Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

A beautiful story about loss, grieving and moving on... Anohana is a story about the loss of a childhood friend. It explores what it means to grieve the loss of someone very close, acceptance and moving on afterwards, no matter how hard that may be. I must admit that it brought a few tears to my eyes all the way through the story. The ending was a little surprising, I think that's why it in particular was so emotionally overwhelming. In 11 episodes, you grow to know all the characters and all their secret desires, both childhood and present. No one could want to "say goodbye"to any of the characters, much less Menma, and the childhood friendships they all had with each other.

I have to admit that this was not my favorite anime ever, probably because all the characters were so moody -- not bright and sunny, even at the beginning of the story. I suppose if I could have changed anything, it would have been that part -- the beginning. It takes awhile to both begin to grasp the complexity of the story and to begin to like and understand each of the characters for who they are. We understand in the beginning that the story is going to be about Menma and why she and each of the other childhood friends are stuck, unable to move beyond their grief of her loss. They each have their own secret selfish desires for which they feel guilt or shame over. Part of the story was to bring those feelings out into the open and expose them to each other -- and to allow the friends to grieve ALL their losses, not just the loss of Menma.

The closing theme song, Secret Base - What You Gave Me -- captures the bittersweet mood of the story line perfectly. It will be hard to ever hear that song without shedding a tear or two over this touching story.