Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

[Spoiler free] I finished Anohana approximately 20 minutes ago and yes, I am still crying. I'm going to review this anime in the categories of story and character because I think they're the most important aspects so here goes - STORY~ I will be honest, at first this anime can seem quite slow and around the halfway point I began to get a bit bored and wondered if I should even continue, but I am really glad I did. This isn't an anime that has you on the edge of your seat, but it is poignant and beautiful and it manages to be incredibly moving. It's not predictable atall - towards the end I was really not sure what was going to happen at all!

CHARACTERS~
The characters in Anohana are really interesting - in particular, I really liked Yakiatsu as he's very complex and it takes a while to get to really understand him. The main protaganist, Jinta, is very likeable and his dad is simply ADORABLE! The portrayal of grief, especially through the characters of Menma's family is also really well written.
However, my one criticism would be of the star of the show, Menma, herself - she is an incredibly annoying and stereotypically kawaii 'moe' type character which can be quite grating, but if you can get past this you should be able to enjoy the anime just fine.

Overall, an enjoyable and moving watch, my only wish is that Menma was less irritating.