Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Warning possible Spoilers Whenever anime focuses on characters who have to deal with the death of someone close or related to them, it's always focused on one or two specific individuals. We never really get to see a whole group of friends affected by something like this, until Anohana came along. Story (9/10) The story focuses on a group of kids who called themselves the Super Peace Busters, until one of their members Menma accidentally died. Now as teenagers Menma's ghost wishes for the team to come together once more. Anohana's story is incredible in some way, it's a story of redemption and getting past the guilt and regretfrom the loss of a friend. Seeing these group of characters coming miraculously together again even after they had all gone their own ways was a sight to behold and shows that a bond between friends never truly dies out.
Each character had some kind of regret from the event that happened, seeing them work this out and overcome it was emotionally enjoyable, it got even more interesting when the whole situation suddenly had their separate regrets connect together to form one big pentagon.
The development of the characters was also impressive, they started out angrily repressing the issue and just letting it float by hoping that it'll go away. But as more members slowly came together to try and grant Menma's wish you can see the old spark reappear amongst them as new found determination started to kick in. I also liked how it kicked it up a notch at a certain point when most of the characters were really doing this for themselves and they eventually noticed what they had done was wrong, leading them to reveal their true feelings.
I think my only downside with the story is, I feel like 11 episodes just isn't enough for a story like this. After watching it the second time I realised just how quickly the show went and I was a little sad it didn't last longer, however the whole journey despite being short was definitely an emotional hurdle.

Characters (9/10)

The characters were done really well, they each stood out and had their own problems with the situation and the chemistry between them was handled brilliantly.
Meiko "Menma" Honma is the main female protagonist and the character that the story revolves around. Possibly one of the cutest female characters I've seen in anime, she can be childishly adorable yet childishly mature at the same time. She tends to be the key for Jinta to do anything as she mainly forces him to do stuff that he hasn't done for a long while. Most of the time she has a smile on her face and it rarely goes away, unless it's a really big tear jerk scene. With her being a ghost she tends to go on random adventures sometimes leading her to discover certain things that she probably shouldn't have discovered.
Jinta is the main male protagonist, in some ways he is the most affected by Menma's death as he was the closet to her and is the only one who can see and interact with her ghost. He has hugely changed from being the leader of the group and has become a moody shut in who doesn't really want to do anything. However as he tries to grant Menma's wish alongside the others, he starts to become more determined and open with the others as he tries to put in all of his effort to make sure her wish is granted.
Naruko is another member of the group, who sparked the question that lead to the terrible events. Despite having a bit of an attitude towards Jinta, she is more concerned for the way he is living and how Menma's death has affected his personality. She has a crush on Jinta and always admired Menma because she was the closet to Jinta, she is also greatly concerned about the others too when it comes to Menma's death.
Tetsudou is pretty much the joker of the group, definitely a funny character whenever Tetsudou is on screen everytime he makes a joke it's pretty damn hilarious making him standout from the other characters pretty well. Despite being a big guy he is actually very friendly, energetic and loyal especially towards Jinta. He blames himself the most for Menma's death mainly due to the fact he actually saw her death happen.
Chiriko was the shy member of the group, now at an elite school she has become a serious, stoic yet cocky person making her a bit of an asshole sometimes as she tends to comment on some of the other characters actions. Despite being this way she still cared for her friends and was really devastated by Menma's death.
Atsumu is another member who has been greatly affected by Menma's death. He is a pretty big asshole as he always looks down upon Jinta and the way he has become, but he secretly loved Menma and has gone so far to look like her just to satisfy himself, so he is a bit of a creep really.

Art (9/10)

After watching this a second time and looking at the character designs I noticed it had a similar look to Toradora, which is no surprise since this had the same production staff as Toradora. The location being set in a fairly small town was pretty nice especially the wooded area where the groups base was which had some good attention to detail on the vegetation. Comparing the character designs in this to Toradora was quite surprising as the characters in Anohana had a certain roughness to them which kinda goes with the way they are feeling. I also liked the way Menma was designed, her dress despite being something she wears often felt like it was the presence of a ghost.

Sound (9/10)

The op was actually very nice for an anime like this, the calm soft music showing each of the characters seeing their younger selves nicely fitted the scene and as we see them all come together the music really picks up as they get ready for action to grant Menma's wish.
The ed was alright too, it had a tenderly, sweet feeling as we see the characters present and younger selves surrounded by flowers, hence the name of the show.
The soundtrack was done really well too, it always kicked in at the right moments for when an emotional scene appeared especially when it got to the climatic ending during the final episode.

Extras:

There was a ton of drama in this show that really hit all the right marks. Each of the characters had some kind of guilt or regret eating at them and most of it was to do with the characters having certain feelings for each other, making this turn into a pretty big love pentagon while excluding Tetsudou because apparently nobody felt that way towards him. However I thought the whole love drama between everyone was handled really well and to me Anohana restored my faith in the use of Love triangles or shapes after the stupid, ridiculous one I saw in Your Lie in April.

Enjoyment (10/10)

Overall (9/10)

Overall this was short, but sweet anime showing that even when you lose someone close to you, the spark of friendship never disappears fully.