Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
After various recommendations to watch Anohana, I finally decided to take some time off my weekend to complete it. Honestly, I found it to be a little disappointing to say the least. Overall, the series was good enough to warrant a score of 7, but not good enough for me to give it anything higher than that. (For a shorter review, skip right to the end paragraph for the overview) --------------------------------Storyline------------------------------------------ The story is about 5 friends who are suffering individually from the death of one of their friends when they were younger. Throughout the series, they try to overcome their guilt over the incident andtry to reform their relationships with each other after becoming estranged. Anohana handles the whole topic of death very nicely - the series really focuses on how it effects other people in different ways, and how different people have their own ways of dealing with death (Yukimatsu was the most interesting, in particular). However, the series feels undeveloped as a whole. It is lacking something - a part of the dialogue maybe, that could have been explored further so that more depth is added to the storyline. The fault lies in the fact that Anohana is simply lacking too much in development - the eleven episodes isn't enough to satisfy viewers who want a more woven plot. At times the story feels fragmented, especially at the times where Anohana throws something at you in one episode and then something different in the next one, without intertwining the two together. Although the series is only comprised of eleven episodes, sometimes the pacing feels awfully slow and dragged out, particularly when you just want the protagonists to get to the point without having awkward dialogue inbetween them. Aside from all this, it was really refreshing to see a different type of show admist all the others. Looking past the various flaws, Anohana is incredibly enjoyable and leaves a satisfying ending.
-----------------------------Characters---------------------------------------
Moving onto the characters, I have to say that this was one of the sections of the anime that was the most disappointing. Aside from Yadomi and perhaps Yukimatsu, none of the other childhood friends go through as much thorough character development. Certainly, we get an insight on how much guilt they are feeling and their sadness towards Menma, but that's pretty much about it. They feel too undeveloped and, as a result, you don't get quite as much impact when the ending of Anohana rolls out. Furthermore, i hate to say it, but I found Menma incredibly annoying from start to finish. Although i understand that she is meant to be that way - her childishness and the fact that she looks nearly exactly the same as her younger self reiterates the sadness the other characters feel and how they haven't quite accepted her *spoiler* death as of yet, I still found her character frustrating. It lessened the enjoyment of the show. It seems as though all we get out of the series is that the childhood friends were incredibly melancholic at the death of one of their friends, and focuses more on this as opposed to how they actually overcome their weaknesses. With all this being said, I found Yukimatsu to be the most interesting and developed character. His instability and composure make watching the series worthwhile as you get to spectate how he progresses into a better person at the end of the series.
--------------------Soundtrack--------------------------
Ah, moving onto one of the better aspects of Anohana. The soundtrack was a pleasant surprise, and the OP and ED were gorgeous to watch and listen to. They both compliment the series really nicely, and that goes for the rest of the sound throughout the series too. At times the music really helped reflect the tone of the story, and none of it seemed out of place or inconsistent. Due to the fact that Anohana is comprised mainly of character interactions and dialogue, the music can really help ease up the monotony and place emphasis behind their words.
-----------------------Visuals------------------------------------------
Anohana is a very visually stimulating series. The characters are all well drawn out, and none of them are alike in terms of both appearance and personality, which adds a nice variety to the series. One of the things that struck me as outstanding was the fact that you can easily make comparisons between each of the characters in their present selves and when they were in the Super Peace Busters. Some of the scenes in Anohana are splendidly done - especially the firework episode and the flashbacks. Moreover, the animation in the OP was lovely to watch, and as a result I never skipped the opening (like i do with some other series).
- - - - - Overview - - - - - - -
Anohana is a wonderful series, in a nutshell. Despite the various flaws throughout the series that lessened my enjoyment and the fact that the undeveloped characters and plot didn't quite make me feel as sad as i thought I would be when it ended, It was an enjoyable experience. And refreshing, to say the least. Strictly speaking, the series is far from being a masterpiece and a little bit closer to being a great series, but it warrants a solid 7 (Good) for providing me with eleven episodes that spurred a mixture of emotions. If you can overlook the various issues integrated inside Anohana, then you will find it to be an incredibly stimulating series.