Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Story: 10/10 I was skeptical of the potential quality of the story at first. 11 episodes is a pretty constraining time-frame to introduce a brand new premise and cast of characters while still managing to wrap up the story to a satisfactory conclusion. It was a real shock when I found myself captivated by the depth of the anime, and to be completely honest, the ending of this show is legendary. I don't care what anybody says. To me, it will always remain one of the most iconic endings to an anime, period. Art/Animation: 7/10 To be honest, none of the art really captivated me. The characterslook like standard teenage anime characters to me - no chibi gag faces or anything unique to add to the mix. Animation wasn't garbage, but nothing insanely complimentary.

However, its use of imagery is actually pretty good. The name Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai is translated to Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. I like how it constantly uses the imagery of the flower they saw that day to reference Menma's death years prior, even in the opening. Originally, I would've given the art a 6/10, but thanks to its use of imagery, I'll raise it to a 7.

Sound: 8/10

The sound was good. Not mind blowing, but good. The OST was mostly okay if I remember correctly, although two songs really stand out - Secret Base and the opening song (don't exactly know the name). These two songs, especially Secret Base, have a special place in my heart and will get me emotional no matter what. These two songs basically carry the soundtrack for this show. Voice acting was great, although I wasn't the biggest fan of Jintan's voice actor.

Characters: 10/10

Funny how an anime can make me despise the main cast at first only to make a complete 360 midway. That is why I gave this category a 10. I hated every single member of the main cast initially (except for Menma) for one reason or another, yet as the story progressed, their characters developed to the point where I can relate and dote on them. To give this much depth to five individual characters with the episode constraint of only 11 episodes is extremely complimentary.

Enjoyment: 10/10

I personally loved every second of this anime. While I found the beginning to be slightly confusing (probably just me), every other succeeding moment was an immense pleasure to experience. Last episode was the best - tears all the way through.

Overall: 9/10

Anohana is an anime with stellar content packed into a short-winded 11 episodes. I would recommend it to everybody I knew. Don't let my 9/10 score fool you. This is still one of the best anime out there IMO. If you haven't seen it yet, then I highly urge you to give it a try. Even if you end up disliking it in the end, it is still only 11 episodes. Not that bad of a loss when compared to some anime with longer episodes like Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.