Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
A-1 Pictures makes some beautiful anime on occasion. Some better than others and some that really bring out a viewer’s emotion. Along with director Tatsuyuki Nagai (Honey and Clover II, Toradora), Anohana is an incredibly sweet and moving story that brings heart wrenching tears to the audience. Anohana is a story about a group of 5 teenagers. Each character must face the challenge of accepting the death of an old friend from their childhood. The catch is, which is revealed right away, is Jintan can see and interact with the ghost of said friend, Menma. He is left wondering if Menma is a manifestation of hisown mind or is she actually there? He battles through depression and attempts to figure out, with Menma, how to help her spirit move on. The story continues from there as the old group of childhood friends slowly reunite with one another, while facing old demons from their past. It really is a unique and original story with original characters that hooks the viewer in emotionally.
It is A-1 Pictures, so visually Anohana looks above par with crisp colours and fairly detailed environment. The soft sounds and music throughout the anime sets that depressive and darker mood the show is striving for. Some of the character interactions are a little over the top at times, but is not too deterring from the remainder of the anime. Some comedy is thrown in there from time to time to lighten the overall depressing mood.
The cast shown gets the viewer to feel empathy and sympathy for each of them easily. Subtle moments are shown for each character for either their motivations or even their inner emotions from episode to episode. It is well done right up until the end where things get a bit rushed and hectic along with unanswered questions right there with some heavy melodrama.
There are very few anime out there these days that truly make the viewer become emotionally invested in a story and its characters. Anohana hits all of the right notes from start to almost finish, but despite that finish, it is well worth the hours spent. Do you remember the flower you saw that day?