Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

So back to our typical teen boy wakes up with the ghost of deceased teen girl lying on top of him and then proceeding to straddle said teen boy…… Ok so it’s not your typical day by any means. After watching the brilliantly written Toradora, you do what any self-respecting anime fan does and google “animes like Toradora,” low and behold the Toradora writers themselves got together to write a new anime with the longest name in history (Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai) which translates to We still don’t know the name of the flower we saw that day(or Anohana for short). Now I’m sure that other reviewers will probably give you some sort of mystical reasoning behind the title, however unlike Toradora (Tiger/Dragon), the title has much less to do with the overall storyline, rather its only after watching the movie (following the anime) whereupon you see Poppo’s perspective on the day Meiko died and how he uses flowers to remember her, (as well as possible other minor references to flowers).

Putting the name aside, Anohana is a solid anime, taking a very difficult topic and then enveloping said topic within a slice of life/rom-com anime. The story follows our MC Jintan who finds his deceased childhood love (Meiko) is living in his home however he’s the only one who can see her. We also have his childhood friends who he grew apart from following her death, Anjou, Yukiatsu, Poppo and Tsurumi as well as minor school scenes and relevant family members.

The most important thing to remember while watching Anohana is that yes the group of friends have grown up persḕ, however they have grown up into teenagers and therefore still lack a level of maturity which adults would show (Kaizaki in ReLife for instance). Very early on in the show we see the various ways which our characters have attempted at dealing with their grief (or what seems like grief) over having seen one of their precious friends die at such a young age. However just like in any anime not everything is as it seems and as the day of Meiko’s death is recounted throughout the show in more detail, we start to see the level of selfishness surrounding said grief that teenagers with raging hormones tend to show.

The brilliant ending OP afflicts listeners with a sense of togetherness that’s used to great effect in various emotional scenes such as the recurring fights between Yukiatsu and Jintan, or the heartbreak felt by Anjou, hinting at a better tomorrow where the friends can set their various differences aside and at the very least come together if only in the name of Meiko (at least that’s what we hope).
Various themes are explored in Anohana but from reading various other reviews I believe that the ending scene somewhat clouds peoples understanding of the show. Yes the ending of Anohana is extremely emotional and all the friends come together with one cause in mind, however this doesn’t negate the scenes leading upto the finale. All of the characters bar Meiko have their own selfish reasons for trying to help Meiko “pass over” as it were, and therefore selfishness, self-righteousness, envy, jealousy are all important themes in Anohana which not only brought the characters up-to the point of the end scene, but will also affect them until they too meet their end.

The “Casper” theory as I call it regarding ghosts having a wish unfulfilled is the direction the makers of Anohana have taken, but the actual wish in my opinion could have been better thought out particularly if Jintan’s mothers situation is taken into account, the foundation and emotional backgrounds were in place for a much better wish. Furthermore I have to agree with some of the Youtubers in regards to the final scene, yes were I in the same situation I believe my emotions would have got the better of me and I may have acted erratically, not to mention that these are teenagers who have been through a traumatic experience and therefore it’s an extremely difficult situation for them. However where we saw a range of emotions being utilised in Toradora such as anger, empathy, loneliness, togetherness and heartbreak all being used for their emotional scenes, it seems like the characters were too quick to start bawling out crying as opposed to utilising other emotions which may have suited the situation better, or at the very least provided us with something different to come to terms with, which I felt was a far better aspect of Toradora.

Again these are minor criticisms and comparisons, Anohana is a very well written anime and one that lovers of rom-com, slice of life anime watchers will love. There are numerous awful and very boring animes from these 2 genres but Anohana isn’t one of them. True the comedy isn’t laugh out loud and complexity of emotions isn’t as intriguing as in Oregairu or Toradora, the actual wish reveal and range of emotions utilised is somewhat lacking, however there is enough emotional detail, suspense and intrigue in the plot and comedic humour to keep the viewer enthralled and wanting to find out just what happens next.