Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

(PLEASE READ BEFORE MARKING IT NOT HELPFUL NOT BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE THE SCORE I GAVE IT) “Ill see you again this next August as we all return to our secret base”. In western modern life death is a very distant concept. It’s nearly a taboo to talk about. Life now is not like the days of old where a loss of your children was common place. Now a days it seems to have a most prolific effect on people and then it’s gone… people seem to move on, but do they truly ever get over it? Death is something we in modern society forceto the back of our mind. It’s generally made to be forgotten, almost taboo. Yet death is something we dwell on more than any other thing. Truly some of use can never let go…. In Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (Written by Nagai Tatsuyuki) or Ano Hana this is the central theme, but not the only one. It goes into multiple themes of friendship, family, and how we grow with the losses in our lives. I personally like to call this anime The Bridge to Terabithia …. the after story. If you haven’t read that book or seen its Disney movie adaptation; it’s the story of two kids, one boy and one girl who play in the summer with each other. The girl “Tera” dies in the river later in the book. A very similar event occurred 10 years before the events in Anohana. It’s this death of a childhood friend called Menma who was the “sunshine” of friends and family that is the catalyst for the plot. After her death the group of friends grows apart and her family becomes distant from people. This is shown especially in menma’s mother, who grows distant from society “she hasn’t lived since that day….” August 10 years later after Menma’s death her spirit appears, yet no one else but our main protagonist “Jinta” can see and talk ot her. This is in turn is dismissed at first as hallucinations by Jinta. Soon the “Hallucination” is too real and tells him things he never knew. Menma with Jinta must now get their childhood friends back together and fulfill her dyeing wish so she may go on to heaven.

As to the story of this anime it is generally very good, border line great, but not truly amazing. It does have some problems. These problems are generally found within the script writing. The interactions are repeated throughout story. Such as the Fact that the friends can’t see Menma and the friends have trouble believing that she exists. This is annoying as she can affect the physical world, she even eats. It in my opinion is the biggest problem as she can easily reveal herself, but has trouble doing so for 70% of the series. It is not completely detrimental, yet it is one of those things only there for convince of the plot that can annoy the hell out of you. The other flaw is that things are not explained so well, it glazes over major points of 10 years ago very quickly and focuses more on the modern time. It’s this understanding of the events of 10 years ago that a paramount to the feelings of each character, especially the events of “that day”. Which are still left shrouded somewhat even after the end of the series. This I believe is why they are making a movie about the events 10 years go set for August 31st. to cover the lack of important development in that area. I really can’t blame it though, it’s 11 episodes and doesn’t have the time,.. it just feels a little rushed… For what Anohana does well it does VERY well. As a slice of life does something unique… Its main focus is NOT romance and it doesn’t use ENDLESS comedic situations to get your attention. It’s the interaction between characters and their hidden feelings of remorse, grief and love that drive the plot instead. The main meat of the plot is the modern day. Each character appears to have moved on besides our main Jinta. Yet, it is soon reveled that every person is still shaken by the event of “that day” even 10 years from it, some just as badly as Jinta, and sometimes worse than Jinta. This then reveals a set of complex character interactions that all revolve around that summer 10 years ago. The truly great part is how the seemingly happy content people are in the first episodes. Yet, the revival of Menma’s spirit brings out the darker feelings of her death that was pushed to the back of each character’s minds. It’s the use of this as each character with the hidden emotion comes to grippes with her death for the last time. This is what stands true and tall in Anohana and it succeeds this in spades.

Animation was done by A-1, The color Palates are vibrant and animation for both the Ending and Opennning themes is well done. The design for the city and forest are also top notch. The only thing is there is little to no symbolic art direction, and it’s a pretty safe normal slice of life design on characters. Though the characters of Hisakawa and Menma seem to be the most uniquely designed. All in all animation is good, just nothing truly great or amazing here.

Sound was composed by Aketagawa, Jin. Who was in charge of sound in amines like Shakugan no Shana and BlassReiter. Just looking at this list of anime hes composed I must say on pure number I am impressed. Now as for Anohan’s score itself there are two songs that stood out to me. For the Ost my choice is “All about her death” which is a piano solo with hints of xylophones on occasion in the background and a large dash of violin near the end this is the Ost that plays at the end of the series. For Ost’s it has a love for piano, which for an emotional anime is quit regular. Honorable mention and my 2nd favorite Ost is “The Last Train Home”. The stand alone best track in the series is the ending theme “Kimi ga Kureta” or in English “Secret Base”, which is so fitting its often used as an Ost. It’s a peppy song that I wouldn’t call pop, but more of an ode to summer and the times of children. This also uses piano greatly as the primary instrument with background of violins and I don’t even know… rocks? But with great vocals it sounds amazing. Overall the score is very fitting, but only has 2 or 3 good to great tracks.

Characters are the strongest point of Anohana. It’s the simple base personalities that seem bland as first, but they are truly just a faced. Each character that appears fine truly hurts on the inside. With the Catylist of Menma’s spirit it brings out all the pent up regrets and emotion showing the true side to the bland base plain personalities that the characters paint themselves with. As for the Base Personalities by episode 1’s end ill go as follows:

Jinta: Visibly hurt form loses, lost his mother recently and has never gotten over Menma as he loved her, but was shy of it and never confessed it before she died. He shuts himself indoors and rarely goes outside.

Menma: Liked by everyone, peppy and nice. She died that day. She was in the sense the glue that held the friends together.

Hisakawa: Is the Jokester, he is always happy and ready to go. Though he has some hidden feelings himself.

Anaru: Now a “popular girl” use to be nerdy tomboy in group.

Matsuyuki: Boy now on the fast track to success high one responsibility appears to have gotten over the death of Menma.

Tsurumi: Conserved girl always hanging out with Matsuyuki, also out of all has gotten over things the most. Tells Jinta to get over with it and calls him pitiful.

The story focuses of these characters and there childhood group now torn apart. It shows that even the most hardened and most visibly not hurt are hurting just as bad. I can’t go anymore for sake of no spoiler, but believe me when I tell you this is its greatest part, and Anohana in the category has impressed me in every way.

AnoHana was one of the most enjoyable anime I’ve watch recently this summer, which made it feel all the more fitting. Would I call it a Favorite? Hmm maybe for enjoyment top 10 or so somewhere, but critically? No, not by a long shot. This is a show that is good for only certain people. It is not a show id recommend to you unless I knew your taste. But, if you want a story about the morals of death and the grief of them on people in the long term then I cannot recommend a better anime for that. Over all Anohana is a great story whose mistakes are barely notices through the pure amount of feels. Some may call that a low blow, and it is, but it’s so sweet frankly I don’t care. A truly great story of love and loss. For this I cannot recommend enough. Its shows like these that make me wish to relive those days. The days, 10 years ago with my own friends in our little secret base….

Raptor-8/10 overall critical score.