretty good for the most part.
Film Score/Soundtrack: An emotional show is in dire need of an emotional film score. However, I doubt I'll find myself listening to anything but the opening and closing tracks as standalone listens.
*Favorite Track: Last Train Home
(but with that being said, this is a super pretty song!)
Characters: C *This is the main category that holds this show back from being enjoyable with some emotional moments and from being a great show. The only two characters I consistently liked were Poppo and Anaru with every second of the show Poppo easily being the most lovable and Anaru having a really cute and kind personality that she sadly hides when she is hanging out with the popular crowds. Jintan sulked too much and was a frustratingly unlikable protagonist while Tsruko was conniving and judgemental and Yukiatsu was a huge dick and acted like he was superior to everyone despite having just as much baggage if not more than Jintan did. I did like Menma even though it was weird that she had an adult body but still acted like her little kid self.
Cringeworthy Anime Moments: It wouldn't be an anime about teenagers if there wasn't at least one instance with a girl jumping on top of a guy and the guy having to point out that she's more mature now and it becoming this huge embarrassing thing. I wasn't annoyed with this trope, but it does happen often in anime when characters exclaim that the events happening within the story feel like it could be from a movie/anime.
Titles:
Opening: *The mellow yet catchy rock tune reminds me of the songs that RADWIMPS made for 君の名は。 [Your Name.]. And I love the color changes that happen in sync with that little bell-like melody in the beginning and at the end of the sequence when Menma disappears.
Closing: *Super cute song that serves as a good amplifier to whatever emotions you're feeling by the end of each episode. Honestly, I think the song started to become the reason why I felt emotional at all. It's got this joyous melody and tone and makes me think of my childhood. It's such a great song!
Final Verdict: 6/10 *I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this show at first mainly due to Jintan being such a dull and "pitiful" as Tstuko says, protagonist, but it grew on me especially because of the ending credits song and because of Poppo. He reminded me of Tomohiro Nagatsuka from A Silent Voice. He's the cheerful friend that always has your back no matter how crazy everyone else might think that you are despite dealing with a lot of things on his own. While you don't explicitly find out how Menma actually died, you find out through her friends reliving their traumatic and guilty memories and it's just as powerful if not moreso than simply playing a flashback with sad music. If the cast of characters were more likable, I would have loved this show more. But I enjoyed it for what it is and am glad that I took the time to watch it.