Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Throughout Anohana, I was rather confused by the direction the show was going, whereby I didn't understand what I was supposed to be watching. I expected myself to be disappointed by the show despite its high ratings from majority, I had prepared myself for the worst. BUT by the time the last episode kicked in, I was crying buckets. And it wasn't just because the show was sad or tragic, rather without myself knowing, I had grown so attached to the characters in the show and it felt as though me myself was a part of that group of friends, the "Super Peace Busters"! Andthat is where the show really shines, its way of storytelling.

SUBTLE is the word to describe the flow of the story. Often, things are so slow paced and "normalish" that you don't realise the change in tone until it really hits you in the face. Another thing that took me by surprise was the characters. This show takes "don't judge a book by its cover" to A WHOLE NEW LEVEL. Because apart from menma and jintan, we barely know anything about the other characters, their personalities, etc. What we see and know at first is through the eyes of jintan, the main character, and unfortunately (or fortunately) what he knows about them is extremely limited, and "outdated" in a sense because their friendship went on a hiatus after menma's death. And so its the unravelling of their true identities and secrets that makes this show so beautiful. I'll admit that this show would probably not be for everyone, but if you're like me and you love inferring from subtle hints and BITTERSWEETNESS, (and tears) by all means go for this show.

"I want to be friends with everyone till the end" - Honma Meiko