Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

I’ve been planning to watch this show for a while now, especially with all the hype around it and how short it is (only 11 episodes!) It only took a few hours to watch, which was nice. The first episode had me glued to the screen. Anohana’s animation is beautiful and the art style is really nice to look at. The colors are very vibrant and it’s overall nice on the eyes. The OST is memorable as well. I’ve never seen anything quite like the plot, but it almost seems too dramatic. The characters were all pretty unrealistic,so it was almost impossible to relate to anyone. The whole bit of them breaking up the friend group because of Menma’s death just seemed petty and stupid. It didn’t make sense to me. Near the end, some of the characters seemed to develop (mostly Anjo) but we didn’t get a deep enough look into the others. I couldn’t connect to the characters and therefore didn’t feel emotional during the show. There’s honestly not much growth considering the events that occur in the show. Menma’s sudden appearance wasn’t fully explained until the last few episodes, and even then it seemed rushed and left me confused. Overall, I enjoyed watching Anohana, despite a few flaws, it's a decent show. It’s a bit slow paced, but for such a short show I find that acceptable. I wouldn’t say I would recommend it to everyone, but if you enjoy slice of life dramas, then give this a shot. I’ll definitely be listening to the opening and ending a lot!