Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

*Contains some very mild spoilers. If I were haunted by a lost friend who acted like Menma, I would most certainly seek some serious counselling. There is very little in this character that feels true and admirable. Anime simply failed to convince me why she was so loved and worth all this hassle. That comes from someone actually loves cute, kind and naive characters if they are handled nicely. This is certainly not the case. Nevertheless, despite how lame aforementioned character/plot device is, there are some quite strong points that sort of saved this anime for me. I find the premise quite interesting and the themesof lost friendship and reunion, guilt, unresolved issues of the past, grief over a lost loved one, jealousy, among many others are all done quite well. Supernatural element could be done in a more subtle manner, in way so it could keep the viewer questioning till the very end. Hence, it loses some of its charm from the EP 9.

I love the pace of its anime -- it lacks of any fillers, so it retains this fresh feeling until the very last episode. The finale also felt a little bit lacking and I felt that Menma's motivation was sort of weak.

Overall it is a nice and short tale with the thematic core based on honesty and positive aspects outweigh its weaknesses.