Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

There is a difference between "favorite" and "best" anime. Saying Anohana is the best anime would get me flamed by Death Note, FMA, big 3 fans from the community. Well, the anime is PERSONALLY my favorite and the best that I've seen. Reasons: length: 11 episodes is concise with no room for filler content. Even the best anime that supposedly don't have filler (FMA B, hunter x hunter) had slow moments. There is not an episode I would skip in this anime. They all have meaning. Of course comparing 11 ep anime with 70-140 ep may not be fair but still. mature content: This part issomewhat hard to explain but I'll try. I loved the dialogue because usually, when I think of certain interactions in anime, I imagine "it would be great if character said X or did Y" but usually, the characters don't "go there" and stay safe within the norm. Anohana didn't. It was brutally honest about how each person felt, especially from Yukiatsu, Menma's mother and brother. When it did go the way I thought it would, it still packed an emotional punch. I also liked how it avoided usual cliches. (It's the 21st century and these anime charcters are still going to festivals, tsunderes wearing yukatas like it's their first time, ring toss, that stupid paper net fish thing...I mean doesn't anyone in Japan play with Xbox or something).

Lastly, I'd like to praise the studio for not relying on heavy fan service--it honestly would've been insulting to the main theme that it was trying to achieve. I also understand this series wouldn't do very well in merchandise due to lack of signature fashion or etc so that was probably a risk as well. This is an anime that I truly love and I would be more than happy to support this kind of project in the future. This is the kind of anime the Western community needs to see to change the perception of "anime" that is usually seen as "weird."