Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

I remember watching this series when I was much younger and I remember getting very emotional multiple times throughout my viewing of it. I had held off rewatching the series but I finally got around to it. I thought the emotional beats wouldn't hit as hard this time around and I thought maybe my positive first impression of the series would diminish with the passage of time and with my more critical eye for anime. But yet the emotional beats hit just as hard as the first time and the anime still holds up even after all these years. It's easy to include the aspectof death in a story in order to create a powerful story. But even knowing that fact doesn't change how an audience reacts to it. And that's why death will always be used to increase the stakes of a story, create deep conflicts, and bring out an enormous amount of empathy from an audience. AnoHana is no different. A powerful story centered around the death of an adolescent friend which has deeply affected everyone who knew her. I usually never cry when watching anime but I cried at least twice during my most recent viewing of this anime; its emotional beats hit hard.

But in no way is this plot perfect. Far from it. Its plot structure felt way too loose, tension often arose out of thin air, and some characters' arcs felt unfinished or hastily wrapped up. The world's rules regarding its fantastical elements didn't feel concrete and that obscurity was used as a crutch in the story.

Despite those flaws, I've given this anime a rating of 9/10. I've noticed all of these flaws, yet I eagerly yearned for the next episode. AnoHana has impeccable art and animation, a diverse cast of characters, and a gripping story. The inclusion of death does immediately make a story more compelling but it does not make every story good. Trust me, I have disliked many stories with death in them. AnoHana will never be a technical masterpiece but its an extremely captivating drama that will make your heart wrench.