Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
AnoHana: The Flower We Saw That Day is a supernatural – drama, original anime produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai. It is a fairly popular anime, being specifically recommend as tearjerker. Five childhood friends grow apart after the death of Honma Meiko, or simply Menma. Years later Yadomi Jinta, nicknamed "Jintan", leader of their group, lives as a shut-in when he unexpectedly starts seeing the ghost of Meiko, who only he can interact with. Menma returns and asks Jintan to fulfill the forgotten wish. The story is sweet and works well with its great presentation. The animation is incredibly smooth, and the direction ofthe episodes flows well, the music is beautiful, and the acting is solid. The main opening theme “Aoi Shiori”, sung by Galileo Galilei has become one of my favorite openings of all times.
The characters are overall good, each get a decent amount of screen time and have some benefit being within the story, but some have more relevancy than others. Characters like Tsuroko could’ve just been cut from the script and there wouldn’t have been much of a change. The major development the characters receive is them pushing away their selfish desires in the end. The last episode is especially memorable and ending is satisfying.
Looking back, my main issue is that it should've been a movie instead of a series. The plot felt like it was stretching for longer than it should’ve, instead of using it's time to better expand it. A chunk of the plot focuses on Jintan trying to somewhat prove that he can see Menma's ghost. Despite Menma being able to physically interact with objects: pick them up, eat food, cook, shower and more. Jintan never once thinks to have her perform any of those actions in full view of his friends to prove her existence, as Menma is less of a ghost and more like an invisible mute.
People give the argument that Jintan had trouble believing he was really seeing Menma, but at one point he tries to prove her existence by saying she baked bread for her friends. One of the characters even points out the absurdity saying that _''A Ghost baked bread for us?’’_. The scene just becomes laughable to the viewer.
Eventually they cut the bullshit and have her interact with objects and communicate with her diary. To the viewer this feels jarring and the conclusion as to why this wasn't presented several episodes earlier is that Jintan was just stupid. The best decision would've been that Menma could ONLY interact with her diary and no other object.
Bottom line I think AnoHana is a worthwhile show to watch, though flawed, it was sweet