Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Ano Hi Mita Hana is about a group of childhood friends who is being haunted by their cute childhood friend who is now a cute ghost. The show focuses on the now teenagers as they try reunite the old childhood group and try to come to terms with each other and their own pasts. Along the way they will realize their regrets and past mistakes as they try to fix these mistakes and move on with their lives. Eventually they all have to deal with the acceptance of someone who will never come back to life. Meiko Honma (menma) is our cute ghost who unfortunatelydied on an accident when she was still a child, She comes back to the physical world probably because of things she has yet to settle before she can finally rest. Our main protagonist, and the only one who can see our Menam is Jinta Yadomi. Now Jinta's issue is that he probably loved Honma back when they were still young/ He was a typical rowdy kid who always makes the crybaby Menma cry.
Unfortunately Honma died before Jinta could ever apologize nor express his true emotions. Now after a lot of years Honma appears before the now hikikomori Jinta as a ghost, how will Jinta handle this situation?
The other characters Naruko Anjou, Tetsudou Hisakawa, Atsumu Matsuyuki and Chiriko Tsuyumi also has "heavy" issues of their own which stems from their past as childhood friends and the death of their beloved Honma. All of them will have to deal with these issues in order to set Menma free. The characters are the driving force of this show.
Ano Hi Mita Hana is a real tear Jerker, in each episode they'll have something under their sleeves that'll make your eyes wet. It's an emotional roller coaster through remembering the bitter-sweet past and learning how to get over it and move on. The art is good, vividly colored and consistently top quality. Animation is fluid too. The script is something real special as it sounds perfect for each scene, nothing really sounded forced or out of place and you could really feel their emotions through their words. Besides the ghost, everything feels realistic and the show itself feels like a drama instead of an anime. This is recommended for everyone except those who don't want to cry.
My Personal Rating: 9/10