Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, having seen the anime, i have no idea what the title means. Before i begin the review, if you enjoy emotional plots where socially awkward characters are brought out of their shell (Clannad, Hayate no Gotoku, Kimi ni Todoke) or plots where characters must learn to deal with loss (Angel Beats) and are not offended by melodrama, high school romance or extreme moe characters, then stop reading this review until you have watched it the show for yourself. Story and Characters: 7 AnoHana revolves around 6 teenagers who played together as children but have become estranged whenone of them dies in an accident. The deceased child, Menma, appears as a spirit and stays with one of them, Jinta, and he eventually reaches out and reconnects with the rest of the group to fulfill Menma's wish.
The anime deals with the issue of dealing with grief and self-driven guilt moderately well, but gets bogged down early on with teenage romantic drama. It reminds me a little of Kokoro Connect (a series where supernatural phenomena like mind-body swaps happen to a group of highschool students). They had a great premise and decent characters to build interesting discussion, cool hypothetical situations and potentially lots of humour but it usually ends up with characters crying and apologising all the time because "i like you, but you like some one else".
Most of the characters present a decent analysis of how loss can affect a person and how slight variations in character, over time can lead to almost entirely different people. Ultimately, i was a little disappointed though that almost every character breaks down over romance issues, it may have been a long time since i was 5 years old, but I definetely did not take liking someone that seriously. Also Menma is a little too perfect to the point of being one-dimensional.
Art, Sound & Voice: 8
I didn't really notice anything that stood out with the art which is usually a good sign. The characters were mostly believably attractive, not oversexualised but still good looking. There are a few minor ecchi scenes at the beginning but no obnoxious bouncing boobs or panty shots. The music is generally fitting and adds atmosphere to the emotional scenes and the voice cast does a great job all round. Yukana does a great job as the hyper cheerful Menma and I'm a huge fan of Takahiro's gruffy voice.
The ending theme is a particular favourite of mine and I found myself sitting through the ending credits more than once.
Conclusion: 7
Ano Hana tries very hard to tug at your heart strings and at times, the mood, characters and setting all set me up to bawl alongside them but the things they were crying over just didn't particularly make sense to me. Nevertheless I did enjoy the elements of people connecting despite social groups and social awkwardness and as a whole I did find this series to be enjoyable.