Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Anohana is a good choice for you if you are looking for an introspect into the problems of the japanese society or you're a person that is easily swayed by unnecesarily strong displays of emotion and melodrama. I'd like to point out that this review is based on personal interpretation and some things perhaps might be off, as I base some of my interpretation on some things I've heard about the japanese society from people's stories that have lived there. So if I'm wrong on some stuff about the japanese, I apologize in advance but I'll try to keep my analysis of the series as factualas possible when I refer to their society.

Anyway, the characters all have some quirk about them and in some way or the other, they would be judged by the japanese society and they are meant to appeal to teens that have similar problems. For instance, the main male character is a hikikomori, which is a person who for some reason or the other, won't come out of the house if they don't have to and retreat inwards. The japanese society has a known problem with a large number of hikikomori so it's a good starting point. Next up is a girl who is easily influenced by others and due to that she ended up in a bad antourage with girls that were described to "open their legs for anyone". The reason a character like this exists is because prostitution by school girls in japan is also a big problem. Next up is a character that has abandoned the educational system and have picked up traveling. Now, putting things in perspective, the japanese heavily judge anyone who doesn't put their heart and soul into providing for their families. There are people living their lives to provide and provide as much as possible. Or if not that, they still do it out of a sense of dedication to their job. The japanese are known for that so imagine how a person that doesn't want to do that and just abandons their path towards that direction would be seen in their society. Next up there's 2 more characters, but for one of them, exposing what the problem they have would be a spoiler and considering the problem from a societal perspective would be quite obvious and the other character is kind of the same, but her problem isn't as obvious. And then there's Menma who's a ghost who has appeared who's goal as a character is to be a personified tragedy and be as innocent as she can be. Apparently her innocence was so rubbing that she managed to be an active trauma for the lives of these poor children.

So all of these characters have these problems I've stated and they're all supposedly stemmed by a tragic event from their childhood, which is the death of a girl they were friends with 10 years ago. While such an event can have a heavy impact on children, it's not very likely for people to not get over or discuss their problems since then, but since something also known about the japanese society is that pouring your problems others is considered shameful and distasteful, I could perhaps buy it and maybe treat is as a special case, but then as the series progresses it becomes progressively more melodramatic. The goal of the series is to bring these characters together and have them deal with the tragedy that have left them scared to this outrageous extent. Keep in mind that the way they're behaving and their life choices are supposed to be strongly based on this event and their personality. As far as the tragedy's treatment has gone, I'd say that there were plenty of too convenient situations to tie things up for the sake of drama in the series. Like some things that you think of like "why aren't they doing this?" the story will try to build up things in a way where you are like "oh so that's why huh?" but in most cases for me at least, the series has lost quite a lot of plausibility due to that. I can't think of any solid examples without giving up some of the future plot so I will withhold myself from that, just expect things like that to come. As for their problems, they are indeed portrayed, I can't really give them any shit on that. The fact that they were potrayed is why I watched the entire series out of curiosity of where it was going. But since they all stem from the tragedy, it's still... hard to take them seriously by the end of the series.

Speaking of that, the ending of a series about tragedy and its impact is what leaves a huge impact on you. And to sum it up, what you can draw out from the series is that, being selfish hurts others, so stop that. Which I don't think is how you sell this message to people who you see as social rejects. Stop thinking about yourselves and do something for the sake of another person. People stuck in a certain lifestyle, a style you see as selfdestructive, for instance, think of a gambler, get stuck in it because, from their perspective, the benefits outweigh the negatives. And you don't change your lifestyle for the benefit of other people. Think of Hikikomori, who retreat inwards and I'm sure are often supported by their family. I'm sure their family wish them to go out in the world and experience life and do express it. And I'm sure they're fully aware of their wishes. But will they do it? How would they when the number one reason for that happening is societal pressure? Think about it, you could move the gambler addict to tears with a story, and perhaps that may motivate them to take a step towards the right direction. But while they make take one step in the right direction and try to be selfless, it's their own self that is the problem, so them getting over themselves and trying to do the right thing despite all odds is eventually lead them right back. So even if a Hikikomori would somehow decide to go out of their way due to this series having a huge impact of them, they'd eventually fall right back, because it's unlikely that their needs will be fulfilled out of nowhere.

So with everything I said, the story ends up being this: A girl dies 10 years ago and the 6 year old children become so traumatized by it that they change their entire lives. Apparently this girl's death had so much impact on the minds of children that would often shut out this type of event, keep that in mind, that their lives to that day are effectively screwed up. Then through all the events of the story they draw this conclusion: Lets stop being selfish for the sake of others. All our problems aren't as hard as we pose them to be. Ignore the fact that people with this kind of problems have specific needs they need fulfilled and a certain understanding of the situation they are in. No, you're all selfish, you should all be like these guys. Get over yourselves.

Animation and sound wise, the show is solid, it looks decent and it doesn't have anything that should drive you out of it.

I assume the series ended up melodramatic because that's how they see said people, as melodramatic themselves so they tried to appeal to them. But it really falls short. Perhaps you will enjoy this and you might relate with a couple of events, but I doubt the series will actually have its desired impact. I'm aware that perhaps I don't know enough about their society so perhaps this type of story impacts people of that region differently than it would impact me. But I really can't help but see this story as a bad attempt at solving a problem without even understanding it. I do recommend this series if any of the problems if you want to have a look into the problems they have within their society and the way they think they can solve it, but keep in mind, it's grade A melodrama. It's not believable. And in a story like this, believability is what has the most impact. I'm sorry I couldn't go into more detail with why, but it's often spoilery so I won't, as the series becomes far more melodramatic as it progresses.