Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day follows the lives of 5 former friends, who were all part of a group that they called the Super Peace Busters. After a couple of years pass after a 6th member of their group had died there is a mysterious force that is trying to get them all to reconnect, Menma (Xanthe Hunyh), the girl who died. And Menma won’t stop until her wish is granted. Anohana was a pretty solid show. It didn’t really excel at any one particular thing, and it didn’t really fall short in any capacityeither. The thing that really drew me in with the show was the animation style, which A-1 is amazing at. The world felt alive, even when nothing was going on. Trees swayed in the breeze, water moved, birds flew, the world of Anohana felt live and vibrant. Jinta (Griffin Burns) is also a very likeable character. Jinta is a shut-in who doesn’t work or go to school, even as a 15 year old boy. After his mother died, and then Menma, he disconnected himself from the world. Not only is the show about trying to grant Menma’s wish, it also parallels as Jinta’s journey out of his depression, anxiety, and how to reconnect back with his friends and dad.
Anohana ended on an emotional note, but a satisfying one. Since it is such a short series (11 episodes) there really wasn’t a lot of time to connect emotionally to the characters or the world. Especially when I compare my feelings to other, well-fleshed out characters from long running series like My Hero Academia. There was also, in my opinion, some forced ‘love’ with basically every member of the Super Peace Busters having some form of feelings for each other, except Poppo. And it all came to light at the very end of the series, which gave it a feeling of being rushed and something that didn’t matter a whole lot. And if you wait to force feed us something like that at the end they might as well not even put any focus on that at all, it felt distracting.
Overall, I really enjoyed Anohana as I venture farther away from the Shounen anime and into the drama & slice-of-life animations. If you want something that is visually pleasing, with pretty good music, an alive world, and a story that is far from complicated then this is it. 11 episodes, roughly 3 ½ hours of watch time, and you’ll have yourself a solid drama.