Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Coming into this series off the back of glowing reviews from critics, friends, and anecdotal evidence, I was not ready for the feelings I would have by the end. I watched the entire series in one night. By 3 AM when I had finished, I was lying on the floor in my room sobbing in the dark. This show has a way of breaking people. It cuts you to the core if you open yourself up to it. I now have a pavlovian response to the end credits theme. Having rewatched it in English and subbed again, I caught details I had missed the first timethrough. The show in only 11 episodes crafts deep relationships between the characters and you as the viewer. I can see my adolescent self in each of our mains and honestly it hurts how close to home their actions, reactions, feelings, and desires are to those that I once had.

Popo just wants everyone to be ok and is willing to work for it. Jintan is angsty and reclusive in the beginning and thinks about his past mistakes often. Anaru is worried about finding her own identity when everyone she interacts with has a preconceived notion (that is often incorrect) of who she is. Tsuruko strikes a balance between being cuttingly honest and brutal, and silent and pensive. Yukiatsu wears many masks throughtout the series as an arrogant but capable student, an insecure, remorseful teen, and a broken man. Every one of these characters changes over the series.

The only character who stays consistent is Menma. Sweet, eternally youthful, Menma. This is more her story than anyone elses. Her smile is on top of the "protect at all costs list." We found her.

See you in August 10 years from now.